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Psycholinguistics: An Introduction to the Psychology of Language by Donald J. Foss and David T. Hakes (review)

An introductory textbook must be judged not only in terms of the accuracy, thoroughness, and currency with which it covers its subject, but also in terms of its accessibility — how well it is geared to classroom use and to the uninitiated audience for which it is intended. Considering only the first three criteria, this text compares favorably with others in the field. Published in 1978, its references to major studies are quite thorough through 1976 and even include considerable material as current as 1977. But considering accessibility, the book does not fare so well. In fact, it is curious that authors whose expertise includes the field of language processing pay so little attention to the various amenities that are becoming more common in newer textbooks. True, each chapter ends with a summary — a helpful and worthwhile practice — but the authors' claims that their reader "needs no background training in linguistics or in advanced psychology," that "terms are defined when needed," and that issues are stated "in such a way that they can be understood without prior knowledge of them," are often not justified by the text itself. Unfortunately, this is especially true in the first chapter where the beginning student may have considerable difficulty untangling such key passages as this definition of "language" as, "essentially, a means of relating two different kinds of patterns or forms of representation — sound and meaning (p. 11). In addition, the style is sometimes marred by abruptness due to lack of adequate transitions and by ungraceful and easily avoidable usage. Fortunately, these problems decrease in the latter sections of the book. Most readers will find the book organized clearly, conveniently, and in such a way as to be teachable without massive restructuring. There are five major sections: one on language and its structure, including chapters on the study of language and on competence; one on the comprehension of spoken language, including chapters on perceiving speech, the process of comprehension, and memory and comprehension; one on production of spoken language, including chapters on sentence production and producing speech after it is planned; one on language development in the child, including chapters on acquisition processes and learning to understand utterances and becoming linguistically competent; and a final section dealing with applications and relations, including excellent chapters on reading, language and the brain, and language and thought. The discussion of the history and structure of Black English in the last chapter is especially fine.