Describes the presence of a phonological selection strategy and consonant harmony rule in one child's developing phonological system. Evidence suggests that this constant harmony constraint operated across morpheme boundaries, causing a delay in the onset of two-word utterances and influencing the selection of words that could occur in word…

Examines the nature of the convergent relationship between formal spoken and written discourse by focusing on three issues: (1) spoken vs. written modes; (2) formal vs. informal discourse; and (3) the relationship between oral ritual communication and written language and between ritual/written communication and everyday colloquial language. (SED)

Investigates the silent pauses in continuous speech in three genres: political speeches, political interviews, and casual interviews in order to see how the semantic-syntactic information of the message, the duration of silent pauses, and the acoustic environment of these pauses interact to produce the listener's perception of pauses. (Author/SED)

Based on the assumption that the characteristics of communicative language teaching (CLT) have not been clearly defined because CLT needs a new metaphor to describe it, some characteristics of what that metaphor might be are discussed. Reviews some ways in which CLT guides classroom practice and offers directions for future research. (SED)

Summarizes the results of research on oral and written language processes and lists problems with computer software that does not reflect that research. (AEA)

Presents findings of a survey of English as a second language students' attitudes toward and preferences for the correction of spoken errors by native speaker friends. The subjects reported positive attitudes toward error correction and claimed to prefer even more correction than their friends did. They saw correcting errors as facilitating--even…

Reports a study of learning strategies with students of English as a second language (ESL). In Phase 1, students were interviewed to identify the range of learning strategies they were already using for specific activities. In Phase 2, students were trained to use learning strategies for vocabulary, listening, and speaking. (SED)

Discusses the hypothesis that right hemispheric cognitive processes underlie establishment of meaning in language and in processing of linguistic gestalts, and examines several lines of evidence. Also examined is the hypothesis that societal complexity is related to differences in relative dependence upon cognitive processes controlled by cerebral…

Examined whether kindergarten and first-grade children give sex-biased responses if reinforced and/or triggered by language, specifically pronouns, that they hear. Results supported the pronomial dominance theory of pronoun functioning for young children. Results also suggest that boys but not girls use a self-imaging response to neutral…

Describes a study done to determine which intonational parameters are most important to the meaning being conveyed within different social settings. Defines the factors that appear to influence the use of pitch and/or intensity prominence on negative words. Found that, in many situations, interactional rules take precedence over linguistic rules.…

Spanish/English bilingual and monolingual English-speaking children, ages 36 to 50 months, were recorded during interactions with their mothers. Analyses were made of recorded language (using selected morphological and syntactic features) and home language of bilingual children. It is concluded that results provide insight into bilingual…

Examined oset and acquisition of language comprehension and production in a language delayed child through analysis of a daily diary. In addition to confirming that the gap between comprehension and production was greater than that found in normal children, data from these observations can also be used to add to a general understanding of the…

Discusses the apparent opposition between the concepts of language learning and language acquisition in the context of adult second-language study. Proposes that these two concepts are mutually supportive, not mutually exclusive. Demonstrates how the implications of learning vs. acquisition can be integrated into a communicative…

Presents results of two case studies involving the acquisition of English in a natural environment, as well as the results of two judgment tests in which subjects were asked to judge the grammaticality of sentences containing both correctly and incorrectly used dative verbs. (SL)

Focuses on speech act theory and the demands of the multilevel language classroom, noting that special attention should be paid in language classes to what is meant, as distinct from what is said. Using the communicative approach to language teaching and crossing cultural boundaries, cross-cultural conversations are being developed that are…