Sample records for unit objectives vocabulary

  1. World Culture Areas: Africa [And] U.S.S.R. Grade 6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nevens, Margaret; And Others

    Two social studies units for sixth grade provide information and learning activities about Africa and Russia. Both units contain lists of concepts to be learned, skills, objectives, learning activities, common misconceptions, vocabulary, maps, objective and essay tests, and bibliographies. The unit on Africa helps students understand the wide…

  2. Abraham Lincoln--His Words and His World: a Unit Plan.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diamond, Ronald L.; Diamond, Linda W.

    Planned for an eighth-grade classroom, this unit plan, consisting of 19 lesson plans on the topic of Abraham Lincoln, is based upon the fulfillment of 17 unit objectives. Each daily lesson plan specifies the following: lesson theme, learner objective, needed prerequisites, new vocabulary or terms, learning set/motivation, presentation of new…

  3. Study of Vermont: A Curriculum Designed for Grades 4-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dubuque, Martha L.

    Designed for use in grades 4-6, this guide consists of four basic units related to the study of Vermont: Indian Civilization, Vermont History, Geography and Economics, and Cities and Towns. Each unit lists key concepts, content objectives, skills objectives, and related objectives. Next, specialized vocabulary as well as common, essential…

  4. 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 IdentifiedObject individuals are linked to the ChEBI ontology for definitions of chemical substances.. Second, to allow compatibility with SKOS-based tools and to ensure the vocabulary does not violate the meta-modelling constraints of the OWL-DL profile, the relevant classes in QUDT are declared to be subclasses of SKOS Concept and a shadow SKOS view of ChEBI was generated (as ChEBI models all elements and substances as OWL classes). The provenance of each SKOS concept shadowing an OWL class is recorded using the PROV-O ontology. Some aspects of these processing steps can be automated through SPARQL queries, while other aspects must be done manually. For maintenance and provenance purposes, the complete vocabulary and ontologies are persisted in around 20 separate RDF files (in addition to the QUDT and ChEBI sources), each of which constitutes a separate RDF graph and reflects the various aspects of above steps. The vocabularies are published in multiple ways: - For download as files from the ontology URI - At a SPARQL endpoint - Through a URI-based SKOS API (SISSvoc) - Through search UIs built on top of the SPARQL endpoint or SISSvoc service

  5. Aviation. Fifth Grade. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defendorf, Jean, Ed.

    This unit of study is designed to teach the science of flight to students in the intermediate grades. Included are a list of materials for the unit, a discussion of the use of process skills, a list of unit objectives, vocabulary, teacher background information, 12 lessons, 5 quizzes, math problems, and a unit test. Lessons are oriented toward…

  6. "Dinosaurs." Kindergarten. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Herminghaus, Trisha, Ed.

    This unit contains 15 lessons on dinosaurs for kindergarten children. It provides a materials list, supplementary materials list, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, six major dinosaurs, and background information. Lessons are: (1) "Webbing"; (2) "Introduction to the Big Six"; (3) "Paleontology…

  7. Re-use of standard ontologies in a water quality vocabulary (Invited)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cox, S. J.; Simons, B.; Yu, J.

    2013-12-01

    Observations provide the key constraints on environmental and earth science investigations. Where an investigation uses data sourced from multiple providers, data fusion depends on the observation classifications being comparable. Standard models for observation metadata are available (ISO 19156) which provide slots for key classifiers, in particular, the observed property and observation procedure. While universal use of common vocabularies might be desirable in achieving interoperability, this is unlikely in practice. However, semantic web vocabularies provide the means for asserting proximity and other relationships between items in different vocabularies, thus enabling mediation as an interoperability solution. Here we report on the development of a vocabulary for water quality observations in which recording relationships with existing vocabularies was a core strategy. The vocabulary is required to enable combination of a number of groundwater, surface water and marine water quality datasets on an ongoing basis. Our vocabulary model is based on the principle that observations generally report values of specific parameters which are defined by combining a number of facets. We start from Quantities, Units, Dimensions and Data Types (QUDT), which is an OWL ontology developed by NASA and TopQuadrant. We extend this with two additional classes, for Observed Property and Identified Object, and two linking properties, which enable us to create an observed property vocabulary for water quality applications. This ontology is comparable with models for observed properties developed as part of OGC's Observations and Measurements v1.0 standard, the INSPIRE Generic Conceptual Model, and may also be compared with the W3C SSN Ontology, which is based on the DOLCE Ultralite upper-ontology. Water quality observations commonly report concentrations of chemicals, both natural and contaminant, so we tie many of the Identified Objects to items from Chemical Entities of Biological Interest (ChEBI). ChEBI is an OWL-based dictionary of over 70 000 molecular entities, based on existing scientific work and linked through to International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) Nomenclature. Within the model the relevant classes, including those from QUDT, are declared to be subclasses of SKOS Concept, so the resulting vocabularies may be directly mapped to other SKOS-based vocabularies, such as from the NERC Vocabulary Service or the Marine Metadata Initiative, using SKOS predicates. Where the external vocabularies are not published with persistent URIs, such as CUAHSI, the mapping may be recorded more informally using annotations, or use proxy URIs for the external vocabulary. The resulting SKOS vocabularies demonstrate a separation of governance of key definitions such as units and quantities and chemical entities, ensuring reuse where possible and extending and adding detail where necessary.

  8. Skills for Health Care Assistants. Supplemental Units for Health Care and Nurse Assistants Programs. Student Guide. Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Missouri Univ., Columbia. Instructional Materials Lab.

    This guide contains 13 units to be used as a supplement in nurse assistant and health services courses. The units are self-paced and contain simplified line drawings, controlled text, vocabulary development, and mathematics practice exercises. Units consist of objectives, an introduction, a content outline, steps of a procedure, skill sheets,…

  9. Skills for Health Care Assistants Vol. II. Supplemental Units for Health Care and Nurse Assistants Programs. Student Guide. Instructor Key. Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Missouri Univ., Columbia. Instructional Materials Lab.

    This student guide for courses for health care assistants and nurse assistants contains 16 self-paced units with simplified line drawings, controlled text, vocabulary development, and mathematics practice exercises. Units consist of the following: objectives, introduction to the unit, content outline, steps of the procedure, skill sheets, written…

  10. SCDC Spanish Curricula Units. Spanish SL, Unit 6, Grade 2, Teacher's Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Spanish Curricula Development Center, Miami Beach, FL.

    Spanish for second graders is explored in the instructional and assessment activities of the unit six Spanish as a Second Language strand. The function of the strand is to help provide the English-dominant child with the structures and vocabulary needed for effective communication in a bilingual environment. Focus, objective, and materials for…

  11. Simple and Complex Plants. Fourth Grade. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Anchorage School District, AK.

    This unit contains 15 lessons on Alaskan plants for fourth graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, background information about five kingdoms of living things, and a webbing activity. Included are: (1) "Roots in Action"; (2) "Chlorophyll"; (3)…

  12. Buen Viaje: Mutually Beneficial Tourism. A Four-Lesson Unit about Traveling with Care in Mexico for Grades 8-12 and Adult Learners in English and Spanish.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mattson, Alexandra; Ruiz, Octavio; Sommers, Meredith

    Intended for secondary students, this curriculum unit (in both English and Spanish) provides a look into Mexico's second largest industry, tourism. The curriculum unit of four lessons includes general information about tourism, maps, stories, and a code of behavior for travelers. The unit enumerates learner objectives, defines vocabulary and…

  13. 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

  14. Alaska Plants and Trees. Grade 3. Revised. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defendorf, Jean, Ed.

    This unit includes 15 lessons on Alaskan plants and trees for third graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials including books and films, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, background information (including the information source), field trip organization, succession, and major plants. Included are: (1)…

  15. Exploring the Properties of Liquids. Grade 5. Revised. Anchorage School District Elementary Science Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defendorf, Jean, Ed.

    This unit contains 14 lessons on the properties of liquids for fifth graders. It describes materials, supplementary materials, use of process skill terminology, unit objectives, vocabulary, and background information for teachers. Lessons are: (1) "Heaping and Drops/Cohesion"; (2) "Beading of Liquid Columns/Cohesion"; (3)…

  16. Accounting Clerk Guide, Instructor Packet--Part I. A Spec Unit for the 10th, 11th, or 12th Grade. A Career Education Unit (An Edited Developmental Draft).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Brian; And Others

    The instructor packet is part of an eight volume unit for grades 10, 11, and 12, designed for individualized progression in preparing students for entry into the occupation of accounting clerk. The instructor packet lists performance objectives, vocabulary, learning tasks, and supplemental activities for lessons 1 through 11. It also includes…

  17. Fishy Activities for Your Small Fry. A Unit Plan in Fish Biology for Grades Kindergarten through Sixth. Educational Series Number 28.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sparrow, Mary E.; And Others

    This unit in fish biology is suitable for kindergarten through sixth grade. Provided in the unit are: (1) behavioral objectives for grades K-3 and 4-6; (2) an overview of activities and instructional strategies; (3) background information on fishes; (4) diagrams of internal/external fish structure; (5) list of key vocabulary words; (6) discussion…

  18. [Unipacs: A-LM German, Units 3-29].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West Bend High Schools, WI.

    These instructional materials, designed for use with the "A-LM" German language course, permit teachers to individualize instruction. Basic objectives are outlined concerning basic dialogues, vocabulary, supplementary materials, reading, grammar, recombination materials, and creative conversation. A student checklist serves as a guide for the…

  19. Near or far: The effect of spatial distance and vocabulary knowledge on word learning.

    PubMed

    Axelsson, Emma L; Perry, Lynn K; Scott, Emilly J; Horst, Jessica S

    2016-01-01

    The current study investigated the role of spatial distance in word learning. Two-year-old children saw three novel objects named while the objects were either in close proximity to each other or spatially separated. Children were then tested on their retention for the name-object associations. Keeping the objects spatially separated from each other during naming was associated with increased retention for children with larger vocabularies. Children with a lower vocabulary size demonstrated better retention if they saw objects in close proximity to each other during naming. This demonstrates that keeping a clear view of objects during naming improves word learning for children who have already learned many words, but keeping objects within close proximal range is better for children at earlier stages of vocabulary acquisition. The effect of distance is therefore not equal across varying vocabulary sizes. The influences of visual crowding, cognitive load, and vocabulary size on word learning are discussed. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. 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.

  1. L'Afrique. Niveau VI. Base sur le programme scolaire de sciences sociales de Montgomery County Public Schools (Africa. Grade 6. Based on the Social Studies Curriculum of the Montgomery County Public Schools).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rouhol-Amin, Irandokht

    The grade 6 social studies curriculum on Africa for French immersion is outlined. The syllabus consists of seven units. Each contains an instructional objective (in English); a number of specific performance objectives; and for each performance objective, required and optional vocabulary, a list of related activities, and exercises for classroom…

  2. La Materia. Nivel II. Basado en el curso de estudios de Ciencia de Montgomery County Public Schools. (Matter. Level II. Based on the Montgomery County Public Schools Science Studies Program).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gerstman, M. Linda

    This curriculum unit is for use in an elementary school foreign language immersion program in Montgomery County, Maryland. The unit is geared toward the second grade science classroom. It includes instructional and performance objectives, vocabulary lists, optional language structure sections, illustrations, activities, evaluation suggestions, and…

  3. Navigation - Project CAPE Teaching Module.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Caldwell, Nadine; May, Charlaron

    Ten lessons are included in this interdisciplinary unit on navigation, designed to supplement fifth and sixth grade social studies and science curricula. Each lesson includes: (1) lesson concepts; (2) competency goals; (3) objectives; (4) materials; (5) list of key vocabulary words; (6) background information; (7) teacher preparation; (8) list of…

  4. Life Education for Mentally Impaired Persons: A Curriculum Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Koscierzynski, Sandy, Ed.; Karpen, Mary Lou, Ed.

    The curriculum manual is designed to develop positive and healthy sexuality for mentally impaired individuals. Information on goals, objectives, special notes, suggested vocabulary, suggested activities, and resources is presented for units in primary education (realistic body image, toilet habits, sex differences, families, emotional self and…

  5. Seres Vivos. Nivel I. Basado en el curso de estudios de Ciencia de Montgomery County Public Schools. (Living Beings. Level 1. Based on the Montgomery County Public Schools Science Studies Program).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Senger, Graciela

    This curriculum unit, developed by the Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland, was designed for use in the elementary level foreign language immersion program. It is geared toward the first grade science classroom. The unit includes instructional and performance objectives, necessary vocabulary lists, optional language structure sections,…

  6. Occupational Exploration at Ontario Junior High School: 7th Grade.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bates, Gene; And Others

    The document contains 47 activities for Grade 7. The contents include the following areas: vocabulary; a large variety of inventory and other forms focusing especially on self awareness, self evaluation, and value clarification; a 44-page unit guide for a course called Know Yourself, which includes objectives, activities, evaluation, and…

  7. Clans of the Iroquois. Lesson Plans and Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Clute, Myron, Comp.; And Others

    This collection of lessons intended for use with elementary school children contains material that is descriptive of the Mohawk People, a group of the Iroquois Nation. The booklet contains an introduction on traditional kinship and family systems, unit outline on the concept of the clan, vocabulary, objectives and materials, and five lesson plans.…

  8. Le Francais Courant (Contemporary French), Part II.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

    This course has been developed basically within the limits of Units 4-6 of "A-LM French: Level 1", second edition. The primary objectives are to develop French vocabulary relative to the family, home, transportation, and foods by continuing to work with short dialogues based on everyday, teenage experiences. While reviewing previously studied…

  9. Indexing Learning Objects: Vocabularies and Empirical Investigation of Consistency

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kabel, Suzanne; De Hoog, Robert; Wielinga, Bob; Anjewierden, Anjo

    2004-01-01

    In addition to the LOM standard and instructional design specifications, as well as domain specific indexing vocabularies, a structured indexing vocabulary for the more elementary learning objects is advisable in order to support retrieval tasks of developers. Furthermore, because semantic indexing is seen as a difficult task, three issues…

  10. Preservice Elementary Teachers Increase Descriptive Science Vocabulary by Making Descriptive Adjective Object Boxes

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rule, Audrey C.; Crisafulli, Sherry; DeCare, Heather; DeLeo, Tonya; Eastman, Keri; Farrell, Liz; Geblein, Jennifer; Gioia, Chelsea; Joyce, Ashley; Killian, Kali; Knoop, Kelly; LaRocca, Alison; Meyer, Katie; Miller, Julianne; Roth, Vicki; Throo, Julie; Van Arsdale, Jim; Walker, Malissa

    2007-01-01

    Descriptive vocabulary is needed for communication and mental processing of science observations. Elementary preservice teachers in a science methods class at a mid-sized public college in central New York State increased their descriptive vocabularies through a course assignment of making a descriptive adjective object box. This teaching material…

  11. Greenhouse Crop Production; A Student Handbook, Teacher Education Series, Volume 10 Number 3s.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    1969

    This study guide, developed by the Department of Agricultural Education of The Pennsylvania State University and field-tested by 54 teachers, is for student use in a unit on greenhouse crop production. Learning objectives, key questions, vocabulary terms, subject matter, and references are included for each of these problem areas: (1) Occupational…

  12. How semantics can inform the geological mapping process and support intelligent queries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lombardo, Vincenzo; Piana, Fabrizio; Mimmo, Dario

    2017-04-01

    The geologic mapping process requires the organization of data according to the general knowledge about the objects, namely the geologic units, and to the objectives of a graphic representation of such objects in a map, following an established model of geotectonic evolution. Semantics can greatly help such a process in two concerns: the provision of a terminological base to name and classify the objects of the map; on the other, the implementation of a machine-readable encoding of the geologic knowledge base supports the application of reasoning mechanisms and the derivation of novel properties and relations about the objects of the map. The OntoGeonous initiative has built a terminological base of geological knowledge in a machine-readable format, following the Semantic Web tenets and the Linked Data paradigm. The major knowledge sources of the OntoGeonous initiative are GeoScience Markup Language schemata and vocabularies (through its last version, GeoSciML 4, 2015, published by the IUGS CGI Commission) and the INSPIRE "Data Specification on Geology" directives (an operative simplification of GeoSciML, published by INSPIRE Thematic Working Group Geology of the European Commission). The Linked Data paradigm has been exploited by linking (without replicating, to avoid inconsistencies) the already existing machine-readable encoding for some specific domains, such as the lithology domain (vocabulary Simple Lithology) and the geochronologic time scale (ontology "gts"). Finally, for the upper level knowledge, shared across several geologic domains, we have resorted to NASA SWEET ontology. The OntoGeonous initiative has also produced a wiki that explains how the geologic knowledge has been encoded from shared geoscience vocabularies (https://www.di.unito.it/wikigeo/). In particular, the sections dedicated to axiomatization will support the construction of an appropriate data base schema that can be then filled with the objects of the map. This contribution will discuss how the formal encoding of the geological knowledge opens new perspectives for the analysis and representation of the geological systems. In fact, once that the major concepts are defined, the resulting formal conceptual model of the geologic system can hold across different technical and scientific communities. Furthermore, this would allow for a semi-automatic or automatic classification of the cartographic database, where a significant number of properties (attributes) of the recorded instances could be inferred through computational reasoning. So, for example, the system can be queried for showing the instances that satisfy some property (e.g., "Retrieve all the lithostratigraphic units composed of clastic sedimentary rock") or for classifying some unit according to the properties holding for that unit (e.g., "What is the class of the geologic unit composed of siltstone material?").

  13. Cross-Linguistic Analysis of Vocabulary in Young Children: Spanish, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, and American English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bornstein, Marc H.; Cote, Linda R.; Maital, Sharone; Painter, Kathleen; Park, Sung-Yun; Pascual, Liliana; Pecheux,Marie-Germaine; Ruel, Josette; Venuti, Paola; Vyt, Andre

    2004-01-01

    The composition of young children's vocabularies in 7 contrasting linguistic communities was investigated. Mothers of 269 twenty-month-olds in Argentina, Belgium, France, Israel, Italy, the Republic of Korea, and the United States completed comparable vocabulary checklists for their children. In each language and vocabulary size grouping (except…

  14. 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

  15. 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…

  16. Inquiring into Familiar Objects: An Inquiry-Based Approach to Introduce Scientific Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hicks Pries, Caitlin; Hughes, Julie

    2012-01-01

    Learning science vocabulary is an often tedious but important component of many curricula. Frequently, students are expected to learn science vocabulary indirectly, but this method can hinder the success of lower-performing students (Carlisle, Fleming, and Gudbrandsen 2000). We have developed an inquiry-based vocabulary activity wherein students…

  17. 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…

  18. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: What English Language Learners Perceive to Be Effective and Ineffective Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Sa'd, Seyyed Hatam Tamimi; Rajabi, Fereshte

    2018-01-01

    Vocabulary constitutes an essential part of every language-learning endeavour and deserves scholarly attention. The objective of the present study was three-fold: 1) exploring Iranian English language learners' Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSs), 2) examining language learners' perceptions of vocabulary learning, and 3) exploring Iranian…

  19. Learning What to Remember: Vocabulary Knowledge and Children's Memory for Object Names and Features

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perry, Lynn K.; Axelsson, Emma L.; Horst, Jessica S.

    2016-01-01

    Although young children can map a novel name to a novel object, it remains unclear what they actually remember about objects when they initially make such a name-object association. In the current study we investigated (1) what children remembered after they were initially introduced to name-object associations and (2) how their vocabulary size…

  20. Vocabulary and Content Learning in Grade 9 Earth Science: Effects of Vocabulary Preteaching, Rational Cloze Task, and Reading Comprehension Task

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lee, Siok H.

    2010-01-01

    This study examines strategies for supporting vocabulary and content learning in 5 grade 9 Earth Science classes that are part of a SDAIE program (Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English) in an urban California high school. Students received vocabulary and content instruction during a unit on Earthquakes. One group of students performed…

  1. 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.

  2. Embedding Vocabulary Instruction into the Art Experience

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    LaBrocca, RoseAnn; Morrow, Lesley Mandel

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to describe how an elementary art specialist scaffolded learning of specific academic vocabulary during a unit on how to create hollow clay ceramic sculptures. Although much has been written recently on how elementary teachers might better teach academic vocabulary in reading and language arts contexts as well as in…

  3. A Literature Unit for "Dragon's Gate" by Laurence Yep.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas-Vallens, Mary

    Intended as a an aid to classroom teachers, this 52-page handbook presents a literature unit based on the children and young people's book, "Dragon's Gate" by Laurence Yep. It begins with sample lesson plans, pre-reading activities, author information, a book summary, vocabulary lists and suggested vocabulary activities. Next, chapters…

  4. "Adam of the Road" by Elizabeth Janet Gray. Literature Unit.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Robbins, Mari Lu

    Intended as an aid to classroom teachers, this 48-page handbook presents a literature unit based on the children's book, "Adam of the Road" by Elizabeth Janet Gray. It begins with sample lesson plans, pre-reading activities, author information, a book summary, and vocabulary lists and suggested vocabulary activities. Next, chapters of…

  5. 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 = 0.26), language score (0.25), and pre-academic score (0.24). We have demonstrated the validity of a method to develop vocabulary checklists in new languages, which can be used in multilingual contexts, using a feasible adaptation process requiring about 2 weeks. This is a promising method to assess early language development, which is associated with later preschool language, cognitive, and pre-academic skills.

  6. Impacts of Vocabulary Acquisition Techniques Instruction on Students' Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Orawiwatnakul, Wiwat

    2011-01-01

    The objectives of this study were to determine how the selected vocabulary acquisition techniques affected the vocabulary ability of 35 students who took EN 111 and investigate their attitudes towards the techniques instruction. The research study was one-group pretest and post-test design. The instruments employed were in-class exercises…

  7. Video Games Promote Saudi Children's English Vocabulary Retention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    AlShaiji, Ohoud Abdullatif

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of Video Games and their role on promoting Saudi Kids' English vocabulary retention. The study attempted to answer whether there was a statistically significant difference (a = 0.05) between the Saudi children's subjects' mean score on the English vocabulary test due to using Video Games…

  8. Children's vocabulary growth in English and Spanish across early development and associations with school readiness skills.

    PubMed

    Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine S; Song, Lulu; Luo, Rufan; Kuchirko, Yana; Kahana-Kalman, Ronit; Yoshikawa, Hirokazu; Raufman, Julia

    2014-01-01

    In line with evidence that variation in children's vocabulary size facilitates learning, we asked whether growth in Mexican and Dominican children's expressive vocabularies in English and/or Spanish would predict later cognitive skills. Children and mothers were video-recorded sharing wordless books at 2, 3, 4, and 5 years, and children were assessed on language, literacy, and math skills at 5 years. Growth in children's English and Spanish vocabularies, based on transcriptions of booksharing interactions, predicted specific cognitive skills and was associated with changes to mothers' language use across time. Mothers' years in the United States predicted children's English vocabulary growth.

  9. The impact of using student-dictated oral review stories on science vocabulary, content knowledge, and non-fiction writing skills of first grade students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bishoff, Sandra Wells

    The purpose of this study was to determine if using an intervention called Student Dictated Oral Review Stories (SDORS) had an effect on science vocabulary usage and content knowledge for ninety-three students in six first grade classrooms and the subgroup of economically disadvantaged students in a mid-sized north Texas school district. The five science units involved in the study were written incorporating the strand of physical science. Data from pre- and posttests from each unit and an end-of-study assessment were compiled and analyzed. This study also looked at integration of science with literacy through analysis of students' science journal writings. Journal writings were analyzed for vocabulary usage and non-fiction writing skills of capitalization and punctuation. Average sentence length was also analyzed for Units 1--5 of the treatment group. It was anticipated that the outcomes of this study would allow school districts and curriculum writers to determine how to best integrate key concepts and important vocabulary with literacy particularly in the area of science. Results from the study showed significant differences in the end-of-study assessment, vocabulary usage as evidenced in journal writings, and average sentence length. Although there was gain over time for every student in the study in vocabulary and content knowledge, these gains could not be attributed to the intervention. This study also hoped to establish whether students were using science vocabulary routinely in their discussions and their writings and were building and continually assessing their own schemas about scientific concepts through using Student Dictated Oral Review Stories.

  10. Exploring Cross-Linguistic Vocabulary Effects on Brain Structures Using Voxel-Based Morphometry

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Green, David W.; Crinion, Jenny; Price, Cathy J.

    2007-01-01

    Given that there are neural markers for the acquisition of a non-verbal skill, we review evidence of neural markers for the acquisition of vocabulary. Acquiring vocabulary is critical to learning one's native language and to learning other languages. Acquisition requires the ability to link an object concept (meaning) to sound. Is there a region…

  11. General and Specific Effects of Lexicon in Grammar: Determiner and Object Pronoun Omissions in Child Spanish

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perez-Leroux, Ana Teresa; Castilla-Earls, Anny Patricia; Brunner, Jerry

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: This study explores the hypothesis that vocabulary growth can have 2 types of effects in morphosyntactic development. One is a general effect, where vocabulary growth globally determines utterance complexity, defined in terms of sentence length and rates of subordination. There are also specific effects, where vocabulary size has a…

  12. The Role of Motivation and Learner Variables in L1 and L2 Vocabulary Development in Japanese Heritage Language Speakers in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Yoshiko; Calder, Toshiko M.

    2015-01-01

    This study investigates the role of motivation and learner variables in bilingual vocabulary development among first language (L1) Japanese students attending hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese-speaking children) in the United States. One hundred sixteen high school students ages 15-18 from eight hoshuukoo completed…

  13. Swahili 12 Weeks Course. Volume VI, Vocabulary List: Swahili-English, English-Swahili.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    This Swahili-English/English-Swahili vocabulary list accompanies the Defense Language Institute's 12-weeks course in Swahili. For a description of the first five volumes (55 lesson units), see ED 026 651. (AMM)

  14. A practical approach to language complexity: a Wikipedia case study.

    PubMed

    Yasseri, Taha; Kornai, András; Kertész, János

    2012-01-01

    In this paper we present statistical analysis of English texts from Wikipedia. We try to address the issue of language complexity empirically by comparing the simple English Wikipedia (Simple) to comparable samples of the main English Wikipedia (Main). Simple is supposed to use a more simplified language with a limited vocabulary, and editors are explicitly requested to follow this guideline, yet in practice the vocabulary richness of both samples are at the same level. Detailed analysis of longer units (n-grams of words and part of speech tags) shows that the language of Simple is less complex than that of Main primarily due to the use of shorter sentences, as opposed to drastically simplified syntax or vocabulary. Comparing the two language varieties by the Gunning readability index supports this conclusion. We also report on the topical dependence of language complexity, that is, that the language is more advanced in conceptual articles compared to person-based (biographical) and object-based articles. Finally, we investigate the relation between conflict and language complexity by analyzing the content of the talk pages associated to controversial and peacefully developing articles, concluding that controversy has the effect of reducing language complexity.

  15. La terminologie, outil et/ou objet pedagogique (Terminology, Instructional Tool and/or Object).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Van Deth, Jean-Pierre

    1990-01-01

    It is proposed that while interest has focused on specialized professional vocabulary as an object of language instruction, the same vocabulary can be viewed as a tool for teaching. The exchange of concepts and terminology between student and teacher improves student understanding of the language and the problems of translation. (MSE)

  16. HydroUnits: A Python-based Physical Units Management Tool in Hydrologic Computing Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Celicourt, P.; Piasecki, M.

    2015-12-01

    While one objective of data management systems is to provide the units when annotating the collected data, another is that the units must be correctly manipulated during conversion steps. This is not a trivial task however and the units conversion time and errors for large datasets can be quite expensive. To date, more than a dozen Python modules have been developed to deal with units attached to quantities. However, they fall short in many ways and also suffer from not integrating with a units controlled vocabulary. Moreover, none of them permits the encoding of some complex units defined in the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc.'s Observations Data Model (CUAHSI ODM) as a vectorial representation for storage demand reduction and does not incorporate provision to accommodate unforeseen standards-based units. We developed HydroUnits, a Python-based units management tool for three specific purposes: encoding of physical units in the Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) as defined in the IEEE 1451.0 standard, performing dimensional analysis and on-the-fly conversion of time series allowing users to retrieve data from a data source in a desired equivalent unit while accommodating unforeseen and user-defined units. HydroUnits differentiates itself to existing tools by a number of factors including the implementation approach adopted, the adoption of standard-based units naming conventions and more importantly the emphasis on units controlled vocabularies which are a critical aspect of units treatment. Additionally, HydroUnits supports unit conversion for quantities with additive scaling factor, and natively supports time series conversion and takes leap years into consideration for units consisting of the time dimension (e.g., month, minute). Due to its overall implementation approach, HydroUnits exhibits a high level of versatility that no other tool we are aware of has achieved.

  17. Effectiveness of E-TLM in Learning Vocabulary in English

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Singaravelu, G.

    2011-01-01

    The study enlightens the effectiveness of e-TLM in Learning Vocabulary in English at standard VI. Objectives of the study: 1. To find out the problems of conventional TLM in learning vocabulary in English. 2. To find out the significant difference in achievement mean score between the pre test of control group and the post test of control group.…

  18. The Role of Parental Support and Family Variables in L1 and L2 Vocabulary Development of Japanese Heritage Language Students in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mori, Yoshiko; Calder, Toshiko M.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the role of parental support and selected family variables in the first (L1) and second language (L2) vocabulary development of Japanese heritage language (JHL) high school students in the United States. Eighty-two JHL students ages 15-18 from eight hoshuukoo (i.e., supplementary academic schools for Japanese-speaking…

  19. PARONYMY IN THE SUBLANGUAGE OF MEDICINE (LINGUISTIC AND LINGUO-DIDACTIC ASPECTS).

    PubMed

    Bieliaieva, O; Lysanets, Yu; Havrylieva, K; Znamenska, I; Rozhenko, I; Nikolaieva, N

    2017-10-01

    The present paper examines the phenomenon of paronymy in the sublanguage of medicine. The study of paronyms plays an important role in the development of terminological competence of future specialists in the field of medicine and healthcare. The authors emphasize the need to pay due attention to terminological paronyms when compiling teaching manuals and developing didactic materials in Latin for students of medical universities. The urgency of organizing the work with these lexical units is determined, on the one hand, by the propaedeutic objective - minimization of difficulties that students may encounter in dealing with special terminology in the process of educational and professional communication; on the other hand, the study of paronyms is aimed at expanding the active and passive vocabulary of medical students. The objective of the research is to systematize paronyms in the international medical terminology, to develop the cycle of training assignments and methodological recommendations for organizing the work with this group of lexical units, and minimizing errors in oral and written speech of medical students. The authors have justified the methodological algorithm for the proposed cycle of tasks: presentation of the basic paronymic pairs, learning the vocabulary, control of mastering the material, creation of didactic conditions for correction and propaedeutics of speech errors; revision of the material. The proposed cycle of educational tasks is aimed at improving the lexical, grammatical, word-building, spelling knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as expanding and enriching the vocabulary of future medical professionals. The study may be of interest to specialists in the field of translation and terminology studies, professional linguo-didactics. The prospects for study consist in further in-depth research of the phenomenon of paronymy in the sublanguage of medicine and comprehensive analysis of other lexico-semantic relationships, the practical result of which will be the compilation of Latin medical dictionary of synonyms, homonyms and paronyms.

  20. MAAG Job Position: Rolebooks and Technical Vocabulary (Iberian Spanish). Methods for Determining Language Objectives and Criteria, Volume VII.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Setzler, Hubert H., Jr.; And Others

    Rolebooks and technical Iberian Spanish vocabulary for the job position of military advisory and assistance group (MAAG) officer of the Air Force are presented. The materials are part of the communication/language objectives-based system (C/LOBS), which supports the front-end analysis efforts of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language…

  1. 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…

  2. 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.

  3. 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 their monolingual peers. However, their minority language is weaker: the trilinguals scored lower than the Polish monolinguals on both receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and the bilinguals showed reduced expressive knowledge but leveled out with the Polish monolinguals on receptive vocabulary. The results should encourage parents of migrant children to support home language(s), if the languages are to be retained in a longer perspective.

