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,…

Developmental trends in the effects of expectations regarding agent/action matches on judgments of sentence acceptability were investigated. Five sentences reflected expected relations ("harmonious") and five contradicted them ("contrary"). Twelve subjects each were in grades 4 through 8 during year 1; the same 60 subjects…

A number of claims made by Bereiter and Engelmann, two of the strongest proponents of the verbal-deprivation hypothesis, are examined in light of data gathered during a longitudinal study of two children acquiring Black English Vernacular. The "giant-word syndrome" and its proposed concomitants of absence of developmental stages, deviant…

Despite the fact that the twentieth-century ecumenical movement was coeval with the beginning of a "language revolution" and the "theology of crisis," it was only at the beginning of the present decade that the problem of unity in verbal formulations reached the agenda of the World Council of Churches (WCC). At that time the…

Explains socially reflected linguistic patterns resulting from the three most popular television genres. (MH)

The country must celebrate the unprecedented improvements the "Brown v. Board of Education" ruling has brought about in the education of black students. At the same time, it must also be acknowledged that "Brown" did not and could not completely resolve the struggle that has shaped questions of race and education in the U.S.…

The development of literacy is traced in this paper to promote the thesis that dependence on literacy education naturally leads to two competing cultures, one oral and one literate. Events in the development of the Greek alphabet are traced to advance the argument, and the differences between cultures dependent on Greek and non-Greek writing…

Inversion constructions (declarative sentence constructions in which the subject follows part or all of its verb phrase) are distributed over the whole range of spoken and written language, not along the spoken-written dimension but along a colloquial-literary dimension. Some of these inversions are colloquial or literary for functional reasons,…

This paper is an overview of the introduction of "Ms." into language usage as part of the process of changing sexist language. Included are: (1) history of the term, (2) a discussion of the rationale for its introduction, (3) a report on the other suggested forms of address that do or do not specify sex and marital status, (4) a discussion of the…

Isolated examples of creative adaptation show that Jean Piaget's theories of childhood development provide the conscientious teacher with a veritable warehouse of innovative and thought-provoking principles with which to construct a meaningful foundation of language arts experimentation. The elementary Piagetian principles for evoking creativity…

This study describes the role of an advisory panel of minority educators in the development of the seventh edition of Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) and the second editions of Stanford Early School Achievement Test (SESAT) and Stanford Test of Academic Skills (TASK). Detailed information on the formation of this panel and the review process in…

Because most adult students learning English by correspondence never meet their tutors, a study was conducted in which students were asked to send in tape recordings of some experience in their lives. As in the impersonal and rather sterile situation of correspondence study, the students were talking to a listener they could not visualize so that…

Although alleged sexist implications surrounding the generic use of the term "man" have led many to advocate the elimination of the term from usage, it cannot be concluded that the use of the term as generic is always sexist. A review of the studies dealing with the use of the term shows that it has not been empirically established that the word…

Offering a comprehensive review of Australian research directed toward the study of the language use of children from different social backgrounds, this book assesses the validity of Basil Bernstein's thesis that many lower working class children are confined to a restricted code of language use. This evaluation is set in two wider contexts: what…

Providing instruction in language theory is an innovative technique for use in remedial and other composition courses in the two-year college. Such innovations provide intellectually stimulating material to students who lose interest when confronted with traditional grammar and composition. Students are acquainted with American Edited English in…