Oral Language Research Articles

Contextualized, Multicomponent Language Instruction: From Theory to Randomized Controlled Trial.

Clinicians address a wide range of oral language skills when working with school-age students with language and literacy difficulties (LLDs). Therefore, there is a critical need for carefully designed, rigorously tested, multicomponent contextualized language interventions (CLIs) that have a high likelihood of successful implementation and measurable academic impacts. This clinical focus article summarizes the development and testing of a CLI entitled Supporting Knowledge in Language and Literacy (SKILL), which is a supplementary narrative intervention program for elementary school-age children. Our aims are to (a) to review the foundational theoretical models that are the foundation of SKILL; (b) describe the iterative process used to develop the phases, lessons, procedures, materials, and progress monitoring tool; (c) summarize recent findings of the randomized controlled trial that was conducted to test its efficacy; and (d) discuss factors that may contribute to successful implementation of multicomponent language interventions. A total of 357 students in Grades 1-4 with LLDs were randomized to a treatment group or to a business-as-usual control group. The treatment group received the SKILL curriculum in small groups during 30-min lessons by trained speech-language pathologists, teachers, and special educators. Students who received SKILL significantly outperformed those who did not on oral and written measures of storytelling and comprehension immediately after treatment and after 5-months at follow-up. Gains were similar among students with different levels of language ability (at-risk, language impaired) and language status (monolingual, bilingual) at pretest. There is growing support for the use of multicomponent CLIs to bring about educationally relevant outcomes for students with LLDs. The authors present this review of how SKILL was designed, manualized, and rigorously tested by a team of researchers and practitioners with the hope that this approach will serve as a springboard for the development of future multicomponent CLIs that may meaningfully improve communicative and educational outcomes for students with LLDs.

LanguageScreen: The Development, Validation, and Standardization of an Automated Language Assessment App.

Oral language skills provide a critical foundation for formal education and especially for the development of children's literacy (reading and spelling) skills. It is therefore important for teachers to be able to assess children's language skills, especially if they are concerned about their learning. We report the development and standardization of a mobile app-LanguageScreen-that can be used by education professionals to assess children's language ability. The standardization sample included data from approximately 350,000 children aged 3;06 (years;months) to 8;11 who were screened for receptive and expressive language skills using LanguageScreen. Rasch scaling was used to select items of appropriate difficulty on a single unidimensional scale. LanguageScreen has excellent psychometric properties, including high reliability, good fit to the Rasch model, and minimal differential item functioning across key student groups. Girls outperformed boys, and children with English as an additional language scored less well compared to monolingual English speakers. LanguageScreen provides an easy-to-use, reliable, child-friendly means of identifying children with language difficulties. Its use in schools may serve to raise teachers' awareness of variations in language skills and their importance for educational practice.

The Attitudes of Chinese College Students Towards Utilizing Blended Learning to Enhance Their English Speaking Skills

This study aimed to investigate the attitudes of Chinese college students toward using a blended learning approach to enhance their English speaking skills. Participants include 105 non-English major students from a regular university in western China. A quantitative analysis was conducted based on the data from a designed questionnaire. The findings identify the majority of students were satisfied with using the blended learning approach during the courses to improve their English-speaking skills. Furthermore, most students showed a preference for using blended learning in future English-speaking learning because of its user-friendliness, flexibility in terms of time and location, access to self-directed learning, and diverse teaching resources. The study further demonstrated the successful and effective implementation of blended learning in English-speaking instruction as part of an educational reform process in a regular university in Western China. The researcher attempted to provide some tips to enhance blended English-speaking learning including diversified instructional designs, increased teacher-student interaction, the active use of spoken English in the classroom, practice opportunities outside of class, and the dissemination of rich oral language learning resources.

The Efficacy of Story Champs for Improving Oral Language in Third-Grade Spanish-English Bilingual Students With Developmental Language Disorder.