  4. The 'robustness' of vocabulary intervention in the public schools: targets and techniques employed in speech-language therapy.

    PubMed

    Justice, Laura M; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Murphy, Kimberly A; Pratt, Amy; Biancone, Tricia

    2014-01-01

    This study examined vocabulary intervention-in terms of targets and techniques-for children with language impairment receiving speech-language therapy in public schools (i.e., non-fee-paying schools) in the United States. Vocabulary treatments and targets were examined with respect to their alignment with the empirically validated practice of rich vocabulary intervention. Participants were forty-eight 5-7-year-old children participating in kindergarten or the first-grade year of school, all of whom had vocabulary-specific goals on their individualized education programmes. Two therapy sessions per child were coded to determine what vocabulary words were being directly targeted and what techniques were used for each. Study findings showed that the majority of words directly targeted during therapy were lower-level basic vocabulary words (87%) and very few (1%) were academically relevant. On average, three techniques were used per word to promote deep understanding. Interpreting findings against empirical descriptions of rich vocabulary intervention indicates that children were exposed to some but not all aspects of this empirically supported practice. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  5. Evaluating Computer-Generated Domain-Oriented Vocabularies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Damerau, Fred J.

    1990-01-01

    Discusses methods for automatically compiling domain-oriented vocabularies in natural language systems and describes techniques for evaluating the quality of the resulting word lists. A study is described that used subject headings from Grolier's Encyclopedia and the United Press International newswire, and filters for removing high frequency…

  6. Vocabulary comprehension and strategies in name construction among children using aided communication.

    PubMed

    Deliberato, Débora; Jennische, Margareta; Oxley, Judith; Nunes, Leila Regina d'Oliveira de Paula; Walter, Cátia Crivelenti de Figueiredo; Massaro, Munique; Almeida, Maria Amélia; Stadskleiv, Kristine; Basil, Carmen; Coronas, Marc; Smith, Martine; von Tetzchner, Stephen

    2018-03-01

    Vocabulary learning reflects the language experiences of the child, both in typical and atypical development, although the vocabulary development of children who use aided communication may differ from children who use natural speech. This study compared the performance of children using aided communication with that of peers using natural speech on two measures of vocabulary knowledge: comprehension of graphic symbols and labeling of common objects. There were 92 participants not considered intellectually disabled in the aided group. The reference group consisted of 60 participants without known disorders. The comprehension task consisted of 63 items presented individually in each participant's graphic system, together with four colored line drawings. Participants were required to indicate which drawing corresponded to the symbol. In the expressive labelling task, 20 common objects presented in drawings had to be named. Both groups indicated the correct drawing for most of the items in the comprehension tasks, with a small advantage for the reference group. The reference group named most objects quickly and accurately, demonstrating that the objects were common and easily named. The aided language group named the majority correctly and in addition used a variety of naming strategies; they required more time than the reference group. The results give insights into lexical processing in aided communication and may have implications for aided language intervention.

  7. Parent Reports of Young Spanish-English Bilingual Children's Productive Vocabulary: A Development and Validation Study.

    PubMed

    Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Gámez, Perla B; Vagh, Shaher Banu; Lesaux, Nonie K

    2016-01-01

    This 2-phase study aims to extend research on parent report measures of children's productive vocabulary by investigating the development (n = 38) of the Spanish Vocabulary Extension and validity (n = 194) of the 100-item Spanish and English MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories Toddler Short Forms and Upward Extension (Fenson et al., 2000, 2007; Jackson-Maldonado, Marchman, & Fernald, 2013) and the Spanish Vocabulary Extension for use with parents from low-income homes and their 24- to 48-month-old Spanish-English bilingual children. Study participants were drawn from Early Head Start and Head Start collaborative programs in the Northeastern United States in which English was the primary language used in the classroom. All families reported Spanish or Spanish-English as their home language(s). The MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories as well as the researcher-designed Spanish Vocabulary Extension were used as measures of children's English and Spanish productive vocabularies. Findings revealed the forms' concurrent and discriminant validity, on the basis of standardized measures of vocabulary, as measures of productive vocabulary for this growing bilingual population. These findings suggest that parent reports, including our researcher-designed form, represent a valid, cost-effective mechanism for vocabulary monitoring purposes in early childhood education settings.

  8. 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.

  9. Validity of a parent-report measure of vocabulary and grammar for Spanish-speaking toddlers.

    PubMed

    Thal, D; Jackson-Maldonado, D; Acosta, D

    2000-10-01

    The validity of the Fundación MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC:PE) was examined with twenty 20- and nineteen 28-month-old, typically developing, monolingual, Spanish-speaking children living in Mexico. One measure of vocabulary (number of words) and two measures of grammar (mean of the three longest utterances and grammatical complexity score) from the IDHC:PE were compared to behavioral measures of vocabulary (number of different words from a language sample and number of objects named in a confrontation naming task) and one behavioral measure of grammar (mean length of utterance from a language sample). Only vocabulary measures were assessed in the 20-month-olds because of floor effects on the grammar measures. Results indicated validity for assessing expressive vocabulary in 20-month-olds and expressive vocabulary and grammar in 28-month-olds.

  10. Children's Productive Use of Academic Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ma, Shufeng; Zhang, Jie; Anderson, Richard C.; Morris, Joshua; Nguyen-Jahiel, Kim Thi; Miller, Brian; Jadallah, May; Sun, Jingjing; Lin, Tzu-Jung; Scott, Theresa; Hsu, Yu-Li; Zhang, Xin; Latawiec, Beata; Grabow, Kay

    2017-01-01

    Instructional influences on productive use of academic vocabulary were investigated among 460 mostly African American and Latina/o fifth graders from 36 classrooms in eight public schools serving low-income families. Students received a 6-week unit on wolf management involving collaborative group work (CG) or direct instruction (DI). The big…

  11. Words and Concepts. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2007

    2007-01-01

    "Words and Concepts" is a computer software program that focuses on building oral language skills related to vocabulary, comprehension, word relationships, and other concepts in six units--vocabulary, categorization, word identification by function, word association, concept of same, and concept of different. It can be used by adults and…

  12. Failure to learn from feedback underlies word learning difficulties in toddlers at risk for autism.

    PubMed

    Bedford, R; Gliga, T; Frame, K; Hudry, K; Chandler, S; Johnson, M H; Charman, T

    2013-01-01

    Children's assignment of novel words to nameless objects, over objects whose names they know (mutual exclusivity; ME) has been described as a driving force for vocabulary acquisition. Despite their ability to use ME to fast-map words (Preissler & Carey, 2005), children with autism show impaired language acquisition. We aimed to address this puzzle by building on studies showing that correct referent selection using ME does not lead to word learning unless ostensive feedback is provided on the child's object choice (Horst & Samuelson, 2008). We found that although toddlers aged 2;0 at risk for autism can use ME to choose the correct referent of a word, they do not benefit from feedback for long-term retention of the word-object mapping. Further, their difficulty using feedback is associated with their smaller receptive vocabularies. We propose that difficulties learning from social feedback, not lexical principles, limits vocabulary building during development in children at risk for autism.

  13. 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 of their monolingual peers. However, their minority language is weaker: the trilinguals scored lower than the Polish monolinguals on both receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, and the bilinguals showed reduced expressive knowledge but leveled out with the Polish monolinguals on receptive vocabulary. The results should encourage parents of migrant children to support home language(s), if the languages are to be retained in a longer perspective. PMID:28848473

  14. Personalization of Reading Passages Improves Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Heilman, Michael; Collins-Thompson, Kevyn; Callan, Jamie; Eskenazi, Maxine; Juffs, Alan; Wilson, Lois

    2010-01-01

    The REAP tutoring system provides individualized and adaptive English as a Second Language vocabulary practice. REAP can automatically personalize instruction by providing practice readings about topics that match interests as well as domain-based, cognitive objectives. While most previous research on motivation in intelligent tutoring…

  15. Conceptual Model of Quantities, Units, Dimensions, and Values

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Rouquette, Nicolas F.; DeKoenig, Hans-Peter; Burkhart, Roger; Espinoza, Huascar

    2011-01-01

    JPL collaborated with experts from industry and other organizations to develop a conceptual model of quantities, units, dimensions, and values based on the current work of the ISO 80000 committee revising the International System of Units & Quantities based on the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM). By providing support for ISO 80000 in SysML via the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM), this conceptual model provides, for the first time, a standard-based approach for addressing issues of unit coherence and dimensional analysis into the practice of systems engineering with SysML-based tools. This conceptual model provides support for two kinds of analyses specified in the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM): coherence of units as well as of systems of units, and dimension analysis of systems of quantities. To provide a solid and stable foundation, the model for defining quantities, units, dimensions, and values in SysML is explicitly based on the concepts defined in VIM. At the same time, the model library is designed in such a way that extensions to the ISQ (International System of Quantities) and SI Units (Systeme International d Unites) can be represented, as well as any alternative systems of quantities and units. The model library can be used to support SysML user models in various ways. A simple approach is to define and document libraries of reusable systems of units and quantities for reuse across multiple projects, and to link units and quantity kinds from these libraries to Unit and QuantityKind stereotypes defined in SysML user models.

  16. PROJECT SUCCESS: Electricity. (Pre-post Tests, Vocabulary Lists, Beginning Circuitry, Intermediate Projects).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, Sally

    Four packets comprise the electricity component of an enrichment program for gifted elementary students. Provided in the introductory packet are sample pre- and posttests for the unit. Remaining packets present vocabulary lists, student worksheets on beginning circuitry, and suggestions for student projects (such as making a battery, constructing…

  17. Cien Refranes, Cien Verdades (Spanish Proverbs for Second Year Students).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fossum, Diane; Statz, Jerry

    This unit on Spanish proverbs for second year students includes five main lessons, each dealing with a different way of using proverbs to teach or reinforce certain grammatical points and vocabulary. Each exercise and suggested vocabulary list also has a corresponding transparency. Lesson one contains 18 Spanish proverbs which have a common…

  18. Examining Multiple Dimensions of Word Knowledge for Content Vocabulary Understanding

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cervetti, Gina N.; Tilson, Jennifer L.; Castek, Jill; Bravo, Marco A.; Trainin, Guy

    2012-01-01

    This study traces the development of a vocabulary measure designed to assess multiple types of word knowledge. The assessment, which was administered in conjunction with a science unit about weather and the water cycle for third-and-fourth graders, included items for six knowledge types--recognition, definition, classification/example, context,…

  19. French Basic Course. Units 13-24 Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cossard, Monique; Salazar, Robert

    This self-instructional course is the second volume of the basic course in French. The material is divided into 12 chapters. Each of the first 11 chapters contains a dialogue, followed by notes concerning the dialogue, a list of useful expressions and vocabulary, vocabulary exercises, and questions on the dialogue. The subjects of the dialogues…

  20. Geography and Reading: An Integrated Approach to Teaching Reading Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fitzhugh, William P.

    This document discusses the advantages of integrating social studies--geography in particular--and reading skills. Time is saved because literature based reading is a high interest means of introducing social studies concepts and vocabulary to children. Skills can be taught using the vocabulary from the social studies unit. This paper presents…

  1. 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

  2. Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition: Supporting Evidence and Some Objections

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Krashen, Stephen

    2013-01-01

    I continue here the long-standing discussion on the familiar topic of whether subconscious language acquisition is more powerful than conscious language learning, with a focus on vocabulary, adding recent studies as well as older ones I missed in previous publications on this topic (e.g. Krashen, 2004).

  3. What Comes First, the OWL or the Bean? Creating Reusable Scientific Software with OWL/RDF Vocabularies.

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Stephan, Eric G.; Elsethagen, Todd O.; Kleese van Dam, Kerstin

    In the spring of 2013 the U.S. White House by executive order mandated: “Government information shall be managed as an asset throughout its life cycle to promote interoperability and openness, and, wherever possible and legally permissible, to ensure that data are released to the public in ways that make the data easy to find, accessible, and usable.” Key for the reusability of any scientific data is hereby the availability of metadata describing the published data in a vocabulary that is familiar to its potential users. The objective of this paper is to help scientific application developers who want to adoptmore » the continuous stream of new community vocabularies to help make their data sharable, self-describable, and easily understood. To achieve this we suggest semantic vocabulary and application integration best practices and discuss the tradeoffs of encoding vocabularies through code versus deriving code from vocabularies.« less

  4. Effect of Vocabulary Test Preparation on Low-Income Black Middle School Students' Reading Scores

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mitchell, Ingrid; Nistor, Nicolae; Baltes, Beate; Brown, Michelle

    2016-01-01

    Black middle school students in the United States continue to perform poorly on standardized reading achievement tests in comparison to other racial and ethnic groups. The purpose of this research study was to examine the effectiveness of a vocabulary-focused test preparation program for Black middle school students. The theoretical framework…

  5. A Study of Readers Theater in Eighth Grade: Issues of Fluency, Comprehension, and Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Keehn, Susan; Harmon, Janis; Shoho, Alan

    2008-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of Readers Theater on eighth-grade students, the majority of whom were reading below grade level. Over six weeks of a short story unit, one class participated in Readers Theater. The comparison group of like-ability students received more traditional literary and vocabulary instruction. Quantitative measures…

  6. Towards Web 3.0: taxonomies and ontologies for medical education -- a systematic review.

    PubMed

    Blaum, Wolf E; Jarczweski, Anne; Balzer, Felix; Stötzner, Philip; Ahlers, Olaf

    2013-01-01

    Both for curricular development and mapping, as well as for orientation within the mounting supply of learning resources in medical education, the Semantic Web ("Web 3.0") poses a low-threshold, effective tool that enables identification of content related items across system boundaries. Replacement of the currently required manual with an automatically generated link, which is based on content and semantics, requires the use of a suitably structured vocabulary for a machine-readable description of object content. Aim of this study is to compile the existing taxonomies and ontologies used for the annotation of medical content and learning resources, to compare those using selected criteria, and to verify their suitability in the context described above. Based on a systematic literature search, existing taxonomies and ontologies for the description of medical learning resources were identified. Through web searches and/or direct contact with the respective editors, each of the structured vocabularies thus identified were examined in regards to topic, structure, language, scope, maintenance, and technology of the taxonomy/ontology. In addition, suitability for use in the Semantic Web was verified. Among 20 identified publications, 14 structured vocabularies were identified, which differed rather strongly in regards to language, scope, currency, and maintenance. None of the identified vocabularies fulfilled the necessary criteria for content description of medical curricula and learning resources in the German-speaking world. While moving towards Web 3.0, a significant problem lies in the selection and use of an appropriate German vocabulary for the machine-readable description of object content. Possible solutions include development, translation and/or combination of existing vocabularies, possibly including partial translations of English vocabularies.

  7. Associative vocabulary learning: development and testing of two paradigms for the (re-) acquisition of action- and object-related words.

    PubMed

    Freundlieb, Nils; Ridder, Volker; Dobel, Christian; Enriquez-Geppert, Stefanie; Baumgaertner, Annette; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Gerloff, Christian; Hummel, Friedhelm C; Liuzzi, Gianpiero

    2012-01-01

    Despite a growing number of studies, the neurophysiology of adult vocabulary acquisition is still poorly understood. One reason is that paradigms that can easily be combined with neuroscientfic methods are rare. Here, we tested the efficiency of two paradigms for vocabulary (re-) acquisition, and compared the learning of novel words for actions and objects. Cortical networks involved in adult native-language word processing are widespread, with differences postulated between words for objects and actions. Words and what they stand for are supposed to be grounded in perceptual and sensorimotor brain circuits depending on their meaning. If there are specific brain representations for different word categories, we hypothesized behavioural differences in the learning of action-related and object-related words. Paradigm A, with the learning of novel words for body-related actions spread out over a number of days, revealed fast learning of these new action words, and stable retention up to 4 weeks after training. The single-session Paradigm B employed objects and actions. Performance during acquisition did not differ between action-related and object-related words (time*word category: p = 0.01), but the translation rate was clearly better for object-related (79%) than for action-related words (53%, p = 0.002). Both paradigms yielded robust associative learning of novel action-related words, as previously demonstrated for object-related words. Translation success differed for action- and object-related words, which may indicate different neural mechanisms. The paradigms tested here are well suited to investigate such differences with neuroscientific means. Given the stable retention and minimal requirements for conscious effort, these learning paradigms are promising for vocabulary re-learning in brain-lesioned people. In combination with neuroimaging, neuro-stimulation or pharmacological intervention, they may well advance the understanding of language learning to optimize therapeutic strategies.

  8. 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.

  9. Measuring the Utility of a Basic French Vocabulary.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Savard, Jean-Guy; Richards, Jack C.

    Using frequency, range, availability, and coverage as objectively weighted indices of utility in the development of a basic French vocabulary list, the authors describe the technical procedure used in this study and list the resultant first 153 words according to the four indices and the utility rating. Weighting factors for each index, based on…

  10. Experimental Effects of Word Generation on Vocabulary, Academic Language, and Perspective Taking in High Poverty Middle Schools

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Jones, Stephanie M.; Kim, James; LaRusso, Maria; Kim, Ha Yeon; Selman, Robert; Uccelli, Paola; Barnes, Sophie; Donovan, Suzanne; Snow, Catherine

    2016-01-01

    Word Generation (WG) is a research-based vocabulary program for middle school students designed to teach words through language arts, math, science, and social studies classes. The program consists of weekly units that introduce 5 high-utility target words through brief passages designed to spark active examination and discussion of contemporary…

  11. The Relationship between Vocabulary and Word Reading among Head Start Spanish-English Bilingual Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zhao, Jing; Dixon, L. Quentin; Quiroz, Blanca; Chen, Si

    2017-01-01

    In this study, we investigated the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between vocabulary and word reading across Spanish and English. One hundred and seventeen 4- to 5-year-old Spanish-English bilingual children attending Head Start programs in the United States were tested for their Spanish and English word reading twice, 5 months apart.…

  12. The Preliminary Development of a Vocabulary List for Osaka Jogakuin Junior College's First Year English Program.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cornwell, Steve; Kakutani, Tomoko

    1998-01-01

    A project to develop word lists for first-year English as a second language instruction at Osaka Jogakuin Junior College (Japan) is described. The lists were drawn from high-frequency vocabulary lists, with word selection based on course unit themes and rhetorical patterns. These include: introduction/people and places; women's issues;…

  13. Early deictic but not other gestures predict later vocabulary in both typical development and autism.

    PubMed

    Özçalışkan, Şeyda; Adamson, Lauren B; Dimitrova, Nevena

    2016-08-01

    Research with typically developing children suggests a strong positive relation between early gesture use and subsequent vocabulary development. In this study, we ask whether gesture production plays a similar role for children with autism spectrum disorder. We observed 23 18-month-old typically developing children and 23 30-month-old children with autism spectrum disorder interact with their caregivers (Communication Play Protocol) and coded types of gestures children produced (deictic, give, conventional, and iconic) in two communicative contexts (commenting and requesting). One year later, we assessed children's expressive vocabulary, using Expressive Vocabulary Test. Children with autism spectrum disorder showed significant deficits in gesture production, particularly in deictic gestures (i.e. gestures that indicate objects by pointing at them or by holding them up). Importantly, deictic gestures-but not other gestures-predicted children's vocabulary 1 year later regardless of communicative context, a pattern also found in typical development. We conclude that the production of deictic gestures serves as a stepping-stone for vocabulary development. © The Author(s) 2015.

  14. Vocabulary Teaching in Foreign Language via Audiovisual Method Technique of Listening and Following Writing Scripts

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bozavli, Ebubekir

    2017-01-01

    The objective is hereby study is to compare the effects of conventional and audiovisual methods on learning efficiency and success of retention with regard to vocabulary teaching in foreign language. Research sample consists of 21 undergraduate and 7 graduate students studying at Department of French Language Teaching, Kazim Karabekir Faculty of…

  15. Steps for Creating a Specialized Corpus and Developing an Annotated Frequency-Based Vocabulary List

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Toriida, Marie-Claude

    2016-01-01

    This article provides introductory, step-by-step explanations of how to make a specialized corpus and an annotated frequency-based vocabulary list. One of my objectives is to help teachers, instructors, program administrators, and graduate students with little experience in this field be able to do so using free resources. Instructions are first…

  16. Vocabulary Development in European Portuguese: A Replication Study Using the Language Development Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rescorla, Leslie; Nyame, Josephine; Dias, Pedro

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: Our objective was to replicate previous cross­linguistic findings by comparing Portuguese and U.S. children with respect to (a) effects of language, gender, and age on vocabulary size; (b) lexical composition; and (c) late talking. Method: We used the Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989) with children (18-35 months) learning…

  17. Useful Spanish for Medical and Hospital Personnel with a Bibliography on Hispanic Peoples in the United States.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cordasco, Francesco; Alvarez, Pablo Rivera

    The manual gives vocabulary and sentence patterns which are considered basic or essential to medical personnel who work with Spanish-speaking patients. In most instances, only one way is given to express an idea or to ask a question. Sentence patterns and vocabulary that should be made active are repeated many times. The manual includes (1)…

  18. The Role of the Social Vocabulary Research in the Russian Language Teaching Practice (On the Example of Zoomorphic Nominations "Homo Socialis")

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Leontyeva, Tatyana V.; Shchetynina, Anna V.; Vorobyeva, Natalya A.; Blinova, Anastasiya N.

    2016-01-01

    The relevance of the investigated problem is stipulated by the necessity to solve a problem of multicultural humanitarian education and formation of tolerance of students to unfamiliar culture. The purpose of the article is to research educational potential of metaphorical vocabulary in different languages, such as zoomorphic naming units of a man…

  19. 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

  20. 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.

  1. Portability issues for a structured clinical vocabulary: mapping from Yale to the Columbia medical entities dictionary.

    PubMed Central

    Kannry, J L; Wright, L; Shifman, M; Silverstein, S; Miller, P L

    1996-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To examine the issues involved in mapping an existing structured controlled vocabulary, the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) developed at Columbia University, to an institutional vocabulary, the laboratory and pharmacy vocabularies of the Yale New Haven Medical Center. DESIGN: 200 Yale pharmacy terms and 200 Yale laboratory terms were randomly selected from database files containing all of the Yale laboratory and pharmacy terms. These 400 terms were then mapped to the MED in three phases: mapping terms, mapping relationships between terms, and mapping attributes that modify terms. RESULTS: 73% of the Yale pharmacy terms mapped to MED terms. 49% of the Yale laboratory terms mapped to MED terms. After certain obsolete and otherwise inappropriate laboratory terms were eliminated, the latter rate improved to 59%. 23% of the unmatched Yale laboratory terms failed to match because of differences in granularity with MED terms. The Yale and MED pharmacy terms share 12 of 30 distinct attributes. The Yale and MED laboratory terms share 14 of 23 distinct attributes. CONCLUSION: The mapping of an institutional vocabulary to a structured controlled vocabulary requires that the mapping be performed at the level of terms, relationships, and attributes. The mapping process revealed the importance of standardization of local vocabulary subsets, standardization of attribute representation, and term granularity. PMID:8750391

  2. 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.

  3. Image Engine: an object-oriented multimedia database for storing, retrieving and sharing medical images and text.

    PubMed Central

    Lowe, H. J.

    1993-01-01

    This paper describes Image Engine, an object-oriented, microcomputer-based, multimedia database designed to facilitate the storage and retrieval of digitized biomedical still images, video, and text using inexpensive desktop computers. The current prototype runs on Apple Macintosh computers and allows network database access via peer to peer file sharing protocols. Image Engine supports both free text and controlled vocabulary indexing of multimedia objects. The latter is implemented using the TView thesaurus model developed by the author. The current prototype of Image Engine uses the National Library of Medicine's Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) vocabulary (with UMLS Meta-1 extensions) as its indexing thesaurus. PMID:8130596

  4. Effects of Mathematical Vocabulary Instruction on Students' Achievement in Mathematics in Secondary Schools of Murang'a County, Kenya

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wanjiru, Benson; O-Connor, Miheso

    2015-01-01

    This article is based on a study whose main objective was to determine the effects of mathematical vocabulary instruction on students' achievement in Mathematics in Secondary schools in Murang'a County, Kenya. The study was a non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design and was conducted in the two purposively selected…

  5. Reading comprehension in adolescents with ADHD: exploring the poor comprehender profile and individual differences in vocabulary and executive functions.

    PubMed

    Martinussen, Rhonda; Mackenzie, Genevieve

    2015-03-01

    The overall objective of this study was to investigate reading comprehension in youth with and without a prior diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The first goal was to determine whether youth with and without ADHD matched in word reading ability exhibited differences in reading comprehension proficiency. The next goal was to determine whether good and poor comprehenders within the ADHD subgroup differed from each other on language and academic achievement measures. The third objective was to examine whether word recognition or oral vocabulary knowledge mediated the effect of ADHD symptoms on reading comprehension performance. Youth with ADHD scored significantly lower than the comparison youth on a standardized measure of reading comprehension. Relative to good comprehenders with ADHD, poor comprehenders with ADHD exhibited weaknesses in expressive vocabulary, mathematical reasoning, written expression, and exhibited more executive function (EF) difficulties as reported by the teacher. Expressive vocabulary and word reading, but not teacher EF ratings, accounted for unique variance in reading comprehension performance and mediated the relationship between ADHD symptoms and reading comprehension. Implications for further research and educational practice are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. La Hispanidad en los Estados Unidos (Spanish Influence in the United States)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Da Silva, Zenia Sacks

    1975-01-01

    This paper recounts a brief history of Spanish exploration in the territory of the United States and surveys Spanish influence in industry, agriculture, foods, architecture and vocabulary. (Text is in Spanish.) (CK)

  7. College Algebra I.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Benjamin, Carl; And Others

    Presented are student performance objectives, a student progress chart, and assignment sheets with objective and diagnostic measures for the stated performance objectives in College Algebra I. Topics covered include: sets; vocabulary; linear equations; inequalities; real numbers; operations; factoring; fractions; formulas; ratio, proportion, and…

  8. Vocabulary Instruction and Mexican-American Bilingual Students: How Two High School Teachers Integrate Multiple Strategies to Build Word Consciousness in English Language Arts Classrooms

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ajayi, Lasisi

    2015-01-01

    Despite the significance of vocabulary knowledge to student learning, limited studies have examined English language arts (ELA) teachers' skills and practices that may be effective for building word consciousness in high school Mexican-American bilingual students. The research objective of the present study is to examine how two high school ELA…

  9. Polish Vocabulary Development in 2-Year-Olds: Comparisons with English Using the Language Development Survey

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rescorla, Leslie; Constants, Holly; Bialecka-Pikul, Marta; Stepien-Nycz, Malgorzata; Ochal, Anna

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare vocabulary size and composition in 2-year-olds learning Polish or English as measured by the Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989). Method: Participants were 199 Polish toddlers (M = 24.14 months, SD = 0.35) and 422 U.S. toddlers (M = 24.69 months, SD = 0.78). Results: Test-retest…

  10. Analysis of Lexical Quality and Its Relation to Writing Quality for 4th Grade, Primary School Students in Chile

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gómez Vera, Gabriela; Sotomayor, Carmen; Bedwell, Percy; Domínguez, Ana María; Jéldrez, Elvira

    2016-01-01

    Few studies have addressed vocabulary quality in developing writing skill in Spanish. Even less addressed it within the Chilean educational system. The specific objective of this study was to characterize, using a comprehensive set of indicators, the quality of the vocabulary produced by Chilean 4th grade students. Based on a national writing…

  11. Stimulating Multiple-Demand Cortex Enhances Vocabulary Learning

    PubMed Central

    Wise, Richard J.S.; Geranmayeh, Fatemeh; Hampshire, Adam

    2017-01-01

    It is well established that networks within multiple-demand cortex (MDC) become active when diverse skills and behaviors are being learnt. However, their causal role in learning remains to be established. In the present study, we first performed functional magnetic resonance imaging on healthy female and male human participants to confirm that MDC was most active in the initial stages of learning a novel vocabulary, consisting of pronounceable nonwords (pseudowords), each associated with a picture of a real object. We then examined, in healthy female and male human participants, whether repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of a frontal midline node of the cingulo-opercular MDC affected learning rates specifically during the initial stages of learning. We report that stimulation of this node, but not a control brain region, substantially improved both accuracy and response times during the earliest stage of learning pseudoword–object associations. This stimulation had no effect on the processing of established vocabulary, tested by the accuracy and response times when participants decided whether a real word was accurately paired with a picture of an object. These results provide evidence that noninvasive stimulation to MDC nodes can enhance learning rates, thereby demonstrating their causal role in the learning process. We propose that this causal role makes MDC candidate target for experimental therapeutics; for example, in stroke patients with aphasia attempting to reacquire a vocabulary. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Learning a task involves the brain system within which that specific task becomes established. Therefore, successfully learning a new vocabulary establishes the novel words in the language system. However, there is evidence that in the early stages of learning, networks within multiple-demand cortex (MDC), which control higher cognitive functions, such as working memory, attention, and monitoring of performance, become active. This activity declines once the task is learnt. The present study demonstrated that a node within MDC, located in midline frontal cortex, becomes active during the early stage of learning a novel vocabulary. Importantly, noninvasive brain stimulation of this node improved performance during this stage of learning. This observation demonstrated that MDC activity is important for learning. PMID:28676576

  12. UNIT, PETROLOGY.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Louisiana Arts and Science Center, Baton Rouge.

    THIS TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR A UNIT ON PETROLOGY IS SUITABLE FOR ADAPTATION AT EITHER THE UPPER ELEMENTARY OR THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL LEVELS. THE UNIT BEGINS WITH A STORY THAT INTRODUCES VOLCANIC ACTION AND IGNEOUS ROCK FORMATION. SELECTED CONCEPTS ARE LISTED FOLLOWED BY SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES. A BIBLIOGRAPHY, FILM LIST, VOCABULARY LIST, AND QUESTION AND…

  13. Use of standard vocabulary services in validation of water resources data

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yu, Jonathan; Cox, Simon; Ratcliffe, David

    2010-05-01

    Ontology repositories are increasingly being exposed through vocabulary and concept services. Primarily this is in support of resource discovery. Thesaurus functionality and even more sophisticated reasoning offers the possibility of overcoming the limitations of simple text-matching and tagging which is the basis of most search. However, controlled vocabularies have other important roles in distributed systems: in particular in constraining content validity. A national water information system established by the Australian Bureau of Meterorology ('the Bureau') has deployed a system for ingestion of data from multiple providers. This uses a http interface onto separately maintained vocabulary services as part of the quality assurance chain. With over 200 data providers potentially transferring data to the Bureau, a standard XML-based Water Data Transfer Format (WDTF) was developed for receipt of data into an integrated national water information system. The WDTF schema was built upon standards from the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC). The structure and syntax specified by a W3C XML Schema is complemented by additional constraints described using Schematron. These implement important content requirements and business rules including: • Restricted cardinality: where optional elements and attributes inherited from the base standards become mandatory in the application, or repeatable elements or attributes are limited to one or omitted. For example, the sampledFeature element from O&M is optional but is mandatory for a samplingPoint element in WDTF. • Vocabulary checking: WDTF data use seventeen vocabularies or code lists derived from Regulations under the Commonwealth Water Act 2007. Examples of codelists are the Australian Water Regulations list, observed property vocabulary, and units of measures. • Contextual constraints: in many places, the permissible value is dependent on the value of another field. For example, within observations the unit of measure must be commensurate with the observed property type Validation of data submitted in WDTF uses a two-pass approach. First, syntax and structural validation is performed by standard XML Schema validation tools. Second, validation of contextual constraints and code list checking is performed using a hybrid method combining context-sensitive rule-based validation (allowing the rules to be expressed within a given context) and semantic vocabulary services. Schematron allows rules to incorporate assertions of XPath expressions to access and constrain element content, therefore enabling contextual constraints. Schematron is also used to perform element cardinality checking. The vocabularies or code lists are formalized in SKOS (Simple Knowledge Organization System), an RDF-based language. SKOS provides mechanisms to define concepts, associate them with (multi-lingual) labels or terms, and record thesaurus-like relationships between them. The vocabularies are managed in a RDF database or semantic triple store. Querying is implemented as a semantic vocabulary service, with an http-based API that allows queries to be issued from rules written in Schematron. WDTF has required development and deployment of some ontologies whose scope is much more general than this application, in particular covering 'observed properties' and 'units of measure', which also have to be related to each other and consistent with the dimensional analysis. Separation of the two validation passes reflects the separate governance and stability of the structural and content rules, and allows an organisation's business rules to be moved out of the XML schema definition and the XML schema to be reused by other businesses with their own specific rules. With the general approach proven, harmonization opportunities with more generic services are being explored, such as the GEMET API for SKOS, developed by the European Environment Agency. Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank the AUSCOPE team for their development and support provided of the vocabulary services.

