Sample records for age receptive vocabulary

  1. Adapting a receptive vocabulary test for preschool-aged Greek-speaking children.

    PubMed

    Okalidou, Areti; Syrika, Asimina; Beckman, Mary E; Edwards, Jan R

    2011-01-01

    Receptive vocabulary is an important measure for language evaluations. Therefore, norm-referenced receptive vocabulary tests are widely used in several languages. However, a receptive vocabulary test has not yet been normed for Modern Greek. To adapt an American English vocabulary test, the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-II (ROWPVT-II), for Modern Greek for use with Greek-speaking preschool children. The list of 170 English words on ROWPVT-II was adapted by (1) developing two lists (A and B) of Greek words that would match either the target English word or another concept corresponding to one of the pictured objects in the four-picture array; and (2) determining a developmental order for the chosen Greek words for preschool-aged children. For the first task, adult word frequency measures were used to select the words for the Greek wordlist. For the second task, 427 children, 225 boys and 202 girls, ranging in age from 2;0 years to 5;11 years, were recruited from urban and suburban areas of Greece. A pilot study of the two word lists was performed with the aim of comparing an equal number of list A and list B responses for each age group and deriving a new developmental list order. The relative difficulty of each Greek word item, that is, its accuracy score, was calculated by taking the average proportion of correct responses across ages for that word. Subsequently, the word accuracy scores in the two lists were compared via regression analysis, which yielded a highly significant relationship (R(2) = 0.97; p < 0.0001) and a few outlier pairs (via residuals). Further analysis used the original relative ranking order along with the derived ranking order from the average accuracy scores of the two lists in order to determine which word item from the two lists was a better fit. Finally, new starting levels (basals) were established for preschool ages. The revised word list can serve as the basis for adapting a receptive vocabulary test for Greek preschool-aged

  2. Adapting a receptive vocabulary test for preschool-aged Greek-speaking children

    PubMed Central

    Okalidou, Areti; Syrika, Asimina; Beckman, Mary E.; Edwards, Jan R.

    2010-01-01

    Introduction Receptive vocabulary is an important measure for language evaluations (e.g. Bornstein & Haynes, 1998; Metsala, 1999; Nation & Snowling, 1997). Therefore, norm-referenced receptive vocabulary tests are widely used in several languages (e.g. Brownell, 2000; Dunn, Dunn, Whetton & Burley, 1997). However, a receptive vocabulary test has not yet been normed for Modern Greek. Aims The purposes of this study were to adapt an American English vocabulary test, the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-II (ROWPVT-II) for Modern Greek for use with Greek-speaking preschool children. Methods & Procedures The list of 170 English words on the ROWPVT-II was adapted by a) developing two lists (list A and list B) of Greek words that would match either the target English word or another concept corresponding to one of the pictured objects in the 4-picture array and b) determining a developmental order for the chosen Greek words for preschool-aged children. For the first task, adult word frequency measures were used to select the words for the Greek wordlist. For the second task, 427 children, 225 boys and 202 girls, ranging in age from 2;0 years though 5;11 years, were recruited from urban and suburban areas of Greece. A pilot study of the two word lists was performed with the aim of comparing an equal number of list A and list B responses for each age group and deriving a new developmental list order. Outcomes & Results The relative difficulty of each Greek word item, i.e. its accuracy score, was calculated by taking the average proportion of correct responses across ages for that word. Subsequently, the word accuracy scores in the two lists were compared via regression analysis which yielded a highly significant relationship (R2 = 0.97; p<0.0001) and a few outlier pairs (via residuals). Further analysis used the original relative ranking order along with the derived ranking order from the average accuracy scores of the two lists, in order to determine which word

  3. Receptive Vocabulary in Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Cross-Sectional Developmental Trajectories

    PubMed Central

    McDuffie, Andrea S.; Hagerman, Randi J.; Abbeduto, Leonard

    2013-01-01

    In light of evidence that receptive language may be a relative weakness for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), this study characterized receptive vocabulary profiles in boys with ASD using cross-sectional developmental trajectories relative to age, nonverbal cognition, and expressive vocabulary. Participants were 49 boys with ASD (4–11 years) and 80 typically developing boys (2–11 years). Receptive vocabulary, assessed with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, was a weakness for boys with ASD relative to age and nonverbal cognition. Relative to expressive vocabulary, assessed with the Expressive Vocabulary Test, receptive vocabulary increased at a lower rate for boys with ASD. Vocabulary trajectories in ASD are distinguished from typical development; however, nonverbal cognition largely accounts for the patterns observed. PMID:23588510

  4. Effective Strategies for Turning Receptive Vocabulary into Productive Vocabulary in EFL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

    2015-01-01

    Vocabulary acquisition has been a main concern of EFL English teachers and learners. There have been tons of research to examine the student's level of receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary, but no research has conducted on how turning receptive vocabulary into productive vocabulary. This study has reported the impact of the teaching…

  5. Sibship size, sibling cognitive sensitivity, and children's receptive vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Prime, Heather; Pauker, Sharon; Plamondon, André; Perlman, Michal; Jenkins, Jennifer

    2014-02-01

    The aim of the current study was to examine the relationship between sibship size and children's vocabulary as a function of quality of sibling interactions. It was hypothesized that coming from a larger sibship (ie, 3+ children) would be related to lower receptive vocabulary in children. However, we expected this association to be moderated by the level of cognitive sensitivity shown by children's next-in-age older siblings. Data on 385 children (mean age = 3.15 years) and their next-in-age older siblings (mean age = 5.57 years) were collected and included demographic questionnaires, direct testing of children's receptive vocabulary, and videos of mother-child and sibling interactions. Sibling dyads were taped engaging in a cooperative building task and tapes were coded for the amount of cognitive sensitivity the older sibling exhibited toward the younger sibling. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted and showed an interaction between sibship size and sibling cognitive sensitivity in the prediction of children's receptive vocabulary; children exposed to large sibships whose next-in-age older sibling exhibited higher levels of cognitive sensitivity were less likely to show low vocabulary skills when compared with those children exposed to large sibships whose siblings showed lower levels of cognitive sensitivity. Children who show sensitivity to the cognitive needs of their younger siblings provide a rich environment for language development. The negative impact of large sibships on language development is moderated by the presence of an older sibling who shows high cognitive sensitivity.

  6. Rapid word-learning in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children: effects of age, receptive vocabulary, and high-frequency amplification.

    PubMed

    Pittman, A L; Lewis, D E; Hoover, B M; Stelmachowicz, P G

    2005-12-01

    This study examined rapid word-learning in 5- to 14-year-old children with normal and impaired hearing. The effects of age and receptive vocabulary were examined as well as those of high-frequency amplification. Novel words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz (typical of current amplification devices) and at 9 kHz. It was hypothesized that (1) the children with normal hearing would learn more words than the children with hearing loss, (2) word-learning would increase with age and receptive vocabulary for both groups, and (3) both groups would benefit from a broader frequency bandwidth. Sixty children with normal hearing and 37 children with moderate sensorineural hearing losses participated in this study. Each child viewed a 4-minute animated slideshow containing 8 nonsense words created using the 24 English consonant phonemes (3 consonants per word). Each word was repeated 3 times. Half of the 8 words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz and half were filtered at 9 kHz. After viewing the story twice, each child was asked to identify the words from among pictures in the slide show. Before testing, a measure of current receptive vocabulary was obtained using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). The PPVT-III scores of the hearing-impaired children were consistently poorer than those of the normal-hearing children across the age range tested. A similar pattern of results was observed for word-learning in that the performance of the hearing-impaired children was significantly poorer than that of the normal-hearing children. Further analysis of the PPVT and word-learning scores suggested that although word-learning was reduced in the hearing-impaired children, their performance was consistent with their receptive vocabularies. Additionally, no correlation was found between overall performance and the age of identification, age of amplification, or years of amplification in the children with hearing loss. Results also revealed a small increase in performance for both

  7. Longitudinal analysis of receptive vocabulary growth in young Spanish English-speaking children from migrant families.

    PubMed

    Jackson, Carla Wood; Schatschneider, Christopher; Leacox, Lindsey

    2014-01-01

    The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual initial performance in Spanish predict receptive vocabulary performance and growth rate. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling of 64 children's receptive vocabulary performance to generate growth trajectories, predict performance at school entry, and examine potential predictors of rate of growth. The timing of testing varied across children. The ELLs (prekindergarten to 2nd grade) participated in 2-5 testing sessions, each 6-12 months apart. The ELLs' average predicted standard score on an English receptive vocabulary at kindergarten was nearly 2 SDs below the mean for monolingual peers. Significant growth in the ELLs' receptive vocabulary was observed between preschool and 2nd grade, indicating that the ELLs were slowly closing the receptive vocabulary gap, although their average score remained below the standard score mean for age-matched monolingual peers. The ELLs demonstrated a significant decrease in Spanish receptive vocabulary standard scores over time. Initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was a significant predictor of growth in English receptive vocabulary. High initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was associated with greater growth in English receptive vocabulary and decelerated growth in Spanish receptive vocabulary. Gender was not a significant predictor of growth in either English or Spanish receptive vocabulary. ELLs from low socioeconomic backgrounds may be expected to perform lower in English compared with their monolingual English peers in kindergarten. Performance in Spanish at school entry may be useful in identifying children who require more intensive instructional support for English vocabulary

  8. Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers' Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Maier, Michelle F; Bohlmann, Natalie L; Palacios, Natalia A

    The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's ( N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages.

  9. Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers’ Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary

    PubMed Central

    Maier, Michelle F.; Bohlmann, Natalie L.; Palacios, Natalia A.

    2016-01-01

    The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's (N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages. PMID:26807002

  10. A Qualitative Analysis of General Receptive Vocabulary of Adolescents with Down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Facon, Bruno; Nuchadee, Marie-Laure; Bollengier, Therese

    2012-01-01

    This study aimed to discover whether general receptive vocabulary is qualitatively phenotypical in Down syndrome. Sixty-two participants with Down syndrome (M age = 16.74 years, SD = 3.28) were individually matched on general vocabulary raw total score with 62 participants with intellectual disability of undifferentiated etiology (M age = 16.20…

  11. The relationship between phonological memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in young children with specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Gray, Shelley

    2006-10-01

    This study assessed the fast mapping performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) across the preschool to kindergarten age span in relation to their phonological memory and vocabulary development. Fifty-three children diagnosed with SLI and 53 children with normal language (NL) matched for age and gender (30 three-year-olds, 18 four-year-olds, 28 five-year-olds, and 30 six-year-olds) participated. Children's phonological memory was assessed using nonword repetition and digit span tasks. Receptive vocabulary was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III. Children learned the names for 8 objects during 2 fast mapping tasks. Overall, the NL group demonstrated significantly better performance on phonological memory and vocabulary measures across the age span; however, performance on the fast mapping task differed significantly only at age 5. Phonological memory and existing receptive vocabulary did not predict fast mapping ability. The phonological memory skills of preschoolers with NL and SLI followed a similar developmental pattern, but the SLI group consistently scored significantly lower than the NL group. Overall, the NL group showed significantly better receptive vocabulary, with evidence that between-group differences increased at age 6. Neither short-term phonological memory nor receptive vocabulary predicted fast mapping comprehension or production performance, even though both have been shown to correlate with later stages of word learning.

  12. Receptive vocabulary development in deaf children with cochlear implants: achievement in an intensive auditory-oral educational setting.

    PubMed

    Hayes, Heather; Geers, Ann E; Treiman, Rebecca; Moog, Jean Sachar

    2009-02-01

    Deaf children with cochlear implants are at a disadvantage in learning vocabulary when compared with hearing peers. Past research has reported that children with implants have lower receptive vocabulary scores and less growth over time than hearing children. Research findings are mixed as to the effects of age at implantation on vocabulary skills and development. One goal of the current study is to determine how children with cochlear implants educated in an auditory-oral environment compared with their hearing peers on a receptive vocabulary measure in overall achievement and growth rates. This study will also investigate the effects of age at implant on vocabulary abilities and growth rates. We expect that the children with implants will have smaller vocabularies than their hearing peers but will achieve similar rates of growth as their implant experience increases. We also expect that children who receive their implants at young ages will have better overall vocabulary and higher growth rates than older-at-implant children. Repeated assessments using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test were given to 65 deaf children with cochlear implants who used oral communication, who were implanted under the age of 5 yr, and who attended an intensive auditory-oral education program. Multilevel modeling was used to describe overall abilities and rates of receptive vocabulary growth over time. On average, the deaf children with cochlear implants had lower vocabulary scores than their hearing peers. However, the deaf children demonstrated substantial vocabulary growth, making more than 1 yr's worth of progress in a year. This finding contrasts with those of previous studies of children with implants, which found lower growth rates. A negative quadratic trend indicated that growth decelerated with time. Age at implantation significantly affected linear and quadratic growth. Younger-at-implant children had steeper growth rates but more tapering off with time than children

  13. Early language processing efficiency predicts later receptive vocabulary outcomes in children born preterm.

    PubMed

    Marchman, Virginia A; Adams, Katherine A; Loi, Elizabeth C; Fernald, Anne; Feldman, Heidi M

    2016-01-01

    As rates of prematurity continue to rise, identifying which preterm children are at increased risk for learning disabilities is a public health imperative. Identifying continuities between early and later skills in this vulnerable population can also illuminate fundamental neuropsychological processes that support learning in all children. At 18 months adjusted age, we used socioeconomic status (SES), medical variables, parent-reported vocabulary, scores on the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (third edition) language composite, and children's lexical processing speed in the looking-while-listening (LWL) task as predictor variables in a sample of 30 preterm children. Receptive vocabulary as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition) at 36 months was the outcome. Receptive vocabulary was correlated with SES, but uncorrelated with degree of prematurity or a composite of medical risk. Importantly, lexical processing speed was the strongest predictor of receptive vocabulary (r = -.81), accounting for 30% unique variance. Individual differences in lexical processing efficiency may be able to serve as a marker for information processing skills that are critical for language learning.

  14. Predicting Receptive-Expressive Vocabulary Discrepancies in Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    PubMed

    McDaniel, Jena; Yoder, Paul; Woynaroski, Tiffany; Watson, Linda R

    2018-05-15

    Correlates of receptive-expressive vocabulary size discrepancies may provide insights into why language development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) deviates from typical language development and ultimately improve intervention outcomes. We indexed receptive-expressive vocabulary size discrepancies of 65 initially preverbal children with ASD (20-48 months) to a comparison sample from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Wordbank (Frank, Braginsky, Yurovsky, & Marchman, 2017) to quantify typicality. We then tested whether attention toward a speaker and oral motor performance predict typicality of the discrepancy 8 months later. Attention toward a speaker correlated positively with receptive-expressive vocabulary size discrepancy typicality. Imitative and nonimitative oral motor performance were not significant predictors of vocabulary size discrepancy typicality. Secondary analyses indicated that midpoint receptive vocabulary size mediated the association between initial attention toward a speaker and end point receptive-expressive vocabulary size discrepancy typicality. Findings support the hypothesis that variation in attention toward a speaker might partially explain receptive-expressive vocabulary size discrepancy magnitude in children with ASD. Results are consistent with an input-processing deficit explanation of language impairment in this clinical population. Future studies should test whether attention toward a speaker is malleable and causally related to receptive-expressive discrepancies in children with ASD.

  15. Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children.

    PubMed

    Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2014-11-01

    The authors examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilingual children, ages 5-7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for those who were bilingual. After the standardized administration, bilingual children were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilingual children scored significantly below monolingual children on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children in the receptive modality but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolingual and sequential bilingual children in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups, conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilingual children, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically developing simultaneous bilingual children.

  16. Conceptual scoring of receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in simultaneous and sequential bilingual children

    PubMed Central

    Gross, Megan; Buac, Milijana; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2014-01-01

    Purpose This study examined the effects of conceptual scoring on the performance of simultaneous and sequential bilinguals on standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and Spanish. Method Participants included 40 English-speaking monolingual children, 39 simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children, and 19 sequential bilinguals, ages 5–7. The children completed standardized receptive and expressive vocabulary measures in English and also in Spanish for bilinguals. After the standardized administration, bilinguals were given the opportunity to respond to missed items in their other language to obtain a conceptual score. Results Controlling for group differences in socioeconomic status (SES), both simultaneous and sequential bilinguals scored significantly below monolinguals on single-language measures of English receptive and expressive vocabulary. Conceptual scoring removed the significant difference between monolinguals and simultaneous bilinguals in the receptive modality, but not in the expressive modality; differences remained between monolinguals and sequential bilinguals in both modalities. However, in both bilingual groups conceptual scoring increased the proportion of children with vocabulary scores within the average range. Conclusions Conceptual scoring does not fully ameliorate the bias inherent in single-language standardized vocabulary measures for bilinguals, but the procedures employed here may assist in ruling out vocabulary deficits, particularly in typically-developing simultaneous bilingual children. PMID:24811415

  17. Investigating Arabic Academic Vocabulary Knowledge Among Middle School Pupils: Receptive Versus Productive Knowledge.

    PubMed

    Makhoul, Baha

    2017-08-01

    The current study attempted to investigate the development of Arabic academic vocabulary knowledge among middle-school Arabic native speakers, taking into account the socioeconomic status of the Arab population in Israel. For this purpose, Arabic academic word list was developed, mapping the required academic words that are needed for adequate coping with informational texts as appearing in the different content areas text-books. Six-hundred Arabic speaking middle school pupils from the different areas in Israel, representing the different Arab subgroups: general Arab community, Druze and Bedouins, have participated in the current study. Two academic vocabulary tests, including receptive and productive academic vocabulary evaluation tests, were administrated to the students across the different age groups (7th, 8th and 9th). The results pointed to no significant difference between 7th and 9th grade in academic vocabulary knowledge. In contrast, significant difference was encountered between the different Arab sub-groups where the lowest scores were noted among the Bedouin sub-group, characterized by the lowest SES. When comparing receptive and productive academic vocabulary knowledge between 7th and 9th grade, the results pointed to improvement in receptive academic knowledge towards the end of middle school but not on the productive knowledge level. In addition, within participants' comparison indicated a gap between the pupils' receptive and productive vocabulary. The results are discussed in relation to the existing scientific literature and to its implication of both research and practice in the domain of Arabic literacy development.

  18. Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Sizes of L2 Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between receptive and productive vocabulary size. The experimental design expanded upon earlier methodologies by using equivalent receptive and productive test formats with different receptive and productive target words to provide more accurate results. Translation tests were scored at two levels of…

  19. A New Receptive Vocabulary Size Test for French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Batista, Roselene; Horst, Marlise

    2016-01-01

    Researchers have developed several tests of receptive vocabulary knowledge suitable for use with learners of English, but options are few for learners of French. This situation motivated the authors to create a new vocabulary size measure for French, the "Test de la taille du vocabulaire" (TTV). The measure is closely modelled on…

  20. Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge in Low-Functioning Autism as Assessed by Eye Movements, Pupillary Dilation, and Event-Related Potentials

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2011-06-01

    questionnaire for Asperger Syndrome and other high-functioning autism spectrum disorders in school age children. Journal of Autism & Developmental...10-1-0404 TITLE: Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge in Low-Functioning Autism as Assessed by Eye Movements, Pupillary Dilation, and Event-Related...W81XWH-10-1-0404 Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge in Low-Functioning Autism as Assessed by Eye Movements, Pupillary Dilation, and Event-Related

  1. Investigating the Receptive-Expressive Vocabulary Profile in Children with Idiopathic ASD and Comorbid ASD and Fragile X Syndrome.

    PubMed

    Haebig, Eileen; Sterling, Audra

    2017-02-01

    Previous work has noted that some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display weaknesses in receptive vocabulary relative to expressive vocabulary abilities. The current study extended previous work by examining the receptive-expressive vocabulary profile in boys with idiopathic ASD and boys with concomitant ASD and fragile X syndrome (ASD + FXS). On average, boys with ASD + FXS did not display the same atypical receptive-expressive profile as boys with idiopathic ASD. Notably, there was variation in vocabulary abilities and profiles in both groups. Although we did not identify predictors of receptive-expressive differences, we demonstrated that nonverbal IQ and expressive vocabulary positively predicted concurrent receptive vocabulary knowledge and receptive vocabulary predicted expressive vocabulary. We discuss areas of overlap and divergence in subgroups of ASD.

  2. Investigating the Receptive-Expressive Vocabulary Profile in Children with Idiopathic ASD and Comorbid ASD and Fragile X Syndrome

    PubMed Central

    Sterling, Audra

    2016-01-01

    Previous work has noted that some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display weaknesses in receptive vocabulary relative to expressive vocabulary abilities. The current study extended previous work by examining the receptive-expressive vocabulary profile in boys with idiopathic ASD and boys with concomitant ASD and fragile X syndrome (ASD + FXS). On average, boys with ASD + FXS did not display the same atypical receptive-expressive profile as boys with idiopathic ASD. Notably, there was variation in vocabulary abilities and profiles in both groups. Although we did not identify predictors of receptive-expressive differences, we demonstrated that nonverbal IQ and expressive vocabulary positively predicted concurrent receptive vocabulary knowledge and receptive vocabulary predicted expressive vocabulary. We discuss areas of overlap and divergence in subgroups of ASD. PMID:27796729

  3. The relevance of receptive vocabulary in reading comprehension.

    PubMed

    Nalom, Ana Flávia de Oliveira; Soares, Aparecido José Couto; Cárnio, Maria Silvia

    2015-01-01

    To characterize the performance of students from the 5th year of primary school, with and without indicatives of reading and writing disorders, in receptive vocabulary and reading comprehension of sentences and texts, and to verify possible correlations between both. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution (no. 098/13). Fifty-two students in the 5th year from primary school, with and without indicatives of reading and writing disorders, and from two public schools participated in this study. After signing the informed consent and having a speech therapy assessment for the application of inclusion criteria, the students were submitted to a specific test for standardized evaluation of receptive vocabulary and reading comprehension. The data were studied using statistical analysis through the Kruskal-Wallis test, analysis of variance techniques, and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient with level of significance to be 0.05. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (was constructed in which reading comprehension was considered as gold standard. The students without indicatives of reading and writing disorders presented a better performance in all tests. No significant correlation was found between the tests that evaluated reading comprehension in either group. A correlation was found between reading comprehension of texts and receptive vocabulary in the group without indicatives. In the absence of indicatives of reading and writing disorders, the presence of a good range of vocabulary highly contributes to a proficient reading comprehension of texts.

  4. Verbal short-term memory shows a specific association with receptive but not productive vocabulary measures in Down syndrome.

    PubMed

    Majerus, S; Barisnikov, K

    2018-01-01

    Verbal short-term memory (STM) capacity has been considered to support vocabulary learning in typical children and adults, but evidence for this link is inconsistent for studies in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). The aim of this study was explore the role of processing demands on the association between verbal STM and vocabulary measures in DS, by comparing receptive vocabulary measures with high STM processing demands to productive vocabulary measures with low STM processing demands. Forty-seven adults with Down syndrome were administered receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary tasks, as well as measures of verbal STM abilities and intellectual efficiency. Bayesian regression analyses showed that verbal STM abilities were strongly and specifically associated with receptive vocabulary measures but not productive lexical abilities after controlling for intellectual efficiency, and this is despite the fact that vocabulary abilities as measured by receptive and productive vocabulary tasks were closely associated. In Down syndrome, verbal STM abilities may be predictive of specific task demands associated with receptive vocabulary tasks rather than of vocabulary development per se. © 2017 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  5. The receptive-expressive gap in the vocabulary of young second-language learners: Robustness and possible mechanisms.

    PubMed

    Gibson, Todd A; Oller, D Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Ethington, Corinna A

    2012-01-01

    Adults and children learning a second language show difficulty accessing expressive vocabulary that appears accessible receptively in their first language (L1). We call this discrepancy the receptive-expressive gap. Kindergarten Spanish (L1) - English (L2) sequential bilinguals were given standardized tests of receptive and expressive vocabulary in both Spanish and English. We found a small receptive-expressive gap in English but a large receptive-expressive gap in Spanish. We categorized children as having had high or low levels of English exposure based on demographic variables and found that the receptive-expressive gap persisted across both levels of English exposure. Regression analyses revealed that variables predicting both receptive and expressive vocabulary scores failed to predict the receptive-expressive gap. The results suggest that the onset of the receptive-expressive gap in L1 must have been abrupt. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the phenomenon.

  6. The receptive-expressive gap in the vocabulary of young second-language learners: Robustness and possible mechanisms

    PubMed Central

    Gibson, Todd A.; Oller, D. Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Ethington, Corinna A.

    2010-01-01

    Adults and children learning a second language show difficulty accessing expressive vocabulary that appears accessible receptively in their first language (L1). We call this discrepancy the receptive-expressive gap. Kindergarten Spanish (L1) - English (L2) sequential bilinguals were given standardized tests of receptive and expressive vocabulary in both Spanish and English. We found a small receptive-expressive gap in English but a large receptive-expressive gap in Spanish. We categorized children as having had high or low levels of English exposure based on demographic variables and found that the receptive-expressive gap persisted across both levels of English exposure. Regression analyses revealed that variables predicting both receptive and expressive vocabulary scores failed to predict the receptive-expressive gap. The results suggest that the onset of the receptive-expressive gap in L1 must have been abrupt. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the phenomenon. PMID:22247648

  7. The Receptive-Expressive Gap in the Vocabulary of Young Second-Language Learners: Robustness and Possible Mechanisms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibson, Todd A.; Oller, D. Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda; Ethington, Corinna A.

    2012-01-01

    Adults and children learning a second language show difficulty accessing expressive vocabulary that appears accessible receptively in their first language (L1). We call this discrepancy the receptive-expressive gap. Kindergarten Spanish (L1)-English (L2) sequential bilinguals were given standardized tests of receptive and expressive vocabulary in…

  8. Bridging the Gap between Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Size through Extensive Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yamamoto, Yuka

    2011-01-01

    It is well established that extensive reading promotes the incidental learning of L1 and L2 receptive vocabulary; however, little is known about its effectiveness on productive gains in vocabulary knowledge. This paper investigates the extent to which extensive reading combined with writing tasks promotes productive vocabulary growth of Japanese…

  9. Risk factors for children's receptive vocabulary development from four to eight years in the longitudinal study of Australian children.

    PubMed

    Taylor, Catherine L; Christensen, Daniel; Lawrence, David; Mitrou, Francis; Zubrick, Stephen R

    2013-01-01

    Receptive vocabulary develops rapidly in early childhood and builds the foundation for language acquisition and literacy. Variation in receptive vocabulary ability is associated with variation in children's school achievement, and low receptive vocabulary ability is a risk factor for under-achievement at school. In this study, bivariate and multivariate growth curve modelling was used to estimate trajectories of receptive vocabulary development in relation to a wide range of candidate child, maternal and family level influences on receptive vocabulary development from 4-8 years. The study sample comprised 4332 children from the first nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Predictors were modeled as risk variables with the lowest level of risk as the reference category. In the multivariate model, risks for receptive vocabulary delay at 4 years, in order of magnitude, were: Maternal Non- English Speaking Background (NESB), low school readiness, child not read to at home, four or more siblings, low family income, low birthweight, low maternal education, maternal mental health distress, low maternal parenting consistency, and high child temperament reactivity. None of these risks were associated with a lower rate of growth from 4-8 years. Instead, maternal NESB, low school readiness and maternal mental health distress were associated with a higher rate of growth, although not sufficient to close the receptive vocabulary gap for children with and without these risks at 8 years. Socio-economic area disadvantage, was not a risk for low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years but was the only risk associated with a lower rate of growth in receptive vocabulary ability. At 8 years, the gap between children with and without socio-economic area disadvantage was equivalent to eight months of receptive vocabulary growth. These results are consistent with other studies that have shown that social gradients in children's developmental outcomes

  10. The development of the "Cantonese receptive vocabulary test' for children aged 2-6 in Hong Kong.

    PubMed

    Cheung, P S; Lee, K Y; Lee, L W

    1997-01-01

    The study aims to develop a Cantonese receptive vocabulary test to assess 2-6-year-old children in Hong Kong. The test consists of 100 test items. Each target item is accompanied by a phonological distractor, a semantic distractor and an unrelated distractor. A sample of 609 normal children from four Maternal and Child Health Centres and nine kindergartens was selected. The results show that there is a significant effect of age on the correct score. ANOVA was performed to look at the age effect on each distractor individually. It was found that the scores of the three distractors decrease in their own patterns as age increases. With strong content validity, strong construct validity and high correlation coefficients in the split-half reliability, this test could be used as a reliable measurement for the Cantonese-speaking population in Hong Kong.

  11. Difficulties Using Standardized Tests to Identify the Receptive Expressive Gap in Bilingual Children's Vocabularies.

    PubMed

    Gibson, Todd A; Oller, D Kimbrough; Jarmulowicz, Linda

    2018-03-01

    Receptive standardized vocabulary scores have been found to be much higher than expressive standardized vocabulary scores in children with Spanish as L1, learning L2 (English) in school (Gibson et al., 2012). Here we present evidence suggesting the receptive-expressive gap may be harder to evaluate than previously thought because widely-used standardized tests may not offer comparable normed scores. Furthermore monolingual Spanish-speaking children tested in Mexico and monolingual English-speaking children in the US showed other, yet different statistically significant discrepancies between receptive and expressive scores. Results suggest comparisons across widely used standardized tests in attempts to assess a receptive-expressive gap are precarious.

  12. Analyses of Receptive and Productive Korean EFL Vocabulary: Computer-Based Vocabulary Learning Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kim, Scott Sungki

    2013-01-01

    The present research study investigated the effects of 8 versions of a computer-based vocabulary learning program on receptive and productive knowledge levels of college students. The participants were 106 male and 103 female Korean EFL students from Kyungsung University and Kwandong University in Korea. Students who participated in versions of…

  13. Investigating the Receptive-Expressive Vocabulary Profile in Children with Idiopathic ASD and Comorbid ASD and Fragile X Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haebig, Eileen; Sterling, Audra

    2017-01-01

    Previous work has noted that some children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display weaknesses in receptive vocabulary relative to expressive vocabulary abilities. The current study extended previous work by examining the receptive-expressive vocabulary profile in boys with idiopathic ASD and boys with concomitant ASD and fragile X syndrome…

  14. Risk factors for low receptive vocabulary abilities in the preschool and early school years in the longitudinal study of Australian children.

    PubMed

    Christensen, Daniel; Zubrick, Stephen R; Lawrence, David; Mitrou, Francis; Taylor, Catherine L

    2014-01-01

    Receptive vocabulary development is a component of the human language system that emerges in the first year of life and is characterised by onward expansion throughout life. Beginning in infancy, children's receptive vocabulary knowledge builds the foundation for oral language and reading skills. The foundations for success at school are built early, hence the public health policy focus on reducing developmental inequalities before children start formal school. The underlying assumption is that children's development is stable, and therefore predictable, over time. This study investigated this assumption in relation to children's receptive vocabulary ability. We investigated the extent to which low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years was associated with low receptive vocabulary ability at 8 years, and the predictive utility of a multivariate model that included child, maternal and family risk factors measured at 4 years. The study sample comprised 3,847 children from the first nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate risks for low receptive vocabulary ability from 4-8 years and sensitivity-specificity analysis was used to examine the predictive utility of the multivariate model. In the multivariate model, substantial risk factors for receptive vocabulary delay from 4-8 years, in order of descending magnitude, were low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years, low maternal education, and low school readiness. Moderate risk factors, in order of descending magnitude, were low maternal parenting consistency, socio-economic area disadvantage, low temperamental persistence, and NESB status. The following risk factors were not significant: One or more siblings, low family income, not reading to the child, high maternal work hours, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ethnicity. The results of the sensitivity-specificity analysis showed that a well-fitted multivariate model

  15. Receptive Vocabulary, Expressive Vocabulary, and Speech Production of Boys with Fragile X Syndrome in Comparison to Boys with Down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Joanne; Price, Johanna; Barnes, Elizabeth; Nelson, Lauren; Burchinal, Margaret; Hennon, Elizabeth A.; Moskowitz, Lauren; Edwards, Anne; Malkin, Cheryl; Anderson, Kathleen; Misenheimer, Jan; Hooper, Stephen R.

    2007-01-01

    Boys with fragile X syndrome with (n = 49) and without (n = 33) characteristics of autism spectrum disorder, boys with Down syndrome (39), and typically developing boys (n = 41) were compared on standardized measures of receptive vocabulary, expressive vocabulary, and speech administered annually over 4 years. Three major findings emerged. Boys…

  16. Developing a Vocabulary Size Test Measuring Two Aspects of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge: Visual versus Aural

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aizawa, Kazumi; Iso, Tatsuo; Nadasdy, Paul

    2017-01-01

    Testing learners' English proficiency is central to university English classes in Japan. This study developed and implemented a set of parallel online receptive aural and visual vocabulary tests that would predict learners' English proficiency. The tests shared the same target words and choices--the main difference was the presentation of the…

  17. The Effects of Receptive and Productive Learning of Word Pairs on Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart

    2009-01-01

    English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form--were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word…

  18. Exploring the Relationship between Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Sizes and Their Increased Use by Azerbaijani English Majors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hajiyeva, Konul

    2015-01-01

    This article reports on the results of two studies on receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge of first-year English majors in an English-medium degree programme. The aim of the study is to answer these research questions: (1) to what extent do the receptive and productive vocabulary sizes of English majors increase after a year of…

  19. Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Learning: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart

    2005-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of receptive and productive vocabulary learning on word knowledge. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned target words in three glossed sentences and in a sentence production task in two experiments. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, syntax, association, grammatical…

  20. Joint Book Reading and Receptive Vocabulary: A Parallel Process Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meng, Christine

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to understand the reciprocal, bidirectional longitudinal relation between joint book reading and English receptive vocabulary. To address the research goals, a nationally representative sample of Head Start children, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (2003 cohort), was used for analysis. The…

  1. Counting ability in Down syndrome: The comprehension of the one-to-one correspondence principle and the role of receptive vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Abreu-Mendoza, Roberto A; Arias-Trejo, Natalia

    2017-10-01

    The authors investigated whether children with Down's syndrome (DS) who have not started to produce number words understand the one-to-one correspondence principle (Experiment 1), and they looked at the relationship between number word knowledge and receptive vocabulary (Experiment 2). Sixteen children with DS who did not recite the count list participated in Experiment 1, along with 2 comparison groups: 1 of 16 children with DS who recited up to 10, paired by chronological age, and another of 16 typically developing children paired by their ability to recite the list. The understanding of the principle was evaluated by a preferential looking task. Children saw 1 of 2 conditions. In the number condition, they heard number words and in the beep condition they heard computerized beeps. In both conditions, children saw videos depicting counting events that were principle-consistent or principle-inconsistent. Experiment 2 evaluated 25 children with DS using the Give-a-Number task and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III. In Experiment 1, children in the number condition preferred principle-consistent videos, independent of their ability to recite the count list. Experiment 2 showed a strong correlation between number word knowledge and receptive vocabulary scores, independent of chronological age. The results suggest that the difficulty of children with DS in acquiring counting ability might not reflect a lack of understanding of the one-to-one correspondence principle, but might instead be related to vocabulary development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. The concurrent use of three implicit measures (eye movements, pupillometry, and event-related potentials) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adults.

    PubMed

    Ledoux, Kerry; Coderre, Emily; Bosley, Laura; Buz, Esteban; Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; Gordon, Barry

    2016-03-01

    Recent years have seen the advent and proliferation of the use of implicit techniques to study learning and cognition. One such application is the use of event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge. Other implicit assessment techniques that may be well-suited to other testing situations or to use with varied participant groups have not been used as widely to study receptive vocabulary knowledge. We sought to develop additional implicit techniques to study receptive vocabulary knowledge that could augment the knowledge gained from the use of the ERP technique. Specifically, we used a simple forced-choice paradigm to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adult participants using eye movement monitoring (EM) and pupillometry. In the same group of participants, we also used an N400 semantic incongruity ERP paradigm to assess their knowledge of two groups of words: those expected to be known to the participants (high-frequency, familiar words) and those expected to be unknown (low-frequency, unfamiliar words). All three measures showed reliable differences between the known and unknown words. EM and pupillometry thus may provide insight into receptive vocabulary knowledge similar to that from ERPs. The development of additional implicit assessment techniques may increase the feasibility of receptive vocabulary testing across a wider range of participant groups and testing situations, and may make the conduct of such testing more accessible to a wider range of researchers, clinicians, and educators.

  3. Prospective association of childhood receptive vocabulary and conduct problems with self-reported adolescent delinquency: tests of mediation and moderation in sibling-comparison analyses.

    PubMed

    Lahey, Benjamin B; D'Onofrio, Brian M; Van Hulle, Carol A; Rathouz, Paul J

    2014-11-01

    Associations among receptive vocabulary measured at 4-9 years, mother-reported childhood conduct problems at 4-9 years, and self-reported adolescent delinquency at 14-17 years were assessed using data from a prospective study of the offspring of a large U.S. nationally representative sample of women. A novel quasi-experimental strategy was used to rule out family-level confounding by estimating path-analytic associations within families in a sibling comparison design. This allowed simultaneous tests of the direct and indirect effects of receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems, and of their joint moderation, on adolescent delinquency without family-level environmental confounding. The significant association of receptive vocabulary with later adolescent delinquency was indirect, mediated by childhood conduct problems. Furthermore, a significant interaction between receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems reflected a steeper slope for the predictive association between childhood conduct problems and adolescent delinquency when receptive vocabulary scores were higher. These findings of significant indirect association were qualitatively identical in both population-level and within-family analyses, suggesting that they are not the result of family-level confounds.

  4. Receptive Vocabulary and Cross-Language Transfer of Phonemic Awareness in Kindergarten Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Atwill, Kim; Blanchard, Jay; Gorin, Joanna S.; Burstein, Karen

    2007-01-01

    The authors investigated the influence of language proficiency on the cross-language transfer (CLT) of phonemic awareness in Spanish-speaking kindergarten students and assessed Spanish and English receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness abilities. Correlation results indicated positive correlations between phonemic awareness across languages;…

  5. Prospective Association of Childhood Receptive Vocabulary and Conduct Problems with Self-Reported Adolescent Delinquency: Tests of Mediation and Moderation in Sibling-Comparison Analyses

    PubMed Central

    Lahey, Benjamin B.; D'Onofrio, Brian M.; Van Hulle, Carol A.; Rathouz, Paul J.

    2014-01-01

    Associations among receptive vocabulary measured at 4–9 years, mother-reported childhood conduct problems at 4–9 years, and self-reported adolescent delinquency at 14–17 years were assessed using data from a prospective study of the offspring of a large U.S. nationally representative sample of women. A novel quasi-experimental strategy was used to rule out family-level confounding by estimating path-analytic associations within families in a sibling comparison design. This allowed simultaneous tests of the direct and indirect effects of receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems, and of their joint moderation, on adolescent delinquency without family-level environmental confounding. The significant association of receptive vocabulary with later adolescent delinquency was indirect, mediated by childhood conduct problems. Furthermore, a significant interaction between receptive vocabulary and childhood conduct problems reflected a steeper slope for the predictive association between childhood conduct problems and adolescent delinquency when receptive vocabulary scores were higher. These findings of significant indirect association were qualitatively identical in both population-level and within-family analyses, suggesting that they are not the result of family-level confounds. PMID:24736982

  6. Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

    PubMed

    Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

    2015-08-01

    Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level - a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of 'late talkers' resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to be improved when considering family

  7. The relationship between phonological short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in children with specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Jackson, Emily; Leitao, Suze; Claessen, Mary

    2016-01-01

    Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience word-learning difficulties, which are suggested to originate in the early stage of word learning: fast mapping. Some previous research indicates significantly poorer fast mapping capabilities in children with SLI compared with typically developing (TD) counterparts, with a range of methodological factors impacting on the consistency of this finding. Research has explored key issues that might underlie fast mapping difficulties in children with SLI, with strong theoretical support but little empirical evidence for the role of phonological short-term memory (STM). Additionally, further research is required to explore the influence of receptive vocabulary on fast mapping capabilities. Understanding the factors associated with fast mapping difficulties that are experienced by children with SLI may lead to greater theoretically driven word-learning intervention. To investigate whether children with SLI demonstrate significant difficulties with fast mapping, and to explore the related factors. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would score significantly lower on a fast mapping production task compared with TD children, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary would significantly predict fast mapping production scores in both groups of children. Twenty-three children with SLI (mean = 64.39 months, SD = 4.10 months) and 26 TD children (mean = 65.92 months, SD = 2.98) were recruited from specialist language and mainstream schools. All participants took part in a unique, interactive fast-mapping task whereby nine novel objects with non-word labels were presented and production accuracy was assessed. A non-word repetition test and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV) were also administered as measures of phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary, respectively. Results of the fast-mapping task indicated that children with SLI had significantly poorer fast

  8. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vance, H. Robert; Stone, J. E.

    1990-01-01

    The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised assesses standard American English receptive vocabulary in individuals, both handicapped and nonhandicapped, ages 2 to 40. This paper describes the test's administration, summation of data, standardization, reliability, and validity. (JDD)

  9. Receptive language and intellectual abilities in preterm children.

    PubMed

    da Costa Ribeiro, Camila; Abramides, Dagma Venturini Marques; Fuertes, Marina Gonçalves; Lopes Dos Santos, Pedro Nuno; Lamônica, Dionísia Aparecida Cusin

    2016-08-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the association between receptive vocabulary performance and intellectual quotient (IQ) in preterm born children compared to children born at term. A total of 72 preschool-age children participated in the study. Participants were divided in four groups: EG-I, including 20 moderate to late preterm born children; EG-II, comprehending 16 extremely preterm born children; CG-I and CG-II with correspondingly 20 and 16 children born at term. EG-I and CG-I as well as EG-II and CG-II groups were matched according to gender, chronological age, and family SES. The mean age of children in each group was: EG-I and CG-I: 30.3months; EG-II and CG-II: 29.1months. The assessment information was collected using an anamnesis protocol, the Brazilian criterion of economic classification, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale. Mean scores for receptive vocabulary were significantly lower in both preterm groups (EG-I and EG-II) than in the corresponding matched groups (CG-I and CG-II). However, no significant differences were found among the preterm groups. Moreover, high correlations between vocabulary and IQ scores were found in both preterm groups (EG-I and EG-II). In contrast, no significant correlations were found when analyses considered each group of full-term born children (CG-I and CG-II). Our findings indicate that prematurity status has an impact on receptive language performance and on the pattern of relationships between receptive vocabulary and general intellectual functioning. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Longitudinal Analysis of Receptive Vocabulary Growth in Young Spanish English-Speaking Children from Migrant Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Carla Wood; Schatschneider, Christopher; Leacox, Lindsey

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual…

  11. Unique Contributions of Maternal Reading Proficiency to Predicting Children's Preschool Receptive Vocabulary and Reading Proficiency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Phillips, Linda M.; Norris, Stephen P.; Hayward, Denyse V.; Lovell, Meridith A.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated whether mothers' measured reading proficiency and their educational level predict, over and above each other, their children's receptive vocabulary and reading proficiency when confounding factors of speaking a minority language, ethnicity, number of children in the family, and marital and employment status are controlled.…

  12. Predicting Vocabulary Growth in Children with and without Specific Language Impairment: A Longitudinal Study from 2;6 to 21 Years of Age

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rice, Mabel L.; Hoffman, Lesa

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often have vocabulary impairments. This study evaluates longitudinal growth in a latent trait of receptive vocabulary in affected and unaffected children ages 2;6 (years;months) to 21 years and evaluates as possible predictors maternal education, child gender, and nonverbal IQ. Method: A…

  13. The role of primary caregiver vocabulary knowledge in the development of bilingual children’s vocabulary skills

    PubMed Central

    Buac, Milijana; Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2015-01-01

    Purpose The current study examined the impact of environmental factors (SES, the percent of language exposure to English and to Spanish, and primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge) on bilingual children’s vocabulary skills. Method We measured vocabulary skills of 58 bilingual children between the ages of 5 and 7 who spoke Spanish as their native language and English as their second language. Data related to language environment in the home, specifically the percent of language exposure to each language and SES, were obtained from primary caregiver interviews. Primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge was measured directly using expressive and receptive vocabulary assessments in both languages. Results Multiple regression analyses indicated that primary caregivers’ vocabulary knowledge, the child’s percent exposure to each language, and SES were robust predictors of children’s English, but not Spanish, vocabulary skills. Conclusions These findings indicate that in the early school age, primary caregiver vocabulary skills have a stronger impact on bilingual children’s second-language than native-language vocabulary. PMID:24824882

  14. Longitudinal Effects of a Two-Generation Preschool Programme on Receptive Language Skill in Low-Income Canadian Children to Age 10 Years

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mughal, Muhammad Kashif; Ginn, Carla S.; Perry, Robert L.; Benzies, Karen M.

    2016-01-01

    We explored longitudinal effects of a two-generation preschool programme on receptive language scores in children (n = 78) at age 10 years, living with low income. Scores at four time-points, programme intake, exit, age 7, and age 10 years were measured using the "Peabody picture vocabulary test" (3rd ed.). Effects of culture…

  15. The Development of a Bilingual Vocabulary Measure for Armenian-English Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hovsepian, Alice

    2017-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a parallel bilingual vocabulary measure for the comparative study of receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in young Armenian-English bilinguals. The measure was comprised of four independent vocabulary lists equivalent on age of acquisition ratings. The lists were counterbalanced across four tasks,…

  16. Beyond static assessment of children's receptive vocabulary: the dynamic assessment of word learning (DAWL).

    PubMed

    Camilleri, Bernard; Botting, Nicola

    2013-01-01

    Children's low scores on vocabulary tests are often erroneously interpreted as reflecting poor cognitive and/or language skills. It may be necessary to incorporate the measurement of word-learning ability in estimating children's lexical abilities. To explore the reliability and validity of the Dynamic Assessment of Word Learning (DAWL), a new dynamic assessment of receptive vocabulary. A dynamic assessment (DA) of word learning ability was developed and adopted within a nursery school setting with 15 children aged between 3;07 and 4;03, ten of whom had been referred to speech and language therapy. A number of quantitative measures were derived from the DA procedure, including measures of children's ability to identify the targeted items and to generalize to a second exemplar, as well as measures of children's ability to retain the targeted items. Internal, inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the DAWL was established as well as correlational measures of concurrent and predictive validity. The DAWL was found to provide both quantitative and qualitative information which could be used to improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis and the understanding of processes underlying the child's performance. The latter can be used for the purpose of designing more individualized interventions. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  17. Discrepancy between Parental Reports of Infants' Receptive Vocabulary and Infants' Behaviour in a Preferential Looking Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Houston-Price, Carmel; Mather, Emily; Sakkalou, Elena

    2007-01-01

    Two experiments are described which explore the relationship between parental reports of infants' receptive vocabularies at 1 ; 6 () or 1 ; 3, 1 ; 6 and 1 ; 9 () and the comprehension infants demonstrated in a preferential looking task. The instrument used was the Oxford CDI, a British English adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI (Words &…

  18. Addressing the Effects of Reciprocal Teaching on the Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary of 1st-Grade Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mandel, Eliana; Osana, Helena P.; Venkatesh, Vivek

    2013-01-01

    This study evaluated the effects of Adapted Reciprocal Teaching (ART) on the receptive and expressive flight-word vocabulary of 1st-grade students. During ART, classroom interactions produced narrative contexts within which students assumed responsibility for applying new flight words in personally meaningful ways. Students in the control group…

  19. The Comparative Effects of Comprehensible Input, Output and Corrective Feedback on the Receptive Acquisition of L2 Vocabulary Items

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nowbakht, Mohammad; Shahnazari, Mohammadtaghi

    2015-01-01

    In the present study, the comparative effects of comprehensible input, output and corrective feedback on the receptive acquisition of L2 vocabulary items were investigated. Two groups of beginning EFL learners participated in the study. The control group received comprehensible input only, while the experimental group received input and was…

  20. Individual Differences in Very Young Chinese Children's English Vocabulary Breadth and Semantic Depth: Internal and External Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sun, He; Steinkrauss, Rasmus; Wieling, Martijn; de Bot, Kees

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the English vocabulary development of 43 very young child English as a foreign language (FL) learners (age 3.2-6.2) in China. They were tested twice for vocabulary breadth (reception and production) and semantic depth (paradigmatic and syntagmatic vocabulary knowledge). The development of the English vocabulary knowledge…

  1. Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom.

