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This investigation examined the linkages between and across the language processes of listening, speaking, reading, drawing and writing as well as the meanings displayed within and across these modes in children’s response to story. Eight first grade children whose reading levels represented a range of low to above-average ability participated in four individual storyreading sessions for a total of 32 sessions. Each session was twenty-to-thirty minutes in length and took place during the class's reading/writing period. Drawing/writing samples, field notes, and videotapes and audiotapes were collected over a six week period. The drawing/writing composing sequence was recorded for each story and flow charts were made depicting each child's pattern of movement between and across language processes. The flow charts were used to examine the language process usage and linkage patterns evident in the movement between and across modes. The kinds of meanings examined included response to conference questions, functions of language displayed during the drawing/writing, and the coherence and specificity present in the story retellings and picture stories. The results of the study indicated that no one particular language process was chosen exclusively to convey meaning in response to story. Some linkage patterns, described as simultaneous or sequential, did occur more frequently than others. The simultaneous linkage pattern of talking/listening and drawing/picture reading was a common pattern displayed by both the high and low ability groups. An analysis of the response to conference questions revealed some awareness by the children of their drawing/writing composing strategies. Another aspect of process knowledge, concept of story, was seen in the analysis of the initial image drawn or written by each child. The functions of language displayed during the drawing/writing composing process were identified as informational, procedural, and format-regulatory. The concept knowledge, examined in terms of coherence and specificity, was characteristic of the categories described as skeletal and interpretational for both groups' story retellings and picture stories. This study suggested that children differ in the way they use the language processes to display meaning in response to story. Parallels were drawn in examining children's thinking processes across the modes. This study supports the notion that recognition and understanding of the various ways children communicate meaning can help educators in their roles as facilitators of language learning. / Ed. D.

Among studies conducted to examine the effectiveness of parent training, researchers have used measures of both parent and child performance. However, few studies have focused on the generalization of the acquired skills or repertoires from one setting to another. Several studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the Speaker Immersion Protocol (SIP) in increasing children’s vocal verbal behavior when conducted in school settings, but none have reported training parents to implement the procedure at home. Further, no studies have measured the generalization effects of the SIP across home and school environments. In 2 experiments, I examined the generalization of child participants’ vocal verbal behavior by training the parents to implement the SIP in a home setting and measuring the children’s vocal verbal operants at school prior to and following the SIP intervention. In the second experiment, I further examined whether the outcomes of the SIP would extend to parent-child interactions during play sessions at home. In the first study, I found that after parent participants were taught to implement the SIP accurately at home, the child participants emitted increased mands and tacts at school. In the second study, I found that with the SIP being implemented effectively at home, there was an increase in parents’ and children’s verbal behavior in the free-play and structured play sessions. The frequency of the child’s emission of verbal behavior was also positively correlated to the mother’s frequency of verbal behavior. Results are discussed from the perspectives of how implementing an effective practice at home with parents contributes to the generalization of the skills for the children and its relation to parent-child interactions in general.

Previous studies in child language socialization have adopted the approach of studying how children become competent members of their social groups through the use of language. This study began as an attempt to study child language socialization within selected Tucson U.S. Mexican households within this prevailing paradigm. During the course of fieldwork, it was found that the complexities of Borderlands structural and hegemonic relationships could not be adequately addressed within a theoretical assumption of homeostatic and monosemic communities. The ambiguities of "Mexican-ness" do not provide a consensually agreed upon or collectively implicit framework for language socialization. Instead, fluid domains are contested and negotiated as language socialization is construed as a constitutive process of "selfhood" for the child. Rather than replicating and reproducing previously transmitted information, certain parents and caregivers were found to actively engage in constructing an ethos for their own childhood experiences. Multivocality within multiple interactive spheres was identified as parents and caregivers often alternated between symbolic resistance and opposition, and accomodation. Additionally, an affective base for language socialization is postulated. An "emotion of minority status" that is structurally constituted and embedded within regional hegemonic relations is presented as a formative backdrop for children in this population. The essential methodology involved lengthy ethnographic observations coupled with audiocassette recordings of naturally occurring speech. Caregivers were supplied with tape recorders and cassettes and were asked to record interaction within the households, specifically at mealtime, bed time and homework sessions. In-depth open-ended interviews were taped with parents, and in some cases, grandparents, regarding their own perceptions of child-rearing, language habits, and value orientations. Extensive household histories, detailing residential, labor and family history, were also collected.