We investigated the efficacy of Story Champs for improving oral language in third-grade Spanish-English bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). We implemented a concurrent multiple-baseline across-participants single-case design with four bilingual Spanish-English third-grade students with DLD. Treatment was carried out over 12 sessions with approximately two sessions per week. Maintenance sessions were conducted 1, 2, and 4 weeks postintervention. Participants were explicitly taught story grammar elements, causal and temporal connections, and modifiers within story retells and personal narratives. Dependent variables were story grammar, grammatical complexity, modifiers and listening comprehension within story retells, and story grammar and grammatical complexity within personal narratives. Outcome measures were assessed at the end of every baseline, intervention, and maintenance session using the Narrative Language Measures-Listening (NLM-L). Visual analyses for outcome measures suggested slight increases in scores on the NLM-L during intervention accompanied by marked variability. Within-case analyses of story retell performance suggested an intervention effect on story grammar for two participants and on grammatical complexity and modifier use for one participant. For personal narratives, within-case analyses of personal narrative performance suggested an intervention effect on story grammar for one participant. Overall, Story Champs demonstrated efficacy for improving story grammar use in story retells for three out of four participants. It did not show efficacy for improving grammatical complexity, modifier use, or listening comprehension within story retells, nor did it show efficacy for improving story grammar and grammatical complexity within personal narratives. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.26053033.

Using Mobile-Assisted Language Learning to Enhance EFL Oral Language Skills of Faculty of Education English Majors

Using Mobile-Assisted Language Learning to Enhance EFL Oral Language Skills of Faculty of Education English Majors

A New Method for Documenting Sign Language Productions in Schools

Purpose: There are well-established guidelines for the recording, transcription, and analysis of spontaneous oral language samples by researchers, educators, and speech pathologists. In contrast, there is presently no consensus regarding methods for the written documentation of sign language samples. The Handshape Analysis Recording Tool (HART) is an innovative method for documenting and analyzing word level samples of signed languages in real time. Fluent sign language users can document the expressive sign productions of children to gather data on sign use and accuracy. Method: The HART was developed to document children's productions in Australian Sign Language (Auslan) in a bilingual–bicultural educational program for the Deaf in Australia. This written method was piloted with a group of fluent signing Deaf educational staff in 2014–2016, then used in 2022–2023 with a group of fluent signing professionals to examine inter- and intrarater reliability when coding parameters of sign accuracy. Results: Interrater reliability measured by Gwet's Agreement Coefficient, was “good” to “very good” across the four phonological parameters that are components of every sign: location, movement, handshape, and orientation. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that the HART can be a reliable tool for coding the accuracy of location, orientation, movement, and handshape parameters of Auslan phonology when used by professionals fluent in Auslan. The HART can be utilized with any sign language to gather word level sign language samples in a written form and document the phonological accuracy of signed productions.

La enseñanza de la lengua de señas ecuatoriana y su adaptación al Marco Común de Referencia Europeo en Ecuador

This paper examines Ecuadorian Sign Language teaching from its beginning to the present time and its adaptation to the Common European Framework of Reference for languages by a higher education institution. It reviews the history of language teaching, the history of sign language teaching in the Ecuadorian context, and finally it proposes suggestions for its improvement. It argues that sign language, like any other natural language, should be taught communicatively by appropriately trained language teachers to obtain the best results. These teachers may be native or non-native, as it has already been argued in the teaching of other foreign and second languages. Furthermore, the teaching of Ecuadorian Sign Language should adhere to the guidelines of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, just as oral languages in the Ecuadoriancontext do.

Culture-Based Education Innovation for Children's Character Building in the Context of Educational Tourism Destinations

This research aims to explore the innovation of culture-based education as an effort to build children's character in the context of educational tourism destinations. Against the background of the multi-dimensional crisis faced by the nation, learning of culture becomes very strategic to revive patriotism and maintain cultural diversity. This research method uses a descriptive qualitative approach. Data were collected through literature studies, Field observation of educational tourism destinations and how the interaction between learners and the environment takes place, and interview with policy makers and community leaders. The research findings highlighted the need for serious efforts in storing, preserving, and resurfacing scattered cultural data, especially related to oral traditions, manuscripts, customs, rites, traditional knowledge, traditional technology, arts, languages, folk games, and traditional sports. The results reflect the need to focus on strengthening governance related to local traditions, as well as efforts to empower communities through cultural tourism as a source of foreign exchange. In addition, the research highlighted the challenges of saving traditional technologies, local languages, traditional arts and folk games that are in danger of fading away. The research conclusion emphasizes the urgency of promoting culture, literature, and preserving historical traces as an integral part of children's character building efforts. Thus, understanding and love for cultural values can be passed on to the younger generation, strengthening awareness of national identity, and preventing the loss of traditional values amid globalization.