    PubMed

    Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

    2017-01-01

    Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children's vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5-6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those of

  2. Home Language Will Not Take Care of Itself: Vocabulary Knowledge in Trilingual Children in the United Kingdom

    PubMed Central

    Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Wodniecka, Zofia; Haman, Ewa

    2017-01-01

    Language input is crucial for language acquisition and especially for children’s vocabulary size. Bilingual children receive reduced input in each of their languages, compared to monolinguals, and are reported to have smaller vocabularies, at least in one of their languages. Vocabulary acquisition in trilingual children has been largely understudied; only a few case studies have been published so far. Moreover, trilingual language acquisition in children has been rarely contrasted with language outcomes of bilingual and monolingual peers. We present a comparison of trilingual, bilingual, and monolingual children (total of 56 participants, aged 4;5–6;7, matched one-to-one for age, gender, and non-verbal IQ) in regard to their receptive and expressive vocabulary (measured by standardized tests), and relative frequency of input in each language (measured by parental report). The monolingual children were speakers of Polish or English, while the bilinguals and trilinguals were migrant children living in the United Kingdom, speaking English as a majority language and Polish as a home language. The trilinguals had another (third) language at home. For the majority language, English, no differences were found across the three groups, either in the receptive or productive vocabulary. The groups differed, however, in their performance in Polish, the home language. The trilinguals had lower receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals, and lower productive vocabulary compared to the monolinguals. The trilinguals showed similar lexical knowledge to the bilinguals. The bilinguals demonstrated lower scores than the monolinguals, but only in productive vocabulary. The data on reported language input show that input in English in bilingual and trilingual groups is similar, but the bilinguals outscore the trilinguals in relative frequency of Polish input. Overall, the results suggest that in the majority language, multilingual children may develop lexical skills similar to those

  3. Facilitation of receptive and productive foreign vocabulary learning using the keyword method: the role of image quality.

    PubMed

    Beaton, Alan A; Gruneberg, Michael M; Hyde, Christopher; Shufflebottom, Alex; Sykes, Robert N

    2005-07-01

    Ellis and Beaton (1993a) reported that the keyword method of learning enhanced memory of foreign vocabulary items when receptive learning was measured. However, for productive learning, rote repetition was superior to the keyword method. The first two experiments reported here show that, in comparison with rote repetition, both receptive and productive learning can be enhanced by the keyword method, provided that the quality of the keyword images is adequate. In a third experiment using a subset of words from Ellis and Beaton (1993a), the finding they reported, that for productive learning rote repetition was superior to the keyword method, was reversed. The quality of keyword images will vary from study to study and any generalisation regarding the efficacy of the keyword method must take this into account.

  4. Second Language Vocabulary Growth at Advanced Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozturk, Meral

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the receptive vocabulary growth of advanced EFL learners in an English-medium degree programme. The study used the Vocabulary Size Test in a cross-sectional design to measure the vocabulary size of learners at various stages of study. The effect of word frequency on vocabulary development and the presence of an…

  5. Development and transfer of vocabulary knowledge in Spanish-speaking language minority preschool children.

    PubMed

    Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J; Kleuver, Cherie G; Farver, Joann M

    2016-09-01

    In this study we evaluated the predictive validity of conceptual scoring. Two independent samples of Spanish-speaking language minority preschoolers (Sample 1: N = 96, mean age = 54·51 months, 54·3% male; Sample 2: N = 116, mean age = 60·70 months, 56·0% male) completed measures of receptive, expressive, and definitional vocabulary in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages at two time points approximately 9-12 months apart. We examined whether unique L1 and L2 vocabulary at time 1 predicted later L2 and L1 vocabulary, respectively. Results indicated that unique L1 vocabulary did not predict later L2 vocabulary after controlling for initial L2 vocabulary. An identical pattern of results emerged for L1 vocabulary outcomes. We also examined whether children acquired translational equivalents for words known in one language but not the other. Results indicated that children acquired translational equivalents, providing partial support for the transfer of vocabulary knowledge across languages.

  6. The vocabulary profile of Slovak children with primary language impairment compared to typically developing Slovak children measured by LITMUS-CLT.

    PubMed

    Kapalková, Svetlana; Slančová, Daniela

    2017-01-01

    This study compared a sample of children with primary language impairment (PLI) and typically developing age-matched children using the crosslinguistic lexical tasks (CLT-SK). We also compared the PLI children with typically developing language-matched younger children who were matched on the basis of receptive vocabulary. Overall, statistical testing showed that the vocabulary of the PLI children was significantly different from the vocabulary of the age-matched children, but not statistically different from the younger children who were matched on the basis of their receptive vocabulary size. Qualitative analysis of the correct answers revealed that the PLI children showed higher rigidity compared to the younger language-matched children who are able to use more synonyms or derivations across word class in naming tasks. Similarly, an examination of the children's naming errors indicated that the language-matched children exhibited more semantic errors, whereas PLI children showed more associative errors.

  7. Vocabulary Knowledge of Children With Cochlear Implants: A Meta-Analysis

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    This article employs meta-analysis procedures to evaluate whether children with cochlear implants demonstrate lower spoken-language vocabulary knowledge than peers with normal hearing. Of the 754 articles screened and 52 articles coded, 12 articles met predetermined inclusion criteria (with an additional 5 included for one analysis). Effect sizes were calculated for relevant studies and forest plots were used to compare differences between groups of children with normal hearing and children with cochlear implants. Weighted effect size averages for expressive vocabulary measures (g = −11.99; p < .001) and for receptive vocabulary measures (g = −20.33; p < .001) indicated that children with cochlear implants demonstrate lower vocabulary knowledge than children with normal hearing. Additional analyses confirmed the value of comparing vocabulary knowledge of children with hearing loss to a tightly matched (e.g., socioeconomic status-matched) sample. Age of implantation, duration of implantation, and chronological age at testing were not significantly related to magnitude of weighted effect size. Findings from this analysis represent a first step toward resolving discrepancies in the vocabulary knowledge literature. PMID:26712811

  8. The Effects of Pre-Learning Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension and Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart A.

    2009-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of pre-learning vocabulary on reading comprehension and writing. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) learned word pairs receptively and productively; four tests were used to measure reading comprehension, writing, and receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggest…

  9. Early vocabulary development in deaf native signers: a British Sign Language adaptation of the communicative development inventories.

    PubMed

    Woolfe, Tyron; Herman, Rosalind; Roy, Penny; Woll, Bencie

    2010-03-01

    There is a dearth of assessments of sign language development in young deaf children. This study gathered age-related scores from a sample of deaf native signing children using an adapted version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI (Fenson et al., 1994). Parental reports on children's receptive and expressive signing were collected longitudinally on 29 deaf native British Sign Language (BSL) users, aged 8-36 months, yielding 146 datasets. A smooth upward growth curve was obtained for early vocabulary development and percentile scores were derived. In the main, receptive scores were in advance of expressive scores. No gender bias was observed. Correlational analysis identified factors associated with vocabulary development, including parental education and mothers' training in BSL. Individual children's profiles showed a range of development and some evidence of a growth spurt. Clinical and research issues relating to the measure are discussed. The study has developed a valid, reliable measure of vocabulary development in BSL. Further research is needed to investigate the relationship between vocabulary acquisition in native and non-native signers.

  10. Developmental changes in maternal education and minimal exposure effects on vocabulary in English- and Spanish-learning toddlers.

    PubMed

    Friend, Margaret; DeAnda, Stephanie; Arias-Trejo, Natalia; Poulin-Dubois, Diane; Zesiger, Pascal

    2017-12-01

    The current research follows up on two previous findings: that children with minimal dual-language exposure have smaller receptive vocabularies at 16months of age and that maternal education is a predictor of vocabulary when the dominant language is English but not when it is Spanish. The current study extends this research to 22-month-olds to assess the developmental effects of minimal exposure and maternal education on direct and parent-report measures of vocabulary size. The effects of minimal exposure on vocabulary size are no longer present at 22months of age, whereas maternal education effects remain but only for English speakers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Vocabulary and Working Memory in Children Fit with Hearing Aids

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stiles, Derek J.; McGregor, Karla K.; Bentler, Ruth A.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: To determine whether children with mild-to-moderately severe sensorineural hearing loss (CHL) present with disturbances in working memory and whether these disturbances relate to the size of their receptive vocabularies. Method: Children 6 to 9 years of age participated. Aspects of working memory were tapped by articulation rate, forward…

  12. English Language Learners' Nonword Repetition Performance: The Influence of Age, L2 Vocabulary Size, Length of L2 Exposure, and L1 Phonology.

    PubMed

    Duncan, Tamara Sorenson; Paradis, Johanne

    2016-02-01

    This study examined individual differences in English language learners' (ELLs) nonword repetition (NWR) accuracy, focusing on the effects of age, English vocabulary size, length of exposure to English, and first-language (L1) phonology. Participants were 75 typically developing ELLs (mean age 5;8 [years;months]) whose exposure to English began on average at age 4;4. Children spoke either a Chinese language or South Asian language as an L1 and were given English standardized tests for NWR and receptive vocabulary. Although the majority of ELLs scored within or above the monolingual normal range (71%), 29% scored below. Mixed logistic regression modeling revealed that a larger English vocabulary, longer English exposure, South Asian L1, and older age all had significant and positive effects on ELLs' NWR accuracy. Error analyses revealed the following L1 effect: onset consonants were produced more accurately than codas overall, but this effect was stronger for the Chinese group whose L1s have a more limited coda inventory compared with English. ELLs' NWR performance is influenced by a number of factors. Consideration of these factors is important in deciding whether monolingual norm referencing is appropriate for ELL children.

  13. Vocabulary, Grammar, Sex, and Aging.

    PubMed

    Moscoso Del Prado Martín, Fermín

    2017-05-01

    Understanding the changes in our language abilities along the lifespan is a crucial step for understanding the aging process both in normal and in abnormal circumstances. Besides controlled experimental tasks, it is equally crucial to investigate language in unconstrained conversation. I present an information-theoretical analysis of a corpus of dyadic conversations investigating how the richness of the vocabulary, the word-internal structure (inflectional morphology), and the syntax of the utterances evolves as a function of the speaker's age and sex. Although vocabulary diversity increases throughout the lifetime, grammatical diversities follow a different pattern, which also differs between women and men. Women use increasingly diverse syntactic structures at least up to their late fifties, and they do not deteriorate in terms of fluency through their lifespan. However, from age 45 onward, men exhibit a decrease in the diversity of the syntactic structures they use, coupled with an increased number of speech disfluencies. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  14. Vocabulary Facilitates Speech Perception in Children With Hearing Aids

    PubMed Central

    Walker, Elizabeth A.; Kirby, Benjamin; McCreery, Ryan W.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose We examined the effects of vocabulary, lexical characteristics (age of acquisition and phonotactic probability), and auditory access (aided audibility and daily hearing aid [HA] use) on speech perception skills in children with HAs. Method Participants included 24 children with HAs and 25 children with normal hearing (NH), ages 5–12 years. Groups were matched on age, expressive and receptive vocabulary, articulation, and nonverbal working memory. Participants repeated monosyllabic words and nonwords in noise. Stimuli varied on age of acquisition, lexical frequency, and phonotactic probability. Performance in each condition was measured by the signal-to-noise ratio at which the child could accurately repeat 50% of the stimuli. Results Children from both groups with larger vocabularies showed better performance than children with smaller vocabularies on nonwords and late-acquired words but not early-acquired words. Overall, children with HAs showed poorer performance than children with NH. Auditory access was not associated with speech perception for the children with HAs. Conclusions Children with HAs show deficits in sensitivity to phonological structure but appear to take advantage of vocabulary skills to support speech perception in the same way as children with NH. Further investigation is needed to understand the causes of the gap that exists between the overall speech perception abilities of children with HAs and children with NH. PMID:28738138

  15. On the Efficiency of Text Production in Vocabulary Learning: An Empirical Study on Iranian GFL-Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Haghani, Nader; Kiani, Samira

    2018-01-01

    The concept of text-oriented vocabulary exercises is based on Kühn's (2000) three-step model of vocabulary teaching--receptive, reflective and productive vocabulary exercises--which focuses on working with texts. Since the production is in principle more exhausting than the reception--as can be seen from the Levels of Processing Effect--one can…

  16. Preschoolers' vocabulary acquisition in Chile: the roles of socioeconomic status and quality of home environment.

    PubMed

    Lohndorf, Regina T; Vermeer, Harriet J; Cárcamo, Rodrigo A; Mesman, Judi

    2018-05-01

    Preschoolers' vocabulary acquisition sets the stage for later reading ability and school achievement. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and the quality of the home environment of seventy-seven Chilean majority and Mapuche minority families from low and lower-middle-class backgrounds in explaining individual differences in vocabulary acquisition of their three-and-a-half-year-old children. Additionally, we investigated whether the relation between SES and receptive and expressive vocabulary was mediated by the quality of the home environment as the Family Investment Model suggests. The quality of the home environment significantly predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary above and beyond ethnicity, SES, parental caregiver status, and quantity of daycare. Furthermore, the quality of the home environment mediated the relation between SES and expressive and receptive vocabulary acquisition.

  17. Development and Transfer of Vocabulary Knowledge in Spanish-Speaking Language Minority Preschool Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Goodrich, J. Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J.; Kleuver, Cherie G.; Farver, Joann M.

    2016-01-01

    In this study we evaluated the predictive validity of conceptual scoring. Two independent samples of Spanish-speaking language minority preschoolers (Sample 1: N = 96, mean age = 54.51 months, 54.3% male; Sample 2: N = 116, mean age = 60·70 months, 56.0% male) completed measures of receptive, expressive, and definitional vocabulary in their first…

  18. The Impact of Attrition on Vocabulary Knowledge among Saudi Teachers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alharthi, Thamer

    2014-01-01

    This two-year longitudinal study tracks the extent of vocabulary attrition among Arabic-speaking English graduate teachers. Data were collected through pre-post tests of receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The results showed drastic attrition in vocabulary knowledge soon after the end of formal instruction followed by slight gain,…

  19. Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning.

    PubMed

    Adlof, Suzanne M; Patten, Hannah

    2017-03-01

    This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information. Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the variance in word learning that was explained by vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition after controlling for chronological age. Together with chronological age, nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge explained up to 44% of the variance in children's word learning. Nonword repetition was the stronger predictor of phonological recall, phonological recognition, and semantic recognition, whereas vocabulary knowledge was the stronger predictor of verbal semantic recall. These findings extend the results of past studies indicating that both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge are important for new word learning, but the relative influence of each predictor depends on the way word learning is measured. Suggestions for further research involving typically developing children and children with language or reading impairments are discussed.

  20. Comparing Methods for Assessing Receptive Language Skills in Minimally Verbal Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Plesa Skwerer, Daniela; Jordan, Samantha E.; Brukilacchio, Briana H.; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

    2016-01-01

    This research addresses the challenges of assessing receptive language abilities in minimally verbal children with autism spectrum disorder by comparing several adapted measurement tools: a standardized direct assessment of receptive vocabulary (i.e. Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4); caregiver report measures including scores on the Vineland-II…

  1. The Role of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge in Advanced EFL Listening Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Atas, Ufuk

    2018-01-01

    This paper presents an empirical study that investigates the role of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension with 33 advanced Turkish learners of English as a foreign language. The Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt & Clapham, 2001) is used to measure the vocabulary knowledge of the participants and a standardized listening test…

  2. Vocabulary Growth of the Advanced EFL Learner

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozturk, Meral

    2015-01-01

    This article reports the results of two studies on the vocabulary growth of advanced learners of English as a foreign language in an English-medium degree programme. Growth in learners' written receptive and productive vocabularies was investigated in one cross-sectional and one longitudinal study over three years. The effect of word frequency on…

  3. Shyness and Chinese and English Vocabulary Skills in Hong Kong Kindergartners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tong, Xiuli; Ting, Ka-Tsun; McBride-Chang, Catherine

    2011-01-01

    Research Findings: This study examined relations between parent-rated shyness and children's vocabulary skills in 54 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners who learned English as a foreign language at school. Receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary were assessed both in Chinese and in English. Parent-rated shyness was uniquely associated with…

  4. The effects of audibility and novel word learning ability on vocabulary level in children with cochlear implants.

    PubMed

    Davidson, Lisa S; Geers, Ann E; Nicholas, Johanna G

    2014-07-01

    A novel word learning (NWL) paradigm was used to explore underlying phonological and cognitive mechanisms responsible for delayed vocabulary level in children with cochlear implants (CIs). One hundred and one children using CIs, 6-12 years old, were tested along with 47 children with normal hearing (NH). Tests of NWL, receptive vocabulary, and speech perception at 2 loudness levels were administered to children with CIs. Those with NH completed the NWL task and a receptive vocabulary test. CI participants with good audibility (GA) versus poor audibility (PA) were compared on all measures. Analysis of variance was used to compare performance across the children with NH and the two groups of children with CIs. Multiple regression analysis was employed to identify independent predictors of vocabulary outcomes. Children with CIs in the GA group scored higher in receptive vocabulary and NWL than children in the PA group, although they did not reach NH levels. CI-aided pure tone threshold and performance on the NWL task predicted independent variance in vocabulary after accounting for other known predictors. Acquiring spoken vocabulary is facilitated by GA with a CI and phonological learning and memory skills. Children with CIs did not learn novel words at the same rate or achieve the same receptive vocabulary levels as their NH peers. Maximizing audibility for the perception of speech and direct instruction of new vocabulary may be necessary for children with CIs to reach levels seen in peers with NH.

  5. Receptive Vocabulary Measures for EFL Costa Rican High School Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Castro-Garcia, Damaris

    2017-01-01

    The study offers a glimpse of the current situation of foreign language education in the Costa Rican context from the perspective of vocabulary knowledge, particularly passive vocabulary size. Students from two institutions participated: one school implements Content Based Teaching while the other follows traditional, Foreign Language Teaching…

  6. Aging-Resilient Associations between the Arcuate Fasciculus and Vocabulary Knowledge: Microstructure or Morphology?

    PubMed Central

    Vaden, Kenneth I.; Cute, Stephanie L.; Yeatman, Jason D.; Dougherty, Robert F.

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is one of the few cognitive functions that is relatively preserved in older adults, but the reasons for this relative preservation have not been well delineated. We tested the hypothesis that individual differences in vocabulary knowledge are influenced by arcuate fasciculus macrostructure (i.e., shape and volume) properties that remain stable during the aging process, rather than white matter microstructure that demonstrates age-related declines. Vocabulary was not associated with age compared to pronounced age-related declines in cognitive processing speed across 106 healthy adults (19.92–88.29 years) who participated in this neuroimaging experiment. Fractional anisotropy in the left arcuate fasciculus was significantly related to individual variability in vocabulary. This effect was present despite marked age-related differences in a T1-weighted/T2-weighted ratio (T1w/T2w) estimate of myelin that were observed throughout the left arcuate fasciculus and associated with age-related differences in cognitive processing speed. However, atypical patterns of arcuate fasciculus morphology or macrostructure were associated with decreased vocabulary knowledge. These results suggest that deterioration of tissue in the arcuate fasciculus occurs with normal aging, while having limited impact on tract organization that underlies individual differences in the acquisition and retrieval of lexical and semantic information. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Vocabulary knowledge is resilient to widespread age-related declines in brain structure that limit other cognitive functions. We tested the hypothesis that arcuate fasciculus morphology, which supports the development of reading skills that bolster vocabulary, could explain this relative preservation. We disentangled (1) the effects of age-related declines in arcuate microstructure (mean diffusivity; myelin content estimate) that predicted cognitive processing speed but not vocabulary, from (2) relatively stable

  7. Lexical Testing and the Reliability of the Modified Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tan, Debbita; Pandian, Ambigapathy; Jaganathan, Paramaswari

    2016-01-01

    This paper highlights some of the vocabulary tests available, and reports the reliability of the modified Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) (Rosszell, 2007). Although there is no consensus as to what actually constitutes vocabulary knowledge, the notion that it is made up of receptive knowledge (words recognised or known when seen or heard) and…

  8. Do Infant Vocabulary Skills Predict School-Age Language and Literacy Outcomes?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duff, Fiona J.; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

    2015-01-01

    Background: Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for…

  9. Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning

    PubMed Central

    Patten, Hannah

    2017-01-01

    Purpose This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information. Method Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5–12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the variance in word learning that was explained by vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition after controlling for chronological age. Results Together with chronological age, nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge explained up to 44% of the variance in children's word learning. Nonword repetition was the stronger predictor of phonological recall, phonological recognition, and semantic recognition, whereas vocabulary knowledge was the stronger predictor of verbal semantic recall. Conclusions These findings extend the results of past studies indicating that both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge are important for new word learning, but the relative influence of each predictor depends on the way word learning is measured. Suggestions for further research involving typically developing children and children with language or reading impairments are discussed. PMID:28241284

  10. Factors Associated with Expressive and Receptive Language in French-Speaking Toddlers Clinically Diagnosed with Language Delay

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sylvestre, Audette; Desmarais, Chantal; Meyer, Francois; Bairati, Isabelle; Rouleau, Nancie; Merette, Chantal

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine child and environmental factors known to be associated to language development and how they relate to results in expressive vocabulary, expressive language, and receptive language in language-delayed toddlers. The cross-sectional data on 96 French-speaking children aged 18-36 months were…

  11. The effects of age and education on executive functioning and oral naming performance in greek cypriot adults: the neurocognitive study for the aging.

    PubMed

    Constantinidou, Fofi; Christodoulou, Marianna; Prokopiou, Juliana

    2012-01-01

    Age, educational experiences, language and culture can affect linguistic-cognitive performance. This is the first systematic study investigating linguistic-cognitive aging in Greek Cypriot adults focusing on executive functioning (EF) and oral naming performance. Three hundred and fifty-nine participants were included, a group of young-old, aged 60-75 years (n = 231), and a group of old-old participants, aged 76 years and older (n = 128). Participants in each age group were divided into three education groups: 0-4 years (n = 50), 5-9 years (n = 198), and 10 years of education and higher (n = 111). Participants were administered 5 measures of EF along with measures of receptive vocabulary and confrontational naming. There was a significant relationship between the EF composite score and all language measures. MANOVA (α = 0.05) indicated significant age and education effects on most measures of EF and language. Performance on receptive vocabulary and cognitive shift remained stable across age groups, but was mediated by education. Education plays a significant role on all measures requiring semantic organization, speed of information processing, cognitive shift, mental flexibility, receptive vocabulary and confrontational naming. Furthermore, strategic thinking has a role in semantic knowledge, word retrieval and semantic access in healthy aging. We conclude with clinical implications and assessment considerations in aphasia. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Factors that Influence Vocabulary Development in Two-Year-Old Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stokes, Stephanie F.; Klee, Thomas

    2009-01-01

    Background: This research explored the relative impact of demographic, cognitive, behavioural, and psycholinguistic factors on vocabulary development in two-year-old children. Methods: Two hundred and thirty-two children (24-30 months) were tested on expressive and receptive vocabulary, cognitive development, word learning and working memory…

  13. Comprehension of figurative language in Taiwanese children with autism: The role of theory of mind and receptive vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Huang, Su-Fen; Oi, Manabu; Taguchi, Aiko

    2015-01-01

    First-order theory of mind (ToM) is necessary for comprehension of metaphors, and second-order ToM is necessary for comprehension of irony. This study investigated the role of ToM and language ability in comprehending figurative language in 50 Taiwanese children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs) compared with 50 typically developing children. Results showed that the No-ToM HFASDs group performed worse than the first-order ToM HFASDs group and the second-order ToM HFASDs group in comprehension of metaphors, irony, sarcasm and indirect reproach, but not for indirect request. Receptive vocabulary correlated only with metaphor comprehension. The volatility of results seen among studies in terms of the relationship between ToM and figurative language comprehension is discussed.

  14. Classroom Age Composition and Vocabulary Development Among At-Risk Preschoolers

    PubMed Central

    Guo, Ying; Tompkins, Virginia; Justice, Laura; Petscher, Yaacov

    2016-01-01

    Research Findings The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the relationship between classroom age composition and preschoolers’ vocabulary gains over an academic year and also to examine whether these relations were moderated by classroom quality. In this study (N = 130 children in 16 classrooms representing a subset of all children enrolled in these classrooms), results showed a significant cross-level interaction between classroom age composition and children’s age, suggesting positive effects of greater variance in classroom age composition for younger but not older children. The interaction between behavior management (1 dimension of classroom quality) and classroom age composition was also significant, indicating that a wider distribution of classroom age composition was positively related to children’s vocabulary gains within classrooms characterized by better behavior management. Practice or Policy Findings underscore the importance of children’s social interactions with more knowledgeable conversational partners in promoting their vocabulary development and signify the need to help teachers learn how to manage children’s behaviors so as to provide a classroom that is optimal for child learning. PMID:27660399

  15. Age Differences in the Reception of New Scientific Theories: The Case of Plate Tectonics Theory.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Messeri, Peter

    1988-01-01

    Reviews various evidences on the relationship between age and the reception of major innovations in science. Examines the possibility that age patterning of reception may vary over time. Reports the potential importance of age on the reception of ideas while rejecting the presumption that advanced age leads to increased resistance. (YP)

  16. The Co-Occurring Development of Executive Function Skills and Receptive Vocabulary in Preschool-Aged Children: A Look at the Direction of the Developmental Pathways

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weiland, Christina; Barata, M. Clara; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu

    2014-01-01

    Despite consensus in the developmental literature regarding the role of executive function (EF) skills in supporting the development of language skills during the preschool years, we know relatively little about the associations between EF skills, including all EF components, and vocabulary skills among preschool-aged children. In this paper, we…

  17. Disparities in children's vocabulary and height in relation to household wealth and parental schooling: A longitudinal study in four low- and middle-income countries.

    PubMed

    Reynolds, Sarah A; Andersen, Chris; Behrman, Jere; Singh, Abhijeet; Stein, Aryeh D; Benny, Liza; Crookston, Benjamin T; Cueto, Santiago; Dearden, Kirk; Georgiadis, Andreas; Krutikova, Sonya; Fernald, Lia C H

    2017-12-01

    Children from low socio-economic status (SES) households often demonstrate worse growth and developmental outcomes than wealthier children, in part because poor children face a broader range of risk factors. It is difficult to characterize the trajectories of SES disparities in low- and middle-income countries because longitudinal data are infrequently available. We analyze measures of children's linear growth (height) at ages 1, 5, 8 and 12y and receptive language (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test) at ages 5, 8 and 12y in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam in relation to household SES, measured by parental schooling or household assets. We calculate children's percentile ranks within the distributions of height-for-age z-scores and of age- and language-standardized receptive vocabulary scores. We find that children in the top quartile of household SES are taller and have better language performance than children in the bottom quartile; differences in vocabulary scores between children with high and low SES are larger than differences in the height measure. For height, disparities in SES are present by age 1y and persist as children age. For vocabulary, SES disparities also emerge early in life, but patterns are not consistent across age; for example, SES disparities are constant over time in India, widen between 5 and 12y in Ethiopia, and narrow in this age range in Vietnam and Peru. Household characteristics (such as mother's height, age, and ethnicity), and community fixed effects explain most of the disparities in height and around half of the disparities in vocabulary. We also find evidence that SES disparities in height and language development may not be fixed over time, suggesting opportunities for policy and programs to address these gaps early in life.

  18. Impact of PECS tablet computer app on receptive identification of pictures given a verbal stimulus.

    PubMed

    Ganz, Jennifer B; Hong, Ee Rea; Goodwyn, Fara; Kite, Elizabeth; Gilliland, Whitney

    2015-04-01

    The purpose of this brief report was to determine the effect on receptive identification of photos of a tablet computer-based augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system with voice output. A multiple baseline single-case experimental design across vocabulary words was implemented. One participant, a preschool-aged boy with autism and little intelligible verbal language, was included in the study. Although a functional relation between the intervention and the dependent variable was not established, the intervention did appear to result in mild improvement for two of the three vocabulary words selected. The authors recommend further investigations of the collateral impacts of AAC on skills other than expressive language.

  19. English Language Learners and English-Only Learners' Response to Direct Vocabulary Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crevecoeur, Yvel C.; Coyne, Michael D.; McCoach, D. Betsy

    2014-01-01

    We examined data from an 18-week kindergarten vocabulary intervention study to determine whether treatment outcomes had differential effects that favored English language learners (ELLs) or English-only learners (EOLs) and whether the relationship between initial English general receptive vocabulary knowledge and response to vocabulary…

  20. Shared etiology of phonological memory and vocabulary deficits in school-age children.

    PubMed

    Peterson, Robin L; Pennington, Bruce F; Samuelsson, Stefan; Byrne, Brian; Olson, Richard K

    2013-08-01

    The goal of this study was to investigate the etiologic basis for the association between deficits in phonological memory (PM) and vocabulary in school-age children. Children with deficits in PM or vocabulary were identified within the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS; Samuelsson et al., 2005). The ILTS includes 1,045 twin pairs (between the ages of 5 and 8 years) from the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. The authors applied the DeFries-Fulker ( DeFries & Fulker, 1985, 1988) regression method to determine whether problems in PM and vocabulary tend to co-occur because of overlapping genes, overlapping environmental risk factors, or both. Among children with isolated PM deficits, the authors found significant bivariate heritability of PM and vocabulary weaknesses both within and across time. However, when probands were selected for a vocabulary deficit, there was no evidence for bivariate heritability. In this case, it appears that the PM-vocabulary relationship is caused by common shared environmental experiences. The findings are consistent with previous research on the heritability of specific language impairment and suggest that there are etiologic subgroups of children with low vocabulary for different reasons, 1 being more influenced by genes and another being more influenced by environment.

  1. The Relations of Early Television Viewing to School Readiness and Vocabulary of Children from Low-Income Families: The Early Window Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, John C.; Auston, Aletha C.; Murphy, Kimberlee C.; St. Peters, Michelle; Pinon, Ronda Scantlin; Kotler, Jennifer

    2001-01-01

    Collected time-use diaries of television viewing from two cohorts of children (ages 2-5 and 4-7) from low-income families and gave annual tests of reading, math, receptive vocabulary, and school readiness. Found that viewing of child-audience informative programs between ages 2 and 3 predicted higher academic performance. Frequent viewers of…

  2. English Vocabulary Development in Bilingual Kindergarteners: What Are the Best Predictors?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uchikoshi, Yuuko

    2006-01-01

    This study examines growth rates in vocabulary over an academic year for 150 Latino English language learners. In October, February, and June of kindergarten, participants completed standardized measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary. Before the second and third assessments, a third of the children watched Arthur three times a week during…

  3. Do Multiple-Choice Options Inflate Estimates of Vocabulary Size on the VST?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stewart, Jeffrey

    2014-01-01

    Validated under a Rasch framework (Beglar, 2010), the Vocabulary Size Test (VST) (Nation & Beglar, 2007) is an increasingly popular measure of decontextualized written receptive vocabulary size in the field of second language acquisition. However, although the validation indicates that the test has high internal reliability, still unaddressed…

  4. Vocabulary Size, Translation Equivalents, and Efficiency in Word Recognition in Very Young Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Legacy, Jacqueline; Zesiger, Pascal; Friend, Margaret; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

    2016-01-01

    The present study examined early vocabulary development in fifty-nine French monolingual and fifty French-English bilingual infants (1;4-1;6). Vocabulary comprehension was assessed using both parental report (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory; CDI) and the Computerized Comprehension Task (CCT). When assessing receptive vocabulary…

  5. The Relationship between Phonological Memory, Receptive Vocabulary, and Fast Mapping in Young Children with Specific Language Impairment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gray, Shelley

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: This study assessed the fast mapping performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) across the preschool to kindergarten age span in relation to their phonological memory and vocabulary development. Method: Fifty-three children diagnosed with SLI and 53 children with normal language (NL) matched for age and gender (30…

  6. Investigating a Multimodal Intervention for Children With Limited Expressive Vocabularies Associated With Autism

    PubMed Central

    Storkel, Holly L.; Bushnell, Paige; Barker, R. Michael; Saunders, Kate; Daniels, Debby; Fleming, Kandace

    2015-01-01

    Purpose This study investigated a new intervention package aimed at increasing expressive word learning by school-age children with autism who have limited expressive vocabularies. This pilot investigation was intended to show proof of concept. Method Ten children between the ages of 6 and 10 years participated, with educational diagnoses of autism and limited expressive vocabularies at the outset of the study. A multimodal intervention composed of speech sound practice and augmentative and alternative communication was used to teach individualized vocabulary words that were selected on the basis of initial speech sound repertoires and principles of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. A multiple-probe design was used to evaluate learning outcomes. Results Five children showed gains in spoken-word learning across successive word sets (high responders). Five children did not meet learning criteria (low responders). Comparisons of behaviors measured prior to intervention indicated that high responders had relatively higher skills in receptive language, prelinguistic communication, vocal/verbal imitation, adaptive behavior, and consonant productions. Conclusions The intervention package holds promise for improving spoken word productions for some children with autism who have limited expressive vocabularies. Further research is needed to better describe who may most benefit from this approach as well as investigate generalized benefits to untaught contexts and targets. PMID:25910710

  7. Tracing children's vocabulary development from preschool through the school-age years: An 8-year longitudinal study

    PubMed Central

    Kang, Cuiping; Liu, Hongyun; Zhang, Yuping; McBride-Chang, Catherine; Tardif, Twila; Li, Hong; Liang, Weilan; Zhang, Zhixiang; Shu, Hua

    2014-01-01

    In this 8-year longitudinal study, we traced the vocabulary growth of Chinese children, explored potential precursors of vocabulary knowledge, and investigated how vocabulary growth predicted future reading skills. Two hundred sixty-four (264) native Chinese children from Beijing were measured on a variety of reading and language tasks over 8 years. Between the ages of 4 to 10 years, they were administered tasks of vocabulary and related cognitive skills. At age 11, comprehensive reading skills, including character recognition, reading fluency, and reading comprehension were examined. Individual differences in vocabulary developmental profiles were estimated using the intercept-slope cluster method. Vocabulary development was then examined in relation to later reading outcomes. Three subgroups of lexical growth were classified, namely high-high (with a large initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate), low-high (with a small initial vocabulary size and a fast growth rate) and low-low (with a small initial vocabulary size and a slow growth rate) groups. Low-high and low-low groups were distinguishable mostly through phonological skills, morphological skills and other reading-related cognitive skills. Childhood vocabulary development (using intercept and slope) explained subsequent reading skills. Findings suggest that language-related and reading-related cognitive skills differ among groups with different developmental trajectories of vocabulary, and the initial size and growth rate of vocabulary may be two predictors for later reading development. PMID:24962559

  8. Shared Etiology of Phonological Memory and Vocabulary Deficits in School-Age Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peterson, Robin L.; Pennington, Bruce F.; Samuelsson, Stefan; Byrne, Brian; Olson, Richard K.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: The goal of this study was to investigate the etiologic basis for the association between deficits in phonological memory (PM) and vocabulary in school-age children. Method: Children with deficits in PM or vocabulary were identified within the International Longitudinal Twin Study (ILTS; Samuelsson et al., 2005). The ILTS includes 1,045…

  9. Vocabulary Growth in Armenian-English Bilingual Kindergarteners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hovsepian, Alice

    2018-01-01

    Four-year-old (n = 20) and five-year-old (n = 22) bilingual children were tested twice in six months on Armenian (minority language) and English (majority language) picture identification and picture naming tasks to examine receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in both languages. Parental education, Armenian/English language exposure, and…

  10. Child shyness and peer likeability: The moderating role of pragmatics and vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Cheung, Hoi Shan; Elliott, John M

    2017-11-01

    The association between shyness and children's likeability by peers was examined, with pragmatic difficulty and receptive and expressive vocabularies as moderators. Participants were 164 preschoolers (72 boys, 92 girls) between 52 and 79 months old in Singapore. A cross-informant methodology was used, with peers and teachers contributing to separate peer likeability ratings. The findings highlighted a conceptual distinction between peer- and teacher-rated likeability by peers. For the latter only, a 3-way interaction involving shyness, vocabulary, and pragmatic difficulty was found, indicating that for shy children with low vocabulary scores, those who experienced less pragmatic difficulty tended to be seen by teachers as more well-liked by peers than those with more pragmatic difficulty. This suggests that pragmatic skills may serve a protective function especially for shy children with poor vocabulary skills. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Child shyness is related to poorer peer acceptance and social competence Expressive vocabulary and pragmatic competence each has a buffering effect for shy children What the present study adds? Shyness is related to poorer peer likeability as assessed by teachers Shyness is unrelated to peer likeability as assessed by same- or different-sex peers Pragmatic skills buffer the effects of teacher-rated shyness only for children with poor receptive and expressive vocabularies The buffering effect of language ability is shown in a multilingual educational context. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  11. "It Takes a Village" to Support the Vocabulary Development of Children with Multiple Risk Factors

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baydar, Nazli; Küntay, Aylin C.; Yagmurlu, Bilge; Aydemir, Nuran; Cankaya, Dilek; Göksen, Fatos; Cemalcilar, Zeynep

    2014-01-01

    Data from a nationally representative sample from Turkey (N = 1,017) were used to investigate the environmental factors that support the receptive vocabulary of 3-year-old children who differ in their developmental risk due to family low economic status and elevated maternal depressive symptoms. Children's vocabulary knowledge was strongly…

  12. A Path Model of Expressive Vocabulary Skills in Initially Preverbal Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDaniel, Jena; Yoder, Paul; Watson, Linda R.

    2017-01-01

    We examined direct and indirect paths involving receptive vocabulary and diversity of key consonants used in communication (DKCC) to improve understanding of why previously identified value-added predictors are associated with later expressive vocabulary for initially preverbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n = 87). Intentional…

  13. The Relationship between Three Measures of L2 Vocabulary Knowledge and L2 Listening and Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Junyu; Matthews, Joshua

    2018-01-01

    This study explores the constructs that underpin three different measures of vocabulary knowledge and investigates the degree to which these three measures correlate with, and are able to predict, measures of second language (L2) listening and reading. Word frequency structured vocabulary tests tapping "receptive/orthographic (RecOrth)…

  14. Cochlear Implantation in Young Children: Effects of Age at Implantation and Communication Mode.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kirk, Karen Iler; Miyamoto, Richard T.; Ying, Elizabeth A.; Perdew, Amy E.; Zuganelis, Helen

    2000-01-01

    A study examined the effects of age at implantation on the development of communication abilities in 106 early-implanted children. Results revealed significant improvement in communication skills over time. Children implanted prior to age 2 had significantly faster rates of receptive vocabulary and language development than later-implanted…

  15. The Influence of Spanish Vocabulary and Phonemic Awareness on Beginning English Reading Development: A Three-Year (K-2nd) Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kelley, Michael F.; Roe, Mary; Blanchard, Jay; Atwill, Kim

    2015-01-01

    This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

  16. A Rasch-Based Validation of the Vocabulary Size Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beglar, David

    2010-01-01

    The primary purpose of this study was to provide preliminary validity evidence for a 140-item form of the Vocabulary Size Test, which is designed to measure written receptive knowledge of the first 14,000 words of English. Nineteen native speakers of English and 178 native speakers of Japanese participated in the study. Analyses based on the Rasch…

  17. Motor Skills in Children Aged 7-10 Years, Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Whyatt, Caroline P.; Craig, Cathy M.

    2012-01-01

    This study used the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC2) to assess motor skills in children aged 7-10 years with autism (n = 18) in comparison to two groups of age-matched typically developing children; a receptive vocabulary matched group (n = 19) and a nonverbal IQ matched group (n = 22). The results supported previous work, as…

  18. The Impact of a Systematic and Explicit Vocabulary Intervention in Spanish with Spanish-Speaking English Learners in First Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cena, Johanna; Baker, Doris Luft; Kame'enui, Edward J.; Baker, Scott K.; Park, Yonghan; Smolkowski, Keith

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the impact of a 15-min daily explicit vocabulary intervention in Spanish on expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge and oral reading fluency in Spanish, and on language proficiency in English. Fifty Spanish-speaking English learners who received 90 min of Spanish reading instruction in an early transition model were…

  19. The Contributions of Memory and Vocabulary to Non-Verbal Ability Scores in Adolescents with Intellectual Disability

    PubMed Central

    Mungkhetklang, Chantanee; Bavin, Edith L.; Crewther, Sheila G.; Goharpey, Nahal; Parsons, Carl

    2016-01-01

    It is usually assumed that performance on non-verbal intelligence tests reflects visual cognitive processing and that aspects of working memory (WM) will be involved. However, the unique contribution of memory to non-verbal scores is not clear, nor is the unique contribution of vocabulary. Thus, we aimed to investigate these contributions. Non-verbal test scores for 17 individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and 39 children with typical development (TD) of similar mental age were compared to determine the unique contribution of visual and verbal short-term memory (STM) and WM and the additional variance contributed by vocabulary scores. No significant group differences were found in the non-verbal test scores or receptive vocabulary scores, but there was a significant difference in expressive vocabulary. Regression analyses indicate that for the TD group STM and WM (both visual and verbal) contributed similar variance to the non-verbal scores. For the ID group, visual STM and verbal WM contributed most of the variance to the non-verbal test scores. The addition of vocabulary scores to the model contributed greater variance for both groups. More unique variance was contributed by vocabulary than memory for the TD group, whereas for the ID group memory contributed more than vocabulary. Visual and auditory memory and vocabulary contributed significantly to solving visual non-verbal problems for both the TD group and the ID group. However, for each group, there were different weightings of these variables. Our findings indicate that for individuals with TD, vocabulary is the major factor in solving non-verbal problems, not memory, whereas for adolescents with ID, visual STM, and verbal WM are more influential than vocabulary, suggesting different pathways to achieve solutions to non-verbal problems. PMID:28082922

  20. Investigating Use of a Parent Report Tool to Measure Vocabulary Development in Deaf Greek-Speaking Children with Cochlear Implants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Oktapoti, Maria; Okalidou, Areti; Kyriafinis, George; Petinou, Kakia; Vital, Victor; Herman, Rosalind

    2016-01-01

    Objective: There are very few measures of language development in spoken Greek that can be used with young deaf children. This study investigated the use of Cyprus Lexical List (CYLEX), a receptive and expressive vocabulary assessment based on parent report that has recently been adapted to Standard Greek, to measure the vocabulary development of…

  1. A Comparison of Difficulty Levels of Vocabulary in First Grade Basal Readers for Preschool Dual Language Learners and Monolingual English Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leung, Cynthia B.; Silverman, Rebecca; Nandakumar, Ratna; Qian, Xiaoyu; Hines, Sara

    2011-01-01

    The present study investigated preschoolers' knowledge of vocabulary that appears in first grade basal readers by applying Rasch modeling to data from a researcher-developed receptive picture vocabulary assessment administered to 238 children. Levels of word difficulty for dual language learners (DLLs) and monolingual English learners (MELs) were…

  2. The Sooner the Better? An Investigation into the Role of Age of Onset and Its Relation with Transfer and Exposure in Bilingual Frisian-Dutch Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blom, Elma; Bosma, Evelyn

    2016-01-01

    In this study, age of onset (AoO) was investigated in five- and six-year-old bilingual Frisian-Dutch children. AoO to Dutch ranged between zero and four and had a positive effect on Dutch receptive vocabulary size, but hardly influenced the children's accurate use of Dutch inflection. The influence of AoO on vocabulary was more prominent than the…

  3. Facilitating Vocabulary Acquisition of Children With Cochlear Implants Using Electronic Storybooks.

    PubMed

    Messier, Jane; Wood, Carla

    2015-10-01

    The present intervention study explored the word learning of 18 children with cochlear implants in response to E-book instruction. Capitalizing on the multimedia options available in electronic storybooks, the intervention incorporated videos and definitions to provide a vocabulary intervention that includes evidence-based teaching strategies. The extent of the children's word learning was assessed using three assessment tasks: receptive pointing, expressively labeling, and word defining. Children demonstrated greater immediate expressive labeling gains and definition generation gains for words taught in the treatment condition compared to those in the comparison condition. In addition, the children's performance on delayed posttest vocabulary assessments indicated better retention across the expressive vocabulary task for words taught within the treatment condition as compared to the comparison condition. Findings suggest that children with cochlear implants with functional speech perception can benefit from an oral-only multimedia-enhanced intensive vocabulary instruction. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Academic Vocabulary Learning in First Through Third Grade in Low-Income Schools: Effects of Automated Supplemental Instruction.

    PubMed

    Goldstein, Howard; Ziolkowski, Robyn A; Bojczyk, Kathryn E; Marty, Ana; Schneider, Naomi; Harpring, Jayme; Haring, Christa D

    2017-11-09

    This study investigated cumulative effects of language learning, specifically whether prior vocabulary knowledge or special education status moderated the effects of academic vocabulary instruction in high-poverty schools. Effects of a supplemental intervention targeting academic vocabulary in first through third grades were evaluated with 241 students (6-9 years old) from low-income families, 48% of whom were retained for the 3-year study duration. Students were randomly assigned to vocabulary instruction or comparison groups. Curriculum-based measures of word recognition, receptive identification, expressive labeling, and decontextualized definitions showed large effects for multiple levels of word learning. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that students with higher initial Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition scores (Dunn & Dunn, 2007) demonstrated greater word learning, whereas students with special needs demonstrated less growth in vocabulary. This model of vocabulary instruction can be applied efficiently in high-poverty schools through an automated, easily implemented adjunct to reading instruction in the early grades and holds promise for reducing gaps in vocabulary development.

