Young Children's Vocabulary Research Articles

Word Learning Opportunities in Preschool Storybook Apps

AbstractIn this study, I examined preschool storybook apps for the affordances they may provide for young children's vocabulary development. Specifically, I sought to understand (a) the degree to which storybook apps introduce new words, (b) the types of words children can learn, and (c) the degree to which digital enhancements align with new words in the story. To do so, I conducted a content analysis of 26,744 words in 70 best‐selling storybook apps in the United States. Results indicate that approximately 7.5% of words in preschool storybook apps might be considered new words for preschool children—which is comparable to the number of new words in preschool printed books. Furthermore, approximately 25% of new words in storybook apps are aligned with digital enhancements. These findings contribute new information about vocabulary in preschool storybook apps and the extent to which digital enhancements might support children's word learning on screen.

Screen media exposure and young children's vocabulary learning and development: A meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis synthesizes research on media use in early childhood (0-6 years), word-learning, and vocabulary size. Multi-level analyses included 266 effect sizes from 63 studies (Ntotal = 11,413) published between 1988-2022. Among samples with information about race/ethnicity (51%) and sex/gender (73%), most were majority White/Non-Hispanic and between 40%-60% female. Analyses revealed a small overall positive relation between screen media exposure and vocabulary (r = .23). Experimental studies yielded a small-to-medium effect (r = .30), with stronger effects for e-books than TV/video or games/apps, and non-significant effects for video chat. In correlational studies, there was no overall association between vocabulary size and naturalistic media exposure (r = .07), with the exception of naturalistic exposure to educational media (r = .17).

Story Talk: Using Strategies from an Evidence‐Based Program to Improve Young Children's Vocabulary

AbstractStory Talk is an evidence‐based language intervention that has produced significant increases in children's vocabulary (Wasik & Hindman, 2020). This paper begins with a discussion of the importance of language development in learning to read, which is the basis for Story Talk. Next, a description of Story Talk components and the strategies that teachers are trained to implement in this program are presented. Five language strategies, with particular emphasis on developing vocabulary, are discussed in detail. Finally, a description of how Story Talk can look in classrooms is provided so that teachers can visualize how these strategies might work in their own settings during book reading and throughout the day.

Online Computerized Adaptive Tests of Children's Vocabulary Development in English and Mexican Spanish.

Measuring the growth of young children's vocabulary is important for researchers seeking to understand language learning as well as for clinicians aiming to identify early deficits. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDIs) are parent report instruments that offer a reliable and valid method for measuring early productive and receptive vocabulary across a number of languages. CDI forms typically include hundreds of words, however, and so the burden of completion is significant. We address this limitation by building on previous work using item response theory (IRT) models to create computer adaptive test (CAT) versions of the CDIs. We created CDI-CATs for both comprehension and production vocabulary, for both American English and Mexican Spanish. Using a data set of 7,633 English-speaking children ages 12-36 months and 1,692 Spanish-speaking children ages 12-30 months, across three CDI forms (Words & Gestures, Words & Sentences, and CDI-III), we found that a 2-parameter logistic IRT model fits well for a majority of the 680 pooled vocabulary items. We conducted CAT simulations on this data set, assessing simulated tests of varying length (25-400 items). Even very short CATs recovered participant abilities very well with little bias across ages. An empirical validation study with N = 204 children ages 15-36 months showed a correlation of r = .92 between language ability estimated from full CDI versus CDI-CAT forms. We provide our item bank along with fitted parameters and other details, offer recommendations for how to construct CDI-CATs in new languages, and suggest when this type of assessment may or may not be appropriate.

Going Nuts for Words: Recommendations for Teaching Young Students Academic Vocabulary

AbstractDeveloping young children's vocabulary is essential for later reading success; thus, early childhood classrooms require a comprehensive vocabulary approach that teaches academic vocabulary. Yet even providing young children with child‐friendly definitions of sophisticated words can be a challenge. First, the authors outline the components of a comprehensive vocabulary program for young children. Second, they review research evidence on the importance of direct vocabulary instruction and ways to increase children's word consciousness and interest in learning “amazing” academic words. Next, they turn to practical suggestions of ways to select and teach new vocabulary. They describe ways to increase word consciousness that extend excitement for word learning. Finally, they demonstrate that early childhood educators can improve the quantity and quality of their vocabulary instruction when using a comprehensive vocabulary program the features routine shared book reading, direct vocabulary instruction, and supports for word consciousness.

Children's executive and social functioning and family context as predictors of preschool vocabulary

The primary source for young children's vocabulary development is parent-child interaction. How parent-child interaction influences vocabulary depends on the child's functioning and the family context. Although research shows the effect of the family context on vocabulary (e.g., reading activities at home, parental education), the role of a child's functioning has received less attention. Children's executive functioning (EF) influences how linguistic input is processed and their social functioning (SF) is important for maintaining social interaction. The aim of the present study was to investigate the additional contributions of children's EF and SF to vocabulary. EF, SF and family contextual factors were measured in 223 Dutch preschool children. EF and SF strongly predicted children's vocabulary in addition to their age, linguistic diversity at home and parental education. EF and SF are therefore important factors to take into account when investigating vocabulary and vocabulary interventions in preschool children.

