Understanding Of Vocabulary Research Articles

Teaching receptive vocabulary to children with specific language impairment: a curriculum-based approach

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) frequently experience difficulties with understanding vocabulary and are subsequently academically disadvantaged. This study describes a curriculum-based assessment and therapy technique and its implementation with two children with language difficulties. Mathematical vocabulary that the children did not understand was randomly allocated to either the treatment or the control conditions. Over a period of seven to eight weeks, two boys were individually taught 18 words each. Each word was taught in one session only. The intervention was found to be effective for both children. The results of this study have implications for the rate of teaching of receptive vocabulary, the role of speech and language therapy in schools and the assessment of receptive vocabulary.

Vocabulary strategy training: An attempt to activate passive vocabulary for written communication

This article is based upon the reflection on my own teaching situation in an attempt to answer the question ‘Why can’t my students make use of the vocabulary they encountered while reading in writing a report?’ The problem inspired me to add lessons on vocabulary strategy training as a remedy. It was noticed that, after the lessons, most students successfully used a variety of memory strategies to help them enlarge their vocabulary knowledge. Moreover, the lessons helped them retrieve and activate words in their lexicon for writing, suggesting that vocabulary understanding is vital in activating passive vocabulary for written communication.

Classroom-Based Assessment of a Collaborative Intervention Program With Kindergarten and First-Grade Students.

The Maximizing Academic Growth by Improving Communication (MAGIC) comprehensive classroom teacher and speech-language pathologist collaborative intervention program was developed and initially implemented in 12 kindergarten and first-grade classes to determine whether children receiving this language-enriched program performed significantly better than control peers on a curriculum-based test and on teacher reports of classroom communication. Results indicated that weekly classroom intervention resulted in significantly higher scores on the subtests of listening and writing for the children involved in the MAGIC program. Students in the treatment groups demonstrated significantly higher abilities in understanding vocabulary and cognitive-linguistic concepts in addition to increased writing skill development for producing relevant sentences with correct mechanics and spelling.

Constructing Word Meanings: Strategies and Perceptions of Four Middle School Learners

Using verbal protocols as the major methodological tool, this qualitative inquiry investigated word meaning constructions of four middle school learners during self-selected reading events where learners targeted unfamiliar words. Interviews were also used to explore learner perceptions about vocabulary acquisition. Individual case study analyses and cross-case analyses unveiled similarities and differences in how focal learners constructed meanings for self-targeted words when forced to examine context. Focal learners used multiple strategies in single encounters with new words, were not inhibited by inaccurate word meaning constructions, focused on key words and phrases as they explored content, and relied on syntax to articulate definitions. Results indicate that these middle school learners were at least aware of ways to figure out unfamiliar words. Some readers in the study processed word meanings in flexible and diverse ways, whereas others exhibited a narrow band of strategies. Perceptions about word learning and attitude toward learning new words are important considerations for understanding vocabulary learning through independent reading.

Outcomes of early intervention for children with moderately-severe to profound hearing loss: Family, child and program factors

Age-appropriate speech/language outcomes for children with early identified hearing loss are a possibility but not a certainty. Identification of children most likely to achieve optimal outcomes is complicated by the heterogeneity of the children involved in outcome research, who present with a range of malleable (e.g. age of identification and cochlear implantation, type of intervention, communication mode) and non-malleable (e.g. degree of hearing loss) factors. This study considered whether a homogenous cohort of early identified children (≤12 months), with all severities of hearing loss and no other concomitant diagnoses could not only significantly outperform a similarly homogenous cohort of children who were later identified (>12 months to <5 years), but also achieve and maintain age-appropriate speech/language outcomes by 3, 4 and 5 years of age.A mixed prospective/retrospective comparative study of a homogenous cohort of 45 early identified (≤12 months) and 49 late identified (>12 months to <5 years) children with hearing loss was conducted. The children all attended the same oral auditory-verbal early intervention programme. Speech/language assessments standardized on typically developing hearing children were conducted at 3, 4 and 5 years of age.The early identified children significantly outperformed the late identified at all ages and for all severities of HL. By 3 years of age, 93% of all early identified participants scored within normal limits (WNL) for speech; 90% were WNL for understanding vocabulary; and 95% were WNL for receptive and expressive language. Progress was maintained and improved so that by 5 years of age, 96% were WNL for speech, with 100% WNL for language.This study found that most children with all severities of hearing loss and no other concomitant diagnosed condition, who were early diagnosed; received amplification by 3 months; enrolled into AV intervention by 6 months and received a cochlear implant by 18 months if required, were able to “keep up with” rather than “catch up to” their typically hearing peers by 3 years of age on measures of speech and language, including children with profound hearing loss. By 5 years, all children achieved typical language development and 96% typical speech.

Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar , and: Gateway to the Chinese Classics: A Practical Introduction to Literary Chinese , and: A Classical Chinese Reader (review)

236 China Review International: Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 1998 Edwin G. Pulleyblank. Outline ofClassical Chinese Grammar. Vancouver: University ofBritish Columbia Press, 1995. xiv, 192 pp. Hardcover $65.00, isbn 0-7748-0505-6. Paperback $35.95, isbn 0-7748-0541-2. Jeannette L. Faurot. Gateway to the Chinese Classics: A Practical Introduction to Literary Chinese. San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc. xviii, 128 pp. Paperback $14.95, isbn 0-8351-2537-8. A. D. Syrokomla-Stefanowska, with the collaboration of Bi Xiyan. A Classical Chinese Reader. Broadway, New South Wales: Wild Peony Ltd.; Honolulu : distributed internationally by University of Hawai'i Press, 1996. 181 pp. Paperback $30.00 (AUS $40), isbn 0-9586526-0-0. New additions to the pool of resources devoted to broadening our understanding of classical Chinese grammar and vocabulary are certain to be welcomed by both professors and students ofthe language. As a student working to understand and translate the vast and varying corpus of classical Chinese texts, I find it is sometimes easy to lose heart at the complexity of the grammar and the ambiguity of the characters (sometimes within texts, and quite often between them). This potential confusion is compounded by the fact that, with regard to a variety of central issues, there are a great many ongoing and unresolved debates among wellstudied scholars. While a relative neophyte is not in a strong position to enter the fray with much authority, one can make intelligent decisions and discriminations about which texts are likely to be helpful and which texts seem to be moving in the wrong direction. At the same time initiative can be found in the fact that even the most esteemed experts (among them Edwin G. Pulleyblank) acknowledge that they are still not fully comfortable with the language, and that much more work remains to be done. The aim of this review is to evaluate three recent contributions to the field, with particular focus on the degree to which they are suited to function as learning aids in either a classroom environment and/or when studied independentiy. These three works share a pedagogical (as opposed to scholarly) focus, but in practice would require somewhat different applications. Pulleyblank's Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar (hereafter Outline) is an outgrowth of notes the author assembled over the years for teaching purposes. It has a "primarily pedagogi-© 1998 by University cai ami» ^ ^v^ ancj as suc^ ^6 pOSit;ons taken do not receive the full treatment normally afforded what otherwise may be controversial points. Grammar and vocabulary are put forward relatively methodically (by degrees of complexity), and ofHawai'i Press Reviews 237 each new lesson is illustrated by several examples skillfully drawn from classical Chinese texts. All told there are fifteen chapters organized topically. The degree ofPulleyblank's facility and familiarity with the language comes shining through with his lucid and detailed explanations. Students should be wary, however, that strong mastery ofEnglish grammar and grammatical terms is essential in order to get the most out of Outline. One example: "Where English and many other languages use hypotactic constructions, with relationships of subordination explicitly marked by conjunctions and verbal morphology, Chinese very often uses parataxis, leaving the semantic relationships to be inferred from the context" (p. 149). Some may want to contend that Pulleyblank has overstated the case for grammar in classical Chinese, drawing parallels and marking contrasts with English structures and categories that may not in fact have been operational (at least in a conscious sense) at the time the language was in use. One response (that may be weaker than the case Pulleyblank himselfwould make) would be to say "to each his own"—those who are comfortable employing a structure ofanalogous terms and relations should do so at dieir convenience. The justification, as always, hinges on the results. One certainly can't find much to argue over in his sample translations—they are as straightforward as they are illuminating. At the same time, anyone who is inclined to raise questions about Pulleyblank's grammatically informed approach ought to be able to provide something in its stead that is over and above merely "getting a feel" (to use Faurot's expression) for the...

Why Do They Get It When I Say “Gingivitis” But Not When I Say “Gum Swelling”?

AbstractSuggestions for teachers and learners on how to handle errors arising when students' native languages influence their understanding of English vocabulary.