  5. A Comparison between Verbal Working Memory and Vocabulary in Bilingual and Monolingual South African School Beginners: Implications for Bilingual Language Assessment

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cockcroft, Kate

    2016-01-01

    This study compared bilingual and monolingual school beginners on measures of simple and complex verbal working memory and receptive and expressive vocabulary. The aim was to determine whether the tests of working memory are fairer measures of language ability than the vocabulary tests for bilingual children when tested in their second language.…

  6. Associations Among Vocabulary, Executive Function Skills and Empathy in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    PubMed

    Cascia, JoAnne; Barr, Jason J

    2017-07-01

    Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been characterized as having deficits in social communication and empathy which present difficulties in the areas of social reciprocity, sharing of emotions and developing and maintaining relationships. This study explores the associations between vocabulary, executive function skills and empathy in individuals with ASD. A survey study with a purposive sample was used. Twenty adolescents with ASD completed receptive and expressive vocabulary assessments while their parent and teacher completed executive function and empathy scales. Results indicated that higher vocabulary and executive function skills were associated with higher empathy. Nonparametric analyses also showed that executive function mediated the association between empathy and vocabulary. Differences between parent and teacher responses were also explored. The results suggest that targeting vocabulary and executive function skills prior to, or in conjunction with, social skills in educational and therapeutic settings may prove beneficial. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Do Hours Spent Viewing Television at Ages 3 and 4 Predict Vocabulary and Executive Functioning at Age 5?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blankson, A. Nayena; O'Brien, Marion; Leerkes, Esther M.; Calkins, Susan D.; Marcovitch, Stuart D.

    2015-01-01

    We examined the impact of television viewing at ages 3 and 4 on vocabulary and at age 5 on executive functioning in the context of home learning environment and parental scaffolding. Children (N = 263) were seen in the lab when they were 3 years old and then again at ages 4 and 5. Parents completed measures assessing child television viewing and…

  8. Impacts of Dialogical Storybook Reading on Young Children's Reading Attitudes and Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kotaman, Huseyin

    2013-01-01

    The current study assessed the impact of parents' dialogical storybook reading on their children's receptive vocabulary and reading attitudes. Forty parents and their preschoolers participated in the study. Parents were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. The experimental group received dialogical storybook reading training.…

  9. Corporal punishment and child behavioral and cognitive outcomes through 5 years-of-age: Evidence from a contemporary urban birth cohort study

    PubMed Central

    MacKenzie, Michael J.; Nicklas, Eric; Waldfogel, Jane; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2013-01-01

    This study examined the prevalence and determinants of spanking of children at 3 years-of-age, and the associations between spanking and externalizing behavior and receptive verbal ability at age 5. Overall, we find maternal spanking rates of 55.2% and paternal rates of 43.2% at age 3. Mothers facing greater stress and those who spanked earlier are more likely to spank at age 3, whereas those who report a supportive partner during pregnancy and those who were not U.S. born were less likely to spank. Mothers and fathers in communities where spanking was more normative were more likely to spank. Fathers were less likely to spank daughters at age 3. Frequent maternal spanking at age 3 was associated with externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 5, controlling for an array of ecological risks, earlier behavior, and verbal capacity. Taking advantage of the large and diverse sample we explored potential interactions and found no evidence that race, parental warmth, normativeness, or child gender moderated the association between spanking and externalizing or receptive vocabulary. These findings add to the literature on negative consequences associated with a widely endorsed parenting practice, and highlight the need for research that explores alternative effective discipline practices and addresses parent questions of what else they could, or even should, be doing. PMID:24839402

  10. Corporal punishment and child behavioral and cognitive outcomes through 5 years-of-age: Evidence from a contemporary urban birth cohort study.

    PubMed

    MacKenzie, Michael J; Nicklas, Eric; Waldfogel, Jane; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2012-01-01

    This study examined the prevalence and determinants of spanking of children at 3 years-of-age, and the associations between spanking and externalizing behavior and receptive verbal ability at age 5. Overall, we find maternal spanking rates of 55.2% and paternal rates of 43.2% at age 3. Mothers facing greater stress and those who spanked earlier are more likely to spank at age 3, whereas those who report a supportive partner during pregnancy and those who were not U.S. born were less likely to spank. Mothers and fathers in communities where spanking was more normative were more likely to spank. Fathers were less likely to spank daughters at age 3. Frequent maternal spanking at age 3 was associated with externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 5, controlling for an array of ecological risks, earlier behavior, and verbal capacity. Taking advantage of the large and diverse sample we explored potential interactions and found no evidence that race, parental warmth, normativeness, or child gender moderated the association between spanking and externalizing or receptive vocabulary. These findings add to the literature on negative consequences associated with a widely endorsed parenting practice, and highlight the need for research that explores alternative effective discipline practices and addresses parent questions of what else they could, or even should, be doing.

  11. Concurrent and Predictive Validity of Parent Reports of Child Language at Ages 2 and 3 Years

    PubMed Central

    Campbell, Thomas F.; Kurs-Lasky, Marcia; Rockette, Howard E.; Dale, Philip S.; Colborn, D. Kathleen; Paradise, Jack L.

    2005-01-01

    The MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI; Dale, 1996; Fenson et al., 1994), parent reports about language skills, are being used increasingly in studies of theoretical and public health importance. This study (N = 113) correlated scores on the CDI at ages 2 and 3 years with scores at age 3 years on tests of cognition and receptive language and measures from parent–child conversation. Associations indicated reasonable concurrent and predictive validity. The findings suggest that satisfactory vocabulary scores at age 2 are likely to predict normal language skills at age 3, although some children with limited skills at age 3 will have had satisfactory scores at age 2. Many children with poor vocabulary scores at 2 will have normal skills at 3. PMID:16026501

  12. The Role of Teachers' Comments during Book Reading in Children's Vocabulary Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnes, Erica M.; Dickinson, David K.; Grifenhagen, Jill F.

    2017-01-01

    This study described the commenting practices of Head Start teachers, and the relationship of comments to the expressive and receptive vocabulary growth of children with below-the-mean language ability across one year of preschool. Participants included 52 Head Start teachers, and 489 children (247 early intervention candidates and 242 Head Start…

  13. Supporting Young Children's Vocabulary Growth: The Challenges, the Benefits, and Evidence-Based Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jalongo, Mary Renck; Sobolak, Michelle J.

    2011-01-01

    The complexity of words makes vocabulary development a multi-faceted process that presents challenges to early childhood educators, offers benefits to young learners, and must be supported through evidence-based strategies. All students, regardless of socio-economic status or background, need to make significant gains in receptive and expressive…

  14. The Relationship between Iranian EFL Learners' Creativity and Their Lexical Reception and Production Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hajilou, Y.; Yazdani, H.; Shokrpour, N.

    2012-01-01

    This study aimed to determine the relationship between creativity on one hand and lexical reception and production knowledge of Iranian EFL students on the other hand. The data were collected using three tests: a creativity test (Torrance, 1990), the Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt, & Clapham, 2001), and the Productive Version of the…

  15. Comparing the Efficacy of Digital Flashcards versus Paper Flashcards to Improve Receptive and Productive L2 Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dizon, Gilbert; Tang, Daniel

    2017-01-01

    Several researchers have compared the efficacy of digital flashcards (DFs) versus paper flashcards (PFs) to improve L2 vocabulary and have concluded that using DFs is more effective (Azabdaftari & Mozaheb, 2012; Basoglu & Akdemir, 2010; Kiliçkaya & Krajka, 2010). However, these studies did not utilize vocabulary learning strategies…

  16. Evidence for Preserved Novel Word Learning in Down Syndrome Suggests Multiple Routes to Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mosse, Emma K.; Jarrold, Christopher

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: Three studies investigated novel word learning, some requiring phonological production, each involving between 11 and 17 individuals with Down syndrome, and between 15 and 24 typically developing individuals matched for receptive vocabulary. The effect of stimuli wordlikeness and incidental procedure-based memory demands were examined to…

  17. Brain Dynamics of Word Familiarization in 20-Month-Olds: Effects of Productive Vocabulary Size

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Hansen, Hanna Friis; Svangstu, Janne Mari; Smith, Lars; Simonsen, Hanne Gram; Moen, Inger; Lindgren, Magnus

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigated the brain mechanisms involved during young children's receptive familiarization with new words, and whether the dynamics of these mechanisms are related to the child's productive vocabulary size. To this end, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from 20-month-old children in a pseudoword repetition task.…

  18. The relationship between vocabulary and short-term memory measures in monolingual and bilingual speakers

    PubMed Central

    Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Blumenfeld, Henrike K.; Marian, Viorica

    2012-01-01

    Previous studies have indicated that bilingualism may influence the efficiency of lexical access in adults. The goals of this research were (1) to compare bilingual and monolingual adults on their native-language vocabulary performance, and (2) to examine the relationship between short-term memory skills and vocabulary performance in monolinguals and bilinguals. In Experiment 1, English-speaking monolingual adults and simultaneous English–Spanish bilingual adults were administered measures of receptive English vocabulary and of phonological short-term memory. In Experiment 2, monolingual adults were compared to sequential English–Spanish bilinguals, and were administered the same measures as in Experiment 1, as well as a measure of expressive English vocabulary. Analyses revealed comparable levels of performance on the vocabulary and the short-term memory measures in the monolingual and the bilingual groups across both experiments. There was a stronger effect of digit-span in the bilingual group than in the monolingual group, with high-span bilinguals outperforming low-span bilinguals on vocabulary measures. Findings indicate that bilingual speakers may rely on short-term memory resources to support word retrieval in their native language more than monolingual speakers. PMID:22518091

  19. Analysing a Whole CLIL School: Students' Attitudes, Motivation, and Receptive Vocabulary Outcomes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Arribas, Mario

    2016-01-01

    CLIL keeps on gaining ground in the European educational context, one clear example is Spain, where the number of schools adopting this methodology has kept growing exponentially in recent years. The present study has a dual perspective looking at the motivation of students towards English and CLIL and showing students' receptive vocabulary…

  20. Online Vocabulary Games as a Tool for Teaching and Learning English Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yip, Florence W. M.; Kwan, Alvin C. M.

    2006-01-01

    Vocabulary learning is often perceived as boring by learners, especially for those who grew up in the digital age. This paper reports a study of the usefulness of online games in vocabulary learning for some undergraduate students. Three teachers and 100 engineering students participated in a quasi-experimental study for approximately nine weeks.…

  1. The Role of Primary Caregiver Vocabulary Knowledge in the Development of Bilingual Children's Vocabulary Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Buac, Milijana; Gross, Megan; Kaushanskaya, Margarita

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The present study examined the impact of environmental factors (socioeconomic status [SES], the percent of language exposure to English and to Spanish, and primary caregivers' vocabulary knowledge) on bilingual children's vocabulary skills. Method: Vocabulary skills were measured in 58 bilingual children between the ages of 5…

  2. Investigating Arabic Academic Vocabulary Knowledge among Middle School Pupils: Receptive versus Productive Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Makhoul, Baha

    2017-01-01

    The current study attempted to investigate the development of Arabic academic vocabulary knowledge among middle-school Arabic native speakers, taking into account the socioeconomic status of the Arab population in Israel. For this purpose, Arabic academic word list was developed, mapping the required academic words that are needed for adequate…

  3. Examining the Yes/No Vocabulary Test: Some Methodological Issues in Theory and Practice.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beeckmans, Renaud; Eyckmans, June; Janssens, Vera; Dufranne, Michel; Van de Velde, Hans

    2001-01-01

    Evaluates the characteristics of Yes/No tests as a measure for receptive vocabulary size in a second language (L2). The evaluation was conducted both on theoretical grounds as well as on the basis of a large corpus of data collected with French learners of Dutch. Focuses on the internal qualities of the format in comparison with other more…

  4. An Examination of the Relations between Oral Vocabulary and Phonological Awareness in Early Childhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cassano, Christina M.; Schickedanz, Judith A.

    2015-01-01

    This article reports a post hoc analysis conducted as part of a larger study in which 61 typically developing, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds were assessed in phonological awareness (PA), vocabulary (i.e., receptive, expressive, and definitional), and grammatical skill at baseline and 3, 6, and 9 months later. The larger study's purpose was to shed light…

  5. Associations between Problem Behaviors and Early Vocabulary Skills among Hispanic Dual-Language Learners in Pre-K

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hagan-Burke, Shanna; Soares, Denise A.; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Zhu, Leina; Davis, Heather S.; Kwok, Oi-man; Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn D.; Saenz, Laura M.; Resendez, Nora M.

    2016-01-01

    This study examined the relations between problem behaviors and early learning outcomes among 138 children in dual-language pre-K programs who were identified at the beginning of the school year to be at risk for difficulties in early language and literacy development. Children's expressive and receptive vocabulary, listening comprehension, and…

  6. Early Home Language Use and Later Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K.

    2011-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined the association between early patterns of home language use (age 4.5 years) and vocabulary growth (ages 4.5 to 12 years) in English and Spanish for 180 Spanish-speaking language minority learners followed from ages 4.5 to 12 years. Standardized measures of vocabulary were administered to children from ages 4.5 to…

  7. The Galker test of speech reception in noise; associations with background variables, middle ear status, hearing, and language in Danish preschool children.

    PubMed

    Lauritsen, Maj-Britt Glenn; Söderström, Margareta; Kreiner, Svend; Dørup, Jens; Lous, Jørgen

    2016-01-01

    We tested "the Galker test", a speech reception in noise test developed for primary care for Danish preschool children, to explore if the children's ability to hear and understand speech was associated with gender, age, middle ear status, and the level of background noise. The Galker test is a 35-item audio-visual, computerized word discrimination test in background noise. Included were 370 normally developed children attending day care center. The children were examined with the Galker test, tympanometry, audiometry, and the Reynell test of verbal comprehension. Parents and daycare teachers completed questionnaires on the children's ability to hear and understand speech. As most of the variables were not assessed using interval scales, non-parametric statistics (Goodman-Kruskal's gamma) were used for analyzing associations with the Galker test score. For comparisons, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Interrelations were adjusted for using a non-parametric graphic model. In unadjusted analyses, the Galker test was associated with gender, age group, language development (Reynell revised scale), audiometry, and tympanometry. The Galker score was also associated with the parents' and day care teachers' reports on the children's vocabulary, sentence construction, and pronunciation. Type B tympanograms were associated with a mean hearing 5-6dB below that of than type A, C1, or C2. In the graphic analysis, Galker scores were closely and significantly related to Reynell test scores (Gamma (G)=0.35), the children's age group (G=0.33), and the day care teachers' assessment of the children's vocabulary (G=0.26). The Galker test of speech reception in noise appears promising as an easy and quick tool for evaluating preschool children's understanding of spoken words in noise, and it correlated well with the day care teachers' reports and less with the parents' reports. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Syntactic Maturity and Vocabulary Richness Learning Disabled Children at Four Age Levels.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Andolina, Charlene

    Four age levels of 80 learning disabled (LD) students (7.5-8.11, 9.0-10.5, 10.6-11.11, and 12.0-13.5 years) participated in an examination of syntactic maturity and vocabulary richness in their oral language. Ss were shown two films without the sound turned on, and were then tape recorded as they told the story of the film in their own words.…

  9. Vocabulary growth rate from preschool to school-age years is reflected in the connectivity of the arcuate fasciculus in 14-year-old children.

    PubMed

    Su, Mengmeng; Thiebaut de Schotten, Michel; Zhao, Jingjing; Song, Shuang; Zhou, Wei; Gong, Gaolang; McBride, Catherine; Ramus, Franck; Shu, Hua

    2018-02-06

    The acquisition of language involves the functional specialization of several cortical regions. Connectivity between these brain regions may also change with the development of language. Various studies have demonstrated that the arcuate fasciculus was essential for language function. Vocabulary learning is one of the most important skills in language acquisition. In the present longitudinal study, we explored the influence of vocabulary development on the anatomical properties of the arcuate fasciculus. Seventy-nine Chinese children participated in this study. Between age 4 and age 10, they were administered the same vocabulary task repeatedly. Following a previous study, children's vocabulary developmental trajectories were clustered into three subgroups (consistently good, catch-up, consistently poor). At age 14, diffusion tensor imaging data were collected. Using ROI-based tractography, the anterior, posterior and direct segments of the bilateral arcuate fasciculus were delineated in each child's native space. Group comparisons showed a significantly reduced fractional anisotropy in the left arcuate fasciculus of children in the consistently poor group, in particular in the posterior and direct segments of the arcuate fasciculus. No group differences were observed in the right hemisphere, nor in the left anterior segment. Further regression analyses showed that the rate of vocabulary development, rather than the initial vocabulary size, was a specific predictor of the left arcuate fasciculus connectivity. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  10. Vocabulary of Toddlers Who Are Late Talkers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    MacRoy-Higgins, Michelle; Shafer, Valerie L.; Fahey, Katlin J.; Kaden, Elyssa R.

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to understand vocabulary characteristics in toddlers who are late talkers (LT) as compared with age-matched (AM) and vocabulary-matched (VM) peers. The semantic categories (e.g., animals, foods, toys) and the percentage of nouns, verbs, and closed-class words in the vocabularies of 36 toddlers (12 LT, 12 AM, 12 VM)…

  11. Age-related differences in resolving semantic and phonological competition during receptive language tasks.

    PubMed

    Zhuang, Jie; Johnson, Micah A; Madden, David J; Burke, Deborah M; Diaz, Michele T

    2016-12-01

    Receptive language (e.g., reading) is largely preserved in the aging brain, and semantic processes in particular may continue to develop throughout the lifespan. We investigated the neural underpinnings of phonological and semantic retrieval in older and younger adults during receptive language tasks (rhyme and semantic similarity judgments). In particular, we were interested in the role of competition on language retrieval and varied the similarities between a cue, target, and distractor that were hypothesized to affect the mental process of competition. Behaviorally, all participants responded faster and more accurately during the rhyme task compared to the semantic task. Moreover, older adults demonstrated higher response accuracy than younger adults during the semantic task. Although there were no overall age-related differences in the neuroimaging results, an Age×Task interaction was found in left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), with older adults producing greater activation than younger adults during the semantic condition. These results suggest that at lower levels of task difficulty, older and younger adults engaged similar neural networks that benefited behavioral performance. As task difficulty increased during the semantic task, older adults relied more heavily on largely left hemisphere language regions, as well as regions involved in perception and internal monitoring. Our results are consistent with the stability of language comprehension across the adult lifespan and illustrate how the preservation of semantic representations with aging may influence performance under conditions of increased task difficulty. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Vocabulary Knowledge of Deaf and Hearing Postsecondary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sarchet, Thomastine; Marschark, Marc; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol; Sapere, Patricia; Dirmyer, Richard

    2014-01-01

    Deaf children generally are found to have smaller English vocabularies than hearing peers, although studies involving children with cochlear implants have suggested that the gap may decrease or disappear with age. Less is known about the vocabularies of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) postsecondary students or how their vocabulary knowledge relates…

  13. Age-Related Differences in Lexical Access Relate to Speech Recognition in Noise

    PubMed Central

    Carroll, Rebecca; Warzybok, Anna; Kollmeier, Birger; Ruigendijk, Esther

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary size has been suggested as a useful measure of “verbal abilities” that correlates with speech recognition scores. Knowing more words is linked to better speech recognition. How vocabulary knowledge translates to general speech recognition mechanisms, how these mechanisms relate to offline speech recognition scores, and how they may be modulated by acoustical distortion or age, is less clear. Age-related differences in linguistic measures may predict age-related differences in speech recognition in noise performance. We hypothesized that speech recognition performance can be predicted by the efficiency of lexical access, which refers to the speed with which a given word can be searched and accessed relative to the size of the mental lexicon. We tested speech recognition in a clinical German sentence-in-noise test at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), in 22 younger (18–35 years) and 22 older (60–78 years) listeners with normal hearing. We also assessed receptive vocabulary, lexical access time, verbal working memory, and hearing thresholds as measures of individual differences. Age group, SNR level, vocabulary size, and lexical access time were significant predictors of individual speech recognition scores, but working memory and hearing threshold were not. Interestingly, longer accessing times were correlated with better speech recognition scores. Hierarchical regression models for each subset of age group and SNR showed very similar patterns: the combination of vocabulary size and lexical access time contributed most to speech recognition performance; only for the younger group at the better SNR (yielding about 85% correct speech recognition) did vocabulary size alone predict performance. Our data suggest that successful speech recognition in noise is mainly modulated by the efficiency of lexical access. This suggests that older adults’ poorer performance in the speech recognition task may have arisen from reduced efficiency in lexical access

  14. Age-Related Differences in Lexical Access Relate to Speech Recognition in Noise.

    PubMed

    Carroll, Rebecca; Warzybok, Anna; Kollmeier, Birger; Ruigendijk, Esther

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary size has been suggested as a useful measure of "verbal abilities" that correlates with speech recognition scores. Knowing more words is linked to better speech recognition. How vocabulary knowledge translates to general speech recognition mechanisms, how these mechanisms relate to offline speech recognition scores, and how they may be modulated by acoustical distortion or age, is less clear. Age-related differences in linguistic measures may predict age-related differences in speech recognition in noise performance. We hypothesized that speech recognition performance can be predicted by the efficiency of lexical access, which refers to the speed with which a given word can be searched and accessed relative to the size of the mental lexicon. We tested speech recognition in a clinical German sentence-in-noise test at two signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), in 22 younger (18-35 years) and 22 older (60-78 years) listeners with normal hearing. We also assessed receptive vocabulary, lexical access time, verbal working memory, and hearing thresholds as measures of individual differences. Age group, SNR level, vocabulary size, and lexical access time were significant predictors of individual speech recognition scores, but working memory and hearing threshold were not. Interestingly, longer accessing times were correlated with better speech recognition scores. Hierarchical regression models for each subset of age group and SNR showed very similar patterns: the combination of vocabulary size and lexical access time contributed most to speech recognition performance; only for the younger group at the better SNR (yielding about 85% correct speech recognition) did vocabulary size alone predict performance. Our data suggest that successful speech recognition in noise is mainly modulated by the efficiency of lexical access. This suggests that older adults' poorer performance in the speech recognition task may have arisen from reduced efficiency in lexical access; with an

  15. Vocabulary Is Important for Some, but Not All Reading Skills

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ricketts, Jessie; Nation, Kate; Bishop, Dorothy V. M.

    2007-01-01

    Although there is evidence for a close link between the development of oral vocabulary and reading comprehension, less clear is whether oral vocabulary skills relate to the development of word-level reading skills. This study investigated vocabulary and literacy in 81 children aged 8 to 10 years. In regression analyses, vocabulary accounted for…

  16. Expressive Vocabulary in Young Children with Down Syndrome: From Research to Treatment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kumin, Libby; Councill, Cheryl; Goodman, Mina

    1999-01-01

    Expressive vocabulary was studied in 130 children (ages 1 to 5 years) with Down syndrome. Although there was continuous growth in expressive referential vocabulary from birth through 5 years, age 5 was found to be an important developmental marker for multiword combinations and grammatical vocabulary. (Author/CR)

  17. Emergent literacy profiles of preschool-age children with specific language impairment.

    PubMed

    Cabell, Sonia Q; Lomax, Richard G; Justice, Laura M; Breit-Smith, Allison; Skibbe, Lori E; McGinty, Anita S

    2010-12-01

    The primary aim of the present study was to explore the heterogeneity of emergent literacy skills among preschool-age children with specific language impairment (SLI) through examination of profiles of performance. Fifty-nine children with SLI were assessed on a battery of emergent literacy skills (i.e., alphabet knowledge, print concepts, emergent writing, rhyme awareness) and oral language skills (i.e., receptive/expressive vocabulary and grammar). Cluster analysis techniques identified three emergent literacy profiles: (1) Highest Emergent Literacy, Strength in Alphabet Knowledge; (2) Average Emergent Literacy, Strength in Print Concepts; and (3) Lowest Emergent Literacy across Skills. After taking into account the contribution of child age, receptive and expressive language skills made a small contribution to the prediction of profile membership. The present findings, which may be characterized as exploratory given the relatively modest sample size, suggest that preschool-age children with SLI display substantial individual differences with regard to their emergent literacy skills and that these differences cannot be fully determined by children's age or oral language performance. Replication of the present findings with a larger sample of children is needed.

  18. Deaf Students' Receptive and Expressive American Sign Language Skills: Comparisons and Relations

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Beal-Alvarez, Jennifer S.

    2014-01-01

    This article presents receptive and expressive American Sign Language skills of 85 students, 6 through 22 years of age at a residential school for the deaf using the American Sign Language Receptive Skills Test and the Ozcaliskan Motion Stimuli. Results are presented by ages and indicate that students' receptive skills increased with age and…

  19. Validity of a parent vocabulary checklist for young Spanish speaking children of Mexican immigrants.

    PubMed

    Guiberson, Mark

    2008-01-01

    The primary objective of the current investigation was to examine the concurrent and predictive validity of a parent vocabulary checklist with young Spanish speaking children of Mexican immigrants. This study implemented a longitudinal approach. Nineteen families participated when children were 15-16 months of age, and then again at 30-32 months of age. The Spanish version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory (Inventarios del Desarrollo de Habilidades Communicativas, INV) and spontaneous language samples collected during naturalistic play were used to examine the relationship between observed and reported vocabulary. Vocabulary reported through the INV-II and vocabulary observed at 30-32 months were significantly correlated, suggesting that the INV-II captures a valid representation of vocabulary at this age. Comparatively, vocabulary reported on the INV-I, was not correlated with observed vocabulary at 15-16 months of age or reported or observed vocabulary at 30-32 months of age. These results suggest that the INV-I, when used with 14-16-month-olds, demonstrates limited concurrent and predictive validity. Implications for the clinical use of the INV-I and INV-II are presented.

  20. Effects of Hierarchy Vocabulary Exercises on English Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lin, Ching-Ying; Hsu, Wei Shu

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of hierarchy vocabulary exercises and copying vocabulary exercises on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. Two specific factors were probed: (a) vocabulary gains and retention from different exercises; (b) reading comprehension performance through different…

  1. Core vocabulary of young children with Down syndrome.

    PubMed

    Deckers, Stijn R J M; Van Zaalen, Yvonne; Van Balkom, Hans; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2017-06-01

    The aim of this study was to develop a core vocabulary list for young children with intellectual disabilities between 2 and 7 years of age because data from this population are lacking in core vocabulary literature. Children with Down syndrome are considered one of the most valid reference groups for researching developmental patterns in children with intellectual disabilities; therefore, spontaneous language samples of 30 Dutch children with Down syndrome were collected during three different activities with multiple communication partners (free play with parents, lunch- or snack-time at home or at school, and speech therapy sessions). Of these children, 19 used multimodal communication, primarily manual signs and speech. Functional word use in both modalities was transcribed. The 50 most frequently used core words accounted for 67.2% of total word use; 16 words comprised core vocabulary, based on commonality. These data are consistent with similar studies related to the core vocabularies of preschoolers and toddlers with typical development, although the number of nouns present on the core vocabulary list was higher for the children in the present study. This finding can be explained by manual sign use of the children with Down syndrome and is reflective of their expressive vocabulary ages.

  2. Vocabulary Knowledge of Deaf and Hearing Postsecondary Students

    PubMed Central

    Sarchet, Thomastine; Marschark, Marc; Borgna, Georgianna; Convertino, Carol; Sapere, Patricia; Dirmyer, Richard

    2014-01-01

    Deaf children generally are found to have smaller English vocabularies than hearing peers, although studies involving children with cochlear implants have suggested that the gap may decrease or disappear with age. Less is known about the vocabularies of deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) postsecondary students or how their vocabulary knowledge relates to other aspects of academic achievement. This study used the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test to examine the vocabulary knowledge of DHH and hearing postsecondary students as well as their awareness (predictions) of that knowledge. Relationships between vocabulary knowledge and print exposure, communication backgrounds, and reading and verbal abilities also were examined. Consistent with studies of children, hearing college students demonstrated significantly larger vocabularies than DHH students both with and without cochlear implants. DHH students were more likely to overestimate their vocabulary knowledge. Vocabulary scores were positively related to reading and verbal abilities but negatively related to sign language abilities. Among DHH students they also were positively related to measures of spoken language ability. Results are discussed in terms of related cognitive abilities, language fluency, and academic achievement of DHH students and implications for postsecondary education. PMID:25558473

  3. The second-language vocabulary trajectories of Turkish immigrant children in Norway from ages five to ten: the role of preschool talk exposure, maternal education, and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood.

    PubMed

    Rydland, Veslemøy; Grøver, Vibeke; Lawrence, Joshua

    2014-03-01

    Little research has explored how preschools can support children's second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twemty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of teacher-led group talk and amount and diversity of peer talk), as well as the demographic variables of maternal education and co-ethnic concentration in the neighborhood, were employed to predict the children's L2 vocabulary trajectories. The results of growth analyses revealed that maternal education was the only variable predicting children's vocabulary growth during the elementary years. However, teacher-led talk, peer talk, and neighborhood predicted children's L2 vocabulary skills at age five, and these differences were maintained up to age ten. This study underscores the importance of both preschool talk exposure (teacher-led talk and peer talk) and demographic factors on L2 learners' vocabulary development.

  4. Reading for Pleasure and Progress in Vocabulary and Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sullivan, Alice; Brown, Matt

    2015-01-01

    This paper examines inequalities in attainment in vocabulary and mathematics at age 16 for a nationally representative cohort of people born in Britain in 1970 (the 1970 British Cohort Study). Our analytical sample is n = 3,583 cohort members who completed vocabulary and mathematics tests at age 16. We explore whether inequalities as a result of…

  5. The Speech Intelligibility Index and the pure-tone average as predictors of lexical ability in children fit with hearing AIDS.

    PubMed

    Stiles, Derek J; Bentler, Ruth A; McGregor, Karla K

    2012-06-01

    To determine whether a clinically obtainable measure of audibility, the aided Speech Intelligibility Index (SII; American National Standards Institute, 2007), is more sensitive than the pure-tone average (PTA) at predicting the lexical abilities of children who wear hearing aids (CHA). School-age CHA and age-matched children with normal hearing (CNH) repeated words and nonwords, learned novel words, and completed a standardized receptive vocabulary test. Analyses of covariance allowed comparison of the 2 groups. For CHA, regression analyses determined whether SII held predictive value over and beyond PTA. CHA demonstrated poorer performance than CNH on tests of word and nonword repetition and receptive vocabulary. Groups did not differ on word learning. Aided SII was a stronger predictor of word and nonword repetition and receptive vocabulary than PTA. After accounting for PTA, aided SII remained a significant predictor of nonword repetition and receptive vocabulary. Despite wearing hearing aids, CHA performed more poorly on 3 of 4 lexical measures. Individual differences among CHA were predicted by aided SII. Unlike PTA, aided SII incorporates hearing aid amplification characteristics and speech-frequency weightings and may provide a more valid estimate of the child's access to and ability to learn from auditory input in real-world environments.

  6. Personality, gender, and age in the language of social media: the open-vocabulary approach.

    PubMed

    Schwartz, H Andrew; Eichstaedt, Johannes C; Kern, Margaret L; Dziurzynski, Lukasz; Ramones, Stephanie M; Agrawal, Megha; Shah, Achal; Kosinski, Michal; Stillwell, David; Seligman, Martin E P; Ungar, Lyle H

    2013-01-01

    We analyzed 700 million words, phrases, and topic instances collected from the Facebook messages of 75,000 volunteers, who also took standard personality tests, and found striking variations in language with personality, gender, and age. In our open-vocabulary technique, the data itself drives a comprehensive exploration of language that distinguishes people, finding connections that are not captured with traditional closed-vocabulary word-category analyses. Our analyses shed new light on psychosocial processes yielding results that are face valid (e.g., subjects living in high elevations talk about the mountains), tie in with other research (e.g., neurotic people disproportionately use the phrase 'sick of' and the word 'depressed'), suggest new hypotheses (e.g., an active life implies emotional stability), and give detailed insights (males use the possessive 'my' when mentioning their 'wife' or 'girlfriend' more often than females use 'my' with 'husband' or 'boyfriend'). To date, this represents the largest study, by an order of magnitude, of language and personality.

  7. Finding "le mot juste": Differences between Bilingual and Monolingual Children's Lexical Access in Comprehension and Production

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yan, Stephanie; Nicoladis, Elena

    2009-01-01

    By school age, some bilingual children can score equivalently to monolinguals in receptive vocabulary but still lag in expressive vocabulary. In this study, we test whether bilingual children have greater difficulty with lexical access, as has been reported for adult bilinguals. School-aged French-English bilingual children were given tests of…

  8. Models of Vocabulary Acquisition: Direct Tests and Text-Derived Simulations of Vocabulary Growth

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Biemiller, Andrew; Rosenstein, Mark; Sparks, Randall; Landauer, Thomas K.; Foltz, Peter W.

    2014-01-01

    Determining word meanings that ought to be taught or introduced is important for educators. A sequence for vocabulary growth can be inferred from many sources, including testing children's knowledge of word meanings at various ages, predicting from print frequency, or adult-recalled Age of Acquisition. A new approach, Word Maturity, is based on…

  9. IV. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): measuring language (vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding).

    PubMed

    Gershon, Richard C; Slotkin, Jerry; Manly, Jennifer J; Blitz, David L; Beaumont, Jennifer L; Schnipke, Deborah; Wallner-Allen, Kathleen; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Gleason, Jean Berko; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Adams, Marilyn Jager; Weintraub, Sandra

    2013-08-01

    Mastery of language skills is an important predictor of daily functioning and health. Vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding are relatively quick and easy to measure and correlate highly with overall cognitive functioning, as well as with success in school and work. New measures of vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding (in both English and Spanish) were developed for the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB). In the Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test (TPVT), participants hear a spoken word while viewing four pictures, and then must choose the picture that best represents the word. This approach tests receptive vocabulary knowledge without the need to read or write, removing the literacy load for children who are developing literacy and for adults who struggle with reading and writing. In the Toolbox Oral Reading Recognition Test (TORRT), participants see a letter or word onscreen and must pronounce or identify it. The examiner determines whether it was pronounced correctly by comparing the response to the pronunciation guide on a separate computer screen. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of language during childhood and the relation of language and brain function. We also review the development of the TPVT and TORRT, including information about the item calibration process and results from a validation study. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the measures are discussed. © 2013 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  10. Vocabulary development in Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants and its relationship with speech perception abilities.

    PubMed

    Chen, Yuan; Wong, Lena L N; Zhu, Shufeng; Xi, Xin

    2017-01-01

    China has the largest population of children with hearing impairments and cochlear implantation is gaining popularity there. However, the vocabulary development in this population is largely unexplored. This study examined early vocabulary outcomes, factors influencing early vocabulary development and the relationship between speech perception and vocabulary development in Mandarin-speaking children during the first year of cochlear implant use. A battery of vocabulary tests was administered to 80 children before implantation and 3, 6, and 12 months after implantation. Demographic information was obtained to evaluate their relationships with vocabulary outcomes. The Mandarin-speaking children, who received their cochlear implants before 3 years of age, developed vocabulary at a rate faster than that of their same-aged peers with normal hearing. Better pre-implant hearing levels, younger age at implantation, and higher maternal education level contributed to the early vocabulary development. The trajectories of speech perception development highly correlated with those of vocabulary development during 3 to 12 months of CI use. and Implications: These findings imply that the vocabulary development of children implanted before 3 years of age may catch up with that of their hearing peers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The Relationship of Head Start Teachers' Academic Language Use and Children's Receptive Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnes, Erica M.; Dickinson, David K.

    2017-01-01

    Research Findings: This study examines lexical- and sentence-level dimensions of academic language to describe teachers' natural use of academic language and its association with vocabulary growth in 489 at-risk 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start preschool classrooms. Using transcripts derived from video recordings of book-reading sessions in 52…

  12. The sooner the better? An investigation into the role of age of onset and its relation with transfer and exposure in bilingual Frisian-Dutch children.

    PubMed

    Blom, Elma; Bosma, Evelyn

    2016-05-01

    In this study, age of onset (AoO) was investigated in five- and six-year-old bilingual Frisian-Dutch children. AoO to Dutch ranged between zero and four and had a positive effect on Dutch receptive vocabulary size, but hardly influenced the children's accurate use of Dutch inflection. The influence of AoO on vocabulary was more prominent than the influence of exposure. Regarding inflection, the reverse was found. Accuracy at using Frisian inflection emerged as a significant predictor; this transfer effect was modulated by lexical overlap between the two languages. This study shows that 'the sooner the better' does not necessarily hold for language development. In fact, for the correct use of inflection, it does not matter whether children start at age zero or four. For rapidly learning words in a new language it may be helpful to first build a substantial vocabulary in the first language before learning a new language.

  13. Specifying the Links Between Household Chaos and Preschool Children’s Development

    PubMed Central

    Martin, Anne; Razza, Rachel; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2011-01-01

    Household chaos has been linked to poorer cognitive, behavioral, and self-regulatory outcomes in young children, but the mechanisms responsible remain largely unknown. Using a diverse sample of families in Chicago, the present study tests for the independent contributions made by five indicators of household chaos: noise, crowding, family instability, lack of routine, and television usually on. Chaos was measured at age 2; outcomes measured at age 5 tap receptive vocabulary, attention and behavior problems, and effortful control. Results show that controlling for all other measures of chaos, children with a lack of routine scored lower on receptive vocabulary and delayed gratification, while children whose television was generally on scored higher on aggression and attention problems. The provision of learning materials mediated a small part of the association between television and receptive vocabulary. Family instability, crowding, and noise did not predict any outcomes once other measures of chaos were controlled. PMID:22919120

  14. Using Vocabulary Notebooks for Vocabulary Acquisition and Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dubiner, Deborah

    2017-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is recognized as an essential element for second language acquisition and reading comprehension. One known way to encourage and support vocabulary development amongst second language learners is keeping a vocabulary notebook. The primary purpose of the present study was to document two aspects of student teachers' own…

  15. [Receptive music therapy with persons suffering from a physical handicap].

    PubMed

    Scholer, M

    2010-01-01

    Music therapy, as a part of arts therapies, is used as a therapeutical tool for restoring, maintaining and improving the mental, physical and emotional health of human beings. The main mission of receptive music therapy is not found on the performance level, but on the level of attentive and intimate music listening that is not passive at all, contributing to musical pleasure and to wellbeing. At first we introduce the basic vocabulary used in receptive music therapy, flow experience and the main dimensions (bio-psycho-social) influenced by stimulating music listening. We also present the aims of this psycho-pedagogical project: The focus lies on determining the sensitivity of physically handicapped persons to different music stimuli (music styles). In this case, we can talk of the degree of music reception. We worked in an institution for persons suffering from a physical handicap. The applied methodology is based on the psycho-musical survey by Verdeau-Paillès (1). This psychological record consists in a basic interview and a test of music listening performances leading to the construction of a summary graph and the final receptivity psychogram. An observational frame conceived by Schiltz (2) and adapted to the actual situation offers the possibility of making exact observations as to non-verbal and verbal variables during the therapeutical sessions. Thus, we can present the results of descriptive and non-parametric statistical procedures, but also the results of case studies. The statistical tests used were Wilcoxon's sign-rank test for a pre-post comparison of variables related to non-verbal and verbal behaviour (two different sessions of music therapy with similar contents) and Spearman's Rho which permitted us to compute the correlations between non-verbal expression and verbal communication (N=14). Finally we conclude that our patients considered their musical experience as very positive. The results of the personal interview and the psycho-musical survey

  16. "Dog" or "Chien?" Translation Equivalents in the Receptive and Expressive Vocabularies of Young French-English Bilinguals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Legacy, Jacqueline; Reider, Jessica; Crivello, Cristina; Kuzyk, Olivia; Friend, Margaret; Zesiger, Pascal; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

    2017-01-01

    In order to address gaps in the literature surrounding the acquisition of translation equivalents (TEs) in young bilinguals, two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, TEs were measured in the expressive vocabularies of thirty-four French-English bilinguals at 1;4, 1;10, and 2;6 using the MacArthur Bates CDI. Children's acquisition of TEs…

  17. [Receptive and expressive speech development in children with cochlear implant].

    PubMed

    Streicher, B; Kral, K; Hahn, M; Lang-Roth, R

    2015-04-01

    This study's aim is the assessment of language development of children with Cochlea Implant (CI). It focusses on receptive and expressive language development as well as auditory memory skills. Grimm's language development test (SETK 3-5) evaluates receptive, expressive language development and auditory memory. Data of 49 children who received their implant within their first 3 years of life were compared to the norms of hearing children at the age of 3.0-3.5 years. According to the age at implantation the cohort was subdivided in 3 groups: cochlear implantation within the first 12 months of life (group 1), during the 13th and 24th months of life (group 2) and after 25 or more months of life (group 3). It was possible to collect complete data of all SETK 3-5 subtests in 63% of the participants. A homogeneous profile of all subtests indicates a balanced receptive and expressive language development. Thus reduces the gap between hearing/language age and chronological age. Receptive and expressive language and auditory memory milestones in children implanted within their first year of life are achieved earlier in comparison to later implanted children. The Language Test for Children (SETK 3-5) is an appropriate test procedure to be used for language assessment of children who received a CI. It can be used from age 3 on to administer data on receptive and expressive language development and auditory memory. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  18. Personality, Gender, and Age in the Language of Social Media: The Open-Vocabulary Approach

    PubMed Central

    Schwartz, H. Andrew; Eichstaedt, Johannes C.; Kern, Margaret L.; Dziurzynski, Lukasz; Ramones, Stephanie M.; Agrawal, Megha; Shah, Achal; Kosinski, Michal; Stillwell, David; Seligman, Martin E. P.; Ungar, Lyle H.

    2013-01-01

    We analyzed 700 million words, phrases, and topic instances collected from the Facebook messages of 75,000 volunteers, who also took standard personality tests, and found striking variations in language with personality, gender, and age. In our open-vocabulary technique, the data itself drives a comprehensive exploration of language that distinguishes people, finding connections that are not captured with traditional closed-vocabulary word-category analyses. Our analyses shed new light on psychosocial processes yielding results that are face valid (e.g., subjects living in high elevations talk about the mountains), tie in with other research (e.g., neurotic people disproportionately use the phrase ‘sick of’ and the word ‘depressed’), suggest new hypotheses (e.g., an active life implies emotional stability), and give detailed insights (males use the possessive ‘my’ when mentioning their ‘wife’ or ‘girlfriend’ more often than females use ‘my’ with ‘husband’ or 'boyfriend’). To date, this represents the largest study, by an order of magnitude, of language and personality. PMID:24086296

  19. Addressing Clinician–Client Mismatch: A Preliminary Intervention Study With a Bilingual Vietnamese–English Preschooler

    PubMed Central

    Pham, Giang; Kohnert, Kathryn; Mann, Deanine

    2018-01-01

    Purpose This project examined receptive vocabulary treatment outcomes in the two languages of a bilingual preschooler with moderate to severe language impairment. Method A series of single-subject experimental designs was used to compare English-only (EO) and bilingual (BI) approaches to receptive vocabulary treatment. The participant, Nam, was a boy age 3;11 (years;months) who was learning Vietnamese as a first language at home and English in his early childhood education program. Treatment was implemented by an EO interventionist using a computer interface and prerecorded audio files in Vietnamese and English. The dependent measure was the percentage of items that were correctly identified in each language. Results Combined studies revealed that the BI approach increased Nam’s attention to task and was as effective as the EO approach for increasing his receptive vocabulary in English. Nam made vocabulary gains in both treatment conditions; receptive vocabulary gains were evident in both Vietnamese and English. Conclusion This project showed that it is feasible for an EO clinician to promote gains in both the home and school languages of a BI child through creative collaborations with BI colleagues and the use of technology. Replication with additional participants and treatment activities is needed to make further generalizations. PMID:21616987

  20. Spanking and child development across the first decade of life.

    PubMed

    MacKenzie, Michael J; Nicklas, Eric; Waldfogel, Jane; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2013-11-01

    To examine the prevalence of maternal and paternal spanking of children at 3 and 5 years of age and the associations between spanking and children's externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary through age 9. The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study of children in 20 medium to large US cities, was used. Parental reports of spanking were assessed at age 3 and 5, along with child externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 9 (N = 1933). The data set also included an extensive set of child and family controls (including earlier measures of the child outcomes). Overall, 57% of mothers and 40% of fathers engaged in spanking when children were age 3, and 52% of mothers and 33% of fathers engaged in spanking at age 5. Maternal spanking at age 5, even at low levels, was associated with higher levels of child externalizing behavior at age 9, even after an array of risks and earlier child behavior were controlled for. Father's high-frequency spanking at age 5 was associated with lower child receptive vocabulary scores at age 9. Spanking remains a typical rearing experience for American children. These results demonstrate negative effects of spanking on child behavioral and cognitive development in a longitudinal sample from birth through 9 years of age.

  1. Spanking and Child Development Across the First Decade of Life

    PubMed Central

    Nicklas, Eric; Waldfogel, Jane; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2013-01-01

    OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence of maternal and paternal spanking of children at 3 and 5 years of age and the associations between spanking and children’s externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary through age 9. METHODS The Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study, a longitudinal birth cohort study of children in 20 medium to large US cities, was used. Parental reports of spanking were assessed at age 3 and 5, along with child externalizing behavior and receptive vocabulary at age 9 (N = 1933). The data set also included an extensive set of child and family controls (including earlier measures of the child outcomes). RESULTS Overall, 57% of mothers and 40% of fathers engaged in spanking when children were age 3, and 52% of mothers and 33% of fathers engaged in spanking at age 5. Maternal spanking at age 5, even at low levels, was associated with higher levels of child externalizing behavior at age 9, even after an array of risks and earlier child behavior were controlled for. Father’s high-frequency spanking at age 5 was associated with lower child receptive vocabulary scores at age 9. CONCLUSIONS Spanking remains a typical rearing experience for American children. These results demonstrate negative effects of spanking on child behavioral and cognitive development in a longitudinal sample from birth through 9 years of age. PMID:24144718

  2. Explicit Vocabulary Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Young-Davy, Belinda

    2014-01-01

    One of the questions facing language instructors is how direct vocabulary instruction should be. Much recent research into vocabulary acquisition and studies of learning strategies strongly indicates that the explicit vocabulary learning vs. implicit vocabulary learning issue is not a dichotomy, but rather a continuum (Hunt and Belgar, 2005; Lee…

  3. Visualizing Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Skophammer, Karen

    2012-01-01

    Vocabulary can become tedious and a chore if it is approached as such. By making art terms and vocabulary meaningful, students will remember and use them for years to come. In this article, the author describes two vocabulary review projects that work wonderfully and create great works of art: (1) cursive creature rubbings; and (2) bubbling bodies…

  4. Lexical and phonological variability in preschool children with speech sound disorder.

    PubMed

    Macrae, Toby; Tyler, Ann A; Lewis, Kerry E

    2014-02-01

    The authors of this study examined relationships between measures of word and speech error variability and between these and other speech and language measures in preschool children with speech sound disorder (SSD). In this correlational study, 18 preschool children with SSD, age-appropriate receptive vocabulary, and normal oral motor functioning and hearing were assessed across 2 sessions. Experimental measures included word and speech error variability, receptive vocabulary, nonword repetition (NWR), and expressive language. Pearson product–moment correlation coefficients were calculated among the experimental measures. The correlation between word and speech error variability was slight and nonsignificant. The correlation between word variability and receptive vocabulary was moderate and negative, although nonsignificant. High word variability was associated with small receptive vocabularies. The correlations between speech error variability and NWR and between speech error variability and the mean length of children's utterances were moderate and negative, although both were nonsignificant. High speech error variability was associated with poor NWR and language scores. High word variability may reflect unstable lexical representations, whereas high speech error variability may reflect indistinct phonological representations. Preschool children with SSD who show abnormally high levels of different types of speech variability may require slightly different approaches to intervention.

