Language Comprehension Abilities Research Articles

Development and assessment of the Korean Author Recognition Test

This research reports the development and evaluation of a Korean Author Recognition Test (KART), designed as a measure of print exposure among young adults. Based on the original, English-language version of the Author Recognition Test (ART), the KART demonstrates significant relationships with offline measures of language ability, as well as online measures of word recognition. In particular, KART scores were related to participants' responses on the Comparative Reading Habits (CRH) checklist, suggesting that KART is a valid measure of print exposure. In addition, KART scores showed reliable correlations with offline measures of vocabulary knowledge and language comprehension. Finally, results from a lexical decision task showed that KART scores modulated the magnitude of the word familiarity effect, such that the effect was smaller for participants with higher KART scores The results suggest that the ART is a language-universal task that measures print exposure, which is useful for explaining individual differences in language comprehension abilities and word recognition processes.

유아의 언어이해력과 창의성, 공감능력 및 낙관성 간의 관계 분석

본 연구는 유아의 언어이해력과 창의성, 공감능력, 낙관성 간의 관계성을 분석하는데 목적을 둔다. 연구대상으로는 유치원과 어린이집에 재원중인 만5세 유아 총 214명이었으며, 평균 월령은 73.23개월이었다. ‘언어이해력(WISC-IV) 검사’, ‘창의성(TTCT) 검사’, ‘공감능력 검사’, ‘낙관성 검사’를 사용하여 연구데이터를 수집 후 수집된 연구자료는 Pearson 적률상관과 단계적 중다회귀분석 방법을 통하여 각 변인들 간의 관계성을 검증하였다. 연구결과, 유아의 언어이해력과 창의성, 공감능력, 낙관성 간에 정적상관이 있는 것으로 밝혀졌다. 나아가, 유아의 창의성은 언어이해력에 가장 강력한 정적 예측변인으로 나타났다. 그리고 하위요인별로 분석한 결과는 창의성의 하위요인인 ‘유창성’이 유아의 언어이해력에 가장 강하게 영향을 미치는 정적 예측변인으로 밝혀졌으며, 다음으로 공감능력의 하위요인인 ‘슬픔’, 낙관성의 하위요인인 ‘생물적 특질’과 창의성의 하위요인 중 하나인 ‘제목의 추상성’이 유아의 언어이해력에 정적 예측변인으로 나타났다.

A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study of Novel Metaphor and Metonymy Comprehension in Children, Adolescents, and Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Previous studies have shown that comprehension of figurative language is impaired in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, most studies have focused on lexicalized expressions and have only examined performance at one particular point in time, without examining how performance changes over development. The current study examined the comprehension of novel metaphor and metonymy in individuals with ASDs from a large age range, using both a cross-sectional (Experiment 1) and longitudinal design (Experiment 2). Performance in the ASD group was lower compared to typically developing (TD) controls, across all ages. Importantly, the results from Experiments 1 and 2 showed that, although chronological age was not a good predictor for performance of either novel metaphor or metonymy in the cross-sectional design, performance improved when longitudinal data was considered. Correlations between vocabulary knowledge, visuo-spatial abilities and figurative language comprehension abilities were also explored.

Longitudinal growth of receptive language in children with cerebral palsy between 18 months and 54 months of age.

We examined receptive language developmental trajectories between 18 months and 54 months for three clinical speech-language profile groups of children with cerebral palsy (those with speech motor involvement, without speech motor involvement, and with anarthria) and quantified differences from age-level expectations. We identified latent classes of comprehension development, related these classes to clinical profile groups, and examined how well early receptive language predicted outcomes. We used a prospective longitudinal design. Eighty-five children with cerebral palsy (43 females, 42 males) were followed longitudinally from 18 to 54 months of age. Children were seen two to eight times (322 data points). Children were classified into clinical profile groups. Language comprehension age-equivalent scores were the primary measures of interest. Children with anarthria had significant language delays, limited developmental change over time, and comprised their own latent class. Children with speech motor impairment had slight receptive language delays over time. Children with no speech motor impairment had age-appropriate receptive language over time. Early language comprehension scores were highly predictive of later latent profile group membership. Early language comprehension abilities are highly predictive of language comprehension growth trajectory and suggest that children with early language delay, particularly those who are non-speaking, should receive language intervention to support development. There are two growth trajectories for language comprehension among children with cerebral palsy. Children with speech motor impairment had a constant 6-month receptive language delay. Children without speech motor impairment had age-appropriate receptive language. Non-speaking children had significant receptive language delay. Early language comprehension change was highly predictive of later trajectory group.

