To ascertain whether subjects spanning the range of reading acquisition exhibit semantic constructivity when confronted with a silent reading task, a study was conducted involving 120 second, fifth, and seventh graders, and 30 graduate students. For purposes of the study, semantic constructivity was defined as the uncued production of inferences…

The complexity of language of four, five, and six year old children was examined in a psycholinguistic study that attempted to differentiate the characteristics of sentences that were difficult for children to comprehend from those which were easy, and to discover whether children used a subject-verb-object (S-V-O) language strategy to interpret…

Three studies tested the ability of children of different ages to comprehend spoken sentences while viewing pictures that differed from the sentences according to some plausible combinations of actor, action, and beneficiary. In the first two studies, involving a total of 140 subjects, nine contextual conditions were used, including sentence only,…

Categories such as commanding, requesting, and explaining were used to analyze communicative intentions in conversations of 108 children, aged five through nine, during three sets of play activities varying in task specification and leadership role assignment. Results showed that the frequency and variety of communicative intention categories…

Intended as an introduction to psycholinguistics from the linguist's point of view, this book addresses itself to three main topics: the innateness of language, the relationship of linguistic knowledge to language usage, and the comprehension and production of speech. In 12 chapters, the book discusses the nature of language development, the…

The interview techniques developed by Carol Chomsky were used in a comparative study of the language acquisition of 32 bilingual and monolingual third grade students. After these students were matched for age, socioeconomic status, IQ, family environment (both parents in the home), and reading ability, they were placed in four…

The use of Carba-linguaduc equipment (an electronic device that facilitates communication in the nonverbal) in the teaching of basic reading skills was compared to gestural yes/no responses in a study with four severely cerebral palsied/moderately retarded young adults (ages 20 to 30). Results indicated that significant language learning was…

The ability of young children to communicate at the time they produce their first words was studied, with particular reference to the question of whether children are able to modify their requests depending on the adult's response. The subjects were four children ranging in age from 15 to 18 months; the data were their requests of adults coded…

INCLUDED IN THIS REPORT ARE BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF 36 CURRENT, PROJECTED, OR RECENTLY COMPLETED SOCIAL DIALECT STUDIES IN ENGLISH. THE THIRD IN A SERIES, REPORT NO. 3 COMPLETELY SUPERSEDES THE PREVIOUS REPORTS (WHICH WERE ENTITLED "CURRENT SOCIAL DIALECT RESEARCH AT AMERICAN HIGHER INSTITUTIONS, NOS. 1 AND 2"). THE PROJECTS OUTLINED IN THIS REPORT…

THE RELATIONSHIP OF ENVIRONMENT AND THE DEVELOPMENTAL PROCESS OF THE BEGINNING SCHOOL CHILD WAS EXPLORED. MORE SPECIFICALLY, THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS RESEARCH WERE TO DESCRIBE THE MAJOR DIMENSION THROUGH WHICH ENVIRONMENT IS LIKELY TO INHIBIT DEVELOPMENT AND TO SPECIFY THE AREAS THAT HAVE BEEN MOST INFLUENCED BY UNFAVORABLE ENVIRONMENTAL…

THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAM WERE TO PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THIRD AND FOURTH GRADE STUDENTS WHO HAVE POTENTIAL IN TERMS OF MENTAL ABILITY AND BEHAVIORAL STABILITY, AND TO CLOSE THE GAP BETWEEN THEIR RETARDED READING AND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND REASONABLE GRADE EXPECTANCY. REMEDIAL READING TEACHERS WERE ASSIGNED TO TWO PROJECT SCHOOLS, EACH…

A STUDY WAS MADE OVER A 4-YEAR PERIOD WITH 478 NONENGLISH SPEAKING CHILDREN, BOYS AND GIRLS, AGES 5-13, OF NAVAJO INDIAN BACKGROUND, IN GANADO PUBLIC SCHOOL, ARIZONA. TOYS FOR THE PROJECT BY THE 72 PARTICIPATING TOY MANUFACTURERS. FINDINGS INDICATE THAT WHILE THE USE OF TOYS CAN NOT BE CONSIDERED A PANACEA FOR ALL TEACHING ILLS, THEIR USE IN…

THREE EXPERIMENTS WERE CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE AND COMPARE THE EFFECTS OF VISUAL AND AURAL LANGUAGE LEARNING. SPANISH VOCABULARY ITEMS WERE LEARNED FIRST IN ONE SENSE MODE AND THEN RELEARNED IN A DIFFERENT SENSE MODE. TRANSFER EFFECTS WERE STUDIED FROM THE VOCABULARY ITEMS LEARNED TO PATTERNED (PICTURE-CUED) SENTENCES AND STORIES. TWO SAMPLES OF…

The report examines longitudinal research on language generalization in natural environments of 32 severely retarded, moderately retarded, and mildly language delayed preschool children. All Ss received language training on one of two programs and Ss' speech samples in a natural environment were collected and analyzed for evidence of…

In its broadest sense, metalinguistic awareness refers to the study of or reflection upon language as an object--the form and structure of language rather than the content, the way in which the form expresses or relates to the message. One value of research on metalinguistic awareness lies in its potential for testing adult notions about the ways…