The knowledge of letter names measured just before children enter school has been known for a long time as one of the best longitudinal predictors of learning to read in an alphabetic writing system. After a period during which the comprehensive investigation of this relationship was largely disregarded, there is now a growing interest in attempts…

The current experiment investigated how sentential form-class expectancies influenced lexical-semantic priming within each hemisphere. Sentences were presented that led readers to expect a noun or a verb and the sentence-final target word was presented to one visual field/hemisphere for a lexical decision response. Noun and verb targets in the…

Background: Despite recent interest in relationships between maternal gesture and speech and communicative development in typically developing (TD) children, little work has examined either speech or gesture in mothers of children with Down's syndrome (DS). Aims: To compare aspects of speech and gesture production by mothers of children with DS…

Examines whether manually coded English (MCE) sign language systems are learnable. Reading achievement and expressive English skills of deaf students educated using only a MCE sign system were examined. Deaf students had expressive English skills comparable to hearing students in respect to syntactical and lexical skills but were deficient in…

The teaching of highly valued scientific writing skills in the first year of university is challenging. This report describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of a novel written assignment, "The Personal Response" and accompanying Peer Review, in the course, Human Biology (BIOL1015) at The University of Queensland. These assignments were…

Studies are needed to better understand the broad autism phenotype in young siblings of children with autism. Cognitive, adaptive, social, imitation, play, and language abilities were examined in 42 non-autistic siblings and 20 toddlers with no family history of autism, ages 18-27 months. Siblings, as a group, were below average in expressive…

This article examines the effects of synonymy (i.e., learning words with and without high-frequency synonyms that were known to the learners) on word knowledge in a study of 84 Japanese students learning English. It employed 10 tests measuring 5 aspects of word knowledge (orthography, paradigmatic association, syntagmatic association, meaning and…

Background: Children with specific language impairment experience story comprehension deficits. Research with typically developing children, poor comprehenders and poor readers has shown that the use of mental imagery aids in the comprehension of stories. Aims: To evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program in the use of mental imagery…

Researchers and educators have developed an interest in language development. Their studies focused on the cultural context in which language is learned and developed and its relationship to cognitive development. This article reviews the researchers' definitions on oracy and its social facets of language learning. Specifically, it reviews studies…

Designed to measure children's receptive and expressive language competence, this 57-item instrument inventories children's performance in the following eight language subareas: motor functions, memory functions, visual functions, tactile-kinesthetic functions, vocal functions, auditory functions, following directions, and language concepts. (This…

The first of three booklets in a series designed to help parents of handicapped children birth to 5 years old focuses on the communication process. A chart lists developmental milestones for both expressive and receptive language. Learning processes for communication (such as imitation, sensory knowledge, and memory) are reviewed. The bulk of the…

This article examines the notion of sign on various levels, concluding that which pertains to the linguistic level is pertinent; that which pertains to the expressive level is redundant. The notions of connotation and denotation are discussed. (Text is in French.) (AM)

The article describes five case studies of pupils (4-to-9-years-old) with delays in expressive language performance who were enrolled in the Monterey Language Program, which uses a behavioral model stressing such features as feedback and individualized instruction. (LH)

Noting that too many children leave elementary school without developing the ability to use words imaginatively, this paper presents a teaching approach that uses literature to foster invention in children's writing. The approach described is part of a total composition program that structures writing experiences in which children observe…