  5. Conceptually based vocabulary intervention: second graders' development of vocabulary words.

    PubMed

    Dimling, Lisa M

    2010-01-01

    An instructional strategy was investigated that addressed the needs of deaf and hard of hearing students through a conceptually based sign language vocabulary intervention. A single-subject multiple-baseline design was used to determine the effects of the vocabulary intervention on word recognition, production, and comprehension. Six students took part in the 30-minute intervention over 6-8 weeks, learning 12 new vocabulary words each week by means of the three intervention components: (a) word introduction, (b) word activity (semantic mapping), and (c) practice. Results indicated that the vocabulary intervention successfully improved all students' recognition, production, and comprehension of the vocabulary words and phrases.

  6. Effects of Vocabulary Size on Online Lexical Processing by Preschoolers.

    PubMed

    Law, Franzo; Edwards, Jan R

    This study was designed to investigate the relationship between vocabulary size and the speed and accuracy of lexical processing in preschoolers between the ages of 30-46 months using an automatic eye tracking task based on the looking-while-listening paradigm (Fernald, Zangl, Portillo, & Marchman, 2008) and mispronunciation paradigm (White & Morgan, 2008). Children's eye gaze patterns were tracked while they looked at two pictures (one familiar object, one unfamiliar object) on a computer screen and simultaneously heard one of three kinds of auditory stimuli: correct pronunciations of the familiar object's name, one-feature mispronunciations of the familiar object's name, or a nonword. The results showed that children with larger expressive vocabularies, relative to children with smaller expressive vocabularies, were more likely to look to a familiar object upon hearing a correct pronunciation and to an unfamiliar object upon hearing a novel word. Results also showed that children with larger expressive vocabularies were more sensitive to mispronunciations; they were more likely to look toward the unfamiliar object rather than the familiar object upon hearing a one-feature mispronunciation of a familiar object-name. These results suggest that children with smaller vocabularies, relative to their larger-vocabulary age peers, are at a disadvantage for learning new words, as well as for processing familiar words.

  7. A Longitudinal Study of Progress in Vocabulary Size of Japanese EFL Senior High School Learners: A Comparison of the General and Commercial Courses

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akase, Masaki; Uenishi, Koji

    2015-01-01

    The purposes of this study are (1) to longitudinally measure the receptive vocabulary size (VS) of Japanese EFL senior high school learners; (2) to investigate how the learners develop their VS; and (3) to describe the longitudinal developmental patterns of VS of each learner during their three years of high school. Kasahara's (2005) VS tests, a…

  8. Pictures and Words: Spanish and English Vocabulary in Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Branum-Martin, Lee; Mehta, Paras D.; Francis, David J.; Foorman, Barbara R.; Cirino, Paul T.; Miller, Jon F.; Iglesias, Aquiles

    2009-01-01

    The current study evaluated the relation between Spanish and English vocabulary. Whereas previously reported correlations have revealed strong differences among types of vocabulary measures used and the ages of the students tested, no prior study had used a multilevel model to control for classroom-level differences. The current study used…

  9. The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance.

    PubMed

    Paatsch, Louise E; Blamey, Peter J; Sarant, Julia Z; Bow, Catherine P

    2006-01-01

    A group of 21 hard-of-hearing and deaf children attending primary school were trained by their teachers on the production of selected consonants and on the meanings of selected words. Speech production, vocabulary knowledge, reading aloud, and speech perception measures were obtained before and after each type of training. The speech production training produced a small but significant improvement in the percentage of consonants correctly produced in words. The vocabulary training improved knowledge of word meanings substantially. Performance on speech perception and reading aloud were significantly improved by both types of training. These results were in accord with the predictions of a mathematical model put forward to describe the relationships between speech perception, speech production, and language measures in children (Paatsch, Blamey, Sarant, Martin, & Bow, 2004). These training data demonstrate that the relationships between the measures are causal. In other words, improvements in speech production and vocabulary performance produced by training will carry over into predictable improvements in speech perception and reading scores. Furthermore, the model will help educators identify the most effective methods of improving receptive and expressive spoken language for individual children who are deaf or hard of hearing.

  10. Vocabulary Knowledge and Vocabulary Use in Second Language Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Mark D.; Acevedo, Anthony; Mercado, Leonardo

    2016-01-01

    Research has consistently shown diversity of vocabulary to be an important indicator of second language (L2) writing development as well as L2 writing performance. These studies underscore the importance of vocabulary to L2 writing. However, they provide little to indicate what kind of vocabulary learners of English may need to know in order to…

  11. Exploring Expressive Vocabulary Variability in Two-Year-Olds: The Role of Working Memory.

    PubMed

    Newbury, Jayne; Klee, Thomas; Stokes, Stephanie F; Moran, Catherine

    2015-12-01

    This study explored whether measures of working memory ability contribute to the wide variation in 2-year-olds' expressive vocabulary skills. Seventy-nine children (aged 24-30 months) were assessed by using standardized tests of vocabulary and visual cognition, a processing speed measure, and behavioral measures of verbal working memory and phonological short-term memory. Strong correlations were observed between phonological short-term memory, verbal working memory, and expressive vocabulary. Speed of spoken word recognition showed a moderate significant correlation with expressive vocabulary. In a multivariate regression model for expressive vocabulary, the most powerful predictor was a measure of phonological short-term memory (accounting for 66% unique variance), followed by verbal working memory (6%), sex (2%), and age (1%). Processing speed did not add significant unique variance. These findings confirm previous research positing a strong role for phonological short-term memory in early expressive vocabulary acquisition. They also extend previous research in two ways. First, a unique association between verbal working memory and expressive vocabulary in 2-year-olds was observed. Second, processing speed was not a unique predictor of variance in expressive vocabulary when included alongside measures of working memory.

  12. RIDEing Vocabulary: Using Etienne Wenger's Community of Practice Theory to Master Word Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schiera, Rachel

    2016-01-01

    Students' success in vocabulary learning is best gauged by authentic use of the targeted vocabulary in conversation and writing tasks. A vocabulary teaching approach that emphasizes meaningful repetition, relationship building, and concrete experiences encourages language development. This article explores a multi-age, multi-grade learning…

  13. Long-term language levels and reading skills in mandarin-speaking prelingually deaf children with cochlear implants.

    PubMed

    Wu, Che-Ming; Chen, Yen-An; Chan, Kai-Chieh; Lee, Li-Ang; Hsu, Kuang-Hung; Lin, Bao-Guey; Liu, Tien-Chen

    2011-01-01

    The aim of this study was to document receptive and expressive language levels and reading skills achieved by Mandarin-speaking children who had received cochlear implants (CIs) and used them for 4.75-7.42 years. The effects of possible associated factors were also analyzed. Standardized Mandarin language and reading tests were administered to 39 prelingually deaf children with Nucleus 24 devices. The Mandarin Chinese version of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used to assess their receptive vocabulary knowledge and the Revised Primary School Language Assessment Test for their receptive and expressive language skills. The Graded Chinese Character Recognition Test was used to test their written word recognition ability and the Reading Comprehension Test for their reading comprehension ability. Raw scores from both language and reading measurements were compared to normative data of nor- mal-hearing children to obtain standard scores. The results showed that the mean standard score for receptive vocabulary measurement and the mean T scores for the receptive language, expressive language and total language measurement were all in the low-average range in comparison to the normative sample. In contrast, the mean T scores for word and text reading comprehension were almost the same as for their age-matched hearing counterparts. Among all children with CIs, 75.7% scored within or above the normal range of their age-matched hearing peers on receptive vocabulary measurement. For total language, Chinese word recognition and reading scores, 71.8, 77 and 82% of children with CIs were age appropriate, respectively. A strong correlation was found between language and reading skills. Age at implantation and sentence perception scores account for 37% of variance for total language outcome. Sentence perception scores and preimplantation residual hearing were revealed to be associated with the outcome of reading comprehension. We concluded that by using standard tests, the

  14. Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Arabic Vocabulary Size among Pre-University Students in Malaysia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baharudin, Harun; Ismail, Zawawi

    2014-01-01

    Vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size are among the main factors that help determine how students learn second language vocabulary. The present study was an attempt to exploring the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and Arabic vocabulary size of 742 pre-university in "Religious High School" (SMKA) and…

  15. Service Learning: Flooding Students with Vocabulary through Read Alouds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holmes, Kerry; Thompson, Judith

    2014-01-01

    In the spirit of the Steven Stahl 600 Book Kid Challenge, 90 preservice teachers engaged children in 36 read-aloud sessions for a vocabulary improvement service learning project. This article describes how the preservice teachers used narrative and informational books as a vehicle for rare-word vocabulary exposure for children ages 8-12.

  16. Spelling Ability in College Students Predicted by Decoding, Print Exposure, and Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ocal, Turkan; Ehri, Linnea

    2017-01-01

    This study examines students' exposure to print, vocabulary and decoding as predictors of spelling skills. Participants were 42 college students (Mean age 22.5, SD = 7.87; 31 females and 11 males). Hierarchical regression analyses showed that most of the variance in spelling was explained by vocabulary knowledge. When vocabulary was entered first…

  17. The Impact of Vocabulary Instruction on Passage-Level Comprehension of School-Age Children: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elleman, Amy M.; Lindo, Endia J.; Morphy, Paul; Compton, Donald L.

    2009-01-01

    A meta-analysis of vocabulary interventions in grades pre-K to 12 was conducted with 37 studies to better understand the impact of vocabulary on comprehension. Vocabulary instruction was found to be effective at increasing students' ability to comprehend text with custom measures (d = 0.50), but was less effective for standardized measures (d =…

  18. Size Matters: Early Vocabulary as a Predictor of Language and Literacy Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Joanne

    2011-01-01

    This paper investigated the predictive ability of expressive vocabulary size and lexical composition at age 2 on later language and literacy skills from ages 3 through 11. Multivariate analysis of covariance was performed to compare 16 language and literacy outcomes between children with large expressive vocabulary size at 24 months (N = 1,073)…

  19. Shyness, Vocabulary and Children's Reticence in Saudi Arabian Preschools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crozier, W. Ray; Badawood, Asma

    2009-01-01

    The aims of the present study are to examine whether preschool children's scores on a standardized test of vocabulary mediate or moderate the relation between shyness and reticence and to test whether any influence of vocabulary would be found for both teacher and parent assessments of shyness. Participants were 108 children (50 males), mean age,…

  20. Beyond Breadth: The Contributions of Vocabulary Depth to Reading Comprehension among Skilled Readers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Binder, Katherine S.; Cote, Nicole Gilbert; Lee, Cheryl; Bessette, Emily; Vu, Huong

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the relationships among vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, reading comprehension, and reading rate among college-aged students. While the relationships of some of these variables have been explored in previous research, the current study's focus on the role of vocabulary depth on the literacy measures within a sample of…

  1. Examining the Underlying Dimensions of Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spencer, Mercedes; Muse, Andrea; Wagner, Richard K.; Foorman, Barbara; Petscher, Yaacov; Schatschneider, Christopher; Tighe, Elizabeth L.; Bishop, M. Denise

    2015-01-01

    We report results from two studies on the underlying dimensions of morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in elementary-aged children. In Study 1, 99 fourth-grade students were given multiple measures of morphological awareness and vocabulary. A single factor accounted for individual differences in all morphology and vocabulary…

  2. Latino Maternal Literacy Beliefs and Practices Mediating Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Education Effects in Predicting Child Receptive Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Acosta, Sandra; Davis, Heather; Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn; Saenz, Laura; Soares, Denise; Resendez, Nora; Zhu, Leina

    2017-01-01

    Research Findings: This study investigated the association between Mexican American maternal education and socioeconomic status (SES) and child vocabulary as mediated by parental reading beliefs, home literacy environment (HLE), and parent-child shared reading frequency. As part of a larger study, maternal reports of education level, SES, HLE, and…

  3. Predicting Expressive Vocabulary Acquisition in Children with Intellectual Disabilities: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Vandereet, Joke; Maes, Bea; Lembrechts, Dirk; Zink, Inge

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. Method: This study…

  4. Are Working Memory Measures Free of Socioeconomic Influence?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Engel, Pascale Marguerite Josiane; Santos, Flavia Heloisa; Gathercole, Susan Elizabeth

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: This study evaluated the impact of socioeconomic factors on children's performance on tests of working memory and vocabulary. Method: Twenty Brazilian children, aged 6 and 7 years, from low-income families, completed tests of working memory (verbal short-term memory and verbal complex span) and vocabulary (expressive and receptive). A…

  5. Rote Memorization of Vocabulary and Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Weidong; Dai, Weiping

    2011-01-01

    Rote memorization of vocabulary has long been a common way for Chinese students to learn lexical items. Cultural, educational background and traditional teaching practice in China are identified to be the factors that contribute to many students' heavy reliance on memorization as their sole approach to vocabulary learning. In addition to rote…

  6. A Study: The Relationship of Personality Type to Vocabulary Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Covner, Thelma Crockin

    To test the hypothesis that aspects of one's personality are associated with expansion of his or her vocabulary, a study focused on thirteen students of various ages who constituted a vocabulary development class. Students were taught techniques for discovering meaning through context or extracting meaning through word structure. Considerable time…

  7. Growth and Decline in Language and Phonological Memory over Two Years among Adolescents with Down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Conners, Frances A.; Tungate, Andrew S.; Abbeduto, Leonard; Merrill, Edward C.; Faught, Gayle G.

    2018-01-01

    Forty-two adolescents with Down syndrome (DS) ages 10 to 21 years completed a battery of language and phonological memory measures twice, 2 years apart. Individual differences were highly stable across two years. Receptive vocabulary scores improved, there was no change in receptive or expressive grammar scores, and nonword repetition scores…

  8. A Longitudinal Study of Vocabulary Size and Composition in Low Risk Preterm Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pérez-Pereira, Miguel; Cruz, Raquel

    2018-01-01

    The vocabulary size and composition of one group of full-term and three groups of low risk preterm children with different gestational ages (GA) were longitudinally compared at 10, 22 and 30 months of age. Expressive vocabulary development was assessed through the CDI. Cognitive development was also assessed at 22 months (Batelle Developmental…

  9. German Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coombs, Virginia M.

    This article discusses in general terms derivational aspects of English vocabulary. Citing examples of Anglo-Saxon origin, the author provides a glimpse into the nature of the interrelatedness of English, German, and French vocabulary. (RL)

  10. The Effect of Aural and Visual Storytelling on Vocabulary Retention of Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Amin Afshar, Maryam; Mojavezi, Ahmad

    2017-01-01

    EFL learners at all ages and proficiency levels are usually confronted with various problems in vocabulary learning and retention. This study sought to introduce strategies for improvement of vocabulary learning and retention. Therefore, the effects of using aural/visual storytelling on Iranian EFL learners' vocabulary learning and retention were…

  11. Verbal Short-Term Memory Shows a Specific Association with Receptive but Not Productive Vocabulary Measures in Down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Majerus, S.; Barisnikov, K.

    2018-01-01

    Background: Verbal short-term memory (STM) capacity has been considered to support vocabulary learning in typical children and adults, but evidence for this link is inconsistent for studies in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). The aim of this study was explore the role of processing demands on the association between verbal STM and vocabulary…

  12. The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhang, Xian; Lu, Xiaofei

    2015-01-01

    This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary breadth and depth knowledge. One hundred and fifty first-year university students in China took the Vocabulary Levels Test, a meaning recall task, and the Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test. The first two tests were used to elicit two types of vocabulary…

  13. Predicting Volleyball Serve-Reception

    PubMed Central

    Paulo, Ana; Zaal, Frank T. J. M.; Fonseca, Sofia; Araújo, Duarte

    2016-01-01

    Serve and serve-reception performance have predicted success in volleyball. Given the impact of serve-reception on the game, we aimed at understanding what it is in the serve and receiver's actions that determines the selection of the type of pass used in serve-reception and its efficacy. Four high-level volleyball players received jump-float serves from four servers in two reception zones—zone 1 and 5. The ball and the receiver's head were tracked with two video cameras, allowing 3D world-coordinates reconstruction. Logistic-regression models were used to predict the type of pass used (overhand or underhand) and serve-reception efficacy (error, out, or effective) from variables related with the serve kinematics and related with the receiver's on-court positioning and movement. Receivers' initial position was different when in zone 1 and 5. This influenced the serve-related variables as well as the type of pass used. Strong predictors of using an underhand rather than overhand pass were higher ball contact of the server, reception in zone 1, receiver's initial position more to the back of the court and backward receiver movement. Receiver's larger longitudinal displacements and an initial position more to the back of the court had a strong relationship with the decreasing of the serve-reception efficacy. Receivers' positioning and movement were the factors with the largest impact on the type of pass used and the efficacy of the reception. Reception zone affected the variance in the ball's kinematics (with the exception of the ball's lateral displacement), as well as in the receivers' positioning (distances from the net and from the target). Also the reception zone was associated with the type of pass used by the receiver but not with reception efficacy. Given volleyball's rotation rule, the receiver needs to master receiving in the different reception zones; he/she needs to adapt to the diverse constraints of each zone to maintain performance efficacy. Thus

  14. Fine motor skills enhance lexical processing of embodied vocabulary: A test of the nimble-hands, nimble-minds hypothesis.

    PubMed

    Suggate, Sebastian; Stoeger, Heidrun

    2017-10-01

    Research suggests that fine motor skills (FMS) are linked to aspects of cognitive development in children. Additionally, lexical processing advantages exist for words implying a high body-object interaction (BOI), with initial findings indicating that such words in turn link to children's FMS-for which we propose and evaluate four competing hypotheses. First, a maturational account argues that any links between FMS and lexical processing should not exist once developmental variables are controlled for. Second, functionalism posits that any link between FMS and lexical processing arises due to environmental interactions. Third, the semantic richness hypothesis argues that sensorimotor input improves lexical processing, but predicts no links between FMS and lexical processing. A fourth account, the nimble-hands, nimble minds (NHNM) hypothesis, proposes that having greater FMS improves lexical processing for high-BOI words. In two experiments, the response latencies of preschool children (n = 90, n = 76, ages = 5;1) to 45 lexical items encompassing high-BOI, low-BOI, and less imageable words were measured, alongside measures of FMS, reasoning, and general receptive/expressive vocabulary. High-BOI words appeared to show unique links to FMS, which remained after accounting for low-BOI and less imageable words, general vocabulary, reasoning, and chronological age. Although further work is needed, the findings provide initial support for the NHNM hypothesis.

  15. Assessing the Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use and Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Teng, Feng

    2015-01-01

    This study is an attempt to explore the correlation between direct and indirect vocabulary learning strategies along with the depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge. To this end, a sample of 145 low proficiency students who learn English as a Foreign Language (EFL) completed a questionnaire concerning vocabulary learning strategy use.…

  16. Reading deficits in very low birthweight children are associated with vocabulary and attention issues at the age of seven.

    PubMed

    Leijon, Ingemar; Ingemansson, Fredrik; Nelson, Nina; Wadsby, Marie; Samuelsson, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    This Swedish study compared reading skills between seven-year-old children with a very low birthweight (VLBW) and controls with a normal birthweight, exploring associations between reading variables and cognition, parent-rated behaviour, perinatal factors and family factors. We studied 51 VLBW children, with no major neurodevelopmental impairments and attending their first year at a regular school, and compared them with the 51 sex- and age-matched controls. The test battery, carried out at 7.8 ± 0.4 years of age, included reading skills, the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children - III and the Child Behaviour Checklist. Very low birthweight children with a mean birthweight of 1105 g (± 291 g) and a gestational age of 28.8 (± 2.2) weeks scored significantly lower in all reading subtests and cognition and demonstrated more behavioural problems than normal birthweight controls. We also found significant associations between poor vocabulary, combined with attention problems, and phonological awareness, rapid naming and spelling control. Perinatal factors had no association with reading function, and socio-economic factors had very few. Very low birthweight children demonstrated deficits in all reading domains and had poorer cognition and more behavioural problems at the age of seven, with reading ability related to vocabulary and attention. ©2015 The Authors. Acta Paediatrica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Foundation Acta Paediatrica.

  17. Vocabularies in the VO

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gray, A. J. G.; Gray, N.; Ounis, I.

    2009-09-01

    There are multiple vocabularies and thesauri within astronomy, of which the best known are the 1993 IAU Thesaurus and the keyword list maintained by A&A, ApJ and MNRAS. The IVOA has agreed on a standard for publishing vocabularies, based on the W3C skos standard, to allow greater automated interaction with them, in particular on the Web. This allows links with the Semantic Web and looks forward to richer applications using the technologies of that domain. Vocabulary-aware applications can benefit from improvements in both precision and recall when searching for bibliographic or science data, and lightweight intelligent filtering for services such as VOEvent streams. In this paper we present two applications, the Vocabulary Explorer and its companion the Mapping Editor, which have been developed to support the use of vocabularies in the Virtual Observatory. These combine Semantic Web and Information Retrieval technologies to illustrate the way in which formal vocabularies might be used in a practical application, provide an online service which will allow astronomers to explore and relate existing vocabularies, and provide a service which translates free text user queries into vocabulary terms.

  18. Early Vocabulary, Parental Education, and the Frequency of Shared Reading as Predictors of Toddler's Vocabulary and Grammar at Age 2;7: A Slovenian Longitudinal CDI Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Socan, Gregor

    2017-01-01

    The aim of this longitudinal study, carried out on a sample of Slovenian-speaking toddlers, was to analyze developmental changes and stability in early vocabulary development; to establish relations between toddler's vocabulary and grammar; and to analyze the effects of parental education and the frequency of shared reading on toddlers' vocabulary…

  19. Associations Among Family Environment, Sustained Attention, and School Readiness for Low-Income Children

    PubMed Central

    Razza, Rachel A.; Martin, Anne; Brooks-Gunn, Jeanne

    2011-01-01

    In this study, we examined the developmental pathways from children’s family environment to school readiness within a low-income sample (N = 1,046), with a specific focus on the role of sustained attention. Six distinct factors of the family environment representing maternal parenting behaviors, the physical home environment, and maternal mental health at 3 years of age were explored as independent predictors of children’s observed sustained attention as well as cognitive and behavioral outcomes at 5 years of age. Children were grouped by poverty status (poor vs. near-poor). Results suggest specificity in the associations among attention (focused attention and lack of impulsivity) and its correlates, with different patterns emerging by poverty status group. Overall, the family environment was largely unrelated to children’s sustained attention. For both groups, focused attention was associated with receptive vocabulary; however, it partially mediated the association between maternal lack of hostility and receptive vocabulary only among the near-poor. In addition, lack of impulsivity was associated with both receptive vocabulary and externalizing behaviors but only for the poor group. Findings indicate sustained attention as a potential target for efforts aimed at enhancing school readiness among predominantly poor children. PMID:20677860

  20. The rationale, development, and standardization of a basic word vocabulary test.

    PubMed

    Dupuy, H J

    1974-04-01

    The results of the studies to date indicate that the Basic Word Vocabulary Test provides a range of items in terms of item difficulty levels useful in printed form from about the third grade to the highest educational levels. Since pictorial and orally given vocabulary tests are used from about ages 2 to 8 years, further work should be done to extend the scale downward so that a single comprehensive vocabulary scale ranging from age 2 years to the highest level of verbal development is available for general use. Validation studies should also be conducted with other well-known intelligence tests so that scores can be compared. Alternate forms need to be developed to allow for longitudinal studies of growth and development. The use of a single standard of measurement of vocabulary development, suitable over a wide range of age and ability levels, by different investigators should materially aid in comparing results across studies and samples and lead to more consistent findings, advances in knowledge, and wider application of findings in practical circumstances, The findings presented in this report indicate that the Basic Word Vocabulary Test adequately measures basic word knowledge acquisition and development. The BWVT is suitable for evaluation of individuals and for use in making group comparisons in levels of basic word knowledge attainment, growth, and development. All material appearing in this report is in the public domain and may be reproduced or copied without permission; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.

  1. Teaching Vocabulary: An Annotated Bibliography.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Weinrib, Alice

    1994-01-01

    Discusses seven books on vocabulary instruction in second language classrooms: (1) "Working With Words" (Gairns and Redman); (2) "Crossword Puzzles for Beginners" (Mollica); (3) "Vocabulary Posters" (Mollica); (4) "Vocabulary" (Morgan and Rinvolucri); (5) "Teaching and Learning Vocabulary"…

  2. Effects of bilingualism on vocabulary, executive functions, age of dementia onset, and regional brain structure.

    PubMed

    Gasquoine, Philip Gerard

    2016-11-01

    To review the current literature on the effects of bilingualism on vocabulary, executive functions, age of dementia onset, and regional brain structure. PubMed and PsycINFO databases were searched (from January 1999 to present) for relevant original research and review articles on bilingualism (but not multilingualism) paired with each target neuropsychological variable published in English. A qualitative review of these articles was conducted. It has long been known that mean scores of bilinguals fall below those of monolinguals on vocabulary and other language, but not visual-perceptual, format cognitive tests. Contemporary studies that have reported higher mean scores for bilinguals than monolinguals on executive function task-switching or inhibition tasks have not always been replicated, leading to concerns of publication bias, statistical flaws, and failures to match groups on potentially confounding variables. Studies suggesting the onset of Alzheimer's disease occurred about 4 years later for bilinguals versus monolinguals have not been confirmed in longitudinal, cohort, community-based, incidence studies that have used neuropsychological testing and diagnostic criteria to establish an age of dementia diagnosis. Neuroimaging studies of regional gray and white matter volume in bilinguals versus monolinguals show inconsistencies in terms of both the regions of difference and the nature of the difference. Resolving inconsistencies in the behavioral data is necessary before searching in the brain for neuroanatomical correlation. Comparisons of balanced versus language-dominant groups within the same ethnoculture combined with objective measurement of bilingualism could better match groups on potentially confounding variables. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. E-Book as Facilitator of Vocabulary Acquisition: Support of Adults, Dynamic Dictionary and Static Dictionary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Korat, Ofra; Levin, Iris; Atishkin, Shifra; Turgeman, Merav

    2014-01-01

    We investigated the effects of three facilitators: adults' support, dynamic visual vocabulary support and static visual vocabulary support on vocabulary acquisition in the context of e-book reading. Participants were 144 Israeli Hebrew-speaking preschoolers (aged 4-6) from middle SES neighborhoods. The entire sample read the e-book without a…

  4. Stigma development and receptivity in almond (Prunus dulcis).

    PubMed

    Yi, Weiguang; Law, S Edward; McCoy, Dennis; Wetzstein, Hazel Y

    2006-01-01

    Fertilization is essential in almond production, and pollination can be limiting in production areas. This study investigated stigma receptivity under defined developmental stages to clarify the relationship between stigma morphology, pollen germination, tube growth and fruit set. Light and scanning electron microscopy were employed to examine stigma development at seven stages of flower development ranging from buds that were swollen to flowers in which petals were abscising. Flowers at different stages were hand pollinated and pollen germination and tube growth assessed. Artificial pollinations in the field were conducted to determine the effect of flower age on fruit set. Later stages of flower development exhibited greater stigma receptivity, i.e. higher percentages of pollen germination and more extensive tube growth occurred in older (those opened to the flat petal stage or exhibiting petal fall) than younger flowers. Enhanced stigma receptivity was associated with elongation of stigmatic papillae and increased amounts of stigmatic exudate that inundated papillae at later developmental stages. Field pollinations indicated that the stigma was still receptive and nut set was maintained in older flowers. Stigma receptivity in almond does not become optimal until flowers are past the fully open stage. The stigma is still receptive and fruit set is maintained in flowers even at the stage when petals are abscising. Strategies to enhance pollination and crop yield, including the timing and placement of honey bees, should consider the effectiveness of developmentally advanced flowers.

  5. Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Their Effects on L2 Vocabulary Profiles

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bardakçi, Mehmet

    2016-01-01

    Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge have been studied from many different perspectives, but the related literature lacks serious studies dealing with their effects on vocabulary profiles of EFL learners. In this paper, with an aim to fill this gap, the relative effects of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge on L2 vocabulary profiles…

  6. Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Susceptibility to Tobacco Products

    PubMed Central

    Sargent, James D.; White, Martha M.; Borek, Nicolette; Portnoy, David B.; Green, Victoria R.; Kaufman, Annette R.; Stanton, Cassandra A.; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Strong, David R.; Pearson, Jennifer L.; Coleman, Blair N.; Leas, Eric; Noble, Madison L.; Trinidad, Dennis R.; Moran, Meghan B.; Carusi, Charles; Hyland, Andrew; Messer, Karen

    2017-01-01

    BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Non–cigarette tobacco marketing is less regulated and may promote cigarette smoking among adolescents. We quantified receptivity to advertising for multiple tobacco products and hypothesized associations with susceptibility to cigarette smoking. METHODS: Wave 1 of the nationally representative PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study interviewed 10 751 adolescents who had never used tobacco. A stratified random selection of 5 advertisements for each of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless products, and cigars were shown from 959 recent tobacco advertisements. Aided recall was classified as low receptivity, and image-liking or favorite ad as higher receptivity. The main dependent variable was susceptibility to cigarette smoking. RESULTS: Among US youth, 41% of 12 to 13 year olds and half of older adolescents were receptive to at least 1 tobacco advertisement. Across each age group, receptivity to advertising was highest for e-cigarettes (28%–33%) followed by cigarettes (22%–25%), smokeless tobacco (15%–21%), and cigars (8%–13%). E-cigarette ads shown on television had the highest recall. Among cigarette-susceptible adolescents, receptivity to e-cigarette advertising (39.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 37.9%–41.6%) was higher than for cigarette advertising (31.7%; 95% CI: 29.9%–33.6%). Receptivity to advertising for each tobacco product was associated with increased susceptibility to cigarette smoking, with no significant difference across products (similar odds for both cigarette and e-cigarette advertising; adjusted odds ratio = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.09–1.37). CONCLUSIONS: A large proportion of US adolescent never tobacco users are receptive to tobacco advertising, with television advertising for e-cigarettes having the highest recall. Receptivity to advertising for each non–cigarette tobacco product was associated with susceptibility to smoke cigarettes. PMID:28562266

  7. Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Susceptibility to Tobacco Products.

    PubMed

    Pierce, John P; Sargent, James D; White, Martha M; Borek, Nicolette; Portnoy, David B; Green, Victoria R; Kaufman, Annette R; Stanton, Cassandra A; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Strong, David R; Pearson, Jennifer L; Coleman, Blair N; Leas, Eric; Noble, Madison L; Trinidad, Dennis R; Moran, Meghan B; Carusi, Charles; Hyland, Andrew; Messer, Karen

    2017-06-01

    Non-cigarette tobacco marketing is less regulated and may promote cigarette smoking among adolescents. We quantified receptivity to advertising for multiple tobacco products and hypothesized associations with susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Wave 1 of the nationally representative PATH (Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health) study interviewed 10 751 adolescents who had never used tobacco. A stratified random selection of 5 advertisements for each of cigarettes, e-cigarettes, smokeless products, and cigars were shown from 959 recent tobacco advertisements. Aided recall was classified as low receptivity, and image-liking or favorite ad as higher receptivity. The main dependent variable was susceptibility to cigarette smoking. Among US youth, 41% of 12 to 13 year olds and half of older adolescents were receptive to at least 1 tobacco advertisement. Across each age group, receptivity to advertising was highest for e-cigarettes (28%-33%) followed by cigarettes (22%-25%), smokeless tobacco (15%-21%), and cigars (8%-13%). E-cigarette ads shown on television had the highest recall. Among cigarette-susceptible adolescents, receptivity to e-cigarette advertising (39.7%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 37.9%-41.6%) was higher than for cigarette advertising (31.7%; 95% CI: 29.9%-33.6%). Receptivity to advertising for each tobacco product was associated with increased susceptibility to cigarette smoking, with no significant difference across products (similar odds for both cigarette and e-cigarette advertising; adjusted odds ratio = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.09-1.37). A large proportion of US adolescent never tobacco users are receptive to tobacco advertising, with television advertising for e-cigarettes having the highest recall. Receptivity to advertising for each non-cigarette tobacco product was associated with susceptibility to smoke cigarettes. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  8. Comparison of Measures of E-cigarette Advertising Exposure and Receptivity.

    PubMed

    Pokhrel, Pallav; Fagan, Pebbles; Herzog, Thaddeus A; Schmid, Simone; Kawamoto, Crissy T; Unger, Jennifer B

    2017-10-01

    We tested how various measures of e-cigarette advertising exposure and receptivity are related to each other and compare to each other in their associations with e-cigarette use susceptibility and behavior. Cross-sectional data were collected from young adult college students (N = 470; M age = 20.9, SD = 2.1; 65% women). Measures of e-cigarette advertising exposure/receptivity compared included a cued recall measure, measures of marketing receptivity, perceived ad exposure, liking of e-cigarette ads, and frequency of convenience store visit, which is considered a measure of point-of-sale ad exposure. The cued-recall measure was associated with e-cigarette use experimentation but not current e-cigarette use. Marketing receptivity was associated with current e-cigarette use but not e-cigarette use experimentation. Liking of e-cigarette ads was the only measure associated with e-cigarette use susceptibility. Frequency of convenience store visit was associated with current e-cigarette use but not e-cigarette use experimentation or susceptibility. Inclusion of multiple measures of marketing exposure and receptivity is recommended for regulatory research concerning e-cigarette marketing. Marketing receptivity and cued recall measures are strong correlates of current and ever e-cigarette use, respectively.

  9. Identifying and Remediating Dyslexia in the Reception Year, a New Possibility?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Montgomery, Diane

    2017-01-01

    Research has shown that dyslexics have an inability to establish sound-symbol correspondence, phonological awareness and alphabetic knowledge by the normal teaching methods used in schools. In new research with Reception year children, ages 4 and 5 years, it was found that 90 per cent on entry to 8 Reception classes had not established sound to…

  10. Genome-Wide Association Study of Receptive Language Ability of 12-Year-Olds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harlaar, Nicole; Meaburn, Emma L.; Hayiou-Thomas, Marianna E.; Davis, Oliver S. P.; Docherty, Sophia; Hanscombe, Ken B.; Haworth, Claire M. A.; Price, Thomas S.; Trzaskowski, Maciej; Dale, Philip S.; Plomin, Robert

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Researchers have previously shown that individual differences in measures of receptive language ability at age 12 are highly heritable. In the current study, the authors attempted to identify some of the genes responsible for the heritability of receptive language ability using a "genome-wide association" approach. Method: The…

  11. Reception thresholds for sentences in quiet, continuous noise, and interrupted noise in school-age children.

    PubMed

    Stuart, Andrew

    2008-02-01

    Sentence recognition in noise was employed to investigate the development of temporal resolution in school-age children. Eighty children aged 6 to 15 years and 16 young adults participated. Reception thresholds for sentences (RTSs) were determined in quiet and in backgrounds of competing continuous and interrupted noise. In the noise conditions, RTSs were determined with a fixed noise level. RTSs were higher in quiet for six- to seven-year-old children (p = .006). Performance was better in the interrupted noise evidenced by lower RTS signal-to-noise ratios (S/Ns) relative to continuous noise (p < .0001). An effect of age was found in noise (p < .0001) where RTS S/Ns decreased with increasing age. Specifically, children under 14 years performed worse than adults. "Release from masking" was computed by subtracting RTS S/Ns in interrupted noise from continuous noise for each participant. There was no significant difference in RTS S/N difference scores as a function of age (p = .057). Children were more adversely affected by noise and needed greater S/Ns in order to perform as well as adults. Since there was no effect of age on the amount of release from masking, one can suggest that school-age children have inherently poorer processing efficiency rather than temporal resolution.

  12. Application of a Brazilian test of expressive vocabulary in European Portuguese children.

    PubMed

    Cáceres-Assenço, Ana Manhani; Ferreira, Sandra Cristina Araújo; Santos, Anabela Cruz; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

    2018-01-01

    Objective to investigate the performance of European Portuguese children in a Brazilian test of expressive vocabulary, seeking to identify differences between age groups and gender, and to verify its applicability in this population. Methods the sample consisted of 150 typical developed children, of both genders, between the ages of 5 and 6. All children attended public schools in the north area of Portugal. To assess the semantic performance, the expressive vocabulary sub-test of the language test (ABFW) was used, considering the percentage of usual verbal assignments and the classification (adequate/inadequate) according to the Brazilian reference values. Results the performance of the European Portuguese children indicated that at age 6 they have a higher percentage of correct answers in expressive vocabulary. As for the gender, there were only occasional differences: the girls showed a greater dominance in the semantic fields of clothing (both ages) and furniture and utensils (at age 5), whereas the boys showed more dominance in the semantic field means of transportation (6 years). Regarding classification, there was no difference between age groups in overall performance. Only the semantic field shapes and colors had more individuals of 6 years with inadequate performance. Conclusion the reference values adopted in the Brazilian population for semantic performance indicated that more than 80% of the children of each age group could have their performance classified as adequate. Such evidence suggests that this tool shows potential as an instrument of quantitative vocabulary's assessment of 5 and 6-years old children in European Portuguese.

  13. Cognitive load during speech perception in noise: the influence of age, hearing loss, and cognition on the pupil response.

    PubMed

    Zekveld, Adriana A; Kramer, Sophia E; Festen, Joost M

    2011-01-01

    The aim of the present study was to evaluate the influence of age, hearing loss, and cognitive ability on the cognitive processing load during listening to speech presented in noise. Cognitive load was assessed by means of pupillometry (i.e., examination of pupil dilation), supplemented with subjective ratings. Two groups of subjects participated: 38 middle-aged participants (mean age = 55 yrs) with normal hearing and 36 middle-aged participants (mean age = 61 yrs) with hearing loss. Using three Speech Reception Threshold (SRT) in stationary noise tests, we estimated the speech-to-noise ratios (SNRs) required for the correct repetition of 50%, 71%, or 84% of the sentences (SRT50%, SRT71%, and SRT84%, respectively). We examined the pupil response during listening: the peak amplitude, the peak latency, the mean dilation, and the pupil response duration. For each condition, participants rated the experienced listening effort and estimated their performance level. Participants also performed the Text Reception Threshold (TRT) test, a test of processing speed, and a word vocabulary test. Data were compared with previously published data from young participants with normal hearing. Hearing loss was related to relatively poor SRTs, and higher speech intelligibility was associated with lower effort and higher performance ratings. For listeners with normal hearing, increasing age was associated with poorer TRTs and slower processing speed but with larger word vocabulary. A multivariate repeated-measures analysis of variance indicated main effects of group and SNR and an interaction effect between these factors on the pupil response. The peak latency was relatively short and the mean dilation was relatively small at low intelligibility levels for the middle-aged groups, whereas the reverse was observed for high intelligibility levels. The decrease in the pupil response as a function of increasing SNR was relatively small for the listeners with hearing loss. Spearman

  14. Vocabulary Visits: Virtual Field Trips for Content Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Blachowicz, Camille L. Z.; Obrochta, Connie

    2005-01-01

    A significant body of research suggests that wide differences in concept and vocabulary knowledge exacerbate the achievement gap among students, especially in schools with large numbers of children of poverty. Educators sometimes attribute this difference to the Matthew effect: the sad reality that having a well-developed vocabulary allows a…

  15. Language Development in School-Age Girls with Fragile X Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sterling, A.; Abbeduto, L.

    2012-01-01

    Background: Girls with fragile X syndrome (FXS) have a wide range of cognitive and language abilities. The range of language outcomes experienced by girls with FXS, however, has been relatively unexplored. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine receptive and expressive language, with a focus on vocabulary and syntax, in a group of…

  16. Longitudinal Receptive American Sign Language Skills Across a Diverse Deaf Student Body

    PubMed Central

    2016-01-01

    This article presents results of a longitudinal study of receptive American Sign Language (ASL) skills for a large portion of the student body at a residential school for the deaf across four consecutive years. Scores were analyzed by age, gender, parental hearing status, years attending the residential school, and presence of a disability (i.e., deaf with a disability). Years 1 through 4 included the ASL Receptive Skills Test (ASL-RST); Years 2 through 4 also included the Receptive Test of ASL (RT-ASL). Student performance for both measures positively correlated with age; deaf students with deaf parents scored higher than their same-age peers with hearing parents in some instances but not others; and those with a documented disability tended to score lower than their peers without disabilities. These results provide longitudinal findings across a diverse segment of the deaf/hard of hearing residential school population. PMID:26864689

  17. Maternal Correlates of Growth in Toddler Vocabulary Production in Low-Income Families

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pan, Barbara Alexander; Rowe, Meredith L.; Singer, Judith D.; Snow, Catherine E.

    2005-01-01

    This study investigated predictors of growth in toddlers' vocabulary production between the ages of 1 and 3 years by analyzing mother-child communication in 108 low-income families. Individual growth modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in children's observed vocabulary production and predictors of initial status and between-person…

  18. Patterns of language and discourse comprehension skills in school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders.

    PubMed

    Asberg, Jakob

    2010-12-01

    The present study examined patterns of language and discourse comprehension skills in Swedish school-aged children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) (n = 16) as compared to a slightly younger group of typically developing children (n = 16) matched for non-verbal cognitive ability. Results suggested significantly lower abilities in narrative discourse comprehension for the ASD group, but not in oral receptive vocabulary or reception of grammar. This difficulty with discourse-level comprehension appeared to be of a general nature, as no evidence was found for the hypothesis that participants with ASD would find comprehension of inferential discourse information disproportionally more difficult than stated information, or for the hypothesis that discourse processing in ASD would be characterized by an elevated processing of explicitly stated narrative details. The study has clinical and educational implications, as the findings suggest that children with ASD would benefit from being offered specific support for discourse-level comprehension. © 2010 The Author. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2010 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

  19. Early Vocabulary in Relation to Gender, Bilingualism, Type, and Duration of Childcare

    PubMed Central

    Stolarova, M.; Brielmann, A. A.; Wolf, C.; Rinker, T.; Burke, T; Baayen, H.

    2016-01-01

    This study investigates the predictive value of child-related and environmental characteristics for early lexical development. The German productive vocabulary of 51 2-year-olds (27 girls), assessed via parental report, was analyzed taking children’s gender, the type of early care they experienced, and their mono- versus bilingual language composition into consideration. The children were from an educationally homogeneous group of families and state-regulated daycare facilities with high structural quality. All investigated subgroups exhibited German vocabulary size within the expected normative range. Gender differences in vocabulary composition, but not in size, were observed. There were no general differences in vocabulary size or composition between the 2 care groups. An interaction between the predictors gender and care arrangement showed that girls without regular daycare experience before the age of 2 years had a somewhat larger vocabulary than all other investigated subgroups of children. The vocabulary size of the 2-year-old children in daycare correlated positively with the duration of their daycare experience prior to testing. The small subgroup of bilingual children investigated exhibited slightly lower but still normative German expressive vocabulary size and a different vocabulary composition compared to the monolingual children. This study expands current knowledge about relevant predictors of early vocabulary. It shows that in the absence of educational disadvantages the duration of early daycare experience of high structural quality is positively associated with vocabulary size but also points to the fact that environmental characteristics, such as type of care, might affect boys’ and girls’ early vocabulary in different ways. PMID:28127412

  20. Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry

    PubMed Central

    MacLeod, Andrea A. N.; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R.

    2017-01-01

    Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se. PMID:29354017

  1. Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry.

    PubMed

    MacLeod, Andrea A N; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R

    2018-01-01

    Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se.

  2. Vocabulary skills are well developed in university students with dyslexia: Evidence from multiple case studies.

    PubMed

    Cavalli, Eddy; Casalis, Séverine; El Ahmadi, Abdessadek; Zira, Mélody; Poracchia-George, Florence; Colé, Pascale

    2016-01-01

    Most studies in adults with developmental dyslexia have focused on identifying the deficits responsible for their persistent reading difficulties, but little is known on how these readers manage the intensive exposure to written language required to obtain a university degree. The main objective of this study was to identify certain skills, and specifically vocabulary skills, that French university students with dyslexia have developed and that may contribute to their literacy skills. We tested 20 university students with dyslexia and 20 normal readers (matched on chronological age, gender, nonverbal IQ, and level of education) in reading, phonological, vocabulary breadth (number of known words), and vocabulary depth (accuracy and precision) tasks. In comparing vocabulary measures, we used both Rasch model and single case study methodologies. Results on reading and phonological tasks confirmed the persistence of deficits in written word recognition and phonological skills. However, using the Rasch model we found that the two groups performed at the same level in the vocabulary breadth task, whereas dyslexics systematically outperformed their chronological age controls in the vocabulary depth task. These results are supplemented by multiple case studies. The vocabulary skills of French university students with dyslexia are well developed. Possible interpretations of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. Longitudinal Receptive American Sign Language Skills Across a Diverse Deaf Student Body.

    PubMed

    Beal-Alvarez, Jennifer S

    2016-04-01

    This article presents results of a longitudinal study of receptive American Sign Language (ASL) skills for a large portion of the student body at a residential school for the deaf across four consecutive years. Scores were analyzed by age, gender, parental hearing status, years attending the residential school, and presence of a disability (i.e., deaf with a disability). Years 1 through 4 included the ASL Receptive Skills Test (ASL-RST); Years 2 through 4 also included the Receptive Test of ASL (RT-ASL). Student performance for both measures positively correlated with age; deaf students with deaf parents scored higher than their same-age peers with hearing parents in some instances but not others; and those with a documented disability tended to score lower than their peers without disabilities. These results provide longitudinal findings across a diverse segment of the deaf/hard of hearing residential school population. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  4. Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary

    EPA Pesticide Factsheets

    Food and Feed Vocabulary was developed to consolidate all the major OPP Commodity Vocabularies into one standardized vocabulary. The EPA-preferred term is the only term that can be used in setting tolerances.

  5. Conceptually Based Vocabulary Intervention: Second Graders' Development of Vocabulary Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dimling, Lisa M.

    2010-01-01

    An instructional strategy was investigated that addressed the needs of deaf and hard of hearing students through a conceptually based sign language vocabulary intervention. A single-subject multiple-baseline design was used to determine the effects of the vocabulary intervention on word recognition, production, and comprehension. Six students took…

  6. Contrasting Effects of Vocabulary Knowledge on Temporal and Parietal Brain Structure across Lifespan

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Richardson, Fiona M.; Thomas, Michael S. C.; Filippi, Roberto; Harth, Helen; Price, Cathy J.

