In response to Sawyer (EC 602 748), this article provides evidence from cognitive neuropsychological case reports that does not support the strong metalinguistic hypothesis, which contends that explicit, conscious mastery of the relationship between phonology and orthography is a necessary (and perhaps sufficient) precondition for the development…

This case study examined the effects of a Maori language and culture immersion preschool program on a preschooler's English and Maori language usage at home. School and home observations revealed the importance of the child's role in acquiring bilingual expertise, the presence of complementary activities at home, and shared cultural commitments.…

A multifaceted model to promote peer play was implemented with play groups including 3 children (ages 6-8) with autism, resulting in decreased isolate play and collateral gains in social play, and decreased stereotyped object play and collateral gains in functional object play. Advances in play behaviors were generalized and were accompanied by…

Studies employed detailed discourse analysis techniques to examine Montreal nursing students' comprehension of texts in both their first and second languages. The results suggest that the use of second-language production tends to underestimate and distort second-language comprehension, at least at intermediate levels of second-language…

Effective instructional strategies used to teach language skills to 24 elementary aged students with autism or moderate mental retardation included the use of choral responding; the use of student-to-student responding; the frequent rotation of materials while teaching 2 to 3 concepts; and the use of random, unpredictable trials for student…

Examines language development in preschool children, focusing on teacher-child interactions that can help facilitate language development. Suggests that teachers, parents, and other adults need to respond to children's conversation, elaborate on children's language, and ask children questions. Argues that the best way to facilitate language…

Results of a study of children's performance on pseudohomophone naming, similarity judgment, and lexical decision suggest that training in pinyin, a system for spelling Chinese words in Latin letters, helps child readers pronounce unfamiliar words, and makes them more responsive to visual information but less precise in word recognition.…

Examines the adaptive nature of prolonged human cognitive immaturity through developmental research in metacognition, egocentricity, plasticity, the speed of information processing, and language acquisition. Discusses the consequences of viewing children's immature cognition as adaptive for cognitive development and education. (Author/JB)

Forty postsecondary students who were deaf were required to recall lists of eight words. Students with higher levels of English language proficiency recalled significantly more than those with lower levels. Semantic pairing aided the low-level group more than the high-level group, whereas syntactic organization aided the high-level group more.…

The effects of analog language teaching and natural language teaching on language generalization and long-term retention in 23 adults with autism and severe/profound mental retardation were examined. Natural language teaching was found to have many strengths and few drawbacks and to produce equal generalization and retention under conditions…

This response to EC 604 058 argues that Marc Fey's emphasis on language organization at the morpheme and word level is not efficacious with preschool children who show phonological delay and delayed semantic-syntactic development. A model of verbal communication which unites phonetic, phonological, and higher organizational levels and related…

College students with prelingual deafness were assessed on their knowledge of English syntax at the beginning and end of the academic year. Results revealed significant improvement on nine English structures assessed; students with lower general English proficiency improved to a greater extent than other students. (Author/JDD)

This article reviews data on problems in communicative development of maltreated children and discusses their implications for practitioners concerned with communicative development. The influence of social class and cultural factors is examined, and the impact of child maltreatment on communicative development from infancy up to school age is…

Examines naturally occurring one-to-one writing conference conversations between a ninth grade English teacher and three students. Considers composing processes that appear to be privileged in the conference context when different students are learning to write. Suggests a broadened model of effective writing conference instruction. (MG)

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…