Several studies have been made in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) regarding incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading. However, the majority have focused on the meaning of a word to measure complete acquisition. Nation (2001) argues that there are three main criteria for knowing a word, namely form, meaning and use, and it is not until all three criteria are met that one acquires new vocabulary. Therefore, we chose to create a study which focuses on incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading, but that focuses on three sub-criteria of Nation’s three main ones, namely recognition, association and collocation. In a previous study (Erlandsson and G. Wallgren 2017) we concluded that higher vocabulary knowledge contributes to better reading comprehension. Additionally, researchers (Horst et al. 1998; Day et al. 1991; Zahar et al. 2001; Waring and Takaki 2003; Pigada and Smith 2006, and Zhao et al. 2016) have also brought up several factors, such as learners’ prior proficiency level and word frequency, that can affect the outcome of incidental vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, we decided to investigate what impact these two factors have as well.  Our research questions are: How much vocabulary is learnt incidentally through reading, and how do proficiency and word frequency affect incidental vocabulary acquisition? These questions were answered through a study made in a classroom environment with students in the 8th grade. We were inspired by a study made by Waring and Takaki (2003) who focused on two main criteria for knowing a word, form and meaning. Our study was done through reading nine chapters from the novel Holes by Louis Sachar (2001) and to determine the degree to which rate word frequency played a part in incidental vocabulary acquisition, 24 words were chosen within four different ranges of word frequency (ranging between two occurrences to 39 occurrences in the text). These 24 words were then replaced with substitute words to ensure that each test word was new to the participants. First, the participants completed a reading comprehension test to establish the participants’ reading proficiency levels in English. They were later asked to read the chapters containing the substitute words. Directly after the reading exercise, the participants completed a vocabulary acquisition test. The vocabulary acquisition test consisted of three parts that focused on recognition (word recognition), association (multiple choice) and collocation (putting the target words in a context). Results show that words are acquired incidentally through reading. Our findings show a positive correlation between high reading proficiency levels and a higher amount of words acquired. The findings also indicate a positive correlation between words within a higher frequency range with a higher chance of being acquired. Furthermore, we also observed that substitute words with low frequency in some situations had a higher uptake than those words with a higher frequency. After this observation we tried to explain the anomaly by looking into the textual context of the surrounding words and found a potential explanation in the fact that the low frequency words had very descriptive surroundings.

The content of this thesis is a theoretical introduction to the topic of hearing impairment, its classification, diagnosis and compensation options. Furthermore the work deals with a cochlear implant as the compensation aid. It describes the entire process of choosing the cochlear implantation candidates, the operation itself, setting of the speech processor and subsequent rehabilitation. The thesis also deals with communication competence and speech development not only of children with hearing impairment but also without hearing disorders. After the performance of the available diagnostic tools used for vocabulary testing, the work describes a research process of identifying the vocabulary level in children with cochlear implants by the use of appropriate passive and active vocabulary test and interprets obtained results. KEYWORDS: cochlear implant, communication skills, passive vocabulary, active vocabulary, a child with a cochlear implant, Test of the passive and active vocabulary

