Describes two experiments testing the hypothesis that thematic titles largely relieve the reader of the task of constructing a sense from coherent texts. Finds that such titles significantly increase free recall of structured or slightly disorganized texts, while only prolonged reading allows titles to raise recall of an unstructured text. (MES)

Studied 60 adults to determine age differences in cohesion of narrative retellings in reference and conjunction discourse systems. Older adults scored significantly lower on the memory span measure, recalled less story information, and made more referential errors in retellings than younger adults. (RJC)

This paper uses a combination of perceptual and electropalatographic (EPG) analysis to explore the presence and characteristics of connected speech processes in the speech output of five older children with developmental speech impairments. Each of the children is shown to use some processes typical of normal speech production but also to use a…

This article presents and illustrates a formal model of linguistic analysis in order to explain a phenomenon that is fundamental to translators in their practice: the construction of coherence. First, the role of paragraphs in the construction of coherence is explained with the application of the model to a newspaper editorial. It is shown, in…

This article is based on the analysis of a fragment of conversation recorded in a year one classroom. It explores the ways in which young children use language to produce a meaningful world and highlights the importance of language in the presentation of social experience. It then draws upon this analysis to discuss how children learn to use…

This chapter highlights the central role of experience in learning and consciousness; it also outlines experience-based instructional processes that adult educators can use. (Contains 1 figure.)

In the current debate about the abstractness of children's early grammatical knowledge, Tomasello & Abbott-Smith (2002) have suggested that children might first develop "weak" or "partial" representations of abstract syntactic structures. This paper attempts to characterize these structures by comparing the development of constructions around…

There is a continuing need to investigate how contemporary students in schools are writing the word, and their world, beyond modernist parameters of the page. This article explores the online writing of a senior English world literature class, located in a Western Canadian city, as examined through a recent qualitative case study. Borrowing a 17th…

An analysis of the role of the word "hence" and its near-synonyms examines the relationship between logic as a science, as a natural language, and as argumentation. The analysis is done in the context of elementary propositional logic. The first section is a limited discussion of the standard logician's treatment relegating "hence" to the realm of…

This paper reports on experiments conducted to demonstrate that segmental duration in English is syntactically determined in a connected discourse. The methodology for investigation is outlined. Various factors influencing duration, such as semantics, syntax, rhythm, intonation and lexical stress are discussed. (Author/CLK)

THREE GROUPS OF SUBJECTS WERE GIVEN A PASSAGE TO LEARN FOLLOWED BY A WRITTEN RECALL TEST. GROUP HA (HIGH ASSOCIATION) WAS GIVEN A PASSAGE WHICH INCLUDED 16 PAIRS OF ASSOCIATIVELY RELATED NOUNS. GROUPS LA (LOW ASSOCIATION) AND C (CONTROL) WERE GIVEN A PASSAGE CONTAINING ASSOCIATIVELY UNRELATED NOUNS. THE HA AND LA PASSAGES CONTAINED THE SAME…

The spontaneous speech of seven children was monitored for "wh" questions. The children were observed longitudinally from about age 24 to 36 months. The pattern of development with regard to the deletion of non-obligatory verbs revealed that "what,""where," and "who" questions presented increasing verb…

This paper suggests that teachers concentrate on the ideational and structural properties of text rather than on information acquired from readability formulas when selecting and using texts. Emphasis is given to the importance of context in the analysis of text, and a framework is suggested for examining the text considering the functions texts…