Although the constraints of time and environment under which most language learning is done mean that a natural language situation can never be reproduced in school, many of the findings from first language acquisition studies apply to second language (L2) learning. This would mean therefore that instead of stressing speaking in a beginning L2…

A longitudinal study was conducted of 153 children (3-7 years old) with severe and profound hearing losses. Ss were tested three times over a 4-year period, including measures of linguistic and academic performance. In addition, information was collected on the background characteristics of Ss through parent interviews. Among findings were that,…

In comparing research conducted in the Netherlands and the United States on parental reports of child behavior, this document reports several studies in which Dutch parents of children ages 3 to 36 months completed a translated version of Bates' Infant Characteristics Questionnaire (ICQ). In the first part of the Dutch study, 7,000 parents…

A study of the relationship of language proficiency level and bilingualism or monolingualism to the comprehension of anaphoric third-person subject pronouns in 9- and 10-year-old children found that bilingual children have the same difficulty with anaphora as their monolingual counterparts. In the comprehension of the pronouns tested, partial…

Summarized are implications of recent research on children's development and learning for the curriculum in early childhood programs. Contents focus on the development of language, dispositions, social competence, and intellect. Taken together, the research suggests that children attending preschool and kindergarten classes should frequently be…

This book provides an overview of bilingualism and bilingual education by examining historical and recent literature, presenting firsthand observations, and demonstrating how both popular views and scholarly research actually mirror larger social issues. Following the first chapter, a brief introduction, chapter 2 reviews the historical…

This handbook reviews findings from the research literature on effective schools to ascertain their relevance to Language Arts instruction, and to guide school administrators in their efforts to improve instruction for limited English speaking (LEP) students. The following chapters are included: (1) Introduction; (2) Principal as Instructional…

Following a literature review on speech and language development of twins, case studies are presented of six sets of identical twins screened for entrance into kindergarten. Five sets of the twins and one boy from the sixth set failed to pass the screening test, particularly the speech and language section, and were referred for therapy to correct…

Students with the dual handicaps of hearing impairment and mental retardation display special problems in language acquisition. These problems do not appear to have been addressed by curricula that have been designed for either of the single handicap groups. Since specially designed curricula for this population are virtually nonexistent, a…

The creation of new words through the novel combination of English words or morphemes (e.g., "map ball" to refer to a globe) was studied and compared in 40 preschool children, 40 grade school children, and 40 adults. These made-up words or lexical innovations were collected while subjects attempted to name pictured objects and were evaluated in…

A study providing a descriptive and explanatory analysis of the representative stages of language acquisition found in a sample of 12 working-class black children ranging from 18 months to 4.6 years is reported. Previous general language research concerned with linguistic abilities of working-class black children is critically evaluated, and the…

A case is presented for a major overhaul in the language arts curriculum, based on the idea that traditional teaching methods, especially in reading and writing, that do not take into account children's natural tendency to make sense of their world and to base new learning on what they already know, are ineffective or even inhibitive of literacy…

This paper provides a brief outline of some of the constituents of speech, language, and universal stages of the development of talking in children up to the age of 2 1/2 years. Mention is made of theories put forward to account for universal aspects of speech and language development; recent research into the way adults talk to very small…

The conferencee discussions and papers presented in this volume reflect the opinions and research of 20 authorities in the field of communication development. These authorities offer new perspectives on nonverbal communication, speech reception and production, and the development of language and thought. To provide a better understanding of…

Delayed language development is compared to normal development along six basic parameters, and the problem of language delay among handicapped children is addressed. Interaction characteristics that occur at an early stage between the mother and handicapped child are also reviewed, along with the way parents tend to compensate for their child's…