This paper suggests that one possibility for the lack of study emphasis and unity of understanding in the area of dual language development is that language study in general shows some serious gaps and reveals a need for viewing language development as a holistic endeavor. Noting the failures of Skinnerian theory, Chomskian theory, Soviet…

A survey was conducted of government agencies in order to examine the capacity of the U. S. Government to produce or obtain by contract the research needed to manage relations with the Soviet Union. Four foreign affairs agencies foresee increasing difficulties through the 1980s in recruiting the desired calibre of Soviet language and research…

The Language Facility Test was administered to 48 preschool children in Head Start classes in Ft. Worth, Texas, to determine (1) if the spontaneous production of English speech would be better after the bilingual children were first allowed to perform in Spanish, and (2) if the English language performance of the Mexican-American bilingual…

The three basic language learning models are the rote-memory model (prescriptive), the abilities model (behavioristic), and the critical age model. If this last model, a deterministic one based on observable facts about the human condition, becomes as popular in American schools as it is in British schools, language will become an important aspect…

The Primary Acquisition of Languages Oral Language Dominance Measure (PAL) developed by the El Paso Independent School District determines a child's structural proficiency in English and Spanish and measures language dominance to aid in placing pupils in bilingual programs. PAL consists of four components, including an examiner's manual containing…

The research was conducted in the schools on or near the Crow and the Northern Cheyenne Indian reservations in Montana during October of 1969. All the students, both Indian and white, grades 1 through 12, were involved in the study. Some 2020 Indian students, out of a combined student enrollment of 3626, were assessed as to their bilingual…

This book contains papers and commentaries thereon from the International Seminar on the Description and Measurement of Bilingualism, which was attended by linguists, psychologists and sociologists representative of a wide range of scientific and intellectual insights. Topics covered are: (1) How and when do persons become bilingual? (2) How can…

This paper outlines the Educational Testing Service (ETS) plan for developing instruments and procedures for evaluating Peace Corps Trainees' and Peace Corps Volunteers' competence in host country languages at various stages of training or in-country service. The goals of such an evaluation program are first stated. and then a critique of the…

Boys (n=800) between the ages of seven and twelve were administered 35 problems for three successive years. Each problem was characterized according to its logical structure and language which corresponded to a pictorial presentation, its ordinary verbal language, and its abstract symbols. Each structure was presented in each of the three…

The purpose of this newsletter is to report current activities concerning the study of child language. Each issue will offer reports of ongoing research, announcements of upcoming meetings and conferences and reports on those recently held, and news of recent publications concerning language acquisition. This issue's research report is "Child…

The study ascertained through standardized tests, if a bilingual educational program had an effect on spoken English proficiency of native Spanish speakers in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The sample consisted of 34 fourth grade children enrolled in the Sustained Primary Program for Bilingual Students in the Las Cruces Public School System. The subjects…

The effect of sentence length and syntactic structure on the repeatability of sentences by native and foreign speakers of English was investigated in this study using 18 native English speakers, 30 advanced foreign students, and 114 intermediate level foreign students. Eighty-four sentences were presented for repetition, varying according to word…

The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was administered to 26 deaf students (approximately 18 years of age) to determine (1) whether deaf children of deaf parents (DP), as users of American Sign Language and as possessors of a shared code, would outperform deaf children of hearing parents (HP); (2) whether the performance of DP…

This study investigated the hypothesis that an employer's hiring decisions are influenced by certain speech characteristics of prospective employees. Simulated job interviews of four different speakers were played for 62 employers involved in actual hiring. Sets of semantic differential scales were used to measure employer's attitudes towards the…

A group of 18 children from 5 to 12 years old in a FLES course in Mandarin Chinese were graded by three native speakers on their ability to repeat Mandarin Chinese sentences with which they were already familiar and on their ability to produce appropriate sentences to describe posters used in the Chinese class. These grades in Chinese were…