Factor analysis accounts for most of the variance in adult ratings of concepts with adjectives. Affective reactions are present in young infants, but still to be explored is how the stable adult factor structure develops from these reactions. Three questions are investigated in this study: (1) is this factor structure present in 3- and…

This paper is concerned with the Aristotelian notion of "universal" as applied to phonological phenomena. It is claimed that speech production in children and adults, in normal and deviant speakers, and in a variety of languages, can all be described according to the same universal phonological rules which constitute the universal process of…

The development of the concept of word is discussed in terms of specific advantages that might be available to bilingual children when compared with their monolingual peers. Three studies are reviewed in which bilingual children show more advanced understanding of some aspects of the concept of word than do monolingual children (Author/LMO)

Examines six major preconditions for literacy that are rooted in the home environment and discusses some of the implications of this home literacy environment for schools. (Author/PCB)

This article describes a school-based program emphasizing integration of reading, writing, listening, speaking, handwriting, and spelling. Intervention principles, transdisciplinary team methods, and means of enhancing cultural literacy are discussed. Program evaluations indicate growth in all life skills areas, a zero dropout rate, and high…

Finds that, in 50 primary classrooms with a majority of Native American students, the language development of Native American students was enhanced by open and informal classroom organization, small group activity, flexible time parameters, student autonomy, a positive teacher-student relationship, cooperative learning, and use of culturally…

Maintains that intellectual ability has become a more important determinant of occupational success in recent decades, resulting in increased social class differences. Finds that, contrary to the usual view, class differences have become smaller and current social problems cannot be ascribed to low-ability people in the lower classes. (CFR)

Examines children's variation in rate, style, and sequence of grammatical development, within and across natural languages. Using a sample of English and Italian infants, concludes that while there are structural differences between English and Italian that could affect the order in which nouns and verbs are acquired, no differences were observed…

The paper examines the nominal lexicon in later language acquisition as a window on linguistic knowledge and usage across childhood and adolescence. The paper presents a psycholinguistically motivated and cognitively grounded analysis of the distribution of ten semantic noun categories (the Noun Scale) across development, modality, and genre.…

Noting that young children learn to talk at different ages but within certain developmental boundaries, this document presents two charts to help parents facilitate their toddler's speech. The first chart lists characteristics to look for in a growing, healthy baby at various ages between 3 months and 24 months, and suggestions for when to talk to…

This book is designed to provide practical advice to parents and educators on the language acquisition process. Citing numerous case studies and anecdotal examples, it explains how children learn to talk and acquire language. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to language acquisition, explaining the components, forms, and structure of language.…

A practicum study, recognizing the expressive language delays of inner-city kindergarten children, implemented two strategies to increase their expressive language ability and their mean length of utterance. The target population, 14 kindergarten students who demonstrated vocabulary development delays on the Brigance Kindergarten Screening Test,…

To determine the relationship between oral and written language conventions at the macro and micro levels, a study analyzed various elements of stories generated by children. Subjects, nine above average readers between grades 4 and 9, were asked to tell a story and then to write a story. Sources of stories, overall plot organization, and number…

The nature of children's communication processes of listening, speaking, reading, and drawing/writing that occur during story time is explored in this paper, which describes story time as a literacy event. The framework that children develop during story-time can serve as a vehicle for language arts instruction. In helping children cultivate…

The results of a series of three studies of classroom factors influencing English oral language development in Spanish speaking bilingual elementary students are reported. Teacher control of oral language practice, extra practice in oral language encoding for bilingual students, and similarities between the English proficiency scores of children…