Children with specific language impairments (eight learning Italian, eight learning English as a first language) were studied for grammatical deficits. Italian-speakers used noun inflections, verb inflections, copula forms more than English-speaking counterparts, matched by utterance length. Articles were used similarly. Results were consistent…

Describes the Voice Interactive Training System (VILTS), a language-training prototype developed to help improve comprehension and speaking skills. The system incorporates two related technologies: speech recognition and pronunciation scoring. Discusses the motivation for the program, the interdisciplinary efforts involved, and the resulting…

A response to a paper on Translation Quality Assessment and the training of translators looks at parallel developments in second/foreign language learning/teaching, particularly in error analysis, error evaluation, and language authenticity. Argues criteria used to assess quality of translations in a professional context, for which functionalism…

Discusses evidence that social understanding informs word learning in infants. Asks: (1) Is genuine social understanding necessary for word learning?; (2) Are social clues criterial for infants' learning?; (3) Can word learning proceed without aid of social understanding?; and (4) Is social clue processing too difficult for everyday word learning?…

This qualitative study examined the role of discourse (verbal elements of language) and Discourse (nonverbal elements related to the use of language, such as ways of thinking, valuing, and using tools and technologies) in the process of group knowledge construction of mechanical engineering students. Data included interviews, participant…

This paper reports on a study of bilingual elementary students' oral reading miscue patterns focused on self-correction strategies. Specifically, two kinds of self-monitoring during reading were compared: self-correction for which previous context to the miscue provided no prompt to self-correct, and self-correction for which the miscue itself…

Introduction: The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether children who have reading disabilities in an alphabetically transparent orthography show a syntactic processing deficit. This research focuses on exploring syntactic processing and the use of morphological markers by subjects with reading disabilities. We analyze these groups'…

Behavioral studies have shown that while young infants can discriminate many different phonetic contrasts, a shift from a language-general to a language-specific pattern of discrimination is found during the second semester of life, beginning earlier for vowels than for consonants. This age-related decline in sensitivity to perceive non-native…

Four groups of second language (L2) learners of English from different language backgrounds (Chinese, Japanese, German, and Greek) and a group of native speaker controls participated in an online reading time experiment with sentences involving long-distance "wh"-dependencies. Although the native speakers showed evidence of making use of…

This article presents arguments for using listening and reading activities as an option for techniques in grammar pedagogy. It describes two possible approaches: Processing Instruction (PI) and Enriched Input (EI), and examples of their key features are included in the appendices. The article goes on to report on a classroom based quasi-experiment…

The 4th International Conference on Educational Data Mining (EDM 2011) brings together researchers from computer science, education, psychology, psychometrics, and statistics to analyze large datasets to answer educational research questions. The conference, held in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, July 6-9, 2011, follows the three previous editions…

A method for assessing the cognitive and linguistic stages of second language learning in individuals is discussed. The approach is based on a psycholinguistic theory that views language learning as a process of concept formation in three domains: cognitive, cultural, and linguistic. According to the model presented, Spanish-English bilingual…

This book presents an integrated theory of cognitive development in infancy and early childhood, emphasizing the role of language in memory, processing narratives, forming concepts, and understanding others' intentions. Chapter 1, "Language, Cognition, and Culture in Developmental Perspective," presents the experiential theoretical…

Using techniques of inference appraisal suggested by T. A. van Dijk and R. J. Sternberg, a study investigated whether by assigning particular writing tasks it would be possible to influence the way readers produce inferences about a text. Subjects, 52 ninth grade students, read especially prepared booklets and completed either a paraphrasing,…

Three studies are presented, each of which is a comparison of the acquisition of an aspect of the French verb system by three groups of speakers. The speakers are: young Anglophones learning French as a second language in an early French immersion program in Montreal; young monolingual Francophones attending elementary French language schools in…