The (Roger A.) McCaig article appeared in Elementary English," vol. 47, no. 5 (May 1970), pp. 612-18: How Not To Analyze the Syntax of Children"; it was critical of a study in which the author was a co-investigator ( Syntax of Kindergarten and Elementary School Children: A Transformational Analysis," 1967). (RD)

Reaction to another article in this issue, "How Not To Analyze the Syntax of Children" by Roger McCaig, pp. 612-18. (SW)

Studies the effect the degree of alliteration has on verbal learning, using four degrees of alliteration and three retention intervals. (MB)

Studies the sounds of the Parisian French /R/ consonant by examining sound spectrograms and X-ray photographs of speakers' pharynxes. Illustrates the phonetic distinctions and compares the Parisian consonantal usage to usage in other languages, including American English. (AM)

Results of a statistical study of language in 30 infants suggest that two acquisition styles (nominal/pronominal and referential/expressive) are developing in parallel. Only for children heavily emphasizing one strategy can a distinctive style be determined. Results at 20 months were only partially predictive of performance at 28 months. (MSE)

Investigates the extent to which college students enrolled in French, German, and Spanish courses subscribe to stereotypes about the purported characteristics of these languages. (EKN)

Analyzes the oral production of verb tenses and temporal expressions in the speech of four Spanish-speaking Mexican American children between the ages of two and four and one-half. Gives details of linguistic development at three- and/or six-month intervals. Charts the most common temporal expressions and their frequency of occurrence. (SB)

Young children found it difficult to verify negative statements, but found affirmative statements, affirmative questions, and negative questions equally easy to deal with. It is proposed that children acquire the answering system earlier than the verification system, and use answering to verify statements before acquiring the verification system.…

Two experiments were designed to see (1) if a cloze procedure is a valid measure of language proficiency (it seems to be) and (2) whether a cloze procedure can distinguish accurately between groups at various instructional levels (it distinguishes levels but the levels overlap). (EKN)

Presents arguments concerning the linguistic assimilation of Blacks (West Indians) in Britain, and the research methodology used to examine this issue. One argument holds that the studies' designs are flawed, allowing a false interpretation that Blacks are linguistically assimilated; the other argument upholds the research findings. (WAS)

The paper describes the theoretical shift that has taken place in speech-language pathology as a result of the focus on the pragmatic aspects of language. This shift is placed in the philosophical perspective of American pragmatism. (Author)

Investigates the concept of politeness as perceived by native speakers and advanced learners of English. Results indicate that the learner's ability to judge politeness in the target language does not necessarily mean s/he can use politeness strategies correctly in actual communication situations. (EKN)

Explores learner aptitudes for communicative competence in a second language by looking at the learners' social cognition. Results showed that individuals having higher levels of cognitive complexity and interpersonal maturity tended to perform better on communicative competence tasks. (EKN)

Describes immersion programs in the United States and Canada and reviews results of evaluative research pertaining to them. Discusses findings with respect to students' native-language development, academic achievement, and second language proficiency. Also discusses the suitability of immersion for students with distinctive, potentially…

A set of four experiments investigates the relationship between phonological coding and reading ability, using a picture-word interference task and a decoding task. Results with regard to both adults and children suggest that while poor readers possess weak decoding skills, good and poor readers show equivalent evidence of direct semantic and…