This descriptive study compared language used by teachers and children in Ausubelian and Piagetian preschool programs during small group instruction and related learning activities. Instruction in the Ausubelian program (AP) was based on Ausubel's subsumption theory of learning while that in the Piagetian program (PP) was based on Piaget's theory…

A collection of research reports concerning language issues on Guam includes: "Language Survival, the Ideology of English and Education in Guam" (Robert A. Underwood); "American Policies and Practices Affecting Language Shift on Guam: 1898-1950" (Rosa S. Palomo); "Is Bilingual Education a Friend or Foe of the Indigenous…

Project Esperanza supplemented the basic special education program for handicapped students with limited English proficiency (LEP) by providing (1) staff training and consultation, (2) materials development, identification, and evaluation, (3) assistance in the diagnosis of educational needs and the prescription of instructional strategies, (4)…

In response both to interests within the foreign language teaching profession and to a new Texas law mandating oral proficiency standards for foreign language teachers, Tarrant County Junior College developed a number of curriculum changes in French, German, Spanish, and English for Speakers of Other Languages. The primary first-year emphasis and…

The importance of the development of oral communication abilities has been documented in a number of sources. Studies of graduates, employers, and corporate executives have revealed, for example, that skills in problem solving, communication, and interpersonal relations are most valued in high tech corporations. Several recent indictments of…

Research reports on the nature of speech, instrumentation for the investigation of speech, and practical applications of speech research are presented in this status report. The 18 reports deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) cyclic production of vowels in sequences of monosyllabic stress feet; (2) differences between…

A study investigated whether syntactic differences between oral and written discourse interfere with the comprehension of beginning readers. Subjects were 28 second grade and 28 fifth grade students who read, orally, versions of stories identical in nature except for the structure of their syntactic patterns. One version contained structures more…

A project was conducted to (1) produce normative data for the Literacy Assessment Battery (LAB) and (2) evaluate the LAB as a potential supplement to the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for use as a selection and classification instrument for the military services. The distribution of auding and reading skills in the population…

This study is divided into two major sections. The first, the study of language in a sociolinguistic perspective, includes: (1) an analysis of the attitudes associated with linguistic variation, and a review of (2) studies conducted in French Quebec, (3) the linguistic and cultural deficit theories, (4) the theory of cross-linguistic and…

The range of meanings of "big" and "little" that mothers and their three children under age two expressed in relatively natural communication situations was studied. Longitudinal data from transcripts of conversations of middle-class mothers and their children were analyzed along with diary records kept by parents of their children's use of size…

The predrafted Oregon Individual Short-Term Plan/Records on oral language (grades 4-6), covering skills such as listening comprehension, critical listening, personal listening, oral expression, and vocabulary development, were designed for migrant children who attend a school for only 2 to 6 weeks. Migrant education teachers who had made extensive…

Research reports on the nature of speech, instrumentation for the investigation of speech, and practical applications of research are included in this status report for the January 1 - March 31, 1979 period. The reports deal with the following topics: an articulatory synthesizer for perceptual research; the perception of an oral-nasal continuum…

Research shows that a very large percentage of Japanese university students are apprehensive about communicating orally, to the degree that their fear may be debilitating, weakening their effectiveness as oral interactants in social and classroom situations. This uneasiness with speech has been culturally ingrained for centuries. Children are…

Methods of assessing children's oral language ability are explored in this paper. Following a discussion of problems involved in the formal assessment of oral language ability, a study is described that revealed that the evaluation of the oral language of 12 kindergarten children in the social context of the natural classroom environment,…

Australian studies show that television assists in the socialization of immigrants, changing and shaping their self-images and perceptions of reality and fostering their interpersonal communication skills. Studies conducted to evaluate the introduction of television have found that television helps in the vocabulary development of young children.…