The first study investigates the validity of the Preschool Language Assessment Instrument as a diagnostic tool for differenciating the ability of language impaired preschoolers to use language to communicate complex ideas. The second study evaluates the relative effectiveness of two software environments that were expected to enhance children's…

Describes a lexical training program developed to teach object, visible movement, and invisible movement words to children at stage 5 (N=7) and stage 6 (N=16) object permanence development. Stage 6 children learned all three types of words equally well, while stage 5 children learned object and visible movement but not invisible movement words.…

Compares artificial intelligence and information retrieval paradigms for natural language understanding, reviews progress to date, and outlines the applicability of artificial intelligence to question answering systems. A list of principal artificial intelligence software for database front end systems is appended. (CLB)

Analyzes the written language learning of kindergarten children as a transaction among writers, teachers, and the writing process and concludes that children, when given the opportunity to take risks with written language, create with semantic intent. (DF)

Describes a study whose purpose was to identify the relative contribution of the nature of instruction and the frequency of encounters in bringing about word knowledge proficiency in fourth-grade children. Results suggest that instruction based on definitional associations is sufficient to affect word knowledge. (HOD)

Retarded and nonretarded persons were compared on a task designed to preclude the use of cognitive strategies. Results suggest the possible importance of automatic processing deficiencies and invite a reconsideration of the idea that the relationship between intelligence and memory is due entirely to effortful processes. (LMO)

The process of acquiring word meaning from context was investigated for high- and low-ability fifth-grade children. Findings demonstrated characteristics of processing that differentiate successful and less successful acquisition and underscore the complexity of the meaning-acquisition process. (HOD)

Reports a study which compares a deductive approach and an example approach in teaching the formation of participial phrases in an English as a second language class. Findings showed that field-independent subjects performed better with the deductive lesson and that field-dependent subjects performed better with the example approach. (SED)

This study investigated whether or not Hong Kong Chinese adults would benefit from hearing, or phonologically processing, unfamiliar English words upon first encountering them. Participants, who represented different levels of English proficiency, included Chinese undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and adult native speakers of English.…

This document presents a theory of how the psychology and neurobiology of stimulus appraisal influence variability in second language acquisition, and extends the notion of affect developed for second language acquisition to primary language acquisition and to cognition in general. The first chapter lays out a psychological framework that develops…

Critical language awareness refers to how conscious people are of the ideologies hidden in the language. A study was carried out to determine whether such a critical perspective towards text could be developed in an English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) context. This paper evaluates the results of the application of methods of critical discourse…

Two complementary theoretical approaches to children's foreign language acquisition, the monitor theory and theory of negotiation, are outlined. Three useful teaching techniques (meaningful practice, communication games, and children's playground games) are discussed in light of these theories, and related issues in syllabus and materials design…

Concludes that the measurement of reading ability in the deaf by the Picture Assisted Reading Test is hampered by the strategies used by students attempting to complete the test. (FL)

Examines the changes that occur from ages 5 to 11 in question/answer sequences of Dutch children. Function, content, form of questions, and listener response are analyzed. (EKN)

Examines how speakers and listeners make judgments on the relationship and truth of propositions connected by subordinating conjunctions. (EKN)