  14. 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.

  15. Internal and External Factors That Support Children's Minority First Language and English.

    PubMed

    Pham, Giang; Tipton, Timothy

    2018-05-22

    Sequential bilingual children in the United States often speak 2 languages that have different social statuses (minority-majority) and separate contexts for learning (home-school). Thus, distinct factors may support the development of each language. This study examined which child internal and external factors were related to vocabulary skills in a minority language versus English. Participants included 69 children, aged 5-8 years, who lived in Southern California, spoke Vietnamese as the home language, and received school instruction in English. All participants had at least 1 foreign-born parent, and most mothers reported limited English proficiency. Parents completed a telephone survey, and children completed measures of receptive and expressive vocabulary in each language. Using correlations and stepwise regression, we examined predictors of vocabulary skills in each language that were internal to the child (age, gender, analytical reasoning, phonological memory) or that pertained to the surrounding environment (cumulative exposure, quantity and quality of input/output). Vietnamese vocabulary outcomes were related to multiple external factors, of which input and enrichment activities were the best predictors. In contrast, English vocabulary outcomes were related to internal factors, of which age and phonological memory were the best predictors. Parental use of Vietnamese contributed to children's Vietnamese vocabulary outcomes but was not related to children's English vocabulary outcomes. Vietnamese exposure does not hinder English development. Children from immigrant families are learning English with or without familial support. Rich and frequent exposure and opportunities for practice are essential for the continued development of a minority first language.

  16. Toddlers learn words in a foreign language: The role of native vocabulary knowledge

    PubMed Central

    Koenig, Melissa A.; Woodward, Amanda L.

    2013-01-01

    The current study examined monolingual English-speaking toddlers’ (N=50) ability to learn word-referent links from native speakers of Dutch versus English and secondly, whether children generalized or sequestered their extensions when terms were tested by a subsequent speaker of English. Overall, children performed better in the English than in the Dutch condition; however, children with high native vocabularies successfully selected the target object for terms trained in fluent Dutch. Furthermore, children with higher vocabularies did not indicate their comprehension of Dutch terms when subsequently tested by an English speaker whereas children with low vocabulary scores responded at chance levels to both the original Dutch speaker and the second English speaker. These findings demonstrate that monolingual toddlers with proficiency in their native language are capable of learning words outside of their conventional system and may be sensitive to the boundaries that exist between language systems. PMID:22310327

  17. Careers (A Course of Study). Unit III: Do It Right!

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Turley, Kay

    Designed to enable the special needs student to comprehend and complete job application forms, this set of activities on job application vocabulary, neatness, and following directions is the third unit in a nine-unit secondary level careers course intended to provide handicapped students with the knowledge and tools necessary to succeed in the…

  18. Multicultural Women's History: A Curriculum Unit for the Elementary Grades.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tomin, Barbara; Burgoa, Carol

    This guide offers a curriculum unit for elementary schools to help increase student awareness of multicultural women's history. The unit contains five short biographies of women from different ethnic backgrounds. The women featured are Mary Shadd Cary, Frances Willard, Tye Leung Schulze, Felisa Rincon de Gautier, and Ada Deer. Vocabulary exercises…

  19. A Computer Analysis Study of the Word Style in Love-songs of Tshang yang Gya tsho

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yonghong, Li; SunTing; Lei, Guo; Hongzhi, Yu

    Based on the statistical methods of corpus and the 124 love-songs of Tshang yang Gya tsho as the studying object, this paper have set up the principles of vocabulary segmentation and built the love-songs corpus of Tibetan and Tibetan-Chinese grammar separation lexicon corpus. Then it did quantitative research on the achievement of "love-songs" in the language arts from three aspects: the length of the vocabularie's, the frequency rate of the vocabularies, and the distribution of the term's number in the verses and the songs. In addition it also introduced a new kind of researching idea and method for the study of Tibetan literature.

  20. Language Arts: Comprehension Skills K-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Instructional Objectives Exchange, Los Angeles, CA.

    This revised collection contains 91 objectives and evaluations for kindergarten through grade 12. Objectives appear in four sections: (1) Literal Comprehension, (2) Interpretation, (3) Vocabulary and Word Meaning, and (4) Comprehension of Non-written Materials. In Literal Comprehension the objectives contain location of specific information and…

  1. They call it like they see it: spontaneous naming and attention to shape.

    PubMed

    Samuelson, Larissa K; Smith, Linda B

    2005-03-01

    Two experiments explore children's spontaneous labeling of novel objects as a method to study early lexical access. The experiments also provide new evidence on children's attention to object shape when labeling objects. In Experiment 1, the spontaneous productions of 21 23- to 28-month-olds (mean 26;28) shown a set of novel, unnamed objects were analyzed both in terms of the specific words said and, via adult judgments, their likely perceptual basis. We found that children's spontaneous names were cued by the perceptual feature of shape. Experiment 2 examines the relation between spontaneous productions, name generalizations in a structured task, and vocabulary development in a group of children between 17 and 24 months of age (mean 21;6). Results indicate that object shape plays an important role in both spontaneous productions and novel noun generalization, but contrary to current hypotheses, children may name objects by shape from the earliest points of productive vocabulary development and this tendency may not be lexically specific.

  2. Swahili Basic Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    This basic audiolingual course in standard Swahili appears in six volumes, Lesson Units 1-56. Units consist of a "blueprint" prefatory page outlining the phonological, morphological, and syntactic structures and new vocabulary to be presented; perception drills; Swahili dialog with cartoon guides and English translation; pattern and recombination…

  3. The Gene Ontology (GO) project: structured vocabularies for molecular biology and their application to genome and expression analysis.

    PubMed

    Blake, Judith A; Harris, Midori A

    2008-09-01

    Scientists wishing to utilize genomic data have quickly come to realize the benefit of standardizing descriptions of experimental procedures and results for computer-driven information retrieval systems. The focus of the Gene Ontology project is three-fold. First, the project goal is to compile the Gene Ontologies: structured vocabularies describing domains of molecular biology. Second, the project supports the use of these structured vocabularies in the annotation of gene products. Third, the gene product-to-GO annotation sets are provided by participating groups to the public through open access to the GO database and Web resource. This unit describes the current ontologies and what is beyond the scope of the Gene Ontology project. It addresses the issue of how GO vocabularies are constructed and related to genes and gene products. It concludes with a discussion of how researchers can access, browse, and utilize the GO project in the course of their own research. Copyright 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  4. Auditing the multiply-related concepts within the UMLS

    PubMed Central

    Mougin, Fleur; Grabar, Natalia

    2014-01-01

    Objective This work focuses on multiply-related Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) concepts, that is, concepts associated through multiple relations. The relations involved in such situations are audited to determine whether they are provided by source vocabularies or result from the integration of these vocabularies within the UMLS. Methods We study the compatibility of the multiple relations which associate the concepts under investigation and try to explain the reason why they co-occur. Towards this end, we analyze the relations both at the concept and term levels. In addition, we randomly select 288 concepts associated through contradictory relations and manually analyze them. Results At the UMLS scale, only 0.7% of combinations of relations are contradictory, while homogeneous combinations are observed in one-third of situations. At the scale of source vocabularies, one-third do not contain more than one relation between the concepts under investigation. Among the remaining source vocabularies, seven of them mainly present multiple non-homogeneous relations between terms. Analysis at the term level also shows that only in a quarter of cases are the source vocabularies responsible for the presence of multiply-related concepts in the UMLS. These results are available at: http://www.isped.u-bordeaux2.fr/ArticleJAMIA/results_multiply_related_concepts.aspx. Discussion Manual analysis was useful to explain the conceptualization difference in relations between terms across source vocabularies. The exploitation of source relations was helpful for understanding why some source vocabularies describe multiple relations between a given pair of terms. PMID:24464853

  5. Young Children's Self-Generated Object Views and Object Recognition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    James, Karin H.; Jones, Susan S.; Smith, Linda B.; Swain, Shelley N.

    2014-01-01

    Two important and related developments in children between 18 and 24 months of age are the rapid expansion of object name vocabularies and the emergence of an ability to recognize objects from sparse representations of their geometric shapes. In the same period, children also begin to show a preference for planar views (i.e., views of objects held…

  6. Math: Objectives Guide. Project CAST.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Charles County Board of Education, La Plata, MD. Office of Special Education.

    The guide lists math objectives needed for independent living by secondary special education students. One of a series of Project CAST (Community and School Together) life skills manuals, the guide outlines basic competencies in terms of goal statements, behavioral objectives, and specialized vocabulary for the following areas: money, making…

  7. The Rising Tide of Outreach and Engagement in State and Land-Grant Universities in the United States: What Are the Implications for University Continuing Education Units in Canada?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLean, Scott; Thompson, Gordon; Jonker, Peter

    2006-01-01

    In this paper, we describe the outreach and engagement movement in the United States and explore the implications of this movement for university continuing education units in Canada. Across the United States, major universities have adopted the vocabulary of "outreach and engagement" to foster a shift in the relationships of those…

  8. Efficacy of Thematic Units on Language and Literacy: A Collaborative Study of a Shelter Unit Intervention with Struggling First Graders

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hale, Suzan L.

    2010-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of using thematic units in small group instructional settings for struggling readers to increase oral language in the areas of receptive, expressive, and written vocabulary. This research examined the efficacy of using thematic units in small group instructional settings for struggling readers…

  9. Controlled Vocabularies and Ontologies for Oceanographic Data: The R2R Eventlogger Project

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coburn, E.; Maffei, A. R.; Chandler, C. L.; Raymond, L. M.

    2012-12-01

    Research vessels coordinated by the United States University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (US-UNOLS) collect data which is considered an important oceanographic resource. The NSF-funded Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) project aims to improve access to this data and diminish the barriers to use. One aspect of the R2R project has been to develop a shipboard scientific event logging system, Eventlogger, that incorporates best practice guidelines, controlled vocabularies, a cruise metadata schema, and a scientific event log. This will facilitate the eventual ingestion of datasets into oceanographic data repositories for subsequent integration and synthesis by investigators. One important aspect of this system is the careful use of controlled vocabularies and ontologies. Existing ontologies, where available, will be used and others will be developed. The use of internationally-informed, consensus-driven controlled vocabularies will make datasets more interoperable, and discoverable. The R2R Eventlogger project is led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the management of the controlled vocabularies and mapping of these vocabularies to authoritative community vocabularies are led by the Data Librarian in the Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (MBLWHOI) Library. The first target vocabulary is oceanographic instruments. Management of this vocabulary has thus far consisted of reconciling local community terms with the more widely used SeaDataNet Device Vocabulary terms. Rather than adopt existing terms, often the local terms are mapped by data managers in the NSF-funded Biological and Chemical Oceanographic Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) to the existing terms as they are given by investigators and often provide important information and meaning. New terms (often custom, or modified instruments) are submitted for review to the SeaDataNet community listserv for discussion and eventual incorporation into the Device Vocabulary. These vocabularies and their mappings are an important part of the Eventlogger system. Before a research cruise investigators configure the instruments they intend to use for science activities. The instruments available for selection are pulled directly from the instrument vocabulary. The promotion and use of controlled vocabularies and ontologies will pave the way for linked data. By mapping local terms to agreed upon authoritative terms links are created, whereby related datasets can be discovered, and utilized. The Library is a natural home for the management of standards. Librarians have an established history of working with controlled vocabularies and metadata and libraries serve as centers for information discovery. Eventlogger is currently being tested across the UNOLS fleet. A large submission of suggested instrument terms to the SeaDataNet community listserv is in progress. References: Maffei, Andrew R., Cynthia L. Chandler, Janet Fredericks, Nan Galbraith, Laura Stolp. Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R): A Controlled Vocabulary and Ontology Development Effort for Oceanographic Research Cruise Event Logging. EGU2011-12341. Poster presented at the 2011 EGU Meeting.

  10. Theme Unit: Veggie Power.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flagg, Ann

    2000-01-01

    Presents a selection of activities for a cross-curricular unit based on vegetables. Activities address vocabulary, language arts, social studies, and health education. A student reproducible presents a tossed salad game. Game cards can be incorporated into the other activities. A poster describes plant parts that are edible. A sidebar offers…

  11. Object-oriented controlled-vocabulary translator using TRANSOFT + HyperPAD.

    PubMed

    Moore, G W; Berman, J J

    1991-01-01

    Automated coding of surgical pathology reports is demonstrated. This public-domain translation software operates on surgical pathology files, extracting diagnoses and assigning codes in a controlled medical vocabulary, such as SNOMED. Context-sensitive translation algorithms are employed, and syntactically correct diagnostic items are produced that are matched with controlled vocabulary. English-language surgical pathology reports, accessioned over one year at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, were translated. With an interface to a larger hospital information system, all natural language pathology reports are automatically rendered as topography and morphology codes. This translator frees the pathologist from the time-intensive task of personally coding each report, and may be used to flag certain diagnostic categories that require specific quality assurance actions.

  12. Object-oriented controlled-vocabulary translator using TRANSOFT + HyperPAD.

    PubMed Central

    Moore, G. W.; Berman, J. J.

    1991-01-01

    Automated coding of surgical pathology reports is demonstrated. This public-domain translation software operates on surgical pathology files, extracting diagnoses and assigning codes in a controlled medical vocabulary, such as SNOMED. Context-sensitive translation algorithms are employed, and syntactically correct diagnostic items are produced that are matched with controlled vocabulary. English-language surgical pathology reports, accessioned over one year at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, were translated. With an interface to a larger hospital information system, all natural language pathology reports are automatically rendered as topography and morphology codes. This translator frees the pathologist from the time-intensive task of personally coding each report, and may be used to flag certain diagnostic categories that require specific quality assurance actions. PMID:1807773

  13. A Structural Equation Modeling Approach to Examining Factors Influencing Outcomes with Cochlear Implant in Mandarin-Speaking Children

    PubMed Central

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

    2015-01-01

    Objective To examine the direct and indirect effects of demographical factors on speech perception and vocabulary outcomes of Mandarin-speaking children with cochlear implants (CIs). Methods 115 participants implanted before the age of 5 and who had used CI before 1 to 3 years were evaluated using a battery of speech perception and vocabulary tests. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses proposed. Results Early implantation significantly contributed to speech perception outcomes while having undergone a hearing aid trial (HAT) before implantation, maternal educational level (MEL), and having undergone universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) before implantation had indirect effects on speech perception outcomes via their effects on age at implantation. In addition, both age at implantation and MEL had direct and indirect effects on vocabulary skills, while UNHS and HAT had indirect effects on vocabulary outcomes via their effects on age at implantation. Conclusion A number of factors had indirect and direct effects on speech perception and vocabulary outcomes in Mandarin-speaking children with CIs and these factors were not necessarily identical to those reported among their English-speaking counterparts. PMID:26348360

  14. Narrative performance of gifted African American school-aged children from low-income backgrounds.

    PubMed

    Mills, Monique T

    2015-02-01

    This study investigated classroom differences in the narrative performance of school-age African American English (AAE)-speaking children in gifted and general education classrooms. Forty-three children, Grades 2-5, each generated fictional narratives in response to the book Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). Differences in performance on traditional narrative measures (total number of communication units [C-units], number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words) and on AAE production (dialect density measure) between children in gifted and general education classrooms were examined. There were no classroom-based differences in total number of C-units, number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words. Children in gifted education classrooms produced narratives with lower dialect density than did children in general educated classrooms. Direct logistic regression assessed whether narrative dialect density measure scores offered additional information about giftedness beyond scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), a standard measure of language ability. Results indicated that a model with only Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition scores best discriminated children in the 2 classrooms. African American children across gifted and general education classrooms produce fictional narratives of similar length, lexical diversity, and syntax complexity. However, African American children in gifted education classrooms may produce lower rates of AAE and perform better on standard measures of vocabulary than those in general education classrooms.

  15. Experimentally-induced Increases in Early Gesture Lead to Increases in Spoken Vocabulary

    PubMed Central

    LeBarton, Eve Sauer; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Raudenbush, Stephen

    2014-01-01

    Differences in vocabulary that children bring with them to school can be traced back to the gestures they produce at 1;2, which, in turn, can be traced back to the gestures their parents produce at the same age (Rowe & Goldin-Meadow, 2009b). We ask here whether child gesture can be experimentally increased and, if so, whether the increases lead to increases in spoken vocabulary. Fifteen children aged 1;5 participated in an 8-week at-home intervention study (6 weekly training sessions plus follow-up 2 weeks later) in which all were exposed to object words, but only some were told to point at the named objects. Before each training session and at follow-up, children interacted naturally with caregivers to establish a baseline against which changes in communication were measured. Children who were told to gesture increased the number of gesture meanings they conveyed, not only during training but also during interactions with caregivers. These experimentally-induced increases in gesture led to larger spoken repertoires at follow-up. PMID:26120283

  16. Lexical leverage: Category knowledge boosts real-time novel word recognition in two-year- olds

    PubMed Central

    Borovsky, Arielle; Ellis, Erica M.; Evans, Julia L.; Elman, Jeffrey L.

    2016-01-01

    Recent research suggests that infants tend to add words to their vocabulary that are semantically related to other known words, though it is not clear why this pattern emerges. In this paper, we explore whether infants to leverage their existing vocabulary and semantic knowledge when interpreting novel label-object mappings in real-time. We initially identified categorical domains for which individual 24-month-old infants have relatively higher and lower levels of knowledge, irrespective of overall vocabulary size. Next, we taught infants novel words in these higher and lower knowledge domains and then asked if their subsequent real-time recognition of these items varied as a function of their category knowledge. While our participants successfully acquired the novel label -object mappings in our task, there were important differences in the way infants recognized these words in real time. Namely, infants showed more robust recognition of high (vs. low) domain knowledge words. These findings suggest that dense semantic structure facilitates early word learning and real-time novel word recognition. PMID:26452444

  17. A Vous de Parler. French Trainee Book.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cole, Richard

    A set of instructional materials for French is designed for Peace Corps volunteer language instruction and geared to the daily language needs of volunteers in Morocco. It consists of 38 units containing mini-dialogues, related grammatical and cultural information, vocabulary, and exercises. Unit topics include introductions, information giving and…

  18. Aircraft: United States Air Force Child Care Program Activity Guide.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boggs, Juanita; Brant, Linda

    General information about United States' aircraft is provided in this program activity guide for teachers and caregivers in Air Force preschools and day care centers. The guide includes basic information for teachers and caregivers, basic understandings, suggested teaching methods and group activities, vocabulary, ideas for interest centers, and…

  19. A method for the development of disease-specific reference standards vocabularies from textual biomedical literature resources

    PubMed Central

    Wang, Liqin; Bray, Bruce E.; Shi, Jianlin; Fiol, Guilherme Del; Haug, Peter J.

    2017-01-01

    Objective Disease-specific vocabularies are fundamental to many knowledge-based intelligent systems and applications like text annotation, cohort selection, disease diagnostic modeling, and therapy recommendation. Reference standards are critical in the development and validation of automated methods for disease-specific vocabularies. The goal of the present study is to design and test a generalizable method for the development of vocabulary reference standards from expert-curated, disease-specific biomedical literature resources. Methods We formed disease-specific corpora from literature resources like textbooks, evidence-based synthesized online sources, clinical practice guidelines, and journal articles. Medical experts annotated and adjudicated disease-specific terms in four classes (i.e., causes or risk factors, signs or symptoms, diagnostic tests or results, and treatment). Annotations were mapped to UMLS concepts. We assessed source variation, the contribution of each source to build disease-specific vocabularies, the saturation of the vocabularies with respect to the number of used sources, and the generalizability of the method with different diseases. Results The study resulted in 2588 string-unique annotations for heart failure in four classes, and 193 and 425 respectively for pulmonary embolism and rheumatoid arthritis in treatment class. Approximately 80% of the annotations were mapped to UMLS concepts. The agreement among heart failure sources ranged between 0.28 and 0.46. The contribution of these sources to the final vocabulary ranged between 18% and 49%. With the sources explored, the heart failure vocabulary reached near saturation in all four classes with the inclusion of minimal six sources (or between four to seven sources if only counting terms occurred in two or more sources). It took fewer sources to reach near saturation for the other two diseases in terms of the treatment class. Conclusions We developed a method for the development of disease-specific reference vocabularies. Expert-curated biomedical literature resources are substantial for acquiring disease-specific medical knowledge. It is feasible to reach near saturation in a disease-specific vocabulary using a relatively small number of literature sources. PMID:26971304

  20. Origins of individual differences in imitation: links with language, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior in two-year-old twins.

    PubMed

    McEwen, Fiona; Happé, Francesca; Bolton, Patrick; Rijsdijk, Fruhling; Ronald, Angelica; Dworzynski, Katharina; Plomin, Robert

    2007-01-01

    Imitation, vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior were investigated in 5,206 same- and opposite-sex 2-year-old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Individual differences in imitative ability were due to modest heritability (30%), while environmental factors shared between twins (42%) and unique to each twin (28%) also made significant contributions to the variance. Imitation correlated significantly, although modestly, with vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior, and the strongest relationship was with vocabulary. A model that represented the covariance between the variables as being due to correlated latent genetic and environmental factors fitted the data well, with shared environmental factors influencing most of the covariance. Parents who encourage imitation may also tend to foster the development of language, pretence, and socially insightful behavior.

  1. Is a Pink Cow Still a Cow? Individual Differences in Toddlers' Vocabulary Knowledge and Lexical Representations.

    PubMed

    Perry, Lynn K; Saffran, Jenny R

    2017-05-01

    When a toddler knows a word, what does she actually know? Many categories have multiple relevant properties; for example, shape and color are relevant to membership in the category banana. How do toddlers prioritize these properties when recognizing familiar words, and are there systematic differences among children? In this study, toddlers viewed pairs of objects associated with prototypical colors. On some trials, objects were typically colored (e.g., Holstein cow and pink pig); on other trials, colors were switched (e.g., pink cow and Holstein-patterned pig). On each trial, toddlers were directed to find a target object. Overall, recognition was disrupted when colors were switched, as measured by eye movements. Moreover, individual differences in vocabularies predicted recognition differences: Toddlers who say fewer shape-based words were more disrupted by color switches. "Knowing" a word may not mean the same thing for all toddlers; different toddlers prioritize different facets of familiar objects in their lexical representations. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  2. The Strategy of Defense: A Critical Examination of Global Conflict. A Secondary Level Curriculum for Social Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Council for Better Education, Alexandria, VA.

    The purpose of this guide is to encourage a rational understanding of the problems associated with nuclear armaments and to present a constructive approach to finding a solution. Each unit is introduced with a review of new terms, after which the topic is summarized and then is concluded with a vocabulary review and unit examination. Unit 1…

  3. Consumer language, patient language, and thesauri: a review of the literature

    PubMed Central

    Smith, Catherine A

    2011-01-01

    Objective: Online social networking sites are web services in which users create public or semipublic profiles and connect to build online communities, finding likeminded people through self-labeled personal attributes including ethnicity, leisure interests, political beliefs, and, increasingly, health status. Thirty-nine percent of patients in the United States identified themselves as users of social networks in a recent survey. “Tags,” user-generated descriptors functioning as labels for user-generated content, are increasingly important to social networking, and the language used by patients is thus becoming important for knowledge representation in these systems. However, patient language poses considerable challenges for health communication and networking. How have information systems traditionally incorporated these languages in their controlled vocabularies and thesauri? How do system builders know what consumers and patients say? Methods: This comprehensive review of the literature of health care (PubMed MEDLINE, CINAHL), library science, and information science (Library and Information Science and Technology Abstracts, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Library Literature) examines the research domains in which consumer and patient language has been explored. Results: Consumer contributions to controlled vocabulary appear to be seriously under-researched inside and outside of health care. Conclusion: The author reflects on the implications of these findings for online social networks devoted to patients and the patient experience. PMID:21464851

  4. Korean Basic Course. Volume Two.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Park, B. Nam

    Volume Two of the Korean Basic Course contains Units 29 through 47. Most units consist of (1) a basic dialog, (2) notes on the basic dialog, (3) additional vocabulary and phrases, (4) grammar notes, (5) drills, (6) a supplementary dialog for comprehension, (7) a narrative for comprehension and reading, and (8) exercises. Two of the last units…

  5. World History--Part 2: Teacher's Guide [and Student Guide]. Parallel Alternative Strategies for Students (PASS).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schaap, Eileen, Ed.; Fresen, Sue, Ed.

    This teacher's guide and student guide unit contains supplemental readings, activities, and methods adapted for secondary students who have disabilities and other students with diverse learning needs. The materials differ from standard textbooks and workbooks in several ways: simplified text; smaller units of study; reduced vocabulary level;…

  6. Teaching about Conflict, Nuclear War and the Future.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Zola, John; Sieck, Reny

    Designed for teachers of students in grades 5-12, the guide provides over 25 lesson plans and 45 student handouts for teaching units on conflict, nuclear war, and future studies. In the first unit, students define conflict, learn conflict-related vocabulary, illustrate knowledge of conflict types through the use of cartoons, recognize common…

  7. Ciencia: Nivel A (Science: Level A).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duron, Dolores; And Others

    A teacher's manual was developed for an elementary level science course in Spanish as part of an immersion program for English speaking children. The Level A manual is designed for kindergarten and grade 1 pupils. The five units cover the basic concepts of the weather, colors, animals, plants, and the five senses. Each unit includes vocabulary,…

  8. Theme Unit. Horse Sense.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Flagg, Ann

    1999-01-01

    This integrated, cross-curricular theme unit has children become immersed in the equine world as they broaden their vocabulary, participate in hands-on science and math, explore art, become aware of the horse's important role in history, and learn about good grooming. A student reproducible, a poetry poster, and a poster on the coloring of horses…

  9. Vocabulary Is an Appropriate Measure of Premorbid Intelligence in a Sample with Heterogeneous Educational Level in Brazil

    PubMed Central

    de Oliveira, Maira Okada; Nitrini, Ricardo; Yassuda, Mônica Sanches; Brucki, Sonia Maria Dozzi

    2014-01-01

    Crystallized intelligence refers to one's knowledge base and can be measured by vocabulary tests. Fluid intelligence is related to nonverbal aspects of intelligence, depends very little on previously acquired knowledge, and can be measured by tests such as Block Design (BD) and Raven Colored Matrices (RCM). Premorbid intelligence quotient (IQ) refers to one's intellectual ability level previous to the onset of disorders like mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and it is important to estimate disease severity. The objective was to compare performance in tests that measure crystallized and fluid intelligence in healthy subjects and patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and AD. One hundred forty-four participants (aMCI (n = 38), AD (n = 45), and healthy controls (n = 61)) were submitted to neuropsychological tests (WAIS-III vocabulary, BD, and RCM). There were significant among groups, except for vocabulary, indicating a relative stability of crystallized intelligence in the continuum from normal to pathological cognitive decline. Vocabulary seems to be stable during the progression of the disease and useful as a measure of premorbid intelligence, that is, to estimate previous function in relation to the level of education and, as a collateral measure of cognition in people with low education. PMID:24803737

  10. Vocabulary is an appropriate measure of premorbid intelligence in a sample with heterogeneous educational level in Brazil.

    PubMed

    de Oliveira, Maira Okada; Nitrini, Ricardo; Yassuda, Mônica Sanches; Brucki, Sonia Maria Dozzi

    2014-01-01

    Crystallized intelligence refers to one's knowledge base and can be measured by vocabulary tests. Fluid intelligence is related to nonverbal aspects of intelligence, depends very little on previously acquired knowledge, and can be measured by tests such as Block Design (BD) and Raven Colored Matrices (RCM). Premorbid intelligence quotient (IQ) refers to one's intellectual ability level previous to the onset of disorders like mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and it is important to estimate disease severity. The objective was to compare performance in tests that measure crystallized and fluid intelligence in healthy subjects and patients with amnestic MCI (aMCI) and AD. One hundred forty-four participants (aMCI (n = 38), AD (n = 45), and healthy controls (n = 61)) were submitted to neuropsychological tests (WAIS-III vocabulary, BD, and RCM). There were significant among groups, except for vocabulary, indicating a relative stability of crystallized intelligence in the continuum from normal to pathological cognitive decline. Vocabulary seems to be stable during the progression of the disease and useful as a measure of premorbid intelligence, that is, to estimate previous function in relation to the level of education and, as a collateral measure of cognition in people with low education.

  11. Encoding of Geological knowledge in the GeoPiemonte Map Data Base

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Piana, Fabrizio; Lombardo, Vincenzo; Mimmo, Dario; Barale, Luca; Irace, Andrea; Mulazzano, Elia

    2017-04-01

    In modern digital geological maps and geo-database, namely those devoted to interactive WebGIS services, there is the need to make explicit the geological assumptions in the process of the design and compilation of the Map Geodatabase. The Geodatabase of the Piemonte Geological Map, which consists of several thousands of Geologic Units and Geologic Structures, was designed in a way suitable for linking the knowledge of the geological domain at hand to more general levels of knowledge, represented in existing Earth Sciences ontologies and in a domain ontology (OntoGeonous), specifically designed for the project, though with a wide applicability in mind. The Geologic Units and Geologic Structures of the GeoPiemonte Map have been spatially correlated through the whole region, referring to a non-formal hierarchical scheme, which gives the parental relations between several orders of Geologic Units, putting them in relations with some main Geologic Events. The scheme reports the subdivisions we did on the Alps-Apennines orogenic belt (which constitutes the Piemonte geological framework) on which the architecture of the GeoDB relied. This contribution describes how the two different knowledge levels (specific domain vs. general knowledge) are assimilated within the GeoPiemonte informative system, providing relations between the contents of the geodatabase and the encoded concepts of the reference ontologies. Initiatives such as GeoScience Markup Language (GeoSciML 4.01, 2016 (1) and INSPIRE "Data Specification on Geology" (an operative simplification of GeoSciML, last version is 3.0, 2013) (2), as well as the recent terminological shepherding of the Geoscience Terminology Working Group (GTWG), provided us the authoritative standard geological source for knowledge encoding. Consistency and interoperability of geological data were thus sought, by classifying geologic features in an ontology-driven Data Model, while objects were described using GeoSciML controlled vocabularies and concepts derived from NASA SWEET ontology (3) (4) (5). At the state of the art the GeoPiemonte Map informative system is thus suitable for integration in trans-national Data Infrastructures and/or WebMap Services that require interoperability and harmonised semantic approaches. References (1)http://www.geosciml.org/geosciml/4.0/documentation/html/ - GeoSciML Data Model - (2)http://inspire.ec.europa.eu/documents/Data_Specifications/INSPIRE_DataSpecification_GE_v3.0.pdf - INSPIRE DS Technical Guidelines (3)http://resource.geosciml.org/vocabulary/cgi/201211/simplelithology.html (4)http://resource.geosciml.org/vocabulary/cgi/ - CGI GTWG controlled vocabularies repository (5) SWEET (Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology), http://www.sweet.jpl.nasa.govAppel Piana et al., 2017a. Geology of Piemonte Region (NW Italy, Alps-Apennines junction zone). Journal of Maps, in press. Piana et al., 2017b. The Geodatabase of the Piemonte Geological Map: conceptual design for knowledge encoding. ROL Soc. Geol. It., in press.

