Oral Language Abilities Research Articles

A Comparative Study on the Similarities and Differences of English Teaching in the Context of British and American Culture

This paper analyzes the similarities and differences in English teaching under the background of British and American culture from three aspects: teaching mode, teaching material content and teaching methods. Based on research, there are obvious differences between British and American cultures, but there are many common points in oral English communication and comprehensive language ability training. At the same time, different cultural backgrounds also make their English classroom teaching methods and grammar rules have obvious differences. Based on this research, oral English can provide more references for English teaching innovation and teaching quality improvement.

Speech-language performance and comorbid disorders in children with perisylvian syndrome induced by viral encephalitis.

Viral encephalitis is one of the main causes of the perisylvian syndrome, which can cause damage to children's language-speech, feeding, and swallowing functions. Comprehensive assessment of language-speech and swallowing function and comorbidity research on these children will help children's rehabilitation workers to better understand the disease and strengthen the systematic management of comorbid disorders. To describe speech and language pathology and the occurrence of comorbid disorders in children with perisylvian syndrome induced by viral encephalitis. Twenty-two children with acquired perisylvian syndrome were recruited in this study. Language and speech functions, including oral motor function, swallowing function, language ability, and dysarthria were assessed in these patients. Craniocerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), electroencephalogram examination, and intelligence evaluation were performed to determine brain lesions and comorbid disorders. All children exhibited different degrees of oral movement, dysphagia, and speech and language disorders. There was a significant difference between expressive and receptive language ability (P<0.05). There were 10, 8, and 12 children who had an intellectual disability, limb disability, and epilepsy, respectively. In addition to the damage of the peri-tegmental cortex found in MRI, thalamus lesions occurred in 19 cases and white matter involvement in six cases. Children with acquired perisylvian syndrome caused by viral encephalitis are characterized by persistent pseudobulbar dysfunction, speech and language impairment, and orofacial diplegia. They have a high probability of secondary epilepsy and are prone to motor and cognitive impairment, which need systematic management.

The relationship between oral language abilities and reading: The case of children with developmental language disorder

Oral language abilities have been reported to be related to reading development. This relationship seems to be determined by orthographic systems and reading development. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) show reading difficulties, although most studies focus on reading comprehension. The present study has two main objectives: to examine the reading performance of a group of Spanish-speaking children with DLD compared to a chronologically age-matched group of typically developing children (TD); and to study the relationship between oral language abilities and reading performance using network analysis. They were administered five standardized tests to obtain measures about oral language abilities and reading performance. Results showed that children with DLD were less accurate and slower in reading than TD children. Meanwhile, the network analyses suggest strong and stable connections between reading and oral production in the DLD group. This finding confirms the importance of language abilities for reading acquisition.

Modeling Dimensionality of Bilingual Kindergarteners' Language Knowledge in Spanish and English.

This study used structural equation modeling to investigate the dimensionality of language in Spanish-English bilingual kindergartners. Five theoretical models were compared, including (a) a unidimensional model; (b) a two-dimensional model by language (Spanish, English); (c) a three-dimensional model by domain of language (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); (d) a second-order model organized first by language (Spanish, English), with each language dimension comprising three domain-specific dimensions (phonology, semantics, morphosyntax); and (e) a six-dimensional model with freely covarying language-specific domains. Participants included 238 Spanish-English bilingual kindergartens, as identified by parent report of current language exposure and direct language measures. All participants completed a battery of phonology, semantics, and morphosyntactic test items in English and in Spanish. The six-dimensional covarying model constrained by domain and language provided the best fit for the data, with six separate factors for phonology, morphosyntax, and semantics in English and Spanish. The excellent model fit is supported by findings of a χ2 to df (degrees of freedom) ratio < 2 with no significance, comparative fit index > .95, standardized root-mean-square residual < .08, and root-mean-square error of approximation values ≤ .05. Results support emergent theories of bilingual language development. Application of the results to the evaluation and intervention of oral language abilities in bilingual children entering the formal education setting are considered. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.25843846.

