Children's Vocabulary Skills Research Articles

Associations between classroom quality and children's vocabulary and executive function skills in an urban public prekindergarten program

Despite evidence that high-quality preschool programs have substantial, long-lasting impacts on young children's developmental outcomes, associations between preschool quality measures and children's cognitive outcomes within preschool programs are generally small or null. Using data from a large urban prekindergarten program, we examined associations between children's receptive vocabulary and executive function skills and several indicators of classroom quality. Ours is the first such study within a program that has been shown to have small-to-large causal impacts on children's language, literacy, mathematics, executive function, and emotional development outcomes. Consistent with prior literature, we found small or null associations between quality predictors and children's outcomes and we found that some of these relationships were curvilinear. Findings are discussed in light of several hypotheses in the literature regarding the general pattern of small or null associations, including the psychometrics of commonly used quality measures and possible range restriction of quality indicators.

Phonological processing skills and its relevance to receptive vocabulary development in children with early cochlear implantation

ObjectivesThe purposes of this study were to investigate phonological processing skills for children with cochlear implants (CIs) in comparison with children with normal hearing (NH), and to assess whether phonological processing skills can explain variance in receptive vocabulary scores in children with CIs. MethodsTwenty-five deaf children who received a CI before 2years of age were included in this study, and they ranged from 4years to 6years 11months. Twenty-five children with NH as a control group were matched to children with CIs on the basis of chronological age with 3months. Phonological processing skills were measured by the phonological awareness (PA), nonword repetition (NWR), and rapid automatized naming (RAN) tasks. Receptive vocabulary skills were also tested by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Korean version. ResultsChildren with CIs performed significantly lower than children with NH on PA (p<.05) and NWR (p<.001) tasks. Children with CIs showed slower naming speed than children with NH, which did not reach the significant level (p>.05). Among phonological processing skills, PA contributed significant amount to receptive vocabulary skills in children with CIs (p<.001). ConclusionsChildren with early implantation receive substantial benefits for developing lexical access skills. However, children with CIs showed delays in PA and NWR in comparison with age-matched children with NH. For children with CIs, PA among phonological processing skills plays an important role of developing receptive vocabulary skills.

Shared Book Reading and Head Start Preschoolers' Vocabulary Learning: The Role of Book-Related Discussion and Curricular Connections

This study examined the ways in which the language that Head Start teachers used during book reading, as well as the extent to which they made explicit connections between book reading and other instructional activities, were linked to preschoolers' vocabulary development. Participants included 10 Head Start teachers and 153 children in their classrooms. Research Findings: Analyses revealed that teachers varied substantially in the frequency and nature of their book-related remarks, and connections between books and the broader curriculum were relatively few in number and constrained in nature. On average, children learned more words over the course of the year when teachers used more contextualized and decontextualized talk during book readings. Contextualized book-related talk was most positively associated with learning among children with relatively low initial vocabulary knowledge. Too few connections between book reading and the curriculum were observed to afford analysis of their contributions to children's vocabulary skills. Practice or Policy: The findings show the nuanced ways in which shared book reading, a critical part of the preschool day, is linked to vocabulary growth among the nation's most vulnerable learners. The results also highlight potential avenues through which readings could be strategically individualized to optimize early vocabulary development.

EXAMINING THE UTILITY OF THE STIMULUS PAIRING OBSERVATION PROCEDURE WITH PRESCHOOL CHILDREN LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE

We evaluated the effectiveness of a stimulus pairing observation procedure to facilitate tact and listener relations in preschool children learning a second language. This procedure resulted in the establishment of most listener relations as well as some tact relations. Multiple-exemplar training resulted in the establishment of most of the remaining relations. The implications for the use of these procedures to establish simple vocabulary skills in children are discussed.