  12. Children’s level of word knowledge predicts their exclusion of familiar objects as referents of novel words

    PubMed Central

    Grassmann, Susanne; Schulze, Cornelia; Tomasello, Michael

    2015-01-01

    When children are learning a novel object label, they tend to exclude as possible referents familiar objects for which they already have a name. In the current study, we wanted to know if children would behave in this same way regardless of how well they knew the name of potential referent objects, specifically, whether they could only comprehend it or they could both comprehend and produce it. Sixty-six monolingual German-speaking 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children participated in two experimental sessions. In one session the familiar objects were chosen such that their labels were in the children’s productive vocabularies, and in the other session the familiar objects were chosen such that their labels were only in the children’s receptive vocabularies. Results indicated that children at all three ages were more likely to exclude a familiar object as the potential referent of the novel word if they could comprehend and produce its name rather than comprehend its name only. Indeed, level of word knowledge as operationalized in this way was a better predictor than was age. These results are discussed in the context of current theories of word learning by exclusion. PMID:26322005

  13. A case study of a vocabulary strategy in a high school class of special education students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prevost, Jill K.

    In the United States, almost 7000 students drop out of high school every day and the most common reason is academic failure. The economic, social, and emotional cost of dropping out of high school are enormous. Vocabulary knowledge is essential for students to grasp the concepts of a content area and there has been little research reported for scaffolding vocabulary learning in content classes. The purpose of this study was to investigate a vocabulary instructional strategy in a high school biology class. The research questions focused on understanding the vocabulary instructional strategy and student perception of the strategy. This was an evaluative case study using a convenience sample of a college preparatory biology class of special education students. Participants included eight males and two females who were identified as having learning, emotional or health disabilities with average to low average intelligence. Informal interviews, observations, school records, student and teacher artifacts and rich description were used for data triangulation. Analysis involved coding and grouping data by category, and identification of relationships between categories. Three themes emerged from this study: Students believed the strategy helped them to learn vocabulary, the strategy gave direction to instruction, and the strategy can be difficult to implement. The skill level of our future work force and the health of our society is linked to our nation's high school graduation rate. Development of instructional strategies that result in student academic success will improve our high school graduation rate which will result in positive social change.

  14. Narrative Performance of Gifted African American School-Aged Children From Low-Income Backgrounds

    PubMed Central

    2015-01-01

    Purpose This study investigated classroom differences in the narrative performance of school-age African American English (AAE)-speaking children in gifted and general education classrooms. Method Forty-three children, Grades 2–5, each generated fictional narratives in response to the book Frog, Where Are You? (Mayer, 1969). Differences in performance on traditional narrative measures (total number of communication units [C-units], number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words) and on AAE production (dialect density measure) between children in gifted and general education classrooms were examined. Results There were no classroom-based differences in total number of C-units, number of different words, and mean length of utterance in words. Children in gifted education classrooms produced narratives with lower dialect density than did children in general educated classrooms. Direct logistic regression assessed whether narrative dialect density measure scores offered additional information about giftedness beyond scores on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition (Dunn & Dunn, 2007), a standard measure of language ability. Results indicated that a model with only Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test–Fourth Edition scores best discriminated children in the 2 classrooms. Conclusion African American children across gifted and general education classrooms produce fictional narratives of similar length, lexical diversity, and syntax complexity. However, African American children in gifted education classrooms may produce lower rates of AAE and perform better on standard measures of vocabulary than those in general education classrooms. PMID:25409770

  15. The Effects of Interactive Word Walls on Students with Learning Disabilities in the Secondary Science Classroom

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Eustace-DeBaun, Casey Elizabeth

    Effective approaches for teaching vocabulary to various populations of learners is a topic of current research (Barr, Eslami, & Malatesha, 2012) yet little research is dedicated to students with learning disabilities in the science classroom. Within this study the interac-tive word wall was used as a tool to build vocabulary and to encourage usage of new sub-ject-specific terminology. The experiment utilized quasi-experimental pre-post test com-parison group design using interrupted time-series (Johnson & Christiensen, 2007) due to the inability to randomize participants and establish a clear control group. The data was collected across four units of terminology and with a student satisfaction survey. Stu-dents reported at least seventy percent satisfaction with the use of Interactive Word Walls and demonstrated some performance increase in both vocabulary retention and reading comprehension when utilizing Interactive Word Walls.

  16. Emergence of joint attention: relationships between gaze following, social referencing, imitation, and naming in infancy.

    PubMed

    Slaughter, Virginia; McConnell, Danielle

    2003-03-01

    The authors investigated the extent to which the joint-attention behaviors of gaze following, social referencing, and object-directed imitation were related to each other and to infants' vocabulary development in a sample of 60 infants between the ages of 8 and 14 months. Joint-attention skills and vocabulary development were assessed in a laboratory setting. Split-half reliability analyses on the joint-attention measures indicated that the tasks reliably assessed infants' capabilities. In the main analysis, no significant correlations were found among the joint-attention behaviors except for a significant relationship between gaze following and the number of names in infants' productive vocabularies. The overall pattern of results did not replicate results of previous studies (e.g., M. Carpenter, K. Nagell, & M. Tomasello, 1998) that found relationships between various emerging joint-attention behaviors.

  17. Business Education--Business Law: Grades 10-12.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Instructional Objectives Exchange, Los Angeles, CA.

    Thirty-seven objectives and related test items for business law courses taught in grades 10 through 12 are organized into the following categories: (1) foundations of law; (2) law of contracts, property, and negotiable instruments; (3) business relations and business organizations; and (4) vocabulary. Each objective contains three elements: the…

  18. Mapping Latin America for Grades Six to Ten. Third Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stanford Univ., CA. Stanford Program on International and Cross Cultural Education.

    This unit, to be used with students in grades 6-10, has been designed to serve three purposes. First, the unit acts as an introduction to, or review of, fundamental geographic concepts and vocabulary. Second, it teaches students about the basic physical and political geography of Latin America. Third, students learn to examine maps with a critical…

  19. Six-Year Ukrainian as a Second Language Program, Grade 11 Teaching Unit.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Boruszczak, Bohdan

    The teaching unit provides materials for the fifth year of the six-year secondary school curriculum in Ukrainian as a second language. It focuses on basic vocabulary and communications skills related to the theme of "the restaurant" including: the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills; specific elements of grammar (verb…

  20. The Navajo Way of Life: A Resource Unit with Activities for Grades 4-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cordova, Dahlia

    A resource unit on the Navajo way of life, for grades 4-6, contains sections on Navajo history, art, and crafts, homes, music, poetry and games; Navajo and Pueblo cookery (including recipes); traditional Navajo dress, ceremony and legends; and successful Navajos, past and present. Sections include text, vocabulary words, drawings, maps, and…

  1. Computer-Assisted Update of a Consumer Health Vocabulary Through Mining of Social Network Data

    PubMed Central

    2011-01-01

    Background Consumer health vocabularies (CHVs) have been developed to aid consumer health informatics applications. This purpose is best served if the vocabulary evolves with consumers’ language. Objective Our objective was to create a computer assisted update (CAU) system that works with live corpora to identify new candidate terms for inclusion in the open access and collaborative (OAC) CHV. Methods The CAU system consisted of three main parts: a Web crawler and an HTML parser, a candidate term filter that utilizes natural language processing tools including term recognition methods, and a human review interface. In evaluation, the CAU system was applied to the health-related social network website PatientsLikeMe.com. The system’s utility was assessed by comparing the candidate term list it generated to a list of valid terms hand extracted from the text of the crawled webpages. Results The CAU system identified 88,994 unique terms 1- to 7-grams (“n-grams” are n consecutive words within a sentence) in 300 crawled PatientsLikeMe.com webpages. The manual review of the crawled webpages identified 651 valid terms not yet included in the OAC CHV or the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, a collection of vocabularies amalgamated to form an ontology of medical terms, (ie, 1 valid term per 136.7 candidate n-grams). The term filter selected 774 candidate terms, of which 237 were valid terms, that is, 1 valid term among every 3 or 4 candidates reviewed. Conclusion The CAU system is effective for generating a list of candidate terms for human review during CHV development. PMID:21586386

  2. Contribution to Terminology Internationalization by Word Alignment in Parallel Corpora

    PubMed Central

    Deléger, Louise; Merkel, Magnus; Zweigenbaum, Pierre

    2006-01-01

    Background and objectives Creating a complete translation of a large vocabulary is a time-consuming task, which requires skilled and knowledgeable medical translators. Our goal is to examine to which extent such a task can be alleviated by a specific natural language processing technique, word alignment in parallel corpora. We experiment with translation from English to French. Methods Build a large corpus of parallel, English-French documents, and automatically align it at the document, sentence and word levels using state-of-the-art alignment methods and tools. Then project English terms from existing controlled vocabularies to the aligned word pairs, and examine the number and quality of the putative French translations obtained thereby. We considered three American vocabularies present in the UMLS with three different translation statuses: the MeSH, SNOMED CT, and the MedlinePlus Health Topics. Results We obtained several thousand new translations of our input terms, this number being closely linked to the number of terms in the input vocabularies. Conclusion Our study shows that alignment methods can extract a number of new term translations from large bodies of text with a moderate human reviewing effort, and thus contribute to help a human translator obtain better translation coverage of an input vocabulary. Short-term perspectives include their application to a corpus 20 times larger than that used here, together with more focused methods for term extraction. PMID:17238328

  3. Perfection and the Bomb: Nuclear Weapons, Teleology, and Motives.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brummett, Barry

    1989-01-01

    Uses Kenneth Burke's theory of perfection to explore the vocabularies of nuclear weapons in United States public discourse and how "the Bomb" as a God term has gained imbalanced ascendancy in centers of power. (MS)

  4. caCORE: a common infrastructure for cancer informatics.

    PubMed

    Covitz, Peter A; Hartel, Frank; Schaefer, Carl; De Coronado, Sherri; Fragoso, Gilberto; Sahni, Himanso; Gustafson, Scott; Buetow, Kenneth H

    2003-12-12

    Sites with substantive bioinformatics operations are challenged to build data processing and delivery infrastructure that provides reliable access and enables data integration. Locally generated data must be processed and stored such that relationships to external data sources can be presented. Consistency and comparability across data sets requires annotation with controlled vocabularies and, further, metadata standards for data representation. Programmatic access to the processed data should be supported to ensure the maximum possible value is extracted. Confronted with these challenges at the National Cancer Institute Center for Bioinformatics, we decided to develop a robust infrastructure for data management and integration that supports advanced biomedical applications. We have developed an interconnected set of software and services called caCORE. Enterprise Vocabulary Services (EVS) provide controlled vocabulary, dictionary and thesaurus services. The Cancer Data Standards Repository (caDSR) provides a metadata registry for common data elements. Cancer Bioinformatics Infrastructure Objects (caBIO) implements an object-oriented model of the biomedical domain and provides Java, Simple Object Access Protocol and HTTP-XML application programming interfaces. caCORE has been used to develop scientific applications that bring together data from distinct genomic and clinical science sources. caCORE downloads and web interfaces can be accessed from links on the caCORE web site (http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov/core). caBIO software is distributed under an open source license that permits unrestricted academic and commercial use. Vocabulary and metadata content in the EVS and caDSR, respectively, is similarly unrestricted, and is available through web applications and FTP downloads. http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov/core/publications contains links to the caBIO 1.0 class diagram and the caCORE 1.0 Technical Guide, which provide detailed information on the present caCORE architecture, data sources and APIs. Updated information appears on a regular basis on the caCORE web site (http://ncicb.nci.nih.gov/core).

  5. Quality Assurance for Digital Learning Object Repositories: Issues for the Metadata Creation Process

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Currier, Sarah; Barton, Jane; O'Beirne, Ronan; Ryan, Ben

    2004-01-01

    Metadata enables users to find the resources they require, therefore it is an important component of any digital learning object repository. Much work has already been done within the learning technology community to assure metadata quality, focused on the development of metadata standards, specifications and vocabularies and their implementation…

  6. Resource Handbook--Space Beyond the Earth. A Supplement to Basic Curriculum Guide--Science, Grades K-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Starr, John W., 3rd., Ed.

    GRADES OR AGES: Grades K-6. SUBJECT MATTER: Science; space. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is divided into four units: 1) the sun, earth, and moon; 2) stars and planets; 3) exploring space; 4) man's existence in space. Each unit includes initiatory and developmental activities. There are also sections on evaluation, vocabulary,…

  7. Speech-Language Therapy (For Parents)

    MedlinePlus

    ... pictures, books, objects, or ongoing events to stimulate language development. The therapist may also model correct vocabulary and ... topic for: Parents Kids Teens Delayed Speech or Language Development Stuttering Cleft Lip and Palate Hearing Evaluation in ...

  8. Language Training: A Program for Retarded Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stremel, Kathleen

    1972-01-01

    Three moderately to severely retarded children who demonstrated a limited expressive noun vocabulary were placed in a language program to be trained to produce the basic grammatical relations (subject-verb-object responses). (Author)

  9. Tool development in threat assessment: syntax regularization and correlative analysis. Final report Task I and Task II, November 21, 1977-May 21, 1978. [Linguistic analysis

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Miron, M.S.; Christopher, C.; Hirshfield, S.

    1978-05-01

    Psycholinguistics provides crisis managers in nuclear threat incidents with a quantitative methodology which can aid in the determination of threat credibility, authorship identification and perpetrator apprehension. The objective of this contract is to improve and enhance present psycholinguistic software systems by means of newly-developed, computer-automated techniques which significantly extend the technology of automated content and stylistic analysis of nuclear threat. In accordance with this overall objective, the first two contract Tasks have been completed and are reported on in this document. The first Task specifies the development of software support for the purpose of syntax regularization of vocabulary to rootmore » form. The second calls for the exploration and development of alternative approaches to correlative analysis of vocabulary usage.« less

  10. A Language Skills Program for Secondary LD Students.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Howe, Bill

    1982-01-01

    A program was developed to increase the receptive and expressive language skills of 24 secondary learning-disabled students. Program units covered word sorting, sight-word vocabulary, key-word reading, reading rate, reading comprehension, listening, and writing. (Author/SW)

  11. Accounting Clerk Guide, Learner Packet--Part I. A Spec Unit for the 10th, 11th, or 12th Grade. A Career Education Unit (An Edited Developmental Draft).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Foster, Brian; And Others

    The learner packet is part of an eight volume unit for grades 10, 11, and 12, designed for individualized progression in preparing students for entry into the occupation of accounting clerk. Intended to be used on an individual basis at the student's own speed, the learner packet contains vocabulary, suggested lesson time, self-check keys, and…

  12. 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.

  13. What's in the Bag (and Why?): Tangibilia for the Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ogier, James M.

    A classroom technique designed for developing German second language vocabulary is expanded on for additional classroom functions and activities. The method uses a bag containing a variety of objects. The objects are drawn out of the bag and discussed in class. The contents of the bag should be unpredictable and unusual, and they should be changed…

  14. Development of an Objective Measure to Assess Ego Identity in Adolescence: Validation and Replication.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Grotevant, Harold D., Adams, Gerald R.

    1984-01-01

    Three studies evaluating the reliability and validity of the Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status (OM-EIS) are reported. Two studies analyzed college students' results from the OM-EIS, the Extended Range Vocabulary Test, the Crowne-Marlowe Social Disability Scale and achievement records. Study 3 correlated high school seniors' OM-EIS scores…

  15. Diagram, a Learning Environment for Initiation to Object-Oriented Modeling with UML Class Diagrams

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Py, Dominique; Auxepaules, Ludovic; Alonso, Mathilde

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents Diagram, a learning environment for object-oriented modelling (OOM) with UML class diagrams. Diagram an open environment, in which the teacher can add new exercises without constraints on the vocabulary or the size of the diagram. The interface includes methodological help, encourages self-correcting and self-monitoring, and…

  16. Diversity and Density: Lexically Determined Evaluative and Informational Consequences of Linguistic Complexity

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bradac, James J.; And Others

    1977-01-01

    Defines lexical diversity as manifest vocabulary range and lexical density as the ratio of lexical to gramatical items in a unit of discourse. Examines the effects of lexical diversity and density on listeners' evaluative judgments. (MH)

  17. Expressing Yourself Poe-etically

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gillespie, Joanne S.

    2011-01-01

    Middle grades teachers should create meaningful learning activities involving stimulating literature and interesting composition prompts. This article describes a unit in which eighth graders read short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Using multiple learning and teaching approaches, they expanded their vocabularies, responded artistically to "The…

  18. Advanced Tagalog Reader.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Ramos, Teresita V.

    A Tagalog reader designed for adult students beyond the intermediate level contains 30 lessons in agriculture, art, economics, education, history, language, literature, medicine, music, political science, religion, and sociology. Each unit contains four sections: (1) a reading passage with numbered paragraphs and underlined vocabulary words, for…

  19. Learning and Teaching Vocabulary Acquisition: Analysing One Unit of a Textbook in the Saudi Arabia Context

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mashrah, Hind Talal

    2013-01-01

    Saudi Arabian Ministry of Education is seeking for the best English language textbook to be taught in schools in order to develop the Saudi education in the future. To choose the most beneficial one, frameworks or tools were designed to analyze and to evaluate a unit of a textbook in Saudi Arabia based on standard criteria. These standard criteria…

  20. Klondike Gold Rush, 1897-98: An Educator's Guide to America's "Last Grand Adventure."

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Remick, Scott; Cook, Cathy

    This student handbook provides an overview of the Klondike Alaska Gold Rush of 1897-98. The unit was designed for junior high school students but can be modified for different grade levels. A vocabulary list and worksheet accompanies the unit, along with a time line and map activity. A group activity requires students to work in teams to get their…

  1. Evansville: A City on the Ohio River. An Interdisciplinary Unit for Grade 3: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corp., IN.

    This grade 3 interdisciplinary resource unit uses Evansville, Indiana and the Ohio River as its focus for social studies, language arts, mathematics, and science lessons. Text, pictures, and maps are provided to teach social studies lessons in history, geography, and map skills, and the student exercises include tests on vocabulary words and map…

  2. Discrepancies between upper GI symptoms described by those who have them and their identification by conventional medical terminology: a survey of sufferers in four countries

    PubMed Central

    Thomas, Edward C.M.; Sandy, Phil; Smith, Gary; Fass, Ronnie; Hungin, Pali S.

    2016-01-01

    Objective The objective of this study was to develop a self-administered questionnaire for upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms using lay vocabulary uninfluenced by established medical terminology or concepts and to conduct a survey of symptom occurrence among sufferers in four countries. Methods The questionnaire was designed by integrating information gained from the vocabulary used by 38 upper GI symptom sufferers. There was no medical input to its development. The questionnaire was then used, after appropriate translation, in Brazil, Russia, the UK and the USA. Details of 10 659 symptom episodes were obtained from 2665 individuals. Results Nine symptoms described in lay vocabulary were identified during questionnaire development. Of these, one corresponded to regurgitation, whereas two that were distinguished by survey participants might both be interpreted as heartburn. One chest symptom for which a corresponding medical term was uncertain occurred in ∼30% of the respondents. Five different ‘stomach’ or abdominal symptoms were identified. The predominant symptom and the pattern of concurrent symptoms often varied from one symptom episode to another. Use of the terms ‘heartburn’, ‘reflux’, ‘indigestion’ and ‘burning stomach’ to describe symptoms varied between countries. Conclusion Some common upper GI symptoms described by those who suffer them have no clear counterpart in conventional medical terminology. Inadequacy of the conventional terminology in this respect deserves attention, first, to characterize it fully, and thereafter to construct enquiry that delivers more precise symptom identification. Our results suggest that improvement may require the use of vocabulary of individuals suffering the symptoms without imposing conformity with established symptom concepts. PMID:26735161

  3. 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.

  4. Utilization of a Clinical Trial Management System for the Whole Clinical Trial Process as an Integrated Database: System Development

    PubMed Central

    Park, Yu Rang; Yoon, Young Jo; Koo, HaYeong; Yoo, Soyoung; Choi, Chang-Min; Beck, Sung-Ho

    2018-01-01

    Background Clinical trials pose potential risks in both communications and management due to the various stakeholders involved when performing clinical trials. The academic medical center has a responsibility and obligation to conduct and manage clinical trials while maintaining a sufficiently high level of quality, therefore it is necessary to build an information technology system to support standardized clinical trial processes and comply with relevant regulations. Objective The objective of the study was to address the challenges identified while performing clinical trials at an academic medical center, Asan Medical Center (AMC) in Korea, by developing and utilizing a clinical trial management system (CTMS) that complies with standardized processes from multiple departments or units, controlled vocabularies, security, and privacy regulations. Methods This study describes the methods, considerations, and recommendations for the development and utilization of the CTMS as a consolidated research database in an academic medical center. A task force was formed to define and standardize the clinical trial performance process at the site level. On the basis of the agreed standardized process, the CTMS was designed and developed as an all-in-one system complying with privacy and security regulations. Results In this study, the processes and standard mapped vocabularies of a clinical trial were established at the academic medical center. On the basis of these processes and vocabularies, a CTMS was built which interfaces with the existing trial systems such as the electronic institutional review board health information system, enterprise resource planning, and the barcode system. To protect patient data, the CTMS implements data governance and access rules, and excludes 21 personal health identifiers according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy rule and Korean privacy laws. Since December 2014, the CTMS has been successfully implemented and used by 881 internal and external users for managing 11,645 studies and 146,943 subjects. Conclusions The CTMS was introduced in the Asan Medical Center to manage the large amounts of data involved with clinical trial operations. Inter- and intraunit control of data and resources can be easily conducted through the CTMS system. To our knowledge, this is the first CTMS developed in-house at an academic medical center side which can enhance the efficiency of clinical trial management in compliance with privacy and security laws. PMID:29691212

  5. "Is It the Real Thing?" Cola Lab.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McGuire, Neva; McGraw, Dana

    1988-01-01

    Introduces an interdisciplinary activity using a cola drink. Describes the lesson plan, including objectives, procedures, evaluation, projects, and conclusions. Provides two laboratory sheets containing problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, observations, and conclusions, vocabulary table, and data table. (YP)

  6. Three-M in Word Problem Solving

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hajra, Sayonita Ghosh; Kofman, Victoria

    2018-01-01

    We describe three activities that help undergraduates (pre-service teachers) to develop scientific vocabulary on measurable attributes and units of measurement. Measurable attributes are important features in understanding a word problem and solving the problem. These activities help students comprehend word problems better by identifying…

  7. Failure to Learn from Feedback underlies Word Learning Difficulties in Toddlers at Risk for Autism

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bedford, R.; Gliga, T.; Frame, K.; Hudry, K.; Chandler, S.; Johnson, M. H.; Charman, T.

    2013-01-01

    Children's assignment of novel words to nameless objects, over objects whose names they know (mutual exclusivity; ME) has been described as a driving force for vocabulary acquisition. Despite their ability to use ME to fast-map words (Preissler & Carey, 2005), children with autism show impaired language acquisition. We aimed to address…

  8. Acid Rain: Activities for Science Teachers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Johnson, Eric; And Others

    1983-01-01

    Seven complete secondary/college level acid rain activities are provided. Activities include overview; background information and societal implications; major concepts; student objectives; vocabulary/material lists; procedures; instructional strategies; and questions/discussion and extension suggestions. Activities consider effects of acid rain on…

  9. A structured vocabulary for indexing dietary supplements in databases in the United States

    USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

    Food composition databases are critical to assess and plan dietary intakes. Dietary supplement databases are also needed because dietary supplements make significant contributions to total nutrient intakes. However, no uniform system exists for classifying dietary supplement products and indexing ...

  10. Teaching Oral Chinese in the United States

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cheng, Chin-Chuan

    1976-01-01

    Because Chinese language textbooks were judged inadequate in teaching vocabulary dealing with everyday life in the U.S. and in China, new methods and materials were introduced into an oral Chinese course. Prepared discussion topics, Chinese films, soap operas, and shortwave radio broadcasts were used. (CHK)

  11. Portuguese Special Course: 12 Weeks.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    This 12-week course in beginning Portuguese comprises four volumes of student text (Lessons 1-55) and a fifth volume of Portuguese-English/English-Portuguese vocabulary. Lesson materials consist of basic dialogs with English translation, recombination dialogs, readings and comprehension questions, oral exercises, and in later units, additional…

  12. Conservatism and Cognitive Ability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stankov, Lazar

    2009-01-01

    Conservatism and cognitive ability are negatively correlated. The evidence is based on 1254 community college students and 1600 foreign students seeking entry to United States' universities. At the individual level of analysis, conservatism scores correlate negatively with SAT, Vocabulary, and Analogy test scores. At the national level of…

  13. Chinese EFL teachers' knowledge of basic language constructs and their self-perceived teaching abilities.

    PubMed

    Zhao, Jing; Joshi, R Malatesha; Dixon, L Quentin; Huang, Liyan

    2016-04-01

    The present study examined the knowledge and skills of basic language constructs among elementary school teachers who were teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in China. Six hundred and thirty in-service teachers completed the adapted Reading Teacher Knowledge Survey. Survey results showed that English teachers' self-perceived ability to teach vocabulary was the highest and self-perceived ability to teach reading to struggling readers was the lowest. Morphological knowledge was positively correlated with teachers' self-perceived teaching abilities, and it contributed unique variance even after controlling for the effects of ultimate educational attainment and years of teaching. Findings suggest that elementary school EFL teachers in China, on average, were able to display implicit skills related to certain basic language constructs, but less able to demonstrate explicit knowledge of other skills, especially sub-lexical units (e.g., phonemic awareness and morphemes). The high self-perceived ability of teaching vocabulary and high scores on syllable counting reflected the focus on larger units in the English reading curriculum.

  14. 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 Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) format. The IEDA thesaurus server provides classic web semantic features such as SPARQL, RESTful web services, and unique URI based on open source technologies.

  15. 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 American Regional English extension of the Metathesaurus provided coverage, either direct or indirect, of approximately 23% of the natural language consumer-term-physician-term pairs. The Dictionary of American Regional English extension of the Eurodicautom provided coverage for 16% of the term pairs. Both the Metathesaurus and the Eurodicautom indirectly related more terms than they directly related. A high percentage of covered term pairs, with more indirectly covered pairs than directly covered pairs, might be one way to make the most out of expensive controlled vocabulary resources. We compared retrieval of diabetes-related Web information sites using the physician terms to retrieval using related consumer terms We based the comparison on retrieval of sites maintained by non-profit healthcare professional organizations, academic organizations, or governmental organizations. The number of such sites in the first 20 results from a search was increased by substituting a physician term for its related consumer term in the query. This suggests that the Dictionary of American Regional English extensions of the Metathesaurus and Eurodicautom may be used to provide useful links from natural language consumer terms to natural language physician terms. Conclusions The Dictionary of American Regional English extensions of the Metathesaurus and Eurodicautom should be investigated further for support of consumer entry vocabulary for diabetes. PMID:11720966

  16. Effective Information Extraction Framework for Heterogeneous Clinical Reports Using Online Machine Learning and Controlled Vocabularies

    PubMed Central

    Zheng, Shuai; Ghasemzadeh, Nima; Hayek, Salim S; Quyyumi, Arshed A

    2017-01-01

    Background Extracting structured data from narrated medical reports is challenged by the complexity of heterogeneous structures and vocabularies and often requires significant manual effort. Traditional machine-based approaches lack the capability to take user feedbacks for improving the extraction algorithm in real time. Objective Our goal was to provide a generic information extraction framework that can support diverse clinical reports and enables a dynamic interaction between a human and a machine that produces highly accurate results. Methods A clinical information extraction system IDEAL-X has been built on top of online machine learning. It processes one document at a time, and user interactions are recorded as feedbacks to update the learning model in real time. The updated model is used to predict values for extraction in subsequent documents. Once prediction accuracy reaches a user-acceptable threshold, the remaining documents may be batch processed. A customizable controlled vocabulary may be used to support extraction. Results Three datasets were used for experiments based on report styles: 100 cardiac catheterization procedure reports, 100 coronary angiographic reports, and 100 integrated reports—each combines history and physical report, discharge summary, outpatient clinic notes, outpatient clinic letter, and inpatient discharge medication report. Data extraction was performed by 3 methods: online machine learning, controlled vocabularies, and a combination of these. The system delivers results with F1 scores greater than 95%. Conclusions IDEAL-X adopts a unique online machine learning–based approach combined with controlled vocabularies to support data extraction for clinical reports. The system can quickly learn and improve, thus it is highly adaptable. PMID:28487265

  17. Did You Say Spiders?

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Campbell, Alene

    This spider unit focuses on students' development of cooperative learning and inquiry-based skills. Students read "The Very Busy Spider" by Eric Carle, and then work in cooperative groups using the Internet to research and synthesize important information about spiders. Technology is used for vocabulary instruction and to create a…

  18. Gestion theatrale (Theater Management)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dubuc, Robert

    1977-01-01

    A comparison of American and British language of the theater. A conclusion noted is that there exists parrallel vocabulary in the United States and Great Britain. The terms studied are: director, producer, stage director, stage manager, assistant stage manager, artistic director. A glossary is appended. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

  19. Doors to Discovery [TM]. WWC Intervention Report

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    What Works Clearinghouse, 2009

    2009-01-01

    Doors to Discovery[TM], an early childhood curriculum, focuses on the development of children's vocabulary and expressive and receptive language through a learning process called "shared literacy," where adults and children work together to develop literacy-related skills. Literacy activities, organized into thematic units, encourage children's…

  20. Early Gesture Provides a Helping Hand to Spoken Vocabulary Development for Children with Autism, Down Syndrome, and Typical Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Özçaliskan, Seyda; Adamson, Lauren B.; Dimitrova, Nevena; Baumann, Stephanie

    2017-01-01

    Typically developing (TD) children refer to objects uniquely in gesture (e.g., point at a cat) before they produce verbal labels for these objects ("cat"). The onset of such gestures predicts the onset of similar spoken words, showing a strong positive relation between early gestures and early words. We asked whether gesture plays the…

  1. GeoSciML and EarthResourceML Update, 2012

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Richard, S. M.; Commissionthe Management; Application Inte, I.

    2012-12-01

    CGI Interoperability Working Group activities during 2012 include deployment of services using the GeoSciML-Portrayal schema, addition of new vocabularies to support properties added in version 3.0, improvements to server software for deploying services, introduction of EarthResourceML v.2 for mineral resources, and collaboration with the IUSS on a markup language for soils information. GeoSciML and EarthResourceML have been used as the basis for the INSPIRE Geology and Mineral Resources specifications respectively. GeoSciML-Portrayal is an OGC GML simple-feature application schema for presentation of geologic map unit, contact, and shear displacement structure (fault and ductile shear zone) descriptions in web map services. Use of standard vocabularies for geologic age and lithology enables map services using shared legends to achieve visual harmonization of maps provided by different services. New vocabularies have been added to the collection of CGI vocabularies provided to support interoperable GeoSciML services, and can be accessed through http://resource.geosciml.org. Concept URIs can be dereferenced to obtain SKOS rdf or html representations using the SISSVoc vocabulary service. New releases of the FOSS GeoServer application greatly improve support for complex XML feature schemas like GeoSciML, and the ArcGIS for INSPIRE extension implements similar complex feature support for ArcGIS Server. These improved server implementations greatly facilitate deploying GeoSciML services. EarthResourceML v2 adds features for information related to mining activities. SoilML provides an interchange format for soil material, soil profile, and terrain information. Work is underway to add GeoSciML to the portfolio of Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) specifications.

  2. 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…

  3. The interaction between vocabulary size and phonotactic probability effects on children's production accuracy and fluency in nonword repetition.

    PubMed

    Edwards, Jan; Beckman, Mary E; Munson, Benjamin

    2004-04-01

    Adults' performance on a variety of tasks suggests that phonological processing of nonwords is grounded in generalizations about sublexical patterns over all known words. A small body of research suggests that children's phonological acquisition is similarly based on generalizations over the lexicon. To test this account, production accuracy and fluency were examined in nonword repetitions by 104 children and 22 adults. Stimuli were 22 pairs of nonwords, in which one nonword contained a low-frequency or unattested two-phoneme sequence and the other contained a high-frequency sequence. For a subset of these nonword pairs, segment durations were measured. The same sound was produced with a longer duration (less fluently) when it appeared in a low-frequency sequence, as compared to a high-frequency sequence. Low-frequency sequences were also repeated with lower accuracy than high-frequency sequences. Moreover, children with smaller vocabularies showed a larger influence of frequency on accuracy than children with larger vocabularies. Taken together, these results provide support for a model of phonological acquisition in which knowledge of sublexical units emerges from generalizations made over lexical items.