    2010-01-01

    Using behavioral, structural, and functional imaging techniques, we demonstrate contrasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on temporal and parietal brain structure in 47 healthy volunteers who ranged in age from 7 to 73 years. In the left posterior supramarginal gyrus, vocabulary knowledge was positively correlated with gray matter density in…

  7. Teaching Receptive Naming of Chinese Characters to Children with Autism by Incorporating Echolalia.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leung, Jin-Pang; Wu, Kit-I

    1997-01-01

    The facilitative effect of incorporating echolalia on teaching receptive naming of Chinese characters to four Hong Kong children (ages 8-10) with autism was assessed. Results from two experiments indicated echolalia was the active component contributing to the successful acquisition and maintenance of receptive naming of Chinese characters.…

  8. Linguistic and Socio-Cognitive Predictors of School-Age Children's Narrative Evaluations about Jealousy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Aldrich, Naomi J.; Brooks, Patricia J.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated children's narrative evaluations about jealousy in relation to performance on a higher-order perspective-taking task and assessments of receptive vocabulary and nonverbal intelligence. Eighty children (5;0-11;11) narrated a wordless picture book about a jealous frog, answered probe questions about the plot, and generated a…

  9. Improving Vocabulary of English Language Learners through Direct Vocabulary Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hunt, Meghan; Feng, Jay

    2016-01-01

    This is a report of a professional development project. The purpose of the project was to provide professional development to teachers in vocabulary instructional strategies and to examine vocabulary acquisition of English language learners. The participants were 8 second grade ELL students and 6 second grade teachers. The eight second grade…

  10. Intelligence and Academic Achievement With Asymptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection.

    PubMed

    Lopez, Adriana S; Lanzieri, Tatiana M; Claussen, Angelika H; Vinson, Sherry S; Turcich, Marie R; Iovino, Isabella R; Voigt, Robert G; Caviness, A Chantal; Miller, Jerry A; Williamson, W Daniel; Hales, Craig M; Bialek, Stephanie R; Demmler-Harrison, Gail

    2017-11-01

    To examine intelligence, language, and academic achievement through 18 years of age among children with congenital cytomegalovirus infection identified through hospital-based newborn screening who were asymptomatic at birth compared with uninfected infants. We used growth curve modeling to analyze trends in IQ (full-scale, verbal, and nonverbal intelligence), receptive and expressive vocabulary, and academic achievement in math and reading. Separate models were fit for each outcome, modeling the change in overall scores with increasing age for patients with normal hearing ( n = 78) or with sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) diagnosed by 2 years of age ( n = 11) and controls ( n = 40). Patients with SNHL had full-scale intelligence and receptive vocabulary scores that were 7.0 and 13.1 points lower, respectively, compared with controls, but no significant differences were noted in these scores among patients with normal hearing and controls. No significant differences were noted in scores for verbal and nonverbal intelligence, expressive vocabulary, and academic achievement in math and reading among patients with normal hearing or with SNHL and controls. Infants with asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection identified through newborn screening with normal hearing by age 2 years do not appear to have differences in IQ, vocabulary or academic achievement scores during childhood, or adolescence compared with uninfected children. Copyright © 2017 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

  11. Exploring Expressive Vocabulary Variability in Two-Year-Olds: The Role of Working Memory

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newbury, Jayne; Klee, Thomas; Stokes, Stephanie F.; Moran, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: This study explored whether measures of working memory ability contribute to the wide variation in 2-year-olds' expressive vocabulary skills. Method: Seventy-nine children (aged 24-30 months) were assessed by using standardized tests of vocabulary and visual cognition, a processing speed measure, and behavioral measures of verbal working…

  12. Vocabulary Teaching Strategies: Effects on Vocabulary Recognition and Comprehension at the First Grade Level.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Peitz, Patricia; Vena, Patricia

    A study examined teaching methods for vocabulary at the first grade level. The study compared teaching vocabulary in context and teaching vocabulary in isolation. Subjects were 32 culturally diverse first-grade students from varying socio-economic backgrounds. The sample consisted of 14 boys and 18 girls, heterogeneously grouped. Two teacher-made…

  13. The Relationship between Socio-Economic Status and Lexical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Black, Esther; Peppe, Sue; Gibbon, Fiona

    2008-01-01

    The British Picture Vocabulary Scale, second edition (BPVS-II), a measure of receptive vocabulary, is widely used by speech and language therapists and researchers into speech and language disorders, as an indicator of language delay, but it has frequently been suggested that receptive vocabulary may be more associated with socio-economic status.…

  14. Total and Conceptual Vocabulary in Spanish–English Bilinguals From 22 to 30 Months: Implications for Assessment

    PubMed Central

    Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Señor, Melissa

    2015-01-01

    Purpose Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish–English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Method Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to measure mean vocabulary size and growth in 47 Spanish–English bilingually developing children from 22 to 30 months of age based on results from the MacArthur–Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas (Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003). Bilingual children’s scores of total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were compared with CDI scores for a control group of 56 monolingual children. Results The total vocabulary measure resulted in mean vocabulary scores and average rate of growth similar to monolingual growth, whereas conceptual vocabulary scores were significantly smaller and grew at a slower rate than total vocabulary scores. Total vocabulary identified the same proportion of bilingual children below the 25th percentile on monolingual norms as the CDI did for monolingual children. Conclusion These results support the use of total vocabulary as a means of assessing early language development in young bilingual Spanish–English speaking children. PMID:24023382

  15. Total and conceptual vocabulary in Spanish-English bilinguals from 22 to 30 months: implications for assessment.

    PubMed

    Core, Cynthia; Hoff, Erika; Rumiche, Rosario; Señor, Melissa

    2013-10-01

    Vocabulary assessment holds promise as a way to identify young bilingual children at risk for language delay. This study compares 2 measures of vocabulary in a group of young Spanish-English bilingual children to a single-language measure used with monolingual children. Total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were used to measure mean vocabulary size and growth in 47 Spanish-English bilingually developing children from 22 to 30 months of age based on results from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI; Fenson et al., 1993) and the Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas ( Jackson-Maldonado et al., 2003). Bilingual children's scores of total vocabulary and conceptual vocabulary were compared with CDI scores for a control group of 56 monolingual children. The total vocabulary measure resulted in mean vocabulary scores and average rate of growth similar to monolingual growth, whereas conceptual vocabulary scores were significantly smaller and grew at a slower rate than total vocabulary scores. Total vocabulary identified the same proportion of bilingual children below the 25th percentile on monolingual norms as the CDI did for monolingual children. These results support the use of total vocabulary as a means of assessing early language development in young bilingual Spanish-English speaking children.

  16. For ELLs: Vocabulary beyond the Definitions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roberts, Nancy S.; Truxaw, Mary P.

    2013-01-01

    In this article, a classroom teacher discusses ambiguities in mathematics vocabulary and strategies for ELL students in building understanding. The authors note that mathematics vocabulary may be more difficult to learn than other academic vocabulary for several reasons: (1) definitions are filled with technical vocabulary, symbols, and diagrams;…

  17. Vocabulary Theatre: A Peer-Teaching Approach for Academic Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robb, Elizabeth; Sinatra, Richard; Eschenauer, Robert

    2014-01-01

    This mixed methods counterbalanced study compared the gain score means of two different approaches to vocabulary acquisition--Vocabulary Theater (VT) and Teacher Directed Instruction (TDI) for 8th grade students from three schools in New York. The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of a peer teaching approach on students' vocabulary…

  18. Second Language Reading and Vocabulary Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huckin, Thomas, Ed.; And Others

    This book contains 14 essays on reading and vocabulary learning in second language acquisition. Chapters include: "Research on ESL/EFL Vocabulary Acquisition: Putting It in Context" (James Coady); "Implications for L2 Vocabulary Acquisition and Instruction From L1 Vocabulary Research" (Fredricka Stoller and William Grabe); "Patterns and Perils of…

  19. Event-related potentials during word mapping to object shape predict toddlers' vocabulary size

    PubMed Central

    Borgström, Kristina; Torkildsen, Janne von Koss; Lindgren, Magnus

    2015-01-01

    What role does attention to different object properties play in early vocabulary development? This longitudinal study using event-related potentials in combination with behavioral measures investigated 20- and 24-month-olds' (n = 38; n = 34; overlapping n = 24) ability to use object shape and object part information in word-object mapping. The N400 component was used to measure semantic priming by images containing shape or detail information. At 20 months, the N400 to words primed by object shape varied in topography and amplitude depending on vocabulary size, and these differences predicted productive vocabulary size at 24 months. At 24 months, when most of the children had vocabularies of several hundred words, the relation between vocabulary size and the N400 effect in a shape context was weaker. Detached object parts did not function as word primes regardless of age or vocabulary size, although the part-objects were identified behaviorally. The behavioral measure, however, also showed relatively poor recognition of the part-objects compared to the shape-objects. These three findings provide new support for the link between shape recognition and early vocabulary development. PMID:25762957

  20. Developmental Relations Between Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension: A Latent Change Score Modeling Study

    PubMed Central

    Quinn, Jamie M.; Wagner, Richard K.; Petscher, Yaacov; Lopez, Danielle

    2014-01-01

    The present study followed a sample of first grade students (N = 316, mean age = 7.05 at first test) through fourth grade to evaluate dynamic developmental relations between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Using latent change score modeling, competing models were fit to the repeated measurements of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension to test for the presence of leading and lagging influences. Univariate models indicated growth in vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension was determined by two parts: constant yearly change and change proportional to the previous level of the variable. Bivariate models indicated previous levels of vocabulary knowledge acted as leading indicators of reading comprehension growth, but the reverse relation was not found. Implications for theories of developmental relations between vocabulary and reading comprehension are discussed. PMID:25201552

  1. The relative contributions of speechreading and vocabulary to deaf and hearing children's reading ability.

    PubMed

    Kyle, Fiona Elizabeth; Campbell, Ruth; MacSweeney, Mairéad

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge and speechreading are important for deaf children's reading development but it is unknown whether they are independent predictors of reading ability. This study investigated the relationships between reading, speechreading and vocabulary in a large cohort of deaf and hearing children aged 5 to 14 years. 86 severely and profoundly deaf children and 91 hearing children participated in this study. All children completed assessments of reading comprehension, word reading accuracy, speechreading and vocabulary. Regression analyses showed that vocabulary and speechreading accounted for unique variance in both reading accuracy and comprehension for deaf children. For hearing children, vocabulary was an independent predictor of both reading accuracy and comprehension skills but speechreading only accounted for unique variance in reading accuracy. Speechreading and vocabulary are important for reading development in deaf children. The results are interpreted within the Simple View of Reading framework and the theoretical implications for deaf children's reading are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Analyzing the Effectiveness of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale on Learning and Enhancing Vocabulary through Extensive Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Iqbal, Syeda Asima; Komal, Syeda Anila

    2017-01-01

    This research is about the effectiveness of Vocabulary Knowledge Scale after extensive reading which helps in the enhancement of global language skills especially their vocabulary. This research is an endeavor to create an awareness of its significance in language acquisition through extensive reading especially focusing on vocabulary. The…

  3. Sources of the Medical Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Butler, Roy F.

    1980-01-01

    In an attempt to determine as precisely as possible just how much of medical vocabulary is derived from every source, the vocabulary defined in the 24th edition of "Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary" was analyzed. Results indicate that medical vocabulary is relying increasingly upon the Greek and Latin languages as the sources of…

  4. Motor skills in children aged 7-10 years, diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

    PubMed

    Whyatt, Caroline P; Craig, Cathy M

    2012-09-01

    This study used the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (M-ABC2) to assess motor skills in children aged 7-10 years with autism (n = 18) in comparison to two groups of age-matched typically developing children; a receptive vocabulary matched group (n = 19) and a nonverbal IQ matched group (n = 22). The results supported previous work, as indicated by a significant general motor impairment in the group with autism. However, sub-analysis of the M-ABC2 revealed that there were only 2 out of 8 subcomponent skills which showed universal significant specific deficits for the autism group; i.e. catching a ball and static balance. These results suggest that motor skill deficits associated with autism may not be pervasive but more apparent in activities demanding complex, interceptive actions or core balance ability.

  5. Vocabulary Facilitates Speech Perception in Children with Hearing Aids

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Klein, Kelsey E.; Walker, Elizabeth A.; Kirby, Benjamin; McCreery, Ryan W.

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: We examined the effects of vocabulary, lexical characteristics (age of acquisition and phonotactic probability), and auditory access (aided audibility and daily hearing aid [HA] use) on speech perception skills in children with HAs. Method: Participants included 24 children with HAs and 25 children with normal hearing (NH), ages 5-12…

  6. Effects of a Cross-Age Peer Learning Program on the Vocabulary and Comprehension of English Learners and Non-English Learners in Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silverman, Rebecca D.; Martin-Beltran, Melinda; Peercy, Megan M.; Hartranft, Anna M.; McNeish, Daniel M.; Artzi, Lauren; Nunn, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    This study evaluated the effects of a cross-age peer learning program targeting vocabulary and comprehension in kindergarten and fourth-grade classrooms with substantial proportions of English Learners (ELs). The study followed a quasi-experimental design with 12 classrooms (6 kindergarten and 6 fourth grade) in the intervention group and 12…

  7. NASA thesaurus aeronautics vocabulary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1991-01-01

    The controlled vocabulary used by the NASA Scientific and Technical Information effort to index documents in the area of aeronautics is presented. The terms comprise a subset of the 1988 edition of the NASA Thesaurus and its supplements issued through the end of 1990. The Aeronautics Vocabulary contains over 4700 terms presented in a hierarchical display format. In addition to aeronautics per se, the vocabulary covers supporting terminology from areas such as fluid dynamics, propulsion engineering, and test facilities and instrumentation.

  8. Invited Commentary: Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Martinez, Ron; Schmitt, Norbert

    2010-01-01

    While formal research into the effect various technologies have on vocabulary acquisition is still in its infancy, it is clear that--intentionally or incidentally--students have used various electronic media to learn new words for some time now. Moreover, although it is still far from clear exactly how one acquires vocabulary in a second language…

  9. Technical Vocabulary in Specialised Texts.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chung, Teresa Mihwa; Nation, Paul

    2003-01-01

    Describes two studies of technical vocabulary, one using an anatomy text and the other an applied linguistics text. Technical vocabulary was found by rating words in the texts on a four-step scale. Found that technical vocabulary made up a very substantial proportion of both the different words and the running words in texts. (Author/VWL)

  10. Marathi Illustrated Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Berntsen, Maxine; Nimbkar, Jai

    Part of a set of Marathi teaching materials, this book is designed to help the student learn vocabulary through the association of printed words and pictures. The book represents more than 400 basic vocabulary items in pictorial form. It includes sketches of the natural world, the human body, clothing, house and furnishings, town and village,…

  11. Lexical Richness in Maternal Input and Vocabulary Development of Turkish Preschoolers in the Netherlands

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demir-Vegter, Serpil; Aarts, Rian; Kurvers, Jeanne

    2014-01-01

    The present study examined lexical richness in maternal input to Turkish preschool children in the Netherlands and the relationship with their vocabulary. Fifteen Turkish mother-child dyads were videotaped at the age of 3 and 4 in three settings: book reading, picture description and block building. Children's vocabulary in Turkish was measured at…

  12. Lexical development in Korean: vocabulary size, lexical composition, and late talking.

    PubMed

    Rescorla, Leslie; Lee, Youn Mi Cathy; Lee, Youn Min Cathy; Oh, Kyung Ja; Kim, Young Ah

    2013-04-01

    In this study, the authors aimed to compare vocabulary size, lexical composition, and late talking in large samples of Korean and U.S. children ages 18-35 months. Data for 2,191 Korean children (211 children recruited "offline" through preschools, and 1,980 recruited "online" via the Internet) and 274 U.S. children were obtained using the Language Development Survey (LDS). Mean vocabulary size was slightly larger in the offline than the online group, but the groups were acquiring almost identical words. Mean vocabulary size did not differ by country; girls and older children had larger vocabularies in both countries. The Korean-U.S. Q correlations for percentage use of LDS words (.53 and .56) indicated considerable concordance across countries in lexical composition. Noun dominance was as large in Korean lexicons as in U.S. lexicons. About half of the most commonly reported words for the Korean and U.S. children were identical. Lexicons of late talkers resembled those of typically developing younger children in the same sample. Despite linguistic and discourse differences between Korean and English, LDS findings indicated considerable cross-linguistic similarity with respect to vocabulary size, lexical composition, and late talking.

  13. Rethinking Role Play in the Reception Class

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rogers, Sue; Evans, Julie

    2007-01-01

    Background: In 2000 the so-called "Reception" class was re-conceived (in curricular terms, at least) as the second and final year of the Foundation Stage, a distinctive educational phase for children aged 3 until entry to key stage 1 at 5 or 6 years old. The "Curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage" endorses a play-based,…

  14. Second language learners who are at-risk for reading disabilities: A growth mixture model study.

    PubMed

    Yeung, Susanna S

    2018-05-11

    This one-year longitudinal study examined the developmental trajectories of English reading in Chinese children learning English as a second language (ESL) and identified cognitive profiles of children who are at risk for English reading disability. One hundred and eighty-four Chinese ESL children from eight Hong Kong kindergartens were measured four times during their last year of kindergarten for phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary and English word reading. Growth mixture modeling was applied to classify the children based on their growth trajectories in English word reading. Four subgroups of word reading growth were classified, namely high-achieving, fast-growth, slow-growth and low-achieving groups. The cognitive-linguistic skills were compared across different groups with age, non-verbal intelligence and receptive vocabulary in L1 controlled. The results showed that low-achieving groups, who were expected to be at-risk for L2 reading disability, showed deficits in letter-name knowledge, phonemic awareness, and receptive and expressive vocabulary. Fast-growth and high-achieving groups were not distinguishable on the measured cognitive-linguistic skills. Children in the low-growth groups were significantly weaker in phonemic awareness, receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary than children in the high-achieving group. Our findings identified specific cognitive-linguistic deficits that were associated with children who are at-risk for reading disability. Implications for the early identification of L2 reading disability were discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Vocabulary knowledge mediates the link between socioeconomic status and word learning in grade school.

    PubMed

    Maguire, Mandy J; Schneider, Julie M; Middleton, Anna E; Ralph, Yvonne; Lopez, Michael; Ackerman, Robert A; Abel, Alyson D

    2018-02-01

    The relationship between children's slow vocabulary growth and the family's low socioeconomic status (SES) has been well documented. However, previous studies have often focused on infants or preschoolers and primarily used static measures of vocabulary at multiple time points. To date, there is no research investigating whether SES predicts a child's word learning abilities in grade school and, if so, what mediates this relationship. In this study, 68 children aged 8-15 years performed a written word learning from context task that required using the surrounding text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Results revealed that vocabulary knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between SES (as measured by maternal education) and word learning. This was true despite the fact that the words in the linguistic context surrounding the target word are typically acquired well before 8 years of age. When controlling for vocabulary, word learning from written context was not predicted by differences in reading comprehension, decoding, or working memory. These findings reveal that differences in vocabulary growth between grade school children from low and higher SES homes are likely related to differences in the process of word learning more than knowledge of surrounding words or reading skills. Specifically, children from lower SES homes are not as effective at using known vocabulary to build a robust semantic representation of incoming text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Mapping Opthalmic Terms to a Standardized Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patrick, Timothy B.; Reid, John C.; Sievert, MaryEllen; Popescu, Mihail; Gigantelli, James W.; Shelton, Mark E.; Schiffman, Jade S.

    2000-01-01

    Describes work by the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) to expand the standardized vocabulary, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED), to accommodate a definitive ophthalmic standardized vocabulary. Mapped a practice-based clinical ophthalmic vocabulary to SNOMED and other vocabularies in the Metathesaurus of the Unified Medical…

  17. Hypothesis: Co-transfer of genuine embryos and implantation-promoting compounds via artificial containers improve endometrium receptivity.

    PubMed

    Celik, Onder; Acet, Mustafa; Celik, Sudenaz; Sahin, Levent; Koc, Onder; Celik, Nilufer

    2017-06-01

    As with other organs endometrial functions are altered with the advancing age. Age related decrease in reproductive functions leads to decline in the number of oocytes retrieved and the synthesis of endometrial receptivity molecules. Despite the significant improvement in assisted reproductive technologies we do not have so many options to enhance endometrial receptivity. Due to lack of drugs having endometrium receptivity enhancement properties, oocyte donation seems to be the only solution for women with implantation failure. The euploid oocytes come from young and healthy donors may overcome age associated endometrial receptivity defect. Nevertheless, many reasons restrict us from using oocyte donation in women with implantation failure. We, therefore, hypothesized that by mimicking a young blastocyst's effect on endometrium, the transfer of genuine embryos and implantation-promoting compounds together might be the new treatment option for infertile women with recurrent implantation failure. Artificial beads, MI or GV oocytes, and empty zona can be used as a container for intrauterine replacement of implantation-promoting compounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Vocabulary services to support scientific data interoperability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cox, Simon; Mills, Katie; Tan, Florence

    2013-04-01

    Shared vocabularies are a core element in interoperable systems. Vocabularies need to be available at run-time, and where the vocabularies are shared by a distributed community this implies the use of web technology to provide vocabulary services. Given the ubiquity of vocabularies or classifiers in systems, vocabulary services are effectively the base of the interoperability stack. In contemporary knowledge organization systems, a vocabulary item is considered a concept, with the "terms" denoting it appearing as labels. The Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) formalizes this as an RDF Schema (RDFS) application, with a bridge to formal logic in Web Ontology Language (OWL). For maximum utility, a vocabulary should be made available through the following interfaces: * the vocabulary as a whole - at an ontology URI corresponding to a vocabulary document * each item in the vocabulary - at the item URI * summaries, subsets, and resources derived by transformation * through the standard RDF web API - i.e. a SPARQL endpoint * through a query form for human users. However, the vocabulary data model may be leveraged directly in a standard vocabulary API that uses the semantics provided by SKOS. SISSvoc3 [1] accomplishes this as a standard set of URI templates for a vocabulary. Any URI comforming to the template selects a vocabulary subset based on the SKOS properties, including labels (skos:prefLabel, skos:altLabel, rdfs:label) and a subset of the semantic relations (skos:broader, skos:narrower, etc). SISSvoc3 thus provides a RESTFul SKOS API to query a vocabulary, but hiding the complexity of SPARQL. It has been implemented using the Linked Data API (LDA) [2], which connects to a SPARQL endpoint. By using LDA, we also get content-negotiation, alternative views, paging, metadata and other functionality provided in a standard way. A number of vocabularies have been formalized in SKOS and deployed by CSIRO, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) and their

  19. Developmental Relations between Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension: A Latent Change Score Modeling Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Quinn, Jamie M.; Wagner, Richard K.; Petscher, Yaacov; Lopez, Danielle

    2015-01-01

    The present study followed a sample of first-grade (N = 316, M[subscript age] = 7.05 at first test) through fourth-grade students to evaluate dynamic developmental relations between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Using latent change score modeling, competing models were fit to the repeated measurements of vocabulary knowledge and…

  20. The Influence of Spelling Ability on Vocabulary Choices When Writing for Children With Dyslexia.

    PubMed

    Sumner, Emma; Connelly, Vincent; Barnett, Anna L

    2016-01-01

    Spelling is a prerequisite to expressing vocabulary in writing. Research has shown that children with dyslexia are hesitant spellers when composing. This study aimed to determine whether the hesitant spelling of children with dyslexia, evidenced by frequent pausing, affects vocabulary choices when writing. A total of 31 children with dyslexia, mean age 9 years, were compared to typically developing groups of children: the first matched by age, the second by spelling ability. Oral vocabulary was measured and children completed a written and verbal compositional task. Lexical diversity comparisons were made across written and verbal compositions to highlight the constraint of having to select and spell words. A digital writing tablet recorded the writing. Children with dyslexia and the spelling-ability group made a high proportion of spelling errors and within-word pauses, and had a lower lexical diversity within their written compositions compared to their verbal compositions. The age-matched peers demonstrated the opposite pattern. Spelling ability and pausing predicted 53% of the variance in written lexical diversity of children with dyslexia, demonstrating the link between spelling and vocabulary when writing. Oral language skills had no effect. Lexical diversity correlated with written and verbal text quality for all groups. Practical implications are discussed and related to writing models. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2014.

  1. Clinical assessment of early language development: a simplified short form of the Mandarin communicative development inventory.

    PubMed

    Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Meng, Zhaoli; Li, Gang

    2012-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a practical mean for clinical evaluation of early pediatric language development by establishing developmental trajectories for receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in children between 6 and 32 months of age using a simple, time-efficient assessment tool. Simplified short form versions of the Words and Gestures and Words and Sentences vocabulary inventories in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory [1] were developed and used to assess early language development in developmentally normal children from 6 to 32 months of age during routine health checks. Developmental trajectories characterizing the rate of receptive and expressive vocabulary growth between 6 and 32 months of age are reported. These trajectories allow the equivalent age corresponding to a score to be determined after a brief structured interview with the child's parents that can be conducted in a busy clinical setting. The simplified short forms of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventories can serve as a clinically useful tool to assess early child language development, providing a practical mean of objectively assessing early language development following early interventions to treat young children with hearing impairment as well as speech and language delays. Objective evidence of language development is essential for achievement of effective (re)habilitation outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Lexical Acquisition over Time in Minority First Language Children Learning English as a Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Golberg, Heather; Paradis, Johanne; Crago, Martha

    2008-01-01

    The English second language development of 19 children (mean age at outset = 5 years, 4 months) from various first language backgrounds was examined every 6 months for 2 years, using spontaneous language sampling, parental questionnaires, and a standardized receptive vocabulary test. Results showed that the children's mean mental age equivalency…

  3. Early Metalinguistic Awareness of Derivational Morphology: Observations from a Comparison of English and French

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duncan, Lynne G.; Casalis, Severine; Cole, Pascale

    2009-01-01

    This cross-linguistic comparison of metalinguistic development in French and English examines early ability to manipulate derivational suffixes in oral language games as a function of chronological age, receptive vocabulary, and year of schooling. Data from judgment and production tasks are presented for children aged between 5 and 8 years in…

  4. Parents’ Education, Mothers’ Vocabulary, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Longitudinal Evidence From Ecuador

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Objectives. I estimated the association between parents’ education, mothers’ vocabulary, and early child cognitive development in a sample of poor children in rural Ecuador. Methods. I used regression analysis to estimate the association between parents’ education, mothers’ vocabulary, and the vocabulary, memory, and visual integration skills of children at early ages, controlling for possible confounders. The study is based on a longitudinal cohort of children in rural Ecuador (n = 2118). Results. The schooling and vocabulary levels of mothers were strong predictors of the cognitive development of young children. Household wealth and child's height, weight, and hemoglobin levels explained only a modest fraction of the observed associations. The vocabulary levels of mothers and children were more strongly correlated among older children in the sample, suggesting that the effects of a richer maternal vocabulary are cumulative. Conclusions. Differences in children's cognitive outcomes start very early, which has important implications for the intergenerational transmission of poverty and inequality. Programs that seek to increase early stimulation for disadvantaged children, perhaps through parenting programs or high-quality center-based care, hold promise. PMID:22021308

  5. EFL Learners' Vocabulary Consolidation Strategy Use and Corresponding Performance on Vocabulary Tests

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lai, Ying-Chun

    2016-01-01

    This study describes English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' use of vocabulary consolidation strategies and explores the connection between strategy use and vocabulary learning outcomes. This study included 218 participants who were students from five freshman English classes at a university in Taiwan. Students' self-reports on their use of…

  6. Testing the validity of a continuous false belief task in 3- to 7-year-old children.

    PubMed

    Mahy, Caitlin E V; Bernstein, Daniel M; Gerrard, Lindsey D; Atance, Cristina M

    2017-08-01

    In two studies, we examined young children's performance on the paper-and-pencil version of the Sandbox task, a continuous measure of false belief, and its relations with other false belief and inhibition tasks. In Study 1, 96 children aged 3 to 7years completed three false belief tasks (Sandbox, Unexpected Contents, and Appearance/Reality) and two inhibition tasks (Head-Shoulders-Knees-Toes and Grass/Snow). Results revealed that false belief bias-a measure of egocentrism-on the Sandbox task correlated with age but not with the Unexpected Contents or Appearance/Reality task or with measures of inhibition after controlling for age. In Study 2, 90 3- to 7-year-olds completed five false belief tasks (Sandbox, Unexpected Contents, Appearance/Reality, Change of Location, and a second-order false belief task), two inhibition tasks (Simon Says and Grass/Snow), and a receptive vocabulary task (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test). Results showed that false belief bias on the Sandbox task correlated negatively with age and with the Change of Location task but not with the other false belief or inhibition tasks after controlling for age and receptive vocabulary. The Sandbox task shows promise as an age-sensitive measure of false belief performance during early childhood and shows convergent and discriminant validity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Maternal correlates of growth in toddler vocabulary production in low-income families.

    PubMed

    Pan, Barbara Alexander; Rowe, Meredith L; Singer, Judith D; Snow, Catherine E

    2005-01-01

    This study investigated predictors of growth in toddlers' vocabulary production between the ages of 1 and 3 years by analyzing mother-child communication in 108 low-income families. Individual growth modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in children's observed vocabulary production and predictors of initial status and between-person change. Results indicate large variation in growth across children. Observed variation was positively related to diversity of maternal lexical input and maternal language and literacy skills, and negatively related to maternal depression. Maternal talkativeness was not related to growth in children's vocabulary production in this sample. Implications of the examination of longitudinal data from this relatively large sample of low-income families are discussed.

  8. Stigma receptivity over the lifetime of the hermaphroditic flower of Elsholtzia rugulosa was negatively correlated with pollen viability.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Xin-Min; Wolfe, Lorne M

    2016-12-01

    Dichogamy is generally thought to be a mechanism that prevents self-fertilization in flowering plants. This study aims to investigate the relationships between floral age and stigma receptivity, style length and pollen viability, and define how floral characters avoid self-pollination in a gynodioecious Chinese plant, Elsholtzia rugulosa. We assessed the relationships between flower age and style length, stigma receptivity, and pollen viability in E. rugulosa. This species produces 2 forms with plants bearing either hermaphrodite flowers (H) or female flowers (F). Corolla length in F flowers was shorter than the corolla length of H flowers and produced no pollen. H flowers were protandrous, pollen release of H flowers occurred before stigma receptivity. Stigma receptivity was significantly positively correlated with style length in both F flowers and H flowers. Pollen viability in H flowers declined significantly with floral age. Our results suggest that self-pollination in H flowers is likely reduced by dichogamy because stigma receptivity and pollen viability were effectively separated in time. However, because H inflorescences typically have multiple flowers open at the same time means that geitonogamous selfing is not avoided.

  9. A Reassessment of Frequency and Vocabulary Size in L2 Vocabulary Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schmitt, Norbert; Schmitt, Diane

    2014-01-01

    The high-frequency vocabulary of English has traditionally been thought to consist of the 2,000 most frequent word families, and low-frequency vocabulary as that beyond the 10,000 frequency level. This paper argues that these boundaries should be reassessed on pedagogic grounds. Based on a number of perspectives (including frequency and…

  10. Story retelling and language ability in school-aged children with cerebral palsy and speech impairment.

    PubMed

    Nordberg, Ann; Dahlgren Sandberg, Annika; Miniscalco, Carmela

    2015-01-01

    Research on retelling ability and cognition is limited in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and speech impairment. To explore the impact of expressive and receptive language, narrative discourse dimensions (Narrative Assessment Profile measures), auditory and visual memory, theory of mind (ToM) and non-verbal cognition on the retelling ability of children with CP and speech impairment. Fifteen speaking children with speech impairment (seven girls, eight boys) (mean age = 11 years, SD = 1;4 years), and different types of CP and different levels of gross motor and cognitive function participated in the present study. Story retelling skills were tested and analysed with the Bus Story Test (BST) and the Narrative Assessment Profile (NAP). Receptive language ability was tested with the Test for Reception of Grammar-2 (TROG-2) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test - IV (PPVT-IV). Non-verbal cognitive level was tested with the Raven's coloured progressive matrices (RCPM), memory functions assessed with the Corsi block-tapping task (CB) and the Digit Span from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III. ToM was assessed with the false belief items of the two story tests "Kiki and the Cat" and "Birthday Puppy". The children had severe problems with retelling ability corresponding to an age-equivalent of 5;2-6;9 years. Receptive and expressive language, visuo-spatial and auditory memory, non-verbal cognitive level and ToM varied widely within and among the children. Both expressive and receptive language correlated significantly with narrative ability in terms of NAP total scores, so did auditory memory. The results suggest that retelling ability in the children with CP in the present study is dependent on language comprehension and production, and memory functions. Consequently, it is important to examine retelling ability together with language and cognitive abilities in these children in order to provide appropriate support. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and

  11. Receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control messages and adolescent smoking initiation

    PubMed Central

    Emory, Kristen T; Messer, Karen; Vera, Lisa; Ojeda, Norma; Elder, John P; Usita, Paula; Pierce, John P

    2015-01-01

    Background Tobacco industry cigarette advertising is associated with increased adolescent smoking, while counter tobacco advertising is associated with reduced smoking. As these campaigns compete for influence, there is a need to understand their inter-relationship on youth smoking. Methods This study reports data from a national population of families (n=1036) with an oldest child aged 10–13 years, identified by random digit dialling. Parent and child dyads completed baseline questionnaires in 2003. Adolescents were resurveyed in 2007–2008 (response rate 74%). Adjusted logistic regression explores associations between receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertising and adolescent smoking initiation. Results In 2007–2008, 57.9% of adolescents reported a favourite tobacco control advertisement and 43.3% reported being receptive to cigarette advertisements. Thirty per cent reported receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertisements. Among those receptive to cigarette advertising, having a favourite anti-smoking advertisement had a borderline significant association with a 30% lower smoking rate. Anti-industry tobacco control messages were three times more likely to be favourites of those who were receptive to cigarette advertising than other tobacco control advertising. Conclusions Receptivity to tobacco control advertising appeared to ameliorate the promotion of initiation from cigarette advertising. Anti-industry advertising appears to be the most effective counter for tobacco control and should be considered for wider use. A larger longitudinal study is needed to confirm these findings. PMID:24503771

  12. Using Visuals To Develop Reading Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bazeli, Marilyn J.; Olle, Ruth E.

    This paper discusses research findings regarding vocabulary instruction and reading comprehension and suggests methods to develop vocabulary using visual aids. As indicated by the research, vocabulary instruction is necessary and can lead to improved comprehension; there also appears to be a strong need to relate concrete visual experiences to…

  13. Listening Vocabulary: Embracing Forgotten Aural Features

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siegel, Joseph

    2016-01-01

    This article describes an innovation in the teaching and learning of vocabulary in English as a Foreign Language classes. Whereas vocabulary coverage in classrooms and textbooks traditionally focuses on lists of target words in printed form, this article promotes the notion of "aural vocabulary" as an important part of…

  14. The Effects of Techniques of Vocabulary Portfolio on L2 Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zarei, Abbas Ali; Baftani, Fahimeh Nasiri

    2014-01-01

    To investigate the effects of different techniques of vocabulary portfolio including word map, word wizard, concept wheel, visual thesaurus, and word rose on L2 vocabulary comprehension and production, a sample of 75 female EFL learners of Kish Day Language Institute in Karaj, Iran were selected. They were in five groups and each group received…

  15. Adolescent weight status and receptivity to food TV advertisements.

    PubMed

    Adachi-Mejia, Anna M; Sutherland, Lisa A; Longacre, Meghan R; Beach, Michael L; Titus-Ernstoff, Linda; Gibson, Jennifer J; Dalton, Madeline A

    2011-01-01

    This study examined the relationship between adolescent weight status and food advertisement receptivity. Survey-based evaluation with data collected at baseline (initial and at 2 months), and at follow-up (11 months). New Hampshire and Vermont. Students (n = 2,281) aged 10-13 in 2002-2005. Overweight. Generalized estimating equations to model the relationship between identifying a food advertisement as their favorite and being overweight. Overall, 35.9% of the adolescents were overweight. Less than one fifth named a food advertisement as their favorite (16.1%). Most of the food advertisements were for less-healthful food (89.6%). After controlling for school, age, sex, sociodemographics, physical activity, number of TV sessions watched, and having a TV in the bedroom, overweight adolescents were significantly less likely to be receptive to food advertisements (relative risk = 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.70, 0.98) compared to non-overweight adolescents. This study provides preliminary evidence that normal-weight adolescents are receptive to unhealthful food advertisements. Longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate whether consistent exposure to advertisements for unhealthful food, particularly if they are promoted with healthful behaviors such as being physically active, influence adolescents' food choices, and ultimately their body mass index, over the long term. Copyright © 2011 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. The Nature of Short-Termed Memory Deficits in Retarded Mongoloid Subjects.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McDade, Hiram L.

    A battery of immediate memory tests was given to eight mentally retarded Down's Syndrome Ss, eight controls matched on chronological age (CA), and eight controls matched on mental age (MA). All Ss were required to identify both receptively and expressively 24 items from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. There was no significant difference…

  17. A method to develop vocabulary checklists in new languages and their validity to assess early language development.

    PubMed

    Prado, Elizabeth L; Phuka, John; Ocansey, Eugenia; Maleta, Kenneth; Ashorn, Per; Ashorn, Ulla; Adu-Afarwuah, Seth; Oaks, Brietta M; Lartey, Anna; Dewey, Kathryn G

    2018-05-11

    Since the adoption of United Nations' Sustainable Goal 4.2 to ensure that all children have access to quality early child development (ECD) so that they are ready for primary education, the demand for valid ECD assessments has increased in contexts where they do not yet exist. The development of early language ability is important for school readiness. Our objective was to evaluate the validity of a method to develop vocabulary checklists in new languages to assess early language development, based on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. Through asking mothers of young children what words their children say and through pilot testing, we developed 100-word vocabulary checklists in multilingual contexts in Malawi and Ghana. In Malawi, we evaluated the validity of the vocabulary checklist among 29 children age 17-25 months compared to three language measures assessed concurrently: Developmental Milestones Checklist-II (DMC-II) language scale, Malawi Developmental Assessment Tool (MDAT) language scale, and the number of different words (NDW) in 30-min recordings of spontaneous speech. In Ghana, we assessed the predictive validity of the vocabulary checklist at age 18 months to forecast language, pre-academic, and other skills at age 4-6 years among 869 children. We also compared the predictive validity of the vocabulary checklist scores to that of other developmental assessments administered at age 18 months. In Malawi, the Spearman's correlation of the vocabulary checklist score with DMC-II language was 0.46 (p = 0.049), with MDAT language was 0.66 (p = 0.016) and with NDW was 0.50 (p = 0.033). In Ghana, the 18-month vocabulary checklist score showed the strongest (rho = 0.12-0.26) and most consistent (8/12) associations with preschool scores, compared to the other 18-month assessments. The largest coefficients were the correlations of the 18-month vocabulary score with the preschool cognitive factor score (rho = 0

  18. Assessing Vocabulary Learning in Early Childhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hoffman, Jessica L.; Teale, William H.; Paciga, Kathleen A.

    2014-01-01

    There is widespread agreement with in the field of early childhood education that vocabulary is important to literacy achievement and that reading aloud can support vocabulary growth. However, there are unexplored and significant problems with the ways we assess young children's vocabulary learning from read-alouds. This paper critically reviews…

  19. Mapping the receptivity of malaria risk to plan the future of control in Somalia

    PubMed Central

    Alegana, Victor Adagi; Patil, Anand Prabhakar; Moloney, Grainne; Borle, Mohammed; Yusuf, Fahmi; Amran, Jamal; Snow, Robert William

    2012-01-01

    Objectives To measure the receptive risks of malaria in Somalia and compare decisions on intervention scale-up based on this map and the more widely used contemporary risk maps. Design Cross-sectional community Plasmodium falciparum parasite rate (PfPR) data for the period 2007–2010 corrected to a standard age range of 2 to <10 years (PfPR2–10) and used within a Bayesian space–time geostatistical framework to predict the contemporary (2010) mean PfPR2–10 and the maximum annual mean PfPR2–10 (receptive) from the highest predicted PfPR2–10 value over the study period as an estimate of receptivity. Setting Randomly sampled communities in Somalia. Participants Randomly sampled individuals of all ages. Main outcome measure Cartographic descriptions of malaria receptivity and contemporary risks in Somalia at the district level. Results The contemporary annual PfPR2–10 map estimated that all districts (n=74) and population (n=8.4 million) in Somalia were under hypoendemic transmission (≤10% PfPR2–10). Of these, 23% of the districts, home to 13% of the population, were under transmission of <1% PfPR2–10. About 58% of the districts and 55% of the population were in the risk class of 1% to <5% PfPR2–10. In contrast, the receptivity map estimated 65% of the districts and 69% of the population were under mesoendemic transmission (>10%–50% PfPR2–10) and the rest as hypoendemic. Conclusion Compared with maps of receptive risks, contemporary maps of transmission mask disparities of malaria risk necessary to prioritise and sustain future control. As malaria risk declines across Africa, efforts must be invested in measuring receptivity for efficient control planning. PMID:22855625

  20. Comparison of the Reynell Developmental Language Scale II and the Galker test of word-recognition-in-noise in Danish day-care children.

    PubMed

    Lous, Jørgen; Glenn Lauritsen, Maj-Britt

    2018-06-01

    To search for predictive factors for language development measured by two receptive language tests for children, the Galker test (a word-recognition-in-noise test) testing hearing and vocabulary, and the Danish version of Reynell Developmental Language Scale (2nd revision, RDLS II) test, a language comprehension test. The study analysed if information about background variables and parents and pre-school teachers was predictive for test scores; if earlier middle ear disease, actual hearing loss and tympanometry was important for language development; and if the two receptive tests differed in terms of the degree to which variables were able to predict test scores at the age of three to five years. All children aged three and five years attending 20 day-care centres for children without cognitive development issues from the Municipality of Hillerød, Denmark, were invited to participate. We used questionnaires to the parents and day-care teachers and examined the children using tympanometry, hearing test and the two receptive language tests. We performed unadjusted and adjusted analyses of raw and grouped scores and background variables, as well as stepwise regression analysis with group scores as outcome. The results of the two tests were surprisingly similar in relation to background variables. The same variables were predictive for scores in the two receptive language tests. The predictive variables were: age group (22-31%), having no sibling (2-3%), being a boy (1%), information from the parents about the child's vocabulary (3%), phonology (0-2%). information from the pre-school teachers on the child's vocabulary (4-6%), and hearing beyond 25 dB in best ear (mean of four frequencies) (1%). We found that nearly the same variables were predictive for the test score and the grouped score in pre-school children in the RDLS II and the Galker test. Information from the pre-school teachers was more predictive of the test score than information from the parents. In

  1. The Genetic and Environmental Etiology of the Association between Vocabulary and Syntax in First Grade

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mimeau, Catherine; Dionne, Ginette; Feng, Bei; Brendgen, Mara; Vitaro, Frank; Tremblay, Richard E.; Boivin, Michel

    2018-01-01

    This twin study examined the genetic and environmental etiology of vocabulary, syntax, and their association in first graders. French-speaking same-sex twins (n = 555) completed two vocabulary tests, and two scores of syntax were calculated from their spontaneous speech at 7 years of age. Multivariate latent factor genetic analyses showed that…

  2. Does metacognitive strategy instruction improve impaired receptive cognitive-communication skills following acquired brain injury?

    PubMed

    Copley, Anna; Smith, Kathleen; Savill, Katelyn; Finch, Emma

    2015-01-01

    To investigate if metacognitive strategy instruction (MSI) improves the receptive language skills of adults with cognitive-communication disorders secondary to acquired brain injury (ABI). An ABA intervention programme was implemented with eight adults with ABI, aged 25-70 years. The Measure of Cognitive-Linguistic Abilities (MCLA) was administered at baseline and following treatment. The treatment employed in this study involved three components: individual goal-based therapy, group remediation therapy using self-instruction and home practice. No receptive language sub-tests of the MCLA reached statistical significance. However, participants' raw score improvements in receptive language sub-tests indicated that MSI may be effective at remediating CCDs following ABI. Preliminary findings indicate that MSI may be effective in improving receptive language skills in adults with CCDs following ABI. Further research involving a more rigorous study, a larger sample size and a more reliable outcome measure is necessary and may provide statistically significant evidence for the effectiveness of MSI for remediating receptive language disorders.

  3. Coping with changing controlled vocabularies.

    PubMed Central

    Cimino, J. J.; Clayton, P. D.

    1994-01-01

    For the foreseeable future, controlled medical vocabularies will be in a constant state of development, expansion and refinement. Changes in controlled vocabularies must be reconciled with historical patient information which is coded using those vocabularies and stored in clinical databases. This paper explores the kinds of changes that can occur in controlled vocabularies, including adding terms (simple additions, refinements, redundancy and disambiguation), deleting terms, changing terms (major and minor name changes), and other special situations (obsolescence, discovering redundancy, and precoordination). Examples are drawn from actual changes appearing in the 1993 update to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD9-CM). The methods being used at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center to reconcile its Medical Entities Dictionary and its clinical database are discussed. PMID:7949906

  4. Perfecting Language: Experimenting with Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Absalom, Matthew

    2014-01-01

    One of the thorniest aspects of teaching languages is developing students' vocabulary, yet it is impossible to be "an accurate and highly communicative language user with a very small vocabulary" (Milton, 2009, p. 3). Nation (2006) indicates that more vocabulary than previously thought is required to function well both at spoken and…

  5. 24-Month-Old Children with Larger Oral Vocabularies Display Greater Academic and Behavioral Functioning at Kindergarten Entry

    PubMed Central

    Morgan, Paul L.; Farkas, George; Hillemeier, Marianne M.; Hammer, Carol Scheffner; Maczuga, Steve

    2015-01-01

    Data were analyzed from a population-based, longitudinal sample of 8,650 U.S. children to (a) identify factors associated with or predictive of oral vocabulary size at 24 months of age and (b) evaluate whether oral vocabulary size is uniquely predictive of academic and behavioral functioning at kindergarten entry. Children from higher socioeconomic status households, females, and those experiencing higher-quality parenting had larger oral vocabularies. Children born with very low birth weight or from households where the mother had health problems had smaller oral vocabularies. Even after extensive covariate adjustment, 24-month-old children with larger oral vocabularies displayed greater reading and mathematics achievement, increased behavioral self-regulation, and fewer externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors at kindergarten entry. PMID:26283023

  6. Receptivity of the compressible mixing layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barone, Matthew F.; Lele, Sanjiva K.

