Investigates extent to which certain co-referential and structural constraints are reflected in the anaphoric noun phrases of written narratives of elementary school writers. Results indicate that poor writers are relatively insensitive to the constraints of the more difficult co-referential context, but that they (poor writers) are as sensitive…

Describes a study to examine the changes that take place in the form and types of discussions about the past as two young, Spanish-speaking girls moved from elicited routines to spontaneous and novel conversations about their past experiences. (HTH)

Describes a study which compared the effects of three types of adult feedback (acceptance, correction with joint labelling, and correction with explanation) on young children's inappropriate word usage. Findings showed that correction with explanation was more effective than correction with joint labelling, which was more effective than simple…

The nature of meaning as it is developed through interaction between individuals is explored in a discussion of how writers lead readers to understand a text. (DF)

Five language-eliciting situations were presented to kindergarten and primary-grade children to identify developmental trends and task effects in the complexity of language structures, vocabulary, functions, and story conventions used. Limited developmental differences and significant task effects were found. Implications for classroom instruction…

Proposes a model of syntax in which marked structures are conceived as the realization of modes of control that regulate the informational flow of the text at points of threatened discontinuity. Describes two of these modes, found in children's writing, which are concerned with relations of logic and focus. (Author/SED)

Reports on a study indicating children's dependency in oral persuasion on the cooperative nature of dialog and nonverbal vocalizations and their dependence in written persuasion on persuasive strategies found in speech that can be transferred to writing and, concomitantly, their relatively infrequent use of persuasive strategies specific to…

Maintains that our understanding of language is enhanced by the study of pathology, rather than just the study of the normal. It is a sound complementary base to learn more about how language encodes more than labels. It encodes histories, personal myths, and affects and reflects aspects of deviance and delay in function. (SL)

An experienced children's writer and teacher argues for the right balance of the richly strange and comfortably familiar in books for young children. (HOD)

Suggests that there are no sharp distinctions among children's linguistic comprehension, production, and knowledge. Instead, all performance and understanding are embedded in a fluctuating, interrelated thought system. (PD)

Tests were administered to obtain comparative data on the contentive verbal language of three-, four-, and five-year-old black children. (GW)

Teachers should enrich students' language environment, give children opportunities to practice their language, and allow feedback on language to occur. (DD)

In the earliest studies of child language, attention was given to language production as utterances of sound. Association of language with meaning followed as language development and the relationship between language and thought gained serious recognition in the study of child development. The traditional societal view of "a child should be seen…

First explains what is meant by "metalinguistic awareness" as a special dimension of language experience and its seeming importance in education; then describes a conception of the function of "play" in general and play with language in particular; and asks how educators might encourage play with language in school. (Author/JM)

Discusses a psycholinguistic experiment investigating a child's use of relative clauses in English. (TO)