Native speaking learners of English were compared with foreign learners with regard to confusion of "synforms" (similar lexical forms). Synform-induced errors were similar in native speaking learners and foreign learners indicating that all learners, native and foreign, follow coinciding developmental sequences. (24 references)…

Aims at demonstrating the gradual automatization of subject-verb agreement operation in young writers by examining developmental changes in the occurrence of agreement errors. Finds that subjects' performance moved from systematic errors to attraction errors through an intermediate phase. Concludes that attraction errors are a byproduct of the…

Examines kanji errors in handwriting of Japanese students and Australian learners of Japanese. Finds that Japanese students' phonologically-related kanji writing errors were most numerous, followed by orthographically-related errors and semantically-related errors; while Australian students wrote more non-existing kanji and made…

Outlines a model for understanding the second-language reading process. Uses errors in comprehension to illustrate how the reading comprehension process works. Discusses pedagogical implications and suggestions for teaching students to develop and practice better comprehension strategies using think-alouds. (RS)

Examined how skilled adult readers assign meaning to sentences. Of particular interest were sentences containing "experiencer" verbs, which describe states or emotions rather than actions. Subjects were university students in Australia. Test items were semantically implausible sentences. (Author/VWL)

Presents the results of a study undertaken to determine the number and nature of the problems encountered by advanced undergraduate students in a French composition course. The primary objective of the study was to find an explanation for the repetition and frequency of student errors and to modify the content of the course. Presents quantitative…

Suggests another perspective in viewing the effect of style on English-as-a-foreign-language learners' errors. Suggests that for consonant clusters, what varies in accordance with style is the learners' choice of syllable simplification strategies rather than error rates. (Author/VWL)

Understanding why mistakes are made in a class of ESL students not only helps teachers emend the mistakes, but also enables them to better explain to the author how to correct mistakes in future writing. When a teacher shows some understanding of a writer's native language, it makes the writer feel more comfortable with, and less alienated from,…

There is broad agreement as to many of the segmental features of the Hong Kong accent of English: neutralisation of vowels which contrast in Standard Southern British English or General American, non-release of final stops, simplification of consonant clusters and devoicing of coda consonants. However, while it is apparent that there is no reason…

Few studies have examined characteristics of both verbal and written language of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study used parallel measures (picture description, word fluency, spelling to dictation, and confrontational naming) to compare verbal and written language of individuals with mild AD, moderate AD, and normal controls (14…

Two construals of agency are evaluated as possible innate biases guiding case-marking in children. A BROAD construal treats agentive arguments of multi-participant and single-participant events as being similar. A NARROWER construal is restricted to agents of multi-participant events. In Hindi, ergative case-marking is associated with agentive…

While testing children for readiness to enter Kindergarten using the Peabody Individual Achievement Test-R and interview probes, a pattern of responses developed indicating that some of the children were continuing to process answers to questions and to formulate elaborations to statements long after the testing had moved to other questions and…

Overgeneralization occurs when a child uses the wrong word to name an object and is often observed in the early stages of word learning. We develop a method to elicit overgeneralizations in the laboratory by priming children to say the names of objects perceptually similar to known and unknown target objects. Experiment 1 examined 18 two-year-old…

This paper presents a model of syntax acquisition, whose main points are as follows: Syntax is acquired in an item-based manner; early learning facilitates subsequent learning--as evidenced by the accelerating rate of new verbs entering a given structure; and mastery of syntactic knowledge is typically achieved through practice--as evidenced by…

Most of the spelling error analysis has been conducted in Latin orthographies and rarely conducted in other orthographies like Arabic. Two hundred and eighty-eight students in grades 1-9 participated in the study. They were presented nine lists of words to test their spelling skills. Their spelling errors were analyzed by error categories. The…