Early receptive language comprehension ability in children with cerebral palsy.

This commentary is on the original article by Hustad et al. on pages 1156–1164 of this issue.

Infants’ understanding of the definite/indefinite article in a third-party communicative situation

The present study examines how infants use their emergent perspective-taking and language comprehension abilities to make sense of interactions between two human agents. In the study, one agent (Agent1) could see only one of two identical balls on an apparatus because of a screen obstructing her view while the infant and another agent (Agent2) could see both balls. 19-month-old English-learning monolingual infants seemed to expect Agent2 to grasp the ball visible to Agent1 when she said to Agent2 “Give me the ball” but not when she said “Give me a ball.” 14-month-olds appeared to accept that Agent2 could grasp either ball when Agent1 said “Give me the ball.” Therefore, by 19 months of age, English-learning infants seem to attend to the specific linguistic units used, e.g., the definite article, to identify the referent of others’ speech. Possible reasons in connection with language acquisition processes and/or environmental factors for the two age groups’ respective failures with the definite and the indefinite articles are discussed.

Natural Language Semantic Construction Based on Cloud Database

Natural language semantic construction improves natural language comprehension ability and analytical skills of the machine. It is the basis for realizing the information exchange in the intelligent cloud-computing environment. This paper proposes a natural language semantic construction method based on cloud database, mainly including two parts: natural language cloud database construction and natural language semantic construction. Natural Language cloud database is established on the CloudStack cloud-computing environment, which is composed by corpus, thesaurus, word vector library and ontology knowledge base. In this section, we concentrate on the pretreatment of corpus and the presentation of background knowledge ontology, and then put forward a TF-IDF and word vector distance based algorithm for duplicated webpages (TWDW). It raises the recognition efficiency of repeated web pages. The part of natural language semantic construction mainly introduces the dynamic process of semantic construction and proposes a mapping algorithm based on semantic similarity (MBSS), which is a bridge between Predicate-Argument (PA) structure and background knowledge ontology. Experiments show that compared with the relevant algorithms, the precision and recall of both algorithms we propose have been significantly improved. The work in this paper improves the understanding of natural language semantics, and provides effective data support for the natural language interaction function of the cloud service.

The power of stories: Facilitating social communication in children with limited language abilities

Children with limited language expression and comprehension abilities are at risk for academic failure, particularly in literacy acquisition. In addition, these children often have poor social outcomes, including difficulty forming friendships, social exclusion, withdrawal, and victimization. The academic and social difficulties that these children experience are associated with their poor language processing skills, limited conversational ability, and weak social and emotional knowledge. A social communication approach utilizing children’s literature is suggested as one approach to address these three areas simultaneously. This approach involves sharing books with a strong story structure, rich social and emotional content, and engaging illustrations. Flexible scripts are created to guide interventionists to elicit the production of complex sentence structures, highlight conversational cooperation, and facilitate emotion understanding. To provide continuity of instruction, these bibliotherapeutic procedures can be implemented by special service providers in intervention sessions as well as by teachers in general classroom activities.

Temporally and spatially distinct theta oscillations dissociate a language-specific from a domain-general processing mechanism across the age trajectory

The cognitive functionality of neural oscillations is still highly debated, as different functions have been associated with identical frequency ranges. Theta band oscillations, for instance, were proposed to underlie both language comprehension and domain-general cognitive abilities. Here we show that the ageing brain can provide an answer to the open question whether it is one and the same theta oscillation underlying those functions, thereby resolving a long-standing paradox. While better cognitive functioning is predicted by low theta power in the brain at rest, resting state (RS) theta power declines with age, but sentence comprehension deteriorates in old age. We resolve this paradox showing that sentence comprehension declines due to changes in RS theta power within domain-general brain networks known to support successful sentence comprehension, while low RS theta power within the left-hemispheric dorso-frontal language network predicts intact sentence comprehension. The two RS theta networks were also found to functionally decouple relative to their independent internal coupling. Thus, both temporally and spatially distinct RS theta oscillations dissociate a language-specific from a domain-general processing mechanism.