  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. The Effects of Topic Interest on the Vocabulary Retention in Third Grade Students with and without Learning Disabilities

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Endo, Yasuko Amy

    2010-01-01

    This study examines the effects of topic interest on the vocabulary learning and retention in third grade students with and without learning disabilities. All students learned 12 unfamiliar vocabulary words in three different vocabulary learning conditions: High-interest topic vocabulary, low-interest topic vocabulary, and vocabulary words without…

  6. In-Service Training Materials for Teachers of the Educable Mentally Retarded. Session III.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Meyen, Edward L.; Carr, Donald L.

    Supplementing language arts for the educable mentally handicapped, the guide provides a representative unit on newspapers with core area activities, vocabulary, and 33 lesson plans. Sub-topics include community orientation, occupations, leisure time and recreation, weather, local history, money management, homemaking and home repair,…

  7. We've Got the "HOTS" for Foreign Languages: Higher Order Thinking Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Harper, Jane; Lively, Madeleine

    Five units of instruction for teaching vocabulary and higher order thinking skills in foreign language classes are presented. Introductory material considers the differences between language fluency and communication, and lists higher order thinking skills as: (1) classifying, verifying, hypothesizing; (2) making associations and generalizing; (3)…

  8. Energy from the Atom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Smith, Patricia L.

    This curriculum guide was written to supplement fifth and sixth grade science units on matter and energy. It was designed to provide more in-depth material on the atom. The first part, "Teacher Guide," contains background information, biographical sketches of persons in the history of nuclear energy, vocabulary, answer sheets, management sheets…

  9. Teacher's Guide to Indoor Air Pollutants.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Safety Council, Washington, DC. Environmental Health Center.

    This guide, designed for fourth- through sixth-grade classrooms, contains information teachers will need to teach an educational unit on indoor air quality. It draws on a variety of students' skills, including science, vocabulary, reasoning, math, and basic biology. Each lesson comes with suggested activities that highlight and reinforce what is…

  10. "Wireless": Some Facts and Figures from a Corpus-Driven Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rizzo, Camino Rea

    2009-01-01

    "Wireless" is the word selected to illustrate a model of analysis designed to determine the specialized character of a lexical unit. "Wireless" belongs to the repertoire of specialized vocabulary automatically extracted from a corpus of telecommunication engineering English (TEC). This paper describes the procedure followed in the analysis which…

  11. Entry Skills to Reading Using Classroom Management Strategies: A Position Statement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Speiss, Madeleine; Olivero, James

    The development of an entry skills behavior package designed as lessons to prepare the culturally divergent children of the Southwestern United States for beginning reading instruction in existing school programs is described. The series of 135 discrete lessons teaches auditory discrimination, associative vocabulary, listening comprehension,…

  12. Occupational Exploration at Ontario Junior High School: 8th Grade.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bates, Gene; And Others

    The document contains 47 activities for Grade 8. The contents include the following areas: questionnaires; work vocabularies; employment seeking procedures--employment ads, application forms, resumes, job interviews, and resume preparation advice; a 24-page unit presenting occupational information in relation to career choice and job application…

  13. Thai Basic Course.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Defense Language Inst., Washington, DC.

    These 10 volumes comprise Lessons 1-80 in an introductory course in Thai. The general format, as presented in the first unit, consists of (1) a question-answer pattern drill, which introduces new grammatical structures, (2) a dialog, containing the new structures and vocabulary, (3) a recombination dialog, presenting the new words and patterns in…

  14. Creative Activities for Teaching about the Environment.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Stevens, Lawrence

    This unit contains activities dealing with wastes, the Greenhouse Effect, ozone depletion, energy, deforestation, and species extinction. Each section has a text to explain the issues and a crossword puzzle to reinforce the vocabulary. There are diagrams with questions that can be used as handouts or as transparency masters. (EH)

  15. Pre-Employment Training Handbook for Secondary Special Education.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pine Bluff School District 3, AR.

    Presented is a curriculum guide on job skills for special education secondary students. Listed are tasks, skills and related academic concepts (including reading, mathematics, and vocabulary) for the following 10 units: housekeeping, floor care, laundry worker, food service worker, grocery store worker, general shop worker, clerical aide, nurse's…

  16. Morphological Awareness Intervention: Improving Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension for Adult Learners.

    PubMed

    Bangs, Kathryn E; Binder, Katherine S

    2016-01-01

    Adult Basic Education programs are under pressure to develop and deliver instruction that promotes rapid and sustained literacy development. We describe a novel approach to a literacy intervention that focuses on morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units contained in words. We argue that if you teach learners that big words are comprised of smaller components (i.e., morphemes), you will provide those students with the skills to figure out the meanings of new words. Research with children has demonstrated that teaching them about morphemes improves word recognition, spelling, vocabulary, and comprehension (Bowers & Kirby, 2009; Kirk & Gillon, 2009; Nunes, Bryant, & Olsson, 2003). Our hope is that this type of intervention will be successful with adult learners, too.

  17. The effects of academic literacy instruction on engagement and conceptual understanding of biology of ninth-grade students

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Larson, Susan C.

    Academic language, discourse, vocabulary, motivation, and comprehension of complex texts and concepts are keys to learning subject-area content. The need for a disciplinary literacy approach in high school classrooms accelerates as students become increasing disengaged in school and as content complexity increases. In the present quasi-experimental mixed-method study, a ninth-grade biology unit was designed with an emphasis on promoting academic literacy skills, discourse, meaningful constructivist learning, interest development, and positive learning experiences in order to learn science content. Quantitative and qualitative analyses on a variety of measures completed by 222 students in two high schools revealed that those who received academic literacy instruction in science class performed at significantly higher levels of conceptual understanding of biology content, academic language and vocabulary use, reasoned thought, engagement, and quality of learning experience than control-group students receiving traditionally-organized instruction. Academic literacy was embedded into biology instruction to engage students in meaning-making discourses of science to promote learning. Academic literacy activities were organized according the phases of interest development to trigger and sustain interest and goal-oriented engagement throughout the unit. Specific methods included the Generative Vocabulary Matrix (GVM), scenario-based writing, and involvement in a variety of strategically-placed discourse activities to sustain or "boost" engagement for learning. Traditional instruction for the control group included teacher lecture, whole-group discussion, a conceptual organizer, and textbook reading. Theoretical foundations include flow theory, sociocultural learning theory, and interest theory. Qualitative data were obtained from field notes and participants' journals. Quantitative survey data were collected and analyzed using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to measure cognitive and emotional states, revealing patterns of engagement, quality of experience, and flow over the course of the instructional unit. Conceptual understanding was measured using the state persuasive writing rubric to analyze science essays in which students supported a claim with scientific evidence. The study contributes an Engagement Model of Academic Literacy for Learning (EngageALL), a Rubric for Academic Persuasive Writing (RAPW), a unique classification system for analyzing academic vocabulary, and suggestions for situated professional development around a research-based planning framework. A discussion addresses a new direction for future research that explores academic identity development.

  18. 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.

  19. Le Figaro. Revised.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Crawford, Linda

    These instructional materials are designed for students with some French reading skills and vocabulary in late beginning or early intermediate senior high school French. The objectives are to introduce students to a French newspaper, "Le Figaro," and develop reading skills for skimming, gathering specific information, and relying on cognates. The…

  20. Listening Comprehension: A Cognitive Prerequisite for Communication.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Fischer, Robert A.

    Proponents of the cognitive approach to language teaching list linguistic competence as the primary instructional objective and attribute considerable importance to listening comprehension. For the student, linguistic competence would be knowledge of grammatical components of the language and its vocabulary. Understanding oral messages is an…

  1. A TEACHER'S GUIDE FOR ADULT BASIC EDUCATION.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    BROWN, ANTRONETTE

    COMPILED AS AN IDEA AND INFORMATION GUIDE FOR TEACHERS OF ADULT BASIC EDUCATION, THIS DOCUMENT INCLUDES DETAILED TEACHING OBJECTIVES, METHODS, AND MATERIALS (FILMS, FILMSTRIPS, BOOKS, TRANSPARENCIES). THE COURSE INCLUDES (1) READING AND COMMUNICATION SKILLS--PHONICS, VOCABULARY, REFERENCE, AND SO ON, (2) SOCIAL STUDIES--GOVERNMENT, GEOGRAPHY,…

  2. Introductory Industrial Technology I. Laboratory Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Towler, Alan L.; And Others

    This guide contains 36 learning modules intended for use by technology teachers and students in grades 7 and 8. Each module includes a student laboratory activity and instructor's resource sheet. Each student activity includes the following: activity topic and overview, challenge statement, objectives, vocabulary/concepts reinforced,…

  3. Introductory Industrial Technology II. Laboratory Activities.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Towler, Alan L.

    This guide contains 29 learning modules intended for use by technology teachers and students in grade 8. Each module includes a student laboratory activity and instructor's resource sheet. Each student activity includes the following: activity topic and overview, challenge statement, objectives, vocabulary/concepts reinforced, equipment/supplies,…

  4. Sensory description of marine oils through development of a sensory wheel and vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Larssen, W E; Monteleone, E; Hersleth, M

    2018-04-01

    The Omega-3 industry lacks a defined methodology and a vocabulary for evaluating the sensory quality of marine oils. This study was conducted to identify the sensory descriptors of marine oils and organize them in a sensory wheel for use as a tool in quality assessment. Samples of marine oils were collected from six of the largest producers of omega-3 products in Norway. The oils were selected to cover as much variation in sensory characteristics as possible, i.e. oils with different fatty acid content originating from different species. Oils were evaluated by six industry expert panels and one trained sensory panel to build up a vocabulary through a series of language sessions. A total of 184 aroma (odor by nose), flavor, taste and mouthfeel descriptors were generated. A sensory wheel based on 60 selected descriptors grouped together in 21 defined categories was created to form a graphical presentation of the sensory vocabulary. A selection of the oil samples was also evaluated by a trained sensory panel using descriptive analysis. Chemical analysis showed a positive correlation between primary and secondary oxidation products and sensory properties such as rancidity, chemical flavor and process flavor and a negative correlation between primary oxidation products and acidic. This research is a first step towards the broader objective of standardizing the sensory terminology related to marine oils. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. 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…

  6. 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

  7. 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.

  8. 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

  9. 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.

  10. 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

  11. Ontology-Driven Search and Triage: Design of a Web-Based Visual Interface for MEDLINE

    PubMed Central

    2017-01-01

    Background Diverse users need to search health and medical literature to satisfy open-ended goals such as making evidence-based decisions and updating their knowledge. However, doing so is challenging due to at least two major difficulties: (1) articulating information needs using accurate vocabulary and (2) dealing with large document sets returned from searches. Common search interfaces such as PubMed do not provide adequate support for exploratory search tasks. Objective Our objective was to improve support for exploratory search tasks by combining two strategies in the design of an interactive visual interface by (1) using a formal ontology to help users build domain-specific knowledge and vocabulary and (2) providing multi-stage triaging support to help mitigate the information overload problem. Methods We developed a Web-based tool, Ontology-Driven Visual Search and Triage Interface for MEDLINE (OVERT-MED), to test our design ideas. We implemented a custom searchable index of MEDLINE, which comprises approximately 25 million document citations. We chose a popular biomedical ontology, the Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO), to test our solution to the vocabulary problem. We implemented multistage triaging support in OVERT-MED, with the aid of interactive visualization techniques, to help users deal with large document sets returned from searches. Results Formative evaluation suggests that the design features in OVERT-MED are helpful in addressing the two major difficulties described above. Using a formal ontology seems to help users articulate their information needs with more accurate vocabulary. In addition, multistage triaging combined with interactive visualizations shows promise in mitigating the information overload problem. Conclusions Our strategies appear to be valuable in addressing the two major problems in exploratory search. Although we tested OVERT-MED with a particular ontology and document collection, we anticipate that our strategies can be transferred successfully to other contexts. PMID:28153818

  12. 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…

  13. Providing Geographic Datasets as Linked Data in Sdi

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hietanen, E.; Lehto, L.; Latvala, P.

    2016-06-01

    In this study, a prototype service to provide data from Web Feature Service (WFS) as linked data is implemented. At first, persistent and unique Uniform Resource Identifiers (URI) are created to all spatial objects in the dataset. The objects are available from those URIs in Resource Description Framework (RDF) data format. Next, a Web Ontology Language (OWL) ontology is created to describe the dataset information content using the Open Geospatial Consortium's (OGC) GeoSPARQL vocabulary. The existing data model is modified in order to take into account the linked data principles. The implemented service produces an HTTP response dynamically. The data for the response is first fetched from existing WFS. Then the Geographic Markup Language (GML) format output of the WFS is transformed on-the-fly to the RDF format. Content Negotiation is used to serve the data in different RDF serialization formats. This solution facilitates the use of a dataset in different applications without replicating the whole dataset. In addition, individual spatial objects in the dataset can be referred with URIs. Furthermore, the needed information content of the objects can be easily extracted from the RDF serializations available from those URIs. A solution for linking data objects to the dataset URI is also introduced by using the Vocabulary of Interlinked Datasets (VoID). The dataset is divided to the subsets and each subset is given its persistent and unique URI. This enables the whole dataset to be explored with a web browser and all individual objects to be indexed by search engines.

  14. Matematiques: Niveau A (Mathematics: Level A).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duron, Dolores; And Others

    A teacher's manual was developed for an elementary level mathematics course in French as part of an immersion program for English speaking children. The Level A manual is designed for kindergarten and grade 1 pupils. Teaching procedures, conceptual and language objectives, vocabulary, structures, and learning activities are included. Activities…

  15. Foreign Language: Bon Voyage I (French).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

    This introductory, conversational course in French is intended primarily for students planning a brief stay in France. The principal objective of the course is to help the student develop a sufficient vocabulary needed while passing through customs, securing transportation, requesting rooms, ordering food, or visiting places of interest. Broad…

  16. A Bird in the Hand and a Bird in the Bush: Using Proverbs to Teach Skills and Comprehension.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Holden, Marjorie H.; Warshaw, Mimi

    1985-01-01

    Discusses objectives that can be accomplished through the study of proverbs. Suggests a number of exercises involving proverbs that can be used to improve reading comprehension and hone writing skills and to develop a vocabulary. (RBW)

  17. Greeks in America; Staff Development Module.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lereah, Lucy; And Others

    This module lists eight staff development objectives pertaining to various aspects of Greek-American culture. Topics dealt with include Greek emigration and immigration, Greek vocabulary, contributions made by prominent Greek-Americans, Greek family life and the changing role of family members, Greek values, and the growth of Atlanta's Greek…

  18. 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

  19. Marketing Wood Products: Unit L#4 Grade 6. Project COULD: Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coos County Intermediate Education District, North Bend, OR.

    Project COULD (Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development) was developed as a means of building skills, knowledges, and attitudes on elementary children's previously acquired backgrounds. Children learn to speak the grammar and vocabulary characteristic of the language heard most frequently at home and in the immediate environment. Each…

  20. Helping Students Bridge Inferences in Science Texts Using Graphic Organizers

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roman, Diego; Jones, Francesca; Basaraba, Deni; Hironaka, Stephanie

    2016-01-01

    The difficulties that students face when reading science texts go beyond understanding vocabulary and syntactic structures. Comprehension of science texts requires students to infer how these texts function as a unit to communicate scientific meaning. To help students in this process, science texts sometimes employ logical connectives (e.g.,…

  1. Bidirectionality in Self-Regulation and Expressive Vocabulary: Comparisons between Monolingual and Dual Language Learners in Preschool

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

    2015-01-01

    Significant differences in language and self-regulation skills exist among children when they enter formal schooling. Contributing to these language differences is a growing population of dual language learners (DLLs) in the United States. Given evidence linking self-regulatory processes and language development, this study explored bidirectional…

  2. The Language of Persuasion, English, Vocabulary: 5114.68.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Groff, Irvin

    Developed for a high school quinmester unit on the language of persuasion, this guide provides the teacher with teaching strategies for a study of the speaker or writer as a persuader, the identification of the logical and psychological tools of persuasion, an examination of the levels of abstraction, the techniques of propaganda, and the…

  3. [Dr. Winkelmann Stories. Parts 1-6.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kappen, Barbara

    A set of instructional materials in German contains six units, each consisting of a dialog (of approximately four pages) between a man and his cleaning lady; a vocabulary list, in English, corresponding to the underlined words in the dialog; content questions and answers, in German; and composition and conversation questions, in German. The unit…

  4. Marketing Fish: Unit F#4 Grade 6. Project COULD: Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coos County Intermediate Education District, North Bend, OR.

    Project COULD (Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development) was developed as a means of building skills, knowledges, and attitudes on elementary children's previously acquired backgrounds. Children learn to speak the grammar and vocabulary characteristic of the language heard most frequently at home and in the immediate environment. A series…

  5. Family Forces for Preschool Development of Health, Vocabulary and Perceptual Skills.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Horodezky, Betty

    The importance of parental attention in the facilitation of prereading skill development is examined in this paper. The first section presents a historical perspective on attitudes toward early childhood education, touching on the views of educators of past centuries and on recent trends in early childhood education in the United States. The…

  6. Harvesting Fish: Unit F#1 Grade 3. Project COULD: Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coos County Intermediate Education District, North Bend, OR.

    Project COULD (Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development) was developed as a means of building skills, knowledges, and attitudes on elementary children's previously acquired backgrounds. Children learn to speak the grammar and vocabulary characteristic of the language heard most frequently at home and in the immediate environment. A series…

  7. Implementing Intensive Vocabulary Instruction for Students at Risk for Reading Disability

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pullen, Paige C.; Tuckwiller, Elizabeth D.; Ashworth, Kristen; Lovelace, Shelly P.; Cash, Deanna

    2011-01-01

    Concerns regarding literacy levels in the United States are long standing. Debates have existed for decades regarding the most effective ways to teach reading, especially the polarizing dilemma of how much to focus on decoding versus code-emphasis and whole language instruction. Fortunately, as a result of concentrated research efforts and…

  8. Building Vocabulary of English Learners with Reading Disabilities through Computer-Assisted Morphology Instruction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Lo, Ya-yu; Anderson, Adrienne L.; Bunch-Crump, Kimberly

    2017-01-01

    Many educators in public schools in the United States experience challenges in meeting the unique needs of the growing population of English learners who must simultaneously attain academic skills while acquiring English language proficiency. Such unique needs intensify for English learners with reading disabilities. Morphological awareness is key…

  9. Bridging English Language Learner Achievement Gaps through Effective Vocabulary Development Strategies

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gibson, Charles

    2016-01-01

    Despite a well-documented history of immigration in the United States of America and rise in population of students that speak a language other than English, academic achievement gaps between English Language Learners and their native English language speaking counterparts from Grades Pre-Kindergarten through the college/university level still…

  10. Harvesting Shellfish: Unit F#2 Grade 4. Project COULD: Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coos County Intermediate Education District, North Bend, OR.

    Project COULD (Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development) was developed as a means of building skills, knowledges, and attitudes on elementary children's previously acquired backgrounds. Children begin to speak the grammar and vocabulary characteristic of the language heard most frequently at home and in the immediate environment. A series…

  11. Seafood Processing: Unit F#3 Grade 5. Project COULD: Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Coos County Intermediate Education District, North Bend, OR.

    Project COULD (Career Orientation Utilizing Language Development) was developed as a means of building skills, knowledges, and attitudes on elementary children's previously acquired backgrounds. Children learn to speak the grammar and vocabulary characteristic of the language heard most frequently at home and in the immediate environment. A series…

  12. Beginning English Day by Day.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roddy, Michael

    This book aims to meet the needs of students who are beginning to learn English and to help them reach such goals as gaining an education, finding a job, continuing on to higher education, or functioning better in everyday life in the United States. The book stresses the basic language skills of vocabulary development, grammar, reading, writing,…

  13. Technology Education. Introduction to Technology. Grades 7 & 8.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    New York State Education Dept., Albany. Div. of Occupational Education Programs.

    This syllabus contains 10 modules that satisfy the one-unit requirement for technology education to be completed by the end of Grade 8 in New York. An introduction provides information on its use. Suggested content outlines of the modules follow. Module components include suggested teaching time; overview; enabling vocabulary; major concepts;…

  14. CEMENT. "A Concrete Experience." A Curriculum Developed for the Cement Industry.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Taylor, Mary Lou

    This instructor's guide contains 11 lesson plans for inplant classes on workplace skills for employees in a cement plant. The 11 units cover the following topics: goals; interpreting memoranda; applying a standard set of work procedures; qualities of a safe worker; accident prevention; insurance forms; vocabulary development; inventory control…

  15. 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"…

  16. Searching for the structure of early American psychology: Networking Psychological Review, 1909-1923.

    PubMed

    Green, Christopher D; Feinerer, Ingo; Burman, Jeremy T

    2015-05-01

    This study continues a previous investigation of the intellectual structure of early American psychology by presenting and analyzing 3 networks that collectively include every substantive article published in Psychological Review during the 15-year period from 1909 to 1923. The networks were laid out such that articles (represented by the network's nodes) that possessed strongly correlated vocabularies were positioned closer to each other spatially than articles with weakly correlated vocabularies. We identified distinct research communities within the networks by locating and interpreting the clusters of lexically similar articles. We found that the Psychological Review was in some turmoil during this period compared with its first 15 years attributable, first, to Baldwin's unexpected departure in 1910; second, to the pressures placed on the discipline by United States entry into World War I; and, third, to the emergence of specialty psychology journals catering to research communities that had once published in the Review. The journal emerged from these challenges, however, with a better-defined mission: to serve as the chief repository of theoretical psychology in the United States. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Some Techniques for Teaching Vocabulary. ERIC Focus Reports on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Number 27.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Michel, Joseph; Patin, Paul

    Discussion of techniques for teaching vocabulary in language programs centers on five major areas: (1) "knowing" the word, (2) selection of vocabulary, (3) grading vocabulary for presentation, (4) teaching methods, and (5) vocabulary expansion in advanced levels. Theory of vocabulary instruction is largely supported by writings of Nelson Brooks,…

  18. 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…

  19. 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 and L2 exposure influenced story structure scores in L1. Importantly, we did not find any evidence (in any of the tasks in which the gap was present) that the performance gap between monolinguals and bilinguals could be fully closed with high amounts of L1 input. PMID:28928681

  20. 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 children. Further steps need to be taken when testing larger numbers of 2;0 to 5;11-year-old children on the revised word list for determination of norms. This effort will facilitate early identification and remediation of language disorders in Modern Greek-speaking children. © 2010 Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists.

  1. From printed geological maps to web-based service oriented data products - strategies, foundations and problems.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ebner, M.; Schiegl, M.; Stöckl, W.; Heger, H.

    2012-04-01

    The Geological Survey of Austria is legally obligated by the INSPIRE directive to provide data that fall under this directive (geology, mineral resources and natural risk zones) to the European commission in a semantically harmonized and technically interoperable way. Until recently the focus was entirely on the publication of high quality printed cartographic products. These have a complex (carto-)graphic data-model, which allows visualizing several thematic aspects, such as lithology, stratigraphy, tectonics, geologic age, mineral resources, mass movements, geomorphology etc. in a single planar map/product. Nonetheless these graphic data-models do not allow retrieving individual thematic aspects since these were coded in a complex portrayal scheme. Automatic information retrieval is thus impossible; and domain knowledge is necessary to interpret these "encrypted datasets". With INSPIRE becoming effective and a variety of conceptual models (e.g. GeoSciML), built around a semantic framework (i.e. controlled vocabularies), being available it is necessary to develop a strategy and workflow for semantic harmonization of such datasets. In this contribution we demonstrate the development of a multistage workflow which will allow us to transform our printed maps to semantically enabled datasets and services and discuss some prerequisites, foundations and problems. In a first step in our workflow we analyzed our maps and developed controlled vocabularies that describe the thematic content of our data. We then developed a physical data-model which we use to attribute our spatial data with thematic information from our controlled vocabularies to form core thematic data sets. This physical data model is geared towards use on an organizational level but builds upon existing standards (INSPIRE, GeoSciML) to allow transformation to international standards. In a final step we will develop a standardized mapping scheme to publish INSPIRE conformant services from our core datasets. This two-step transformation is necessary since a direct mapping to international standards is not possible for traditional map-based data. Controlled vocabularies provide the foundation of a semantic harmonization. For the encoding of the vocabularies we build upon the W3C standard SKOS (=Simple Knowledge Organisation System), a thesaurus specification for the semantic web, which is itself based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF) and RDF Schema and added some DublinCore and VoID for the metadata of our vocabularies and resources. For the development of these thesauri we use the commercial software PoolParty, which is a tool specially build to develop, manage and publish multilingual thesauri. The corporate thesauri of the Austrian Geological Survey are exposed via a web-service that is conformant with the linked data principles. This web-service gives access to a (1) RDF/HTML representation of the resources via a simple, robust and thus persistent http URIs (2) a download of the complete vocabularies in RDF-format (3) a full-fledged SPARQL-Endpoint to query the thesaurus. With the development of physical data-models (based on preexisting conceptual models) one must dismiss the classical schemes of map-based portrayal of data. E.g. for individual Geological units on traditional geological maps usually a single age range is given (e.g. formation age). But one might want to attribute several geologic ages (formation age, metamorphic age, cooling ages etc.) to individual units. Such issues have to be taken into account when developing robust physical data-models. Based on our experience we are convinced that individual institutions need to develop their own controlled vocabularies and individual data-models that fit the specific needs on an organizational level. If externally developed vocabularies and data-models are introduced to established workflows newly generated and existing data may be diverging and it will be hard to achieve or maintain a common standard. We thus suggest that it is necessary for institutions to keep (or develop) to their organizational standards and vocabularies and map them to generally agreed international standards such as INSPIRE or GeoSciML in a fashion suggested by the linked data principles.

  2. 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…

  3. 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.

  4. 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

  5. A Changing World: Expectations of Higher Education

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Daniel, John

    2017-01-01

    The vocabulary of higher education is being devalued. The use of "expert" and "elite" as pejorative terms undermines the trust on which successful societies are based. In a "post-factual" society, universities have to re-establish a respect for objective truth and powerful arguments, becoming trust building as well as…

  6. Student Attrition: Strategies for Action.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alfred, Richard L., Ed.

    Four main objectives of the conference reported in these proceedings were: (1) to provide a basic orientation for two-year college faculty and administrative personnel as to what student attrition is and the types of impact that it has upon the institutional setting; (2) to interpret the vocabulary pertinent to student attrition, identifying new…

  7. Plant Hormones: How They Affect Root Formation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Reinhard, Diana Hereda

    This science study aid, produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, includes a series of plant rooting activities for secondary science classes. The material in the pamphlet is written for students and includes background information on plant hormones, a vocabulary list, and five learning activities. Objectives, needed materials, and…

  8. A Complete Art Instructor Demonstration: Composition and Value.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Demery, Marie

    A complete art instructor demonstration consists of the following components: (1) goals and/or objectives; (2) examples; (3) vocabulary; (4) media; (5) steps; (6) evaluation criteria; and (7) references. A lesson plan is provided which encompasses those components and becomes the guiding structure for instructional and student organization,…

  9. Matematicas: Nivel A (Mathematics: Level A).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duron, Dolores; And Others

    A teacher's manual was developed for an elementary level mathematics course in Spanish as part of an immersion program for English speaking children. The Level A manual is designed for kindergarten and grade 1 pupils. Teaching procedures, conceptual objectives, vocabulary, and structures are included. Activities are designed to teach either…

  10. Matematicas: Nivel E (Mathematics: Level E).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duron, Dolores, Ed.; And Others

    A teacher's manual was developed for an elementary level mathematics course in Spanish as part of an immersion program for English speaking children. The Level E manual is designed for grade 4 pupils. Teaching procedures, conceptual and language objectives, vocabulary, structures, and learning activities are included. Activities are designed to…

  11. Matematicas: Nivel F (Mathematics: Level F).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Duron, Dolores, Ed.; And Others

    A teacher's manual was developed for an elementary level mathematics course in Spanish as part of an immersion program for English speaking children. The Level F manual is designed for grade 5 pupils. Teaching procedures, conceptual and language objectives, vocabulary, structures, and learning activities are included. Activities are designed to…

  12. A COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    KROEBER, KARL

    FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FICTIONAL PROSE STYLE WERE STUDIED THROUGH SYSTEMATIC AND OBJECTIVE ANALYSES OF NOVELISTIC SYNTAX AND VOCABULARY. SAMPLE PASSAGES FROM THE MAJOR NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN, THE BRONTE SISTERS, AND GEORGE ELIOT AS WELL AS NOVELS BY 13 OTHER AUTHORS WERE ANALYZED. INFORMATION ON PASSAGE SENTENCES, CLAUSES, AND WORDS WAS…

  13. A Developmental Writing Scale. Research Report. ETS RR-08-19

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Attali, Yigal; Powers, Don

    2008-01-01

    This report describes the development of grade norms for timed-writing performance in two modes of writing: persuasive and descriptive. These norms are based on objective and automatically computed measures of writing quality in grammar, usage, mechanics, style, vocabulary, organization, and development. These measures are also used in the…

  14. Mothers' Estimates of Their Children with Disorders of Language Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Willinger, Ulrike; Eisenwort, Brigitte

    2005-01-01

    The authors' objective in this article was to explore the accuracy of mothers' estimates concerning their children's developmental functioning, especially with respect to vocabulary and gross motor development, by comparing the results of diagnostic tests administered to both the children and their mothers. The authors studied 55 children with…

  15. Life without Scan-Tron: Tests as Thinking.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Posner, Richard

    1987-01-01

    Claims that written tests are superior to objective, scan-tron tests in literature, composition, and vocabulary because they require students to think on paper. Describes the following types of in-class written tests and examines the advantages of each: literary essay, topical composition, imitation, brief answer, timed rewrites, and vocabulary…

  16. Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Drabinski, Emily

    2013-01-01

    Critiques of hegemonic library classification structures and controlled vocabularies have a rich history in information studies. This project has pointed out the trouble with classification and cataloging decisions that are framed as objective and neutral but are always ideological and worked to correct bias in library structures. Viewing…

  17. Turn Catalog Clutter into Creative Learning. For Parents Particularly.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Newman, Rita

    1997-01-01

    Suggests parents use catalogs to help children increase reading and math skills. Points out that catalogs link language and print, that children can increase vocabulary through picture naming, and that sorting pictures and classifying objects can increase thinking skills. Suggests that children can practice adding, counting, and comparison…

  18. Indian Terms of the Americas.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patterson, Lotsee; Snodgrass, Mary Ellen

    This book defines a variety of terms from Native American history and represents a compendium of vocabulary, people, places, and events. The alphabetized, illustrated text includes names for Indian objects such as pirogues, prayer sticks, kayaks, dumas, and medicine bundles; methods of doing things, such as stone boiling, diapering babies, healing…

  19. Le Francais Moderne, (Modern French) Part II.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

    Performance objectives and broad goals for listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in French instruction are presented in this text. Cultural awareness and student attitude are also considered. Vocabulary and structure of the course are presented through three situations: shopping, meeting a train, and making vacation plans. Short films…

  20. A Teacher's Spelling Manual for Seventh Grade.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Datres, Kristine, Comp.; Heggenstaller, Barbara, Comp.

    The spelling program described in this manual was designed with the idea that spelling study initiated in the elementary grades should continue through the middle school years. The manual first describes the program's objectives: to help students learn basic spelling rules, develop an interest in word lore and vocabulary improvement, and develop…

  1. Secondary Social Studies: Alaska Curriculum Guide. Second Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Alaska State Dept. of Education, Juneau. Office of Curriculum Services.

