A model for adult language learning is developed based on the postulates that language is semiotic, contextual, communicative, and cultural. Research in psycholinguistics has discovered that a cognitive and recognitional knowledge of language underlies and is greater than performative language. The move from the first level, the semantic base, to…

A study examined hierarchical relationships among three developmental components of reading ability in grades 1 through 3. It was predicted that semantic skills develop initially, followed by letter identification skills, phonological skills, and visual skills. Reading ability was assessed with a word identification task. The semantic components…

There are at least four distinct uses of the term "competence" in speech communication: (1) to refer to some set of standards used in evaluating aspects of communication processes, (2) to refer to some set of objects to be evaluated, (3) to refer to a method for evaluating aspects of communication against some standard, and (4) to refer to a…

Five papers on bilingualism are presented. "Giving Transfer a Boost--Describing Transfer Variation in Learners' Interlanguage Performance" by Claus Faerch suggests, outlines, and illustrates a heuristic principle for describing the result of positive transfer from one language to another, based on the assumption that learners maximize…

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between semantic memory or integration and general ability. The main hypotheses are as follows: (1) the ability to memorize meaningless materials will not correlate with general ability; (2) the ability to abstract meaning from semantically related propositions will correlate with…

Continued interest in second language acquisition as a reflection of first language acquisition may be due to increasing evidence of universals in child language acquisition. Some research has indicated that second language acquisition patterns do not match first language acquisition patterns. Rather than arguing that second language acquisition…

Derived from the Greek "andros" (male) and "gyne" (female), the word "androgyny" etymologically embodies the two sexes reconciled in one. This paper examines the concept of androgyny and points out the advantages of an androgynous language that expands and diversifies the possibilities of human thought and behavior, instead of limiting and…

The strategy of "transfer" of native language (NL) items into target language (TL) expressions is considered here to be an active learner strategy dependent on the learner's notion of "distance" between the NL and the TL. Some NL items will be more liable to transfer than others to the extent that they are believed to be less…

This is a summary of a workshop on teaching second language vocabulary. The following were discussed: (1) the need to teach vocabulary in context; (2) the need for vocabulary selection; (3) active vs. passive vocabulary; (4) the presentation of meaning (including denotation, connotation, idioms, and cognates); (5) the rate of vocabulary…

This paper is an attempt to summarize as explicitly as possible certain empirical findings of classical biosystematics and modern semantic ethnography which may be considered to represent formal universals of human mental structure. The paper offers a formal treatment of the subject of taxonomy, and an application of the formalism to several…

Discusses the usefulness of earlier, neglected linguistic traditions in solving some of the problems faced by transformationalists today. (Text is in French.) (AM)

This guide to an audio-lingual approach to Latin instruction is intended to assist Latin teachers and English teachers with background in Latin to expand the English vocabulary and reading skills of pupils through the study of Latin roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The content of this guide to health vocabulary introduces students to Latin and…

Twenty 10th grade students participated in a study designed to identify differences in the ways developing writers use words to create written texts. Essays written by the students were holistically evaluated and then analyzed for the types and the number of lexical cohesive ties used and the nature of the grammatical subject, or focus, of each…

Studies of the acquisition of word meaning and the semantic features involved have been mostly confined to noun categories and polar adjectives. Investigation of the semantic categories underlying verb forms has implications not only for theories of child language acquisition but also for theories of semantic structure in general. Experimental…

The intent of this study was to examine the development of three aspects of preschoolers' private speech: coefficients of egocentricism, the extent to which speech regulates actions, and the syntactic and semantic structures of individual utterances. Forty-one randomly chosen preschoolers (26 females, 15 males) were placed in three age groups (3,…