Receptive Vocabulary Scores Research Articles

Intelligence and Academic Achievement With Asymptomatic Congenital Cytomegalovirus Infection.

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

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

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

Code-switching as a marker of linguistic competence in bilingual children

Code-switching is a common phenomenon that bilinguals engage in, including bilingual children. While many researchers have analyzed code-switching behaviors to better understand more about the language processes in bilingual children, few have examined how code-switching behavior affects a child's linguistic competence. This study thus sought to examine the relationship between code-switching and linguistic competency in bilingual children. Fifty-five English–Mandarin bilingual children aged 5 to 6 years were observed during classroom activities over five days (three hours each day). A number of different word roots and mean length of utterance for both languages, and a number of code-switched utterances for each child, were computed. English receptive vocabulary scores were also obtained. Additionally, teachers rated children's English and Mandarin language competencies approximately six months later. Correlational and hierarchical regression analyses support the argument that code-switching does not indicate linguistic incompetence. Instead, bilingual children's code-switching strongly suggests that it is a marker of linguistic competence.

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

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

The Minimal and Short-Lived Effects of Minority Language Exposure on the Executive Functions of Frisian-Dutch Bilingual Children.

Various studies have shown that bilingual children need a certain degree of proficiency in both languages before their bilingual experiences enhance their executive functioning (EF). In the current study, we investigated if degree of bilingualism in Frisian-Dutch children influenced EF and if this effect was sustained over a 3-year period. To this end, longitudinal data were analyzed from 120 Frisian-Dutch bilingual children who were 5- or 6-years-old at the first time of testing. EF was measured with two attention and two working memory tasks. Degree of bilingualism was defined as language balance based on receptive vocabulary and expressive morphology scores in both languages. In a context with a minority and a majority language, such as the Frisian-Dutch context, chances for becoming proficient in both languages are best for children who speak the minority language at home. Therefore, in a subsequent analysis, we examined whether minority language exposure predicted language balance and whether there was a relationship between minority language exposure and EF, mediated by language balance. The results showed that intensity of exposure to Frisian at home, mediated by language balance, had an impact on one of the attention tasks only. It predicted performance on this task at time 1, but not at time 2 and 3. This partially confirms previous evidence that the cognitive effects of bilingualism are moderated by degree of bilingualism and furthermore reveals that substantial minority language exposure at home indirectly affects bilingual children’s cognitive development, namely through mediation with degree of bilingualism. However, the findings also demonstrate that the effect of bilingualism on EF is limited and unstable.

Visuospatial and Verbal Short-Term Memory Correlates of Vocabulary Ability in Preschool Children.

Recent studies indicate that school-age children's patterns of performance on measures of verbal and visuospatial short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) differ across types of neurodevelopmental disorders. Because these disorders are often characterized by early language delay, administering STM and WM tests to toddlers could improve prediction of neurodevelopmental outcomes. Toddler-appropriate verbal, but not visuospatial, STM and WM tasks are available. A toddler-appropriate visuospatial STM test is introduced. Tests of verbal STM, visuospatial STM, expressive vocabulary, and receptive vocabulary were administered to 92 English-speaking children aged 2-5 years. Mean test scores did not differ for boys and girls. Visuospatial and verbal STM scores were not significantly correlated when age was partialed out. Age, visuospatial STM scores, and verbal STM scores accounted for unique variance in expressive (51%, 3%, and 4%, respectively) and receptive vocabulary scores (53%, 5%, and 2%, respectively) in multiple regression analyses. Replication studies, a fuller test battery comprising visuospatial and verbal STM and WM tests, and a general intelligence test are required before exploring the usefulness of these STM tests for predicting longitudinal outcomes. The lack of an association between the STM tests suggests that the instruments have face validity and test independent STM skills.