    A secondary social studies model curriculum guide for Alaska is presented. The body of the guide lists topics/concepts, learning outcomes/objectives, and sample learning activities in a 3 column format. The first column, topics/concepts, describes the content area, defining the subject broadly and listing subconcepts or associated vocabulary. The…

  2. A Study of the Linguistic Features of Cajun English.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cox, Juanita

    The study contrasts Acadian English (Cajun) spoken in Louisiana with the local standard English, describing the linguistic features (pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary) of the dialect in non-technical language. The objective is to inform elementary and secondary school teachers and others involved in education and curriculum development for a…

  3. Turning Origami into the Language of Mathematics

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cipoletti, Beth; Wilson, Nancy

    2004-01-01

    The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989) proposes using everyday objects, such as paper, to enable students to explore geometric relationships and vocabulary. Paper-folding and other types of hands-on activities have been found to increase students' ability to communicate mathematically and foster their understanding of mathematical…

  4. Choosing a President, 1968: The American Political Process.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tufts Univ., Medford, MA. Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs.

    The student text portion of this set contains an account of the 1968 presidential election, from the state primaries to the election of Richard M. Nixon. The Teacher's Guide outlines objectives, teaching strategies, discussion questions, vocabulary, and an annotated listing of resources which includes educational and commercial films as well as…

  5. ESL for Hotel/Hospitality Industry. Level: Advanced Beginner/Intermediate.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Western Suffolk County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Northport, NY.

    This document contains 16 lesson plans for an advanced beginning and intermediate course in work-related English for non-English- or limited-English-speaking entry-level employees in the hotel and hospitality industry. Course objectives are as follows: helping participants understand and use job-specific vocabulary; receive and understand…

  6. ESL for Hotel/Hospitality Industry. Level: Beginner.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Western Suffolk County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Northport, NY.

    This document contains eight lesson plans for a beginning course in work-related English for non-English or limited-English speaking entry-level employees in the hotel and hospitality industry. Course objectives include the following: helping participants understand and use job-specific vocabulary; receive and understand job-related instructions;…

  7. Competency: The Language of the Behavioral Objectives Movement.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Craig, Samuel B., Jr.

    Several external and internal factors combine to hinder optimal communication in "Competency," the language of behavior modification. As a language, Competency a) is spoken with varying degrees of fluency and facility, b) is difficult to translate into English because the common vocabulary is used descriptively in English while it is…

  8. Advanced Food Science and Nutrition Reference Book.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock. Home Economics Curriculum Center.

    Developed with input from personnel in the industries, this reference book complements the curriculum guide for a laboratory course on the significance of nutrition in food science. The reference book is organized into 25 chapters, each beginning with essential elements and objectives. Within the text, italicized, bold-faced vocabulary terms are…

  9. Ladybugs and Lettuce Leaves. Teachers' Manual.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Barnes, Tracy; And Others

    This is a guide for use with "Ladybugs and Lettuce Leaves" activity cards which are activities for elementary school students (grades 4 to 6) focusing on gardening. It includes educational objectives for each topic as well as lists of vocabulary words, comments, questions for discussion, additional activities, and resources. An interdisciplinary…

  10. Differences and similarities in early vocabulary development between children with hearing aids and children with cochlear implant enrolled in 3-year auditory verbal intervention.

    PubMed

    Percy-Smith, Lone; Hallstrøm, Maria; Josvassen, Jane Lignel; Mikkelsen, Jeanette Hølledig; Nissen, Lena; Dieleman, Eveline; Cayé-Thomasen, Per

    2018-05-01

    The overall objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of a Nordic Auditory Verbal (AV) intervention for children with all degrees and types of hearing impairment (HI) using all kinds of hearing technology. A first specific objective was to identify differences and similarities in early vocabulary development between children with cochlear implant (CI) compared with children with hearing aids (HAs)/Bone anchored hearing aids (Bahs) enrolled in a 3-year AVprogram, and to compare the group of children with HI to a control group of children with normal hearing (NH). A second specific objective was to study universal neonatal hearing screening (UNHS) using the 1-3-6 Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) guidelines. Effect of AV intervention for children with HI using different hearing technology is not thoroughly studied. It is relevant to question, whether children with mild to moderate HI encounter the same intensive need for AV intervention as children with congenital deafness. A longitudinal and comparative study design was used involving two cohorts of children, i.e. 36 children with CI and 19 children with HA/Bahs. The children were the first in Denmark to receive a 3-year AV intervention by formally trained AV-practitioners. Children were tested annually with standardized speech and language tests, i.e. Peabody Picture Vocabulary test, Reynell test and a Danish test for active vocabulary, Viborgmaterialet. Categorical variables were compared using Fischer's exact test and continuous variables were compared using Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test, as data was not normally distributed. Median age of diagnosis was 6 months and median age at intervention was 13 and 12 months respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of scores according to age equivalency for the three tests. However, there was a significant difference between children with HI regardless of hearing technology and children with NH. Children with HI progressed over a three-year period, but they did not reach the same level as children with NH. The high completion rate of 98,2% of families over a three-year period indicates the relevance of AV practice in a Nordic country. Children were diagnosed later than 3 months and intervention also started later than recommended. A result that warrants further investigation. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Influence of semantic consistency and perceptual features on visual attention during scene viewing in toddlers.

    PubMed

    Helo, Andrea; van Ommen, Sandrien; Pannasch, Sebastian; Danteny-Dordoigne, Lucile; Rämä, Pia

    2017-11-01

    Conceptual representations of everyday scenes are built in interaction with visual environment and these representations guide our visual attention. Perceptual features and object-scene semantic consistency have been found to attract our attention during scene exploration. The present study examined how visual attention in 24-month-old toddlers is attracted by semantic violations and how perceptual features (i. e. saliency, centre distance, clutter and object size) and linguistic properties (i. e. object label frequency and label length) affect gaze distribution. We compared eye movements of 24-month-old toddlers and adults while exploring everyday scenes which either contained an inconsistent (e.g., soap on a breakfast table) or consistent (e.g., soap in a bathroom) object. Perceptual features such as saliency, centre distance and clutter of the scene affected looking times in the toddler group during the whole viewing time whereas looking times in adults were affected only by centre distance during the early viewing time. Adults looked longer to inconsistent than consistent objects either if the objects had a high or a low saliency. In contrast, toddlers presented semantic consistency effect only when objects were highly salient. Additionally, toddlers with lower vocabulary skills looked longer to inconsistent objects while toddlers with higher vocabulary skills look equally long to both consistent and inconsistent objects. Our results indicate that 24-month-old children use scene context to guide visual attention when exploring the visual environment. However, perceptual features have a stronger influence in eye movement guidance in toddlers than in adults. Our results also indicate that language skills influence cognitive but not perceptual guidance of eye movements during scene perception in toddlers. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. 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

  13. A Mis-recognized Medical Vocabulary Correction System for Speech-based Electronic Medical Record

    PubMed Central

    Seo, Hwa Jeong; Kim, Ju Han; Sakabe, Nagamasa

    2002-01-01

    Speech recognition as an input tool for electronic medical record (EMR) enables efficient data entry at the point of care. However, the recognition accuracy for medical vocabulary is much poorer than that for doctor-patient dialogue. We developed a mis-recognized medical vocabulary correction system based on syllable-by-syllable comparison of speech text against medical vocabulary database. Using specialty medical vocabulary, the algorithm detects and corrects mis-recognized medical vocabularies in narrative text. Our preliminary evaluation showed 94% of accuracy in mis-recognized medical vocabulary correction.

  14. 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 growth. Findings substantiate the need for progress monitoring across the early school years.

  15. 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

  16. 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.

  17. 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

  18. 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…

  19. 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…

  20. 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…

  1. The Influence of Reading on Vocabulary Growth: A Case for a Matthew Effect.

    PubMed

    Duff, Dawna; Tomblin, J Bruce; Catts, Hugh

    2015-06-01

    Individual differences in vocabulary development may affect academic or social opportunities. It has been proposed that individual differences in word reading could affect the rate of vocabulary growth, mediated by the amount of reading experience, a process referred to as a Matthew effect (Stanovich, 1986). In the current study, assessments of written word-reading skills in the 4th grade and oral vocabulary knowledge collected in kindergarten and in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades from a large epidemiologically based sample (n = 485) allowed a test of the relationship of early word-reading skills and the subsequent rate of vocabulary growth. Consistent with the hypothesis, multilevel modeling revealed the rate of vocabulary growth after the 4th grade to be significantly related to 4th-grade word reading after controlling for kindergarten vocabulary level, that is, above average readers experienced a higher rate of vocabulary growth than did average readers. Vocabulary growth rate differences accumulated over time such that the effect on vocabulary size was large.

  2. 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;…

  3. 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…

  4. Preservation of propositional speech in a pure anomic: the importance of an abstract vocabulary.

    PubMed

    Crutch, Sebastian J; Warrington, Elizabeth K

    2003-12-01

    We describe a detailed quantitative analysis of the propositional speech of a patient, FAV, who became severely anomic following a left occipito-temporal infarction. FAV showed a selective noun retrieval deficit in naming to confrontation and from verbal description. Nonetheless, his propositional speech was fluent and content-rich. To quantify this observation, three picture description-based tasks were designed to elicit spontaneous speech. These were pictures of professional occupations, real world scenes and stylised object scenes. FAV's performance was compared and contrasted with that of 5 age- and sex-matched control subjects on a number of variables including speech production rate, volume of output, pause frequency and duration, word frequency, word concreteness and diversity of vocabulary used. FAV's propositional speech fell within the range of normal control performance on the majority of measurements of quality, quantity and fluency. Only in the narrative tasks which relied more heavily upon a concrete vocabulary, did FAV become less voluble and resort to summarising the scenes in an manner. This dissociation between virtually intact propositional speech and a severe naming deficit represents the purest case of anomia currently on record. We attribute this dissociation in part to the preservation of his ability to retrieve his abstract word vocabulary. Our account demonstrates that poor performance on standard naming tasks may be indicative of only a narrowly defined word retrieval deficit. However, we also propose the existence of a feedback circuit which guides sentence construction by providing information regarding lexical availability.

  5. Wet Worlds: Explore the World of Water. Marine and Fresh Water Activities for the Elementary Classroom.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Solomon, Gerard; And Others

    Complete with student worksheets, field trip ideas, illustrations, vocabulary lists, suggested materials, and step-by-step procedures, the document presents a compilation of ideas for teaching elementary school (K-6) students about marine and fresh water. In the first unit students build miniature monuments and observe the deterioration of…

  6. Alphabetics: A History of Our Alphabet. A Source Guide for Self-Directed Units. Great Ideas Series. Revised Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Patton, Sally J.

    This teaching resource presents a historical perspective of the alphabet which encompasses a study of major contributions by: (1) "Prehistoric People"; (2) "The Sumerians"; (3) "The Egyptians"; (4) "The Chinese"; (5) "The Greeks"; and (6) "The Romans." Background information, vocabulary study, student activities, a letter history, and a…

  7. Using a Disciplinary Literacy Framework to Teach High School Physics: An Action Research Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hurley, Brian P.; Henry, Michael P.

    2015-01-01

    This action research study investigated the impact of teaching physics using a disciplinary literacy framework for instruction across all units in one academic year. Through a suite of vocabulary strategies and lessons that encourage students to write, speak, draw, mathematically translate, and design experiments, students learn to do physics by…

  8. Year 4 Term 1: Plays. National Literacy Strategy.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Department for Education and Skills, London (England).

    In this unit of work, the children will continue to learn about the features of playscripts, through reading and analyzing a play and writing a play based on a narrative. In the course of learning how to interpret and write stage directions, the children will apply their knowledge of adverbs. In the discrete work on vocabulary and spelling, the…

  9. Teacher's Workshop, 1999: Islam in South Asia and the United States. Lesson Plans.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dybola, Ellen; Andino, Ann; Arnold, Harriet; Asvos, Maria; Robles, Ivette

    This booklet consists of four lesson plans to be used with students in preschool through grade 9. The first lesson, for preschool children with special needs, is titled "Introduction to Islamic Customs and Practices." It introduces new vocabulary and concepts while focusing on Islamic customs and practices. The second lesson, "Islam…

  10. Developing Aural Proficiency Skills in the Business French Class.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walsh, Cathleen

    This paper discusses the use of the re-broadcast of French television news (Le Journal de 20 Heures) as a tool to develop aural proficiency in college students enrolled in a business French course in the United States. Before viewing each 1- to 2-minute news segment, students complete vocabulary exercises and read a relevant newspaper article.…

  11. The Bill of Rights: Due Process and Rights of the Accused.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Mueller, Jean West; Schamel, Wynell Burroughs

    1990-01-01

    Presents Clarence Earl Gideon's petition for counsel as a primary source document to be used in social studies units on the Bill of Right's Sixth Amendment. Examines the constitutional issues of due process and right to counsel. Outlines teaching activities that develop vocabulary and analyzes Gideon v. Wainwright as a case study. (CH)

  12. Building Oral Language and Vocabulary through the Use of Literature

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCorquodale, Gwenyth J.; Kirkland, Lynn

    2006-01-01

    Children are coming to classrooms across the United States with a need to develop their oral language. With the increased promotion of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, commercialized programs are being provided for teachers to use to build oral language in their students. The authors believe that schools and teachers can best enhance…

  13. Programmed Course in Modern Literary Arabic Phonology and Script.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McCarus, Ernest; Rammuny, Raji

    Three sets of instructional materials for the teaching of Arabic phonology and script have been prepared on the basis of studies of (1) the phonologies of American English and Modern Literary Arabic (MLA), (2) the MLA writing system, and (3) the vocabularies of 11 Arabic textbooks used in the United States. The effectiveness of these materials was…

  14. The Relationship between Language Skills and Writing Outcomes for Linguistically Diverse Students in Upper Elementary School

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Silverman, Rebecca D.; Coker, David; Proctor, C. Patrick; Harring, Jeffrey; Piantedosi, Kelly W.; Hartranft, Anna M.

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between language variables and writing outcomes with linguistically diverse students in grades 3-5. The participants were 197 children from three schools in one district in the mid-Atlantic United States. We assessed students' vocabulary knowledge and morphological and syntactical skill as…

  15. Early Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (EL-IGDIs): Growth Trajectories Using a Large, Internet-Based Sample

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Roseth, Cary J.; Missall, Kristen N.; McConnell, Scott R.

    2012-01-01

    Early literacy individual growth and development indicators (EL-IGDIs) assess preschoolers' expressive vocabulary development and phonological awareness. This study investigated longitudinal change in EL-IGDIs using a large (N=7355), internet-based sample of 36- to 60-month-old United States preschoolers without identified risks for later…

  16. Learning English: Experiences and Needs of Saudi Engineering Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Unruh, Susan; Obeidat, Fayiz

    2015-01-01

    In this qualitative study, Saudi engineering students talk openly of their experiences learning English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and as university students in the United States (US). These students reported that they learned only the basics of vocabulary and grammar in KSA. Consequently, they came to the US with few English skills. In…

  17. The Effects of Differing Densities of Glossing on Vocabulary Uptake and Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Majuddin, Elvenna

    2014-01-01

    This study investigated the effects of differing densities of glossing on the uptake of target words and the comprehension of idea units from a reading text. The focus was whether different densities of glossing would create trade-off effects. Thirty-three Malaysian ESL learners were assigned to three different conditions: high-density glossing,…

  18. Investigating Phonological Awareness and Naming Speed as Predictors of Reading in Arabic

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tibi, Sana; Kirby, John R.

    2018-01-01

    Wolf and Bowers (1999) described a model in which phonological awareness (PA) and naming speed (NS) make independent contributions to reading ability. We tested this model in a sample of 201 Grade 3 Arabic-speaking children in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Measures of general cognitive ability, vocabulary, PA, NS, word reading, and reading…

  19. Statistical Clustering and the Contents of the Infant Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Swingley, Daniel

    2005-01-01

    Infants parse speech into word-sized units according to biases that develop in the first year. One bias, present before the age of 7 months, is to cluster syllables that tend to co-occur. The present computational research demonstrates that this statistical clustering bias could lead to the extraction of speech sequences that are actual words,…

  20. [Nebraska 4-H Wheat Science School Enrichment Project, Teacher/Leader Guides 213-222 and 227.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Nebraska Univ., Lincoln. Inst. of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

    Through the 4-H Wheat Science project, students learn the importance of wheat from the complete process of growing wheat to the final product of bread. The curriculum is designed to include hands-on experiences in science, consumer education, nutrition, production economics, vocabulary, and applied mathematics. Teachers can select those units out…

  1. Morphological Awareness Intervention: Improving Spelling, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension for Adult Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Bangs, Kathryn E.; Binder, Katherine S.

    2016-01-01

    Adult Basic Education programs are under pressure to develop and deliver instruction that promotes rapid and sustained literacy development. We describe a novel approach to a literacy intervention that focuses on morphemes, which are the smallest meaningful units contained in words. We argue that if you teach learners that big words are comprised…

  2. 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…

  3. 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…

  4. 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…

  5. 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…

  6. 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.

  7. Motivation, strategy, and English as a foreign language vocabulary learning: A structural equation modelling study.

    PubMed

    Zhang, Yining; Lin, Chin-Hsi; Zhang, Dongbo; Choi, Yunjeong

    2017-03-01

    In spite of considerable advancements in our understanding of the different factors involved in achieving vocabulary-learning success, the overall pattern and interrelationships of critical factors involved in L2 vocabulary learning - particularly, the mechanisms through which learners regulate their motivation and learning strategies - remain unclear. This study examined L2 vocabulary learning, focusing on the joint influence of different motivational factors and learning strategies on the vocabulary breadth of adolescent learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in China. The participants were 107 tenth graders (68 females, 39 males) in China. The data were collected via two questionnaires, one assessing students' motivation towards English-vocabulary learning and the other their English vocabulary-learning strategies, along with a test measuring vocabulary breadth. Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that learning strategy partially mediated the relationship between motivation (i.e., a composite score of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and vocabulary learning. Separate SEM analyses for intrinsic (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) revealed that there were significant and positive direct and indirect effects of IM on vocabulary knowledge; and while EM's direct effect over and above that of learning strategies did not achieve significance, its indirect effect was significant and positive. The findings suggest that vocabulary-learning strategies mediate the relationship between motivation and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, IM may have a greater influence on vocabulary learning in foreign-language contexts. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

  8. Neurologist-patient communication about epilepsy in the United States, Spain, and Germany.

    PubMed

    Stern, John M; Cendes, Fernando; Gilliam, Frank; Kwan, Patrick; Ryvlin, Philippe; Sirven, Joseph; Smith, Brien; Adomas, Aleksandra; Walter, Lauren

    2018-04-01

    Effective communication between patients and their health care providers is recognized as critically important to improve the quality of health services for individuals with epilepsy. We aimed to describe in-office neurologist-patient conversations about epilepsy and focus on disease identification, shared decision-making, and care planning. Transcripts and audio recordings of conversations between patients and neurologists in the United States, Spain, and Germany were analyzed linguistically in the topic areas of epilepsy identification and diagnosis, disease education, treatments, and care planning. Analyses included word-level assessments, topic switching, strategies of information elicitation, identification of topics discussed, quantification of questions asked, and assessment of types of questions asked. Conversations of 17 neurologists in the United States, 12 in Spain, and 6 in Germany, with 50, 20, and 16 patients, respectively, were analyzed. Neurologists tended to utilize an event-based, patient-friendly vocabulary to refer to seizures, and in the United States, they avoided using the term "epilepsy." Regardless of who initiated the treatment discussion, the neurologists in all 3 countries were unilaterally responsible for the treatment decision and choice of medication. When describing a new medication, neurologists most often discussed potential side effects but did not review potential benefits. Neurologists rarely defined seizure control and did not ask patients what seizure control meant to them. We identified opportunities related to vocabulary, decision-making, and treatment goal setting that could be targeted to improve neurologist-patient communication about epilepsy, and ultimately, the overall treatment experience and outcomes for patients.

  9. Vocabulary Knowledge Predicts Lexical Processing: Evidence from a Group of Participants with Diverse Educational Backgrounds

    PubMed Central

    Mainz, Nina; Shao, Zeshu; Brysbaert, Marc; Meyer, Antje S.

    2017-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is central to a speaker's command of their language. In previous research, greater vocabulary knowledge has been associated with advantages in language processing. In this study, we examined the relationship between individual differences in vocabulary and language processing performance more closely by (i) using a battery of vocabulary tests instead of just one test, and (ii) testing not only university students (Experiment 1) but young adults from a broader range of educational backgrounds (Experiment 2). Five vocabulary tests were developed, including multiple-choice and open antonym and synonym tests and a definition test, and administered together with two established measures of vocabulary. Language processing performance was measured using a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, vocabulary and word frequency were found to predict word recognition speed while we did not observe an interaction between the effects. In Experiment 2, word recognition performance was predicted by word frequency and the interaction between word frequency and vocabulary, with high-vocabulary individuals showing smaller frequency effects. While overall the individual vocabulary tests were correlated and showed similar relationships with language processing as compared to a composite measure of all tests, they appeared to share less variance in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. Implications of our findings concerning the assessment of vocabulary size in individual differences studies and the investigation of individuals from more varied backgrounds are discussed. PMID:28751871

  10. A Comparison of Three Test Formats to Assess Word Difficulty

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Culligan, Brent

    2015-01-01

    This study compared three common vocabulary test formats, the Yes/No test, the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS), and the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT), as measures of vocabulary difficulty. Vocabulary difficulty was defined as the item difficulty estimated through Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis. Three tests were given to 165 Japanese students,…

  11. 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.…

  12. Examining the Classification Accuracy of a Vocabulary Screening Measure with Preschool Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Marcotte, Amanda M.; Clemens, Nathan H.; Parker, Christopher; Whitcomb, Sara A.

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated the classification accuracy of the "Dynamic Indicators of Vocabulary Skills" (DIVS) as a preschool vocabulary screening measure. With a sample of 240 preschoolers, fall and winter DIVS scores were used to predict year-end vocabulary risk using the 25th percentile on the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Third…

  13. 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…

  14. 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…

  15. 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…

  16. 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…

  17. Lexical Threshold Revisited: Lexical Text Coverage, Learners' Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Laufer, Batia; Ravenhorst-Kalovski, Geke C.

    2010-01-01

    We explore the relationship between second language (L2) learners' vocabulary size, lexical text coverage that their vocabulary provides and their reading comprehension. We also conceptualize "adequate reading comprehension" and look for the lexical threshold for such reading in terms of coverage and vocabulary size. Vocabulary size was…

  18. The Influence of Reading on Vocabulary Growth: A Case for a Matthew Effect

    PubMed Central

    Tomblin, J. Bruce; Catts, Hugh

    2015-01-01

    Purpose Individual differences in vocabulary development may affect academic or social opportunities. It has been proposed that individual differences in word reading could affect the rate of vocabulary growth, mediated by the amount of reading experience, a process referred to as a Matthew effect (Stanovich, 1986). Method In the current study, assessments of written word–reading skills in the 4th grade and oral vocabulary knowledge collected in kindergarten and in the 4th, 8th, and 10th grades from a large epidemiologically based sample (n = 485) allowed a test of the relationship of early word-reading skills and the subsequent rate of vocabulary growth. Results Consistent with the hypothesis, multilevel modeling revealed the rate of vocabulary growth after the 4th grade to be significantly related to 4th-grade word reading after controlling for kindergarten vocabulary level, that is, above average readers experienced a higher rate of vocabulary growth than did average readers. Conclusions Vocabulary growth rate differences accumulated over time such that the effect on vocabulary size was large. PMID:25812175

  19. 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

  20. 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 collaborators using SISSvoc3, including: * geologic timescale (multiple versions) * soils classification * definitions from OGC standards * geosciml vocabularies * mining commodities * hyperspectral scalars Several other agencies in Australia have adopted SISSvoc3 for their vocabularies. SISSvoc3 differs from other SKOS-based vocabulary-access APIs such as GEMET [3] and NVS [4] in that (a) the service is decoupled from the content store, (b) the service URI is independent of the content URIs This means that a SISSvoc3 interface can be deployed over any SKOS vocabulary which is available at a SPARQL endpoint. As an example, a SISSvoc3 query and presentation interface has been deployed over the NERC vocabulary service hosted by the BODC, providing a search interface which is not available natively. We use vocabulary services to populate menus in user interfaces, to support data validation, and to configure data conversion routines. Related services built on LDA have also been used as a generic registry interface, and extended for serving gazetteer information. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The CSIRO SISSvoc3 implementation is built using the Epimorphics ELDA platform http://code.google.com/p/elda/. We thank Jacqui Githaiga and Terry Rankine for their contributions to SISSvoc design and implementation. REFERENCES 1. SISSvoc3 Specification https://www.seegrid.csiro.au/wiki/Siss/SISSvoc30Specification 2. Linked Data API http://code.google.com/p/linked-data-api/wiki/Specification 3. GEMET https://svn.eionet.europa.eu/projects/Zope/wiki/GEMETWebServiceAPI 4. NVS 2.0 http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/

  1. Consumers’ Use of UMLS Concepts on Social Media: Diabetes-Related Textual Data Analysis in Blog and Social Q&A Sites

    PubMed Central

    Chen, Zhiwei; Oh, Sanghee; Bian, Jiang

    2016-01-01

    Background The widely known terminology gap between health professionals and health consumers hinders effective information seeking for consumers. Objective The aim of this study was to better understand consumers’ usage of medical concepts by evaluating the coverage of concepts and semantic types of the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) on diabetes-related postings in 2 types of social media: blogs and social question and answer (Q&A). Methods We collected 2 types of social media data: (1) a total of 3711 blogs tagged with “diabetes” on Tumblr posted between February and October 2015; and (2) a total of 58,422 questions and associated answers posted between 2009 and 2014 in the diabetes category of Yahoo! Answers. We analyzed the datasets using a widely adopted biomedical text processing framework Apache cTAKES and its extension YTEX. First, we applied the named entity recognition (NER) method implemented in YTEX to identify UMLS concepts in the datasets. We then analyzed the coverage and the popularity of concepts in the UMLS source vocabularies across the 2 datasets (ie, blogs and social Q&A). Further, we conducted a concept-level comparative coverage analysis between SNOMED Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) and Open-Access Collaborative Consumer Health Vocabulary (OAC CHV)—the top 2 UMLS source vocabularies that have the most coverage on our datasets. We also analyzed the UMLS semantic types that were frequently observed in our datasets. Results We identified 2415 UMLS concepts from blog postings, 6452 UMLS concepts from social Q&A questions, and 10,378 UMLS concepts from the answers. The medical concepts identified in the blogs can be covered by 56 source vocabularies in the UMLS, while those in questions and answers can be covered by 58 source vocabularies. SNOMED CT was the dominant vocabulary in terms of coverage across all the datasets, ranging from 84.9% to 95.9%. It was followed by OAC CHV (between 73.5% and 80.0%) and Metathesaurus Names (MTH) (between 55.7% and 73.5%). All of the social media datasets shared frequent semantic types such as “Amino Acid, Peptide, or Protein,” “Body Part, Organ, or Organ Component,” and “Disease or Syndrome.” Conclusions Although the 3 social media datasets vary greatly in size, they exhibited similar conceptual coverage among UMLS source vocabularies and the identified concepts showed similar semantic type distributions. As such, concepts that are both frequently used by consumers and also found in professional vocabularies such as SNOMED CT can be suggested to OAC CHV to improve its coverage. PMID:27884812

  2. Reading Comprehension in Children With and Without ASD: The Role of Word Reading, Oral Language, and Working Memory.

    PubMed

    Davidson, Meghan M; Kaushanskaya, Margarita; Ellis Weismer, Susan

    2018-05-25

    Word reading and oral language predict reading comprehension, which is generally poor, in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, working memory (WM), despite documented weaknesses, has not been thoroughly investigated as a predictor of reading comprehension in ASD. This study examined the role of three parallel WM N-back tasks using abstract shapes, familiar objects, and written words in children (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 19) and their typically developing peers (n = 24). All three types of WM were significant predictors of reading comprehension when considered alone. However, these relationships were rendered non-significant with the addition of age, word reading, vocabulary, and group entered into the models. Oral vocabulary emerged as the strongest predictor of reading comprehension.

  3. 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.

  4. A Curriculum for Teaching Human Sexuality to Mentally Impaired Adolescents.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rinckey, David Jason

    Presented is a developmentally sequenced curriculum designed for teaching human sexuality to mentally impaired adolescents. A brief objective is presented, teaching methods are listed, and materials needed are described (in terms of author, title, source, and price) for each of the following topic areas: vocabulary of sexuality; fact vs. myths;…

  5. The Mnemonic Keyword Method: Effects on the Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Siriganjanavong, Vanlee

    2013-01-01

    The objectives of the study were to introduce the technique called "Mnemonic Keyword Method" ("MKM") to low proficiency English learners, and to explore the effectiveness of the method in terms of short-term and long-term retention. The sample was purposefully drawn from one intact class consisting of 44 students. They were…

  6. A Helping Hand with Language Learning: Teaching French Vocabulary with Gesture

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Porter, Alison

    2016-01-01

    Finding ways to make language teaching practices both active and effective is of great importance for young learners. However, extending the foreign language production of young learners in instructional settings beyond the naming of objects is often challenging. The memorisation abilities of very young learners (children aged 5-7) sometimes…

  7. Repetition across Successive Sentences Facilitates Young Children's Word Learning

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Schwab, Jessica F.; Lew-Williams, Casey

    2016-01-01

    Young children who hear more child-directed speech (CDS) tend to have larger vocabularies later in childhood, but the specific characteristics of CDS underlying this link are currently underspecified. The present study sought to elucidate how the structure of language input boosts learning by investigating whether repetition of object labels in…

  8. Children's Verbal Fantasy Play with Parents and Peers.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Perlmutter, Jane C.; Pellegrini, Anthony D.

    1987-01-01

    Explains the three objectives of this study were: (1) to compare children's fantasy play in three social contexts (with mothers, with fathers, and with peers); (2) to examine the relationship of children's fantasy play to their receptive vocabularies; and (3) to examine the relationship of children's fantasy play to their perspective talking…

  9. Welding. Module 8 of the Vocational Education Readiness Test (VERT).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Edward L., Comp.

    Focusing on welding, this module is one of eight included in the Vocational Education Readiness Tests (VERT). The module begins by listing the objectives of the module and describing tools and equipment needed. The remainder of the module contains sections on manipulative skills, trade vocabulary, tool identification, trade computational skills,…

  10. Basic Wiring. Module 2 of the Vocational Education Readiness Test (VERT).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Edward L., Comp.

    Focusing on basic welding, this module is one of eight included in the Vocational Education Readiness Test (VERT). The module begins by listing the objectives of the module and describing tools and equipment needed. The remainder of the module contains sections on manipulative skills, trade vocabulary, tool identification, trade computation…

  11. Inquiry into the Heart of a Comet

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cobb, Whitney; Roundtree-Brown, Maura; McFadden, Lucy; Warner, Elizabeth

    2011-01-01

    Real science means wrangling with peers over real ideas. Wouldn't it be thrilling to emulate a real life model of science in action in classrooms? How? By starting with a great, hands-on activity modeling an object in space that introduces both key vocabulary and science concepts with visuals to support retention and learning; encouraging…

  12. Using the SIOP Model to Improve Middle School Science Instruction. CREATE Brief

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Himmel, Jennifer; Short, Deborah J.; Richards, Catherine; Echevarria, Jana

    2009-01-01

    This brief provides an overview of the SIOP Model and highlights how teachers can develop content and language objectives, emphasize key vocabulary, promote interaction, and incorporate effective review and assessment techniques within the context of middle school science. It provides research-based examples and strategies in order to illustrate…

  13. Early Grammatical Development in Spanish Children with Down Syndrome

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Galeote, Miguel; Soto, Pilar; Sebastian, Eugenia; Checa, Elena; Sanchez-Palacios, Concepcion

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this work was to analyze morphosyntactic development in a wide sample of children with Down syndrome (DS) ("n" = 92) and children with typical development (TD) ("n" = 92) with a mental age (MA) of 20 to 29 months. Children were individually matched for gender and MA (Analysis 1) and for vocabulary size…

  14. Masonry. Module 5 of the Vocational Education Readiness Test (VERT).

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Thomas, Edward L., Comp.

