Examined predictors of development in very low birth weight infants from diverse backgrounds. Found that low income and greater frequency of medical problems predicted developmental risk on the Bayley Scales. In two-parent households, paternal education predicted developmental scores. Several individual biomedical factors predicted…

Reports the longitudinal follow-up of 41 preschool children as they moved into reading. When the children were 3-years-old, they participated in a detailed assessment of their language, print and metalinguistic skills. Overall language development at age 3 just as strongly correlated with reading scores at age 7 as it had with metalinguistic and…

A six-month case study of 10 African-American middle school students in an inner-city school setting provided the data for this article. Contrary to previous studies on first-language second-language transfer, the study showed that the students L1 (African-American English) facilitated the learning of Arabic. (Author/JL)

Discusses eight principles of teaching young children to read, write, and spell. Considers teachers' broader goals for themselves and their students, research findings on assisting children's language development through instruction, and the effect of teaching and educational experiences on a teacher's instructional style. (JPB)

A study compared developmental functioning, social, and environmental backgrounds of 62 overly active children (age 7), 37 with inattentive behavior, and 46 controls. Children with inattentive behavior were more likely to have general cognitive delays, particularly in language development and were more likely to have fathers with low occupational…

Discusses evidence that social understanding informs word learning in infants. Asks: (1) Is genuine social understanding necessary for word learning?; (2) Are social clues criterial for infants' learning?; (3) Can word learning proceed without aid of social understanding?; and (4) Is social clue processing too difficult for everyday word learning?…

Reviews research findings in the context of Australian children in the following areas: (1) health and well-being of children in both family and school contexts; (2) early-years classes from children's perspectives; (3) classroom interactions; and (4) quality assurance and best practice as it relates to role of teacher in enhancing child thought…

Sets forth the five-year development history of Bay Mills Community College's Nishnaabemowin Language Instructors' Institute, which provided a pathway for regaining the Ojibwe or Chippewa language of the Anishnabeg people. Presents an early history of efforts to preserve the language and the development of a three-summer holistic curriculum for…

The objective of this paper is to make a case for the claim that exclusive focus on the rational has only helped isolate linguists and prevented them from having a say on important political issues relating to language. One important feature of the ordinary person's view of and involvement with language is that emotions play an important role in…

Following the publication of an article summarising two systematic reviews on whether the teaching of grammar is effective in improving 5-16 year olds' writing (Andrews et al, 2006), the present article reflects on the relationship between knowledge about language and knowledge about grammar. It argues that there is no evidence for the assumption…

Behavior analyst teaching child development courses would do well to look into this book as the main text for the course. It represents the most comprehensive attempt to date to try and integrate the developmental literature with the study of basic mechanisms of learning. The book is written in a clear and concise manner that can be understood by…

Although the presence of three (or even more) languages in the curriculum is an expanding phenomenon in Europe, brought about by the concurrence of regionalisation and internationalisation, the number of research studies tackling the analysis of attitudes towards multilingualism is very limited. By examining the attitudes towards Basque, Spanish…

Behavioral studies have shown that while young infants can discriminate many different phonetic contrasts, a shift from a language-general to a language-specific pattern of discrimination is found during the second semester of life, beginning earlier for vowels than for consonants. This age-related decline in sensitivity to perceive non-native…

This paper analyses the opinions, awareness and perceptions of trilingual or multilingual students, regarding their language teacher. Findings of a comparative study carried out in two different cultural contexts, Ireland and Israel, are discussed, where participants (435 in total) included Russian-speaking students in Israel studying English or…

Multicultural policies and language policies claim to provide a favorable environment for the maintenance of immigrant languages. However, the relationship between multiculturalism and multilingualism is complex and contested. Rates of language loss and shift in Australia show that the multilingual heritage is very vulnerable even within the…