Dificultades en la interpretación y su influencia en las preferencias de direccionalidad de las intérpretes de lengua de signos española (ILSE)

Directionality preferences in interpreting is a controversial topic for the academic and professional community, which questions which direction requires less effort and produces higher quality interpreting. In the case of oral language interpreters, it is suggested that the least difficult, accurate and preferred direction is towards the mother tongue. However, in signed languages, studies show the opposite preference, even though the professionals consider themselves to be less proficient and competent in sign language. With this non-experimental study with an exploratory-descriptive scope, we intend to find out the directionality preferences of Spanish sign language interpreters (ILSE) and the factors that condition them. A self-administered questionnaire was used in which 101 ILSE participated. The results suggest that professionals prefer and perceive a higher quality of interpretation into sign language, despite having acquired it as a second language and declaring themselves less competent. Among the factors that condition them, training, experience, and perceived difficulties in direct interpreting stand out. However, after this first approximation, we consider that it would be necessary to analyze the real difficulties of each interpreting direction and their impact on performance.

Lengua de Signos Española (LSE) y léxico especializado de las peluquerías. Análisis y propuestas de mejora

This work aims to share the process developed to determine the lexical availability in lexicographic materials of Spanish Sign Language (LSE) for 47 concepts within a specialized field of knowledge: hairdressing. Sign languages, such as LSE in our case, encounter the ongoing necessity, akin to oral languages, of devising novel lexical entities for those concepts devoid of them. To accomplish this, languages have lexical creation mechanisms. Once the search, analysis and discussion process designed for this study was completed, it is determined that LSE dictionaries do not include a Sign for 71.1 % of the concepts examined. Nonetheless, as a result of this study, we present an audiovisual material that captures, in LSE, the 47 Spanish words examined. This outcome owes its realization to the collective endeavor of hairdressing professionals, Deaf individuals, LSE interpreters, and hearing individuals endowed with profound understanding of LSE and the procedures entailed in creating novel Signs. Consequently, it is demonstrated that LSE is a living and rich language capable of addressing any communication needs, regardless of the specialization of the field.

Synthesis and Meta-Analysis of Oral Language Interventions on the Vocabulary and Listening Comprehension Development of Young Children

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to systematically review the components of oral language (OL) instruction and meta-analyze the effects of OL instruction on vocabulary and listening comprehension (LC) skills. We included experimental and quasi-experimental studies with 3- to 6-year-old children at risk for reading difficulties based on economic disadvantage or poor performance on OL assessments. Additionally, included studies had to report using at least one vocabulary or LC outcome measure. From the 16 eligible studies, we computed 80 standardized mean differences (SMDs), ranging from 2 to 14 SMDs per study (Mdn = 4). The multivariate weighted average SMD with robust variance yielded a positive effect of 0.52 (95% CI = 0.29 – 0.76), indicating OL instruction significantly improved children’s vocabulary and LC. Although measure type, intervention session length and frequency, and publication type were explored as moderators, only outcome skill and measure type were significant. Findings suggest it is feasible for classroom teachers to implement effective OL practices.

Early skills that predict English reading ability: A longitudinal study of bilingual children from 5 to 10 years

Despite substantial research, the contribution of oral language skills acquired in Spanish to Spanish–English bilingual children’s acquisition of English reading skill is unclear. The current study addressed this question with data on the oral language and pre-literacy skills of 101 Spanish–English bilingual learners at 5 years of age and their English word reading (i.e., decoding) and reading comprehension skills at 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 years. Separate multilevel models using English language, Spanish language, and pre-literacy skills as predictors of these outcomes identified English phonological awareness, Spanish phonological awareness, and concepts of print knowledge as positive predictors of word reading. A final model including all these significant predictors found only Spanish phonological awareness and concept of print to be significant predictors. Significant predictors of reading comprehension in separate models were English vocabulary, Spanish phonological awareness, and concepts about print. In the final model, only English vocabulary and Spanish phonological awareness predicted English reading comprehension. These findings provide evidence that phonological awareness is a language-general skill that supports reading across languages, consistent with the common underlying proficiency model of bilingual reading development. The finding that only English vocabulary predicts English reading comprehension suggests that vocabulary knowledge is not part of a common underlying proficiency but is language specific in its value to reading ability.

