American and Canadian research is reviewed concerning the language needs of native primary students entering English schools from homes where a language other than English is spoken, and a study is reported that contrasted the language performance of children entering school from homes where only English is spoken and from homes where a language other than English is spoken. The Carrow Elicited Language Inventory test was administered to 60 kindergarten students. The raw score age equivalent for the students from English speaking homes was from five to six years while it was from two and one-half to three years of age for the students from native homes. Differences between the two groups for grammatical errors occurred primarily in the verb, pronoun, contraction, and conjunction categories. Implications of the results are discussed. The following four commercially available language development programs are evaluated in terms of their designs for language development: Developmental Syntax Program, Distar Language, Interactive Language Development, and Portage Guide to Early Education. An annotated bibliography is also included. (SW)