This brief examines the research on learner interaction and summarizes the positive effects of classroom interaction on language learning. The brief also describes areas of focus for teachers who want to promote successful language learning interactions, provides examples of activities that can be used to structure and enhance classroom…

The study examined the use of primary sentence stress by seven preschool autistic children with mean length of utterance (MLU) scores between 1.9 and 4.1 morphemes with normal and aphasic subjects serving as controls. Differences were seen in the number of correct responses and in the pattern of stress misassignment. (Author/DB)

The phonological competence of 4 children, ages 5-7 years old, with a diagnosis of developmental apraxia of speech (DAS), was contrasted to that of 4 normal children. The DAS children revealed a severe deficit in rhyming ability. Results suggest that DAS is a fundamental disorder of the segmental phonological level of language. (Author/DB)

This study examined how five normally developing two-year-old children manage the relationship between phonetic production and production of word combinations in their spontaneous speech. Results revealed tradeoffs between complexity of word combinations and both accuracy of consonant production and phonetic complexity of individual lexical items.…

Examines a variety of metalinguistic tasks in terms of cognitive and linguistic prerequisites to their solutions. Argues that conceptualizing metalinguistic ability as reliance on (1) growth in analysis of knowledge of language and (2) increased control over cognitive operations makes it possible to relate metalinguistic ability to other language…

This study tested the production of 18 Spanish consonants by 120 Mexican-American preschool children (ages 3-5), to determine the age of acquisition of Spanish consonants. Data are provided on percent of correct production of each sound at six different age levels and are graphically illustrated to compare age of acquisition with another study's…

This report documents phonological changes in a pair of identical twin boys diagnosed as language delayed. The boys were evaluated four times between the ages of three and four. Speech samples were analyzed for phonetic inventories, phonological process use, and syllabic shapes. Observed changes in their speech generally followed normal…

To test opposing theories about the relationship between intonation and syllable timing, these boundary features were compared in a longitudinal study of 9 children's speech development between the mean ages of 16 and 25 months. Results suggest that young children acquire the skills that control intonation earlier than they do skills of final…

A 1-year followup of 10 children with delayed onset of early speech skills found that all 4 children who were still delayed had been delayed in language comprehension and gesture tasks the previous year whereas the 6 children who had "caught up" had demonstrated age-appropriate language comprehension and gesture usage earlier. (Author/DB)

Investigation into age-related differences in production of fricative-vowel syllables with 10 adults and 30 children (ages 3, 5, and 7) found that age-related differences in vocal-tract geometry didn't explain age-related differences in vowel effects on fricative noise; children master intersyllabic gestural organization prior to intrasyllabic…

This study examined the influence of metrical patterns (syllable stress and serial position) of words on the production accuracy of 20 children (ages 22 months to 28 months). Among results were that one-fourth of the initial unstressed syllables were omitted and that consonant omissions, though few, tended to occur in the initial position.…

This case report provides a phonological investigation of the speech of an eight-year-old autistic boy. Speech was elicited using delayed imitation, object naming, and a connected speech sample. The subject's use of phonological processes resulted in extensive homonymy which contributed to severely reduced intelligibility. Both typical and unusual…

This study found that the scores of younger normal subjects (n=60) on tasks involving the sequential recall of words from five categories were equal to scores of older children (n=34) with language and speech impairments. Word category scores predicted language and speech scores, but prediction was stronger in children having impaired language or…

This study tested the hypothesis that there is a developmental shift in the perceptual weighting of acoustic parameters that results from experience with a native language. Comparison of 17 3-year olds and 16 adults found that age-related differences in auditory sensitivity did not fully account for age-related differences in perceptual weighting…

Explores the relations among combinatorial capacities in language, symbolic play, blockbuilding, and nonsemantic action sequences within a sample of 18- to 24-month-old children, as well as assessing the developmental level of a selected subset of concepts. (HOD)