A study analyzed responses of 20 children with and without language impairment to two narrative genres, oral narratives and emergent readings, elicited in the children's homes. Subjects were 2-to 4-year-old preschool children from the metropolitan area of a mid-sized midwestern city: 10 children with specific language impairment (SLI) and 10 with…

This document consists of four quarterly issues of a newsletter for Illinois early childhood directors, providing information on current issues in early childhood education. Regular features in each issue include "The Director's Toolbox," delineating practical suggestions for directors related to program policies and staff issues;…

The question addressed in this paper is whether explicit instruction makes any difference in the acquisition of modals or whether opportunities for interaction are sufficient. Eight non-native speakers (NNSs), aged 17-35 and representing several nationalities, were tested. The language focus was "will,""be going to," and…

This study uses linguistic humor to show that awareness of only those linguistic units transcribed by the orthography bear a special relation to early reading success. The study is decribed following a review of the literature and a discussion of advantages and problems associated with the use of humor appreciation as a probe of children's…

A Vygotskyan review of children's language examines language samples of a 7-year-old boy at home, at a birthday party, and at play in a sandbox. The language samples indicate common patterns, including his use of tools and symbol together in play. A common thread in the samples is his involvement with high tech tools of futuristic toys. Vygotsky…

The study sought to examine developmental processes of substitution in the pretend play of Down's syndrome children and to clarify the onset mechanism of subskills in decontextualization, which refers to the progress from imitation to substitution and then to invention. Eighteen Japanese children, aged 29-55 months, with Down's syndrome were given…

This study investigated whether mothers' responses to their infants' gestures play a role in their infants' vocabulary development. Eight infants were observed interacting at home with their mothers on 2 occasions, when the infants were 10 to 12 months old, and 16 to 18 months old. Videotapes of the observations were transcribed and coded for…

This leaflet offers an update of research and recent advances in understanding developmental speech and language disorders. It provides an overview of the incidence of language impairments and speech disorders, causes, features, diagnostic techniques, brain functioning, and research priorities. Relevant activities of the National Institute on…

This research review sought to discover the forms of family verbal interaction that nurture language development in infants and toddlers, the function of different family members in this process, and the role of environmental factors in language development. Results indicate that speech to a child is significantly different from speech to an…

A study re-examined the hypothesis that an identifiable register of child-directed speech (motherese) contributes to child language acquisition. The hypothesis was studied from two perspectives: (1) that it has not been documented adequately at earlier ages; and (2) that individual differences in style of language acquisition interact with…

A longitudinal study investigated the effects of an early intervention program with students who were identified as being at risk for developing reading disabilities. Intervention effects on reading comprehension and the developing relationship between reading comprehension and the linguistic processes of students were studied. The intervention…

Krashen's (1981) second language learning monitor model and Labov's (1978) first language acquisition monitor model are compared, and it is concluded that monitoring is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but is variable. It is also suggested that the ability to monitor in formal language styles may improve accuracy in less formal styles, based on…

A study investigated the hypothesis that, for adult native speakers of English, increasing syntactic complexity would lead to increased salience of phonological properties of words. The study also examined whether syntactic simplicity would lead to a greater salience of semantic properties of words. Subjects were required to name a word presented…

Intended to illuminate current understanding of how the reader's cognition and language and the text's structure affect the processing of prose, this volume contains articles written by educators, linguists, psychologists, and artificial intelligence experts on issues of comprehension research. The first part of the book examines reading…

Research is reviewed on second language learning and implications for student assessment and placement of limited English proficient (LEP) students in special education are addressed. To support her contention that the most effective mode of instruction for an LEP child requiring special education should be within the framework of the child's own…