Cultural differences and bilingualism should not stand as obstacles in the intellectual and linguistic growth, as well as the social and the psychological potential, of bilingual children. So, the aim of the present study was the construction and the application of an intervention programme for the developmental speech problems of a bilingual,…

The outcome of hearing screening using conventional pure tone behavioral testing was compared with the outcome employing measures of transient otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs) in a preschool population under conditions typical of educational settings. Two hundred children ranging in age from 2 years 1 month to 5 years 10 months were screened. Nearly…

The experiments described in the lead articles by Kowalski and Zimiles and by O'Hanlon and Roberson examine factors that lead to color term acquisition. These experiments touch on the debate regarding the relative contributions of language and concepts in word learning. In this reflection, we examine how conclusions concerning the debate depend…

Why are some words easier to learn than others? And what enables the eventual learning of the more difficult words? These questions were addressed for nouns using a paradigm in which adults were exposed to naturalistic maternal input that was manipulated to simulate access to several different information sources, both alone and in combination:…

Word learning in 16 children with specific language impairment (SU) was compared with that of chronological-age controls (CAC) and vocabulary-age controls (VAC), to examine the extent and nature of word-learning deficits in the children with SLI. The children were exposed to novel words in a story and an explicit teaching context. Five tasks…

This study explores the acquisition of complex words composed of both verbs and nouns through novel forms produced spontaneously by a French-English bilingual child. Diary recordings were kept by the child's mother from ages 2:8 to 5:0. The results showed little support for a proposed developmental sequence based on cross-sectional data e.g.,…

The assessment of nonword repetition in children goes back at least to 1974, when the Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Auditory Skills Battery was published, including a subtest (Sound Mimicry) assessing nonword repetition (Goldman, Fristoe, & Woodcock, 1974). Nevertheless, it was not until 20 years later, when Gathercole and Baddeley (1990) reported a…

The first report of a connection between vocabulary learning and phonological short-term memory was published in 1988 (Baddeley, Papagno, & Vallar, 1988). At that time, both Susan Gathercole and I were involved in longitudinal studies, investigating the relation between nonword repetition and language learning. We both found a connection. Now,…

Sound symbolism is the notion that the relation between word sounds and word meaning is not arbitrary for all words, but rather there is a subset of words in the world's languages for which sounds and their symbols have some degree of correspondence. This research investigates sound symbolism as a possible means of gaining semantic knowledge of…

Although many studies have shown an association between verbal short-term memory (STM) and vocabulary development, the precise nature of this association is not yet clear. The current study reexamined this relation in 4- to 6-year-olds by designing verbal STM tasks that maximized memory for either item or serial order information. Although…

This brief article describes how classroom group time can be "talk central" for children to discuss problems, imagine solutions, even role-play hypothetical situations. It is often in the safety and support of the large group that children develop the tools they need to learn how to resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise throughout life.…

The family size of the constituents of compound words, or the number of compounds sharing the constituents, has been shown to affect adults' access to compound words in the mental lexicon. The present study was designed to see if family size would affect children's segmentation of compounds. Twenty-five English-speaking children between 3;7 and…

Toddlers' symbolic understanding of iconic models was assessed through 2 comprehension-based tasks: 1 based on looking and 1 requiring manual selection of the target object. Toddlers received either iconic models or photographs of models as the symbolic referent. Overall, 18-month-olds performed poorly, and both 22- and 26-month-olds performed…

Language is a great communication system. Through language, humans can express logical reasoning, grief, happiness, wishes, descriptions, and a rich array of feelings and ideas. Every baby deserves the gift of language power! In this article, the author discusses how babies build language skills and presents activities to help babies build…

This study reflects a social constructivist theoretical framework in which the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a central element, as two teaching approaches, communicative language teaching (CLT) and explicit focus on form (FonF) are examined. Research questions include: Are CLT and explicit FonF conducive to reaching the ZPD? Is there a…