Investigates interaction between application of communicative strategies and narrative discourse features. The data draws upon research in narrative discourse collected from one student of Moroccan Arabic. The study suggests that the subject resorted to a number of strategies to compensate for her linguistic deficiencies and that application of…

Explores the relationship between student participation in the English as a second language classroom and proficiency in English, use of the target language outside the classroom, and field sensitivity. Results of cloze tests and in some cases, oral interviews, indicate no significant relationship. These findings are discussed with respect to the…

Conducted experiment to determine how the presence of sandhi-variation, a common characteristic of spoken English that reduces the perceptual saliency of many of its features, affects the comprehensibility of English unit. Results indicated that sandhi-variation is an important input-intake filter for English learners but not for those whose…

Explored young children's ability to contrast social roles through language, using a technique of controlled improvisation with puppets. Found that from an early age (three or four years) children are aware of a broad range of social variation and are sensitive to the linguistic means of encoding this variation. (PD)

Examines a multicontextual aspect of language proficiency that sociolinguists refer to as "communicative competence." Offers a procedure for its application. (PD)

Results of a study of speech production and speech perception by adult learners of English indicate the main differences between native-speaker and nonnative speaker perception and production. Methodological issues are raised relating to the comparison of the two, and the need for further research to evaluate and refine the relationship between…

Study indicates that hearing impaired residential students are more proficient users of American Sign Language than are hearing impaired children enrolled in local, public school programs, and older such residential students are more proficient in the language than are younger students. (SL)

Research is presented in support of the theory that early French immersion of English-speaking children leads to bilingualism. The evidence is limited to children through the end of grade four. Comments and criticisms are made by three guest analysts. (RM)

A report is made of an investigation regarding the type of learning disabilities found in children who fail or do poorly in primary French immersion programs. Comments and criticisms are made by three guest analysts. (RM)

Describes two experiments in which Ss were given 48 trials, using word lists as stimuli, followed by an unexpected final free recall test. (Author/RM)

Mary S. Erbaugh has compiled this volume to examine the so-called "ideographic myth" from a variety of perspectives. Through this multidisciplinary collection of articles, we learn how the myth has come about, what sort of theory and empirical evidence have been generated to refute it, and how this myth has stubbornly persisted to hamper progress…

A review of literature in sociolinguistics and classroom conversation reveals areas in which sociolinguistic research and theory can inform the conducting of student writing conferences with teachers. Studies on classroom discourse, communicative competence in classroom exchanges, the nature and role of teacher talk, and the features of…

This review of the historical literature in language development focuses on the characteristics and development of written language, noting that since writing was considered a school function associated with prescribed sequential instruction, few investigations were conducted during the stages of initial growth in writing competency. Also noted is…

A study examined children's use of private speech in early childhood classrooms. The study's three goals were: to determine the degree to which private speech is used; to replicate and extend previous research with older children; and to examine the classroom's particular contexts and activity settings which maximize children's use of private…

Verbs of motion and location in Irish Sign Language have a characteristic lexicalization pattern, which influences the lexical choices signers make in denoting the motion and location of entities. Perceived characteristics of referents govern the type of verb root selected. Animate and inanimate referents are signified by different types of verb…