Preschool Morphological Awareness and Developmental Change in Early Reading Ability

ABSTRACT Purpose This longitudinal study examined the contribution of preschool morphological awareness to word reading skills and reading comprehension, as well as to the developmental change of reading ability beyond other well-established oral language and cognitive predictors. A distinction was made between the domains of inflectional and derivational morphology. Method Two hundred and fifty-nine Norwegian-speaking children (46% female) with a mean age of 5.5 years were assessed in preschool on language measures and again in Grades 1 and 3 on measures of word reading accuracy and fluency and in Grades 3 and 4 on reading comprehension. We fit latent change score models with preschool predictors using parceling to control for measurement error. Results We found a unique contribution of preschool morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Grade 3, but no unique contribution to Grade 1 decoding. Neither awareness of inflections nor awareness of derivations predicted developmental change in word reading fluency between Grades 1 and 3 or change in reading comprehension between Grades 3 and 4 beyond the effect of control variables. Conclusion Our findings confirm the relevance of morphological awareness only for early attainment in reading comprehension and highlight the importance of accounting for measurement error in studying associations among variables aiming to discover specific contributions.

Overcoming the language barrier among students in the development of communicative competence in a foreign language

Importance. This study is devoted to the communicative aspect of learning foreign languages and one of the most acute problems on the way to mastering oral foreign language speech – language barriers. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that in recent decades communicative competence has often been displaced from foreign language classes in non-linguistic universities, even despite the current competence approach, giving way to grammar and vocabulary, as well as foreign language for specific purposes. As a result, students are experiencing more and more problems with oral communication, most of which are related to the language barrier. Despite many scientific papers on this topic, their authors touch upon the theoretical aspects of the problem and, as a rule, do not offer specific methods for developing communicative competence with overcoming the language barrier.Materials and Methods. The paper uses methods of analysis of both domestic and foreign studies, empirical methods of long-term observation, system analysis, survey and pedagogical experiment.Result and Discussion. The main difficulties faced by students in the development of communicative competence in learning a foreign language can be divided into three groups: linguistic, psychosocial and organizational. The proposed scheme for the development of communicative competencies "Presentation – Reproduction – (Semi)controlled tasks – Communication" allows to prevent the occurrence and overcome the language barrier among students at different stages of language learning.Conclusion. The principles underlying learning with overcoming the language barrier consist in the naturalness of communication within the framework of training sessions, the gradual complication and relevance for students of educational materials for the development of oral communication.

Interventions for children with Developmental Language Disorder that target oral pragmatic language

Interventions for children with Developmental Language Disorder that target oral pragmatic language

Time to Proficiency in Young English Learners and Factors That Affect Progress

AbstractWe investigated the time it takes 54,146 English learners (ELs) to attain English proficiency as they progressed from age 5 to 11 on average (Kindergarten through fifth grade in the United States). We also examine to what extent the time‐to‐proficiency estimate is affected by child‐internal and child‐external factors, including primary disability status, primary home language, home English use, instructional programming, and retention status. We used discrete‐time survival analysis to analyze the children's English growth. Survival analysis often concerns time from treatment until death: Here, “survival” is the time from EL‐program entry until “proficiency,” indicated via standardized testing. Half of the students attained proficiency in 5 years. Literacy skills (reading and writing) in general developed at slower rates than oral language skills (speaking and listening), with writing being ELs' biggest barrier to proficiency. While time to proficiency was significantly related to primary disability status, primary home language, and retention status, exposing ELs to their home language at home or at school does not have a substantial effect on their rates of English acquisition. The results are discussed for their research and practical implications.

