This book describes how the child acquires a linguistic system before he is capable of verbal utterances or has developed the ability to structure language in a meaningful way. The first chapter of the book contains a discussion of previous language development studies on learning the mother tongue and proposes a hypothesis of language development…

While most foreign language programs list communicative language use as a primary goal, classroom tests seldom reflect this objective but rather focus on discrete-point linguistic competence. The authors present a model of the communication process and point to the main task in constructing tests of communicative competence: devising simulated…

Two topics related to teaching reading are presented. The first reports findings of research on the initial teaching alphabet (i.t.a.). Between September, 1961, and April, 1963, four- and five-year-old children were introduced to the new medium in six termly intakes. Data on the first three groups to enter are reported. After 1 year of being…

This study investigated the performance of three groups of educationally advantaged and educationally disadvantaged eighth grade boys on each of five measures of cognitive, linguistic, and intellectual functioning. The five measures included: (1) general intelligence, (2) field dependence assessed by an embedded-figures task, (3) level of…

Evidence seems to suggest that children whose dialects are nonstandard generally produce compositions considered lower in quality than those produced by middle and upper-middle class children. The focus of this study, therefore, was to examine the relationship between children's knowledge of the structure of their language and their judged ability…

Use of classroom improvisations and role-playing can help the second language learner speak quickly, naturally, and spontaneously. The technique is discussed and illustrated. (CHK)

Presents the theory of general language proficiency and looks at the construct validation of cloze tests and C-tests. Describes the defects of classical cloze procedures. Gives an example of the C-Test and discusses its empirical validity. Concludes that C-tests are authentic tests of the construct of general language proficiency.

Rejects the assumptions which underlie the audiolingual method and offers two alternative propositions: (1) successful use of language requires the acquisition of communicative as well as linguistic competence and (2) first and second language learning are analogous processes. (Author/FB)

The approach taken to testing reading comprehension in a Bombay University English program is described. A distinction is drawn between communicative and communicational teaching approaches. Reading skills and the traditional techniques for teaching them are examined, and sample reading comprehension test items using the communicational approach…

Examines developmental patterns in the solution of verbal analogies. Twenty subjects in each of grades 3, 6, 9, and in college were tested on their relative abilities to solve 180 verbal analogies based on five different verbal relations. (CM)

This study examined the development of causal expressions in children's discourse from two to three years of age. Linguistic, contextual, and pragmatic influences on language development were the major factors considered. (CM)

This article on language assessment differentiates between linguistic competence and communicative competence as a theoretical framework. Descriptive assessment is discussed as it relates to the role of context, language sampling, and play-based assessments. Finally, the impact of descriptive assessment on the future of speech and language…

Investigates effects of instruction on parameter resetting in second-language acquisition, where the first and second language differ as to the settings they adopt for verb movement. The question addressed is whether instruction on one of a cluster of properties associated with lack of verb movement in English generalizes to another property…

This paper treats methodological issues involved in assessing linguistic competence in the field, specifically in bilingual fieldwork situations. First, the various means of assessment of linguistic competence that have been described and/or used are listed and commented on. Then the authors explain the choice of assessment methods for fieldwork…