In this study, the development of first language (L1) skills among native English-speaking students enrolled in early French immersion programs in Canadian schools is explored. It is hypothesized that the early bilingual schooling received by those majority children will serve to enhance their performance on various kinds of L1 tasks. Some preliminary evidence consistent with this hypothesis is found in a longitudinal comparison of English language test scores obtained over a six-year period by 22 immersion students and 22 regular English program students. Analysis of specific test items where the immersion students clearly outperform their regular program counterparts leads to the development of more specific hypotheses, which are tested via new measures on a larger sample of students in grade 6.

Earlier studies demonstrating the discourse function of imitation have been inconclusive for methodological reasons. In the present study three discourse-related formal aspects of model-imitation pairs are analysed longitudinally in successive samples from two Hungarian children. Examination of the types of modification introduced by the children revealed an unbroken developmental trend leading to lexically coherent conversational replies. As development progressed, questions were imitated significantly more often than nonquestions. The children's selection from multiword utterances showed convergence on a language specific discourse rule. Imitation served (i)lexical learning, (ii) the phonological approximation of adult word forms, and (iii)grammatical learning, in this temporal order. The high rate of grammatically and lexically progressive items in the earliest sample was attributed to nonselective echolalia, supposedly a genetically earlier form of imitation.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that variables such as word frequency, which are known to affect semantic memory, would have more influence on how quickly words were translated from English to French, or vice versa, than would variables such as imagery, which are known to affect episodic memory.

Students whose second language was French were presented with 145 words, with instructions that they translate them into French. Measures of accuracy and reaction time were taken. French-English translation of the same words was also investigated. Seventeen other characteristics of these words were also known from previous surveys. The results of a multiple regression analysis and a factor analysis indicated that translation efficiency was most strongly influenced by the frequency of the word in the language, its familiarity, and the similarity of the French equivalent to the English word. Variables such as emotionality and imagery, known to influence retrieval in episodic memory paradigms, had little influence on translation time.

Two prerecorded productions of the “What's this?” question were presented to Grade 2, 4, and 6 children and to adults over a series of trials in a referential communication task. One production contained emphatic stress on the word “this” and the other production contained equal stress on both words. For each question presentation the experimenter selected a colored picture of an object from a deck that was the match to one of two picture choices in view of the subjects. The students guessed on successive presentations whether a different picture (new topic collaboration) or the same picture (old topic collaboration) had been selected based on the presence or absence of emphatic stress in the questions. No feedback was given to the students throughout the experimental procedure. Use of intonation as a marker for topic collaboration appeared by Grade 4, which is in support of other similar research.

In Applied Psycholinguistik 7:2 (June 1986), on page 181 and in the contents, Sue S. Conrad should read Sue S. Conard.