The acquisition of the metalinguistic abilities involved in ambiguity detection and resolution was studied with children. It is suggested that metalinguistic abilities may serve as potential test measures for facility in learning a second language. School children (ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13) were tested for their ability to detect ambiguous…

To answer important questions for educators concerning language skills, this paper argues that children must acquire new skills in order to process written language, and that the need for developing new skills stems from differences between oral and written language that are more fundamental than differences in mode. The paper first describes how…

A study was conducted to determine the effects of word imagery on the retention of sight vocabulary. It was hypothesized that in an urban, low income area first grade class there would be no significant difference between the acquisition and retention rates of high imagery words and those of low imagery words. Using one group of high imagery words…

In order to investigate the development of word-formation abilities, 3-, 5-, and 7-year-olds were asked to act out with toys, judge, and make up sentences containing instances of class extension. Some sample sentences are "Can you upside-down the clown?" and "Broom the spoon." Children dealt with such sentences in much the same…

Although the study of the acquisition of a first language has been split by a controversy between the "innatists" and the "behaviorists," neither group has given enough consideration to the relationship between language development and the other developments of the child (social, cognitive, and perceptual). This collection of readings links the…

Children's well-developed oral language skills obviously facilitate their reading and learning to read. In contrast to a traditional position which contends that reading comprehension equals oral comprehension skills plus decoding, this paper claims that a child must learn (and, perhaps, unlearn) many more skills in the transition from oral…

A question of both theoretical and practical importance for the study of phonological development is whether there is a difference in the status of productions rendered spontaneously by the child and those repeated by the child after either an adult model or his own production. The relevant theoretical questions are: (1) Are all the child's…

Young children use poetic language naturally in that they express themselves through metaphors, colorful images, and unique word choice. Since this ability has often been repressed by the time children reach the middle grades, this article suggests classroom activities intended to stimulate children's natural poetic expression. These activities,…

Intended for the language arts teacher, this book focuses on how to develop children's language skills. The opening chapter of the book presents a brief overview of child language acquisition, children's language abilities at a particular age, and how these abilities develop. The second chapter, on the importance of children's literature, is based…

The 10 articles in this book examine how comprehension is affected by what the reader brings to the text, the manner in which the text is structured by the author, and the contextual variables that shape the meaning derived by the reader. Specific topics covered in the articles are (1) background knowledge and comprehension, (2) learning how to…

The language development of one child was examined from birth to three years of age in order to map the similarities and differences in the acquisition of oral language, reading, and writing skills. The study also sought to provide insight into why learning to read and write are not as naturally easy as learning to talk. Data were collected by…

The papers in this collection focus on the integration of child language development research into curriculum and instruction, which was the general topic of four conferences held in conjunction with the 1979 and 1980 annual conventions of the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. Section one, on child…

Linguistic and cognitive competencies of preschoolers were revealed by interviewing them about routine activities. It was found that freeing preschoolers' speech from constraints inherent in talking about the immediate context results in their demonstrating control over a variety of language-related skills that are generally assumed to be beyond…

A study was conducted to test whether three, four, and five-year-old children would be better able to use either static or dynamic properties for grouping objects, and whether performance under these conditions would be better than when no property was given. One of the two study tasks, the free sort, also used by Rosch et al. (1976), asked…