The Distribution of Junior High School Students’ Language Awareness Across English Oral Proficiency and Oral Corrective Feedback Preference

Language awareness is crucial in langage learning. It entails how language is perceived and used by the students. Language awareness cannot be separated from teaching learning process since there are many interactions between teacher and students in the class including performing oral competency, learning from mistake, giving and taking oral corrective feedback. Thus, it stil uncovered yet that language awareness is really matter in junior high school. This research tried to investigate the level of language awareness of junior high school students across their oral proficiency level. The study also aims to find out whether students' level of language awareness is significantly different or not in their English oral language proficiency. In addition, the study also arried out to find out students type preference in receiving oral corrective feedback based on their language awareness level. This research is quantitative in nature. The data was collected from teacher archive in the form of students score and questionnaire. Then, the data was analyzed with the help of SPSS 20. The result showed that from 92 junior high school participant 35% of participants are in low level of language awareness; 32% in moderate level and 31% in high level. Based on the result, it can be concluded that majority of junior high school student are in low level of language awareness followed by moderate, and high. The analysis also showed that it retains the hypothesis of students’ language awareness level is similar across different English oral proficiency. Student with low, moderate, and high proficiency shows relatively similar level of language awareness level. Thus, the majority of students prefer explicit correction for oral corrective feedback type.

Variables asociadas a las características de comunicación y lenguaje de las personas con síndrome de Angelman en una muestra de la península Ibérica

IntroductionAngelman syndrome (AS) is a rare condition with low prevalence associated with severe global developmental delay, behavioral phenotype of happy appearance and social interaction, moderate to severe intellectual disability with minimal or absent oral language associated with molecular etiology and featuring clinical variables. ObjectivesTo describe communication and language abilities in a sample of individuals with AS from Spain and Portugal, explore the influence of molecular etiology, age and use of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Materials and methodsThe sample comprised 40 individuals diagnosed with AS, from the Iberian Peninsula, assessed using the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. ResultsA characteristic profile is shown with a predominance of gestures and receptive language over expressive. Differences are noted by molecular subtype, age, use of AAC and the origin in the Iberian Peninsula. ConclusionsThe linguistic phenotype for Angelman Syndrome is consistent with findings from other studies, however associated variables such as molecular etiology and use of AAC should be considered.

An Examination of the Degree of Complexity of Teacher Questions in English-Medium University Courses

Research has demonstrated that questions are essential when teachers endeavor to foster students’ comprehension and learning of the subject taught. However, there is a scarcity of studies on questioning practices in English-medium instruction (EMI) settings. In this study, we aim to fill this gap by focusing on the linguistic complexity of the questions put forward by EMI lecturers by paying particular heed to whether the disciplinary culture exerts any influence on the complexity of lecturers’ questioning practices. The study was conducted at four public Spanish universities in which the classes delivered by nine EMI lecturers from three different disciplines (history, economics, and engineering) were recorded and analyzed. The statistical analyses performed found no significant differences in the lexical and syntactic complexity of the questions posed in the three disciplines, while language at the C level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) was conspicuous by its absence. These results lead us to conclude that if students are not widely exposed to language at the C level of the CEFR, oral language development and improvement may not be promoted in EMI courses. Therefore, EMI teacher training should be given more attention.

The Contributions of Short-Term Memory to Writing at the Sublexical, Lexical, and Discourse Level in Beginning Writers

ABSTRACT Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect relations between short-term memory (STM), reading, oral language, and writing at the letter, word, and discourse levels in young, developing writers both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Method Participants were 449 English-speaking kindergarten students (52% female) from 41 schools in the U.S. Results The cross-sectional analysis indicated that STM was directly related to oral language (β = 0.62), letter naming fluency (β = 0.43), word reading (β = 0.54), and reading comprehension (β = 0.42), all of which were statistically significant. Results supported a complete mediation model with STM having an indirect effect on writing via reading and oral language. In the cross-sectional analysis, the total effects of STM on handwriting (β = 0.51), spelling (β = 0.57), and written composition (β = 0.47) were substantial and statistically significant. In the longitudinal analysis, the total effects of Fall STM on Spring writing outcomes, handwriting (β = 0.42), spelling (β = 0.70), and written composition (β = 0.44) were also substantial and statistically significant. Conclusion Findings confirm that STM is a foundational cognitive skill necessary for early writing; however, they provide a more nuanced understanding by showing that the contribution of STM is indirect through reading and oral language. Writing is complex, requiring interaction among higher-order domain-specific and domain-general components. Along with other recent studies, our findings highlight the need to examine the direct and indirect effects for a more precise understanding of skills that support writing development.