It is suggested in this essay that the school curriculum and its relevance to the ways in which children are socialized have become central concerns in the social science and philosophy of education. (LBH)

Black students that were grouped for English ability by their standardized test scores translated a standard English text into black dialect. Analytical data show group differences in dialect facility that correlate to standard English ability, suggesting that language development affects both dialect performance and standard English learning. (RL)

The system of deriving baby speech from adult speech is discussed. The theory is based on the system of consonantal replacements. (NCR)

Reviews the research on first and second language acquisition, enumerates some basic features of human language learning, and discusses implications for the foreign language classroom. (RM)

Describes an investigation of the nature of English dialect acquisition among bilingual Puerto Ricans. Subjects were in the sixth grade of a school in the Puerto Rican community in North Philadelphia. Results show that subjects can socially classify linguistic variants from two competing systems and use them appropriately. (Author/RM)

A thorough knowledge of the relationship of language and reading will lead to more effective teaching than following a list of basic skills. (MKM)

Four points in first versus second language teaching practices are contrasted: (1) order of mastery of linguistic structures and fluency; (2) ordering of presentation of linguistic structures; (3) teacher's role; (4) order of acquisition of linguistic form and function. Ways to use first language teaching practices in ESL are suggested. (CHK)

A description of the language curriculum at the Harrisville School in New Hampshire, a school for children age 4-7. Language use is encouraged as part of the children's natural interaction with other children, materials, and teachers. (BD)

The expertise required to fulfill the role of "language specialist" is such that it is unlikely that many teachers are prepared to undertake the duties. Considers the essential qualities which the specialist should possess and offers a description of those areas which he could pursue. (Author/RK)

The achievement of labeling was investigated in a longitudinal study of one mother-infant dyad, using video-recordings and analysis of joint picture-book reading. Participating in a ritualized dialogue, rather than imitation, was found to be the major mechanism through which labeling was achieved. (Author/SW)

This work investigated the young child's ability to respond appropriately to the intended, as opposed to the literal, meaning of one class of such utterances, requests for action. An action-based response heuristic is proposed to explain the apparent ability of two-year-olds to deal with indirect speech acts. (Author/SW)

An experimental and control group of thirty-two four and five year-old children received identical quantitative tasks except for the language used. Results showed that children's difficulties with simple arithmetic tasks were not purely linguistic. The conclusion supports the suggestion that the development of language is intertwined with…

The language development of monozygotic twins, same-sex dizygotic twins, siblings of monozygotic twins, and siblings of dizygotic twins, ages 3-17, was studied to estimate how much of the individual variation in children's language skills results from genetic factors and how much from environmental experience. (BRT)

Compared with 30 normal and 30 language-deviant 3-year-old Spanish speaking Puerto Rican children were two measures of linguistic proficiency. (Author/MH)