Language and reading comprehension in middle childhood predicts emotional and behaviour difficulties in adolescence for those with permanent childhood hearing loss.

BackgroundPermanent childhood hearing loss (PCHL) is associated with an elevated level of emotional and behaviour difficulties (EBD). In children and adolescents with PCHL, EBD has been found to be linked to language ability in children with PCHL. The present study was designed to test whether childhood language and/or reading comprehension abilities of children with PCHL predict subsequent EBD in adolescence.MethodsLanguage comprehension (LC) and reading comprehension (RC) were measured at ages 6–10 years (Time 1) and 13–20 years (Time 2) in participants with PCHL who preferred to communicate using spoken language (n = 57) and a hearing comparison group (n = 38). EBD was measured at both time points by parent and by teacher ratings on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire.ResultsWithin the PCHL group there were negative correlations between EBD scores and concurrent LC and RC scores at Time 1 and at Time 2. Cross‐lagged latent variable models fitted to the longitudinal data indicated that the associations between LC, RC and teacher‐rated EBD were more likely to arise from the impact of LC and RC on behaviour rather than the other way around.ConclusionsIn those with PCHL, poor language and reading comprehension in middle childhood increased the risk of emotional and behaviour difficulties at school in the teenage years. The results suggest that effective language and literacy interventions for children with hearing loss may also bring benefits to their mental health.

Linguistic and reading comprehension in simultaneous dual language instruction: Evidence against unitary constructs

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions: This paper describes a study investigating the relationships between reading and listening comprehension in a simultaneous dual language instruction context. We explored whether listening and reading comprehension are unitary constructs across the first language (L1) and the second language (L2). Design/Methodology/Approach: Listening comprehension and reading comprehension measures were administered twice over a school year in English and French. Data and Analysis: Stepwise regression analyses were undertaken with 206 typical children in grade 4 classrooms in French Immersion programs. Findings/Conclusions: Analyses showed listening comprehension in the L1 and listening comprehension in the L2 both independently predicted reading comprehension concurrently. Reading comprehension in the L1 and reading comprehension in the L2 both predicted reading comprehension in the L1 and L2 longitudinally and symmetrically within, as well as across, home language groups. Originality and Significance/Implications: Findings suggest that listening comprehension and reading comprehension are not unitary constructs and possibly suggest synergistic recruitment of distinct L1 and L2 listening comprehension and reading comprehension resources in dual language comprehension, as suggested by the Development Interdependence Hypothesis. Both dual language policy and school-based practices might be enhanced through collaborative planning and activities that support this natural interdependence of component reading processes across languages, while also being aware that language comprehension abilities may not be at comparable levels across L1s and L2s by grade 4 in immersion contexts.

Images and Memory : A Literature Review of Issues in the Use of Images to Aid Vocabulary Acquisition and Reading Comprehension and Recall

Many Japanese high school teachers of English do not make use of images in classes, despite the fact that images have been shown to be more memorable than text. This article covers research in memory, L1 (first language) reading, and multimedia learning to see understand how images can aid in the acquisition of written language and reading comprehension ability in preparation for designing studies on the use of images in EFL (English as a foreign language) teaching and learning situations. Introduction: Could a thousand written words be better? A picture is worth a thousand words. This bit of popular wisdom suggests that images contain more information than text and that this information can be more easily processed and understood by the observer. More than ever before, written prose is likely to be accompanied with images (David, 1998), suggesting that the effectiveness of images in communicating—or at least getting attention—is widely accepted. Textbooks in schools make extensive use of images to facilitate learning. And new multimedia materials for use in classrooms, on PCs, or in e-books for mobile devices go beyond that, integrating text with both still and moving images. The combination is often visually stunning. But does it improve language learning? Open any English language textbook in Japan and you will find images—lots of them. A quick survey of the main units of two of the most popular EFL textbooks in Japan (used for English I with first year high school students) found an average of 2 images per page, occupying in some cases as much as 40 to 90 percent of some pages. And textbook makers are employing greater use of images in their materials it seems. A similar quick survey of two popular EFL textbooks for English I used 25 years ago, found an average of 1.02 images used per page. Publishers must think images are more important these days; they are using twice as many as 25 years ago. In contrast, teachers at high schools in Kanagawa in Japan do not seem to be making significant use of textbook images or other images in their classes, according to observations done in and around November of 2012. Classroom observations and examinations of teaching

