This report is one of a regular series on the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications. The reports contained in this particular number are state-of-the-art reviews of work central to the Haskins Laboratories' areas of research. The papers included are: (1)…

Within a school curriculum featuring English as a second language, classes such as History for English as a Second Language and Math for English as a Second Language can play an important role. In these classes, the teacher can present content-subject matter, keeping in mind the linguistic capabilities of the students. Principles are not watered…

This paper describes the notation and underlying organization of an augmented, recursive-transition network grammar and illustrates how such a grammar is a natural medium for expressing and explaining a wide variety of facts about the psychological processes of sentence comprehension. A general discussion of transformational grammar and…

This article provides a discussion of current topics in psycholinguistics and of the current research on these problems. The author discusses current thought on the biological foundations of language and the problem of universals. If human language is a species-particular achievement contingent upon a biological endowment, there should be certain…

Hispanic children in grades 1 and 3 were tested to examine the relationship between degree of bilingualism in English and Spanish, intellectual development level, and performance on two tests of cognitive-perceptual functioning or field dependence/independence. A positive, significant relationship was found between relative language proficiency…

Argues that the proceduralization of linguistic knowledge is the most important factor in the development of fluency in advanced second-language learners. Experimental results indicate that learners become more fluent (as measured by speaking rate) after a period of residence abroad. It is concluded that quantitative and qualitative evidence…

A theory of how people learn certain procedural skills is presented. It is based on the idea that the teaching and learning that goes on in a classroom is like an ordinary conversation. The speaker (teacher) compresses a non-linear knowledge structure (the target procedure) into a linear sequence of utterances (lessons). The listener (student)…

The assumption that question-answer sequences consist of two moves was examined using data from recordings of second-grade classrooms in Austin, Texas. Interactions initiated by children's spontaneous questions in informal, small group settings were evaluated. Twenty-nine dialogue samples are presented and analyzed. Four issues in the study of…

The hypothesized ability of adult native speakers to understand linguistic ambiguity was tested. An approach developed to determine linguistic competence tested the ability of 90 participants in individual interviews to interpret sentences having the potential for multiple interpretations. The hypothesis was not supported by the data. A hierarchy…

This position paper on the measurement of achievement in language instruction contains nine articles by leading authorities. Three articles, written in German, cover: (1) testing: necessities and dangers, (2) supervision and evaluation of oral achievement in certification examinations, and (3) development of a higher level of an adult education…

The discussion centers around the amount and kind of participation that should be asked of a student taking reading and oral comprehension tests. For each test there are four levels of participation; zero, limited, extended, and complete. The test designer should create a situation which will encourage the subject to give maximum expression,…

It can be argued that the growing dissatisfaction with native language instruction in the schools arises inevitably from the fact that the facts of life about classroom instruction do not mesh well with the key features of successful language instruction. Effective language instruction presupposes the construction of a learning environment in…

There is a need for a new kind of linguistic theory which, while being concerned with both generation and analysis, must include the roles of memory, non-linguistic knowledge, and inference. The role of logic is diminished according to such a theory because inference has no real logical content. Meaning must be studied with respect to the actual…

While agreeing with psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic theories that suggest that innate language-related cognitive structures are the basis of language development, the author seeks to establish what it is that is innate and what is meant by innateness in the first place. The author considers the claims of psychological relevance made on behalf…

The transformational-generative concept of language learning as constructing a theory about language inspired this experiment. Language performance developed by a method of language learning designed to help the student study about a second language through manipulative exercises was compared to language performance developed by a method not…