Economics and biology used in fisheries research or when social and natural sciences try to depict together the object of their research

Resume Fisheries can be characterized as a network of intcractions between natural and social systems, and thus should be viewed as complex, dynamic systems. Due to thc multiplicity of components and processes, the involvcment of various disciplines is required to understand the inter-relationships within and between the systems, and more so to adequately address management issues that typically affect scvcral elements in the systems. To be successful, multidisciplinary approaches require mutual understanding of thc pcrspcctivcs, concepts, vocabulary and methods hcld by various disciplines, and agreement on the objects to be studicd in common. In that spirit, at framework is suggcstcd whereby fishenes systems are decomposed into related sub-systems that can be recognized by both Social and Lifc Sciences. Some key concepts attached to cach module and to its interactions with the others are identified, and may bc starting points for dialogue and common undcrtakings by vanous disciplines, with a view to improving our understanding of the dynamics of the wholc system.

Presence, Analogy, and Earth in the Balance

Vice-President Albert Gore, Jr.'s bestselling book on environment, Earth In Balance, has generated a storm of controversy. Admirers, such as Lance Morrow of Time magazine and Martin Peretz of New Republic, argue that Gore speaks with a certain rare passionate authenticity, a ring of unfakable that is rare enough in (usually ghostwritten) outpourings of politicians (Morrow, 1992). Such opinions won Gore 13th annual Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Detractors, on other hand, call Gore an out-and-out radical and maintain that the heart of his world view is an apocalyptic vision of an Earth teetering on brink of destruction (Bailey, 1992). They dispute Gore's evidence (Lucian, 1992) and come close accusing him of deception (Easterbrook, 1992). The heart of book, and sections that make supporters and detractors Gore most uncomfortable, consists of three analogies. The first is Gore's comparison of nuclear war environmental difficulties facing world. The second, and most disconcerting, is Gore's likening of civilization's relationship earth with that of a dysfunctional family. The third is a familiar one; he compares effort needed Marshall plan. These three analogies focus argument of book. The first provides an interpretive framework for magnitude of problem; second suggests a language describe spiritual issues behind problem and solution; third structures proposals necessary save Earth. Gore's use of analogies gives book its rhetorical power or, in Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca's terms, gives his arguments. The ill-defined concept of has tantalized argumentation scholars since English translation of The New Rhetoric in 1969. As Karon (1989) argues, presence, loosely translated as attention paid or importance accorded an argument, is a critical element in rhetorical theory of Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca; if goal of argument is to induce or increase mind's adherence theses presented for its assent (1969, p. 4), then attention granted those theses is of utmost salience. Presence, Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca state, is of paramount importance technique of Yet is ambiguous. Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca identify it as both a psychological and a rational mode of argumentation. Its relationship rest of their rhetorical theory is uncertain. There is no analysis of its role in uses of analogy, metaphor, example, quasi-logical argumentation, or any of other strategies Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca forward. The secondary literature is equally scant. Only Karon (1989) and Kauffman and Parson (1990), and Leroux (1992) comment upon presence at length. Karon's intriguing analysis is concerned with what presence reveals about Perelman's epistemology. Kauffman and Parson comment insightfully on relationship between metaphor and presence, but they are interested in use of dead metaphors. Rather than detailing of presence, they study strategic absence of presence. Leroux (1992) opens most useful path an analysis of presence. His discussion of presence, situated within development of a critical vocabulary for understanding of style, emphasizes function of presence. He argues that style is initial encounter through which auditors apprehend meaning and that presence, treated as a stylistic device rather than a philosophical concept, can be useful for understanding the language variations and tactics [that] can enlarge or vivify a subject. Leroux notes important role that analogy can play in creating presence and suggests that presence is one way through which critics can collapse troublesome form/content distinction. In this essay, I extend work of these authors, particularly Leroux, by exploring relationship between analogy and presence through a critique of Earth in Balance. …

