This paper outlines current cognitive perspectives on second language acquisition (SLA). The Associative-Cognitive CREED holds that SLA is governed by the same principles of associative and cognitive learning that underpin the rest of human knowledge. The major principles of the framework are that SLA is Construction-based, Rational,…

We have used a genetically tractable model system, the fruit fly "Drosophila melanogaster" to study the interdependence between sensory processing and associative processing on learning performance. We investigated the influence of variations in the physical and predictive properties of color stimuli in several different operant-conditioning…

Examines whether it is the mediator as a "product" or whether it is the "process" involved in a particular strategy that facilitates learning, concluding that neither view can be rejected. (RB)

Research into the reading process has shaped an understanding of how readers "make meaning" when they are engaged in a reading activity. This research has highlighted a learning triad--the reader, the text, and the context (or learning environment)--that interactively affects the manner in which the student will comprehend a particular…

THE WORD ASSOCIATIONS OF URBAN SLUM CHILDREN, BOTH NEGRO AND WHITE, WERE STUDIED TO DETERMINE WHAT IMPACT EXTREME SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS DIFFERENCES HAVE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT. THIS STUDY OF CHILDREN FROM THE LOWEST EXTREME OF THE SOCIOECONOMIC SCALE WAS MADE AS A FOLLOWUP TO AN EARLIER STUDY OF CHILDREN REPRESENTING VARIOUS CULTURAL AND…

Defining metaphor as "seeing a concept from one class in terms of a concept from another class," a study was devised that analyzed the degree to which two concepts occupy dissimilar positions with respect to their category or domain (within-domain distance), and the degree to which categories themselves are dissimilar (between-domain distance).…

Mentally retarded subjects who could read were tested on their ability to pronounce words and to produce meaningful associates. Analyses of their responses indicated an overuse of a strategy of memorizing words as a way to recognize words in print and an inability to consider word meanings in terms of abstract referents. A comparison of these…

To develop a coherent description of the knowledge and processes involved in skillful word recognition, a study was devised in which 16 adults participated in four related experiments. The purpose of the first experiment was to examine some basic aspects of the processing of words, pseudowords, and nonwords and to discover basic differences in…

The responses of young children to two forms of the Sampling Organization and Recall Through Strategies (SORTS) test were compared. Subjects were first, second, and third graders in a Midwestern urban area. Children's SORTS scores, representing the sorting skill levels demonstrated by the children, were derived from a combination of groups formed…

The present study was conducted to demonstrate the power of imagery instructional sets to improve the recall of units more complex than in the traditional paired associate (P-A) paradigm and to evaluate imagery as a memory organizer. Forty-eight sixth grade children were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions, defined by the…

Forty-eight boys and girls, from ages 4 to 8 and with wide differences in intelligence, were subjects in a study which examined the role of visual perception in the oral language production of young children. Five tests were administered: one to sample visual perception, the others to measure selected skills of oral language--syntactical,…

To collect word association norms, 100 educable mentally handicapped boys (chronological ages 11 to 16, mental ages 7 to 11.5) responded to 25 nouns from the Mein and O'Connor list of words most commonly used by retarded children. The subjects were individually tested by stimuli typed on cards. The responses of all 100 subjects to the 25 stimulus…

This research project was designed to explore suitable operant methods to assure successful acquisition of some initial formal reading skills by first and second graders. The subjects were 12 pupils diagnosed as predicted reading failures by failing scores on four or more subtests of a 10 test battery suggested by DeHirsch, Jansky, and Langford…

This study was designed to compare both levels of performance and relationships between performances on cognitive tests in groups of children and adolescents in Canada and the Philippines with similar educational experience. A battery of eighteen tests, including the Ravens Progressive Matrices (1958), the Science Research Associates Primary…