    Focusing on masonry, this module is one of eight included in the Vocational Education Readiness Tests (VERT). The module begins by listing the objectives of the module and describing tools and equipment needed. The remainder of the module contains sections on manipulative skills, trade vocabulary, tool identification, trade computational skills,…

  15. Word Learning Processes in Children with Cochlear Implants

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Walker, Elizabeth A.; McGregor, Karla K.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: To determine whether 3 aspects of the word learning process--fast mapping, retention, and extension--are problematic for children with cochlear implants (CIs). Method: The authors compared responses of 24 children with CIs, 24 age-matched hearing children, and 23 vocabulary-matched hearing children to a novel object noun training episode.…

  16. Assistance Services for the Elderly. Reference Book and Student Activity Book.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock. Home Economics Curriculum Center.

    These coordinated components focus on the career cluster of assistance services for the elderly. The reference book 1987 provide information needed by employees. Each chapter begins with competencies to develop and objectives to achieve. Within the text, bold-faced vocabulary terms are defined. Each chapter concludes with a content summary in the…

  17. Television Production: A Classroom Approach. Instructor Edition.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kyker, Keith; Curchy, Christopher

    This text serves as a guide covering basic aspects of television production leading to complete production of video yearbooks and news shows. Each lesson is divided into eight sections: (1) objectives; (2) vocabulary; (3) lesson text, which encourages production related ideas on practical application as well as theory; (4) review questions; (5)…

  18. The Role of Strategy Utility Knowledge in Children's Strategy Decision Making.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pressley, Michael; And Others

    1984-01-01

    Ten- to thirteen-year-old children selected either the objectively more effective keyword method or the naturalistic context method for learning vocabulary meanings. Concludes that, even in the absence of explicit performance feedback, children can be induced to reflect on their use of strategies and their outcomes on subsequent cognitive actions.…

  19. Spoken word recognition by Latino children learning Spanish as their first language*

    PubMed Central

    HURTADO, NEREYDA; MARCHMAN, VIRGINIA A.; FERNALD, ANNE

    2010-01-01

    Research on the development of efficiency in spoken language understanding has focused largely on middle-class children learning English. Here we extend this research to Spanish-learning children (n=49; M=2;0; range=1;3–3;1) living in the USA in Latino families from primarily low socioeconomic backgrounds. Children looked at pictures of familiar objects while listening to speech naming one of the objects. Analyses of eye movements revealed developmental increases in the efficiency of speech processing. Older children and children with larger vocabularies were more efficient at processing spoken language as it unfolds in real time, as previously documented with English learners. Children whose mothers had less education tended to be slower and less accurate than children of comparable age and vocabulary size whose mothers had more schooling, consistent with previous findings of slower rates of language learning in children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These results add to the cross-linguistic literature on the development of spoken word recognition and to the study of the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) factors on early language development. PMID:17542157

  20. Development and Application of Ontologies in Support of Earth and Space Science Education

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fox, S. P.; Manduca, C. A.; Iverson, E.

    2007-12-01

    Through its work in supporting improved science education the Science Education Resource Center (SERC) has developed and applied a set of Earth and Space Science vocabularies. These controlled vocabularies play a central role in supporting user exploration of our educational materials. The set of over 50 vocabularies run the gamut from small vocabularies with a narrowly targeted use, to broader vocabularies that span multiple disciplines and are applied across multiple projects and collections. Typical specialized vocabularies cover disciplinary themes such as tectonic setting (with terms such as mid-ocean ridge, passive margin, and craton) as well as interdisciplinary work such as geology and human health (with terms such as radionuclides and airborne transport processes). To support project-specific customization of vocabularies while retaining the benefits of cross-project reuse our systems allow for dynamic mapping of terms among multiple vocabularies based on semantic equivalencies. The end result is a weaving of related vocabularies into an ontological network that is exposed as specific vocabularies that employ the natural language of the collections and communities that use them. Our process for vocabulary development is community driven and reflects our experiences in aligning terminology with disciplinary-specific expectations. These experiences include rectifying language differences across disciplines in building a Geoscience Quantitative Skills vocabulary through work with both the Mathematics and Geoscience communities, as well as the iterative development of a vocabulary spanning Earth and Space science through the aggregation of smaller vocabularies, each developed by scientists for use within their own discipline. The vocabularies are exposed as key navigational features in over 100 faceted search interfaces within the web sites of a dozen Earth and Space Science Education projects. Within these faceted search interfaces the terms in the vocabularies act as guideposts and browsing links for the users. Only terms relevant to the current collection, or search return, are exposed to the users giving them an immediate sense of the scope and focus of the collection. In using vocabularies to drive these sorts of discovery processes it is critical that vocabularies not only have clear semantics so they can be applied consistently, but also have appropriate evocative meaning for the users of the search interface. It is this immediate evocative meaning, rather than the precisely defined semantics that will end up driving user search behavior and in the end determine the efficacy of the vocabulary as an applied tool. We will outline our experiences in developing and applying these vocabularies within the context of geoscience education and explore how the broader themes that emerge can inform the development and use of ontologies throughout Earth and space science.

  1. 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.

  2. 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…

  3. 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…

  4. The Effect of Digital Word Study on Fifth Graders' Vocabulary Acquisition, Retention, and Motivation: A Mixed Methods Approach

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Yearta, Lindsay Sheronick

    2012-01-01

    Vocabulary and comprehension are so inextricably linked that it ensures the necessity of researchers and teachers to determine the most effective method of vocabulary instruction. Our nation's children are still victims of what has been termed the vocabulary gap (Biemiller & Boote, 2006). This "vocabulary gap," according to a large…

  5. 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…

  6. 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?;…

  7. 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…

  8. 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…

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. Localization of an experimental ecological unit in the Maradi region of Nigeria

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mainguet, M.; Canon, L.; Chapelle, A. M.

    1977-01-01

    A detailed topographical and geomorphological description of a specific ecological unit in the Maradi region of the Sahel in the Niger Republic is presented. Sandy structures are classified into active dunes and covered dunes and an extensives vocabulary is developed to describe sub-categories. The descriptions are based on meteorological data (anemometric and rainfall) from local weather stations, ground observations, aerial photographs and LANDSAT pictures. The problem of dune reactivation and desertification is discussed both from the standpoint of causes and possible counter measures.

  12. 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…

  13. 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…

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

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

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

    2013-01-01

    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…

  15. 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,…

  16. Building an Open Data Portal for the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative based on an Iterative Development Methodology and Linked Data Technologies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kershaw, P.; Bennett, V. L.; Stephens, A.; Wilson, A.; Waterfall, A. M.; Petrie, R.; Iwi, A.; Donegan, S.; Juckes, M. N.; Parton, G.

    2016-12-01

    The Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme was initiated by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009 to address the GCOS Essential Climate Variable (ECV) requirements to provide stable, long-term, satellite-based data products to characterise the climate system and its changes. CEDA, working as part of a project consortium, were awarded the contract to build the Open Data Portal, consisting collectively of a central archive and single point of access for dissemination of the data to the international user community. Reflecting climate and earth observation community requirements, the system needed to support a range of access services in use by this domain and specifically, to integrate into existing infrastructure in the form of the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF). This range of requirements together with the heterogeneity of the ECV datasets presented significant challenges. However, the use of Linked Data technologies and an iterative approach to data model development and data publishing have been instrumental in meeting the objectives and building a cohesive system. The portal supports data discovery based on the OGC CSW specification and on ESGF's powerful faceted search. These services provide complementary content at different levels of granularity and it therefore became clear that a common data model was needed. Key terms are defined in vocabularies serialised in SKOS and OWL and are accessible from a central vocabulary server to provide a single authoritative source for applications consuming metadata content. Exploiting the vocabulary service therefore, it has been possible to develop an innovative solution tagging ISO 19115 records for the CSW with the equivalent vocabulary terms used for the ESGF faceted search system. In this way it has been possible to create a rich user interface for the portal combining search results from both search services and the ability to dynamically populate facet selection and context-based help information from the vocabulary service.

  17. The Effects of Visual Imagery and Keyword Cues on Third-Grade Readers' Memory, Comprehension, and Vocabulary Knowledge

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brooker, Heather Rogers

    2013-01-01

    It is estimated that nearly 70% of high school students in the United States need some form of reading remediation, with the most common need being the ability to comprehend the content and significance of the text (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004). Research findings support the use of visual imagery and keyword cues as effective comprehension…

  18. Assessment of Puerto Rican Children in Bilingual Education Programs in the United States: A Critique of Lloyd M. Dunn's Monograph.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Diaz, Joseph O. Prewitt

    1988-01-01

    Responds to Dunn's paper on Hispanic-Anglo differences in IQ scores. Comments on Dunn's translation of Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised into Castilian Spanish, and concludes this version is inappropriate for mainland Puerto Rican and Mexican-American children due to improper translation and validation methods. Contains 27 references.…

  19. Effective Ways to Promote Word Power with Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Miller, Harry B.

    2012-01-01

    Most of us recall with pain the unpleasant experiences associated with the teacher's announcement that we would once again initiate a unit of learning designed to both widen and deepen our knowledge of the words of our language. This was said to establish the foundation for all of our future academic pursuits. A strong vocabulary was said to be a…

  20. 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 mapping production scores than TD children. Scores from the non-word repetition task were also significantly lower for the SLI group, revealing reduced phonological STM capacity. Phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary emerged as significant predictors of fast mapping performance when the group data were combined in a multiple regression analysis. These results suggest that the word-learning difficulties experienced by children with SLI may originate at the fast mapping stage, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary significantly predict fast mapping ability. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of word-learning difficulties in children with SLI and may inform lexical learning intervention. © 2015 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  1. 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 item from the two lists was a better fit. Finally, new starting levels (basals) were established for preschool ages. Conclusions & Implications The revised word list can serve as the basis for adapting a receptive vocabulary test for Greek preschool-aged children. Further steps need to be taken in testing larger numbers of 2-5;11 year old children on the revised word list for determination of norms. This effort will facilitate early identification and remediation of language disorders in Modern Greek-speaking children. PMID:21281411

  2. 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 history of language/literacy difficulties alongside infant vocabulary levels. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

  3. Marketing data: has the rise of impact factor led to the fall of objective language in the scientific article?

    PubMed

    Fraser, Véronique J; Martin, James G

    2009-05-11

    The language of science should be objective and detached and should place data in the appropriate context. The aim of this commentary was to explore the notion that recent trends in the use of language have led to a loss of objectivity in the presentation of scientific data. The relationship between the value-laden vocabulary and impact factor among fundamental biomedical research and clinical journals has been explored. It appears that fundamental research journals of high impact factors have experienced a rise in value-laden terms in the past 25 years.

  4. 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…

  5. 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…

  6. 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…

  7. 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…

  8. 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

  9. A Vocabulary Learning Tool for L2 Undergraduates Reading Science and Technology Textbooks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hsu, Chihcheng; Yang, Fang-Chuan Ou

    2013-05-01

    Students of English as a second language who major in science and technology use English-language textbooks to ensure that they can read English materials upon graduation. Research indicates that teachers spend little time helping these students on the linguistic complexity of such textbooks. Vocabulary, grammar, and article structure are elements of this complexity, but to many students, these elements can be akin to locked doors. This study presents MyVLS-Reader, which focuses on unlocking the first of these doors-vocabulary-while assisting in reading. With explicit vocabulary learning, students learn and memorize individual vocabulary, but the context is lost if the depth of learning discards context. In implicit vocabulary learning, students acquire vocabulary through repeated exposure to contexts, but repeated encounters with new words are required. Few e-learning systems combine both vocabulary-learning approaches. MyVLS-Reader achieves such synergy by (1) using a keyword setting to provide context-matched vocabulary explanation while reading and (2) embedding multiple learning choices, such as keyword setting, the review and memorization of explicit vocabulary, and the option to ask instructors. This study includes two rounds of evaluations: (1) an evaluation of the learning achievements of control and treatment groups and (2) a quantitative and qualitative investigation of perceptions regarding the use of MyVLS-Reader. The evaluation results indicate that the treatment group developed a better vocabulary than the control group in significantly less time. The use of MyVLS-Reader also slightly improved higher-order thinking skills. This result suggests that MyVLS-Reader can effective assist students in building their vocabulary while reading.

  10. 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 Communications Technology Tokyo7 Open Semantic Framework8 Space Physics Archive Search and Extract9 Simple Knowledge Organization System10 Linked Open Data11 SPARQL Protocol And RDF Query12 Resource Description Framework13 Database to RDF Query14 Inter-university Upper atmosphere Global Observation NETwork15 World Data System

  11. 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.

  12. Computer-assisted update of a consumer health vocabulary through mining of social network data.

    PubMed

    Doing-Harris, Kristina M; Zeng-Treitler, Qing

    2011-05-17

    Consumer health vocabularies (CHVs) have been developed to aid consumer health informatics applications. This purpose is best served if the vocabulary evolves with consumers' language. Our objective was to create a computer assisted update (CAU) system that works with live corpora to identify new candidate terms for inclusion in the open access and collaborative (OAC) CHV. The CAU system consisted of three main parts: a Web crawler and an HTML parser, a candidate term filter that utilizes natural language processing tools including term recognition methods, and a human review interface. In evaluation, the CAU system was applied to the health-related social network website PatientsLikeMe.com. The system's utility was assessed by comparing the candidate term list it generated to a list of valid terms hand extracted from the text of the crawled webpages. The CAU system identified 88,994 unique terms 1- to 7-grams ("n-grams" are n consecutive words within a sentence) in 300 crawled PatientsLikeMe.com webpages. The manual review of the crawled webpages identified 651 valid terms not yet included in the OAC CHV or the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) Metathesaurus, a collection of vocabularies amalgamated to form an ontology of medical terms, (ie, 1 valid term per 136.7 candidate n-grams). The term filter selected 774 candidate terms, of which 237 were valid terms, that is, 1 valid term among every 3 or 4 candidates reviewed. The CAU system is effective for generating a list of candidate terms for human review during CHV development.

  13. A Pilot Study of Contextual UMLS Indexing to Improve the Precision of Concept-based Representation in XML-structured Clinical Radiology Reports

    PubMed Central

    Huang, Yang; Lowe, Henry J.; Hersh, William R.

    2003-01-01

    Objective: Despite the advantages of structured data entry, much of the patient record is still stored as unstructured or semistructured narrative text. The issue of representing clinical document content remains problematic. The authors' prior work using an automated UMLS document indexing system has been encouraging but has been affected by the generally low indexing precision of such systems. In an effort to improve precision, the authors have developed a context-sensitive document indexing model to calculate the optimal subset of UMLS source vocabularies used to index each document section. This pilot study was performed to evaluate the utility of this indexing approach on a set of clinical radiology reports. Design: A set of clinical radiology reports that had been indexed manually using UMLS concept descriptors was indexed automatically by the SAPHIRE indexing engine. Using the data generated by this process the authors developed a system that simulated indexing, at the document section level, of the same document set using many permutations of a subset of the UMLS constituent vocabularies. Measurements: The precision and recall scores generated by simulated indexing for each permutation of two or three UMLS constituent vocabularies were determined. Results: While there was considerable variation in precision and recall values across the different subtypes of radiology reports, the overall effect of this indexing strategy using the best combination of two or three UMLS constituent vocabularies was an improvement in precision without significant impact of recall. Conclusion: In this pilot study a contextual indexing strategy improved overall precision in a set of clinical radiology reports. PMID:12925544

  14. Examining General and Specific Factors in the Dimensionality of Oral Language and Reading in 4th–10th Grades

    PubMed Central

    Foorman, Barbara R.; Koon, Sharon; Petscher, Yaacov; Mitchell, Alison; Truckenmiller, Adrea

    2015-01-01

    The objective of this study was to explore dimensions of oral language and reading and their influence on reading comprehension in a relatively understudied population—adolescent readers in 4th through 10th grades. The current study employed latent variable modeling of decoding fluency, vocabulary, syntax, and reading comprehension so as to represent these constructs with minimal error and to examine whether residual variance unaccounted for by oral language can be captured by specific factors of syntax and vocabulary. A 1-, 3-, 4-, and bifactor model were tested with 1,792 students in 18 schools in 2 large urban districts in the Southeast. Students were individually administered measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary, syntax, and decoding fluency in mid-year. At the end of the year students took the state reading test as well as a group-administered, norm-referenced test of reading comprehension. The bifactor model fit the data best in all 7 grades and explained 72% to 99% of the variance in reading comprehension. The specific factors of syntax and vocabulary explained significant unique variance in reading comprehension in 1 grade each. The decoding fluency factor was significantly correlated with the reading comprehension and oral language factors in all grades, but, in the presence of the oral language factor, was not significantly associated with the reading comprehension factor. Results support a bifactor model of lexical knowledge rather than the 3-factor model of the Simple View of Reading, with the vast amount of variance in reading comprehension explained by a general oral language factor. PMID:26346839

  15. Discrepancies between upper GI symptoms described by those who have them and their identification by conventional medical terminology: a survey of sufferers in four countries.

    PubMed

    Heading, Robert C; Thomas, Edward C M; Sandy, Phil; Smith, Gary; Fass, Ronnie; Hungin, Pali S

    2016-04-01

    The objective of this study was to develop a self-administered questionnaire for upper gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms using lay vocabulary uninfluenced by established medical terminology or concepts and to conduct a survey of symptom occurrence among sufferers in four countries. The questionnaire was designed by integrating information gained from the vocabulary used by 38 upper GI symptom sufferers. There was no medical input to its development. The questionnaire was then used, after appropriate translation, in Brazil, Russia, the UK and the USA. Details of 10 659 symptom episodes were obtained from 2665 individuals. Nine symptoms described in lay vocabulary were identified during questionnaire development. Of these, one corresponded to regurgitation, whereas two that were distinguished by survey participants might both be interpreted as heartburn. One chest symptom for which a corresponding medical term was uncertain occurred in ∼30% of the respondents. Five different 'stomach' or abdominal symptoms were identified. The predominant symptom and the pattern of concurrent symptoms often varied from one symptom episode to another. Use of the terms 'heartburn', 'reflux', 'indigestion' and 'burning stomach' to describe symptoms varied between countries. Some common upper GI symptoms described by those who suffer them have no clear counterpart in conventional medical terminology. Inadequacy of the conventional terminology in this respect deserves attention, first, to characterize it fully, and thereafter to construct enquiry that delivers more precise symptom identification. Our results suggest that improvement may require the use of vocabulary of individuals suffering the symptoms without imposing conformity with established symptom concepts.

  16. Improving Science and Literacy Learning for English Language Learners: Evidence from a Pre-service Teacher Preparation Intervention

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shaw, Jerome M.; Lyon, Edward G.; Stoddart, Trish; Mosqueda, Eduardo; Menon, Preetha

    2014-08-01

    This paper present findings from a pre-service teacher development project that prepared novice teachers to promote English language and literacy development with inquiry-based science through a modified elementary science methods course and professional development for cooperating teachers. To study the project's impact on student learning, we administered a pre and post assessment to students (N = 191) of nine first year elementary teachers (grades 3 through 6) who experienced the intervention and who taught a common science unit. Preliminary results indicate that (1) student learning improved across all categories (science concepts, writing, and vocabulary)—although the effect varied by category, and (2) English Language Learner (ELL) learning gains were on par with non-ELLs, with differences across proficiency levels for vocabulary gain scores. These results warrant further analyses to understand the extent to which the intervention improved teacher practice and student learning. This study confirms the findings of previous research that the integration of science language and literacy practices can improve ELL achievement in science concepts, writing and vocabulary. In addition, the study indicates that it is possible to begin to link the practices taught in pre-service teacher preparation to novice teacher practice and student learning outcomes.

  17. Recognition of Natural Scenes from Global Properties: Seeing the Forest without Representing the Trees

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Greene, Michelle R.; Oliva, Aude

    2009-01-01

    Human observers are able to rapidly and accurately categorize natural scenes, but the representation mediating this feat is still unknown. Here we propose a framework of rapid scene categorization that does not segment a scene into objects and instead uses a vocabulary of global, ecological properties that describe spatial and functional aspects…

  18. The Effects of Using the Kinect Motion-Sensing Interactive System to Enhance English Learning for Elementary Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pan, Wen Fu

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this study was to test whether the Kinect motion-sensing interactive system (KMIS) enhanced students' English vocabulary learning, while also comparing the system's effectiveness against a traditional computer-mouse interface. Both interfaces utilized an interactive game with a questioning strategy. One-hundred and twenty…

  19. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 9.0: Respiratory System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the respiratory system is the ninth of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experiences. Module objectives are for students to…

  20. Early Childhood Bilingualism in the Montessori Children's House: Guessable Context and the Planned Environment. Spotlight: Montessori--Multilingual, Multicultural.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rosanova, Michael

    1998-01-01

    Describes the InterCultura Montessori School language immersion program in Oak Park, Illinois. Profiles the work of several children to illustrate important language learning strategies. Recommends that language immersion programs include: survival vocabulary skills; repetition of key grammatical forms; use of objects, pictures, and dramatization;…

  1. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 8.0: Excretory System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the excretory system is the eighth (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop…

  2. The Biggest Plates on Earth. Submarine Ring of Fire--Grades 5-6. Plate Tectonics.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (DOC), Rockville, MD.

    This activity is designed to teach how tectonic plates move, what some consequences of this motion are, and how magnetic anomalies document the motion at spreading centers do. The activity provides learning objectives, a list of needed materials, key vocabulary words, background information, day-to-day procedures, internet connections, career…

  3. Characterizing Communicative Development in Children Referred for Autism Spectrum Disorders Using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Luyster, Rhiannon; Lopez, Kristina; Lord, Catherine

    2007-01-01

    Characterizing early communicative development in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) is valuable for understanding profiles of ability in this population. The current investigation was modeled on Charman, Drew, Baird & Baird (2003b). Analyses explored parent report of early vocabulary, non-verbal communication, functional object use and…

  4. Vocabulary and Experiences to Develop a Center of Mass Model

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kaar, Taylor; Pollack, Linda B.; Lerner, Michael E.; Engels, Robert J.

    2017-01-01

    The use of systems in many introductory courses is limited and often implicit. Modeling two or more objects as a system and tracking the center of mass of that system is usually not included. Thinking in terms of the center of mass facilitates problem solving while exposing the importance of using conservation laws. We present below three…

  5. Talking Science in an ESL Pre-K: Theory-Building with Realia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kinard, Tim; Gainer, Jesse

    2015-01-01

    What is realia and theory-building? Tim Kinard and Jesse Gainer explain that when students explore using "realia," they are not just being exposed to abstract concepts or text on a page, they are using "real-life" objects to build understandings of the natural world while they builds vocabulary about it. Handling and discussing…

  6. Writing to Promote and Assess Conceptual Understanding in College Algebra

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Gay, A. Susan; Peterson, Ingrid

    2014-01-01

    Concept-focused quiz questions required College Algebra students to write about their understanding. The questions can be viewed in three broad categories: a focus on sense-making, a focus on describing a mathematical object such as a graph or an equation, and a focus on understanding vocabulary. Student responses from 10 classes were analyzed.…

  7. Consumerism and the Decision Making Process. Project Quest [Quality Urban Environmental Study Training].

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Cardone, Kenneth; Paine, Mary

    Activities for grades 4, 5, 6, and junior high acquaint students with consumer and economic problems, particularly how people spend money and methods used in advertising. The guide opens with a vocabulary list. Then, five objectives, using hypothetical situations, introduce the student to the decisions involved in spending money wisely. For…

  8. The Efficacy of Dictionary Use while Reading for Learning New Words

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hamilton, Harley

    2012-01-01

    The researcher investigated the use of three types of dictionaries while reading by high school students with severe to profound hearing loss. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of each type of dictionary for acquiring the meanings of unknown vocabulary in text. The three types of dictionaries were (a) an online…

  9. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 7.0: Endocrine System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the endocrine system is the seventh of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory epxerience. Module objectives are for students to…

  10. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Auto Mechanics. Module 2.0: Ignition System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on ignition systems is the second of six (CE 028 296-301) in the auto mechanics course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook is available as CE 028 294.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop trade-related…

  11. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 10.0: Circulatory System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the circulatory or vascular system is the tenth of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for…

  12. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 1.0: Bacteriology.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on bacteriology is the first of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop…

  13. 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.

  14. Predicting growth in English and French vocabulary: The facilitating effects of morphological and cognate awareness.

    PubMed

    D'Angelo, Nadia; Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen; Chen, Xi

    2017-07-01

    The present study investigated the contribution of morphological and cognate awareness to the development of English and French vocabulary knowledge among young minority and majority language children who were enrolled in a French immersion program. Participating children (n = 75) were assessed in English and French on measures of morphological awareness, cognate awareness, and vocabulary knowledge from Grades 1 to 3. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate linear trends in English and French vocabulary growth for minority and majority language children and to identify metalinguistic contributions to Grade 1 and Grade 3 English and French vocabulary performance and rate of growth. Results demonstrated a similar pattern of prediction for both groups of children. English and French morphological awareness and French-English cognate awareness significantly predicted concurrent and longitudinal vocabulary development after controlling for nonverbal reasoning, phonological awareness, and word identification. The contributions of morphological awareness to English vocabulary and cognate awareness to French vocabulary strengthened between Grades 1 and 2. These findings highlight the emerging importance of morphological and cognate awareness in children's vocabulary development and suggest that these metalinguistic factors can serve to broaden the vocabulary repertoire of children who enter school with limited language proficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  15. NetCDF4/HDF5 and Linked Data in the Real World - Enriching Geoscientific Metadata without Bloat

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ip, Alex; Car, Nicholas; Druken, Kelsey; Poudjom-Djomani, Yvette; Butcher, Stirling; Evans, Ben; Wyborn, Lesley

    2017-04-01

    NetCDF4 has become the dominant generic format for many forms of geoscientific data, leveraging (and constraining) the versatile HDF5 container format, while providing metadata conventions for interoperability. However, the encapsulation of detailed metadata within each file can lead to metadata "bloat", and difficulty in maintaining consistency where metadata is replicated to multiple locations. Complex conceptual relationships are also difficult to represent in simple key-value netCDF metadata. Linked Data provides a practical mechanism to address these issues by associating the netCDF files and their internal variables with complex metadata stored in Semantic Web vocabularies and ontologies, while complying with and complementing existing metadata conventions. One of the stated objectives of the netCDF4/HDF5 formats is that they should be self-describing: containing metadata sufficient for cataloguing and using the data. However, this objective can be regarded as only partially-met where details of conventions and definitions are maintained externally to the data files. For example, one of the most widely used netCDF community standards, the Climate and Forecasting (CF) Metadata Convention, maintains standard vocabularies for a broad range of disciplines across the geosciences, but this metadata is currently neither readily discoverable nor machine-readable. We have previously implemented useful Linked Data and netCDF tooling (ncskos) that associates netCDF files, and individual variables within those files, with concepts in vocabularies formulated using the Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) ontology. NetCDF files contain Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) links to terms represented as SKOS Concepts, rather than plain-text representations of those terms, so we can use simple, standardised web queries to collect and use rich metadata for the terms from any Linked Data-presented SKOS vocabulary. Geoscience Australia (GA) manages a large volume of diverse geoscientific data, much of which is being translated from proprietary formats to netCDF at NCI Australia. This data is made available through the NCI National Environmental Research Data Interoperability Platform (NERDIP) for programmatic access and interdisciplinary analysis. The netCDF files contain both scientific data variables (e.g. gravity, magnetic or radiometric values), but also domain-specific operational values (e.g. specific instrument parameters) best described fully in formal vocabularies. Our ncskos codebase provides access to multiple stores of detailed external metadata in a standardised fashion. Geophysical datasets are generated from a "survey" event, and GA maintains corporate databases of all surveys and their associated metadata. It is impractical to replicate the full source survey metadata into each netCDF dataset so, instead, we link the netCDF files to survey metadata using public Linked Data URIs. These URIs link to Survey class objects which we model as a subclass of Activity objects as defined by the PROV Ontology, and we provide URI resolution for them via a custom Linked Data API which draws current survey metadata from GA's in-house databases. We have demonstrated that Linked Data is a practical way to associate netCDF data with detailed, external metadata. This allows us to ensure that catalogued metadata is kept consistent with metadata points-of-truth, and we can infer complex conceptual relationships not possible with netCDF key-value attributes alone.

  16. Predictors of verb-mediated anticipatory eye movements in the visual world.

    PubMed

    Hintz, Florian; Meyer, Antje S; Huettig, Falk

    2017-09-01

    Many studies have demonstrated that listeners use information extracted from verbs to guide anticipatory eye movements to objects in the visual context that satisfy the selection restrictions of the verb. An important question is what underlies such verb-mediated anticipatory eye gaze. Based on empirical and theoretical suggestions, we investigated the influence of 5 potential predictors of this behavior: functional associations and general associations between verb and target object, as well as the listeners' production fluency, receptive vocabulary knowledge, and nonverbal intelligence. In 3 eye-tracking experiments, participants looked at sets of 4 objects and listened to sentences where the final word was predictable or not predictable (e.g., "The man peels/draws an apple"). On predictable trials only the target object, but not the distractors, were functionally and associatively related to the verb. In Experiments 1 and 2, objects were presented before the verb was heard. In Experiment 3, participants were given a short preview of the display after the verb was heard. Functional associations and receptive vocabulary were found to be important predictors of verb-mediated anticipatory eye gaze independent of the amount of contextual visual input. General word associations did not and nonverbal intelligence was only a very weak predictor of anticipatory eye movements. Participants' production fluency correlated positively with the likelihood of anticipatory eye movements when participants were given the long but not the short visual display preview. These findings fit best with a pluralistic approach to predictive language processing in which multiple mechanisms, mediating factors, and situational context dynamically interact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  17. Mixed Frames and Risky Decision-Making.

    PubMed

    Peng, Jiaxi; Zhang, Jiaxi; Sun, Hao; Zeng, Zhicong; Mai, Yuexia; Miao, Danmin

    2017-01-01

    By applying unitive vocabulary, "die" or "save," to respective frames of the Asian disease problem, Tversky and Kahneman were able to define framing effect. In this study, we preliminarily explored the effect of mixed frames, which are characterized by the use of different vocabulary in one frame. In study 1, we found that only the sure option description had significant effect on decision-making, while the effects of risky option descriptions were not significant, nor were interactions between descriptions. In study 2, the results suggested that after controlling the effects of the hedonic tone of the sure options, risky option description did not significantly predict decision-making. In study 3, we found that neither the sure-to-risky option presentation order nor presentation order within risky options had significant effect on decision-making. We thus concluded that sure option description can serve as the decision-making foundation (reference point) for decision-makers in mixed frames.

  18. Getting the Hologenome Concept Right: an Eco-Evolutionary Framework for Hosts and Their Microbiomes.

    PubMed

    Theis, Kevin R; Dheilly, Nolwenn M; Klassen, Jonathan L; Brucker, Robert M; Baines, John F; Bosch, Thomas C G; Cryan, John F; Gilbert, Scott F; Goodnight, Charles J; Lloyd, Elisabeth A; Sapp, Jan; Vandenkoornhuyse, Philippe; Zilber-Rosenberg, Ilana; Rosenberg, Eugene; Bordenstein, Seth R

    2016-01-01

    Given the complexity of host-microbiota symbioses, scientists and philosophers are asking questions at new biological levels of hierarchical organization-what is a holobiont and hologenome? When should this vocabulary be applied? Are these concepts a null hypothesis for host-microbe systems or limited to a certain spectrum of symbiotic interactions such as host-microbial coevolution? Critical discourse is necessary in this nascent area, but productive discourse requires that skeptics and proponents use the same lexicon. For instance, critiquing the hologenome concept is not synonymous with critiquing coevolution, and arguing that an entity is not a primary unit of selection dismisses the fact that the hologenome concept has always embraced multilevel selection. Holobionts and hologenomes are incontrovertible, multipartite entities that result from ecological, evolutionary, and genetic processes at various levels. They are not restricted to one special process but constitute a wider vocabulary and framework for host biology in light of the microbiome.

