Evaluates the role of age on the rate of acquiring English as a second language in an immersion setting in children with native languages typologically very different from English. Results suggest that on certain aspects of grammar, different-aged children can acquire a second language during the first three years of acquisition at similar rates…

The literature on how children begin understanding subjectivity and point of view in fictional stories is considered. Examination of the oral stories of a five-year-old child indicated the ability to depict the beliefs, intentions, feelings, and perceptions of the story characters. Implications for assessment and interventions to help children…

Examined 1 hour of conversation between 12 mothers and their 23-month-old children. Children were more likely to imitate correct grammatical morphemes after mothers' corrective recasting of children's errors than after three types of maternal responses that did not correct an error but did model a morpheme. (BC)

The extent to which items from the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the First Certificate in English function differently for test-takers of equal ability from different native language and curricular backgrounds was investigated. Results suggest a need for methods like logistic regression to examine nonuniform differential item…

Describes Project Desert Shield, a curriculum that preschool children and teachers at a U.S. military base in Germany developed to embrace and constructively deal with the interests and concerns of the children about Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm through dramatic play. (Author/BB)

Evaluation of the interactive intervention model with mothers and young children (n=32) with developmental delays found that treatment mothers became more responsive and less directive and provided clearer linguistic models. Treatment children increased their use of vocal turns but did not make significantly greater improvement in overall…

Reports findings from the second year of a three-year study following four children from a prekindergarten Head Start program through first grade. Investigates the impact of kindergarten instruction on the development of literacy. Suggests that children may define writing and reading as their teachers' instructional practices dictate. (SR)

A research-in-progress report is presented on how students process second-language reading materials presented to them on the computer. The preliminary findings, based on log records generated by first- and second-semester Spanish students using "Recuerdos de Madrid" lessons, can help focus a research agenda for computer-assisted language learning…

This study compared the effects of 2 preschool curricula (Direct Instruction and Mediated Learning) on language development of 107 children with delayed language. No main effect differences were found between programs. Higher performing students on the pretest benefited more from Direct Instruction and lower performing students gained more from…

Describes a study of three infants whose parents presented vocal models for the infants to imitate. Parents presented vocal models both with and without social praise. Infants showed systematic increases in matching after praise was introduced. Nonmatching vocalizations did not increase with introduction of praise. Findings demonstrate generalized…

Nonword spellings were obtained from children in kindergarten through third grade in a study of the development of young children's phonological and orthographic knowledge. Results indicated that young children's nonword spellings reflected the joint influences of linguistic knowledge and psychological processes. (GLR)

Using Scotton's model of codeswitching based on markedness theory, this paper examines a type of register variation known as "babytalk," defined as ambiguous talk of babies or young children and talk to babies or young children. It is argued that babytalk and the voice of authority are motivated by Chinese cultural assumptions about…

Six experiments involving 192 infants and 1 experiment with 16 college students examined sensitivity to acoustic correlates of phrasal units in English. A basic finding is that nine-month-old infants are sensitive to acoustic markers that correspond to major phrasal units, a sensitivity that develops after six months. (SLD)

This study, involving six mothers of preschoolers with language impairments, found that mothers could be taught to correctly apply four milieu language teaching procedures (model, mand-model, time delay, and incidental teaching) and that use of the procedures is associated with positive effects on various aspects of child language. (Author/JDD)

Examined the contribution of play, metaplay, and productive language competence in the thematic-fantasy play context to kindergartners' comprehension of familiar and unfamiliar stories. Results indicated that metaplay and productive language competence are independent constructs and both contribute to comprehension, whereas play does not. (GLR)