The Relationship of Head Start Teachers’ Academic Language Use and Children’s Receptive Vocabulary

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: This study examines lexical- and sentence-level dimensions of academic language to describe teachers’ natural use of academic language and its association with vocabulary growth in 489 at-risk 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start preschool classrooms. Using transcripts derived from video recordings of book-reading sessions in 52 classrooms, we developed measures to assess the relationships among teachers’ use of lexical elements (amount, sophistication, and diversity of vocabulary) and utterance length (mean length of utterance in words) and children’s end-of-year receptive vocabulary scores. Hierarchical linear models indicated that children in classrooms where teachers used more lexical elements had higher end-of-year receptive vocabulary scores than those who heard less. Conversely, children in classrooms where shorter utterances were used had higher end-of-year receptive vocabulary scores. Classroom factors also played a role in children’s vocabulary scores, indicating a need to address classroom environments in addition to teachers’ language use. Practice or Policy: Results indicate that teachers should consider the unique contributions of lexical- and sentence-level elements when providing vocabulary instruction for children with below-the-mean vocabulary scores. Implications for instruction are addressed.

Delayed Early Vocabulary Development in Children at Family Risk of Dyslexia.

This study aimed to gain more insight into the relation between vocabulary and reading acquisition by examining early growth trajectories in the vocabulary of children at family risk (FR) of dyslexia longitudinally. The sample included 212 children from the Dutch Dyslexia Program with and without an FR. Parents reported on their children's receptive and expressive vocabulary size at ages 17, 23, 29, and 35 months using the Dutch MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories. Dyslexia status at the end of Grade 2 (8 years) rendered 3 groups: FR-dyslexic (n = 51), FR-nondyslexic (n = 92), and typically developing-nondyslexic (TD) children (n = 69). Repeated measures analyses showed that FR-dyslexic children had lower receptive vocabulary scores from 23 months onward and lower expressive scores from 17 months onward than FR-nondyslexic children. Latent growth curve modeling showed lower initial growth rates in FR-dyslexic children, followed by partial recovery, indicating a delayed increase in receptive and expressive vocabulary. FR-nondyslexic and TD children did not differ. Early deficits in receptive and expressive vocabulary are associated with later reading. Early vocabulary growth of FR-dyslexic children is characterized by a delay but not deviance of growth. Vocabulary can be considered an additional risk factor for dyslexia.

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

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

Rhythm Perception and Its Role in Perception and Learning of Dysrhythmic Speech.

The perception of rhythm cues plays an important role in recognizing spoken language, especially in adverse listening conditions. Indeed, this has been shown to hold true even when the rhythm cues themselves are dysrhythmic. This study investigates whether expertise in rhythm perception provides a processing advantage for perception (initial intelligibility) and learning (intelligibility improvement) of naturally dysrhythmic speech, dysarthria. Fifty young adults with typical hearing participated in 3 key tests, including a rhythm perception test, a receptive vocabulary test, and a speech perception and learning test, with standard pretest, familiarization, and posttest phases. Initial intelligibility scores were calculated as the proportion of correct pretest words, while intelligibility improvement scores were calculated by subtracting this proportion from the proportion of correct posttest words. Rhythm perception scores predicted intelligibility improvement scores but not initial intelligibility. On the other hand, receptive vocabulary scores predicted initial intelligibility scores but not intelligibility improvement. Expertise in rhythm perception appears to provide an advantage for processing dysrhythmic speech, but a familiarization experience is required for the advantage to be realized. Findings are discussed in relation to the role of rhythm in speech processing and shed light on processing models that consider the consequence of rhythm abnormalities in dysarthria.

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

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

A study of Indonesian university students’ vocabulary mastery with vocabulary level test

In investigating learners’ vocabulary mastery, some researchers focused their studies on either receptive or productive vocabulary mastery. This study examines university students’ vocabulary knowledge in Indonesia by using the Vocabulary Level Test (VLT). It also compares the receptive vocabulary size of students who obtained extra hours of English instruction with those who had not. Furthermore, this study also identifies their strategies in enhancing their vocabulary mastery. The 2000-word frequency-band from the receptive version of the VLT and questionnaire are used for data collection. The results show that their receptive vocabulary scores are lower than 2000 words and no significant difference was found between the students who had extra hours of English instruction and those who had not. Then it can be stated that even after they had gained extra hours of English instruction, their average vocabulary knowledge was still lower than the 1000 estimated word level in the VLT.Keywords: vocabulary mastery, Vocabulary Level Test (VLT), English as a Foreign Language (EFL), undergraduate students

Comprehension of verb number morphemes in Czech children: Singular and plural show different relations to age and vocabulary

Two experiments examined Czech children’s comprehension of grammatical number marking in verbs. Children were presented with picture pairs involving one or multiple participants in the same action, and were asked to point to the picture described by a recorded sentence. Experiment 1 ( N = 72, age 3;0–4;7) tested four types of sentences, some of which marked the number of participants on the verb only. There was a marked increase in comprehension scores with age and receptive vocabulary scores in singular, but not in plural sentences. This pattern was present regardless of how number was marked. Experiment 2 ( N = 45, age 3;4–4;9) replicated the key findings of Experiment 1. The results suggest that comprehension of morphological number markers remains difficult even when children routinely produce such markers. However, when compared with results from other languages and experimental paradigms, it appears that the effect is due mainly to children’s comprehension of the task and not limitations in their grammatical knowledge.

Adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories for Spanish Children With Down Syndrome: Validity and Reliability Data for Vocabulary.

The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories are widely used to study early language and communicative development. We recently developed a Spanish version for children with Down syndrome (the CDI-Down) adapted to their particular profile of linguistic and communicative development. The principal aims of this study are to assess the concurrent validity and test-retest reliability of the vocabulary section of this adaptation. Validation for productive vocabulary (Study 1) was achieved by correlating CDI-Down scores on expressive vocabulary and measures on the basis of spontaneous speech samples (n = 29). Validation for receptive vocabulary (Study 2) was achieved by correlating CDI-Down scores on receptive vocabulary and measures derived from language items of the Brunet-Lézine Scale (Josse, 1997; n = 70). Reliability (Study 3) was measured with a subset of parents who completed the same inventory 4 months after the original sampling (n = 26). CDI-Down expressive and receptive vocabulary scores showed a significant positive relationship with their comparison measures, thereby demonstrating convergent validity. A significant positive relationship was also found between test-retest measures for productive and receptive vocabularies, thus supporting the reliability of the adaptation. The results demonstrate that the CDI-Down is a valid and reliable tool that could be useful for parents, teachers, clinicians, and researchers.

Trajectories of Development of Receptive Vocabulary in Individuals with Down Syndrome

AbstractReceptive vocabulary is an important aspect of cognitive functioning. It appears to be a relative strength with respect to language for individuals with Down syndrome (DS) but little is known about its development as individuals mature. This study was designed to establish the developmental trajectory of receptive language development in individuals with DS from early childhood to midadulthood. Two hundred and six individuals with DS provided Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) scores on 957 occasions, spanning ages from 2 years 7 months to 29 years 7 months. Latent growth curve models were used to establish the trajectory of receptive vocabulary. Gender, maternal education, cohort, and nonverbal intellectual ability were used as predictors of rate of development. Receptive vocabulary was found to increase until around 20 years of age when performance on the PPVT began to deteriorate. The only variable measured that was associated with PPVT performance was nonverbal ability. The rate of increase in receptive vocabulary in individuals with DS across the childhood and adolescent period appears to be slower than for those who are developing typically, and the expected influence of maternal education was not found. The small number of participants contributing data in the older ages included in this study means that the apparent decline in receptive vocabulary scores needs to be interpreted cautiously.

The Impact of L1 Lexical Organisation on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

AbstractThis paper presents an empirical study investigating the relationship between first language (L1) lexical organisation and second language (L2) vocabulary development. The participants consisted of 191 native Arabic learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) within higher secondary education in Saudi Arabia. To conduct the study, two receptive vocabulary size tests (L1 Arabic-Lex and L2 English X-Lex) were used with an L1 lexical organisation test (ALOT) which was designed for the purpose of the study. Learners' L1 lexical organisation scores were found to be associated with their L1 and L2 receptive vocabulary scores. However, the strong correlation found between lexical organisation and the size of the lexicon in learners’ L1 might well suggest that lexical networks and the size of the lexicon are one unified system. Nevertheless, to find any potential interaction between L1 lexical organisation and size on L2 vocabulary acquisition, ‘moderation’ analyses were performed. Moderation results revealed three levels of interaction; low, average and high. The low level shows that a low level of lexical organisation leads to low levels of L1 and L2 vocabulary size. The same relationship trend was logged for average and high levels. These results thus emphasise the importance of a well-structured L1 mental lexicon on L2 vocabulary acquisition

Word recognition and nonword repetition in children with language disorders: the effects of neighborhood density, lexical frequency, and phonotactic probability.

