Vocabulary Learning In Children Research Articles

Exploring the relations between teachers' high-quality language features and preschoolers and kindergarteners' vocabulary learning.

This study explored the use of sophisticated vocabulary, complex syntax, and decontextualized language (including book information, conceptual information, past/future experiences, and vocabulary information) in teachers' instructional interactions with children during the literacy block in prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. The sample included 33 teachers and 421 children. We examined correlations among these language features and their unique contributions to children's vocabulary learning. Teachers who used more sophisticated vocabulary also engaged in more decontextualized talk about vocabulary and past/future experiences. Additionally, teachers' use of complex syntax was uniquely associated with talk about conceptual information. Both complex syntax and conceptual information talk predicted children's vocabulary learning; however, complex syntax emerged as the sole predictor when accounting for this relationship. This finding suggests that decontextualized talk about concepts, characterized by complex language structures, may facilitate vocabulary acquisition.

The Influence of Word Characteristics on Preschoolers' Vocabulary Learning

Purpose: One challenge to the design and delivery of effective vocabulary intervention is the selection of vocabulary targets. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation of word characteristics to vocabulary learning from explicit vocabulary intervention. Method: This study was a secondary analysis of data from two recent efficacy studies of an explicit vocabulary intervention delivered to preschool children ( Story Friends ). Taught vocabulary words were coded for concreteness, imageability, and shape using the perceptual accessibility continuum. Results: Multilevel modeling indicated that perceptual accessibility predicted vocabulary learning. Of the perceptual accessibility components, concreteness and imageability contributed significantly to the model, but shape did not. Higher vocabulary learning was observed for words rated more perceptually accessible. Conclusions: Preschool children's vocabulary learning was predicted by perceptual accessibility characteristics of taught words. Findings contribute to the body of evidence to guide the selection and sequencing of vocabulary targets for effective vocabulary intervention. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.27183684

Exploring Relations between Teachers’ Language- and Code-Based Writing Supports to Early Literacy and Vocabulary Learning in Children with Language Vulnerabilities

Early writing is a critical factor in children’s literacy development and academic success. This study observed and analyzed videos from twenty-eight teachers working in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and first-grade classrooms in under-resourced schools. The coding process focused on categorizing the type (language- and code-based) and demand (low- and high-demand) of strategies that teachers used to support children’s development of the foundational skills for early writing. We use the Not So Simple View of Writing as a framework to outline which writing-related skills (specifically, vocabulary and literacy) are important to explore. Multilevel models explored unique links between teachers’ (N = 28) supports for various early writing-related component skills, as well as children’s (N = 324) vocabulary and early literacy outcomes. The findings demonstrated that, regardless of grade level, teachers tended to emphasize code-based skills over language-based ones as children composed. Multilevel models showed that the vocabulary and literacy skills of children improved in classrooms where teachers provided higher levels of both high-demand language- and code-based writing support. The findings indicate that teachers’ support for children’s translation and transcription processes during composing may result in reciprocal and mutually beneficial effects on the foundational component skills of writing.

Teaching English Based-Realia for Young Learners in MBS (Muhammadiyah Boarding School) Mataram NTB

Essentially, language professionals have offered a plenty of fascinating and enjoyable language education approaches and ideas. Media realia is one of the alternative strategies presented in this study. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of using realia media to teach English to young children. The study was conducted at the Sang Surya Muhammadiyah Boarding School Kindergarten in Mataram with 11 children as the sample. The pre-experimental approach, namely pre-test and post-test group design was applied in this research. The instruments to gather the data were observation, a vocabulary test and recording, while the data collection procedure was done through pre-test, treatment and post test. Finally, the data were analyzed using a pre-experimental formula in the form of statistical computation. The result shows that the comparison of the t-test and t-table is 3.21 ≥ 2.60, or the test results exceed the minimal accomplishment levels. It revealed that the use of the "realia" technique has a significant impact on the development of children's vocabulary learning. In another words, the use of "Realia" technique in teaching English to young children at MBS Batu Ringgit is "effective" when used in the teaching and learning process.