Supporting Young Children's Vocabulary Growth Using F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Model

AbstractWith the constant barrage of media regarding the 35 million word gap, it is more important than ever to devise strategies for accelerating and sustaining young children's vocabulary development. The F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Vocabulary Model is a daily approach for early childhood educators to use as a means to increase vocabulary knowledge with the intended result being a narrowing of the vocabulary gap for at‐risk students. The F.R.I.E.N.D.S. vocabulary model consists of seven components: (1) Fostering quality teacher and child conversations, (2) Rigorous and robust instruction, (3) Interactive storybook reading, (4) Engaging students in motivational vocabulary activities, (5) Numerous opportunities to practice new vocabulary, (6) Direct and explicit instruction, and (7) Sophisticated and rare words. The model is based on research, theory and classroom experience.

In This Issue

In This Issue

A Bilingual-Monolingual Comparison of Young Children's Vocabulary Size: Evidence from Comprehension and Production.

It is often assumed that young bilinguals are lexically delayed in comparison to monolinguals. A comprehensive comparison of comprehension and production vocabulary in 31 firstborn bilingual and 30 matched monolingual children fails to find empirical foundation for this assumption. Several raters completed Dutch and French adaptations of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories for children aged 13 and 20 months. At 13 months, bilinguals understood more words than monolinguals; at 20 months, monolinguals knew more Dutch words than bilinguals (combining comprehension and production). There were no group differences for word production or for Dutch word comprehension. Both groups understood and produced the same number of lexicalized meanings; ratios of word comprehension to word production did not differ; inter-individual variation was similar. This study underscores the importance of conducting bilingual-monolingual comparisons with matched groups and suggests that if individual bilingual children appear to be slow in early vocabulary development, reasons other than their bilingualism should be investigated.

Exploring the Factor Structure of Maternal Emotional Expressiveness and Its Relationship with Young Children's Vocabulary Development

Exploring the Factor Structure of Maternal Emotional Expressiveness and Its Relationship with Young Children's Vocabulary Development

Study on the Conceptual Distribution of Young Children Vocabulary Based on the M-B CDI-K

Study on the Conceptual Distribution of Young Children Vocabulary Based on the M-B CDI-K

Using story dictation to support young children's vocabulary development: Outcomes and process

Creating opportunities for children to apply newly learned vocabulary in meaningful contexts is an important aspect of supporting vocabulary development. However, previous research has not adequately examined how this can be accomplished in preschool classrooms. To address this issue, we explored using story dictation to support preschoolers’ expressive vocabulary development. Thirteen children in a Head Start classroom were videotaped dictating a total of 38 stories. Scribed stories and videos of story dictation sessions were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively to examine the outcomes and process. Results indicated that children used and learned target vocabulary during story dictations, and that target word use increased in number and complexity over time. How the teacher supported story dictations and target word use is discussed.

Shared book reading: When and how questions affect young children's word learning.

Shared book reading, and the conversation that accompanies it, can facilitate young children's vocabulary growth. To identify the features of extratextual questions that help 3-year-olds learn unfamiliar words during shared book reading, two experiments explored the impact of cognitive demand level, placement, and an approximation to scaffolding. Asking questions about target words improved children's comprehension and production of word-referent associations, and children with larger vocabularies learned more than children with smaller vocabularies. Neither the demand level nor placement of questions differentially affected word learning. However, an approximation to scaffolding, in which adults asked low demand questions when words first appeared and high demand questions later, did facilitate children's deeper understanding of word meanings as assessed with a definition task. These results are unique in experimentally demonstrating the value for word learning of shifting from less to more challenging input over time. Discussion focuses on why a scaffolding-like procedure improves children's acquisition of elaborated word meanings

Character Trait Vocabulary: A Schoolwide Approach

Research has documented the large differences in young children's vocabulary knowledge. In light of the strong relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension, this gap is particularly worrisome and points to the critical need for well‐articulated vocabulary instruction across the grades.The author describes character trait vocabulary, in which the teacher asks students to describe the traits of characters in their reading. The children share their thinking and the teacher lists the terms offered for each character and prompts the children to explain their responses. After the children have analyzed the characters, the teacher displays a grid with a set of new terms chosen specifically for the characters under discussion. In a schoolwide approach to the practice, the teacher consciously tries to incorporate terms from the provided grade‐level list. The teacher introduces a word at a time, providing a brief child‐friendly definition and example, and asks the students to consider whether the term would apply to each of the characters.

Phonological development in lexically precocious 2-year-olds

To examine interactions between young children's vocabulary size and their phonological abilities, spontaneous language samples were collected from 24-month-olds with precocious lexicons, their age mates (24-month-olds with average-sized lexicons), and their vocabulary mates (30-month-olds with average-sized lexicons). Phonological ability was measured in a variety of ways, such as the number of different consonants that were targeted, the number of different consonants produced correctly, the percentage of consonants produced correctly, and the occurrence of phonological processes. The lexically precocious 24-month-olds were similar to their vocabulary mates on most measures of phonological ability, and both of these groups were generally superior to the 24-month-olds with smaller lexicons. These findings supported a hypothesized relationship between lexicon size and phonological performance, and demonstrated that 2-year-olds' phonological development is more closely related to size of the lexicon than chronological age.