Head Start program quality: Examination of classroom quality and parent involvement in predicting children's vocabulary, literacy, and mathematics achievement trajectories

Guided by a developmental–ecological framework and Head Start's two-generational approach, this study examined two dimensions of Head Start program quality, classroom quality and parent involvement and their unique and interactive contribution to children's vocabulary, literacy, and mathematics skills growth from the beginning of Head Start through the end of first grade. The study is a secondary data analysis of FACES 1997, a national descriptive study of Head Start children, families, and programs. The piecewise 3-level growth curve model suggested that Head Start children demonstrated positive academic growth trajectories over time, with vocabulary and literacy skills showing more rapid growth in Head Start years than in later grades. Younger children consistently showed more rapid growth than older children, especially during kindergarten and first grade. Head Start classroom quality and parent involvement uniquely and interactively predicted children's academic growth across time, but in rather complex ways.

The development of comprehension and reading‐related skills in children learning English as an additional language and their monolingual, English‐speaking peers

A significant number of pupils in UK schools learn English as an additional language (EAL). Relative differences between the educational attainment of this group and monolingual, English-speaking pupils call for an exploration of the literacy needs of EAL learners. This study explores the developmental progression of reading and listening comprehension skills and a range of reading-related skills in EAL learners, whose first language is of South Asian origin, and their monolingual peers. Participants were 39 children learning EAL and 39 monolingual, English-speaking children who were all in school Year 3 at the start of the study. Children completed standardized measures of comprehension, vocabulary, reading accuracy, and reading fluency in school Year 3 and again in Year 4. The results suggest that, although children learning EAL often demonstrate fast and accurate reading accuracy skills, lower levels of vocabulary knowledge place significant constraints on EAL learners' comprehension of spoken and written texts. Reciprocal relationships between vocabulary and comprehension may lead to increasing gaps in reading comprehension between monolingual and EAL pupils over time. It is proposed that support for the development of vocabulary skills in children learning EAL is needed in early years' classrooms.

Shyness and Chinese and English Vocabulary Skills in Hong Kong Kindergartners

Research Findings: This study examined relations between parent-rated shyness and children's vocabulary skills in 54 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners who learned English as a foreign language at school. Receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary were assessed both in Chinese and in English. Parent-rated shyness was uniquely associated with children's receptive vocabulary skills in both English and Chinese even after parents' education levels and socioeconomic status and children's nonverbal reasoning skill were statistically controlled. Practice or Policy: The findings suggest that shyness is associated with both first and second language learning.

Predicting Expressive Vocabulary Acquisition in Children With Intellectual Disabilities: A 2-Year Longitudinal Study

This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. This study included 36 children with ID, age 3;00 (years;months) to 6;05, with an average initial expressive vocabulary of 67 words. Expressive vocabulary acquisition was longitudinally followed over a 2-year period based on 4-monthly administrations of the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory/Words and Gestures (I. Zink & M. Lejaegere, 2002). Specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment as well as cognitive skills and vocabulary comprehension were measured at baseline. Individual growth modeling indicated that vocabulary comprehension was the only unique predictor of initial expressive vocabulary. Subsequent vocabulary growth was uniquely predicted by proportion of bimodal gesture + vocalization comments, chronological age, and cognitive skills. The results of this study underscore the great heterogeneity in expressive vocabulary skills in children with ID. The importance of prelinguistic communication, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension for explaining differences in expressive vocabulary skills is discussed.

Russian children's vocabulary, speech imitation and reading skills mastery

Russian children's vocabulary, speech imitation and reading skills mastery

Turkish‐speaking First Graders in Norway Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary, Listening Comprehension and Literacy Skills

This study explored relationships between characteristics of classroom talk exposure and immigrant first graders' acquisition of second language oral skills (vocabulary and listening comprehension) and literacy skills. Twenty‐six children (mean age = 6.10 years) with Turkish as their first language and Norwegian as their second, attending various multilingual and ethnically diverse classrooms in Norway, were videotaped during classroom conversations. Classroom talk was coded for vocabulary richness, discursive complexity and emergent phonics talk and the children's oral language and literacy skills were assessed. Classroom vocabulary richness and discursive complexity predicted the children's second language vocabulary skills and listening comprehension after controlling for maternal education, but did not predict their literacy skills. The density of emergent phonics talk did not predict target children's code‐related skills in this sample. Applied perspectives related to second language learning in multiparty settings are discussed.

