An Introduction to The National Language Research Institute: A Sketch of its Achievements
Third Edition(1988)/ HTML Version(1997)

[contens]| [previous]| [next]

II.4.6 The Language Ability of Children in the First and Second Grades

(Report 10, 1956. 388 pages)
This is a report on a survey of the development of language ability, mainly children's ability to read and write characters and sentences, from the last half year of the first grade to the end of the second grade. 1) How do the speed of silent reading and understanding develop in relation to the progress of oral reading skill and with the manner in which the silent reading is done? 2) How does the ability to write compositions on the same subject develop in quality and quantity? 3) From what side and to what degree do vocabulary and grammar skills grow? Especially about writing ability, the development of which shows various phenomena during this period, we describe in detail the state of its development; problems of its learning; the differences according to individuals, locality, and sex; and the tendency to make mistakes. We also examined the relationship of the language ability to intelligence, personality, health, home environment, and school life during this period. Case studies of six children are reported. Following the report on the pre-reading period, reports on several research projects are inserted-research on reading at home, and on the actual conditions of language teaching and textbooks in the first and second grades. As an appendix, a table of the kanzi used in textbooks is given. Through this book we can see the outline of the development of reading and writing ability in the first and the second grades. (The development of speaking and listening ability in this period is reported on in Annual Report 8, 1956.) This survey was made by KOSIMIZU Minoru, TAKAHASI Kazuo, ASIZAWA Setu, MURAISI Syo~zo~, and OKAMOTO Keitoku.

[contens]| [previous]| [next]