Prosody expression in prelingually- and postlingually- implanted deaf adults

Speech prosody - its melody, accent, and quantity - plays a significant role in language communication, including the expression of emotions. Limited prosodic skills in individuals with profound hearing disabilities affect their communicative functioning. Modern hearing prostheses, such as cochlear implants, enable deaf people to develop and utilize auditory and oral language abilities, although not always prosodic ones. The presented results of our own research indicate the importance of the period of hearing loss and the duration of implant use for prosodic effectiveness in cochlear implant users. They also emphasize the need for rehabilitation activities that focus on early prosodic stimulation in prelingually deaf children and prosodic training in prelingually deaf adults. / Keywords: speech prosody, prelingual and postlingual deafness, cochlear implant

Os efeitos do Programa de Intervenção RELATo-BRAZIL em leitores iniciantes: resultados de um estudo piloto

ABSTRACT Purpose: to carry out a pilot study applying the Reading and Language Together - Brazil program (RELATo-Brazil), targeting the development of reading and oral language abilities, aiming to improve phonological awareness skills and vocabulary knowledge in the school context. Methods: 9 children of both genders, aged between 8 and 10, enrolled in the second year of elementary school at a private school in the city of Florianópolis, SC, Brazil, joined in the study. The program was applied within three phases: Phase 1 - pre-intervention, with reading and vocabulary assessment tests; Phase 2 - intervention with sessions of different types, A, B, C and Phase 3 - post-intervention, which consisted of the subjects' reassessment, using the same tests applied in Phase 1. The data were stored in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and exported for statistical analysis in the IBM SPSS software, the 25th version. The significance level considered was p ≤ 0.05. Results: following 21 intervention sessions, a better performance among the participants was observed when comparing the results of the pre-intervention and post-intervention phases. There is a statistically considerable difference in the percentage distributions of the conceptual vocabulary fields for Furniture and utensils (p=0.028), Places (p=0.009) and Shapes and colors (p=0.047). The reading rate did not show a statistical difference, but the children performed better in reading time and accuracy after the intervention. Conclusion: the data suggest that training in phoneme awareness and oral language and linking them in the context of authentic book reading are effective strategies for improving both reading and oral language skills.

Relative clause comprehension in Cantonese-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder.

Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), present in 2 out of every 30 children, affects primarily oral language abilities and development in the absence of associated biomedical conditions. We report the first experimental study that examines relative clause (RC) comprehension accuracy and processing (via looking preference) in Cantonese-speaking children with and without DLD, testing the predictions from competing domain-specific versus domain-general theoretical accounts. We compared children with DLD (N = 22) with their age-matched typically-developing (TD) children (AM-TD, N = 23) aged 6;6-9;7 and language-matched (and younger) TD children (YTD, N = 21) aged 4;7-7;6, using a referent selection task. Within-subject factors were: RC type (subject-RCs (SRCs) versus object-RCs (ORCs); relativizer (classifier (CL) versus relative marker ge3 RCs). Accuracy measures and looking preference to the target were analyzed using generalized linear mixed effects models. Results indicated Cantonese children with DLD scored significantly lower than their AM-TD peers in accuracy and processed RCs significantly slower than AM-TDs, but did not differ from the YTDs on either measure. Overall, while the results revealed evidence of a SRC advantage in the accuracy data, there was no indication of additional difficulty associated with ORCs in the eye-tracking data. All children showed a processing advantage for the frequent CL relativizer over the less frequent ge3 relativizer. These findings pose challenges to domain-specific representational deficit accounts of DLD, which primarily explain the disorder as a syntactic deficit, and are better explained by domain-general accounts that explain acquisition and processing as emergent properties of multiple converging linguistic and non-linguistic processes.

The behavioral and neurobiological relationships between executive function and reading: A review and preliminary findings.

