The objectives of the SPEAR (Specialized Psycho-Educational Adult Remediation) project were to both introduce and incorporate mainstreamed adult basic education through offering specialized services to learning-disabled adults. This program both identified and educationally remediated specific learning disabilities and included educational and…

A study is undertaken to determine whether the nonlinguistic priority of the agent of an action facilitates the comprehension of word reference. The subjects were twelve male and twelve female infants at the one word stage of language production. The children were presented with three nonsense names (presented as part of a narration of a filmed…

The purpose of this study is to compare the English syntactic structures produced in spontaneous oral language and the receptive English syntactic and vocabulary skills of bilingual Spanish and Indian children and monolingual Anglo-Americans, all of whom qualify for Title I elementary schools (Grades 1-6). People in Action, the Northwestern Syntax…

The ability of children at different ages to distinguish instructions to "ask" from instructions to "tell" and the types of structures used to express these directives were studied. Subjects were 120 children, aged 2 years 6 months to 6 years 6 months. Children were instructed to either ask or tell an adult or another child to give them puzzle…

A study was undertaken to determine whether young children are aware of sociolinguistic and social interactional differences in language use and of the appropriateness of varied linguistic forms in particular situations, roles and relationship. The speech of 24 children ranging in age from 3 years, 9 months to 7 years, 1 month was recorded in…

A preservice, competency-based teacher education program is presented in this special education program and curriculum guide. Some of the behaviors required by the competencies include: assessing an individual child's learning abilities; working in a variety of educational settings; choosing a curriculum to teach children with different abilities;…

The research and theoretical rationale for differences between (urban) black and white students, particularly in achievement in language development, are discussed along with implications for the classroom. Theories about language acquisition and capacity that have developed to account for the poor school performance of urban black students…

The purpose of this research was to develop methods to study the effects of context on children's comprehension and production of temporal terms such as "before,""after,""next,""then," and "but first." A longitudinal study, using naturalistic and traditional laboratory methods, and three…

Overall and specific tasks involved in learning a foreign language and the factors that promote or retard learning are considered. To apply theories of learning and teaching, behavioral objectives for the learner must be considered. A macro-level learning theory is useful in conceptualizing reasons for student success and failure and in…

Two theoretical orientations-schema theory and cultural norms for the use of language unify this multidisciplinary collection of papers examining discourse. Chapters by Adams and Collins; Warren; Nicholas and Trabasso; Stein and Glenn; and Freedle and Hale highlight the application of schema theory to the study of story recall, reading, and the…

THE HISTORY OF A CHILD WITH BEHAVIOR AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS IS WRITTEN BY THE MOTHER IN CONJUNCTION WITH A SPEECH PATHOLOGIST. WRITTEN FROM A PROFESSIONAL VIEWPOINT, THE CASE HISTORY PRESENTS MEDICAL, EDUCATIONAL, PHYSICAL, AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENTS AS THEY OCCURRED FROM BIRTH TO 11 YEARS OF AGE. TESTING PROCEDURES AND RESULTS, DIAGNOSIS, AND…

During the 1979-1980 school year Project Primary Reading Objectives for Bilingual Education (P.R.O.B.E.) was involved in improving the rate of reading growth and cognitive development of four and five year olds from the Bronx, New York. In bilingual classes that were conducted primarily in Spanish, the 153 program participants received instruction…

A product of joint effort between the Colorado Department of Institutions and the Division of Developmental Disabilities, the guide presents hierarchically arranged instructional objectives to determine goals for developmentally disabled persons. The most advanced skills are listed first with basic skills following for four major categories:…

Part of a study is presented of native speakers of Hebrew who are acquiring English without formal instruction. A Hebrew-speaking child, aged 5 years 6 months, and her American playmate were audiotaped bi-weekly in natural settings for 11 months. The American child periodically used "foreigner talk," that is, the variety of language…

This investigation examined the acquisition of five complex English syntactic structures by Egyptian and Israeli adult learners at different levels of proficiency. Carol Chomsky's methodology, as adapted by d'Anglejan and Tucker, served to assess comprehension of these structures. The responses of the Egyptians and Israelis, which were similar to…