Developing Communicative Competence in a Second Language

I This book is the first compilation of studies I have seen specifically oriented to the exploration of second language communicative competence and to its elaboration in terms of the framework developed by Canale and Swain (1980) and elaborated by Canale (1983). The Canale and Swain framework includes four competencies: grammatical competence, the understanding of vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax; sociolinguistic competence, the knowledge of speech acts and the appropriate use of language; discourse competence, the ability to produce coherent and cohesive texts; and strategic competence, the ability to enhance communication or deal with breakdowns in it. The editors have chosen not to include a section on grammatical competence, an area which, they note, has already received a great deal of attention. They add sections on communicative competence in first language acquisition and in the workplace and on developing communicative competence in the language classroom. This book is useful for ESL teachers and researchers, and for courses in L2 acquisition and research design. The questions at the end of each section are mostly useful for testing the reader's comprehension of chapter contents although some address research design. One drawback is that the chapters are of unequal quality and only Scarcella's refers to other chapters. This leads to a curious lack of discussion about the usefulness of the Canale and Swain framework or about whether the new competencies included in this book have features which distinguish them from the original ones. In addition, the decision to illustrate Canale and Swain's much quoted framework with papers not written specifically for this volume poses a problem discussed only briefly in the introductionone chapter seems to describe both discourse and strategic competencies. This raises the question of whether there are in fact two separate competencies. In the section on first language acquisition, Anderson's Acquiring Conversation Competence: Knowledge of Register Variation addresses the pressing question of whether this competency is developmental in nature. She finds children first using prosody, then topic and the lexicon, and finally syntactic adjustments to indicate register. Although Anderson does not connect her work to nonnative speakers, we could conjecture that since these features are clearly salient in child language acquisition, ESL teachers may

An Investigation of Attitudes and Information on AIDS

This paper describes the results of a survey designed to measure information levels on AIDS, defensive attitudes about AIDS, social rejection of AIDS carriers and AIDS sufferers, and understanding of AIDS-related vocabulary. The survey was carried out by means of a questionnaire administered to groups of juvenile offenders (n=43), trainee prison officers (n=25), drug abusers attending a drop-in centre (n=22) and university students (n=21). The level of information about the basic facts of AIDS was found to be encouragingly high in all 4 groups and, complementary to this, denial of the personal relevance of AIDS and defensive attitudes, which could lead to the avoidance of both communications on AIDS and preventative behavioural change, were found to be very low or non-existent among most subjects in all groups. However, there did appear to be as serious lack of knowledge about the role of sex in the spread of AIDS among a considerable minority of the subjects (up to 20% in some groups). While socially rejecting attitudes towards AIDS victims were generally absent, they were most common among the offenders and their presence was associated with a poor level of information on AIDS. A poor vocabulary or conceptual understanding regarding AIDS-related concepts was relatively widespread but was not necessarily linked to the lack of basic knowledge about AIDS.

Normal Variation in Reading Acquisition

Visual, linguistic, reading, and spelling tests were administered to the same 45 children at the end of kindergarten and of first grade. Normal variation, i.e., diversity not related to pathology, was found in the visual and linguistic skills and was shown to be related to reading and spelling achievement for a sample of suburban children of similar socioeconomic status. Individual differences in three visual skills—selective attention to letter information (RT), memory for a component letter (accuracy), and memory for a whole word (accuracy)—and two linguistic skills—phonemic analysis and vocabulary understanding—were reliable over the first year of formal reading instruction and had concurrent validity in that they were correlated with achievement in word decoding/encoding at the end of kindergarten and of first grade. Of these five skills, phonemic analysis accounted for more variance in achievement (52% to 64%, depending upon achievement measure) than any other single skill. Significantly mote variance in achievement was accounted for when both a visual skill (memory for a sequence) and a linguistic skill (phonemic analysis) were considered than when either alone was at end of first grade. The predictive validity of quantitatively defined “disabilities” (at or more than a standard deviation below the mean) was investigated; disabilities in both visual and linguistic skills at the end of kindergarten were associated with low achievement in word decoding/encoding at the end of first grade. Two pairs of identical twin girls (each co-twin taught by a different teacher) were not mote congruent on several achievement measures than two pairs of unrelated girls, taught by the same teacher and matched to each other and a twin pair on verbal ability and age. Normal variation in acquisition of word decoding/encoding probably results from an interaction between genetic individual differences in cognitive skills and the processes of assimilation and accommodation during environmental transactions proposed by Piaget.

Computer Terminology: Familiarity vs. Understanding

A group of 625 college students taking the introductory computer course were tested for their knowledge of computer terms. The results were analyzed several ways—as a whole, by those who thought they knew the definitions (omitting those who did not guess at the answer), by those who owned a home computer, by type of magazines read, and other relevant attributes. The results showed that, generally, these attributes were not related to the level of understanding of computer vocabulary. A further analysis revealed that there is widespread, inconsistent use of common computer terms with little regard to their technical meanings. The implications of these results for teaching introductory computer courses are addressed.