  19. 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.

  20. The Impact of Individual Differences on a Bilingual Vocabulary Approach for Latino Preschoolers.

    PubMed

    Méndez, Lucía I; Crais, Elizabeth R; Kainz, Kirsten

    2018-04-17

    The purpose of this study was twofold: First, we replicated in a new sample our previous findings that a culturally and linguistically responsive (CLR) bilingual approach for English vocabulary instruction for preschool Latino dual language learners was effective. Subsequently, we investigated whether the positive effect of CLR instruction varies as a function of individual child characteristics, including baseline vocabulary levels and gender. Using a randomized pretest-posttest follow-up group design, we first replicated our previous study (N = 42) with a new sample by randomly assigning 35 Spanish-speaking Latino preschoolers to a CLR bilingual group or an English-only group. The preschoolers received small-group evidence-informed shared readings targeting 30 English words 3 times a week for 5 weeks in their preschools. Vocabulary outcomes were measured using both standardized and researcher-developed measures. We subsequently conducted further studies with the combined sample size of 77 children to examine the variability in intervention effects related to child gender and baseline vocabulary levels. The direct replication study confirmed findings of our earlier work suggesting that the CLR bilingual approach promoted greater gains in L1 and L2 vocabulary than in an English-only approach. The extension studies revealed that the effect of the CLR bilingual vocabulary approach on English and Spanish vocabulary outcomes was not impacted by gender or vocabulary status at baseline. This study provides additional evidence of the benefits of strategically combining L1 and L2 for vocabulary instruction over an English-only approach. Our findings also suggest that preschool Latino dual language learners can benefit from a bilingual vocabulary instructional approach regardless of gender or baseline vocabulary levels in L1.

  1. 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…

  2. 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.…

  3. Harmonising and semantically linking key variables from in-situ observing networks of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System, AtlantOS

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Darroch, Louise; Buck, Justin

    2017-04-01

    Atlantic Ocean observation is currently undertaken through loosely-coordinated, in-situ observing networks, satellite observations and data management arrangements at regional, national and international scales. The EU Horizon 2020 AtlantOS project aims to deliver an advanced framework for the development of an Integrated Atlantic Ocean Observing System that strengthens the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and contributes to the aims of the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation. One goal is to ensure that data from different and diverse in-situ observing networks are readily accessible and useable to a wider community, including the international ocean science community and other stakeholders in this field. To help achieve this goal, the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) produced a parameter matrix to harmonise data exchange, data flow and data integration for the key variables acquired by multiple in-situ AtlantOS observing networks such as ARGO, Seafloor Mapping and OceanSITES. Our solution used semantic linking of controlled vocabularies and metadata for parameters that were "mappable" to existing EU and international standard vocabularies. An AtlantOS Essential Variables list of terms (aggregated level) based on Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Essential Climate Variables (ECV), GOOS Essential Ocean Variables (EOV) and other key network variables was defined and published on the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Vocabulary Server (version 2.0) as collection A05 (http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/A05/current/). This new vocabulary was semantically linked to standardised metadata for observed properties and units that had been validated by the AtlantOS community: SeaDataNet parameters (P01), Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names (P07) and SeaDataNet units (P06). Observed properties were mapped to biological entities from the internationally assured AphiaID from the WOrld Register of Marine Species (WoRMS), http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=webservice. The AtlantOS parameter matrix offers a way to harmonise the globally important variables (such as ECVs and EOVs) from in-situ observing networks that use different flavours of exchange formats based on SeaDataNet and CF parameter metadata. It also offers a way to standardise data in the wider Integrated Ocean Observing System. It uses sustainable and trusted standardised vocabularies that are governed by internationally renowned and long-standing organisations and is interoperable through the use of persistent resource identifiers, such as URNs and PURLs. It is the first step to integrating and serving data in a variety of international exchange formats using Application programming interfaces (API) improving both data discoverability and utility for users.

  4. A Longitudinal Assessment of Vocabulary Retention in Symbol-Competent Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

    PubMed Central

    Beran, Michael J.; Heimbauer, Lisa A.

    2015-01-01

    A number of studies from the 1960s to 1990s assessed the symbolic competence of great apes and other animals. These studies provided varying forms of evidence that some species were capable of symbolically representing their worlds, both through productive symbol use and comprehension of symbolic stimuli. One such project at the Language Research Center involved training chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to use lexigram symbols (geometric visual stimuli that represented objects, actions, locations, and individuals). Those studies now are more than 40 years old, and only a few of the apes involved in those studies are still alive. Three of these chimpanzees (and a fourth, control chimpanzee) were assessed across a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 for their continued knowledge of lexigram symbols and, in the case of one chimpanzee, the continued ability to comprehend human speech. This article describes that longitudinal assessment and outlines the degree to which symbol competence was retained by these chimpanzees across that decade-long period. All chimpanzees showed retention of lexigram vocabularies, although there were differences in the number of words that were retained across the individuals. One chimpanzee also showed continual retention of human speech perception. These retained vocabularies largely consisted of food item names, but also names of inedible objects, locations, individuals, and some actions. Many of these retained words were for things that are not common in the daily lives of the chimpanzees and for things that are rarely requested by the chimpanzees. Thus, the early experiences of these chimpanzees in symbol-rich environments have produced long-lasting memories for symbol meaning, and those competencies have benefited research in a variety of topics in comparative cognition. PMID:25706561

  5. A longitudinal assessment of vocabulary retention in symbol-competent chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

    PubMed

    Beran, Michael J; Heimbauer, Lisa A

    2015-01-01

    A number of studies from the 1960s to 1990s assessed the symbolic competence of great apes and other animals. These studies provided varying forms of evidence that some species were capable of symbolically representing their worlds, both through productive symbol use and comprehension of symbolic stimuli. One such project at the Language Research Center involved training chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to use lexigram symbols (geometric visual stimuli that represented objects, actions, locations, and individuals). Those studies now are more than 40 years old, and only a few of the apes involved in those studies are still alive. Three of these chimpanzees (and a fourth, control chimpanzee) were assessed across a 10-year period from 1999 to 2008 for their continued knowledge of lexigram symbols and, in the case of one chimpanzee, the continued ability to comprehend human speech. This article describes that longitudinal assessment and outlines the degree to which symbol competence was retained by these chimpanzees across that decade-long period. All chimpanzees showed retention of lexigram vocabularies, although there were differences in the number of words that were retained across the individuals. One chimpanzee also showed continual retention of human speech perception. These retained vocabularies largely consisted of food item names, but also names of inedible objects, locations, individuals, and some actions. Many of these retained words were for things that are not common in the daily lives of the chimpanzees and for things that are rarely requested by the chimpanzees. Thus, the early experiences of these chimpanzees in symbol-rich environments have produced long-lasting memories for symbol meaning, and those competencies have benefited research in a variety of topics in comparative cognition.

  6. A Lithology Based Map Unit Schema For Onegeology Regional Geologic Map Integration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moosdorf, N.; Richard, S. M.

    2012-12-01

    A system of lithogenetic categories for a global lithological map (GLiM, http://www.ifbm.zmaw.de/index.php?id=6460&L=3) has been compiled based on analysis of lithology/genesis categories for regional geologic maps for the entire globe. The scheme is presented for discussion and comment. Analysis of units on a variety of regional geologic maps indicates that units are defined based on assemblages of rock types, as well as their genetic type. In this compilation of continental geology, outcropping surface materials are dominantly sediment/sedimentary rock; major subdivisions of the sedimentary category include clastic sediment, carbonate sedimentary rocks, clastic sedimentary rocks, mixed carbonate and clastic sedimentary rock, colluvium and residuum. Significant areas of mixed igneous and metamorphic rock are also present. A system of global categories to characterize the lithology of regional geologic units is important for Earth System models of matter fluxes to soils, ecosystems, rivers and oceans, and for regional analysis of Earth surface processes at global scale. Because different applications of the classification scheme will focus on different lithologic constituents in mixed units, an ontology-type representation of the scheme that assigns properties to the units in an analyzable manner will be pursued. The OneGeology project is promoting deployment of geologic map services at million scale for all nations. Although initial efforts are commonly simple scanned map WMS services, the intention is to move towards data-based map services that categorize map units with standard vocabularies to allow use of a common map legend for better visual integration of the maps (e.g. see OneGeology Europe, http://onegeology-europe.brgm.fr/ geoportal/ viewer.jsp). Current categorization of regional units with a single lithology from the CGI SimpleLithology (http://resource.geosciml.org/201202/ Vocab2012html/ SimpleLithology201012.html) vocabulary poorly captures the lithologic character of such units in a meaningful way. A lithogenetic unit category scheme accessible as a GeoSciML-portrayal-based OGC Styled Layer Description resource is key to enabling OneGeology (http://oneGeology.org) geologic map services to achieve a high degree of visual harmonization.

  7. 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.

  8. Core vocabulary in the narratives of bilingual children with and without language impairment.

    PubMed

    Shivabasappa, Prarthana; Peña, Elizabeth D; Bedore, Lisa M

    2017-09-22

    Children with primary language impairment (PLI) demonstrate deficits in morphosyntax and vocabulary. We studied how these deficits may manifest in the core vocabulary use of bilingual children with PLI. Thirty bilingual children with and without PLI who were matched pairwise (experimental group) narrated two Spanish and two English stories in kindergarten and first grade. Core vocabulary was derived from the 30 most frequently used words in the stories of 65 and 37 typically developing (TD) first graders (normative group) for Spanish and English, respectively. The number of words each child in the experimental group produced out of the 30 identified core vocabulary words and frequency of each of the core words produced each year were analysed. Children with PLI produced fewer core vocabulary words compared to their TD peers after controlling for total words produced. This difference was more pronounced in first grade. They produced core vocabulary words less frequently in kindergarten than their TD peers. Both groups produced core vocabulary words more frequently in English than Spanish. Bilingual children with PLI demonstrate a less productive core vocabulary use compared to their TD peers in both their languages illustrating the nature of their grammatical and lexical-semantic deficits.

  9. Bilateral Versus Unilateral Cochlear Implants in Children: A Study of Spoken Language Outcomes

    PubMed Central

    Harris, David; Bennet, Lisa; Bant, Sharyn

    2014-01-01

    Objectives: Although it has been established that bilateral cochlear implants (CIs) offer additional speech perception and localization benefits to many children with severe to profound hearing loss, whether these improved perceptual abilities facilitate significantly better language development has not yet been clearly established. The aims of this study were to compare language abilities of children having unilateral and bilateral CIs to quantify the rate of any improvement in language attributable to bilateral CIs and to document other predictors of language development in children with CIs. Design: The receptive vocabulary and language development of 91 children was assessed when they were aged either 5 or 8 years old by using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (fourth edition), and either the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) or the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition), respectively. Cognitive ability, parent involvement in children’s intervention or education programs, and family reading habits were also evaluated. Language outcomes were examined by using linear regression analyses. The influence of elements of parenting style, child characteristics, and family background as predictors of outcomes were examined. Results: Children using bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes and significantly higher scores on the Core and Expressive Language subscales of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (fourth edition) than did comparable children with unilateral CIs. Scores on the Preschool Language Scales (fourth edition) did not differ significantly between children with unilateral and bilateral CIs. Bilateral CI use was found to predict significantly faster rates of vocabulary and language development than unilateral CI use; the magnitude of this effect was moderated by child age at activation of the bilateral CI. In terms of parenting style, high levels of parental involvement, low amounts of screen time, and more time spent by adults reading to children facilitated significantly better vocabulary and language outcomes. In terms of child characteristics, higher cognitive ability and female sex were predictive of significantly better language outcomes. When family background factors were examined, having tertiary-educated primary caregivers and a family history of hearing loss were significantly predictive of better outcomes. Birth order was also found to have a significant negative effect on both vocabulary and language outcomes, with each older sibling predicting a 5 to 10% decrease in scores. Conclusions: Children with bilateral CIs achieved significantly better vocabulary outcomes, and 8-year-old children with bilateral CIs had significantly better language outcomes than did children with unilateral CIs. These improvements were moderated by children’s ages at both first and second CIs. The outcomes were also significantly predicted by a number of factors related to parenting, child characteristics, and family background. Fifty-one percent of the variance in vocabulary outcomes and between 59 to 69% of the variance in language outcomes was predicted by the regression models. PMID:24557003

  10. 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…

  11. 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…

  12. 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…

  13. 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…

  14. 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…

  15. 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…

  16. Performance on the PPVT?III and the EVT: Applicability of the Measures with African American and European American Preschool Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Restrepo, Maria Adelaida; Schwanenflugel, Paula J.; Blake, Jamilia; Neuharth-Pritchett, Stacey; Cramer, Stephen E.; Ruston, Hilary P.

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether two vocabulary measures were appropriate for the evaluation of African American children and children whose mothers have low education levels, regardless of gender. Method: Data were collected for 210 high-risk, preschool children from a southeastern state in the United States on the…

  17. Origins of Individual Differences in Imitation: Links with Language, Pretend Play, and Socially Insightful Behavior in Two-Year-Old Twins

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McEwen, Fiona; Happe, Francesca; Bolton, Patrick; Rijsdijk, Fruhling; Ronald, Angelica; Dworzynski, Katharina; Plomin, Robert

    2007-01-01

    Imitation, vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior were investigated in 5,206 same- and opposite-sex 2-year-old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Individual differences in imitative ability were due to modest heritability (30%), while environmental factors shared between twins (42%) and unique to each twin (28%) also made…

  18. Dealing with Taxes. Tierra de Oportunidad Module 17. LAES: Latino Adult Education Services Project.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kissam, Ed; Dorsey, Holda

    This module, which may be used as the basis for a workshop or as a special topic unit in adult basic education or English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) courses, addresses how to file and pay federal income taxes. Topics covered include the following: defining tax-related vocabulary; analyzing tax credits and selecting the most appropriate ones;…

  19. "Listen and Understand What I Am Saying": Church-Listening as a Challenge for Non-Native Listeners of English in the United Kingdom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Malmström, Hans

    2015-01-01

    This article uses computer-assisted analysis to study the listening environment provided by Bible readings and preaching during church services. It focuses on the vocabulary size needed to comprehend 95% and 98% of the running words of the input (lexical coverage levels indicating comprehension in connection with listening) and on the place of…

  20. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, A Lay Version for the Common Man, Woman and Child.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tankard, Alice Doumanian

    This lay version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the original version was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1948) has been written in simplified vocabulary to make it understandable to a wider range of ages and reading abilities. The declaration consists of a preamble followed by a listing of 30 goals common to…

  1. Electronic Health Records Data and Metadata: Challenges for Big Data in the United States.

    PubMed

    Sweet, Lauren E; Moulaison, Heather Lea

    2013-12-01

    This article, written by researchers studying metadata and standards, represents a fresh perspective on the challenges of electronic health records (EHRs) and serves as a primer for big data researchers new to health-related issues. Primarily, we argue for the importance of the systematic adoption of standards in EHR data and metadata as a way of promoting big data research and benefiting patients. EHRs have the potential to include a vast amount of longitudinal health data, and metadata provides the formal structures to govern that data. In the United States, electronic medical records (EMRs) are part of the larger EHR. EHR data is submitted by a variety of clinical data providers and potentially by the patients themselves. Because data input practices are not necessarily standardized, and because of the multiplicity of current standards, basic interoperability in EHRs is hindered. Some of the issues with EHR interoperability stem from the complexities of the data they include, which can be both structured and unstructured. A number of controlled vocabularies are available to data providers. The continuity of care document standard will provide interoperability in the United States between the EMR and the larger EHR, potentially making data input by providers directly available to other providers. The data involved is nonetheless messy. In particular, the use of competing vocabularies such as the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms, MEDCIN, and locally created vocabularies inhibits large-scale interoperability for structured portions of the records, and unstructured portions, although potentially not machine readable, remain essential. Once EMRs for patients are brought together as EHRs, the EHRs must be managed and stored. Adequate documentation should be created and maintained to assure the secure and accurate use of EHR data. There are currently a few notable international standards initiatives for EHRs. Organizations such as Health Level Seven International and Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium are developing and overseeing implementation of interoperability standards. Denmark and Singapore are two countries that have successfully implemented national EHR systems. Future work in electronic health information initiatives should underscore the importance of standards and reinforce interoperability of EHRs for big data research and for the sake of patients.

  2. 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…

  3. 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…

  4. Influence of Three Teaching Strategies on Korean EFL Students' Vocabulary Development

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Chin, Cheongsook

    2009-01-01

    This research examined the effectiveness of three different learning strategies on Korean EFL students' vocabulary comprehension and retention: context, semantic mapping, and word lists. 116 college freshmen were placed into one of the three treatments of vocabulary instruction. Subjects were tested on varying levels of vocabulary knowledge using…

  5. 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…

  6. 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)

  7. 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…

  8. 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…

  9. 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…

  10. 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…

  11. Building Vocabulary Knowledge in Preschoolers through Shared Book Reading and Gameplay

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Hassinger-Das, Brenna; Ridge, Katherine; Parker, Amira; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Dickinson, David K.

    2016-01-01

    This study moves beyond previous investigations to examine whether an educational intervention combining shared book reading with a vocabulary game increases children's vocabulary knowledge. Four-year-olds (N = 44) were randomly assigned to dyads in either an intervention (shared book reading plus vocabulary review game) or comparison condition…

  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. 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…

  14. Profiling Vocabulary in Psychology Journal Abstracts: A Comparison between Iranian and Anglo-American Journals

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Akbarian, Is'haaq; Ghanbarzadeh, Zahra; Shahri, Mohammad Afzali

    2017-01-01

    Lexical profiling has yielded fruitful results for language description and pedagogy (Liu, 2014), and particularly highlighted the significance of academic vocabulary for EFL learners in this process. This investigation, likewise, attempts to comparatively profile the vocabulary, more particularly the academic vocabulary, in the…

  15. 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…

  16. Students' Perceptions of Vocabulary Knowledge and Learning in a Middle School Science Classroom

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Brown, Patrick L.; Concannon, James P.

    2016-01-01

    This study investigated eighth-grade science students' (13-14-year-olds) perceptions of their vocabulary knowledge, learning, and content achievement. Data sources included pre- and posttest of students' perceptions of vocabulary knowledge, students' perceptions of vocabulary and reading strategies surveys, and a content achievement test.…

  17. 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…

  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. 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…

  20. 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…

  1. 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…

  2. 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…

  3. A Systematic Review of the Research on Vocabulary Instruction That Impacts Text Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Wright, Tanya S.; Cervetti, Gina N.

    2017-01-01

    Although numerous studies have identified a correlational relationship between vocabulary and comprehension, we know less about vocabulary interventions that impact reading comprehension. Therefore, this study is a systematic review of vocabulary interventions with comprehension outcomes. Analyses of 36 studies that met criteria are organized…

  4. 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…

  5. 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…

  6. A Review of Effect of Different Tasks on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Liu, Chen L.

    2015-01-01

    Studies of incidental vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have got more and more attention both at home and abroad. By first introducing the definition and theoretical foundations of incidental vocabulary acquisition, this paper reviews empirical studies of effect of different tasks on incidental vocabulary acquisition and points…

  7. Lexical Characteristics of Expressive Vocabulary in Toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Kover, Sara T.; Weismer, Susan Ellis

    2014-01-01

    Purpose: Vocabulary is a domain of particular challenge for many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recent research has drawn attention to ways in which lexical characteristics relate to vocabulary acquisition. The current study tested the hypothesis that lexical characteristics account for variability in vocabulary size of young…

  8. 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…

  9. Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition as Student Performance Determinant in Undergraduate Research Modules

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    West, Joyce

    2017-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in determining a person's language proficiency level. This study investigates the role vocabulary plays in determining students' performance within research modules at private higher education institutions (HEIs). The discipline-specific vocabulary in this study includes target words, sampled from an…

  10. Educational Pathways and Change in Crime Between Adolescence and Early Adulthood

    PubMed Central

    Swisher, Raymond R.; Dennison, Christopher R.

    2016-01-01

    Objectives This article examines the relationship between intergenerational educational pathways and change in crime. Moreover, it examines the potential mediating roles of family and employment transitions, economic stressors, and social psychological factors. Method Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 14,742) and negative binomial models are used to assess associations between educational pathways (i.e., upward, downward, and stable) and change in crime between adolescence and early adulthood. Selection effects are assessed with lagged dependent variables and controls for self-control, grades, and the Add Health Picture Vocabulary Test. Results Intergenerational educational pathways are significantly associated with changes in crime. Downward educational pathways were predictive of increases in crime, whereas upward pathways were associated with decreases in crime. These associations were partly mediated by family transitions, and more strongly by economic stressors. These results were robust to controls for selection related variables. Conclusions This study is among the first to examine the relationship between intergenerational educational pathways and crime in the United States. Both upward and downward changes in educational attainments were found to be significant for crime. These findings are notable given the continuing expansion of higher education as well as concerns regarding increasing stratification and downward mobility in the United States. PMID:28348441

  11. Semantic representation of CDC-PHIN vocabulary using Simple Knowledge Organization System.

    PubMed

    Zhu, Min; Mirhaji, Parsa

    2008-11-06

    PHIN Vocabulary Access and Distribution System (VADS) promotes the use of standards based vocabulary within CDC information systems. However, the current PHIN vocabulary representation hinders its wide adoption. Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) is a W3C draft specification to support the formal representation of Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS) within the framework of the Semantic Web. We present a method of adopting SKOS to represent PHIN vocabulary in order to enable automated information sharing and integration.

  12. Relations Among Maternal Life Satisfaction, Shared Activities, and Child Well-Being.

    PubMed

    Richter, Nina; Bondü, Rebecca; Spiess, C Katharina; Wagner, Gert G; Trommsdorff, Gisela

    2018-01-01

    Maternal well-being is assumed to be associated with well-being of individual family members, optimal parenting practices, and positive developmental outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between maternal well-being, parent-child activities, and the well-being of 5- to 7-year-old children. In a sample of N = 291 mother-child dyads, maternal life satisfaction, the frequency of shared parent-child activities, as well as children's self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were assessed using several methods. Data were collected in a special study of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a representative longitudinal survey of private households in Germany. Using structural equation modeling, significant positive direct and indirect relations between maternal life satisfaction, frequency of shared parent-child activities, children's self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were found. The more satisfied the mother was, the more she shared activities with her child and the more the child acted prosocially. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of shared parent-child activities, the higher the child scored in all three analyzed indicators of children's well-being: self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary. The current study supports the assumption of maternal well-being as the basis of positive parenting practices and child well-being.

  13. Relations Among Maternal Life Satisfaction, Shared Activities, and Child Well-Being

    PubMed Central

    Richter, Nina; Bondü, Rebecca; Spiess, C. Katharina; Wagner, Gert G.; Trommsdorff, Gisela

    2018-01-01

    Maternal well-being is assumed to be associated with well-being of individual family members, optimal parenting practices, and positive developmental outcomes for children. The objective of this study was to examine the interplay between maternal well-being, parent-child activities, and the well-being of 5- to 7-year-old children. In a sample of N = 291 mother-child dyads, maternal life satisfaction, the frequency of shared parent-child activities, as well as children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were assessed using several methods. Data were collected in a special study of the Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), a representative longitudinal survey of private households in Germany. Using structural equation modeling, significant positive direct and indirect relations between maternal life satisfaction, frequency of shared parent-child activities, children’s self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary were found. The more satisfied the mother was, the more she shared activities with her child and the more the child acted prosocially. Furthermore, the higher the frequency of shared parent-child activities, the higher the child scored in all three analyzed indicators of children’s well-being: self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and receptive vocabulary. The current study supports the assumption of maternal well-being as the basis of positive parenting practices and child well-being. PMID:29875714

  14. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 2.0: Sterilization and Sanitation.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on sterlization and sanitation is the second of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to…

  15. Influence of Verbal Working Memory Depends on Vocabulary: Oral Reading Fluency in Adolescents with Dyslexia

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Rose, L. Todd; Rouhani, Parisa

    2012-01-01

    Most research on dyslexia to date has focused on early childhood, while comparatively little is known about the nature of dyslexia in adolescence. The current study had two objectives. The first was to investigate the relative contributions of several cognitive and linguistic factors to connected-text oral reading fluency in a sample of…

  16. An Item Response Theory-Based, Computerized Adaptive Testing Version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words & Sentences (CDI:WS)

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Makransky, Guido; Dale, Philip S.; Havmose, Philip; Bleses, Dorthe

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study investigated the feasibility and potential validity of an item response theory (IRT)-based computerized adaptive testing (CAT) version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words & Sentences (CDI:WS; Fenson et al., 2007) vocabulary checklist, with the objective of reducing length while maintaining…

  17. Leyendas. (Legends.) In English and Spanish with Questions, Vocabulary and Patterns.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    McLaughlin, Kathy; And Others

    The guide includes the English and Spanish versions of five legends. Ten to twelve questions in Spanish follow each legend. A list of Spanish words taken from each legend is given, along with their English counterparts. Patterns of drawings of the main characters or objects of each legend are also included. The legends are "Pajaro Cu" which is…

  18. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 6.0: Muscular System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the muscular system is the sixth of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop…

  19. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 5.0: Nervous System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the nervous system is the fifth of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skills training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop…

  20. Bilingual Skills Training Program. Barbering/Cosmetology. Module 4.0: Skeletal System.

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Northern New Mexico Community Coll., El Rito.

    This module on the skeletal system is the fourth of ten (CE 028 308-318) in the barbering/cosmetology course of a bilingual skill training program. (A Vocabulary Development Workbook for modules 6-10 is available as CE 028 313.) The course is designed to furnish theoretical and laboratory experience. Module objectives are for students to develop…

  1. The Swedish Communicative Development Inventory III: Parent Reports on Language in Preschool Children

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Eriksson, Mårten

    2017-01-01

    A revised form of MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory III (SCDI-III) was presented designed for Swedish speaking children aged 2 years 6 months-4 years 0 months with the objective to give a proxy measure of their language competence. The instrument contains a vocabulary checklist with 100 words, mainly predicates, from four areas;…

  2. Essential Annotation Schema for Ecology (EASE)-A framework supporting the efficient data annotation and faceted navigation in ecology.

    PubMed

    Pfaff, Claas-Thido; Eichenberg, David; Liebergesell, Mario; König-Ries, Birgitta; Wirth, Christian

    2017-01-01

    Ecology has become a data intensive science over the last decades which often relies on the reuse of data in cross-experimental analyses. However, finding data which qualifies for the reuse in a specific context can be challenging. It requires good quality metadata and annotations as well as efficient search strategies. To date, full text search (often on the metadata only) is the most widely used search strategy although it is known to be inaccurate. Faceted navigation is providing a filter mechanism which is based on fine granular metadata, categorizing search objects along numeric and categorical parameters relevant for their discovery. Selecting from these parameters during a full text search creates a system of filters which allows to refine and improve the results towards more relevance. We developed a framework for the efficient annotation and faceted navigation in ecology. It consists of an XML schema for storing the annotation of search objects and is accompanied by a vocabulary focused on ecology to support the annotation process. The framework consolidates ideas which originate from widely accepted metadata standards, textbooks, scientific literature, and vocabularies as well as from expert knowledge contributed by researchers from ecology and adjacent disciplines.

  3. Shyness and Vocabulary: The Roles of Executive Functioning and Home Environmental Stimulation

    PubMed Central

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

    2010-01-01

    Although shyness has often been found to be negatively related to vocabulary, few studies have examined the processes that produce or modify this relation. The present study examined executive functioning skills and home environmental stimulation as potential mediating and moderating mechanisms. A sample of 3.5-year-old children (N=254) were administered executive functioning tasks and a vocabulary test during a laboratory visit. Mothers completed questionnaires assessing child shyness and home environmental stimulation. Our primary hypothesis was that executive functioning mediates the association between shyness and vocabulary, and home environmental stimulation moderates the relation between executive functioning and vocabulary. Alternative hypotheses were also tested. Results indicated that children with better executive functioning skills developed stronger vocabularies when reared in more, versus less, stimulating environments. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of the role of shyness, executive functioning, and home environmental stimulation in early vocabulary development. PMID:22096267

  4. eVoc Strategies: 10 Ways to Use Technology to Build Vocabulary

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Dalton, Bridget; Grisham, Dana L.

    2011-01-01

    Vocabulary knowledge is key to comprehension and expression. For students in the intermediate grades, the need for breadth and depth of vocabulary accelerates as they encounter more challenging academic texts in print and on the Internet. Drawing on research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning, this article presents…

  5. 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…

  6. 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…

  7. 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…

  8. A Ubiquitous English Vocabulary Learning System: Evidence of Active/Passive Attitudes vs. Usefulness/Ease-of-Use

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Huang, Yueh-Min; Huang, Yong-Ming; Huang, Shu-Hsien; Lin, Yen-Ting

    2012-01-01

    English vocabulary learning and ubiquitous learning have separately received considerable attention in recent years. However, research on English vocabulary learning in ubiquitous learning contexts has been less studied. In this study, we develop a ubiquitous English vocabulary learning (UEVL) system to assist students in experiencing a systematic…

  9. 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…

  10. Effects of a Supplemental Vocabulary Program on Word Knowledge and Passage Comprehension

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Apthorp, Helen; Randel, Bruce; Cherasaro, Trudy; Clark, Tedra; McKeown, Margaret; Beck, Isabel

    2012-01-01

    A cluster randomized trial estimated the effects of a supplemental vocabulary program, Elements of Reading[R]: vocabulary on student vocabulary and passage comprehension in moderate- to high-poverty elementary schools. Forty-four schools participated over a period spanning 2 consecutive school years. At baseline, 1,057 teachers and 16,471 students…

  11. Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition "from" and "while" Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana

    2016-01-01

    Previous studies have shown that reading is an important source of incidental second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. However, we still do not have a clear picture of what happens when readers encounter unknown words. Combining offline (vocabulary tests) and online (eye-tracking) measures, the incidental acquisition of vocabulary knowledge…

  12. Technology-Mediated Second Language Vocabulary Development: A Review of Trends in Research Methodology

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Elgort, Irina

    2018-01-01

    Technology-mediated vocabulary development (TMVD) in a second language (L2) covers a wide range of instructional and learning treatments, contexts, and technologies and is situated in a broader field of second language vocabulary learning. Vocabulary knowledge is a complex, multidimensional construct that has been interpreted and categorized in…

  13. 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…

  14. 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…

  15. 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…

  16. Development of Vocabulary in Spanish-Speaking and Cantonese-Speaking English Language Learners

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Uchikoshi, Yuuko

    2014-01-01

    This study examines vocabulary growth rates in first and second languages for Spanish-speaking and Cantonese-speaking English language learners from kindergarten through second grade. Growth-modeling results show a within-language effect of concepts about print on vocabulary. Language exposure also had an effect on English vocabulary: earlier…

  17. 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)

  18. Affect and Digital Learning at the University Level

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Katz, Yaacov J.; Yablon, Yaacov B.

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to examine the efficiency of SMS based cell-phone vocabulary learning as compared to email vocabulary delivery and snail mail vocabulary delivery at the university level. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 241 first year university students studied English vocabulary in their mandatory English foundation…

  19. Effects of Vocabulary and Phonotactic Probability on 2-Year-Olds' Nonword Repetition

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Verhagen, Josje; de Bree, Elise; Mulder, Hanna; Leseman, Paul

    2017-01-01

    This study investigates the relationship between nonword repetition (NWR) and vocabulary in 2-year-olds. Questions addressed are whether (1) NWR and vocabulary are associated, (2) phonotactic probability affects NWR, and (3) there is an interaction effect between phonotactic probability and vocabulary on NWR performance. The general aim of the…

  20. Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience of Hong Kong University Students

    ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

    Tang, Eunice; Chung, Edsoulla; Li, Eddy; Yeung, Steven

    2016-01-01

    In response to the limited vocabulary size of its undergraduates, an independent vocabulary learning platform, VLearn was designed and launched in a university in Hong Kong. As an e-learning environment that supports self-directed vocabulary learning of Chinese learners, the primary aim of VLearn is to equip users with appropriate knowledge and…

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