Despite decades of prior research, the mechanisms for how skilled reading develops remain elusive. Numerous studies have identified word recognition and oral language ability as key components to explain later reading comprehension performance. However, these components alone do not fully explain differences in reading achievement. There is ongoing work exploring other candidate processes important for reading, such as the domain-general cognitive ability of executive function (EF). Here, we summarize our work on the behavioral and neurobiological connections between EF and reading and present preliminary neuroimaging findings from ongoing work. Together, these studies suggest 1) that EF plays a supportive and perhaps indirect role in reading achievement and 2) that EF-related brain regions interface with the reading and language networks. While further work is needed to dissect the specifics of how EF interacts with reading, these studies begin to reveal the complex role that EF plays in reading development.

A scoping review of oral language and social communication abilities in children with Tourette syndrome.

Children with Tourette syndrome (TS) have historically experienced problems in academic and social settings, yet their language and communication abilities have not been extensively researched. This scoping review maps the literature on the oral language and social communication abilities of children with TS in order to describe the nature of the current literature, present a summary of major findings and identify where gaps exist. A scoping review was completed to identify studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS. A systematic search of six electronic databases was conducted to obtain published and unpublished literature. All English studies measuring the oral language or social communication abilities of children with TS were included. Information was extracted from records and knowledge was synthesised in a narrative summary. We identified 56 records for inclusion. Almost all records were located in journals within the fields of psychology and psychiatry. Skills most often studied were verbal IQ and verbal fluency. The literature suggests an increased prevalence of language disorders and social communication problems in children with TS; however, literature comprehensively detailing these challenges was scarce. Language strengths were identified in verbal intelligence, story/sentence recall, categorisation and performance on tasks at the single-word level. Oral language and social communication skills are important for academic and social success. This review brings scattered literature together to provide up-to-date information about language in children with TS and highlights that there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about language and communication in this population. This scoping review can inform future research and support speech language pathologists in the assessment of young people with TS. What is already known on the subject Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) working in various contexts (e.g., schools, mental health teams) are likely to encounter children with Tourette syndrome (TS); however, the description of this population and potential communication characteristics is not well represented in the SLP literature. Previous literature reviews have reported strengths in verbal fluency and morphological processing. Challenges in expressive language, higher order language, social cognitionand a propensity towards autistic traits have also been identified. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This review differs from previous narrative reviews by employing a systematic approach to searching for literature. As a result, we identified 25 additional studies that had not been cited in previous reviews and additional relevant findings in 23 previously reviewed studies. This review confirms several previous conclusions about language in children with TS and extends or clarifies several others, thereby providing the most current information on oral language and social communication abilities. The use of current taxonomies of language and social communication helps to organise this literature for clinicians and researchers in speech-language pathology and identifies a need for further research from the SLP perspective. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? These results imply that SLPs should screen children with TS for language disorders and investigate social communication and social interaction development. Clinicians can expect greater challenges in language and communication development for children with complex forms of TS (i.e., those who exhibit co-occurring conditions such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder). The multidisciplinary nature of the current literature implies that clinical collaboration with other disciplines will be of particular benefit to serving this group of children.

Preliteracy Skills Mediate the Relation Between Early Speech Sound Production and Subsequent Reading Outcomes.

Learning to read is a complex, multifaceted process that relies on several speech and language-related subskills. Individual differences in word reading outcomes are indicated among children with inaccurate speech sound productions, with some of these children developing later reading difficulties. There are inconsistent reports as to whether phonological deficits and/or weaknesses in oral language explain these subsequent reading difficulties. Thus, it remains unclear how variability in speech production accuracy in early childhood may impact reading development. Therefore, the present longitudinal study seeks to clarify the relation between speech sound production accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes with a focus on additional potential mediating factors. Speech accuracy, core preliteracy skills (phonological awareness, rapid naming, and letter-name knowledge), and additional potential mediators (phonological memory and oral language abilities) were characterized at the start of formal reading instruction. Word reading, decoding, reading fluency, and comprehension were assessed at the end of second grade. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine factors that mediate the relation between speech accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes. Initial associations between early speech sound production accuracy and subsequent reading outcomes were indicated; however, mediation effects of preliteracy skills (phonological awareness and letter-name knowledge) were identified for word reading, decoding, and reading fluency outcomes. For reading comprehension, mediation effects of preliteracy and vocabulary skills were observed. The relation between speech sound production accuracy and subsequent word reading, decoding, reading fluency, and comprehension was observed to be mediated by preliteracy skills, specifically phonological awareness and letter-name knowledge. For reading comprehension only, vocabulary knowledge were of additional importance. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23671491.