    2005-09-01

    Receptivity of compressible mixing layers to general source distributions is examined by a combined theoretical/computational approach. The properties of solutions to the adjoint Navier Stokes equations are exploited to derive expressions for receptivity in terms of the local value of the adjoint solution. The result is a description of receptivity for arbitrary small-amplitude mass, momentum, and heat sources in the vicinity of a mixing-layer flow, including the edge-scattering effects due to the presence of a splitter plate of finite width. The adjoint solutions are examined in detail for a Mach 1.2 mixing-layer flow. The near field of the adjoint solution reveals regions of relatively high receptivity to direct forcing within the mixing layer, with receptivity to nearby acoustic sources depending on the source type and position. Receptivity ‘nodes’ are present at certain locations near the splitter plate edge where the flow is not sensitive to forcing. The presence of the nodes is explained by interpretation of the adjoint solution as the superposition of incident and scattered fields. The adjoint solution within the boundary layer upstream of the splitter-plate trailing edge reveals a mechanism for transfer of energy from boundary-layer stability modes to Kelvin Helmholtz modes. Extension of the adjoint solution to the far field using a Kirchhoff surface gives the receptivity of the mixing layer to incident sound from distant sources.

  7. Teachers' Technology Use in Vocabulary Teaching

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kilickaya, Ferit; Krajka, Jaroslaw

    2010-01-01

    It cannot be denied that vocabulary learning is central to learning a language, be it a mother tongue or the second/foreign language. According to Nunan (1991), learning vocabulary in the very early stages is more fundamental than grammar, since without vocabulary one would not be able to use the structures and functions for effective…

  8. Elasticizing Language - Techniques in Vocabulary Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shepherd, Richard C.

    Noting that a rich vocabulary comes from experiences and from the organizing and reorganizing of these experiences, this paper suggests ways that students may be helped to improve their vocabulary at an accelerated pace. The paper first argues that vocabulary development must be a planned program beginning in the early grades and explores some of…

  9. Some Vocabulary Activities Worth Teaching About.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brand, Helena S.

    1982-01-01

    The 12 activities presented in this pamphlet are intended to help make vocabulary study a stimulating experience for both teacher and student. The activities are as follows: (1) a commercially prepared list of suggestions for vocabulary development, (2) an exercise designed to relate vocabulary study to every day reading, (3) a variation of the…

  10. Building Interoperable FHIR-Based Vocabulary Mapping Services: A Case Study of OHDSI Vocabularies and Mappings.

    PubMed

    Jiang, Guoqian; Kiefer, Richard; Prud'hommeaux, Eric; Solbrig, Harold R

    2017-01-01

    The OHDSI Common Data Model (CDM) is a deep information model, in which its vocabulary component plays a critical role in enabling consistent coding and query of clinical data. The objective of the study is to create methods and tools to expose the OHDSI vocabularies and mappings as the vocabulary mapping services using two HL7 FHIR core terminology resources ConceptMap and ValueSet. We discuss the benefits and challenges in building the FHIR-based terminology services.

  11. Improving Online Reading and Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Loucky, John Paul

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this study was to find ways to improve online reading and vocabulary learning. Various new types of online reading comprehension and vocabulary development programs and tests were compared in this study to consider how useful they may be for guiding individual or classroom L2 vocabulary instruction. It explored how these programs seek…

  12. Intervention for Mixed Receptive-Expressive Language Impairment: A Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boyle, James; McCartney, Elspeth; O'Hare, Anne; Law, James

    2010-01-01

    Studies indicate that language impairment that cannot be accounted for by factors such as below-average non-verbal ability, hearing impairment, behaviour or emotional problems, or neurological impairments affects some 6% of school-age children. Language impairment with a receptive language component is more resistant to intervention than specific…

  13. Predictors of Early Reading Skill in 5-Year-Old Children With Hearing Loss Who Use Spoken Language

    PubMed Central

    Ching, Teresa Y.C.; Crowe, Kathryn; Day, Julia; Seeto, Mark

    2013-01-01

    This research investigated the concurrent association between early reading skills and phonological awareness (PA), print knowledge, language, cognitive, and demographic variables in 101 5-year-old children with prelingual hearing losses ranging from mild to profound who communicated primarily using spoken language. All participants were fitted with hearing aids (n = 71) or cochlear implants (n = 30). They completed standardized assessments of PA, receptive vocabulary, letter knowledge, word and non-word reading, passage comprehension, math reasoning, and nonverbal cognitive ability. Multiple regressions revealed that PA (assessed using judgments of similarity based on words’ initial or final sounds) made a significant, independent contribution to children’s early reading ability (for both letters and words/non-words) after controlling for variation in receptive vocabulary, nonverbal cognitive ability, and a range of demographic variables (including gender, degree of hearing loss, communication mode, type of sensory device, age at fitting of sensory devices, and level of maternal education). Importantly, the relationship between PA and reading was specific to reading and did not generalize to another academic ability, math reasoning. Additional multiple regressions showed that letter knowledge (names or sounds) was superior in children whose mothers had undertaken post-secondary education, and that better receptive vocabulary was associated with less severe hearing loss, use of a cochlear implant, and earlier age at implant switch-on. Earlier fitting of hearing aids or cochlear implants was not, however, significantly associated with better PA or reading outcomes in this cohort of children, most of whom were fitted with sensory devices before 3 years of age. PMID:24563553

  14. Swimming in New Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Donohue, Kerri; Buck, Gayle

    2017-01-01

    This article describes an informal program in one school where grade K-1 students learn a variety of new science vocabulary words relating to animal characteristics. The students are introduced to a new group of animals and their characteristics through storytelling, games, discussion, and crafts (see Table 1, p. 34). The new vocabulary words are…

  15. Receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control messages and adolescent smoking initiation.

    PubMed

    Emory, Kristen T; Messer, Karen; Vera, Lisa; Ojeda, Norma; Elder, John P; Usita, Paula; Pierce, John P

    2015-05-01

    Tobacco industry cigarette advertising is associated with increased adolescent smoking, while counter tobacco advertising is associated with reduced smoking. As these campaigns compete for influence, there is a need to understand their inter-relationship on youth smoking. This study reports data from a national population of families (n=1036) with an oldest child aged 10-13 years, identified by random digit dialling. Parent and child dyads completed baseline questionnaires in 2003. Adolescents were resurveyed in 2007-2008 (response rate 74%). Adjusted logistic regression explores associations between receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertising and adolescent smoking initiation. In 2007-2008, 57.9% of adolescents reported a favourite tobacco control advertisement and 43.3% reported being receptive to cigarette advertisements. Thirty per cent reported receptivity to cigarette and tobacco control advertisements. Among those receptive to cigarette advertising, having a favourite anti-smoking advertisement had a borderline significant association with a 30% lower smoking rate. Anti-industry tobacco control messages were three times more likely to be favourites of those who were receptive to cigarette advertising than other tobacco control advertising. Receptivity to tobacco control advertising appeared to ameliorate the promotion of initiation from cigarette advertising. Anti-industry advertising appears to be the most effective counter for tobacco control and should be considered for wider use. A larger longitudinal study is needed to confirm these findings. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  16. Improving Vocabulary Acquisition through Direct and Indirect Teaching.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Glowacki, Deborah; Lanucha, Cheryl; Pietrus, Debra

    Students who lag behind in vocabulary commonly experience academic failure. A student's vocabulary knowledge directly impacts reading comprehension. To improve comprehension, students need exposure to a variety of literature and opportunities for meaningful practice of vocabulary they encounter daily. Vocabulary is developed through a variety of…

  17. Addressing Clinician-Client Mismatch: A Preliminary Intervention Study with a Bilingual Vietnamese-English Preschooler

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pham, Giang; Kohnert, Kathryn; Mann, Deanine

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: This project examined receptive vocabulary treatment outcomes in the two languages of a bilingual preschooler with moderate to severe language impairment. Method: A series of single-subject experimental designs was used to compare English-only (EO) and bilingual (BI) approaches to receptive vocabulary treatment. The participant, Nam, was…

  18. The Second-Language Vocabulary Trajectories of Turkish Immigrant Children in Norway from Ages Five to Ten: The Role of Preschool Talk Exposure, Maternal Education, and Coethnic Concentration in the Neighborhood

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rydland, Veslemoy; Grover, Vibeke; Lawrence, Joshua

    2014-01-01

    Little research has explored how preschools can support children's second-language (L2) vocabulary development. This study keenly followed the progress of twenty-six Turkish immigrant children growing up in Norway from preschool (age five) to fifth grade (age ten). Four different measures of preschool talk exposure (amount and diversity of…

  19. The Contribution of Inhibitory Control to Preschoolers' Social-Emotional Competence

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rhoades, Brittany L.; Greenberg, Mark T.; Domitrovich, Celene E.

    2009-01-01

    Social-emotional competence is a key developmental task during early childhood. This study examined concurrent relationships between maternal education and employment status, children's sex, ethnicity, age, receptive vocabulary, emotional knowledge, attention skills, inhibitory control and social-emotional competence in a sample of 146 preschool,…

  20. Breadth of Productive Vocabulary Knowledge of Pre-Service Teachers: Basis for the Proposed Intervention Strategies in Vocabulary Enhancement

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Calub, Cecilia L.; Calub, Francelle L.

    2017-01-01

    This research sought to determine the level of productive vocabulary knowledge of the students grouped according to type of school and curriculum year level; performance of the students in the vocabulary test categorized according to frequency levels; their breadth of productive vocabulary knowledge related to type of school enrolled in,…

  1. Homophily of Vocabulary Usage: Beneficial Effects of Vocabulary Similarity on Online Health Communities Participation

    PubMed Central

    Park, Albert; Hartzler, Andrea L.; Huh, Jina; McDonald, David W.; Pratt, Wanda

    2015-01-01

    Online health communities provide popular platforms for individuals to exchange psychosocial support and form ties. Although regular active participation (i.e., posting to interact with other members) in online health communities can provide important benefits, sustained active participation remains challenging for these communities. Leveraging previous literature on homophily (i.e., “love of those who are like themselves”), we examined the relationship between vocabulary similarity (i.e., homophily of word usage) of thread posts and members’ future interaction in online health communities. We quantitatively measured vocabulary similarity by calculating, in a vector space model, cosine similarity between the original post and the first reply in 20,499 threads. Our findings across five online health communities suggest that vocabulary similarity is a significant predictor of members’ future interaction in online health communities. These findings carry practical implications for facilitating and sustaining online community participation through beneficial effects of homophily in the vocabulary of essential peer support. PMID:26958240

  2. Early Markers of Language Delay in Children with and without Family Risk for Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Unhjem, Astrid; Eklund, Kenneth; Nergård-Nilssen, Trude

    2015-01-01

    This study examined the extent to which receptive and productive vocabulary between ages 12 and 18 months predicted language skills at age 24 months in children born with family risk for dyslexia (FR) and a control group born without that risk. The aim was to identify possible markers of early language delay. The authors monitored vocabulary…

  3. Evaluation of Controlled Vocabulary Resources for Development of a Consumer Entry Vocabulary for Diabetes

    PubMed Central

    Monga, Harpreet K; Sievert, MaryEllen C; Hall, Joan Houston; Longo, Daniel R

    2001-01-01

    Background Digital information technology can facilitate informed decision making by individuals regarding their personal health care. The digital divide separates those who do and those who do not have access to or otherwise make use of digital information. To close the digital divide, health care communications research must address a fundamental issue, the consumer vocabulary problem: consumers of health care, at least those who are laypersons, are not always familiar with the professional vocabulary and concepts used by providers of health care and by providers of health care information, and, conversely, health care and health care information providers are not always familiar with the vocabulary and concepts used by consumers. One way to address this problem is to develop a consumer entry vocabulary for health care communications. Objectives To evaluate the potential of controlled vocabulary resources for supporting the development of consumer entry vocabulary for diabetes. Methods We used folk medical terms from the Dictionary of American Regional English project to create exended versions of 3 controlled vocabulary resources: the Unified Medical Language System Metathesaurus, the Eurodicautom of the European Commission's Translation Service, and the European Commission Glossary of popular and technical medical terms. We extracted consumer terms from consumer-authored materials, and physician terms from physician-authored materials. We used our extended versions of the vocabulary resources to link diabetes-related terms used by health care consumers to synonymous, nearly-synonymous, or closely-related terms used by family physicians. We also examined whether retrieval of diabetes-related World Wide Web information sites maintained by nonprofit health care professional organizations, academic organizations, or governmental organizations can be improved by substituting a physician term for its related consumer term in the query. Results The Dictionary of

  4. A computational theory of visual receptive fields.

    PubMed

    Lindeberg, Tony

    2013-12-01

    A receptive field constitutes a region in the visual field where a visual cell or a visual operator responds to visual stimuli. This paper presents a theory for what types of receptive field profiles can be regarded as natural for an idealized vision system, given a set of structural requirements on the first stages of visual processing that reflect symmetry properties of the surrounding world. These symmetry properties include (i) covariance properties under scale changes, affine image deformations, and Galilean transformations of space-time as occur for real-world image data as well as specific requirements of (ii) temporal causality implying that the future cannot be accessed and (iii) a time-recursive updating mechanism of a limited temporal buffer of the past as is necessary for a genuine real-time system. Fundamental structural requirements are also imposed to ensure (iv) mutual consistency and a proper handling of internal representations at different spatial and temporal scales. It is shown how a set of families of idealized receptive field profiles can be derived by necessity regarding spatial, spatio-chromatic, and spatio-temporal receptive fields in terms of Gaussian kernels, Gaussian derivatives, or closely related operators. Such image filters have been successfully used as a basis for expressing a large number of visual operations in computer vision, regarding feature detection, feature classification, motion estimation, object recognition, spatio-temporal recognition, and shape estimation. Hence, the associated so-called scale-space theory constitutes a both theoretically well-founded and general framework for expressing visual operations. There are very close similarities between receptive field profiles predicted from this scale-space theory and receptive field profiles found by cell recordings in biological vision. Among the family of receptive field profiles derived by necessity from the assumptions, idealized models with very good qualitative

  5. Parent Book Talk to Accelerate Spanish Content Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn D.; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Satterfield, Teresa; Benki, José R.; Vaquero, Juana; Ungco, Camille

    2017-01-01

    This article bridges research to practice by summarizing an interactive content-enriched shared book reading approach that Spanish-speaking parents of preschool-age children can easily use in the home to accelerate content vocabulary knowledge in Spanish. The approach was implemented in preschool classrooms using a transitional bilingual education…

  6. Quality of caregiver-child play interactions with toddlers born preterm and full term: Antecedents and language outcome.

    PubMed

    Loi, Elizabeth C; Vaca, Kelsey E C; Ashland, Melanie D; Marchman, Virginia A; Fernald, Anne; Feldman, Heidi M

    2017-12-01

    Preterm birth may leave long-term effects on the interactions between caregivers and children. Language skills are sensitive to the quality of caregiver-child interactions. Compare the quality of caregiver-child play interactions in toddlers born preterm (PT) and full term (FT) at age 22months (corrected for degree of prematurity) and evaluate the degree of association between caregiver-child interactions, antecedent demographic and language factors, and subsequent language skill. A longitudinal descriptive cohort study. 39 PT and 39 FT toddlers individually matched on sex and socioeconomic status (SES). The outcome measures were dimensions of caregiver-child interactions, rated from a videotaped play session at age 22months in relation to receptive language assessments at ages 18 and 36months. Caregiver intrusiveness was greater in the PT than FT group. A composite score of child interactional behaviors was associated with a composite score of caregiver interactional behaviors. The caregiver composite measure was associated with later receptive vocabulary at 36months. PT-FT group membership did not moderate the association between caregiver interactional behavior and later receptive vocabulary. The quality of caregiver interactional behavior had similar associations with concurrent child interactional behavior and subsequent language outcome in the PT and FT groups. Greater caregiver sensitivity/responsiveness, verbal elaboration, and less intrusiveness support receptive language development in typically developing toddlers and toddlers at risk for language difficulty. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The effect of guessing on the speech reception thresholds of children.

    PubMed

    Moodley, A

    1990-01-01

    Speech audiometry is an essential part of the assessment of hearing impaired children and it is now widely used throughout the United Kingdom. Although instructions are universally agreed upon as an important aspect in the administration of any form of audiometric testing, there has been little, if any, research towards evaluating the influence which instructions that are given to a listener have on the Speech Reception Threshold obtained. This study attempts to evaluate what effect guessing has on the Speech Reception Threshold of children. A sample of 30 secondary school pupils between 16 and 18 years of age with normal hearing was used in the study. It is argued that the type of instruction normally used for Speech Reception Threshold in audiometric testing may not provide a sufficient amount of control for guessing and the implications of this, using data obtained in the study, are examined.

  8. Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Vocabulary Size of ELT Students at EMU in Northern Cyprus

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kalajahi, Seyed Ali Rezvani; Pourshahian, Bahar

    2012-01-01

    This research study aimed at exploring the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary size of 125 undergraduate English Language Teaching students at Eastern Mediterranean University. This research study was a correlational survey study of descriptive nature. The major findings of this study were as follows. First, the…

  9. Using the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy plus to Develop University EFL Students' Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Khodary, Manal Mohamed

    2017-01-01

    This study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of using the Vocabulary Self-Collection Strategy Plus (VSSPlus) on developing university EFL students' vocabulary learning. It adopted the quasi experimental design which included two groups design. The participants were first level students at Languages and Translation Department, Arar…

  10. Adolescent Weight Status and Receptivity to Food TV Advertisements

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Adachi-Mejia, Anna M.; Sutherland, Lisa A.; Longacre, Meghan R.; Beach, Michael L.; Titus-Ernstoff, Linda; Gibson, Jennifer J.; Dalton, Madeline A.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: This study examined the relationship between adolescent weight status and food advertisement receptivity. Design: Survey-based evaluation with data collected at baseline (initial and at 2 months), and at follow-up (11 months). Setting: New Hampshire and Vermont. Participants: Students (n = 2,281) aged 10-13 in 2002-2005. Main Outcome…

  11. Visual cortex in aging and Alzheimer's disease: changes in visual field maps and population receptive fields

    PubMed Central

    Brewer, Alyssa A.; Barton, Brian

    2012-01-01

    Although several studies have suggested that cortical alterations underlie such age-related visual deficits as decreased acuity, little is known about what changes actually occur in visual cortex during healthy aging. Two recent studies showed changes in primary visual cortex (V1) during normal aging; however, no studies have characterized the effects of aging on visual cortex beyond V1, important measurements both for understanding the aging process and for comparison to changes in age-related diseases. Similarly, there is almost no information about changes in visual cortex in Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. Because visual deficits are often reported as one of the first symptoms of AD, measurements of such changes in the visual cortex of AD patients might improve our understanding of how the visual system is affected by neurodegeneration as well as aid early detection, accurate diagnosis and timely treatment of AD. Here we use fMRI to first compare the visual field map (VFM) organization and population receptive fields (pRFs) between young adults and healthy aging subjects for occipital VFMs V1, V2, V3, and hV4. Healthy aging subjects do not show major VFM organizational deficits, but do have reduced surface area and increased pRF sizes in the foveal representations of V1, V2, and hV4 relative to healthy young control subjects. These measurements are consistent with behavioral deficits seen in healthy aging. We then demonstrate the feasibility and first characterization of these measurements in two patients with mild AD, which reveal potential changes in visual cortex as part of the pathophysiology of AD. Our data aid in our understanding of the changes in the visual processing pathways in normal aging and provide the foundation for future research into earlier and more definitive detection of AD. PMID:24570669

  12. Characteristics of Early Vocabulary and Grammar Development in Slovenian-Speaking Infants and Toddlers: A CDI-Adaptation Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urska; Podlesek, Anja

    2013-01-01

    A large body of research shows that vocabulary does not develop independently of grammar, representing a better predictor of the grammatical complexity of toddlers' utterances than age. This study examines for the first time the characteristics of vocabulary and grammar development in Slovenian-speaking infants and toddlers using the Slovenian…

  13. From Words to Text: Inference Making Mediates the Role of Vocabulary in Children's Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daugaard, Hanne Trebbien; Cain, Kate; Elbro, Carsten

    2017-01-01

    We examined the relationship between inference making, vocabulary knowledge, and verbal working memory on children's reading comprehension in 62 6th graders (aged 12). The effect of vocabulary knowledge on reading comprehension was predicted to be partly mediated by inference making for two reasons: Inference making often taps the semantic…

  14. An Investigation into the Role of Gesture in Enhancing Children's Vocabulary Command

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heidari, Kamal

    2015-01-01

    The primary aim of the current study was to explore whether non-linguistic conventions, especially gesture, have a significant impact on children's vocabulary learning. Fifty male and female Iranian children aged between 3 and 6 years of age (mean age?=?3.5) from two classes of a language institute were taught a set of lexical items using two…

  15. Vocabulary Levels and Size of Malaysian Undergraduates

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harji, Madhubala Bava; Balakrishnan, Kavitha; Bhar, Sareen Kaur; Letchumanan, Krishnaveni

    2015-01-01

    Vocabulary is a fundamental requirement of language acquisition, and its competence enables independent reading and effective language acquisition. Effective language use requires adequate level of vocabulary knowledge; therefore, efforts must be made to identify students' vocabulary base for greater efficiency and competency in the language.…

  16. Semantic Web-based Vocabulary Broker for Open Science

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ritschel, B.; Neher, G.; Iyemori, T.; Murayama, Y.; Kondo, Y.; Koyama, Y.; King, T. A.; Galkin, I. A.; Fung, S. F.; Wharton, S.; Cecconi, B.

    2016-12-01

    Keyword vocabularies are used to tag and to identify data of science data repositories. Such vocabularies consist of controlled terms and the appropriate concepts, such as GCMD1 keywords or the ESPAS2 keyword ontology. The Semantic Web-based mash-up of domain-specific, cross- or even trans-domain vocabularies provides unique capabilities in the network of appropriate data resources. Based on a collaboration between GFZ3, the FHP4, the WDC for Geomagnetism5 and the NICT6 we developed the concept of a vocabulary broker for inter- and trans-disciplinary data detection and integration. Our prototype of the Semantic Web-based vocabulary broker uses OSF7 for the mash-up of geo and space research vocabularies, such as GCMD keywords, ESPAS keyword ontology and SPASE8 keyword vocabulary. The vocabulary broker starts the search with "free" keywords or terms of a specific vocabulary scheme. The vocabulary broker almost automatically connects the different science data repositories which are tagged by terms of the aforementioned vocabularies. Therefore the mash-up of the SKOS9 based vocabularies with appropriate metadata from different domains can be realized by addressing LOD10 resources or virtual SPARQL11 endpoints which maps relational structures into the RDF format12. In order to demonstrate such a mash-up approach in real life, we installed and use a D2RQ13 server for the integration of IUGONET14 data which are managed by a relational database. The OSF based vocabulary broker and the D2RQ platform are installed at virtual LINUX machines at the Kyoto University. The vocabulary broker meets the standard of a main component of the WDS15 knowledge network. The Web address of the vocabulary broker is http://wdcosf.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp 1 Global Change Master Directory2 Near earth space data infrastructure for e-science3 German Research Centre for Geosciences4 University of Applied Sciences Potsdam5 World Data Center for Geomagnetism Kyoto6 National Institute of Information and

  17. The Effect of Authentic Problem-Based Vocabulary Tasks on Vocabulary Learning of EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mohammadi, Fateme Shir

    2017-01-01

    Language learners' cognitive engagement with the content in language classes has been advocated in the last few decades (Laufer & Hulstjin, 2001). To this end, the researcher designed authentic problem-based tasks which make use of learners' cognitive and metacognitive skills to solve real-life vocabulary tasks. Nelson vocabulary test was…

  18. Controlled Vocabulary Service Application for Environmental Data Store

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ji, P.; Piasecki, M.; Lovell, R.

    2013-12-01

    In this paper we present a controlled vocabulary service application for Environmental Data Store (EDS). The purpose for such application is to help researchers and investigators to archive, manage, share, search, and retrieve data efficiently in EDS. The Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) is used in the application for the representation of the controlled vocabularies coming from EDS. The controlled vocabularies of EDS are created by collecting, comparing, choosing and merging controlled vocabularies, taxonomies and ontologies widely used and recognized in geoscience/environmental informatics community, such as Environment ontology (EnvO), Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) ontology, CUAHSI Hydrologic Ontology and ODM Controlled Vocabulary, National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI), National Water Information System (NWIS) codes, EPSG Geodetic Parameter Data Set, WQX domain value etc. TemaTres, an open-source, web -based thesaurus management package is employed and extended to create and manage controlled vocabularies of EDS in the application. TemaTresView and VisualVocabulary that work well with TemaTres, are also integrated in the application to provide tree view and graphical view of the structure of vocabularies. The Open Source Edition of Virtuoso Universal Server is set up to provide a Web interface to make SPARQL queries against controlled vocabularies hosted on the Environmental Data Store. The replicas of some of the key vocabularies commonly used in the community, are also maintained as part of the application, such as General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus (GEMET), NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names, etc.. The application has now been deployed as an elementary and experimental prototype that provides management, search and download controlled vocabularies of EDS under SKOS framework.

  19. Polysyllable Speech Accuracy and Predictors of Later Literacy Development in Preschool Children With Speech Sound Disorders.

    PubMed

    Masso, Sarah; Baker, Elise; McLeod, Sharynne; Wang, Cen

    2017-07-12

    The aim of this study was to determine if polysyllable accuracy in preschoolers with speech sound disorders (SSD) was related to known predictors of later literacy development: phonological processing, receptive vocabulary, and print knowledge. Polysyllables-words of three or more syllables-are important to consider because unlike monosyllables, polysyllables have been associated with phonological processing and literacy difficulties in school-aged children. They therefore have the potential to help identify preschoolers most at risk of future literacy difficulties. Participants were 93 preschool children with SSD from the Sound Start Study. Participants completed the Polysyllable Preschool Test (Baker, 2013) as well as phonological processing, receptive vocabulary, and print knowledge tasks. Cluster analysis was completed, and 2 clusters were identified: low polysyllable accuracy and moderate polysyllable accuracy. The clusters were significantly different based on 2 measures of phonological awareness and measures of receptive vocabulary, rapid naming, and digit span. The clusters were not significantly different on sound matching accuracy or letter, sound, or print concept knowledge. The participants' poor performance on print knowledge tasks suggested that as a group, they were at risk of literacy difficulties but that there was a cluster of participants at greater risk-those with both low polysyllable accuracy and poor phonological processing.

  20. The Effectiveness of Digital Game-Based Vocabulary Learning: A Framework-Based View of Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chen, Meng-Hua; Tseng, Wen-Ta; Hsiao, Tsung-Yuan

    2018-01-01

    This study presents the results of a meta-analytic study about the effects of digital game-based learning (DGBL) on vocabulary. The results of the study showed that the effects of DGBL on vocabulary learning may vary with game design features (Q = 5.857, df = 1, p = 0.016), but not with learners' age (Q = 0.906, df = 1, p = 0.341) or linguistic…

  1. The Impact of Vocabulary Enhancement Activities on Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention among Male and Female EFL Learners in Iran

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sharafi-Nejad, Maryam; Raftari, Shohreh; Bijami, Maryam; Khavari, Zahra; Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed; Eng, Lin Siew

    2014-01-01

    In general, incidental vocabulary acquisition is represented as the "picking up" of new vocabularies when students are engaged in a variety of reading, listening, speaking, or writing activities. Research has shown when learners read extensively incidental vocabulary acquisition happens. Many EFL students cannot be involved in reading…

  2. DSpace and customized controlled vocabularies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Skourlas, C.; Tsolakidis, A.; Kakoulidis, P.; Giannakopoulos, G.

    2015-02-01

    The open source platform of DSpace could be defined as a repository application used to provide access to digital resources. DSpace is installed and used by more than 1000 organizations worldwide. A predefined taxonomy of keyword, called the Controlled Vocabulary, can be used for describing and accessing the information items stored in the repository. In this paper, we describe how the users can create, and customize their own vocabularies. Various heterogeneous items, such as research papers, videos, articles and educational material of the repository, can be indexed in order to provide advanced search functionality using new controlled vocabularies.

  3. Relationships of Teachers' Language and Explicit Vocabulary Instruction to Students' Vocabulary Growth in Kindergarten

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bowne, Jocelyn Bonnes; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Snow, Catherine E.

    2017-01-01

    This study evaluates the relationships between aspects of Chilean teachers' explicit vocabulary instruction and students' vocabulary development in kindergarten. Classroom videotapes of whole-class instruction gathered during a randomized experimental evaluation of a coaching-based professional development program were analyzed. The amount of…

  4. A Dual Coding View of Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sadoski, Mark

    2005-01-01

    A theoretical perspective on acquiring sight vocabulary and developing meaningful vocabulary is presented. Dual Coding Theory assumes that cognition occurs in two independent but connected codes: a verbal code for language and a nonverbal code for mental imagery. The mixed research literature on using pictures in teaching sight vocabulary is…

  5. The development of word recognition, sentence comprehension, word spelling, and vocabulary in children with deafness: a longitudinal study.

    PubMed

    Colin, S; Leybaert, J; Ecalle, J; Magnan, A

    2013-05-01

    Only a small number of longitudinal studies have been conducted to assess the literacy skills of children with hearing impairment. The results of these studies are inconsistent with regard to the importance of phonology in reading acquisition as is the case in studies with hearing children. Colin, Magnan, Ecalle, and Leybaert (2007) revealed the important role of early phonological skills and the contribution of the factor of age of exposure to Cued Speech (CS: a manual system intended to resolve the ambiguities inherent to speechreading) to subsequent reading acquisition (from kindergarten to first grade) in children with deafness. The aim of the present paper is twofold: (1) to confirm the role of early exposure to CS in the development of the linguistic skills necessary in order to learn reading and writing in second grade; (2) to reveal the possible existence of common factors other than CS that may influence literacy performances and explain the inter-individual difference within groups of children with hearing impairment. Eighteen 6-year-old hearing-impaired and 18 hearing children of the same chronological age were tested from kindergarten to second grade. The children with deafness had either been exposed to CS at an early age, at home and before kindergarten (early-CS group), or had first been exposed to it when they entered kindergarten (late-CS group) or first grade (beginner-CS group). Children were given implicit and explicit phonological tasks, silent reading tasks (word recognition and sentence comprehension), word spelling, and vocabulary tasks. Children in the early-CS group outperformed those of the late-CS and beginner-CS groups in phonological tasks from first grade to second grade. They became better readers and better spellers than those from the late-CS group and the beginner-CS group. Their performances did not differ from those of hearing children in any of the tasks except for the receptive vocabulary test. Thus early exposure to CS seems

  6. Receptive Field Inference with Localized Priors

    PubMed Central

    Park, Mijung; Pillow, Jonathan W.

    2011-01-01

    The linear receptive field describes a mapping from sensory stimuli to a one-dimensional variable governing a neuron's spike response. However, traditional receptive field estimators such as the spike-triggered average converge slowly and often require large amounts of data. Bayesian methods seek to overcome this problem by biasing estimates towards solutions that are more likely a priori, typically those with small, smooth, or sparse coefficients. Here we introduce a novel Bayesian receptive field estimator designed to incorporate locality, a powerful form of prior information about receptive field structure. The key to our approach is a hierarchical receptive field model that flexibly adapts to localized structure in both spacetime and spatiotemporal frequency, using an inference method known as empirical Bayes. We refer to our method as automatic locality determination (ALD), and show that it can accurately recover various types of smooth, sparse, and localized receptive fields. We apply ALD to neural data from retinal ganglion cells and V1 simple cells, and find it achieves error rates several times lower than standard estimators. Thus, estimates of comparable accuracy can be achieved with substantially less data. Finally, we introduce a computationally efficient Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm for fully Bayesian inference under the ALD prior, yielding accurate Bayesian confidence intervals for small or noisy datasets. PMID:22046110

  7. Idealized Computational Models for Auditory Receptive Fields

    PubMed Central

    Lindeberg, Tony; Friberg, Anders

    2015-01-01

    We present a theory by which idealized models of auditory receptive fields can be derived in a principled axiomatic manner, from a set of structural properties to (i) enable invariance of receptive field responses under natural sound transformations and (ii) ensure internal consistency between spectro-temporal receptive fields at different temporal and spectral scales. For defining a time-frequency transformation of a purely temporal sound signal, it is shown that the framework allows for a new way of deriving the Gabor and Gammatone filters as well as a novel family of generalized Gammatone filters, with additional degrees of freedom to obtain different trade-offs between the spectral selectivity and the temporal delay of time-causal temporal window functions. When applied to the definition of a second-layer of receptive fields from a spectrogram, it is shown that the framework leads to two canonical families of spectro-temporal receptive fields, in terms of spectro-temporal derivatives of either spectro-temporal Gaussian kernels for non-causal time or a cascade of time-causal first-order integrators over the temporal domain and a Gaussian filter over the logspectral domain. For each filter family, the spectro-temporal receptive fields can be either separable over the time-frequency domain or be adapted to local glissando transformations that represent variations in logarithmic frequencies over time. Within each domain of either non-causal or time-causal time, these receptive field families are derived by uniqueness from the assumptions. It is demonstrated how the presented framework allows for computation of basic auditory features for audio processing and that it leads to predictions about auditory receptive fields with good qualitative similarity to biological receptive fields measured in the inferior colliculus (ICC) and primary auditory cortex (A1) of mammals. PMID:25822973

  8. The Effect of Vocabulary Self-Selection Strategy and Input Enhancement Strategy on the Vocabulary Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Masoudi, Golfam

    2017-01-01

    The present study was designed to investigate empirically the effect of Vocabulary Self-Selection strategy and Input Enhancement strategy on the vocabulary knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners. After taking a diagnostic pretest, both experimental groups enrolled in two classes. Learners who practiced Vocabulary Self-Selection were allowed to…

  9. Phonological Awareness, Vocabulary, and Reading in Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Carol; Goswami, Usha

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: To explore the phonological awareness skills of deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) and relationships with vocabulary and reading development. Method: Forty-three deaf children with implants who were between 5 and 15 years of age were tested; 21 had been implanted at around 2.5 years of age (Early CI group), and 22 had been…

  10. Water Quality Vocabulary Development and Deployment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Simons, B. A.; Yu, J.; Cox, S. J.

    2013-12-01

    Semantic descriptions of observed properties and associated units of measure are fundamental to understanding of environmental observations, including groundwater, surface water and marine water quality. Semantic descriptions can be captured in machine-readable ontologies and vocabularies, thus providing support for the annotation of observation values from the disparate data sources with appropriate and accurate metadata, which is critical for achieving semantic interoperability. However, current stand-alone water quality vocabularies provide limited support for cross-system comparisons or data fusion. To enhance semantic interoperability, the alignment of water-quality properties with definitions of chemical entities and units of measure in existing widely-used vocabularies is required. Modern ontologies and vocabularies are expressed, organized and deployed using Semantic Web technologies. We developed an ontology for observed properties (i.e. a model for expressing appropriate controlled vocabularies) which extends the NASA/TopQuadrant QUDT ontology for Unit and QuantityKind with two additional classes and two properties (see accompanying paper by Cox, Simons and Yu). We use our ontology to populate the Water Quality vocabulary with a set of individuals of each of the four key classes (and their subclasses), and add appropriate relationships between these individuals. This ontology is aligned with other relevant stand-alone Water Quality vocabularies and domain ontologies. Developing the Water Quality vocabulary involved two main steps. First, the Water Quality vocabulary was populated with individuals of the ObservedProperty class, which was determined from a census of existing datasets and services. Each ObservedProperty individual relates to other individuals of Unit and QuantityKind (taken from QUDT where possible), and to IdentifiedObject individuals. As a large fraction of observed water quality data are classified by the chemical substance involved, the

  11. Satellite sound broadcasting system, portable reception

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Golshan, Nasser; Vaisnys, Arvydas

    1990-01-01

    Studies are underway at JPL in the emerging area of Satellite Sound Broadcast Service (SSBS) for direct reception by low cost portable, semi portable, mobile and fixed radio receivers. This paper addresses the portable reception of digital broadcasting of monophonic audio with source material band limited to 5 KHz (source audio comparable to commercial AM broadcasting). The proposed system provides transmission robustness, uniformity of performance over the coverage area and excellent frequency reuse. Propagation problems associated with indoor portable reception are considered in detail and innovative antenna concepts are suggested to mitigate these problems. It is shown that, with the marriage of proper technologies a single medium power satellite can provide substantial direct satellite audio broadcast capability to CONUS in UHF or L Bands, for high quality portable indoor reception by low cost radio receivers.

  12. Receptivity to Television Fast-Food Restaurant Marketing and Obesity Among U.S. Youth

    PubMed Central

    McClure, Auden C.; Tanski, Susanne E.; Gilbert-Diamond, Diane; Adachi-Mejia, Anna M.; Li, Zhigang; Li, Zhongze; Sargent, James D.

    2013-01-01

    Background Advertisement of fast food on TV may contribute to youth obesity. Purpose The goal of the study was to use cued recall to determine whether TV fast-food advertising is associated with youth obesity. Methods A national sample of 2541 U.S. youth, aged 15–23 years, were surveyed in 2010–2011; data were analyzed in 2012. Respondents viewed a random subset of 20 advertisement frames (with brand names removed) selected from national TV fast-food restaurant advertisements (n=535) aired in the previous year. Respondents were asked if they had seen the advertisement, if they liked it, and if they could name the brand. A TV fast-food advertising receptivity score (a measure of exposure and response) was assigned; a 1-point increase was equivalent to affirmative responses to all three queries for two separate advertisements. Adjusted odds of obesity (based on self-reported height and weight), given higher TV fast-food advertising receptivity, are reported. Results The prevalence of overweight and obesity, weighted to the U.S. population, was 20% and 16%, respectively. Obesity, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, fast-food restaurant visit frequency, weekday TV time, and TV alcohol advertising receptivity were associated with higher TV fast-food advertising receptivity (median=3.3 [interquartile range: 2.2–4.2]). Only household income, TV time, and TV fast-food advertising receptivity retained multivariate associations with obesity. For every 1-point increase in TV fast-food advertising receptivity score, the odds of obesity increased by 19% (OR=1.19, 95% CI=1.01, 1.40). There was no association between receptivity to televised alcohol advertisements or fast-food restaurant visit frequency and obesity. Conclusions Using a cued-recall assessment, TV fast-food advertising receptivity was found to be associated with youth obesity. PMID:24139768

  13. Receptivity to television fast-food restaurant marketing and obesity among U.S. youth.

    PubMed

    McClure, Auden C; Tanski, Susanne E; Gilbert-Diamond, Diane; Adachi-Mejia, Anna M; Li, Zhigang; Li, Zhongze; Sargent, James D

    2013-11-01

    Advertisement of fast food on TV may contribute to youth obesity. The goal of the study was to use cued recall to determine whether TV fast-food advertising is associated with youth obesity. A national sample of 2541 U.S. youth, aged 15-23 years, were surveyed in 2010-2011; data were analyzed in 2012. Respondents viewed a random subset of 20 advertisement frames (with brand names removed) selected from national TV fast-food restaurant advertisements (n=535) aired in the previous year. Respondents were asked if they had seen the advertisement, if they liked it, and if they could name the brand. A TV fast-food advertising receptivity score (a measure of exposure and response) was assigned; a 1-point increase was equivalent to affirmative responses to all three queries for two separate advertisements. Adjusted odds of obesity (based on self-reported height and weight), given higher TV fast-food advertising receptivity, are reported. The prevalence of overweight and obesity, weighted to the U.S. population, was 20% and 16%, respectively. Obesity, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption, fast-food restaurant visit frequency, weekday TV time, and TV alcohol advertising receptivity were associated with higher TV fast-food advertising receptivity (median=3.3 [interquartile range: 2.2-4.2]). Only household income, TV time, and TV fast-food advertising receptivity retained multivariate associations with obesity. For every 1-point increase in TV fast-food advertising receptivity score, the odds of obesity increased by 19% (OR=1.19, 95% CI=1.01, 1.40). There was no association between receptivity to televised alcohol advertisements or fast-food restaurant visit frequency and obesity. Using a cued-recall assessment, TV fast-food advertising receptivity was found to be associated with youth obesity. © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

  14. Components for Maintaining and Publishing Earth Science Vocabularies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cox, S. J. D.; Yu, J.

    2014-12-01

    Shared vocabularies are an important aid to geoscience data interoperability. Many organizations maintain useful vocabularies, with Geologic Surveys having a particularly long history of vocabulary and lexicon development. However, the mode of publication is heterogeneous, ranging from PDFs and HTML web pages, spreadsheets and CSV, through various user-interfaces and APIs. Update and maintenance ranges from tightly-governed and externally opaque, through various community processes, all the way to crowd-sourcing ('folksonomies'). A general expectation, however, is for greater harmonization and vocabulary re-use. In order to be successful this requires (a) standardized content formalization and APIs (b) transparent content maintenance and versioning. We have been trialling a combination of software dealing with registration, search and linking. SKOS is designed for formalizing multi-lingual, hierarchical vocabularies, and has been widely adopted in earth and environmental sciences. SKOS is an RDF vocabulary, for which SPARQL is the standard low-level API. However, for interoperability between SKOS vocabulary sources, a SKOS-based API (i.e. based on the SKOS predicates prefLabel, broader, narrower, etc) is required. We have developed SISSvoc for this purpose, and used it to deploy a number of vocabularies on behalf of the IUGS, ICS, NERC, OGC, the Australian Government, and CSIRO projects. SISSvoc Search provides simple search UI on top of one or more SISSvoc sources. Content maintenance is composed of many elements, including content-formalization, definition-update, and mappings to related vocabularies. Typically there is a degree of expert judgement required. In order to provide confidence in users, two requirements are paramount: (i) once published, a URI that denotes a vocabulary item must remain dereferenceable; (ii) the history and status of the content denoted by a URI must be available. These requirements match the standard 'registration' paradigm which is

  15. 24-Month-Old Children with Larger Oral Vocabularies Display Greater Academic and Behavioral Functioning at Kindergarten Entry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Morgan, Paul L.; Farkas, George; Hillemeier, Marianne M.; Hammer, Carol Scheffner; Maczuga, Steve

    2015-01-01

    Data were analyzed from a population-based, longitudinal sample of 8,650 U.S. children to (a) identify factors associated with or predictive of oral vocabulary size at 24 months of age and (b) evaluate whether oral vocabulary size is uniquely predictive of academic and behavioral functioning at kindergarten entry. Children from higher…

  16. Language development of internationally adopted children: Adverse early experiences outweigh the age of acquisition effect.

    PubMed

    Rakhlin, Natalia; Hein, Sascha; Doyle, Niamh; Hart, Lesley; Macomber, Donna; Ruchkin, Vladislav; Tan, Mei; Grigorenko, Elena L

    2015-01-01

    We compared English language and cognitive skills between internationally adopted children (IA; mean age at adoption=2.24, SD=1.8) and their non-adopted peers from the US reared in biological families (BF) at two time points. We also examined the relationships between outcome measures and age at initial institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and age at adoption. On measures of general language, early literacy, and non-verbal IQ, the IA group performed significantly below their age-peers reared in biological families at both time points, but the group differences disappeared on receptive vocabulary and kindergarten concept knowledge at the second time point. Furthermore, the majority of children reached normative age expectations between 1 and 2 years post-adoption on all standardized measures. Although the age at adoption, age of institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and time in the adoptive family all demonstrated significant correlations with one or more outcome measures, the negative relationship between length of institutionalization and child outcomes remained most robust after controlling for the other variables. Results point to much flexibility and resilience in children's capacity for language acquisition as well as the potential primacy of length of institutionalization in explaining individual variation in IA children's outcomes. (1) Readers will be able to understand the importance of pre-adoption environment on language and early literacy development in internationally adopted children. (2) Readers will be able to compare the strength of the association between the length of institutionalization and language outcomes with the strength of the association between the latter and the age at adoption. (3) Readers will be able to understand that internationally adopted children are able to reach age expectations on expressive and receptive language measures despite adverse early experiences and a replacement of their first

  17. Effects of Individualized Word Retrieval in Kindergarten Vocabulary Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Damhuis, Carmen M. P.; Segers, Eliane; Scheltinga, Femke; Verhoeven, Ludo

    2016-01-01

    We examined the effects of adaptive word retrieval intervention on a classroom vocabulary program on children's vocabulary acquisition in kindergarten. In the experimental condition, word retrieval was provided in a classroom vocabulary program, combining implicit and explicit vocabulary instructions. Children performed extra word retrieval…

  18. Vocabulary Instruction: Software Flashcards vs. Word Clouds

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mansouri, Vahid

    2015-01-01

    When it comes to language learning, vocabulary learning is the main activity focused on. Vocabulary learning is the main problem and also the goal of new language learners. It is one of the major problems that language learners encounter during learning a new language. Krashen (1989) (cited in Tokac, 2005) points out the role of vocabulary in a…

  19. Mobile Learning to Enrich Vocabulary in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singaravelu, G.

    2009-01-01

    The study enlightens the impact of Mobile learning in enriching the vocabulary in English at standard VIII. Objectives of the study: 1. To find out the problems in enriching vocabulary in English at standard VIII. 2. To find out the impact of Mobile learning in enriching vocabulary in English. Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in…

  20. Socioeconomic status, parental education, vocabulary and language skills of children who stutter.

    PubMed

    Richels, Corrin G; Johnson, Kia N; Walden, Tedra A; Conture, Edward G

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this project was to investigate the possible relation between standardized measures of vocabulary/language, mother and father education, and a composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES) for children who do not stutter (CWNS) and children who stutter (CWS). Participants were 138 CWNS and 159 CWS between the ages of 2;6 and 6;3 and their families. The Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Position (i.e., Family SES) was used to calculate SES based on a composite score consisting of weighted values for paternal and maternal education and occupation. Statistical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relation between parental education and language and vocabulary scores for both the CWNS and CWS. Correlations were calculated between parent education, Family SES, and stuttering severity (e.g., SSI-3 score, % words stuttered). Results indicated that maternal education contributed the greatest amount of variance in vocabulary and language scores for the CWNS and for participants from both groups whose Family SES was in the lowest quartile of the distribution. However, paternal education generally contributed the greatest amount of variance in vocabulary and language scores for the CWS. Higher levels of maternal education were associated with more severe stuttering in the CWS. Results are generally consistent with existing literature on normal language development that indicates maternal education is a robust predictor of the vocabulary and language skills of preschool children. Thus, both father and mothers' education may impact the association between vocabulary/language skills and childhood stuttering, leading investigators who empirically study this association to possibly re-assess their participant selection (e.g., a priori control of parental education) and/or data analyses (e.g., post hoc covariation of parental education). The reader will be able to: (a) describe the influence of socioeconomic status on the development of

  1. Vocabulary Demands of Television Programs

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Webb, Stuart; Rodgers, Michael P. H.

