Examines the source of poor readers' comprehension failures in spoken sentences containing complex syntactic structures. Although research literature indicates that the difficulties poor readers display are usually associated with some aspect of phonological processing, other components of language processing may be involved. (58 references)…

Cross-cultural investigation of the influence of target-language in infant babbling analyzed 1047 vowels produced by 10-month-olds (N=20) from French, English, Cantonese, and Arabic language backgrounds. Results revealed differences among infants across language backgrounds, with the differences paralleling those found in adult speech in the…

Describes the development of the Early Adolescent/Child Care Helper Program, which is designed to meet the needs of both young adolescents and preschool children. (BB)

Describes the benefits that storytelling can have on the development of listening and reading comprehension and the enhancement of oral and written expression. Presents an example of how storytelling was used to realize these benefits in a third-grade classroom. (MG)

Metalinguistic abilities of 20 hearing-impaired children, aged 4-10, were assessed by asking them to judge synonymy of sentence pairs presented in Signed English, Pidgin Sign English, and American Sign Language. None of the children had developed metalinguistic abilities in any of the sign language systems. (Author/JDD)

The study examined whether the development of receptive language lags behind nonverbal cognitive development in school age persons with mental retardation. Results indicated that the relationship between receptive language and mental age varied across mental age levels, linguistic forms, and individuals at the same mental age for listeners with…

Proposes a model for a computer-assisted language learning software design based on interactionist theories of first and second language acquisition. Comparison of the conversational discourse generated by two groups of students working on negotiable- and non-negotiable outcome programs found that the negotiable-outcome software generated…

The order in which wh-questions are acquired in the production and comprehension of two Korean one-year-olds is analyzed and compared. Consistencies in acquisition order are to be based on universals of cognitive development, while discrepancies in acquisition order were attributed to differences in interactive styles across caregivers and…

Around the world, the singing of lullabies and reciting of nursery rhymes foster children's development and show parents' love for their infants and young children. (BB)

Examined validity of test battery, organized by theoretical framework of levels of language processing and production, at end of kindergarten and first grade. At end of kindergarten two levels of oral language (pnonemic and lexical) and at end of first grade three levels of oral language (phonemic, lexical, and text) were correlated with word…

A five-step procedure is presented for using wordless picture books to encourage language development in hearing-impaired students. The students "read" the books, write the story ideas and illustrate the story, review the story for comprehension, and complete creative writing activities. A bibliography of picture books for elementary-level…

Argues there is ample evidence of the prime significance and hierarchical character of the print medium, and of an absolute need for individual letter recognition from the outset of instruction. Discusses the role of the alphabet and its relationship to its precursor speech sounds for the developing learner. (RS)

Stories were read daily at school and home to 32 children, aged 3-10, with severe learning difficulties. After eight months, almost all of the children showed improvements in verbal comprehension greater than gains of a comparison group, and the older children showed improvements in verbal expression. (Author/JDD)

Analysis of data derived from an earlier study of Japanese-English interlanguage shows that discourse-pragmatic markedness conditions on the subject position combine with central aspects of a configurational syntax in the generation of sentential forms, creating a module interface distinct from the native or second language. (38 references)…

Reviews the literature which presents theory and research that places early communicative development in the context of familiar experiences that occur over time. (BB)