Argues that in the initial stages of learning a new form in a foreign language and its associated functions, communicative needs and learning needs are fundamentally opposed. Suggests that what is needed is an orientation to language that is based on prior familiarity with specific forms and meaning that can be used in discourse as anchors to…

Parallel measures of phonological, syntactic, and orthographic processing skill and reading were administered in English and Chinese to 65 children whose first language (L1) was Cantonese and whose 2nd language (L2) was English. This research adds to the evidence for cross-language transfer of phonological processing in L2 learning of…

The results of a within-subject cross-language study of text comprehension in adult second language (L2) learners are presented. Text comprehension and sentence reading time measures were obtained for matched narrative and procedural texts in English and French from adult learners of French as a second language (FSL) at two levels of French…

All second language (L2) learning theories presuppose that learners learn the target language from the speech signal (or written material, when learners are reading), so an understanding of learners' ability to detect and represent novel patterns in linguistic stimuli will constitute a major building block in an adequate theory of second language…

This study used neuroimaging and behavioral techniques to examine the claim that processing capacity limitations underlie specific language impairment (SLI). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to investigate verbal working memory in adolescents with SLI and normal language (NL) controls. The experimental task involved a modified…

The authors examined whether people can use their knowledge of the wider discourse rapidly enough to anticipate specific upcoming words as a sentence is unfolding. In an event-related brain potential (ERP) experiment, subjects heard Dutch stories that supported the prediction of a specific noun. To probe whether this noun was anticipated at a…

This study examines the on-line processing of sentences with movement using an auditory anomaly detection task (after Boland, Tanenhaus, Garnsey, & Carlson, 1995). Eight agrammatic aphasic participants (four of whom had undergone treatment focused on comprehension and production of filler-gap sentences) and 24 young normal participants listened to…

An emerging body of literature points to the prominent role of the frontal lobes in the retrieval of verbs, whereas production of common and proper nouns arguably is mediated primarily by posterior and anterior temporal regions, respectively. Although the majority of studies examining the neuroanatomic distinctions between verb and noun retrieval…

Two findings serve as the hallmark for hemispheric specialization during lateralized lexical decision. First is an overall word advantage, with words being recognized more quickly and accurately than non-words (the effect being stronger in response latency). Second, a right visual field advantage is observed for words, with little or no…

Language-specific phonological processes routinely affect the pronunciation of words spoken in context, but do not appear to interfere with spoken word recognition. Five experiments are presented in which native and non-speakers of Hungarian and Korean monitored for segments in assimilated and non-assimilated control contexts related to…

To compare Japanese autistic children's use of semantic knowledge and theory of mind with mentally retarded and typically developing children's, they were tested on their comprehension of active and passive sentences and false belief understanding. Autistic children were sensitive to plausibility levels of semantic bias as were 4-year-olds with…

Using 12 participants we conducted an fMRI study involving two tasks, word reversal and rhyme judgment, based on pairs of natural speech stimuli, to study the neural correlates of manipulating auditory imagery under taxing conditions. Both tasks engaged the left anterior superior temporal gyrus, reflecting previously established perceptual…

In this article, "Fragebogen" (1992) by Max Frisch is shown to contain appropriately challenging linguistic constructions for use in courses as a supplement to traditional anthologies in conversation/composition courses. Frisch's eleven questionnaires on topics ranging from "Heimat," marriage and private property to humor, money and death serve as…

This study focused on the feasibility of a group-administered paper-and pencil lexical-decision test as a plausible alternative or supplementary tool for the assessment of reading skills. Lexical-decision tests and oral-reading tests were administered to 130 Dutch students from primary grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. Correlations were moderate to high…

Reports describing subcortical apraxia of speech (AOS) have received little consideration in the development of recent speech processing models because the speech characteristics of patients with this diagnosis have not been described precisely. We describe a case of AOS with aphasia secondary to basal ganglia hemorrhage. Speech-language symptoms…