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated vocabulary coverage and the number of encounters of low-frequency vocabulary in television programs. Eighty-eight television programs consisting of 264,384 running words were categorized according to genre. Television shows were classified as either British or American and then put into the following genres: news, drama,…

  2. Conceptual Distance and Word Learning: Patterns of Acquisition in Samoan-English Bilingual Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hemsley, Gayle; Holm, Alison; Dodd, Barbara

    2013-01-01

    This study investigated cross-linguistic influence in acquisition of a second lexicon, evaluating Samoan-English sequentially bilingual children (initial mean age 4 ; 9) during their first 18 months of school. Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary tasks evaluated acquisition of four word types: cognates, matched nouns, phrasal nouns and holonyms.…

  3. A Multi-Method Investigation of Pragmatic Development in Individuals with down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Michelle; Bush, Lauren; Martin, Gary E.; Barstein, Jamie; Maltman, Nell; Klusek, Jessica; Losh, Molly

    2017-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined pragmatic language in boys and girls with Down syndrome (DS) at up to three time points, using parent report, standardized and direct assessments. We also explored relationships among theory of mind, executive function, nonverbal mental age, receptive and expressive vocabulary, grammatical complexity, and pragmatic…

  4. Mobile English Vocabulary Learning Based on Concept-Mapping Strategy

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Pei-Lin

    2016-01-01

    Numerous researchers in education recognize that vocabulary is essential in foreign language learning. However, students often encounter vocabulary that is difficult to remember. Providing effective vocabulary learning strategies is therefore more valuable than teaching students a large amount of vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to…

  5. Central auditory neurons have composite receptive fields.

    PubMed

    Kozlov, Andrei S; Gentner, Timothy Q

    2016-02-02

    High-level neurons processing complex, behaviorally relevant signals are sensitive to conjunctions of features. Characterizing the receptive fields of such neurons is difficult with standard statistical tools, however, and the principles governing their organization remain poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate multiple distinct receptive-field features in individual high-level auditory neurons in a songbird, European starling, in response to natural vocal signals (songs). We then show that receptive fields with similar characteristics can be reproduced by an unsupervised neural network trained to represent starling songs with a single learning rule that enforces sparseness and divisive normalization. We conclude that central auditory neurons have composite receptive fields that can arise through a combination of sparseness and normalization in neural circuits. Our results, along with descriptions of random, discontinuous receptive fields in the central olfactory neurons in mammals and insects, suggest general principles of neural computation across sensory systems and animal classes.

  6. Influential Factors in Incomplete Acquisition and Attrition of Young Heritage Speakers' Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gharibi, Khadijeh; Boers, Frank

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates whether young heritage speakers, either simultaneous or sequential bilinguals, have limited vocabulary knowledge in their family language compared to matched monolingual counterparts and, if so, what factors help to account for this difference. These factors include age, age at emigration, length of emigration, frequency of…

  7. AAC intervention using a VOCA for deaf children with multiple disabilities who received cochlear implantation.

    PubMed

    Lee, Youngmee; Jeong, Sung-Wook; Kim, Lee-Suk

    2013-12-01

    The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of a new habilitation approach, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) intervention using a voice output communication aid (VOCA), in improving speech perception, speech production, receptive vocabulary skills, and communicative behaviors in children with cochlear implants (CIs) who had multiple disabilities. Five children with mental retardation and/or cerebral palsy who had used CIs over two years were included in this study. Five children in the control group were matched to children who had AAC intervention on the basis of the type/severity of their additional disabilities and chronological age. They had limited oral communication skills after cochlear implantation because of their limited cognition and oromotor function. The children attended the AAC intervention with parents once a week for 6 months. We evaluated their performance using formal tests, including the monosyllabic word tests, the articulation test, and the receptive vocabulary test. We also assessed parent-child interactions. We analyzed the data using a one-group pretest and posttest design. The mean scores of the formal tests performed in these children improved from 26% to 48% in the phoneme scores of the monosyllabic word tests, from 17% to 35% in the articulation test, and from 11 to 18.4 in the receptive vocabulary test after AAC intervention (all p < .05). Some children in the control group showed improvement in the speech perception, speech production, and receptive vocabulary tests for 6 months, but the differences did not achieve statistical significance (all p > .05). The frequency of spontaneous communicative behaviors (i.e., vocalization, gestures, and words) and imitative words significantly increased after AAC intervention (p < .05). AAC intervention using a VOCA was very useful and effective on improving communicative skills in children with multiple disabilities who had very limited oral communication skills after

  8. The Effect of Teaching Vocabulary through Semantic Mapping on EFL Learners' Awareness of the Affective Dimensions of Deep Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nilforoushan, Somayeh

    2012-01-01

    This study focused on the effect of teaching vocabulary through semantic mapping on the awareness of two affective dimensions, evaluation and potency dimensions of deep vocabulary knowledge as well as the general vocabulary knowledge of EFL students. Sixty intermediate EFL female adult learners participated in this study; they were chosen among 90…

  9. The Effectiveness of a Programme-Based Vocabulary Learning Strategies for Developing English Vocabulary for EFL Female Students at Taif University

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ismaiel, Nasrah Mahmoud; Al Asmari, AbdulRahman Awadh

    2017-01-01

    The study of vocabulary can be considered a chief issue which the second language students encounter within the learning of another language especially, for non-English major students. This study aims at assessing the influence of a suggested program for enhancing EFL students` vocabulary and vocabulary learning strategies use. The sample of this…

  10. German Schools Abroad: Hotspots of Elite Multilingualism?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sander, Anne E; Admiraal, Wilfried

    2016-01-01

    While multilingualism itself is a widely analyzed topic, a study about multilingualism at German schools abroad is so far unique. This quantitative study investigates the differences in the size of German expressive and receptive vocabulary between monolingual and multilingual students, aged between 5 and 11 years. A cohort of 65 multilingual…

  11. Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Knowledge Using a Temporal Method

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tanabe, Masayuki

    2016-01-01

    The present study addressed the role of speed as a factor in tests of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, presupposing that speed of performance is important in actual language use. Research questions were: (a) Do learners with a larger vocabulary size answer faster on an L2 vocabulary breadth test than smaller vocabulary sized learners?;…

  12. Prediction and selection of vocabulary for two leisure activities.

    PubMed

    Dark, Leigha; Balandin, Susan

    2007-01-01

    People who use augmentative or alternative communication (AAC) need access to a relevant, socially valid vocabulary if they are to communicate successfully in a variety of contexts. Many people with complex communication needs who utilize some form of high technology or low technology AAC rely on others to predict and select vocabulary for them. In this study the ability of one speech pathologist, nine leisure support workers, and six people with cerebral palsy to accurately predict context-specific vocabulary was explored. Participants predicted vocabulary for two leisure activities - sailing session and Internet café - using the blank page method of vocabulary selection to identify the vocabulary items they considered important for each activity. This predicted vocabulary was then compared with the actual vocabulary used in each of the activities. A total of 187 (68%) of the words predicted for the sailing session were used during recorded conversations, with 88 words (32%) not appearing in the recorded samples. During the visit to the Internet café only 104 (47%) of the words predicted occurred in the recorded samples, with 117 words (53%) not occurring at all. These results support the need to socially validate any vocabulary in order to ensure that it is relevant and useful for the person using the AAC system.

  13. Using Purposefully Created Stories to Teach Academic Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Changnam; Roberts, Carly; Coffey, Debra

    2017-01-01

    Students' knowledge of vocabulary affects their reading comprehension. Despite abundant research findings in vocabulary learning, practical instructional methods for use in schools are typically underdeveloped. This article proposes a research-based method for teaching the meanings of base academic vocabulary (i.e., Tier 2) words. The method…

  14. Using PDA for Undergraduate Student Incidental Vocabulary Testing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Song, Yanjie; Fox, Robert

    2008-01-01

    Recent studies have explored English vocabulary learning in environments where students used mobile technologies for prescribed vocabulary learning tasks, or tested designed personalized learning systems to enhance student vocabulary learning for short periods of time in language related courses. Dictionary use via mobile devices has mostly been…

  15. Effects of Vocabulary Size on Online Lexical Processing by Preschoolers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Law, Franzo, II; Edwards, Jan R.

    2015-01-01

    This study was designed to investigate the relationship between vocabulary size and the speed and accuracy of lexical processing in preschoolers between the ages of 30 and 46 months using an automatic eye tracking task based on the looking-while-listening paradigm (Fernald, Zangl, Portillo, & Marchman, 2008) and mispronunciation paradigm…

  16. How Does L1 and L2 Exposure Impact L1 Performance in Bilingual Children? Evidence from Polish-English Migrants to the United Kingdom

    PubMed Central

    Haman, Ewa; Wodniecka, Zofia; Marecka, Marta; Szewczyk, Jakub; Białecka-Pikul, Marta; Otwinowska, Agnieszka; Mieszkowska, Karolina; Łuniewska, Magdalena; Kołak, Joanna; Miękisz, Aneta; Kacprzak, Agnieszka; Banasik, Natalia; Foryś-Nogala, Małgorzata

    2017-01-01

    Most studies on bilingual language development focus on children’s second language (L2). Here, we investigated first language (L1) development of Polish-English early migrant bilinguals in four domains: vocabulary, grammar, phonological processing, and discourse. We first compared Polish language skills between bilinguals and their Polish non-migrant monolingual peers, and then investigated the influence of the cumulative exposure to L1 and L2 on bilinguals’ performance. We then examined whether high exposure to L1 could possibly minimize the gap between monolinguals and bilinguals. We analyzed data from 233 typically developing children (88 bilingual and 145 monolingual) aged 4;0 to 7;5 (years;months) on six language measures in Polish: receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, receptive grammar, productive grammar (sentence repetition), phonological processing (non-word repetition), and discourse abilities (narration). Information about language exposure was obtained via parental questionnaires. For each language task, we analyzed the data from the subsample of bilinguals who had completed all the tasks in question and from monolinguals matched one-on-one to the bilingual group on age, SES (measured by years of mother’s education), gender, non-verbal IQ, and short-term memory. The bilingual children scored lower than monolinguals in all language domains, except discourse. The group differences were more pronounced on the productive tasks (vocabulary, grammar, and phonological processing) and moderate on the receptive tasks (vocabulary and grammar). L1 exposure correlated positively with the vocabulary size and phonological processing. Grammar scores were not related to the levels of L1 exposure, but were predicted by general cognitive abilities. L2 exposure negatively influenced productive grammar in L1, suggesting possible L2 transfer effects on L1 grammatical performance. Children’s narrative skills benefitted from exposure to two languages: both L1

  17. Real-time processing in picture naming in adults who stutter: ERP evidence

    PubMed Central

    Maxfield, Nathan D.; Morris, Kalie; Frisch, Stefan A.; Morphew, Kathryn; Constantine, Joseph L.

    2014-01-01

    Objective The aim was to compare real-time language/cognitive processing in picture naming in adults who stutter (AWS) versus typically-fluent adults (TFA). Methods Participants named pictures preceded by masked prime words. Primes and target picture labels were Identical or mismatched. Priming effects on naming and picture-elicited ERP activity were analyzed. Vocabulary knowledge correlations with these measures were assessed. Results Priming improved naming RTs and accuracy in both groups. RTs were longer for AWS, and correlated positively with receptive vocabulary in TFA. Electrophysiologically, posterior-P1 amplitude negatively correlated with expressive vocabulary in TFA versus receptive vocabulary in AWS. Frontal/temporal-P1 amplitude correlated positively with expressive vocabulary in AWS. Identity priming enhanced frontal/posterior-N2 amplitude in both groups, and attenuated P280 amplitude in AWS. N400 priming was topographically-restricted in AWS. Conclusions Results suggest that conceptual knowledge was perceptually-grounded in expressive vocabulary in TFA versus receptive vocabulary in AWS. Poorer expressive vocabulary in AWS was potentially associated with greater suppression of irrelevant conceptual information. Priming enhanced N2-indexed cognitive control and visual attention in both groups. P280-indexed focal attention attenuated with priming in AWS only. Topographically-restricted N400 priming suggests that lemma/word form connections were weaker in AWS. Significance Real-time language/cognitive processing in picture naming operates differently in AWS. PMID:24910149

  18. Ontology Based Vocabulary Matching for Oceanographic Instruments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Yu; Shepherd, Adam; Chandler, Cyndy; Arko, Robert; Leadbetter, Adam

    2014-05-01

    Data integration act as the preliminary entry point as we enter the era of big data in many scientific domains. However the reusefulness of various dataset has met the hurdle due to different initial of interests of different parties, therefore different vocabularies in describing similar or semantically related concepts. In this scenario it is vital to devise an automatic or semi-supervised algorithm to facilitate the convergence of different vocabularies. The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP) seeks to increase data sharing across scientific domains and international boundaries by providing a forum to harmonize diverse regional data systems. ODIP participants from the US include the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) program, whose mission is to capture, catalog, and describe the underway/environmental sensor data from US oceanographic research vessels and submit the data to public long-term archives. In an attempt to harmonize these regional data systems, especially vocabularies, R2R recognizes the value of the SeaDataNet vocabularies served by the NERC Vocabulary Server (NVS) hosted at the British Oceanographic Data Centre as a trusted, authoritative source for describing many oceanographic research concepts such as instrumentation. In this work, we make use of the semantic relations in the vocabularies served by NVS to build a Bayesian network and take advantage of the idea of entropy in evaluating the correlation between different concepts and keywords. The performance of the model is evaluated against matching instruments from R2R against the SeaDataNet instrument vocabularies based on calculated confidence scores in the instrument pairings. These pairings with their scores can then be analyzed for assertion growing the interoperability of the R2R vocabulary through its links to the SeaDataNet entities.

  19. Fundamental Vocabulary Selection Based on Word Familiarity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sato, Hiroshi; Kasahara, Kaname; Kanasugi, Tomoko; Amano, Shigeaki

    This paper proposes a new method for selecting fundamental vocabulary. We are presently constructing the Fundamental Vocabulary Knowledge-base of Japanese that contains integrated information on syntax, semantics and pragmatics, for the purposes of advanced natural language processing. This database mainly consists of a lexicon and a treebank: Lexeed (a Japanese Semantic Lexicon) and the Hinoki Treebank. Fundamental vocabulary selection is the first step in the construction of Lexeed. The vocabulary should include sufficient words to describe general concepts for self-expandability, and should not be prohibitively large to construct and maintain. There are two conventional methods for selecting fundamental vocabulary. The first is intuition-based selection by experts. This is the traditional method for making dictionaries. A weak point of this method is that the selection strongly depends on personal intuition. The second is corpus-based selection. This method is superior in objectivity to intuition-based selection, however, it is difficult to compile a sufficiently balanced corpora. We propose a psychologically-motivated selection method that adopts word familiarity as the selection criterion. Word familiarity is a rating that represents the familiarity of a word as a real number ranging from 1 (least familiar) to 7 (most familiar). We determined the word familiarity ratings statistically based on psychological experiments over 32 subjects. We selected about 30,000 words as the fundamental vocabulary, based on a minimum word familiarity threshold of 5. We also evaluated the vocabulary by comparing its word coverage with conventional intuition-based and corpus-based selection over dictionary definition sentences and novels, and demonstrated the superior coverage of our lexicon. Based on this, we conclude that the proposed method is superior to conventional methods for fundamental vocabulary selection.

  20. Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics.

    PubMed

    Haebig, Eileen; Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Ellis Weismer, Susan

    2015-12-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) often have immature lexical-semantic knowledge; however, the organization of lexical-semantic knowledge is poorly understood. This study examined lexical processing in school-age children with ASD, SLI, and typical development, who were matched on receptive vocabulary. Children completed a lexical decision task, involving words with high and low semantic network sizes and nonwords. Children also completed nonverbal updating and shifting tasks. Children responded more accurately to words from high than from low semantic networks; however, follow-up analyses identified weaker semantic network effects in the SLI group. Additionally, updating and shifting abilities predicted lexical processing, demonstrating similarity in the mechanisms which underlie semantic processing in children with ASD, SLI, and typical development.

  1. Lexical Processing in School-Age Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Children with Specific Language Impairment: The Role of Semantics

    PubMed Central

    Haebig, Eileen; Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Weismer, Susan Ellis

    2016-01-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and specific language impairment (SLI) often have immature lexical-semantic knowledge; however, the organization of lexical-semantic knowledge is poorly understood. This study examined lexical processing in school-age children with ASD, SLI, and typical development, who were matched on receptive vocabulary. Children completed a lexical decision task, involving words with high and low semantic network sizes and nonwords. Children also completed nonverbal updating and shifting tasks. Children responded more accurately to words from high than from low semantic networks; however, follow-up analyses identified weaker semantic network effects in the SLI group. Additionally, updating and shifting abilities predicted lexical processing, demonstrating similarity in the mechanisms which underlie semantic processing in children with ASD, SLI, and typical development. PMID:26210517

  2. Utilizing OODB schema modeling for vocabulary management.

    PubMed Central

    Gu, H.; Cimino, J. J.; Halper, M.; Geller, J.; Perl, Y.

    1996-01-01

    Comprehension of complex controlled vocabularies is often difficult. We present a method, facilitated by an object-oriented database, for depicting such a vocabulary (the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) from the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center) in a schematic way which uses a sparse inheritance network of area classes. The resulting Object Oriented Health Vocabulary repository (OOHVR) allows visualization of the 43,000 MED concepts as 90 area classes. This view has provided valuable information to those responsible with maintaining the MED. As a result, the MED organization has been improved and some previously-unrecognized errors and inconsistencies have been removed. We believe that this schematic approach allows improved comprehension of the gestalt of large controlled medical vocabulary. PMID:8947671

  3. Perisaccadic Receptive Field Expansion in the Lateral Intraparietal Area.

    PubMed

    Wang, Xiaolan; Fung, C C Alan; Guan, Shaobo; Wu, Si; Goldberg, Michael E; Zhang, Mingsha

    2016-04-20

    Humans and monkeys have access to an accurate representation of visual space despite a constantly moving eye. One mechanism by which the brain accomplishes this is by remapping visual receptive fields around the time of a saccade. In this process a neuron can be excited by a probe stimulus in the current receptive field, and also simultaneously by a probe stimulus in the location that will be brought into the neuron's receptive field by the saccade (the future receptive field), even before saccade begins. Here we show that perisaccadic neuronal excitability is not limited to the current and future receptive fields but encompasses the entire region of visual space across which the current receptive field will be swept by the saccade. A computational model shows that this receptive field expansion is consistent with the propagation of a wave of activity across the cerebral cortex as saccade planning and remapping proceed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Distributed acoustic receptivity in laminar flow control configurations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Choudhari, Meelan

    1992-01-01

    A model problem related to distributed receptivity to free-stream acoustic waves in laminar flow control (LFC) configurations is studied, within the Orr-Sommerfield framework, by a suitable extension of the Goldstein-Ruban theory for receptivity due to localized disturbances on the airfoil surface. The results, thus, complement the earlier work on the receptivity produced by local variations in the surface suction and/or surface admittance. In particular, we show that the cumulative effect of the distributed receptivity can be substantially larger than that of a single, isolated suction strip or slot. Furthermore, even if the receptivity is spread out over very large distances, the most effective contributions come from a relatively short region in vicinity of the lower branch of the neutral stability curve. The length scale of this region is intermediate to that of the mean of these two length scales. Finally, it is found that the receptivity is effectively dominated by a narrow band of Fourier components from the wall-suction and admittance distributions, roughly corresponding to a detuning of less than ten percent with respect to the neutral instability wavenumber at the frequency under consideration. The results suggest that the drop-off in receptivity magnitudes away from the resonant wavenumber is nearly independent of the frequency parameter.

  5. Parenting Supports for Early Vocabulary Development: Specific Effects of Sensitivity and Stimulation through Infancy

    PubMed Central

    Vallotton, Claire; Mastergeorge, Ann; Foster, Tricia; Decker, Kalli B.; Ayoub, Catherine

    2016-01-01

    Growing recognition of disparities in early childhood language environments prompt examination of parent-child interactions which support vocabulary. Research links parental sensitivity and cognitive stimulation to child language, but has not explicitly contrasted their effects, nor examined how effects may change over time. We examined maternal sensitivity and stimulation throughout infancy using two observational methods – ratings of parents’ interaction qualities, and coding of discrete parenting behaviors - to assess the relative importance of these qualities to child vocabulary over time, and determine whether mothers make related changes in response to children’s development. Participants were 146 infants and mothers, assessed when infants were 14, 24, and 36 months. At 14 months, sensitivity had a stronger effect on vocabulary than did stimulation, but the effect of stimulation grew throughout toddlerhood. Mothers’ cognitive stimulation grew over time, whereas sensitivity remained stable. While discrete parenting behaviors changed with child age, there was no evidence of trade-offs between sensitive and stimulating behaviors, and no evidence that sensitivity moderated the effect of stimulation on child vocabulary. Findings demonstrate specificity of timing in the link between parenting qualities and child vocabulary which could inform early parent interventions, and supports a reconceptualization of the nature and measurement of parental sensitivity. PMID:28111526

  6. Teaching Vocabulary through Poetry in an EFL Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ozen, Baki; Mohammadzadeh, Behbood

    2012-01-01

    This study has been conducted to investigate the effectiveness of using poetry to teach vocabulary in a foreign language classroom. It aims to find answers to two research questions (1) "Do the learners enhance more extensive vocabulary knowledge by means of poetry-based vocabulary teaching activities than the traditional coursebook…

  7. Assessing cognitive functioning in females with Rett syndrome by eye-tracking methodology.

    PubMed

    Ahonniska-Assa, Jaana; Polack, Orli; Saraf, Einat; Wine, Judy; Silberg, Tamar; Nissenkorn, Andreea; Ben-Zeev, Bruria

    2018-01-01

    While many individuals with severe developmental impairments learn to communicate with augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) devices, a significant number of individuals show major difficulties in the effective use of AAC. Recent technological innovations, i.e., eye-tracking technology (ETT), aim to improve the transparency of communication and may also enable a more valid cognitive assessment. To investigate whether ETT in forced-choice tasks can enable children with very severe motor and speech impairments to respond consistently, allowing a more reliable evaluation of their language comprehension. Participants were 17 girls with Rett syndrome (M = 6:06 years). Their ability to respond by eye gaze was first practiced with computer games using ETT. Afterwards, their receptive vocabulary was assessed using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4 (PPVT-4). Target words were orally presented and participants responded by focusing their eyes on the preferred picture. Remarkable differences between the participants in receptive vocabulary were demonstrated using ETT. The verbal comprehension abilities of 32% of the participants ranged from low-average to mild cognitive impairment, and the other 68% of the participants showed moderate to severe impairment. Young age at the time of assessment was positively correlated with higher receptive vocabulary. The use of ETT seems to make the communicational signals of children with severe motor and communication impairments more easily understood. Early practice of ETT may improve the quality of communication and enable more reliable conclusions in learning and assessment sessions. Copyright © 2017 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Association Between Receptivity to Tobacco Advertising and Progression to Tobacco Use in Youth and Young Adults in the PATH Study.

    PubMed

    Pierce, John P; Sargent, James D; Portnoy, David B; White, Martha; Noble, Madison; Kealey, Sheila; Borek, Nicolette; Carusi, Charles; Choi, Kelvin; Green, Victoria R; Kaufman, Annette R; Leas, Eric; Lewis, M Jane; Margolis, Katherine A; Messer, Karen; Shi, Yuyan; Silveira, Marushka L; Snyder, Kimberly; Stanton, Cassandra A; Tanski, Susanne E; Bansal-Travers, Maansi; Trinidad, Dennis; Hyland, Andrew

    2018-03-26

    Cigarette marketing contributes to initiation of cigarette smoking among young people, which has led to restrictions on use of cigarette advertising. However, little is known about other tobacco advertising and progression to tobacco use in youth and young adults. To investigate whether receptivity to tobacco advertising among youth and young adults is associated with progression (being a susceptible never user or ever user) to use of the product advertised, as well as conventional cigarette smoking. The Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study at wave 1 (2013-2014) and 1-year follow-up at wave 2 (2014-2015) was conducted in a US population-based sample of never tobacco users aged 12 to 24 years from wave 1 of the PATH Study (N = 10 989). Household interviews using audio computer-assisted self-interviews were conducted. Advertising for conventional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), cigars, and smokeless tobacco products at wave 1. Progression to susceptibility or ever tobacco use at 1-year follow-up in wave 2. Of the 10 989 participants (5410 male [weighted percentage, 48.3%]; 5579 female [weighted percentage, 51.7%]), receptivity to any tobacco advertising at wave 1 was high for those aged 12 to 14 years (44.0%; 95% confidence limit [CL], 42.6%-45.4%) but highest for those aged 18 to 21 years (68.7%; 95% CL, 64.9%-72.2%). e-Cigarette advertising had the highest receptivity among all age groups. For those aged 12 to 17 years, susceptibility to use a product at wave 1 was significantly associated with product use at wave 2 for conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco products. Among committed never users aged 12 to 17 years at wave 1, any receptivity was associated with progression toward use of the product at wave 2 (conventional cigarettes: adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 1.43; 95% CL, 1.23-1.65; e-cigarettes: AOR, 1.62; 95% CL, 1.41-1.85; cigars: AOR, 2.01; 95% CL, 1.62-2.49; and smokeless (males only

  9. The New Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III: An Illusion of Unbiased Assessment?

    PubMed

    Stockman, Ida J

    2000-10-01

    This article examines whether changes in the ethnic minority composition of the standardization sample for the latest edition of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III, Dunn & Dunn, 1997) can be used as the sole explanation for children's better test scores when compared to an earlier edition, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R, Dunn & Dunn, 1981). Results from a comparative analysis of these two test editions suggest that other factors may explain improved performances. Among these factors are the number of words and age levels sampled, the types of words and pictures used, and characteristics of the standardization sample other than its ethnic minority composition. This analysis also raises questions regarding the usefulness of converting scores from one edition to the other and the type of criteria that could be used to evaluate whether the PPVT-III is an unbiased test of vocabulary for children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

  10. Verbal Fluency and Verbal Short-Term Memory in Adults with Down Syndrome and Unspecified Intellectual Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stavroussi, Panayiota; Andreou, Georgia; Karagiannopoulou, Dimitra

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine verbal fluency and verbal short-term memory in 12 adults with Down syndrome (DS) and 12 adults with Intellectual Disability (ID) of unspecified origin, matched for receptive vocabulary and chronological age. Participants' performance was assessed on two conditions of a verbal fluency test, namely, semantic…

  11. Development of Mandarin spoken language after pediatric cochlear implantation.

    PubMed

    Li, Bei; Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Li, Gang; Meng, Zhaoli

    2014-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate early spoken language development in young Mandarin-speaking children during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation, as measured by receptive and expressive vocabulary growth rates. Growth rates were compared with those of normally hearing children and with growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants. Receptive and expressive vocabularies were measured with the simplified short form (SSF) version of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) in a sample of 112 pediatric implant recipients at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implantation. Implant ages ranged from 1 to 5 years. Scores were expressed in terms of normal equivalent ages, allowing normalized vocabulary growth rates to be determined. Scores for English-speaking children were re-expressed in these terms, allowing direct comparisons of Mandarin and English early spoken language development. Vocabulary growth rates during the first 12 months after implantation were similar to those for normally hearing children less than 16 months of age. Comparisons with growth rates for normally hearing children 16-30 months of age showed that the youngest implant age group (1-2 years) had an average growth rate of 0.68 that of normally hearing children; while the middle implant age group (2-3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.65; and the oldest implant age group (>3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.56, significantly less than the other two rates. Growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants were 0.68 in the youngest group, 0.54 in the middle group, and 0.57 in the oldest group. Growth rates in the middle implant age groups for the two languages differed significantly. The SSF version of the MCDI is suitable for assessment of Mandarin language development during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation. Effects of implant age and duration of implantation can be compared directly across

  12. Comparing Multidimensional and Continuum Models of Vocabulary Acquisition: An Empirical Examination of the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stewart, Jeffrey; Batty, Aaron Olaf; Bovee, Nicholas

    2012-01-01

    Second language vocabulary acquisition has been modeled both as multidimensional in nature and as a continuum wherein the learner's knowledge of a word develops along a cline from recognition through production. In order to empirically examine and compare these models, the authors assess the degree to which the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS;…

  13. Vocabulary Notebook: A Digital Solution to General and Specific Vocabulary Learning Problems in a CLIL Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bazo, Plácido; Rodríguez, Romén; Fumero, Dácil

    2016-01-01

    In this paper, we will introduce an innovative software platform that can be especially useful in a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) context. This tool is called Vocabulary Notebook, and has been developed to solve all the problems that traditional (paper) vocabulary notebooks have. This tool keeps focus on the personalisation of…

  14. Using New Vocabulary in Writing: Exploring How Word and Learner Characteristics Relate to the Likelihood That Writers Use Newly Taught Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dobbs, Christina L.; Kearns, Devin

    2016-01-01

    Understanding academic vocabulary is essential to student success in school. Use of academic vocabulary words in writing is considered one of the strongest measures of how well a reader understands a given word. In theory, willingness to use academic vocabulary in writing indicates the complexity of acquiring representations of the word's…

  15. Experimentally Induced Increases in Early Gesture Lead to Increases in Spoken Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LeBarton, Eve Sauer; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Raudenbush, Stephen

    2015-01-01

    Differences in vocabulary that children bring with them to school can be traced back to the gestures they produced at the age of 1;2, which, in turn, can be traced back to the gestures their parents produced at the same age (Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009a). We ask here whether child gesture can be experimentally increased and, if so, whether the…

  16. Elementary Preservice Teachers' Science Vocabulary: Knowledge and Application

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Carrier, Sarah J.

    2013-01-01

    Science vocabulary knowledge plays a role in understanding science concepts, and science knowledge is measured in part by correct use of science vocabulary (Lee et al. in "J Res Sci Teach" 32(8):797-816, 1995). Elementary school students have growing vocabularies and many are learning English as a secondary language or depend on schools to learn…

  17. Implementing an Online Vocabulary Training Program

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robertson, Charles E.

    2015-01-01

    Although vocabulary acquisition research has shed much light on practical methods for increasing lexical knowledge (Nation, 1994), many foreign language teachers hesitate to implement focused vocabulary-training programs in their classrooms. The reasons most often cited for this hesitation are associated with the difficult tasks of creating,…

  18. A Practical Approach to Vocabulary Reinforcement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stieglitz, Ezra L.

    1983-01-01

    Techniques of semantic feature analysis are applied to exploration and reinforcement of vocabulary. Students are presented with categories of familiar items and asked to describe their characteristics. The method can be used to elicit sentences, reinforce existing vocabulary, and begin discussion. Sample exercises for several difficulty levels are…

  19. Vocabulary Acquisition: Implications for Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wagner, Richard K., Ed.; Muse, Andrea E., Ed.; Tannenbaum, Kendra R., Ed.

    2006-01-01

    Understanding a text requires more than the ability to read individual words: it depends greatly on vocabulary knowledge. This important book brings together leading literacy scholars to synthesize cutting-edge research on vocabulary development and its connections to reading comprehension. The volume also reviews an array of approaches to…

  20. Vocabulary: The Key to Teaching English Language Learners to Read

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wallace, Christopher

    2008-01-01

    The greatest challenge inhibiting the ability of English-language learners (ELLs) to read at the appropriate grade level is perhaps a lack of sufficient vocabulary development. While extensive reading is beneficial, these students must acquire the necessary vocabulary in order to read extensively. Both vocabulary breadth and vocabulary depth are…

  1. Conceptual Scoring and Classification Accuracy of Vocabulary Testing in Bilingual Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anaya, Jissel B.; Peña, Elizabeth D.; Bedore, Lisa M.

    2018-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the effects of single-language and conceptual scoring on the vocabulary performance of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment. We assessed classification accuracy across 3 scoring methods. Method: Participants included Spanish-English bilingual children (N = 247) aged 5;1 (years;months) to…

  2. Language, gay pornography, and audience reception.

    PubMed

    Leap, William L

    2011-01-01

    Erotic imagery is an important component of gay pornographic cinema, particularly, where work of audience reception is concerned. However, to assume the audience engagement with the films is limited solely to the erotic realm is to underestimate the workings of ideological power in the context and aftermath of reception. For example, the director of the film under discussion here (Men of Israel; Lucas, 2009b) intended to present an erotic celebration of the nation-state. Yet, most viewers ignore the particulars of context in their comments about audience reception, placing the "Israeli" narrative within a broader framework, using transnational rather than film-specific criteria to guide their "reading" of the Israeli-centered narrative. This article uses as its entry point the language that viewers employ when describing their reactions to Men of Israel on a gay video club's Web site; this article shows how the work of audience reception may draw attention to a film's erotic details while invoking social and political messages that completely reframe the film's erotic narrative.

  3. Fostering Academic Vocabulary Use in Writing

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brun-Mercer, Nicole; Zimmerman, Cheryl Boyd

    2015-01-01

    Though research has established a relationship between vocabulary knowledge and academic success and identified features to guide the L2 word learner through academic tasks (see Nation, 2013), less is known regarding student perceptions of academic vocabulary and the conscious decision-making process of these learners while they are writing. In…

  4. Predicting Contextual Informativeness for Vocabulary Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kapelner, Adam; Soterwood, Jeanine; Nessaiver, Shalev; Adlof, Suzanne

    2018-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is essential to educational progress. High quality vocabulary instruction requires supportive contextual examples to teach word meaning and proper usage. Identifying such contexts by hand for a large number of words can be difficult. In this work, we take a statistical learning approach to engineer a system that predicts…

  5. Improving Vocabulary Development Through Balanced Literacy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mlakar-Hillig, Mary Ellen; Malvin, Pam; Troy, Leonora

    This report describes a program for improving vocabulary development thorough balanced literacy. The targeted population consisted of three elementary classrooms in a community located in a southern suburb of Chicago. A lack of vocabulary knowledge that interfered with student academic success was documented in state and standardized test results,…

  6. Task complexity, student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL, and task performance.

    PubMed

    Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

    2013-03-01

    The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine-tuned task-specific level. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-efficacy beliefs, domain-related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Participants were 120 second-year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants' prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self-efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post-tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self-efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self-efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Our findings indicate that students' prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self-efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self-efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

  7. Finiteness Marking in Boys with Fragile X Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sterling, Audra M.; Rice, Mabel L.; Warren, Steven F.

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The current study investigated finiteness marking (e.g., he walk "s", he walk "ed") in boys with fragile X syndrome (FXS); the boys were grouped based on receptive vocabulary (i.e., borderline, impaired). Method: Twenty-one boys with the full mutation of fragile X, between the ages of 8 and 16 years participated. The…

  8. Examining a Brief Measure of Parent Involvement in Children's Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lau, Won-Fong K.

    2013-01-01

    The current study is a preliminary investigation of the psychometric properties of a brief seven-item Parent Involvement Survey (PIS) as developed by the researcher, that could potentially be used in schools. In an effort to test for construct validity, the relation of the PIS to elementary-aged students' receptive vocabulary skills and four…

  9. Do Children Believe in Their Own Believability?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hulse-Trotter, Katherine; Warren, Amye R.

    Motivational and cognitive aspects of children's reports of an event to which they were the only "witness" and the prime "suspect" were examined. Subjects were 67 children of 3 to 10 years of age. After a test and play session to assess the children's receptive vocabulary and their understanding of the term "believe,"…

  10. Tip-of-the-Tongue and Word Retrieval Deficits in Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hanly, Sarah; Vandenberg, Brian

    2010-01-01

    Tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) responses on a picture-naming task were used to test the hypothesis that dyslexia involves phonological, but not semantic, processing deficits. Participants included 16 children with dyslexia and 31 control children between 8 and 10 years of age who did not differ in receptive vocabulary. As hypothesized, children with…

  11. Sentence Imitation as a Marker of SLI in Czech: Disproportionate Impairment of Verbs and Clitics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smolík, Filip; Vávru, Petra

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: The authors examined sentence imitation as a potential clinical marker of specific language impairment (SLI) in Czech and its use to identify grammatical markers of SLI. Method: Children with SLI and the age-and language-matched control groups (total N = 57) were presented with a sentence imitation task, a receptive vocabulary task, and…

  12. The Impact of Teacher Study Groups in Vocabulary on Teaching Practice, Teacher Knowledge, and Student Vocabulary Knowledge: A Large-Scale Replication Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jayanthi, Madhavi; Dimino, Joseph; Gersten, Russell; Taylor, Mary Jo; Haymond, Kelly; Smolkowski, Keith; Newman-Gonchar, Rebecca

    2018-01-01

    The purpose of this replication study was to examine the impact of the Teacher Study Group (TSG) professional development in vocabulary on first-grade teachers' knowledge of vocabulary instruction and observed teaching practice, and on students' vocabulary knowledge. Sixty-two schools from 16 districts in four states were randomly assigned to…

  13. An Affirmative Approach to Vocabulary Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shioji, Jean

    Methods for second language vocabulary development in the intermediate and advanced level English classroom are described. Rather than require students to memorize lists of words, the teacher should give students a better understanding of the process of vocabulary development by showing them how to refine their use of new lexical items and implant…

  14. Intentional Vocabulary Learning Using Digital Flashcards

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hung, Hsiu-Ting

    2015-01-01

    As an attempt to follow through on the claims made by proponents of intentional vocabulary learning, the present study set out to examine whether and how digital flashcards can be incorporated into a university course to promote the vocabulary learning of English language learners. The overall research findings underscore the value of learning…

  15. Benefiting from Listening in Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bulut, Berker; Karasakaloglu, Nuri

    2017-01-01

    In this research, the effect of active listening training given to fourth grade students on their vocabulary was examined. Pre-test--post-test control group trial model, which is one of the semi-experimental trial models, was used. Besides, "Vocabulary Test" developed by the researcher was applied to experimental and control groups…

  16. Depression. Does it affect the comprehension of receptive skills?

    PubMed

    Rashtchi, Mojgan; Zokaee, Zahra; Ghaffarinejad, Ali R; Sadeghi, Mohammad M

    2012-07-01

    To compare the comprehension of depressed and non-depressed male and female Iranian learners of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in receptive skills, and to investigate whether inefficiency in learning English could be due to depression. We selected 126 boys and 96 girls aged between 15 and 18 by simple random sampling from 2 high schools in Kerman, Iran to examine whether there was any significant relationship between depression and comprehension of receptive skills in males and females. We undertook this descriptive, correlational study between January and May 2011 in Kerman, Iran. After administration of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), we found that 93 students were non-depressed, 65 had minimal depression, 48 mild depression, and 16 suffered from severe depression. The correlation between participants` scores on listening and reading test with depression level indicated a significant relationship between depression and comprehension of both listening, and reading. Males had higher scores in both reading and listening. In listening, there was no significant difference among the levels of depression and males and females. Regarding the reading skill, there was no significant difference among levels of depression; however, the reading comprehension of males and females differed significantly. Learners who show a deficiency in receptive skills should be examined for the possibility of suffering from some degree of depression.

  17. Enhancing Long-Term Retention of New Vocabulary Using Visual Images.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Igelsrud, Karen

    A practicum used a new learning tool to enhance long-term retention of new vocabulary. Sixteen seventh-graders in Language Arts, who had a long-term retention mean score of approximately 40% of newly learned vocabulary, increased their long-term retention of new vocabulary by 25% (a new mean of 65% of new vocabulary). Additional objectives…

  18. Reading English as a Second Language with Vocabulary Definitions: Cognitive Load Effects on Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yeung, Alexander Seeshing

    Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of cognitive load management using vocabulary definitions in reading passages for readers of English as a second language (ESL) with different levels of expertise who were attending school in Hong Kong. Experiment 1 found that vocabulary definitions integrated within a passage (integrated…

  19. Investigating an Intelligent System for Vocabulary Learning through Reading

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stockwell, Glenn

    2013-01-01

    While learners can acquire vocabulary through extensive reading (Pigada & Schmitt, 2006), research suggests that acquisition can be more effective when supplemented with targeted vocabulary activities (e.g., Paribakht & Wesche, 1997). Problems arise, however, in determining what vocabulary learners have acquired, and what items should be…

  20. Tobacco Marketing Receptivity and Other Tobacco Product Use Among Young Adult Bar Patrons.

    PubMed

    Thrul, Johannes; Lisha, Nadra E; Ling, Pamela M

    2016-12-01

    Use of other tobacco products (smokeless tobacco, hookah, cigarillo, and e-cigarettes) is increasing, particularly among young adults, and there are few regulations on marketing for these products. We examined the associations between tobacco marketing receptivity and other tobacco product (OTP) use among young adult bar patrons (aged 18-26 years). Time-location sampling was used to collect cross-sectional surveys from 7,540 young adult bar patrons from January 2012 through March of 2014. Multivariable logistic regression analyses in 2015 examined if tobacco marketing receptivity was associated (1) with current (past 30 day) OTP use controlling for demographic factors and (2) with dual/poly use among current cigarette smokers (n = 3,045), controlling for demographics and nicotine dependence. Among the entire sample of young adult bar patrons (Mean age  = 23.7, standard deviation = 1.8; 48.1% female), marketing receptivity was consistently associated with current use of all OTP including smokeless tobacco (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]= 2.56, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.08-3.16, p < .001), hookah (AOR = 1.97, 95% CI 1.58-2.43, p < .001), cigarillos (AOR = 3.00, 95% CI 2.21-4.08, p < .001), electronic cigarettes (AOR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.93-3.04, p < .001), and multiple tobacco products (AOR = 2.93, 95% CI 2.45-3.51, p < .001). Among current smokers, marketing receptivity was significantly associated with use of smokeless tobacco (AOR = 1.63, 95% CI 1.22-2.18, p < .01), cigarillos (AOR = 1.81, 95% CI 1.22-2.70, p < .01), and multiple tobacco products (AOR = 1.58, 95% CI 1.27-1.97, p < .001). OTP use is common among young adult bar patrons, and it is associated with tobacco marketing receptivity. Efforts to limit tobacco marketing should address OTP in addition to cigarettes. Copyright © 2016 Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Language and False-Belief Task Performance in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

    PubMed

    Jeffrey Farrar, M; Seung, Hye Kyeung; Lee, Hyeonjin

    2017-07-12

    Language is related to false-belief (FB) understanding in both typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study examined the role of complementation and general language in FB understanding. Of interest was whether language plays similar or different roles in the groups' FB performance. Participants were 16 typically developing children (mean age = 5.0 years; mental age = 6.7) and 18 with ASD (mean age = 7.3 years; mental age = 8.3). Children were administered FB and language tasks (say- and think-complements), receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and relative clauses. When mental age and receptive and expressive vocabulary were used as separate covariates, the typical control group outperformed the children with ASD in FB task performance. Chi-square analyses indicated that passing both complementation tasks was linked to the FB understanding of children with ASD. Children with ASD who passed FB tasks all passed say- and think-complement tasks. However, some children in the control group were able to pass the FB tasks, even if they failed the say- and think-complement tasks. The results indicate that children with ASD relied more on complement understanding to pass FB than typically developing children. Results are discussed regarding the developmental pathways for FB understanding.

  2. The Development of the Text Reception Threshold Test: A Visual Analogue of the Speech Reception Threshold Test

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zekveld, Adriana A.; George, Erwin L. J.; Kramer, Sophia E.; Goverts, S. Theo; Houtgast, Tammo

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: In this study, the authors aimed to develop a visual analogue of the widely used Speech Reception Threshold (SRT; R. Plomp & A. M. Mimpen, 1979b) test. The Text Reception Threshold (TRT) test, in which visually presented sentences are masked by a bar pattern, enables the quantification of modality-aspecific variance in speech-in-noise…

  3. Yurok Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bennett, Ruth, Ed.; And Others

    An illustrated vocabulary presents approximately 275 Yurok words organized topically from the Indian perspective to demonstrate the relationship between Yurok Indians and their social and natural worlds. English terms arranged alphabetically within each topic have two accompanying Yurok entries--one a Unifon spelling, the other having syllable…

  4. Children's Reactions to a Children's News Program: Reception, Recognition and Learning.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ward, Sara Ann

    The major objectives of this study were to determine the reception of "In the News" by children within the target audience's ages, to determine if children within the target audience recognize the news program as a program, to determine if children learn from "In the News," and to compare children's learning from hard news…

  5. Application of receptive music therapy in internal medicine and cardiology.

    PubMed

    Marconato, C; Munhoz, E C; Menim, M M; Albach, M T

    2001-08-01

    To investigate the effects of receptive music therapy in clinical practice. Receptive music therapy was individually applied via musical auditions, including five stages: musical stimulation, sensation, situation, reflection, and behavioral alteration. Following anamnesis and obtainment of consent, patients answered a first questionnaire on health risk evaluation (Q1), and after participating in 16 weekly music therapy sessions, answered a second one (Q2). Two men and 8 women, aged above 18 years, referred to us due to symptoms of stress, emotional suffering, and the need to change lifestyles (health risk behavior) were studied between August 1998 and December 1999. Comparison between answers to Q1 and Q2, showed a trend (P=0.059) for reduction of ingestion of cholesterol-rich foods and for increased prospects in life with a tendency towards improvement, and also of increased intake of fiber-rich food (55.6%), increased levels of personal satisfaction (44.5%), and decreased levels of stress (66.7%). The study demonstrated decreased stress levels and increased personal satisfaction, higher consumption of fiber-rich food, lower cholesterol intake, and a better perspective on life, suggesting that receptive music therapy may be applied in clinical practice as an auxiliary therapeutic intervention for the treatment of behavioral health risks.

  6. Pre-adolescent Receptivity to Tobacco Marketing and Its Relationship to Acquiring Friends Who Smoke and Cigarette Smoking Initiation.

    PubMed

    Strong, David R; Messer, Karen; Hartman, Sheri J; Nodora, Jesse; Vera, Lisa; White, Martha M; Leas, Eric; Pharris-Ciurej, Nikolas; Borek, Nicolette; Pierce, John P

    2017-10-01

    This study extends research on receptivity to tobacco marketing over a key developmental period for cigarette smoking experimentation. The purpose of this study was to understand the effect of receptivity to tobacco marketing and exposure to friends who smoke on smoking experimentation. Participants were 10 to 13 years old who had never tried cigarettes (n = 878), interviewed six times at 8-month intervals. At baseline, 25% percent of the 10 and 11 years old in the sample of never smokers were receptive to tobacco marketing, while less than 5% had friends who smoked. Having a friend who smoked at study baseline and acquiring such friends for the first time during the study were the strongest predictors of smoking experimentation. Initial receptivity to tobacco marketing increased the risk of smoking experimentation independently of having friends who smoke at baseline or acquiring friends who smoke throughout the study period. The high level of receptivity observed even among 10 and 11 years old and its robust relationship with cigarette smoking experimentation independent of the significant risk associated with having friends who smoke suggests that successful prevention of receptivity may require intervention at an early age.

  7. The development of a vocabulary for PEEPS-SE-profiles of early expressive phonological skills for Swedish.

    PubMed

    Marklund, Ulrika; Lacerda, Francisco; Persson, Anna; Lohmander, Anette

    2018-04-10

    This paper describes the development of a vocabulary for Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills for Swedish (PEEPS-SE), a tool for assessment of expressive phonology in Swedish-learning children in the age range of 18-36 months. PEEPS-SE is the Swedish version of the original PEEPS, Profiles of Early Expressive Phonological Skills, which uses two age-adequate word lists-a basic word list (BWL) for the assessment of 18-24-month-old children, to which an expanded word list (EWL) is added for assessment of 24-36-month-old children, or children with more than 250 words in their expressive vocabulary. The selection of words in PEEPS-SE is based on two types of criteria: age of acquisition and phonological complexity. The words also need to be easy to elicit in a natural way in test situations. Vocabulary data previously collected with the Swedish Early Communicative Development Inventory are used for selection of age-adequate words, where the BWL contains words acquired earlier compared to the additional words in the EWL. The latter also contains words that are more phonologically complex compared to those in the BWL. Word complexity was determined by the Swedish version of word complexity measure. PEEPS-SE has made an attempt to match the original version of PEEPS in terms of both assessment method and word selection.