Learning English in Early Childhood Education with Augmented Reality: Design, Production, and Evaluation of the “Wordtastic Kids” App

The pedagogical use of AR for language learning in early childhood education is focusing attention on the didactic potential that these resources present at such early ages. The aim of this study was to develop and assess the “Wordtastic Kids” Application (APP) in order to: (a) design, produce, and evaluate a new contextualized AR application for learning English in early childhood education; and (b) know the academic performance of early childhood education students towards learning English using an AR application. The methodology was based on the design of materials and the subsequent realization of the pre-test/post-test evaluation to determine the academic performance of the students. The results show a general increase in the scores obtained in all the pre-test and post-test categories that were addressed using the Wordtastic Kids Application, which proves to be a tool that improves the learning of English vocabulary in pre-school children. Therefore, it can be concluded that AR can be useful for complementing traditional vocabulary learning in children. However, it is important to note that the successful implementation of AR will depend on several factors, such as adequate teacher preparation, the quality of AR content, and the ability of children to interact with technology effectively.

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).

The victory of a non-digital game over a digital one in vocabulary learning

Among the most important things a child can do to learn is to play. Technology, however, has created a distinct type of play for children that differs from previous forms. This raises the question of whether digital or non-digital plays are more effective learning tools. To address the question, the current study examined the impact of digital and non-digital play-based instruction on children's vocabulary learning and retention. To this aim, 40 elementary EFL learners were assigned to two groups: digital and non-digital. In the first phase of the study, after twenty sessions of intervention, the post-test was administered and two weeks later, the delayed post-test was held. Twenty sessions of another type of play-based learning took place in the second phase when the learners switched groups. We ended up administering both the post-test and the delayed post-test after a two-week break. The data were analyzed using ANCOVA and Quade's ANCOVA tests. Additionally, the learners, parents, teachers, and two observers who attended all classes were interviewed. The quantitative results revealed that, across the stages, the non-digital group outperformed the digital one. The interviews and observations lend credence to the quantitative results. The study demonstrated that the advent of technology should not make us ignore the benefits of non-digital activities and plays in language education environments.

CLASSIC Utterance Boundary: A Chunking‐Based Model of Early Naturalistic Word Segmentation

AbstractWord segmentation is a crucial step in children's vocabulary learning. While computational models of word segmentation can capture infants’ performance in small‐scale artificial tasks, the examination of early word segmentation in naturalistic settings has been limited by the lack of measures that can relate models’ performance to developmental data. Here, we extended CLASSIC (Chunking Lexical and Sublexical Sequences in Children; Jones et al., 2021), a corpus‐trained chunking model that can simulate several memory and phonological and vocabulary learning phenomena to allow it to perform word segmentation using utterance boundary information, and we have named this extended version CLASSIC utterance boundary (CLASSIC‐UB). Further, we compared our model to the performance of children on a wide range of new measures, capitalizing on the link between word segmentation and vocabulary learning abilities. We showed that the combination of chunking and utterance‐boundary information used by CLASSIC utterance boundary allowed a better prediction of English‐learning children's output vocabulary than did other models.

The Effect of Vocabulary Intervention Based on a Semantic Network on Vocabulary Learning in Children with Language Delay

Objectives: In order to find effective vocabulary intervention methods for children with delayed language, this study focused on a vocabulary list that teaches them. In this study, we examined whether arbitrating a vocabulary list that shared the same semantic network with children with delayed language would help children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary learning. Methods: For this study, A total of 13 children with specific impairment language aged 4-5 years participated in this study. We conducted a Mann-Whitney U test with the data. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in receptive vocabulary learning rates between groups arbitrated under a Semantic Network and those that were not. In the case of expressive vocabulary learning rates, it was significantly higher in groups taught under the Semantic Network. Results showed that generalizations to expressive vocabulary exhibited no statistically significant differences between the two groups, but generalizations to receptive vocabulary showed significantly higher rates in groups that applied the Semantic Network. Conclusion: We found that when teaching vocabulary to children with Specific language disabilities, arbitrating a list of vocabulary sharing semantic networks is more effective when learning expressive vocabulary and generalizing receptive vocabulary. In addition, the correlation coefficient between children’s episodic buffers and receptiveness, and expressive vocabulary learning rates was low in groups learning under the Semantic Network, while in groups learning independent vocabulary.