Studies of Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian language learners converge on the finding that morphological features of nouns are first generalized to word clusters of high morpho-phonological similarities such as diminutives, that grammatical categorisation is are more easily applied to novel words that fall into these clusters. The present thesis explores whether the facilitating effect of diminutives on the acquisition of complex noun morphology can be extended to Serbian, a south Slavic language, morphologically similar to Russian and Polish. Specifically, the thesis explores the role of parameters responsible for the obtained diminutive advantage: high frequency of a particular cluster of words in child-directed speech (CDS) and morpho-phonological homogeneity within this cluster. A corpus analysis of the distribution of diminutives in Serbian CDS indicated a rather unexpected difference in frequency relative to Russian and Polish CDS, despite the high similarity of the diminutive derivation across these three Slavic languages. Out of the total number of nouns in Serbian CDS only 7% were diminutives, compared to 20-30% in Polish and 45% in Russian. Two experimental studies explored whether the low frequency of diminutives in Serbian CDS attenuates the diminutive advantage in morphology learning compared to Russian and Polish. In the first two experiments, Serbian children exhibited a strong diminutive advantage for both gender agreement and case marking in the same range as Russian children, indicating that morpho-phonological homogeneity within the cluster of diminutives may play as important a role as their frequency for grammatical categorisation of novel nouns. A third study investigated in more detail the effects of morpho-phonological homogeneity on the emergence of the diminutive advantage using a gender-agreement task with novel nouns in simplex and pseudo-diminutive form over four sessions with Serbian children. The results showed a pseudo-diminutive advantage for gender agreement by Session 2, suggesting that the categorisation of nouns into grammatical categories is based on morpho-phonological homogeneity of the word cluster, emerges relatively fast, and can occur despite the much lower frequency of diminutives in Serbian CDS. Finally, a series of neural network simulations designed to capture the pattern of results from the third experimental study was used to examine to what extent a simple associative learning mechanism, relying on morpho-phonological similarity of the noun endings, can explain the findings. The performance of three models, a whole-word feed-forward network, a Simple Recurrent Network (SRN) and a last-syllable feed-forward network, was compared to the experimental data. The superior fit of the SRN suggests that gender learning is based on a very fast sequential build-up of representations of the entire word, allowing the system to exploit the predictive power of word stems to anticipate regularised endings. Overall, the findings of this thesis contribute to our general understanding of mechanisms responsible for the acquisition of complex inflectional noun morphology in two ways. First, by extending experimental studies and neural network simulations to Serbian, the results underline the universality of the idea that noun morphology is learned and processed through a single-route associative mechanism based on the frequency and morpho-phonological structure of nouns. More specifically, the results from experimental studies and neural network simulations demonstrate that for diminutives, the low-level grammatical categorisation is based mainly on the morpho-phonological similarity of word endings, and can emerge after just a few exposures. And second, the neural network simulations suggest that during the process of categorisation of nouns into gender categories, learners rely not only on predictable information from the noun endings, but also on phonological regularities in the stems of nouns. Taken together, these findings contribute also to a better understanding of the facilitating role of CDS in morphology acquisition.

A few studies have examined the effects of a remote control tactile device (RCT) as an unobtrusive prompting method used to promote skills such as verbal initiations and play behaviors in children with autism. To date, however, no published studies have investigated the effects of the RCT as a consequence to increase and maintain conversation skills. This study was designed to determine whether the RCT, in conjunction with common training techniques (i.e. roleplays, visual feedback, and sibling coaching), could be used as a discrete and unobtrusive feedback system to promote conversation skills in high functioning children with autism. Results found that the RCT and training packages were effective in initially increasing rates of target responses. The effects however, did not always maintain with a return to baseline. Programming "naturally" maintaining communities of reinforcement was found to be a critical factor in the maintenance of the conversational responses.