Relationships Among Motor, First, and Second Language Skills Among Bilingual Children With Language Disorders.

The purpose of this study was to determine the significance and directions of the relationships among oral and manual fine motor skills and language abilities among Spanish-English bilingual children. If such relationships exist, this would support a shared biological influence on motor and language development. Participants included 56 bilingual children, 24 of whom met criteria for developmental language disorder (DLD), recruited based on teacher concern for language and/or reading comprehension abilities. Students participated in a battery of baseline tests to determine motor, language, and cognitive abilities. Correlations among all variables were examined for direction of relationships. Regression models explored the predictive power of motor skills with Spanish and English language ability as the outcome measure. Oral fine motor abilities (diadochokinetic rate productions of /pa/ and /pata/) predicted Spanish (but not English) oral language abilities in the expected direction (i.e., faster rates were associated with better language). Manual fine motor performance on computer tapping tasks was not related to performance in either language. Oral fine motor abilities are related to language abilities in bilingual children, but only for the native language. We did not find reliable differences in oral and manual fine motor skills between groups of bilingual children with and without DLD. These findings support a limited role of shared biological influences on motor and language development.

Intrinsic Feedback vs. Extrinsic Feedback on Developing Oral Fluency and Self-Concept of Iraqi English (EFL) Students

This study mainly examines internal and external feedback on Iraqi EFL learners&amp;#39; oral language ability and self-concept development. Researchers tested the research questions, followed the statistical procedures of the situation, and arrived at thoroughly prepared statistical results. After t test analysis and interpretation of mean differences, the mean of verbal fluency in the external feedback group attracted much more attention than the verbal fluency of students receiving internal feedback. However, the same story does not apply to the development of self-concept in both groups. the self-esteem average of students who received external feedback is slightly lower than the average of students in the internal feedback group. The self-perception of students who received internal feedback in class changed over time and they became more confident students with their own self-image. They felt more independent than before.

Handwriting processes when spelling morphologically complex words in children with and without Developmental Language Disorder.

Representations activated during handwriting production code information on morphological structure and reflect decomposition of the root and suffix. Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) have significant difficulties in spelling morphologically complex words, but previous research has not sought evidence for a morphological decomposition effect via an examination of handwriting processes in this population. Thirty-three children aged 9-10 years with DLD, 33 children matched for chronological age (CA), and 33 younger children aged 7-8 years matched for oral language ability (LA) completed a dictated spelling task (21 words; 12 with inflectional suffixes, nine with derivational suffixes). The task was completed on paper with an inking pen linked to a graphics tablet running the handwriting software Eye and Pen. Pause analyses and letter duration analyses were conducted. The three groups showed similar handwriting processes, evidencing a morphological decomposition effect in a natural writing task. Pause durations observed at the root/suffix boundary were significantly longer than those occurring in the root. Letter durations were also significantly longer for the letter immediately prior to the boundary compared to the letter after it. Nevertheless, despite being commensurate to their LA matches for mean pause durations and letter durations, children with DLD were significantly poorer at spelling derivational morphemes. Handwriting processes did significantly predict spelling accuracy but to a much lesser extent compared to reading ability. It is suggested that derivational spelling difficulties in DLD may derive more from problems with underspecified orthographic representations as opposed to handwriting processing differences.