Bakgrund: Då barn möts av en kognitiv utmaning talar de ofta högt med sig själva. Detta är en vanlig strategi hos barn i femårsåldern och kallas privat tal (private speech) vilket gradvis, i takt med att barnen åldras, utvecklas till en tyst form kallat inre tal. Inre tal är centralt i flera kognitiva uppgifter bland annat planering och problemlösning och är även involverat i arbetsminnet, främst i den fonologiska loopen. Det finns en begränsning i arbetsminnets kapacitet och även den fonologiska loopen är begränsad hos barn med utvecklingsstörning. Arbetsminneskapaciteten och utvecklingen av fonologiska loopen har en stor avgörande betydelse i tillägnandet av ordförrådet och därför kan en begränsning eller försening leda till en försening även i ordförrådet. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka inre tal hos barn med utvecklingsstörning samt att undersöka om det finns något samband mellan barnens inre tal och det aktiva respektive passiva ordförrådets storlek. Metod: I studien deltog 28 barn. Målgruppen bestod av 14 barn med lätt till måttlig utvecklingsstörning i åldrarna 8:4-16:0 år. Kontrollgruppen bestod av 14 barn med typisk utveckling i åldrarna 4:8-8:6 år. De båda grupperna matchades efter deras testresultat på Ravens färgade progressiva matriser. Det aktiva ordförrådet testades med Boston Naming Test och det passiva ordförrådet undersöktes med Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. För att undersöka barnens inre tal och minnesstrategier användes European Picture Span Study.  Resultat: Resultatet visar att barnen i kontrollgruppen har ett större passivt och aktivt ordförråd jämfört med målgruppen och att ett större ordförråd hos kontrollgruppen tycks ha viss betydelse för att barnen ska välja en mer mogen strategi. Målgruppen i föreliggande studie använder sig av verbala strategier i mindre utsträckning än kontrollgruppen, men de tycks ha utvecklat en medvetenhet kring sin strategianvändning. Analyserna visar även ett signifikant samband mellan uppnådd spannivå och storleken på det passiva ordförrådet hos målgruppen, medan det hos kontrollgruppen finns ett signifikant samband mellan uppnådd spannivå och storleken på det aktiva ordförrådet. / Background: When children are faced by a cognitive challenge they often speak out loud to themselves. This is a common strategy in five year old children and is called private speech, which gradually, is developed into a silent form called inner speech. Inner speech is essential in several cognitive tasks including planning and problem solving, and is also involved in the working memory, particularly in the phonological loop. Children with intellectual disabilities have a limitation in the capacity of the working memory and in the phonological loop. The capacity of the working memory and the development of the phonological loop have a big importance in the acquisition of the vocabulary, therefore a limitation or delay in these skills lead to a delay in the vocabulary. Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the inner speech in children with intellectual disabilities and to investigate the correlation between the inner speech and the dimension of the active and passive vocabulary.  Method: 28 children participated. The target group consisted of 14 children with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities aged 8:4-16:0 years. The control group consisted of 14 children with typical development aged 4:8-8:6 years. The two groups were matched according to their test results on Raven's Colored Progressive Matrices. The active vocabulary was tested with Boston Naming Test and the passive vocabulary was examined with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. To examine the inner speech and memory strategies the European Picture Span Study was used. Results: The result showed that the children in the control group have a bigger passive and active vocabulary compared to the target group and that there is a correlation between having a big vocabulary and using a more mature strategy in the control group. The target group use phonological strategies to a smaller extent than the control group, but they seem to have developed a consciousness regarding their use of strategies. The analysis also shows a significant correlation between span level and the size of the passive vocabulary in the target group, whilst there is a significant correlation between the span level and the active vocabulary in the control group.

Beröring är en modalitet som visat sig spela en stor roll i människans utveckling. Föreliggande studie hade för avsikt att undersöka beröringens roll i barnets språkutveckling, utifrån hur beröring förändras över tid och hur det påverkar barnets produktiva ordförråd. Fri interaktion mellan förälder och barn analyserades utifrån annoteringar med information om beröring, som duration och beröring med eller utan hud-mot-hudkontakt. I undersökningen inkluderades alla former av beröring i den totala beröringsdurationen. Tio barn studerades under det första levnadsåret och då de var 24 månader gamla. Resultaten visar att en minskning av beröringsduration sker under barnens första två levnadsår. Resultatet indikerar några intressanta tendenser som diskuteras utifrån tidigare forskning. Beröring med hud-mot-hudkontakt verkar ha en annan roll än total beröring. Studien utformades explorativt och fann inget signifikant samband mellan beröring vid barns första och andra levnadsår och deras produktiva ordförråd vid 30 månader, varken med eller utan hud-mot-hudkontakt. Studien förser dock framtida forskning med tendenser som behöver studeras vidare.