Mathematics Vocabulary and the Culturally Different Student

Over the past few years, teachers have increased their efforts to identify and demonstrate the application of mathemat ics to life's activities, but many students still perceive mathematics as merely the manipulation of symbols governed by rules. Perhaps if these students had studied more applications of mathematics, then mathematics would be more meaningful to them. But even then I suspect that they would have been hindered by a lack of reading skills and an insufficient understanding of the vocabulary of mathematics.

Agronomic terminology: Do our students comprehend?

A laboratory exercise devoted to the instruction of common agronomic vocabulary was incorporated into an introductory crops course to reduce communication problems, especially with urban students. Terminology pretests show that some minor differences were apparent in the level of comprehension of agronomic terms, but more importantly, pretests showed that all students, regardless of background experiences, were ill-equipped to fully comprehend terminology often used in introductory crops courses. The laboratory exercise did appear to be effective in improving students' understanding of vocabulary, especially that of the students with lifelong farming experiences.

Latin via Ovid. A First Course

Audio materials are now available to accompany all forty chapters of the unique reading-teaching textbook, Latin via Ovid. Both instructors and students benefit from these audio materials that provide an interactive way to learn while reinforcing what is gained from the lessons within the textbook. The tapes and CDs enable students to read Latin aloud with pleasure and confidence, allow for better vocabulary understanding, and help students to appreciate and duplicate the rhythms of spoken Latin. Latin via Ovid audio materials contain poetry selections by the best Latin readers in the country, such as Herbert Benario, Robert Sonkowsky, and Stephen Daitz, allowing listeners to learn directly from the experts. Students can complete their homework in a half-hour by means of this intensive, interactive method, whether in the language lab, at home, or in the classroom. Each audio lesson is a half-hour long and includes, after the Dialogue, the Latin story read at normal speed, followed by the vocabulary. The story is then re-read in short phrases, allowing pauses for student repetition. Each lesson ends with the Exercises, including the correct answers. There are two chapters on each of the cassettes or CDs, along with one additional cassette or CD containing interim readings. The set of 21 tapes or CDs is available at the low cost of USD 200.00, including permission to duplicate for your students. Please indicate on your order whether you prefer the audiocassette tapes or the CD version. About Latin via Ovid: Using an introduction to mythology by the master storyteller Ovid himself, authors Norma Goldman and Jacob E. Nyenhuis have prepared a unique reading-teaching textbook designed to achieve proflciency in Latin in one year at the college level, two years at the high school or intermediate level. The textbook provides students with imaginative, connected reading, beginning with introductory prose versions of Ovid's simple myth tales and progressing to the rich poetry of Ovidian Latin.

Tests for assessment of language development

Different tests have been made to describe the understanding of language in children and in adults. Coral M. Richard has developed a test of under standing of the spoken word (1). The test material consists of dolls' furniture, laid out in four rooms, which provide a setting for a number of articles in common use. The child is asked to carry out 20 instructions which increase in length and complexity. (Turn on the tap. Take the cake out of the oven. Find the plate in the top drawer in the bedroom, and put it into the oven.) Richard explains that the use of dolls' furniture is found to be very suitable for this kind of test; it is attractive to children of a wide age range. The objects are familiar to very young children so that the vocabulary is usually well-known. Sister Mary Arthur Carrow (2) has made a test for evaluating the compre hension of linguistic structure. Carrow says that man's use of a linguistic code in communicating involves two major processes: comprehension and expres sion of language. In comprehending the meaning of language, two aspects of linguistic utterances are involved : the lexicon, or the vocabulary used, and the structure, i.e., the syntax and morphology. Most of the studies of language comprehension have focused primarily on the understanding of vocabulary and not on the comprehension of structure. Carrow decided to develop this test because there is a paucity of information regarding the development of auditory comprehension of language structure. The test was designed to permit the assessment of oral language comprehension without requiring

Endocrinology: The Glands and Their Functions

In 1903 Dr. Hoskins published a book called "The Tides of Life." The material in that work has been drawn on as the basis for the present volume, which describes for the intelligent reader, both lay and medical, our present knowledge of the glands of internal secretion. He explains with easy readability, but the reader must be prepared to study the dictionary and to acquire the necessary vocabulary for complete understanding. The book is sound in that it does not accept as conclusive some of the recent beliefs in this field, but it does give enough of the theory to indicate how the activities of the endocrine glands affect our minds, our bodies and our lives.