Prelinguistic Predictors of Vocabulary in Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The goal of the current study was to identify a predictive model of vocabulary comprehension and production in a group of young children with autism spectrum disorders. Four prelinguistic behaviors were selected for consideration as predictors based on theoretical and empirical support for the relationship of these behaviors to language development. The study used a longitudinal correlational design. Participants were twenty-nine 2- and 3-year-olds diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. The prelinguistic behaviors-attention-following, motor imitation, commenting, and requesting-were measured at the initial visit. Vocabulary comprehension and production were measured 6 months later. Commenting was the only unique predictor of comprehension after the degree of cognitive delay was controlled. Both commenting and motor imitation of actions without objects were unique predictors of production over and above the other skills and when the degree of cognitive delay was controlled. The finding that both commenting and motor imitation simultaneously accounted for unique variance in vocabulary production is new to the literature and requires replication. However, results suggest that increasing behaviors that allow children with autism to make their current focus of attention obvious to social partners may be an effective approach for supporting word learning in young children with autism.

The Semantic Organization Patterns of Young Children: Implications for Augmentative and Alternative Communication

The successful use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems by young children rests on the child's ability to efficiently and accurately locate desired vocabulary. Typically, young children's vocabulary items are organized on communication boards or computer displays according to what seems logical to speech-language pathologists, teachers, and parents. It remains unclear, however, whether adult-generated vocabulary arrangements truly reflect the cognitive organization of young children who require AAC. There are few empirical data to describe how young children organize vocabulary, particularly more abstract linguistic concepts. In the current study, a graphic symbol arrangement task was used to investigate how 20 children between 4;0 and 5;11 years of age organized linguistic concepts. The children were asked to organize 42 pictures depicting various familiar vocabulary items that included nouns, verbs, descriptors, prepositions, pronouns, and question words. During and after the sorting task, the children were asked to talk about the rationales for their arrangements. Results indicated that they purposefully arranged an average of 40% of vocabulary items, and tended to organize concrete items (e.g., nouns, action verbs) in pairs or small groups according to event schema. The children had greater difficulty organizing abstract items (e.g., prepositions) than concrete words (e.g., cookie). Implications for AAC interventions are discussed along with future research directions.

Assessing children's vocabulary skills: from word knowledge to word-learning potential.

Knowledge of word meanings and the ability to use words are fundamental to nearly every interaction of every day. Beginning long before formal schooling, vocabulary skills underpin many aspects of communicative, social, and academic well-being. Thus, evaluation of vocabulary knowledge and use is central to any complete assessment of language proficiency. We have advanced in our use of vocabulary assessment significantly since Binet and Simon first used vocabulary tests to measure cognitive proficiency. We have a repertoire of informative tools and strategies from which vocabulary assessment protocols can be fashioned. Current assessment approaches integrate multiple sources of information. They also look beyond existing word knowledge toward word-learning potential. Integrated and dynamic approaches can provide a rich way to ascertain young children's vocabulary abilities and aptitudes.

The relationship between prelinguistic vocalization and later expressive vocabulary in young children with developmental delay.

This study tested the relationship between prelinguistic vocalization and expressive vocabulary 1 year later in young children with mild to moderate developmental delays. Three vocalization variables were tested: rate of all vocalization, rate of vocalizations with consonants, and rate of vocalizations used interactively. The 58 toddlers in the study were 17-34 months old, not sensory impaired, and had Bayley Mental Development Indices (Bayley, 1969; Bayley, 1993) from 35-85. In addition, the children had fewer than 3 words in their expressive vocabularies and during classroom observation each showed at least one instance of intentional prelinguistic communication before testing. Selected sections of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales procedures (CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 1993) were administered at the beginning and at the end of the study. The vocal measures were obtained in the initial CSBS session. One measure of expressive vocabulary was obtained in the CSBS session at the end of the study. In addition, expressive vocabulary was measured in a nonstructured play session at the end of the study. We predicted that rate of vocalization, rate of vocalizations with consonants, and rate of vocalizations used interactively would all be positively related to later expressive vocabulary. The results confirmed the predictions.

Knowledge of storybooks as a predictor of young children's vocabulary.

Shared book reading provides a rich source of linguistic stimulation for young children. The authors examined whether variations in knowledge of storybooks (assumed to index factors such as frequency of shared reading) were related to vocabulary scores for 3- to 6-year-olds. In Experiment 1, parents' knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in children's receptive vocabulary scores after controlling for children's analytic intelligence, parents' exposure to adult reading material, and parents' education. In Experiment 2, children's knowledge of storybooks explained unique variance in their receptive and expressive vocabulary scores after controlling for parents' exposure to print and socioeconomic status level. Children's knowledge of storybooks indexed cognitive factors as well as exposure. The findings obtained in the 2 experiments suggest that storybook experiences during the preschool years may be an important influence on the development of children's language skills.