Twenty-four children each at the age levels of 6, 9, 12, and 15 years were tested on four types of experimentally determined conceptual clues in a study of concept identification and, therefore, language comprehension. Superordinates, similars, parts, and locations were selected as clue words, and the four clues were combined into all possible…

Summarizes five theories explaining the relationship between word knowledge and comprehension of text in native language acquisition and explores possible implications for second language researchers and practitioners. (Author/CB)

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

To determine if children could discriminate among the 24 ways in which words possess meaning (logico-semantic relationships) defined by Evanechko and to see if this ability changed over time, 570 fifth, eighth, and eleventh graders were presented the task of sorting decks of cards containing examples of the 24 categories. Although it was not…

Clarification of one aspect of Jensen's model of cognitive abilities provided the impetus for this study. Jensen found that sentence construction as a mediator facilitated learning of paired associates, except when kindergarteners were used as subjects. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether the failure of the mediators to…

Summarizes and updates original study done on reading and writing development of a preschool child. (SRT)

To ascertain whether paradigmatic performance on a word association test administered at the end of kindergarten is an effective predictor of reading achievement, 37 children were tested on the Syntagmatic-Paradigmatic Assessment (SPA) at the end of their kindergarten year. At the end of their first grade year, the children were administered a…

Many of the most talented authors and artists of the past and present have shared their thoughts and their gifts with young children through picture books. Many picture books allow young children to explore important ideas and to stretch their minds far beyond rote memorization. Young children absorb knowledge at a very rapid pace. In an age of…

Australian studies show that television assists in the socialization of immigrants, changing and shaping their self-images and perceptions of reality and fostering their interpersonal communication skills. Studies conducted to evaluate the introduction of television have found that television helps in the vocabulary development of young children.…

After intensively studying for several years the thinking processes of members of a tribal group in Western Africa, the Kpelle, the authors examine the relation between culture and cognitive development. The following issues are discussed: (1) an analysis of the terms "culture" and "cognition"; (2) an ethnographic description of the Kpelle…

Developed to improve the language skills of culturally disadvantaged preschool children, the activities can be adapted for use with the retarded or those with learning disabilities. Communication processes considered are derived from the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. Activities are described for the following areas: listening skills…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: reading achievement as it relates to child dependency, the development of phonological coding, short-term memory and associative learning, variables available in…

This document is the seventh report in the Language Research in Progress (LRIP) series, and lists a wide variety of language-related research projects current between April 1968 and November 1968. Research projects terminated in the six months prior to publication are included as well. Approximately 250 projects in the U.S. and abroad are…