Examined overregularization of irregular verb forms in children's language learning. Found that overregularization errors are relatively rare; occur at a constant rate; and are not correlated with the proportion of regular verbs in parents' or children's speech. Also found that a period of correct performance precedes the child's first error. (BC)

To more thoroughly analyze and compare the types of dictionaries being used by Japanese college students in three college engineering classes, two kinds of surveys were designed. The first was a general survey about purchase, use and preferences regarding electronic dictionaries. The second survey asked questions about how various computerised…

A study examined primary-grade children's ability to construct felicitous, or audience-accommodating, character introductions in their stories. The study was intended to (1) describe the linguistic variation children employed in character introductions; (2) identify cognitive factors other than egocentrism contributing to infelicitous…

Focusing on language development--from beginning speech to literacy--with particular attention paid to growth in writing, this paper identifies and describes: (1) links between speech and writing; and (2) features of children's written and spoken texts that indicate growth. The process of constructing "texts" is presented as the fabric…

A question of both theoretical and practical importance for the study of phonological development is whether there is a difference in the status of productions rendered spontaneously by the child and those repeated by the child after either an adult model or his own production. The relevant theoretical questions are: (1) Are all the child's…

A study is presented which investigated ways Spanish speaking preschool children learn to identify letters of the alphabet, the types of errors made in identifying letters, and whether there is a developmental learning sequence in alphabet learning for Spanish speakers. The question of the influence of socioeconomic level on performance was also…

A study was conducted to test whether three, four, and five-year-old children would be better able to use either static or dynamic properties for grouping objects, and whether performance under these conditions would be better than when no property was given. One of the two study tasks, the free sort, also used by Rosch et al. (1976), asked…

This booklet for parents provides a brief explanation of how babies and young children learn to communicate with others (through actions and words) and suggests specific ways parents can help their children learn to communicate effectively. (RH)

Production data from a longitudinal study of seven children in their first attempts to produce words containing fricatives are presented to illustrate how children use four distinct strategies to approach this relatively difficult class of sounds. The strategies are: (1) favorite sounds--an approach used by a subject who seemed to enjoy playing…

This document provides a guide for setting up a church-sponsored nursery school. Chapter One outlines the verbal-cognitive model of preschool education which emphasizes interaction between teacher and child. Perceptual, motor, cognitive, social, emotional, and language objectives are indicated. Chapter Two covers aspects of school management such…

THIS BOOKLET WAS DESIGNED TO MEET SOME IMMEDIATE NEEDS FOR THE FIRST SUMMER SESSION OF PROJECT HEAD START. IT CONTAINS SOME OF THE MOST WORKABLE AND PROMISING TEACHING METHODS IN THE ENTIRE FIELD OF COMPENSATORY EDUCATIONS, METHODS THAT HAVE BEEN USED IN PRIVATELY SPONSORED CENTERS AND HAVE PROVED VALUABLE IN COPING WITH PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN…

The use of formulaic speech is seen as a learning strategy in children's first language (L1) acquisition to a limited extent, and to an even greater extent in their second language (L2) acquisition. While the first utterances of the child learning L1 are mostly one-word constructions, many of them are routine words or phrases that the child learns…

Developmental patterns in the solution of verbal analogies, especially the recognition of higher-order analogical relations, were traced. The investigation sought to: (1) provide new developmental tests of a componential theory of analogical reasoning; (2) identify strategy changes during the transition from midchildhood (grade 3) to adulthood…

Rates of verbalizing by three children exhibiting moderate to severe language delays (delays of six months to two years) were increased through the systematic use of mands for verbalization, models for verbalization, and contingent positive consequences following utterances. Daily samples of each child's speech were collected during free play…