Moving beyond our borders to inspire education change

Purpose This paper contextualises a keynote address delivered at the 2022 Speech Pathology Australia National Conference in Melbourne, Australia. The paper aligns with the conference theme of Beyond Borders from the perspective of moving beyond borders of regular practice to develop strong partnerships and networks within our communities to advocate and support necessary change. Method Change or enhancement to current practice is necessary if we are to reduce current inequities in education experienced by many children in our communities, including those with communication challenges. Strengths-based and culturally responsive literacy approaches to supporting children within the context of their family and community are increasingly gaining support as we address this challenge. The Better Start Literacy Approach (Te Ara Reo Matatini), currently being implemented in junior school classrooms across New Zealand is described. It is one example of large-scale implementation of a strengths-based and culturally responsive early literacy approach, based on the science of reading. Result Data support the effectiveness of the Better Start Literacy Approach in significantly enhancing the foundational literacy skills of 5- and 6-year-old children, including those who commence school with lower levels of oral language ability. Conclusion Through establishing strong partnerships within communities, speech pathologists have much to offer in motivating systems level change to enhance early literacy success for all learners.

The influence of mother language on children's oral language ability in efforts to improve children's reading and writing ability in Pematang Serai village, Langkat district

Low levels of education and interest in reading are suspected to be the cause of the decline in the character values of the millennial generation. The absence of PAUD schools is one of the obstacles for the children of Pematang Serai Village to get to know preschool education. Preschool education is a golden opportunity for children to recognize letters and numbers. Another problem that occurs in the village of Pematang Serai is a weak insight into tourism development: many people from the village of Pematang Serai do not understand the positive impact of tourism on economic, social, natural, and cultural conservation for the welfare of society. This is inseparable from the academic abilities of the people of Pematang Serai Village which are still minimal so this research is expected to have an impact on the people of Pematang Serai Village, especially children who will become the next generation of the nation. Based on the description and results of data analysis, it was found that language changes in the oral examination of bilingual children when interacting or attending lessons in class, namely the change in the use of standard non-standard varieties or vice versa. The change from standard variety to non-standard variety occurs when interactions occur between children or between children and teachers who share the same mother tongue.

Pengaruh Proses Menulis dan Kognitif terhadap Kemampuan Menulis Teks Naratif Siswa

This study aimed to investigate the aspects of an individual's writing process that play an important role in improving the quality of writing products, as well as the role of individual cognition on the quality of writing products. A factorial analysis design was used in this study. The results of this study, first, the aspects of spontaneous revision and vocabulary revision affect the quality of writing. In addition, it was also found that students with better reading ability tended to do more intensive online revision. Second, the process aspects that affect the quality of students' narrative writing are spelling ability and the number of revisions. In addition, students' cognitive abilities also have a significant influence on their writing ability. The aspects of cognitive ability that influence are oral language ability, reading, vocabulary selection, capitalization, and spelling. The process aspects that play an important role in improving narrative writing skills are spelling and reading cognitive abilities. The processes that contributed significantly to improving writing quality were oral language ability, attention, and working memory.

Retelling stories: The validity of an online oral narrative task

This study examined the validity of data collected from a novel online story retell task. The task was specifically designed for use by junior school teachers with the support of speech–language therapists or literacy specialists. The assessment task was developed to monitor children's oral language progress in their first year at school as part of the Better Start Literacy Approach for early literacy teaching. Teachers administered the task to 303 5-year-olds in New Zealand at school entry and after 20 weeks and 12 months of schooling. The children listened to a story with pictures via iPad presentation and were then prompted to retell the story. The children's spontaneous language used in their story retell was captured and uploaded digitally via iPad audio recording and analyzed using semi-automated speech recognition and computer software. Their responses to factual and inferential story comprehension questions were also analyzed. The data suggested that the task has good criterion validity. Significant correlations between story retell measures and a standardized measure of children's oral language were found. The Better Start Literacy Approach story retell task, which took approximately 6 min for teachers to administer, accurately identified children with low oral language ability 81% of the time. Growth curve analysis revealed that the task was useful for monitoring oral language development, including for English as second language learners. Boys showed a slower story comprehension growth trajectory than girls. The Better Start Literacy Approach story retell task shows promise in providing valid data to support teacher judgement of children's oral language development.