Teacher–Child Conversations in Preschool

Back-and-forth conversations with adults are critical for developing children's language, and, therefore, an important part of the early childhood classroom learning environment; however, the specific nature of teacher feedback, one component of teacher–child conversations, on child language has not been widely studied. This article examined preschool teacher–child conversations during interactive book reading. We coded and analyzed the frequency and content of teacher talk, including feedback, among 20 teachers (11 who participated in a language and literacy intervention; 9 in business-as-usual instruction). Findings revealed that, particularly when teachers were guided on how to initiate and sustain intentional conversations, more conversations took place and were associated with higher overall classroom quality on a commonly used global assessment (the Classroom Assessment Scoring System); likewise, more teacher feedback occurred in intervention classrooms. The frequency of teacher feedback was uniquely linked to children's vocabulary learning on standardized measures beyond the effects of global classroom quality. Findings support the importance of understanding and supporting teacher feedback as an essential part of classroom conversations.

Enhancing EFL vocabulary learning with multimodal cues supported by an educational robot and an IoT-Based 3D book

Three-dimensional (3D) books, which feature interactive learning environments for immersing learners in situated learning, have proven to be an effective mediating tool for vocabulary acquisition. However, traditional 3D books lack affordances for two-way communication and multimodal language input for language learners. This study aims to apply multimodal cues in a task-based learning system consisting of an educational robot and a 3D book supported by the Internet of Things (IoT) to enhance EFL children's vocabulary learning. Two fourth graders participated in two phases of research (Exploratory and Enhancement Phases) separated by a six-month systematic enhancement period. In the Enhancement Phase, the two learners took pre- and post-tests on vocabulary recognition and oral production. Results showed a significant improvement in oral production, which can be attributed to elicitation cues applied in the robot- and 3D book-supported learning environment. Further analysis revealed a learner difference in reacting to auditory cues. Pedagogical implications for similar future efforts in using multimodal cues to enhance vocabulary learning among EFL children are also provided.

Orthographic Facilitation of Oral Vocabulary Acquisition in Children With Hearing Loss.

Purpose Learning spoken words can be challenging for children with hearing loss who communicate orally and who are known to have weaker oral vocabulary skills than age-matched children who hear. Since vocabulary skills play a crucial role in reading and literacy acquisition, and academic success, it is important to identify effective vocabulary acquisition strategies for children with hearing loss. The aim of this study was to examine whether the incidental presence of orthography can facilitate oral vocabulary learning in children with hearing loss and whether the benefits are greater than those found in hearing children. Method We taught novel picture-word pairs with or without spellings to 23 children with hearing loss and 23 age-matched controls, ranging in age from 6 to 12 years. Word learning was assessed using behavioral and eye tracking data from picture naming and picture-word matching tasks. Results and Conclusions Results revealed an orthographic facilitation effect on oral vocabulary learning in children with hearing loss, with benefits being maintained over a week. Importantly, children with hearing loss showed a greater benefit of orthography than age-matched hearing peers on the picture naming tests. The results of this study have important implications for classroom instruction and vocabulary instruction strategies for children with hearing loss.

Contrasting Similar Words Facilitates Second Language Vocabulary Learning in Children by Sharpening Lexical Representations.