Mand training is a very logical and natural procedure to begin teaching communication skills to individuals with autism. Existing research has documented strategies for teaching children with autism to mand for preferred items, although there are fewer high quality studies on teaching children to mand for other people to perform an action. In addition to improving the general mand repertoire, teaching children to mand for others to perform an action is important because it allows children with autism to communicate ways in which another person could improve their environment by performing a simple action. The purpose of this study was to document a functional relation between mand training and acquisition and generalization of unprompted mands for another person to perform an action. Using a multiple-baseline design across participants, four children with autism were taught to mand for an adult to perform a variety of actions (e.g., to open a container so the child could obtain a preferred item). Results showed that the intervention produced an increase in unprompted mands for actions for all participants. Additionally, all participants demonstrated unprompted mands at or above mastery criteria during all generalization sessions in a different setting and different interventionist. The magnitude of effect was also large for all participants. This study extends the research on mand training by demonstrating a procedure that can be used to teach children with autism specific mands for actions. Additionally, this study will contribute to a body of strong and adequate studies that will eventually lead to mand training being considered an evidence-based practice.

The purposes of this study were 1) to ascertain the effectiveness of puppets with instructional media in oral language development of culturally disadvantaged first-grade children, and 2) to derive the implications of this effect for instructors, teachers, and volunteers working in programs for the culturally disadvantaged child.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Education Johannesburg, 2016. / The aim of this research is to understand how the use and manipulation of concrete tools, specifically six DUPLO bricks, can impact language acquisition and vocabulary development in second language learners. The study works within a social constructivist paradigm and draws on the work of Vygotsky (1978b). This is an exploratory study and the data is gathered from observations, focus group sessions and semi-structured interviews. The research is conducted over a period of 14 weeks with one class of Grade 1 children who are learning through the medium of English but are also second language learners. The selected school was a northern suburbs government school. The findings show that the children did benefit from the intervention and that learning was enhanced through tactile activities and embodiment. The social collaborative learning through play provided the best opportunities for language acquisition and the development of a shared repertoire of vocabulary. The research study has implications for the theory and practice of teaching early literacy in South Africa in particular language learning and vocabulary development. / MT2017