Relation of Memory and Linguistic Fields and ICT Tools for Memory and Language Comprehension

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human memory in language comprehension and specifically to examine the relationship between the function of working memory and the fields of linguistic analysis which are phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Working memory -as one of the most important cognitive skills of human brain- comprises a system with specific functions with which the information from the external environment are being transferred, encoded, stored and retrieved. The present study is an attempt to explore which specific function of working memory is activated in order to decode each linguistic field of analysis. Furthermore, it features the current scientific achievements on the ICTs processes and tools, which exploit the cognitive skill of memory and they are applied in the assessment of difficulties in text comprehension, intervention and training of the language comprehension ability.

A Curriculum-Based Measure of Language Comprehension for Preschoolers: Reliability and Validity of the Assessment of Story Comprehension

Despite research demonstrating the importance of language comprehension to later reading abilities, curriculum-based measures to assess language comprehension abilities in preschoolers remain lacking. The Assessment of Story Comprehension (ASC) features brief, child-relevant stories and a series of literal and inferential questions with a focus on causal and predictive inference skills surrounding the main story grammar components and a novel vocabulary word. Following an overview of the iterative development process and pilot studies, this article presents preliminary evidence of the fidelity of administration, reliability of scoring, alternate form reliability, and validity of the ASC. In all, 237 preschoolers, ages 3 to 5 years old, participated in this study. Fidelity of administration and scoring reliability averaged over 90%. Concurrent validity with two established language measures revealed correlations ranging from .67 to .81. Test–retest reliability and internal consistency also indicated high levels of reliability for this new tool; however, alternate form reliability results suggest further work is needed. Preliminary results indicate that the ASC holds promise as a viable curriculum-based measure that early childhood educators can use for monitoring preschoolers’ progress in language comprehension.

Cognitive deficits revealed with the Rus-BCoS and their relationships with language comprehension in fluent and nonfluent aphasia

Cognitive deficits revealed with the Rus-BCoS and their relationships with language comprehension in fluent and nonfluent aphasia

Development of a selective left-hemispheric fronto-temporal network for processing syntactic complexity in language comprehension

The development of language comprehension abilities in childhood is closely related to the maturation of the brain, especially the ability to process syntactically complex sentences. Recent studies proposed that the fronto-temporal connection within left perisylvian regions, supporting the processing of syntactically complex sentences, is still immature at preschool age. In the current study, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from typically developing 5-year-old children and adults to shed further light on the brain functional development. Children additionally performed a behavioral syntactic comprehension test outside the scanner. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations was analyzed in order to identify the functional correlation networks of language-relevant brain regions. Results showed an intrahemispheric correlation between left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and left posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) in adults, whereas an interhemispheric correlation between left IFG and its right-hemispheric homolog was predominant in children. Correlation analysis between resting-state functional connectivity and sentence processing performance in 5-year-olds revealed that local connectivity within the left IFG is associated with competence of processing syntactically simple canonical sentences, while long-range connectivity between IFG and pSTS in left hemisphere is associated with competence of processing syntactically relatively more complex non-canonical sentences. The present developmental data suggest that a selective left fronto-temporal connectivity network for processing complex syntax is already in functional connection at the age of 5 years when measured in a non-task situation. The correlational findings provide new insight into the relationship between intrinsic functional connectivity and syntactic language abilities in preschool children.

Comprehension of spoken language in non-speaking children with severe cerebral palsy: an explorative study on associations with motor type and disabilities.