This study considers one of the cognitive mechanisms underlying the development of second language (L2) vocabulary in children: The differentiation and sharpening of lexical representations. We propose that sharpening is triggered by an implicit comparison of similar representations, a process we call contrasting. We investigate whether integrating contrasting in a learning method in which children contrast orthographically and semantically similar L2 words facilitates learning of those words by sharpening their new lexical representations. In our study, 48 Dutch-speaking children learned unfamiliar orthographically and semantically similar English words in a multiple-choice learning task. One half of the group learned the similar words by contrasting them, while the other half did not contrast them. Their word knowledge was measured immediately after learning as well as 1 week later. Contrasting was found to facilitate learning by leading to more precise lexical representations. However, only highly skilled readers benefitted from contrasting. Our findings offer novel insights into the development of L2 lexical representations from fuzzy to more precise, and have potential implications for education.

Examining the Role of Physical Activity on Word Learning in School-Aged Children

Purpose Previous studies show that there is increased brain activity after exercise, leading to improved word recall in adults. The aim of this study was to examine whether different types of exercise (i.e., aerobic vs. anaerobic) may also lead to improved performance during vocabulary learning in children. Method A total of 48 participants (24 in Experiment 1 and 24 in Experiment 2) between the ages of 6 and 12 years completed a word learning task. Training of words took place in a resting and in an exercise condition using a within-subject design. In the resting measure, children were taught names of novel objects and then colored for 3 min before being tested on their ability to recognize the words. In the exercise condition, the same steps were followed, but instead of coloring, children engaged in 3 min of either aerobic exercise (i.e., swimming in Experiment 1) or anaerobic exercise (i.e., a CrossFit-like workout in Experiment 2). Results In Experiment 1, accuracy of word recognition was significantly higher for words that were trained in the aerobic exercise compared to the resting condition. In Experiment 2, there was no significant difference in performance between the anaerobic exercise and resting conditions. Conclusions These findings suggest that previously identified benefits of exercise on language abilities in adults also extend to school-aged children. However, not all types of physical activity lead to this boost in performance, as only aerobic (but not anaerobic) exercise improved children's ability to acquire new word-object relations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14462187.

Color Sensing AR-Based Approach for Supporting Vocabulary Learning in Children

Color Sensing AR-Based Approach for Supporting Vocabulary Learning in Children

A Comparative Study on the Vocabulary Learning of Children According to Selective Attention Latent Group

A Comparative Study on the Vocabulary Learning of Children According to Selective Attention Latent Group

어휘 노출 강도에 따른 책읽기를 활용한 어휘 중재가 단순언어장애아동의 어휘 학습에 미치는 효과

목적 : 본 연구에서는 동일한 어휘 노출 강도에서 단순언어장애아동과 일반아동의 어휘 학습에 어떠한 차이가 있는지 알아보고, 책읽기를 통한 어휘 학습에서 단순언어장애아동에게 효과적인 어휘 노출 강도를 찾고자 한다. 방법 : 4-5세 단순언어장애아동 3명과 생활 연령을 일치시킨 일반아동 4명을 대상으로 총 7명에게 중재를 실시하였다. 중재는 주 3회, 회기 당 40분씩 진행하였다. 회기는 30분의 책읽기 프로그램과 10분의 어휘 테스트로 구성되었다. 책읽기를 통한 어휘 중재를 하는 동안 아동들에게 24개의 목표 어휘를 설정하여, 각 어휘를 총 48번 반복 노출하였다. 목표 어휘의 학습 양상을 파악하기 위해, 4번의 수용 어휘와 표현 어휘 검사를 실시하였고, 정의하기 검사는 사전, 사후에 총 2회 실시하였다. 결과 : 맨-휘트니 U 검정 결과, 단순언어장애아동 집단은 일반아동 집단보다 표현 어휘 및 정의하기 과제에서 유의하게 낮은 수행을 보여주었다. 그러나 단순언어장애아동 집단은 표현 어휘 정반응룰이 꾸준히 증가하여, 노출강도48 시점에는 일반아동과 비슷한 수행을 보였다. 윌콕슨 부호-순위 검정으로 집단 내 사전-사후의 중재 효과를 알아본 결과, 모든 언어 과제에서 높은 효과가 나타났다. 결론 : 단순언어장애아동에게 적절한 어휘 노출 강도는 48회이며, 단순언어장애아동 집단이 일반아동 집단보다 깊은 어휘 지식까지 습득하는 데 더 어려움을 겪는다는 것을 알 수 있다. 또한, 반복적인 어휘 노출은 두 집단 모두의 어휘 학습에 효과적이며, 효과 크기는 이것을 증명해준다.

