The paper reports on a study of the rate of language learning of 12 children aged 2 to 10 with severe to profound bilateral hearing losses. Intended to help deaf children learn spoken language at the same rate as average hearing Ss, the intervention stressed three qualities of linguistic information: (1) clarity, (2) appropriateness, and (3)…

Five children, aged 7-10 years, exhibiting Developmental Verbal Apraxia (DVA) were evaluated to determine the presence of word-retrieval problems. DVA is a symptom cluster including at least some of 21 potential symptoms, such as delayed speech development and severe articulation disorder. The Boston Naming Test (a picture confrontation naming…

The Indochinese student brings a unique set of linguistic, cultural, and psychological problems to the English as a second language (ESL) classroom. Indochinese refugees may be illiterate in their first language, lack the prior education needed to cope with a formalized learning situation, have traditional learning and study patterns that…

Two studies were conducted to test the view that the early reading difficulties experienced by boys result from a "difference" in the way they use language, not their "deficit" in language ability. The first study replicated previous findings that young boys outperform young girls in receptive language ability although they perform less well in…

Approximately 290 deaf college freshmen participated in a study of the relationship between perceived and actual abilities in eight communication modes (including reading, writing, speech reading with and without sound, and reception of manual and simultaneous communication). Ss rated their abilities before and after a communication course. Actual…

Evidence for speaker knowledge of morphological patterns, both derivational and inflectional, is not limited to productive patterns. Nonproductive patterns appear to be accessible in such a way that accessibility (a term preferred to "psychological reality") may be viewed as a function of four somewhat interdependent factors: (1) productivity, (2)…

Many current models of television viewing regard viewers either as passive receptors, active participants, or addled dupes. A study proposed a more flexible model for television viewing research. The study used the television program "St. Elsewhere," an example of "meta-television" (television programming which contains hidden…

Although the constraints of time and environment under which most language learning is done mean that a natural language situation can never be reproduced in school, many of the findings from first language acquisition studies apply to second language (L2) learning. This would mean therefore that instead of stressing speaking in a beginning L2…

The impact of professional jargon and data-based statements in evaluation reports on audience responses to an evaluation report and an evaluator's recommendations was examined. Subjects read one of four evaluation reports about testing and grading procedures in a school program. The reports varied in the amount of jargon and data used to justify…

Social cognitive abilities were evaluated in 23 deaf students (3 to 6 years old) through tasks requiring spatial perspective taking, cooperation, and receptive language. As hypothesized, language ability proved to be a prediction of both other variables, with the high correlation between language and perspective taking indicating a definite…

The STRIVE Program, an approach to identifying and serving culturally diverse (Black and Hispanic) gifted students, is described. The STRIVE model consists of six modules: gifted programing; receptive and expressive language training; counseling (individual and group); relevant curriculum providing transitory skills; a parent advisory board; and…

The goal of this panel was to develop the means to improve teachers' work on the basis of improved understanding of linguistic phenomena in school settings. The panel organized its research approaches and programs around ways in which effective communication in the classroom is different from everyday talk to which all children are enculturated,…

Post structural reader theories--i.e., theories that focus on the reader/viewer rather than the text as the creator of meaning--are considered in this paper in terms of their application to educational media research. Some key concepts of reader theories are defined as follows: (1) reading is the process of creating meaning while viewing an…

This study probed whether or not a distinctive Down syndrome (DS) pattern could be found in the realm of vocabulary comprehension. Groups of 29 each of DS adolescents, non-DS mentally retarded (MR) adolescents, and nonretarded children were statistically matched on receptive vocabulary ability; DS and MR groups were also matched for chronological…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether at-risk kindergartners and first graders engaged in a regular curriculum supplemented by the WORDPLAY program would attain greater receptive and expressive language skills than similar students engaged in the regular curriculum only. WORDPLAY is a program specifically designed to provide extensive…