Language Development through the School Years: Learning to Confine Interpretation to the Information in the Text.

ABS:RACT The properties of written, textual language with which children deal in school cam be distinguished from those of oral language by examining the manner in which interpersonal and logical functions are stressed and by assessing the degree to which interpretation is confined by meaning explicitly stated in textual matter. The developmental process whereby children acquire the skills necessary to understand written language occurs primarily during the school years and can tentatively be attributed to schooling itself. A review of taecry and research in the area of language development suggests, then that the ability to confine interpretation to inforaation explicitly stated in texts and to derive logical conclusions from written materials is related largely to the developaent of literacy. (KS)