<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Here is a question from Flo Kimmerling, a colleague of mine at SFSU. Anyone have some ideas for her? Send replies to me or to Flo at <A href="mailto:geokimm@sbcglobal.net">geokimm@sbcglobal.net</A>.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Carolyn Chaney</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">From Flo Kimmerling:</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I have a question, which relates to a raging debate in my graduate class on language disorders. I was summarizing Genesee, Paradis, and Crago's new book, <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;">Dual Language Development and Disorders. </SPAN> It goes about smashing some of the icons of bilingual education for the SLI child. I took a lot of heat on several issues, but the one I need some clarification about relates to the ability to discriminate and ultimately produce phonemes one has not heard from birth. I spoke about the fact that sequential learners of another second language, who are systematically exposed to it between the ages of 4 and 8, while quite young, if not disordered, will carry some of the phonology and intonation patterns from L1 but will be able to learn L2 in time, without necessarily having specific, targeted intervention. The SLI child will need that targeted intervention. Ben Barrett, who is a wealth of info and experience, said that no, these children can't even hear some of the phonemes not available in L1, due to lack of cortical exposure during early development. He will need to be immersed in phonological awareness and discrimination exercises. Otherwise the lack of discrimination will ultimately affect the building of morphology as well as phonological awareness. I thought the plasticity of the young language learning brain, given enough stimulation, would, in time, do the work through exposure, and that the teen and adult would need more of this targeted work. I am interested in the normal L2 learner, who is exposed to L1 only for the first few years and then L2 when they enter preschool or kindergarten (similar to so many of the first generation children we have in the local schools.) I appreciate your thoughtful comments, and if there is any research indicating that the normals, although still quite young, will need direct phonologic contrast drills or discrimination practice, I'd like to know that. Can you clarify, please? </DIV></BODY></HTML>