Explores the ability of 5 children aged 1 month to 30 months to initiate and maintain topics of conversation. The data demonstrate that at the beginning of development children simply attract attention to themselves as the topic of conversation and that later, as their interests broaden, their topic repertoire expands. (Author/SED)

The study examined the expressive language, receptive language, and articulation skills of 30 Spanish speaking Puerto Rican children (ages 5-12 years) with language disorders (identified by fluent Spanish speaking evaluators). Results indicated both structural and pragmatic difficulties with little impact of English on their language development.…

Concludes that the level of categorization from which a word is drawn affects its learnability as a sight word. (FL)

Describes an activity that involved eight-year-old children writing stories for three- to five-year-old children. (DF)

Presents a model that predicts writing growth in children as a logical outcome of language acquisition. Provides a list of the kinds of language learning underway in the elementary school years and suggests that teachers may use this list to anticipate where and how such learning will influence the writing processes of children. (FL)

Reports on a study which followed the language development of a hearing son of deaf parents from his seventeenth month to twenty-third month. Various aspects of the child's language acquisition in sign and speech are described, as is his early ability to alternate languages (sign and speech) according to addressee. (SED)

Presents details of the linguistic modification in speech to children in the Mayan language, Quiche. Evaluates 17 features commonly cited for speech to children and notes seven additional features for Quiche: whispering, initial-syllable deletion, BT formed for verbs, a verbal suffix, more fixed word order, more imperatives, and a special…

Longitudinally examines interrelations between mother-child interactions and children's developing speech progress at six, 13, and 24 months of age. Children with large differentiated vocabularies showed superior in developmental progress relative to peers. Vocabulary progress was most closely linked to frequent responsive mother-child language…

Tracing its evolution and stressing the role of native language instruction, a proponent of bilingual education argues that native language instruction allows simultaneous content and second language skill development, diminishes alienation, and facilitates intellectual development, and that criticism of such instruction is founded on emotional…

A within-subject design involving three Spanish speaking and three English speaking preschoolers with language handicaps provided support for the practice of initial language intervention in the native language when bilingualism is a goal and for transference/facilitation theories of second language learning. (CL)

Investigates the differences in the use of certain verbs of movement and location between native ASL learners and children of hearing parents exposed to signing outside the home. Describes the children's use of phonology, morphology, and syntax in repeating target utterances. Relates results to interaction of language acquisition and motor…

Reports findings of a study investigating the effects of three prereading activities--advance organizers, structured overviews/graphic organizers, and multivocabulary experiences--done both orally and in writing before a text reading assignment was given. (FL)

Discusses one teacher's gradual acceptance of poetry as a useful means for teaching many areas of the language arts. Includes a case study of one student's growth as a poet. (HTH)

Examined oset and acquisition of language comprehension and production in a language delayed child through analysis of a daily diary. In addition to confirming that the gap between comprehension and production was greater than that found in normal children, data from these observations can also be used to add to a general understanding of the…

Discusses the apparent opposition between the concepts of language learning and language acquisition in the context of adult second-language study. Proposes that these two concepts are mutually supportive, not mutually exclusive. Demonstrates how the implications of learning vs. acquisition can be integrated into a communicative…