To See or Not to See: How Does Seeing Spellings Support Vocabulary Learning?

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine when, why, and how the presence of a word's written form during instruction aids vocabulary learning (a process known as orthographic facilitation). Method A systematic review of the research on orthographic facilitation was carried out. PsycInfo, Web of Science, ProQuest, and OpenGrey databases were searched. The search returned 3,529 results, and 23 of these met inclusion criteria. Studies were included in the review if they were written in English, published in a peer-reviewed journal, and compared vocabulary learning outcomes when words were taught with and without their written forms. Conclusions There is strong evidence that the presence of a word's written form leads to improved learning of its spelling and spoken form. There is also some evidence that it may lead to better learning of a word's meaning. A small number of studies have also shown that the presence of a word's written form benefits vocabulary learning in children with developmental language disorder, autism, Down syndrome, and reading difficulties. However, further research into the effects of orthographic facilitation in special populations is needed. In particular, ecologically valid experiments in clinical and educational settings are required in order to better understand how exposure to a word's written form can aid naturalistic vocabulary learning.

The Relationship between Phonological Short-Term Memory and Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning in Children with and without Speech Sound Disorder

배경 및 목적: 본 연구는 말소리장애 아동과 일반아동을 대상으로 음운단기기억능력과 외국어 어휘학습 수행력을 비교해 보고 외국어 어휘학습 시 음운단기기억 및 관련변인들의 역할을 알아보고자 하였다. 방법: 순수 말소리장애 아동 20명과 일반아동 20명을 대상 으로 음운단기기억 능력 측정을 위해 음절길이를 달리한 비단어 따라말하기 과제를 실시하였다. 외국어 어휘학습 과제로는 아동에게 의미는 알지만 영어로는 알지 못하는 새로운 영어 단어를 학습시킨 후 수용 및 표현학습 과제로 나누어 그 수행력을 비교해 보았다. 결과: 비단어 따라말하기 과제에서는 음절길이에 상관없이 말소리장애 아동이 낮은 수행을 나타내었으며 이때 아동의 자음정확도와 비단어 따라말하기는 밀접한 관련이 있었다. 또한 영어 어휘학습 과제에서도 과제유형에 상관없이 말소리장애 아동이 유의하게 낮은 수행을 보였으며 비단어 따라말하기 점수는 수용어휘학습 점수에서 많은 기여를 한 반면, 표현어휘학습에서는 기존에 아동이 가진 영어 어휘력의 기여도가 더 높은 것으로 나타났다. 논의 및 결론: 말소리장애 아동들은 모국어의 말소리산출의 어려움과 낮은 음운단기기 억능력으로 인해 외국어 학습에서도 그 어려움이 가중될 수 있다. 말소리장애 아동의 효과적인 외국어 학습을 위해서는 음운단기기억 능력을 높이는 것이 중요하며, 해당 언어의 어휘력을 향상시키는 것 또한 이에 도움이 될 수 있을 것이다.

The polysemy of the words that children learn over time

Abstract Here we study polysemy as a potential learning bias in vocabulary learning in children. Words of low polysemy could be preferred as they reduce the disambiguation effort for the listener. However, such preference could be a side-effect of another bias: the preference of children for nouns in combination with the lower polysemy of nouns with respect to other part-of-speech categories. Our results show that mean polysemy in children increases over time in two phases, i.e. a fast growth till the 31st month followed by a slower tendency towards adult speech. In contrast, this evolution is not found in adults interacting with children. This suggests that children have a preference for non-polysemous words in their early stages of vocabulary acquisition. Interestingly, the evolutionary pattern described above weakens when controlling for syntactic category (noun, verb, adjective or adverb) but it does not disappear completely, suggesting that it could result from a combination of a standalone bias for low polysemy and a preference for nouns.