  8. Crossword Puzzles as a Learning Tool for Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Orawiwatnakul, Wiwat

    2013-01-01

    Introduction: Since vocabulary is a key basis on which reading achievement depends, various vocabulary acquisition techniques have become pivotal. Among the many teaching approaches, traditional or otherwise, the use of crossword puzzles seems to offer potential and a solution for the problem of learning vocabulary. Method: This study was…

  9. Enhancing Access to Situational Vocabulary by Leveraging Geographic Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patel, Rupal; Radhakrishnan, Rajiv

    2007-01-01

    Users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aids could benefit from novel methods for accelerating access to contextually relevant vocabulary. This paper describes our initial efforts toward improving access to situational vocabulary through the use of geographic context to predict vocabulary. A corpus of spoken data produced by one…

  10. Implicit and Explicit Cognitive Processes in Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ender, Andrea

    2016-01-01

    Studies on vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have revealed that a large amount of vocabulary is learned without an overt intention, in other words, incidentally. This article investigates the relevance of different lexical processing strategies for vocabulary acquisition when reading a text for comprehension among 24 advanced…

  11. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Vocabulary and Reading Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Olson, Richard K.; Keenan, Janice M.; Byrne, Brian; Samuelsson, Stefan; Coventry, William L.; Corley, Robin; Wadsworth, Sally J.; Willcutt, Erik G.; DeFries, John C.; Pennington, Bruce F.; Hulslander, Jacqueline

    2011-01-01

    Genetic and environmental relations between vocabulary and reading skills were explored longitudinally from preschool through Grades 2 and 4. At preschool there were strong shared-environment and weak genetic influences on both vocabulary and print knowledge but substantial differences in their source. Separation of etiology for vocabulary and…

  12. Diversity Networking Reception

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2014-03-01

    Join us at the APS Diversity Reception to relax, network with colleagues, and learn about programs and initiatives for women, underrepresented minorities, and LGBT physicists. You'll have a great time meeting friends in a supportive environment and making connections.

  13. IEDA Thesaurus: A Controlled Vocabulary for IEDA Systems to Advance Integration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ji, P.; Lehnert, K. A.; Arko, R. A.; Song, L.; Hsu, L.; Carter, M. R.; Ferrini, V. L.; Ash, J.

    2014-12-01

    Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA) is a community-based facility that serves to support, sustain, and advance the geosciences by providing data services for observational geoscience data from the Ocean, Earth, and Polar Sciences. Many dedicated systems such as the Petrological Database (PetDB), Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS), System for Earth Sample Registration (SESAR), Data Coordination Center for the U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP-DCC), etc., under the umbrella of the IEDA framework, were developed to support the preservation, discovery, retrieval, and analysis of a wide range of observational field and analytical data types from diverse communities. However, it is currently difficult to maintain consistency of indexing content within IEDA schema, and perform unified or precise searching of the data in these diverse systems as each system maintains separate vocabularies, hierarchies, authority files, or sub taxonomies. We present here the IEDA Thesaurus, a system, which combines existing separate controlled vocabularies from the different systems under the IEDA schema into a single master controlled vocabulary, also introducing some new top facets for future long-term use. The IEDA thesaurus contains structured terminology for petrology, geochemistry, sedimentology, oceanography, geochronology, and volcanology, and other general metadata fields. 18 top facets (also called 'top categories') are defined, including equipment, geographic gazetteer, geologic ages, geologic units, materials, etc. The terms of the thesaurus are cross validated with others popular geoscience vocabularies such as GeoRef Thesaurus, U.S. Geological Survey Library Classification System, Global Change Master Directory (GCMD), and Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) ontologies. The thesaurus is organized along with the ANSI/NISO Z39.19-2005 Guidelines for the Construction, Format, and Management of Monolingual Controlled Vocabularies, and is published using

  14. The Exploring Nature of Vocabulary Acquisition and Common Main Gaps in the Current Studies of Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fazeli, Seyed Hossein

    2012-01-01

    Vocabulary can be a key factor for success, central to a language, and paramount to a language learner. In such situation, the lexicon may be the most important component for learners (Grass and Selinker, 1994), and mastering of vocabulary is an essential component of second/foreign language teaching and learning that has been repeatedly…

  15. Growing Capacity with the Vocabulary of English Language Arts Programs: Vocabulary Megaclusters. Reading Research Report. #11.02

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hiebert, Elfrieda H.

    2011-01-01

    The typical approach to teaching vocabulary in English/Language Arts programs has been to focus on six to eight words per text. Even though these words may add meaning to a particular story, the target words are often rare and their generalizability is limited. The Vocabulary Megaclusters provides a framework for selecting and teaching words…

  16. The Effect of Data-Driven Approach to Teaching Vocabulary on Iranian Students' Learning of English Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barabadi, Elyas; Khajavi, Yaser

    2017-01-01

    Corpus-based data-driven learning (DDL) is an innovation in teaching and learning new vocabulary for EFL students. Using teacher-prepared materials obtained from COCA corpus, the goal of the present study is to compare DDL and traditional methods of teaching vocabulary like consultation of dictionary or a grammar book. As such, two intact classes…

  17. The role of social networks and media receptivity in predicting age of smoking initiation: a proportional hazards model of risk and protective factors.

    PubMed

    Unger, J B; Chen, X

    1999-01-01

    The increasing prevalence of adolescent smoking demonstrates the need to identify factors associated with early smoking initiation. Previous studies have shown that smoking by social network members and receptivity to pro-tobacco marketing are associated with smoking among adolescents. It is not clear, however, whether these variables also are associated with the age of smoking initiation. Using data from 10,030 California adolescents, this study identified significant correlates of age of smoking initiation using bivariate methods and a multivariate proportional hazards model. Age of smoking initiation was earlier among those adolescents whose friends, siblings, or parents were smokers, and among those adolescents who had a favorite tobacco advertisement, had received tobacco promotional items, or would be willing to use tobacco promotional items. Results suggest that the smoking behavior of social network members and pro-tobacco media influences are important determinants of age of smoking initiation. Because early smoking initiation is associated with higher levels of addiction in adulthood, tobacco control programs should attempt to counter these influences.

  18. Auditory, speech and language development in young children with cochlear implants compared with children with normal hearing.

    PubMed

    Schramm, Bianka; Bohnert, Andrea; Keilmann, Annerose

    2010-07-01

    This study had two aims: (1) to document the auditory and lexical development of children who are deaf and received the first cochlear implant (CI) by the age of 16 months and the second CI by the age of 31 months and (2) to compare these children's results with those of children with normal hearing (NH). This longitudinal study included five children with NH and five with sensorineural deafness. All children of the second group were observed for 36 months after the first fitting of the device (cochlear implant). The auditory development of the CI group was documented every 3 months up to the age of two years in hearing age and chronological age and for the NH group in chronological age. The language development of each NH child was assessed at 12, 18, 24 and 36 months of chronological age. Children with CIs were examined at the same age intervals at chronological and hearing age. In both groups, children showed individual patterns of auditory and language development. The children with CIs developed differently in the amount of receptive and expressive vocabulary compared with the NH control group. Three children in the CI group needed almost 6 months to make gains in speech development that were consistent with what would be expected for their chronological age. Overall, the receptive and expressive development in all children of the implanted group increased with their hearing age. These results indicate that early identification and early implantation is advisable to give children with sensorineural hearing loss a realistic chance to develop satisfactory expressive and receptive vocabulary and also to develop stable phonological, morphological and syntactical skills for school life. On the basis of these longitudinal data, we will be able to develop new diagnostic tools that enable clinicians to assess child's progress in hearing and speech development. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Memory Strategy Instruction, Contextual Learning and ESP Vocabulary Recall

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Atay, Derin; Ozbulgan, Cengiz

    2007-01-01

    In the last decades there has been an increasing interest in vocabulary learning strategies given that they are found to facilitate second/foreign language vocabulary learning and recall. As many learners do not develop sufficient mastery of the strategy repertoire, explicit instruction on vocabulary learning strategies may help them to become…

  20. The Influence of Electronic Dictionaries on Vocabulary Knowledge Extension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rezaei, Mojtaba; Davoudi, Mohammad

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary learning needs special strategies in language learning process. The use of dictionaries is a great help in vocabulary learning and nowadays the emergence of electronic dictionaries has added a new and valuable resource for vocabulary learning. The present study aims to explore the influence of Electronic Dictionaries (ED) Vs. Paper…

  1. Computer-Assisted Second Language Vocabulary Instruction: A Meta-Analysis

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chiu, Yi-Hui

    2013-01-01

    There is growing attention to incorporating computer-mediated instruction for language learning and teaching. Specifically, vocabulary is arguably the foundation of mastering a language, as the mastery of vocabulary is the fundamental step of learning a language. Second language (L2) vocabulary is important in the development of cognitive systems…

  2. Do the Effects of Head Start Vary by Parental Preacademic Stimulation?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Elizabeth B.; Farkas, George; Vandell, Deborah Lowe; Duncan, Greg J.

    2014-01-01

    Data from the Head Start Impact Study (N = 3,185, age = 3-4 years) were used to determine whether 1 year of Head Start differentially benefited children from homes with high, middle, and low levels of parental preacademic stimulation on three academic outcome domains--early math, early literacy, and receptive vocabulary. Results from residualized…

  3. Universal and adapted vocabularies for generic visual categorization.

    PubMed

    Perronnin, Florent

    2008-07-01

    Generic Visual Categorization (GVC) is the pattern classification problem which consists in assigning labels to an image based on its semantic content. This is a challenging task as one has to deal with inherent object/scene variations as well as changes in viewpoint, lighting and occlusion. Several state-of-the-art GVC systems use a vocabulary of visual terms to characterize images with a histogram of visual word counts. We propose a novel practical approach to GVC based on a universal vocabulary, which describes the content of all the considered classes of images, and class vocabularies obtained through the adaptation of the universal vocabulary using class-specific data. The main novelty is that an image is characterized by a set of histograms - one per class - where each histogram describes whether the image content is best modeled by the universal vocabulary or the corresponding class vocabulary. This framework is applied to two types of local image features: low-level descriptors such as the popular SIFT and high-level histograms of word co-occurrences in a spatial neighborhood. It is shown experimentally on two challenging datasets (an in-house database of 19 categories and the PASCAL VOC 2006 dataset) that the proposed approach exhibits state-of-the-art performance at a modest computational cost.

  4. The Effectiveness of a Supplemental Pre-Kindergarten Vocabulary Intervention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kong, Na Young

    2013-01-01

    Oral vocabulary is a strong predictor of young children's later reading development. Many children enter kindergarten with weak vocabulary knowledge and could benefit from an extra level or higher tier of intentional instruction in vocabulary that supplements the Tier 1 core curriculum in language. Recent findings from research developing a…

  5. Receptivity to e-cigarette marketing, harm perceptions, and e-cigarette use.

    PubMed

    Pokhrel, Pallav; Fagan, Pebbles; Kehl, Lisa; Herzog, Thaddeus A

    2015-01-01

    To test whether exposure and receptivity to e-cigarette marketing are associated with recent e-cigarette use among young adults through increased beliefs that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes. Data were collected from 307 multiethnic 4- and 2-year college students; approximately equal proportions of current, never, and former cigarette smokers [mean age = 23.5 (SD = 5.5); 65% female]. Higher receptivity to e-cigarette marketing was associated with perceptions that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, which in turn, were associated with higher recent e-cigarette use. The findings provide preliminary support to the proposition that marketing of e-cigarettes as safer alternatives to cigarettes or cessation aids is associated with increased e-cigarette use among young adults. The findings have implications for development of e-cigarette regulations.

  6. Helping Children Develop Skills in Phonic Analysis, Sight Vocabulary and Handwriting.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rinder, Susan

    A study tested the effectiveness of precision teaching through a summer pilot project involving four male students between the ages of 6 and 7, all of whom had demonstrated some difficulty with basic reading skills. The 6-week program concentrated on those skills most important to emergent readers, namely, phonic analysis, sight vocabulary and…

  7. Vocabulary Teaching in Action-Oriented Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gunday, Rifat; Atmaca, Hasan

    2016-01-01

    The words are called as basic building blocks of language. It is impossible to discuss the language system without words. It is related to the vocabulary whether a language is rich or not. It is also related to the peoples' vocabulary to understand what is said and written or to express effectively their thoughts and their feelings verbally or in…

  8. Teacher Receptivity to System-Wide Educational Change.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Moroz, Rose; Waugh, Russell F.

    2000-01-01

    Examines Western Australian high-school teachers' receptivity to a systemwide educational change, the use of (mandated) student-outcome statements. Teachers' receptivity is related to their beliefs about the change and to their attitudes and beliefs about its nonmonetary cost benefits, significant- other support, and comparison with the previous…

  9. Stylistic Variations in Science Lectures: Teaching Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jackson, Jane; Bilton, Linda

    1994-01-01

    Twenty lectures by native speaker geology lecturers to nonnative speaker students were transcribed, and 921 instances of vocabulary elaboration were coded into a computer database according to 20 linguistic features. Analysis revealed noticeable variation among lecturers in language range/technicality, vocabulary elaboration, signalling, and use…

  10. Rhyming and Vocabulary: Effects of Lexical Restructuring

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stadler, Marie A.; Watson, Maggie; Skahan, Sarah

    2007-01-01

    The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of lexical restructuring on children's phonological awareness. Thirty-three preschool children were assessed for vocabulary skills and ability to detect rhyme. Results supported the lexical restructuring theory because expressive vocabulary abilities were correlated with rhyming…

  11. Managing an Uncontrolled Vocabulary Ex Post Factor

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lefever, Maureen; And Others

    1972-01-01

    The operational retrospective retrieval service offered by BIOSIS exploits a file created essentially without vocabulary control. A pragmatic program of file building criteria has been persued which has provided improved retrieval and an annual summary of the vocabulary of the literature. (11 references) (Author/KE)

  12. Knowing a Lot for One's Age: Vocabulary Skill and Not Age Is Associated with Anticipatory Incremental Sentence Interpretation in Children and Adults

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Borovsky, Arielle; Elman, Jeffrey L.; Fernald, Anne

    2012-01-01

    Adults can incrementally combine information from speech with astonishing speed to anticipate future words. Concurrently, a growing body of work suggests that vocabulary ability is crucially related to lexical processing skills in children. However, little is known about this relationship with predictive sentence processing in children or adults.…

  13. Non-linear boundary-layer receptivity due to distributed surface roughness

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Amer, Tahani Reffet

    1995-01-01

    The process by which a laminar boundary layer internalizes the external disturbances in the form of instability waves is known as boundary-layer receptivity. The objective of the present research was to determine the effect of acoustic excitation on boundary-layer receptivity for a flat plate with distributed variable-amplitude surface roughness through measurements with a hot-wire probe. Tollmien-Schlichting mode shapes due to surface roughness receptivity have also been determined, analyzed, and shown to be in agreement with theory and other experimental work. It has been shown that there is a linear relationship between the surface roughness and receptivity for certain roughness configurations with constant roughness wavelength. In addition, strong non-linear receptivity effects exist for certain surface roughness configurations over a band where the surface roughness and T-S wavelength are matched. The results from the present experiment follow the trends predicted by theory and other experimental work for linear receptivity. In addition, the results show the existence of non-linear receptivity effects for certain combinations of surface roughness elements.

  14. Processing Academic Language through Four Corners Vocabulary Chart Applications

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Sarah; Sanchez, Claudia; Betty, Sharon; Davis, Shiloh

    2016-01-01

    4 Corners Vocabulary Charts (FCVCs) are explored as a multipurpose vehicle for processing academic language in a 5th-grade classroom. FCVCs typically display a vocabulary word, an illustration of the word, synonyms associated with the word, a sentence using a given vocabulary word, and a definition of the term in students' words. The use of…

  15. Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children.

    PubMed

    Yeung, Susanna S S; Siegel, Linda S; Chan, Carol K K

    2013-05-01

    This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.

  16. Vocabulary Instruction: Research to Practice. Second Edition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kame'enui, Edward J., Ed.; Baumann, James F., Ed.

    2012-01-01

    This highly regarded work brings together prominent authorities on vocabulary teaching and learning to provide a comprehensive yet concise guide to effective instruction. The book showcases practical ways to teach specific vocabulary words and word-learning strategies and create engaging, word-rich classrooms. Instructional activities and games…

  17. Relation between language experiences in preschool classrooms and children's kindergarten and fourth-grade language and reading abilities.

    PubMed

    Dickinson, David K; Porche, Michelle V

    2011-01-01

    Indirect effects of preschool classroom indexes of teacher talk were tested on fourth-grade outcomes for 57 students from low-income families in a longitudinal study of classroom and home influences on reading. Detailed observations and audiotaped teacher and child language data were coded to measure content and quantity of verbal interactions in preschool classrooms. Preschool teachers' use of sophisticated vocabulary during free play predicted fourth-grade reading comprehension and word recognition (mean age=9; 7), with effects mediated by kindergarten child language measures (mean age=5; 6). In large group preschool settings, teachers' attention-getting utterances were directly related to later comprehension. Preschool teachers' correcting utterances and analytic talk about books, and early support in the home for literacy predicted fourth-grade vocabulary, as mediated by kindergarten receptive vocabulary. © 2011 The Authors. Child Development © 2011 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  18. NASA thesaurus. Volume 2: Access vocabulary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1985-01-01

    The Access Vocabulary, which is essentially a permuted index, provides access to any word or number in authorized postable and nonpostable terms. Additional entries include postable and nonpostable terms, other word entries, and pseudo-multiword terms that are permutations of words that contain words within words. The Access Vocabulary contains 40,738 entries that give increased access to the hierarchies in Volume 1 - Hierarchical Listing.

  19. NASA Thesaurus. Volume 2: Access vocabulary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1982-01-01

    The Access Vocabulary, which is essentially a permuted index, provides access to any word or number in authorized postable and nonpostable terms. Additional entries include postable and nonpostable terms, other word entries, and pseudo-multiword terms that are permutations of words that contain words within words. The Access Vocabulary contains, 40,661 entries that give increased access to he hierarchies in Volume 1 - Hierarchical Listing.

  20. NASA thesaurus. Volume 2: Access vocabulary

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    1988-01-01

    The access vocabulary, which is essentially a permuted index, provides access to any word or number in authorized postable and nonpostable terms. Additional entries include postable and nonpostable terms, other word entries and pseudo-multiword terms that are permutations of words that contain words within words. The access vocabulary contains almost 42,000 entries that give increased access to the hierarchies in Volume 1 - Hierarchical Listing.

  1. Operational Demands of AAC Mobile Technology Applications on Programming Vocabulary and Engagement During Professional and Child Interactions.

    PubMed

    Caron, Jessica; Light, Janice; Drager, Kathryn

    2016-01-01

    Typically, the vocabulary in augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) technologies is pre-programmed by manufacturers or by parents and professionals outside of daily interactions. Because vocabulary needs are difficult to predict, young children who use aided AAC often do not have access to vocabulary concepts as the need and interest arises in their daily interactions, limiting their vocabulary acquisition and use. Ideally, parents and professionals would be able to add vocabulary to AAC technologies "just-in-time" as required during daily interactions. This study compared the effects of two AAC applications for mobile technologies: GoTalk Now (which required more programming steps) and EasyVSD (which required fewer programming steps) on the number of visual scene displays (VSDs) and hotspots created in 10-min interactions between eight professionals and preschool-aged children with typical development. The results indicated that, although all of the professionals were able to create VSDs and add vocabulary during interactions with the children, they created more VSDs and hotspots with the app with fewer programming steps than with the one with more steps, and child engagement and programming participation levels were high with both apps, but higher levels for both variables were observed with the app with fewer programming steps than with the one with more steps. These results suggest that apps with fewer programming steps may reduce operational demands and better support professionals to (a) respond to the child's input, (b) use just-in-time programming during interactions, (c) provide access to more vocabulary, and (d) increase participation.

  2. Can Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders Learn New Vocabulary from Linguistic Context?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lucas, Rebecca; Thomas, Louisa; Norbury, Courtenay Frazier

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can learn vocabulary from linguistic context. Thirty-five children with ASD (18 with age-appropriate structural language; 17 with language impairment [ALI]) and 29 typically developing peers were taught 20 Science words. Half were presented in linguistic context from…

  3. Vocabulary Instruction for Secondary Students with Reading Disabilities: An Updated Research Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kuder, S. Jay

    2017-01-01

    This article presents an update and extension of the research on instructional methods for vocabulary learning by secondary-age students with learning disabilities. Seven studies that have been published since the last comprehensive review of the research were located. Four instructional methods were found to be the most effective: mnemonic…

  4. Enhancing Adolescents' Comprehension of Text by Building Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swanson, Elizabeth; Vaughn, Sharon; Wexler, Jade

    2017-01-01

    This article describes the importance of vocabulary knowledge in adolescents' reading comprehension, particularly for students with disabilities. Students with stronger vocabularies tend to have better background knowledge and improved understanding of content-area texts. We describe evidence-based vocabulary instructional practices that…

  5. Invariance of visual operations at the level of receptive fields

    PubMed Central

    Lindeberg, Tony

    2013-01-01

    The brain is able to maintain a stable perception although the visual stimuli vary substantially on the retina due to geometric transformations and lighting variations in the environment. This paper presents a theory for achieving basic invariance properties already at the level of receptive fields. Specifically, the presented framework comprises (i) local scaling transformations caused by objects of different size and at different distances to the observer, (ii) locally linearized image deformations caused by variations in the viewing direction in relation to the object, (iii) locally linearized relative motions between the object and the observer and (iv) local multiplicative intensity transformations caused by illumination variations. The receptive field model can be derived by necessity from symmetry properties of the environment and leads to predictions about receptive field profiles in good agreement with receptive field profiles measured by cell recordings in mammalian vision. Indeed, the receptive field profiles in the retina, LGN and V1 are close to ideal to what is motivated by the idealized requirements. By complementing receptive field measurements with selection mechanisms over the parameters in the receptive field families, it is shown how true invariance of receptive field responses can be obtained under scaling transformations, affine transformations and Galilean transformations. Thereby, the framework provides a mathematically well-founded and biologically plausible model for how basic invariance properties can be achieved already at the level of receptive fields and support invariant recognition of objects and events under variations in viewpoint, retinal size, object motion and illumination. The theory can explain the different shapes of receptive field profiles found in biological vision, which are tuned to different sizes and orientations in the image domain as well as to different image velocities in space-time, from a requirement that the

  6. Receptivity to alcohol marketing predicts initiation of alcohol use.

    PubMed

    Henriksen, Lisa; Feighery, Ellen C; Schleicher, Nina C; Fortmann, Stephen P

    2008-01-01

    This longitudinal study examined the influence of alcohol advertising and promotions on the initiation of alcohol use. A measure of receptivity to alcohol marketing was developed from research about tobacco marketing. Recall and recognition of alcohol brand names were also examined. Data were obtained from in-class surveys of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Participants who were classified as never drinkers at baseline (n = 1,080) comprised the analysis sample. Logistic regression models examined the association of advertising receptivity at baseline with any alcohol use and current drinking at follow-up, adjusting for multiple risk factors, including peer alcohol use, school performance, risk taking, and demographics. At baseline, 29% of never drinkers either owned or wanted to use an alcohol branded promotional item (high receptivity), 12% students named the brand of their favorite alcohol ad (moderate receptivity), and 59% were not receptive to alcohol marketing. Approximately 29% of adolescents reported any alcohol use at follow-up; 13% reported drinking at least 1 or 2 days in the past month. Never drinkers who reported high receptivity to alcohol marketing at baseline were 77% more likely to initiate drinking by follow-up than those were not receptive. Smaller increases in the odds of alcohol use at follow-up were associated with better recall and recognition of alcohol brand names at baseline. Alcohol advertising and promotions are associated with the uptake of drinking. Prevention programs may reduce adolescents' receptivity to alcohol marketing by limiting their exposure to alcohol ads and promotions and by increasing their skepticism about the sponsors' marketing tactics.

  7. Receptivity to alcohol marketing predicts initiation of alcohol use

    PubMed Central

    Henriksen, Lisa; Feighery, Ellen C.; Schleicher, Nina C.; Fortmann, Stephen P.

    2008-01-01

    Purpose This longitudinal study examined the influence of alcohol advertising and promotions on the initiation of alcohol use. A measure of receptivity to alcohol marketing was developed from research about tobacco marketing. Recall and recognition of alcohol brand names were also examined. Methods Data were obtained from in-class surveys of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at baseline and 12-month follow-up. Participants who were classified as never drinkers at baseline (n=1,080) comprised the analysis sample. Logistic regression models examined the association of advertising receptivity at baseline with any alcohol use and current drinking at follow-up, adjusting for multiple risk factors, including peer alcohol use, school performance, risk taking, and demographics. Results At baseline, 29% of never drinkers either owned or wanted to use an alcohol branded promotional item (high receptivity), 12% students named the brand of their favorite alcohol ad (moderate receptivity) and 59% were not receptive to alcohol marketing. Approximately 29% of adolescents reported any alcohol use at follow-up; 13% reported drinking at least 1 or 2 days in the past month. Never drinkers who reported high receptivity to alcohol marketing at baseline were 77% more likely to initiate drinking by follow-up than those were not receptive. Smaller increases in the odds of alcohol use at follow-up were associated with better recall and recognition of alcohol brand names at baseline. Conclusions Alcohol advertising and promotions are associated with the uptake of drinking. Prevention programs may reduce adolescents’ receptivity to alcohol marketing by limiting their exposure to alcohol ads and promotions and by increasing their skepticism about the sponsors’ marketing tactics. PMID:18155027

  8. Teaching Literacy and Mathematics in Reception Classes: A Survey by HMI.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Office for Standards in Education, London (England).

    Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) inspected the teaching of literacy and mathematics in the reception year in a sample of 129 schools between autumn 2000 and summer 2001. Most of the schools were designated as primary, teaching children from the age of four or five to eleven. A few schools had nursery classes or units attached to them. In half the…

  9. BILEX: A New Tool Measuring Bilingual Children's Lexicons and Translational Equivalents

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gampe, Anja; Kurthen, Ira; Daum, Moritz M.

    2018-01-01

    The current study describes the development and validation of a novel scale (BILEX) designed to assess young bilingual children's receptive vocabulary in both languages, their conceptual vocabulary, and translational equivalents. BILEX was developed to facilitate the assessment of vocabulary size for both of the children's languages within one…

  10. Mnemonic versus Nonmnemonic Vocabulary-learning Strategies for Children.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Levin, Joel R.; And Others

    1982-01-01

    Fourth-grade students learned a list of relatively complex English vocabulary words in two experiments. In both experiments, a keyword contextual method proved effective for enhancing children's acquisition of new vocabulary words. (Author/BW)

  11. Productive Vocabulary among Three Groups of Bilingual American Children: Comparison and Prediction

    PubMed Central

    Cote, Linda R.; Bornstein, Marc H.

    2015-01-01

    The importance of input factors for bilingual children’s vocabulary development was investigated. Forty-seven Argentine, 42 South Korean, 51 European American, 29 Latino immigrant, 26 Japanese immigrant, and 35 Korean immigrant mothers completed checklists of their 20-month-old children’s productive vocabularies. Bilingual children’s vocabulary sizes in each language separately were consistently smaller than their monolingual peers but only Latino bilingual children had smaller total vocabularies than monolingual children. Bilingual children’s vocabulary sizes were similar to each other. Maternal acculturation predicted the amount of input in each language, which then predicted children’s vocabulary size in each language. Maternal acculturation also predicted children’s English-language vocabulary size directly. PMID:25620820

  12. Vocabulary Intervention for Adolescents with Language Disorder: A Systematic Review

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lowe, Hilary; Henry, Lucy; Müller, Lisa-Maria; Joffe, Victoria L.

    2018-01-01

    Background: Language disorder and associated vocabulary difficulties can persist into adolescence, and can impact on long-term life outcomes. Previous reviews have shown that a variety of intervention techniques can successfully enhance students' vocabulary skills; however, none has investigated vocabulary intervention specifically for adolescents…

  13. Hyperopia and emergent literacy of young children: pilot study.

    PubMed

    Shankar, Sunita; Evans, Mary Ann; Bobier, William R

    2007-11-01

    To compare emergent literacy skills in uncorrected hyperopic and emmetropic children. "Hyperopes" (>or=2.00 D sphere along the most hyperopic meridian; n=13; aged 67+/-13 mo) and "emmetropes" (aged 58+/-12 mo) were tested for visual acuity (VA) and assessed for their emergent literacy skills [three standard tests (letter/word reading skills, receptive vocabulary and phonological awareness) and an experimental test of emergent orthography]. Parents completed a survey of family demographics, health/developmental concerns and home literacy experiences. Visual motor and visual perceptual skills tests were used to assess any visual cognitive differences. There were no differences in single letter VA for hyperopes and emmetropes and crowded letters for the right eye. Crowding effects were significantly greater in the left eye for hyperopes (t (30)=-2.74, p=0.01), with two of the hyperopes showing abnormal crowding. Hyperopes lagged behind emmetropes in letter and word recognition ability (Mann-Whitney U=72, p=0.049), receptive vocabulary (F(1,30)=9.64, p=0.004), and emergent orthography (F(1,29)=5.43, p=0.03). The groups did not differ in phonological awareness skills (F(1,29)=0.39, p=0.54). No statistically significant differences between the two groups were found for visual motor or visual perceptual skills, age, and some family variables known to contribute to emergent literacy skills. In this pilot study, uncorrected hyperopic children, ages 4 to 7 years, show reduced performance on tests of letter and word recognition, receptive vocabulary, and emergent orthography and crowded VA, despite no difference in phonological awareness skills, visual cognitive skills, and other family variables known to affect the acquisition of literacy skills. The relationship between hyperopia and the poorer progress in emergent literacy is complex, and it is not clear if the relationship is causal, and whether the hyperopes will

  14. Social reasoning skills in adults with Down syndrome: the role of language, executive functions and socio-emotional behaviour.

    PubMed

    Hippolyte, L; Iglesias, K; Van der Linden, M; Barisnikov, K

    2010-08-01

    Although the prevalence of mental illness and behaviour problems is lower in adults with Down syndrome (DS) than in other populations with intellectual disabilities, they do present emotional and relational problems, as well as social integration difficulties. However, studies reporting on specific competences known to be central in developing appropriate social relationships (e.g. social reasoning, emotion processing, theory of mind) remain rare in the adult DS population and the mechanisms underlying these people's emotional and relational difficulties are unclear. The present study investigated the ability to understand the appropriateness of others' social behaviour in 34 adults with DS, using the Social Resolution Task (SRT). Their results were compared with those of 34 typically developing (TD) children matched for gender and receptive vocabulary. The relationships among the SRT experimental task, cognitive competences (receptive and productive vocabulary, non-verbal reasoning, inhibition, selective attention) and a caregiver-rated measure of socio-emotional behaviour were examined in the DS group. The DS participants' global SRT scores did not differ from those of the controls. However, analyses of the SRT subscores revealed that the DS group identified significantly fewer inappropriate situations than the control group. Nevertheless, when they correctly identified the behaviour as inappropriate, they were as well as the controls to explain the rules underlying their responses. Regression analyses showed that receptive vocabulary and selective attention and a specific dimension of the socio-emotional profile (social relating skills) constituted the best predictors of the DS adults' performance on the SRT. The main findings show that the DS participants demonstrate relatively good social reasoning skills in comparison with TD children matched for verbal age. However, the two groups present distinctions in their response patterns, and the influence of

  15. Boundary-Layer Receptivity and Integrated Transition Prediction

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chang, Chau-Lyan; Choudhari, Meelan

    2005-01-01

    The adjoint parabold stability equations (PSE) formulation is used to calculate the boundary layer receptivity to localized surface roughness and suction for compressible boundary layers. Receptivity efficiency functions predicted by the adjoint PSE approach agree well with results based on other nonparallel methods including linearized Navier-Stokes equations for both Tollmien-Schlichting waves and crossflow instability in swept wing boundary layers. The receptivity efficiency function can be regarded as the Green's function to the disturbance amplitude evolution in a nonparallel (growing) boundary layer. Given the Fourier transformed geometry factor distribution along the chordwise direction, the linear disturbance amplitude evolution for a finite size, distributed nonuniformity can be computed by evaluating the integral effects of both disturbance generation and linear amplification. The synergistic approach via the linear adjoint PSE for receptivity and nonlinear PSE for disturbance evolution downstream of the leading edge forms the basis for an integrated transition prediction tool. Eventually, such physics-based, high fidelity prediction methods could simulate the transition process from the disturbance generation through the nonlinear breakdown in a holistic manner.

  16. Hypermedia and Vocabulary Acquisition for Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meli, Rocio

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of multimedia as a delivery tool for enhancing vocabulary in second-language classrooms. The mixed method design focused on specific techniques to help students acquire Spanish vocabulary and communication skills. The theoretical framework for this study consisted of second language theories…

  17. Efficacy of Using Vocabulary Flashcards in Braille

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Savaiano, Mackenzie E.; Lloyd, Blair P.; Hatton, Deborah D.

    2017-01-01

    This article reports on a study that examined whether vocabulary flashcards facilitate spelling acquisition. The study was designed to evaluate whether students who are blind can learn to spell words accurately and incidentally when academic vocabulary instruction is used. Auditory information was provided prior to the introduction of a flashcard,…

  18. Vocabulary Memorizing Strategies by Chinese University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yang, Wei-dong; Dai, Wei-ping

    2012-01-01

    The findings of the study indicate that students prefer to engage in the vocabulary learning strategies that would be most appealing to them and that would entail less manipulation of the language. Of the four vocabulary memorizing strategies cited in the study (rote repetition, structural associations, semantic strategies, and mnemonic keyword…

  19. Modification of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Faizunisa, Ali; Costello, Joan

    This study reports an attempt to improve the administration of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) by identifying and modifying aspects of the test which adversely affect disadvantaged preschoolers' performance. The resultant test was called the Modified Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (M-PPVT). Two samples from the same lower class…

  20. A review of recommendations for sequencing receptive and expressive language instruction.

    PubMed

    Petursdottir, Anna Ingeborg; Carr, James E

    2011-01-01

    We review recommendations for sequencing instruction in receptive and expressive language objectives in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs. Several books recommend completing receptive protocols before introducing corresponding expressive protocols. However, this recommendation has little empirical support, and some evidence exists that the reverse sequence may be more efficient. Alternative recommendations include teaching receptive and expressive skills simultaneously (M. L. Sundberg & Partington, 1998) and building learning histories that lead to acquisition of receptive and expressive skills without direct instruction (Greer & Ross, 2008). Empirical support for these recommendations also is limited. Future research should assess the relative efficiency of receptive-before-expressive, expressive-before-receptive, and simultaneous training with children who have diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders. In addition, further evaluation is needed of the potential benefits of multiple-exemplar training and other variables that may influence the efficiency of receptive and expressive instruction.

  1. A REVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SEQUENCING RECEPTIVE AND EXPRESSIVE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION

    PubMed Central

    Petursdottir, Anna Ingeborg; Carr, James E

    2011-01-01

    We review recommendations for sequencing instruction in receptive and expressive language objectives in early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) programs. Several books recommend completing receptive protocols before introducing corresponding expressive protocols. However, this recommendation has little empirical support, and some evidence exists that the reverse sequence may be more efficient. Alternative recommendations include teaching receptive and expressive skills simultaneously (M. L. Sundberg & Partington, 1998) and building learning histories that lead to acquisition of receptive and expressive skills without direct instruction (Greer & Ross, 2008). Empirical support for these recommendations also is limited. Future research should assess the relative efficiency of receptive-before-expressive, expressive-before-receptive, and simultaneous training with children who have diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders. In addition, further evaluation is needed of the potential benefits of multiple-exemplar training and other variables that may influence the efficiency of receptive and expressive instruction. PMID:22219535

  2. Integrated parallel reception, excitation, and shimming (iPRES).

    PubMed

    Han, Hui; Song, Allen W; Truong, Trong-Kha

    2013-07-01

    To develop a new concept for a hardware platform that enables integrated parallel reception, excitation, and shimming. This concept uses a single coil array rather than separate arrays for parallel excitation/reception and B0 shimming. It relies on a novel design that allows a radiofrequency current (for excitation/reception) and a direct current (for B0 shimming) to coexist independently in the same coil. Proof-of-concept B0 shimming experiments were performed with a two-coil array in a phantom, whereas B0 shimming simulations were performed with a 48-coil array in the human brain. Our experiments show that individually optimized direct currents applied in each coil can reduce the B0 root-mean-square error by 62-81% and minimize distortions in echo-planar images. The simulations show that dynamic shimming with the 48-coil integrated parallel reception, excitation, and shimming array can reduce the B0 root-mean-square error in the prefrontal and temporal regions by 66-79% as compared with static second-order spherical harmonic shimming and by 12-23% as compared with dynamic shimming with a 48-coil conventional shim array. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the integrated parallel reception, excitation, and shimming concept to perform parallel excitation/reception and B0 shimming with a unified coil system as well as its promise for in vivo applications. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Receptivity to E-cigarette Marketing, Harm Perceptions, and E-cigarette Use

    PubMed Central

    Pokhrel, Pallav; Fagan, Pebbles; Kehl, Lisa; Herzog, Thaddeus A.

    2016-01-01

    Objective To test whether exposure and receptivity to e-cigarette marketing are associated with recent e-cigarette use among young adults through increased beliefs that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes. Methods Data were collected from 307 multiethnic 4- and 2-year college students; approximately equal proportions of current, never, and former cigarette smokers [mean age = 23.5 (SD = 5.5); 65% female]. Results Higher receptivity to e-cigarette marketing was associated with perceptions that e-cigarettes are less harmful than cigarettes, which in turn, were associated with higher recent e-cigarette use. Conclusions The findings provide preliminary support to the proposition that marketing of e-cigarettes as safer alternatives to cigarettes or cessation aids is associated with increased e-cigarette use among young adults. The findings have implications for development of e-cigarette regulations. PMID:25290604

  4. A controlled nursing vocabulary for indexing and information retrieval.

    PubMed

    Pekkala, Eila; Saranto, Kaija; Tallberg, Marianne; Ensio, Anneli; Junttila, Kristiina

    2006-01-01

    The lack of a nursing thesaurus in Finnish has emerged among nursing professionals searching nursing knowledge and librarians when indexing literature to databases. The Finnish Nursing Education Society launched a project focusing on the development of a nursing vocabulary and the compilation of a thesaurus. The content of a vocabulary was created by six experts using Delphi-technique. The validity of the vocabulary was twice tested for indexing nursing research and has afterwards been revised. The vocabulary can be used for indexing and information retrieval purposes. The main challenge is that nurses easily can find national as well as international nursing research from databases and enhance research utilization.

  5. Word Families and Frequency Bands in Vocabulary Tests: Challenging Conventions

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kremmel, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Vocabulary test development often appears to be based on the design principles of previous tests, without questioning or empirically examining the assumptions underlying those principles. Given the current proliferation of vocabulary tests, it seems timely for the field of vocabulary testing to problematize some of those traditionalised…

  6. Vocabulary and Health Care Information Technology: State of the Art.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cimino, James J.

    1995-01-01

    Reviews the controlled medical vocabularies available today and some of the reasons why they have failed to meet the needs of application developers. Topics include standard vocabularies, including International Classification of Diseases and Medical Subject Headings; uses of vocabularies in medical computing; current research; and remaining…

  7. Readers, Players, and Watchers: EFL Students' Vocabulary Acquisition through Digital Video Games

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ebrahimzadeh, Mohsen

    2017-01-01

    The present study investigated vocabulary acquisition through a commercial digital video game compared to a traditional pencil-and-paper treatment. Chosen through cluster sampling, 241 male high school students (age 12-18) participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to one of the following groups. The first group, called Readers,…

  8. Receptive fields and the theory of discriminant operators

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gupta, Madan M.; Hungenahally, Suresh K.

    1991-02-01

    Biological basis for machine vision is a notion which is being used extensively for the development of machine vision systems for various applications. In this paper we have made an attempt to emulate the receptive fields that exist in the biological visual channels. In particular we have exploited the notion of receptive fields for developing the mathematical functions named as discriminantfunctions for the extraction of transition information from signals and multi-dimensional signals and images. These functions are found to be useful for the development of artificial receptive fields for neuro-vision systems. 1.

  9. 33 CFR 158.310 - Reception facilities: General.

    Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

    2010-07-01

    ... order to pass the inspection under § 158.160, must— (1) Be a reception facility as defined under § 158... residue; (5) Be capable of receiving NLS residue from an oceangoing ship within 24 hours after notice by that ship of the need for reception facilities; and (6) Be capable of completing the transfer of NLS...

  10. A Context-Based Strategy for Teaching Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nelson, Deanna L.

    2008-01-01

    Students in Deanna L. Nelson's high school classroom study vocabulary gradually over a period of time. Students begin by collecting words from readings and listing them on a designated whiteboard. They prepare practice quizzes to exchange with peers and engage in frequent vocabulary discussions that emphasize recognition of context clues and other…

  11. Tuning in to Vocabulary Frequency in Coursebooks

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    O'Loughlin, Richard

    2012-01-01

    For second language learners vocabulary growth is of major importance, and for many learners commercially published coursebooks will be the source of this vocabulary learning. In this preliminary study, input from three levels of the coursebook series "New English File" (Oxenden and Latham-Koenig, 2006; Oxenden, Latham-Koenig, and Seligson, 2004,…

  12. Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning: A Review Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Afzali, Parichehr; Shabani, Somayeh; Basir, Zohreh; Ramazani, Mohammad

    2017-01-01

    Mobile phones are becoming more acceptable toolkits to learn languages. One aspect of English language which has been subject to investigation in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) is vocabulary. This study reviewed some of the studies conducted in various contexts on the effect of MALL on vocabulary learning. We investigated some of the…

  13. Towards a Deeper Assessment of Vocabulary Knowledge.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Read, John

    While interest in second language vocabulary knowledge has increased, vocabulary testing remains largely confined to the quantitative measurement of discrete items. More qualitative measures are needed to assess how well particular words are known. Research has characterized word knowledge in two ways: as a set of components or aspects, and as an…

  14. The Effects of Morphemic Vocabulary Instruction on Prefix Vocabulary and Sentence Comprehension for Middle School Students with Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Shannon Harris; Lignugaris-Kraft, Benjamin; Forbush, David E.

    2016-01-01

    A limited vocabulary is a substantial obstacle to success in reading comprehension (Graves, 2004). A morphemic approach to vocabulary instruction may be an effective method for increasing student outcomes in both word knowledge and reading comprehension (Kuo & Anderson, 2006; Reed, 2008). The purpose of this research was to examine the effects…

  15. Home environmental influences on children's language and reading skills in a genetically sensitive design: Are socioeconomic status and home literacy environment environmental mediators and moderators?

    PubMed

    Chow, Bonnie Wing-Yin; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Wong, Simpson W L; Waye, Mary M Y; Zheng, Mo

    2017-12-01

    This twin study examined how family socioeconomic status (SES) and home literacy environment (HLE) contributes to Chinese language and reading skills. It included 312 Chinese twin pairs aged 3 to 11. Children were individually administered tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary and reading-related cognitive skills, and nonverbal reasoning ability. Information on home environment was collected through parent-reported questionnaires. Results showed that SES and HLE mediated shared environmental influences but did not moderate genetic influences on general language and reading abilities. Also, SES and HLE mediated shared environmental contributions to receptive vocabulary and syllable and rhyme awareness, but not orthographic skills. The findings of this study add to past twin studies that focused on alphabetic languages, suggesting that these links could be universal across languages. They also extend existing findings on SES and HLE's contributions to reading-related cognitive skills. © 2017 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  16. The Use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies in Teaching Turkish as a Second Language

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Baskin, Sami; Iscan, Adem; Karagoz, Beytullah; Birol, Gülnur

    2017-01-01

    Vocabulary learning is the basis of the language learning process in teaching Turkish as a second language. Vocabulary learning strategies need to be used in order for vocabulary learning to take place effectively. The use of vocabulary learning strategies facilitates vocabulary learning and increases student achievement. Each student uses a…

  17. Continuity and change in the home literacy environment as predictors of growth in vocabulary and reading.

    PubMed

    Sénéchal, Monique; LeFevre, Jo-Anne

    2014-01-01

    One hundred and ten English-speaking children schooled in French were followed from kindergarten to Grade 2 (Mage : T1 = 5;6, T2 = 6;4, T3 = 6;11, T4 = 7;11). The findings provided strong support for the Home Literacy Model (Sénéchal & LeFevre, ) because in this sample the home language was independent of the language of instruction. The informal literacy environment at home predicted growth in English receptive vocabulary from kindergarten to Grade 1, whereas parent reports of the formal literacy environment in kindergarten predicted growth in children's English early literacy between kindergarten and Grade 1 and growth in English word reading during Grade 1. Furthermore, 76% of parents adjusted their formal literacy practices according to the reading performance of their child, in support of the presence of a responsive home literacy curriculum among middle-class parents. © 2014 The Authors. Child Development © 2014 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

  18. The Effects of Vocabulary Knowledge and Dictionary Use on EFL Reading Performance

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Shen, Zhifa

    2013-01-01

    The present study mainly investigated the effects of vocabulary knowledge and dictionary use on EFL reading performance. The results show that scores on vocabulary size, specific vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension are highly and positively correlated. Scores on specific vocabulary knowledge are more closely correlated with reading…

  19. Elementary Students' Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary Through Engineering Design

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kugelmass, Rachel

    This study examines how STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) inquiry-based learning through a hands-on engineering design can be beneficial in helping students acquire academic vocabulary. This research took place in a second grade dual- language classroom in a public, suburban elementary school. English language learners, students who speak Spanish at home, and native English speakers were evaluated in this study. Each day, students were presented with a general academic vocabulary focus word during an engineering design challenge. Vocabulary pre-tests and post-tests as well as observation field notes were used to evaluate the student's growth in reading and defining the focus academic vocabulary words. A quiz and KSB (knowledge and skill builder) packet were used to evaluate students' knowledge of science and math content and engineering design. The results of this study indicate that engineering design is an effective means for teaching academic vocabulary to students with varying levels of English proficiency.

  20. Vocabulary Learning through Picture-Viewing and Picture-Drawing on Tablets

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ou, Kuo-Liang; Tarng, Wernhuar; Chen, Yi-Ru

    2018-01-01

    Beginning learners of English frequently use flashcards as a tool for learning vocabulary. However, because of the consciousness difference between the picture-readers and picture-drawers on vocabularies, errors may be involved in the learners' comprehension of the vocabulary terms on the flashcards. This article develops and evaluates an English…