The writer introduces the idea of sociolinguistic competence, the ability of a speaker to produce and recognize an infinite number of inter-idiolectal code switches, and discusses two methods of dealing with such language variations: frequency analysis and implicational analysis. In frequency analysis, the method used by sociolinguists such as…

Following a review of the attempts of researchers like Walter Loban, Kellogg Hunt, Roy O'Donnell, Raymond Norris, and William Griffin to measure the syntactic complexity of the language of school-age children, several inferences are made in this study about the assumptions these investigators have made about the nature of language and of the…

A project currently being conducted in Sweden on free written composition at the middle level of comprehensive school is described. The principal aims of the project are listed under three headings: linguistic quality and linguistic development, stimulus measures preparatory to writing, and social differences in writing ability. Included in the…

An overview of research on implicit speech from 1868 to 1970 is presented. Various studies are reviewed in which a variety of mechanical devices were used to examine the physiological changes that occur during silent reading. Edfelt's use of a mingograph in 1950 was considered a breakthrough, along with his conclusion that efforts to eliminate…

Fifteen eight- and nine-year-old boys with reading disabilities and 15 with normal reading ability participated in a study of the relationships among reading disabilities, oral syntax, and temporal functioning ability (sequencing and the ability to perceive relationships in time). Each subject was given an individual battery of tests which…

This study investigated the language performance of two groups of children in grades four, five, seven, and eight. One group was composed of 15 children who began first grade at less than six years, three months of age; the other group included 15 who began first grade after they were over six years, eleven months of age. Results from a series of…

Computer-based multidimensional scaling techniques are used to determine the dimensionality of grammatical variation in three large sets of data: Ross' (1973) Noun Phrase and fake Noun Phrase data; Sankoff's (1974) complementizer "que"-deletion (Montreal French) data; and Cedergren's (1973) syllable-final S-reduction (Panamanian Spanish) data. (DB)

An experiment was conducted to determine the conditions under which selective imitation of relative clauses could be produced in preschool. Imitation training was more effective than modeling alone, and instructions and reinforcements were effective in an additive manner. Implications for the role of imitation in language development are…

Compares the linguistic performance of the students in three grades exhibiting different levels of performance on five selected Piaget-type tasks, and identifies those tasks which differentiated significantly between the cognitive levels and the linguistic performance of the subjects. (Author/GA)

Discusses the problem of the lack of native speakers to judge grammatical acceptability in analyzing a dead language such as Latin, and proposes an analysis on the level of linguistic performance. (AM)

The current tendency toward uniformity of teaching methods and tests in the Hauptschulen ("terminal" junior high schools) is applauded. Using a picture story as an example, a list of criteria is given for the evaluation of student performance. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

A study of two final-year gymnasium classes showed that: (1) objective grading procedures (of "free" oral and written performance in the foreign language) correlate well with "global rating" by native speakers of the language; and (2) "free" oral performance correlates well with "free" written performance. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

A review of problems and prospects regarding the communicative approach to second language teaching considers learner needs, syllabi, "real" communication, teacher concerns, and future prospects. While there is a set of shared assumptions about the concept of a genuine communicative approach, there is no one specific communicative method. (CB)

Compared linguistic flexibility of deaf and hearing children aged 8 to 15 by examining relative frequencies of their nonliteral constructions in stories written and signed or spoken. Considered seven types of nonliteral constructions. Results suggest deaf children are more competent linguistically and cognitively than are hearing children. (SKC)

Assesses children's comprehension of "because" and "so" on enactment and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence against a componential model for the acquisition of causal connectives. Supported is the position that understanding of relational terms is initially context dependent; linguistic development generates…