To assess spoken language comprehension in non-speaking children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) and to explore possible associations with motor type and disability. Eighty-seven non-speaking children (44 males, 43 females, mean age 6y 8mo, SD 2y 1mo) with spastic (54%) or dyskinetic (46%) CP (Gross Motor Function Classification System [GMFCS] levels IV [39%] and V [61%]) underwent spoken language comprehension assessment with the computer-based instrument for low motor language testing (C-BiLLT), a new and validated diagnostic instrument. A multiple linear regression model was used to investigate which variables explained the variation in C-BiLLT scores. Associations between spoken language comprehension abilities (expressed in z-score or age-equivalent score) and motor type of CP, GMFCS and Manual Ability Classification System (MACS) levels, gestational age, and epilepsy were analysed with Fisher's exact test. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Chronological age, motor type, and GMFCS classification explained 33% (R=0.577, R(2) =0.33) of the variance in spoken language comprehension. Of the children aged younger than 6 years 6 months, 52.4% of the children with dyskinetic CP attained comprehension scores within the average range (z-score ≥-1.6) as opposed to none of the children with spastic CP. Of the children aged older than 6 years 6 months, 32% of the children with dyskinetic CP reached the highest achievable age-equivalent score compared to 4% of the children with spastic CP. No significant difference in disability was found between CP-related variables (MACS levels, gestational age, epilepsy), with the exception of GMFCS which showed a significant difference in children aged younger than 6 years 6 months (p=0.043). Despite communication disabilities in children with severe CP, particularly in dyskinetic CP, spoken language comprehension may show no or only moderate delay. These findings emphasize the importance of introducing alternative and/or augmentative communication devices from early childhood.

The Testing Effect: An Intervention on Behalf of Low-Skilled Comprehenders in General Chemistry

Past work has demonstrated that language comprehension ability correlates with general chemistry course performance with medium effect sizes. We demonstrate here that language comprehension’s strong cognitive grounding can be used to inform effective and equitable pedagogies, namely, instructional interventions that differentially aid low-skilled language comprehenders. We report the design, implementation, and assessment of such an intervention strategy. Guided by two models of comprehension, we predicted that a multiple pre-testing strategy would differentially aid low-skilled comprehenders in a general chemistry class. We also explored the effect of two question types (multiple choice and elaborative interrogation) on this intervention strategy. A within-subjects, learning-goals driven design was used to build the intervention into two semesters of the course; data generated by this approach were analyzed with hierarchical linear models. We found that the achievement gap between low- and high-skilled comprehenders was partially abated by repeated testing prior to course examinations. We also found that the differential benefits of repeated testing could be accounted for entirely by multiple-choice questions, while elaborative interrogation questions had a statistically significant, but negative, impact. The implication of this work for all levels of chemistry teaching is clear: testing can be used to enhance (not just to assess) student learning, and this act affects different groups of students in different ways.

Language facilitates event memory in early childhood: Child comprehension, adult-provided linguistic support and delayed recall at 16 months

Adult-provided supportive language facilitates memory for the past in preverbal and verbal children. Work conducted with 18-month-olds indicates that children benefit from supportive adult language when tested after a 4-week delay but not when tested immediately after sequence demonstration; moreover, findings reveal that supportive language provided only at test may be more facilitative of recall after a delay relative to supportive language provided only at encoding. In the present study, we examined whether child language comprehension abilities moderated the extent to which preverbal children benefitted from supportive language provided at encoding and test. The findings indicated that child language comprehension and supportive language provided at encoding were unassociated with performance at baseline or immediate imitation; however, the moderating effect of child language comprehension on adult-provided supportive language at encoding and test was observed after a 1-week delay. Correlations revealed continuous associations between general comprehension scores and recall performance after the 1-week delay on sequences presented in the most supportive condition at encoding. Taken together, the presented findings reveal that the complex interplay between language and cognition is established in early childhood, with foundational relations emerging before children are capable of verbally reporting on the past.

Adult language use and infant comprehension of English: Associations with encoding and generalization across cues at 20 months

Adult-provided language shapes event memory in children who are preverbal and in those who are able to discuss the past using language. The research conducted to date, however, has not yet established whether infant language comprehension abilities moderate the extent to which preverbal infants benefit from adult-provided supportive language. The present study was conducted to address this question by examining immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues in 20-month-old infants as a function of (a) variability in adult-provided linguistic support at encoding and test, (b) infant language comprehension abilities, and (c) their interaction. The provision of supportive adult language at encoding and test was associated with delayed generalization across cues although supportive adult language at encoding did not influence performance at immediate imitation. Infant language comprehension abilities were associated with performance at immediate imitation and delayed generalization across cues. In addition, infant language comprehension abilities moderated the extent to which infants benefited from adult-provided supportive language at encoding and test. The findings contribute to the literature by demonstrating that adult language use and infant language comprehension are independently and differentially associated with immediate imitation and 1-week delayed generalization across cues but also serve to jointly structure event memory in the second year of life.