Narrative Abilities at Age 3 Are Associated Positively With Gesture Accuracy but Negatively With Gesture Rate.

Though the frequency of gesture use by infants has been related to the development of different language abilities in the initial stages of language acquisition, less is known about whether this frequency (or "gesture rate") continues to correlate with language measures in later stages of language acquisition, or whether the relation to language skills also depends on the accuracy with which such gestures are produced (or reproduced). This study sets out to explore whether preschoolers' narrative abilities are related to these two variables, namely, gesture rate and gesture accuracy. A total of 31 typically developing 3- to 4-year-old children participated in a multimodal imitation task, a context-based gesture elicitation task, and a narrative retelling task. Results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between the children's narrative scores and their gesture accuracy scores, whereas higher rates of gesture use did not correlate with higher levels of narrative skill. Further multimodal regression analysis confirmed that gesture accuracy was a positive predictor of narrative performance, and moreover, showed that gesture rate was a negative predictor. The fact that both gesture accuracy and gesture rate are strongly and differently linked to oral language abilities supports the claim that language and gesture are highly complex systems, and that complementary measures of gesture performance can help us assess with greater granularity the relationship between gesture and language development. These findings highlight the need to use gesture during clinical assessments as an informative indicator of language development and suggest that future research should further investigate the value of multimodal programs in the treatment of language and communication disorders.

Yes, they can: Developing transcription skills and oral language in tandem with SRSD instruction on close reading of science text to write informative essays at grades 1 and 2

This randomized controlled trial with first- and second-grade students is the first experimental study addressing long-running disagreements about whether primary grade students should develop transcription and oral language abilities before learning to compose. It is also the first study at these grade levels to teach close reading (using science text aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards) to plan and write a timed informative essay. Theoretically and evidence-based multi-component writing instruction was developed, termed “Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) Plus.” SRSD Plus integrates evidence-based practices for transcription (handwriting and spelling) and oral language skills (vocabulary and sentence structure) with SRSD instruction for close reading to learn and then write informative essays. A total of 93 children in Grade 1 (n = 46, 50% female) and Grade 2 (n = 47, 51% female) in a high poverty school participated in the study (50% boys; mean age = 6.68; SD = 0.48). Students were randomly assigned to either teacher-led SRSD Plus or business-as-usual (writers workshop) condition within class in each grade. SRSD Plus was implemented with small groups for 45 min, three times a week, for 10 weeks. Outcomes examined included: instructional fidelity, spelling, handwriting fluency, vocabulary, sentence proficiency, discourse knowledge, planning, writing quality, structural elements in informative essays, number of words written, use of transition words, expository text comprehension, and use of source text. Results showed moderate to large effect sizes in writing outcomes, oral language skills (vocabulary and sentence proficiency), spelling, and discourse knowledge. Differential effects due to grade, gender, and race are examined, and directions for future research are discussed.

Teacher language quality in preschool classrooms: Examining associations with DLLs' oral language skills

Teachers’ use of language in the classroom (i.e., teacher talk) can have a positive impact on young children's oral language skills. This study examined the relationship between types of teacher talk and Spanish-English preschool dual language learners’ (DLLs) oral language abilities. Classroom observations were conducted in 64 preschool classrooms serving students from low-income backgrounds with a high number of DLLs (N=401) using the Language Interaction Snapshot. Across classrooms, high quality teacher talk occurred infrequently with few instances of observed responsive and decontextualized language interactions. The most commonly observed types of teacher talk in English included giving directions and contextualized language. Results indicated that teachers’ use of responsive language demonstrated the strongest relationship to DLLs’ English language outcomes, despite its low occurrence in classrooms. Our results suggest the need for increased teacher training on the benefits of high-quality language interactions for children's language development, especially for young DLLs. Training should focus on responsive language strategies that preschool teachers can use when teaching DLLs.