The effects of neighborhood density (ND) and lexical frequency on word recognition and the effects of phonotactic probability (PP) on nonword repetition (NWR) were examined to gain insight into processing at the lexical and sublexical levels in typically developing (TD) children and children with developmental language problems. Tasks measuring NWR and word recognition were administered to 5 groups of children: 2 groups of TD children (5 and 8 years old), children with specific language impairment (SLI), children with reading impairment (RI), and children with SLI+RI (all 7-8 years old). High ND had a negative effect on word recognition in the older TD children and in the children with RI only. There was no ND effect in the younger children or in the children with SLI, who all had lower receptive vocabulary scores than the age-matched TD children and the RI groups. For all groups, NWR items with low PP were more difficult to repeat than items with high PP. This effect was especially pronounced in children with RI. Both the stage of vocabulary development and the type of language impairment (SLI or RI) impact the way ND and PP affect word recognition and NWR.

Learning and processing of nonverbal symbolic information in bilinguals and monolinguals.

Bilinguals have been shown to outperform monolinguals on word learning and on inhibition tasks that require competition resolution. Yet the scope of such bilingual advantages remains underspecified. We compared bilinguals and monolinguals on nonverbal symbolic learning and on competition resolution while processing newly-learned material. Participants were trained on 12 tone-to-symbol mappings, combining timbre, pitch, and duration of tones. During subsequent processing, participants viewed a display with four symbols, and were instructed to identify the symbol that matched a simultaneously-presented tone. On competition trials, two symbols matched the tone in timbre and pitch, but only one matched the tone on timbre, pitch, and duration. No learning differences emerged between 27 Spanish-English bilinguals and 27 English monolinguals, and more successful learners performed better on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary task. During the processing task, competition trials yielded responses with lower accuracies and longer latencies than control trials. Further, in both groups, more successful learning of tone-to-symbol mappings was associated with more successful retrieval during processing. In monolinguals, English receptive vocabulary scores also influenced retrieval efficiency during processing, with English/Spanish vocabulary less related to the novel processing task in bilinguals. Finally, to examine inhibition of competing stimuli, priming probes were presented after each tone-symbol processing trial. These probes suggested that bilinguals, and to a lesser extent monolinguals, showed residual inhibition of competitors at 200 ms post-target identification. Together, findings suggest that learning of novel symbolic information may depend in part on previous linguistic knowledge (not bilingualism per se), and that, during processing of newly-learned material, subtle differences in retrieval and competition resolution may emerge between bilinguals and monolinguals.

Mapping the Developmental Trajectory and Correlates of Enhanced Pitch Perception on Speech Processing in Adults with ASD.

Whilst enhanced perception has been widely reported in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), relatively little is known about the developmental trajectory and impact of atypical auditory processing on speech perception in intellectually high-functioning adults with ASD. This paper presents data on perception of complex tones and speech pitch in adult participants with high-functioning ASD and typical development, and compares these with pre-existing data using the same paradigm with groups of children and adolescents with and without ASD. As perceptual processing abnormalities are likely to influence behavioural performance, regression analyses were carried out on the adult data set. The findings revealed markedly different pitch discrimination trajectories and language correlates across diagnostic groups. While pitch discrimination increased with age and correlated with receptive vocabulary in groups without ASD, it was enhanced in childhood and stable across development in ASD. Pitch discrimination scores did not correlate with receptive vocabulary scores in the ASD group and for adults with ASD superior pitch perception was associated with sensory atypicalities and diagnostic measures of symptom severity. We conclude that the development of pitch discrimination, and its associated mechanisms markedly distinguish those with and without ASD.

The development of joke and irony understanding: A study with 3- to 6-year-old children.

Previous research suggests that comprehending ironic utterances is a relatively late-developing skill, emerging around 5-6 years of age. This study investigated whether younger children might show an earlier understanding when ironic utterances are performed in familiar communicative situations, and investigated the relationships among irony comprehension, language, and theory of mind (ToM) abilities. A group of 100 children aged 3.0-6.5 years was presented with 4 types of puppet scenarios depicting different communicative interactions: control, joke, contingent irony and background irony stories. Results suggested that (a) even younger children easily understand jokes, and may sometimes understand ironies; (b) children's comprehension of irony continues to develop across early childhood; and (c) receptive vocabulary scores had simultaneous effects on irony comprehension and ToM performance.