Young Children Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary in Preschool Group-Time: Does Amount, Diversity, and Discourse Complexity of Teacher Talk Matter?

This study investigated relationships between teacher talk exposure in preschool and school and children's second language vocabulary acquisition. Teacher talk exposure and vocabulary acquisition in Turkish-speaking children learning Norwegian and attending various classrooms were assessed yearly from when the children were in their next-to-last year of preschool attendance until 1st grade. Teacher talk lexical input was identified as amount (density of word tokens), diversity (density of word types), and complexity (density of word types appearing within explanatory talk) of input, based on videotaped teacher-student interactions. Children's vocabulary skills in Turkish and Norwegian were assessed using translated versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Word Definition Subscale of Reynell Developmental Language Scale. Only a few relationships were found between the amount, diversity, and complexity of teacher talk and the target children's immediate second language vocabulary skills. The amount, diversity, and complexity of teacher talk in preschool did, however, predict subsequent second language vocabulary skills in 1st grade. Controlling for maternal education and age of preschool entrance, teacher talk lexical input in preschool predicted variance in both 1st-grade receptive vocabulary and word definition skills.

Teacher qualifications, classroom practices, family characteristics, and preschool experience: Complex effects on first graders' vocabulary and early reading outcomes

Using an ecological model, this study explored the effects of distal and proximal sources of influence on students' learning. We first examined three markers of teacher qualification — elementary education credential, years of education, and years of experience — on observed classroom practices across three dimensions — warmth/responsivity, control/discipline, and time spent on academic activities — as they related to children's vocabulary and early reading skills. We then examined the impact of this core system embedded in a larger system that included children's vocabulary and word recognition skills prior to school entry, their home and preschool learning environments, and family SES. Results, using structural equation modeling, revealed that students whose teachers were more warm and responsive and who spent more time in academic activities demonstrated stronger vocabulary and decoding skills at the end of first grade. Teachers with more years of education interacted with students more responsively but, surprisingly, their students had weaker early reading skills. Overall, students' language and letter–word recognition scores when they were 54 months of age, their home learning environment and family SES accounted for most of the variability in vocabulary and early reading scores at the end of first grade. Implications of the multiple and concurrent sources of influence on students' language and literacy development are discussed.

A preliminary version of a computerized naming test for preschool children with language impairment

The most prevailing hypothesis regarding mechanisms behind specific language impairment today is the hypothesis of general limitations of processing capacity. Such an hypothesis can hardly be tested by available language assessment tools, especially not by instruments in use for clinical assessment of the lexical-semantic domain in children. Reduced naming speed is by some researchers considered as a core deficit in dyslexia and a better predictor of some aspects of reading proficiency than phonological processing. The overall purpose of the present study was therefore to develop a processing dependent tool, that could capture dynamic aspects of naming; response latencies, hesitation phenomena and contextual influence. We also present data from 30 children (4-6 years old) with normal language development. We believe that, with some modifications, the naming test has a potential of becoming a processing dependent measure of naming and a necessary complement to the assessment of vocabulary skills in children with language impairment.

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.

Quality of adult book reading affects children's emergent literacy.

The authors assessed the relative benefits of 3 styles of adult book reading for preschoolers' emergent literacy. A describer style focused on describing pictures during the reading, a comprehender style focused on story meaning, and a performance-oriented style introduced the book and discussed story meaning on completion. Forty-eight 4-year-olds were randomly assigned to receive 1 of the 3 reading styles over a 6-week period. Pretests and posttests measured children's receptive vocabulary, print, and story comprehension skills. A describer style of reading resulted in the greatest overall benefits for children's vocabulary and print skills, but a performance-oriented style was also beneficial when children's initial skill levels were taken into account. Future book-reading interventions should be tailored to children's initial skill levels.

Reading, writing, and vocabulary skills of children with strokes due to sickle cell disease.

The reading, writing, and vocabulary skills of 8 children with strokes due to sickle cell disease were compared with 8 control children. The former were delayed in reading and writing skills but not in vocabulary development or use.