Huang Pai-yuan. / Thesis submitted in: December 1999. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-140). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / List of Abbreviations --- p.vi / List of Tables and Figures --- p.vii / Abstract --- p.xi / Chapter Chapter One: --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Goal of Child Language Research and Bilingual First Language Acquisition --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2. --- Single System Hypothesis Vs. Separate Systems Hypothesis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.2.1. --- Single System Hypothesis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.2.2. --- Separate Systems Hypothesis --- p.8 / Chapter 1.3. --- Autonomous Development Hypothesis Vs. Interdependent development Hypothesis --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3.1. --- Autonomous Development Hypothesis --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3.2. --- Interdependent Development Hypothesis --- p.12 / Chapter 1.4. --- The Present Study --- p.17 / Chapter 1.4.1. --- On the Issue of Transfer in BFLA --- p.17 / Chapter 1.4.2. --- A review of Peng (1998) --- p.18 / Chapter 1.5. --- Preview of Other Chapters --- p.20 / Notes to Chapter One --- p.21 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Methodology --- p.22 / Chapter 2.0 --- Introduction --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1. --- Source of Data --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1.1. --- Family Background and Linguistic Input --- p.22 / Chapter 2.1.2. --- Collection of Data --- p.24 / Chapter 2.1.2.1. --- Audio Recording --- p.24 / Chapter 2.1.2.2. --- Data Transcription --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1.2.3. --- Transcription of Cantonese data --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2. --- General Development of the Two Languages in the Bilingual Child --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.1. --- Language Dominance --- p.26 / Chapter 2.2.2. --- Indices of Timmy's Bilingual Development --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2.1. --- MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) --- p.27 / Chapter 2.2.2.2. --- Syntactic Complexity --- p.36 / Chapter 2.3. --- Hypothesis and Predictions --- p.37 / Chapter 2.4. --- Analysis of Data --- p.38 / Notes to Chapter Two --- p.38 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- Development of Null Subjects in the Bilingual Subject's English --- p.39 / Chapter 3.0 --- Introduction --- p.39 / Chapter 3.1. --- Null Subject Phenomenon in Child Language --- p.39 / Chapter 3.1.1. --- Competence Accounts --- p.40 / Chapter 3.1.2. --- Performance Accounts --- p.43 / Chapter 3.1.3. --- Null Subjects in Timmy's English --- p.45 / Chapter 3.2. --- Properties of Null Subjects in Monolingual Child English --- p.45 / Chapter 3.3. --- Findings from Bilingual Corpus Data --- p.48 / Chapter 3.3.1. --- The Null Subject Rate in Timmy's English over the Period of Study --- p.48 / Chapter 3.3.2. --- Null Subject with INFL Properties --- p.50 / Chapter 3.3.2.1. --- Null Subject and Inflected “be´ح --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3.2.2. --- Null Subjects and Modals / Semi-auxiliaries --- p.52 / Chapter 3.3.2.3. --- Null Subjects and Morphemes (/ Verbal Affixes) “-ed´ح，“-s´ح --- p.59 / Chapter 3.3.2.4. --- Null Subjects in Finite Subordinate Clauses --- p.63 / Chapter 3.3.2.5. --- Expletive Subjects and Null Subjects --- p.63 / Chapter 3.3.3. --- Null Subjects and Person: Sub-divisions --- p.66 / Chapter 3.4. --- General Development of Grammatical Subjects in Timmy's English Data --- p.68 / Chapter 3.5. --- Findings from Diary Data --- p.72 / Chapter 3.6. --- Conclusion --- p.73 / Notes to Chapter Three --- p.74 / Chapter Chapter Four: --- Development of Null Objects in the Bilingual Subject's English --- p.75 / Chapter 4.0 --- Introduction --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1. --- Null Object Phenomenon in Child English --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1.1. --- Competence Accounts --- p.75 / Chapter 4.1.2. --- Performance Accounts --- p.76 / Chapter 4.2. --- Properties of Null Objects in Child English --- p.77 / Chapter 4.3. --- Findings from Bilingual Subject's English Corpus Data --- p.79 / Chapter 4.3.1. --- Rate of Null Objects in Timmy's English over the Period of Study --- p.79 / Chapter 4.3.2. --- Comparison with Monolingual English Child Data --- p.82 / Chapter 4.3.3. --- Null Objects and Persons: Sub-division --- p.84 / Chapter 4.4. --- General Development of Grammatical Object --- p.86 / Chapter 4.5. --- Findings from Diary Data --- p.89 / Chapter 4.6. --- Conclusion --- p.90 / Notes to Chapter Four --- p.90 / Chapter Chapter Five: --- Development of Null Subjects and Null Objects in the Bilingual Subject's Cantonese --- p.91 / Chapter 5.0 --- Introduction --- p.91 / Chapter 5.1 --- An Overview of Null Arguments in Cantonese --- p.91 / Chapter 5.1.1. --- Null Arguments as a Grammatical Option in Cantonese --- p.91 / Chapter 5.1.2. --- Distribution of Null Arguments in Cantonese Sentences --- p.96 / Chapter 5.2 --- Rate of Null Subjects and Null Objects in Adult Cantonese --- p.98 / Chapter 5.3. --- Development of Null Subjects in Monolingual Cantonese Children --- p.100 / Chapter 5.4. --- Development of Null Subjects in Timmy's Cantonese --- p.103 / Chapter 5.4.1. --- The Rate of Null Subjects Over the Period of Study --- p.103 / Chapter 5.4.2. --- Comparison with Monolingual Cantonese Child Data --- p.108 / Chapter 5.5. --- Development of Null Objects in Monolingual Cantonese Children --- p.109 / Chapter 5.6. --- Development of Null Objects in Timmy's Cantonese --- p.112 / Chapter 5.6.1. --- The Rate of Null Objects in Timmy's Cantonese Over the Period of Study --- p.112 / Chapter 5.6.2. --- VP-ellipsis in Timmy's Cantonese Corpus Data --- p.115 / Chapter 5.6.3. --- Comparison with Monolingual Cantonese Child Data --- p.116 / Chapter 5.7 --- Findings from Diary Data --- p.117 / Chapter 5.8 --- Conclusion --- p.119 / Notes to Chapter Five --- p.120 / Chapter Chapter Six: --- Discussion of Findings and Conclusions --- p.121 / Chapter 6.0 --- Introduction --- p.121 / Chapter 6.1. --- A Summary of the Findings in the English Data --- p.122 / Chapter 6.2. --- A Summary of the Findings in the Cantonese Data --- p.124 / Chapter 6.3. --- Possibility of Interaction between the Two Language Systems and the Nature of Transfer --- p.125 / Chapter 6.4. --- Un-learning Null Arguments in Ll English --- p.129 / Chapter 6.5. --- Conclusions --- p.129 / Chapter 6.6. --- Suggestions for Further Study --- p.130 / Notes to Chapter Six --- p.130 / Appendices --- p.131 / References --- p.133