All second language (L2) learning theories presuppose that learners learn the target language from the speech signal (or written material, when learners are reading), so an understanding of learners' ability to detect and represent novel patterns in linguistic stimuli will constitute a major building block in an adequate theory of second language…

When learning basic color vocabulary, young children show a selective delay in the acquisition of brown and gray relative to other basic color terms. In this study, we first establish the robustness of this finding and then investigate the extent to which perception, language, and color preference may influence color conceptualization.…

Existing work on the acquisition of syntax has been concerned mainly with the early stages of syntactic development. In the present study we examine later syntactic development in children. Also, existing work has focused on commonalities in the emergence of syntax. Here we explore individual differences among children and their relation to…

This paper takes a sociocultural approach to exploring the factors that enhance young children's bilingual development. The language excerpts presented were gathered as part of a three-year Early Childhood Centre of Innovation project funded by the New Zealand government. Data gathered in this project challenge Krashen's (1981) position that young…

Listening comprehension is a difficult skill for foreign language learners to develop and for their teachers to assess. In designing suitable listening tests, teachers can provide various forms of support to reduce the demands of the task for the test takers. This study investigated the effects of four types of listening support: previewing the…

Input must be both contextualized and natural if it is to be coterminous with actual communication, in which interlocutors participate in a cooperative and dialogic process. However, when input becomes decontextualized, discourse shifts to a superficial plane. As is commonly the case in theater, verbal act meaning in the classroom setting is…

Research presented in this paper on the character of infant-directed speech and the nature of infant speech perception abilities from 6 to 12 months suggests that prosody contributes significantly to early analyses of child languages and assists infants in developing root processes of parsing. (104 references) (Author/CK)

Extends previous research on the relative effects of input processing and output processing on the use of Spanish clitic pronouns. Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance reveal that input and output processing students significantly explored their scores on various comprehension tests compared to a control group. (35 references)…

Input language addressed to language-learning children was analyzed to assess the quality of the semantic-syntactic correspondence posited by the semantic bootstrapping hypothesis. This correspondence was strong--objects were labeled with nouns, actions with verbs, attributes with adjectives--and may serve to make children's construction of…

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…

Discusses a study of conversational dyadic interaction between children aged 1.5 to 3 years; their 4-, 5-, 7-, or 8-year-old siblings; and their mothers. Mothers were more supportive conversational partners and adapted their level of speech more than siblings. (GH)

Studies on comprehensible input generally emphasize how input is made comprehensible to the nonnative speaker by examining native speaker speech or teacher talk in the classroom. This paper uses Hong Kong secondary school data to show that only when modification devices involve learner participation do they serve as indicators of comprehensible…

This paper reviews research findings on the structural properties of deaf childrens' gestural communication systems and evaluates those properties in the context of data gained from other approaches to the question of the young child's language-making capacity. (over 100 references) (JL)

Compared mother', fathers', and siblings' corrective repetitions to children's errors across different settings. Analyses revealed that mothers and fathers provided more corrective repetitions than did siblings. Results are discussed in terms of current negative evidence research. (Author/VWL)

Examines the importance in the instructed-learning setting of the second-language teacher's "knowledge about language" or metalinguistic awareness. Discusses three questions: (1) Do teachers need to know about language?; (2) if so, why and in what ways; and (3) what impact does the level of a teacher's metalinguistic awareness have on the input…