Used an elicited production task and a conventional act-out task (AOT) to study poor readers' difficulties in understanding spoken sentences containing relative clauses. Thirty children (aged 7-8 years) were studied. Results suggest that poor readers' difficulties demonstrating comprehension on the AOT stem from nonsyntactic causes. (102…

Presents results of a study involving 54 8- to 12-year-old children with specific language impairment who are compared with a control group on a referential communication task. The children were asked to describe a picture from an array of eight similar items so that the listener could identify it. (18 references) (GLR)

Discussion of the development of expert systems for cataloging focuses on a feasibility study conducted at the National Agricultural Library. Topics addressed include the nature of cataloging expertise; limitations of existing expert systems; research on cataloging expertise; and a model for cataloging expertise based on five cataloging task…

One process for developing a training program on a limited budget involves the creation of job competency profiles using a modified DACUM (Developing a Curriculum) technique, the identification and development of job aids, and the use of the profiles and job aids to deliver training. (JOW)

Concludes that Pascual-Leone's theory extends Piaget's negative heuristic by introducing antecedent variables and at the same time enriches the positive heuristic by introducing metasubjective task analysis, which leads to a progressive problemshift. (Author/PR)

A Delphi panel of 14 experts identified 37 tasks performed by/qualities needed by manufacturing engineering technologists. Most important were work ethic, performance quality, communication skills, teamwork, computer applications, manufacturing basics, materials knowledge, troubleshooting, supervision, and global issues. (SK)

Seven case studies in Dutch companies were used to define dimensions of on-the-job training. Roles range from learner directed to trainer directed; the context may be real work or preparatory learning; training may involve individual study, application, or supervised work experience. Supervision may be directive or coaching. (SK)

Examines why children have difficulty with homonymy. Two experiments were conducted. Children, ages 3 and 4 years, had to select or judge another person's selection of a different object with the same name, avoiding identical objects and misnomers. Older children were successful, but younger children failed these tasks. (Author/VWL)

Defines the task of the Ph.D. history student in terms of information needs; reports the results of a study of Ph.D. students that observed their accessing information based on collecting names; and theorizes that collecting names induced expert thinking by mimicking the mental representation of a history expert. (Contains 90 references.)…

Examined Russian-speaking children's knowledge of syntactic and discourse-related restrictions on the interpretation of pronouns in subjunctive clauses. Eighteen children (4-5 years of age) participated in a truth-value judgment task. In constructions in which syntactic knowledge is implicated, children's performance is very similar to that of…

Reports the results of an interpretive task showing that both native speakers of French and English-speaking classroom learners of French exhibit knowledge of the event sensitivity associated with quantification at a distance. Argues that such knowledge seems reliably acquirable only if both first language and second language acquisition are…

Compared the performance of participants with Williams Syndrome on two past tense elicitation tasks with that of four typically-developing control groups. Results were consistent with the hypothesis that the Williams Syndrome language system is delayed, because it developed under different constraints. (Author/VWL)

Builds on a study on modified output to examine the impact of learner proficiency in learner-learner interaction, particularly on opportunities for modified output through interactional moves. Data were collected from leaners of Japanese using two different types of tasks. Results showed that mixed-level dyads provided more interactional moves…

Examines the availability and utility of implicit negative feedback provided in task-based conversations between pre-academic, intermediate-level English-as-a- Second-Language (ESL) learners and native-speaker (NS) interlocutors. The tasks being used were the information gap tasks in which nonnative speakers (NNS) gave directions to the NS…

Discusses program implementation as a task-oriented process. Highlights details to consider for effective program delivery and offers suggestions for dealing with unexpected circumstances that may arise throughout the course of a program. Includes a program implementation checklist to be used as a practical planning tool when thinking through the…