The diploma thesis Lexicon Evaluation of Preschool Children is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The theoretical part of this work on speech therapy describes within four chapters the Czech vocabulary, psychological development of children up to the school maturity, speech development also up to the school maturity and finally presents diagnostic materials used in the Czech Republic for school maturity diagnostics and diagnostics of the lexical-semantic speech level. The practical part includes a quantitative research performed on children respondents in preschool classes in maternity schools. The main goal of this speech-therapy research was the modernization and verification of a testing set aimed at active vocabulary. The main reason was the fact that there is a lack of any adequate material for testing vocabulary in the Czech Republic. The new testing set could be also used as a subtest for school maturity diagnostics. The research conclusions were compared with the real situation of the tested children as referred by their teachers. As a part of the practical part there is the establishment of the research aims and hypotheses, and subsequently the research description, verification of the established hypotheses and definition of research conclusions. KEYWORDS Speech development,...

Bereits in frühen Phasen der Sprachentwicklung sind bei Kindern mit Spaltbildungen im Vergleich zu Kindern ohne Spaltbildungen Abweichungen beobachtet worden. In der Fachliteratur sind allerdings meist nur undifferenzierte Aussagen über den frühen strukturellen Verlauf zu finden. Daher wurde eine Untersuchung an 100 Kindern mit Spaltbildungen im Alter von 0-1;6 Jahren durchgeführt. Untersuchungsgegenstand waren die kindlichen Vokalisationen in der 1.Lallphase, der 2.Lallphase (prälinguistische Phase) und der Phase des Sprechbeginns (frühe linguistische Phase). Die Analyse umfaßte phonetische Parameter, den aktiven Wortschatz sowie die Silben- und Wortstrukturen. Die Auswertung ergab hinsichtlich des temporalen Verlaufs beim überwiegenden Teil der Probanden keine Unterschiede, hinsichtlich des strukturellen Verlaufs jedoch deutliche, typisch-spezifische Unterschiede im Vergleich zu altersgleichen Kindern ohne Spaltbildungen. / Even at the earliest stages, differences in speech development can be observed between children with cleft palate and those without cleft palate. One finds, however, only undifferentiated statements in the scientific literature on the early structural and linguistic phases. We therefore undertook an investigation of 100 children with cleft palate between the ages of 0 and 1;6 years. The subjects of the investigation were the children s vocalizations during the first and second babbling phases (prelinguistic phase) and during the onset of speech (early linguistic phase). The analysis included phonetic parameters and active vocabulary, as well as syllable and word structures. Our results showed no differences among the majority of the cildren, in terms of temporal development, and only typical-specific differences in structural development, in comparison with children of the same age without cleft palate.

Diplomová práce se zabývá základní slovní zásobou standardní češtiny ve vztahu mluvčím češtiny jako zd d ného jazyka. Jedná se o druhou generaci mluvčích češtiny, kte í vyr stali v N mecku, konkrétn v ezn a okolí. Cílem práce je identifikovat oblasti základní slovní zásob češtiny, které si uvedení mluvčí neosvojili p i ne ízené akvizici Teoretická část práce v první ad vysv tluje pojmy zd d ný jazyk, mluvčí migračním pozadím, nedokonalé osvojení jazyka a základní slovní zásoba s ohledem na né mluvčí. Dále na základ zahraniční odborné literatury popisuje problematiku vymezení základní slovní zásoby a tyto poznatky aplikuje na češtinu. T žišt m teoretické části práce je vymezení aktivní a pasivní slovní zásoby češtiny a její rozsah a základní slovní zásobu češtiny je nahlíženo jak z frekvenčního, tak z komunikačn pragmatického pohledu. Pro účel tohoto výzkum k výb ru základní slovní zásoby následn zvolen frekvenční p ístup s využitím Českého národního korpusu. Empirická část práce popisuje experimentální výzkum, ve kterém byla zkoumána aktivní i pasivní slovní zásoba a schopnost mluvčích češtiny jako zd d ného jazyka používat synonyma. Z výzkumu vychází, že tito mluvčí mají osvojené p ibližn čty i p tiny základní slovní zásoby standardní češtiny. Mezi nejobtížn jší slova pro tyto mluvčí pat í tzv. "faux amis"...

Работа посвящена вопросу применения сервисов Web2.0 в процессе обучения лексической стороне иноязычном речи в старшей школе. Объектом данного исследования является процесс обучения лексической стороне иноязычной речи в старшей школе, предметом - применение социальных сетевых сервисов Веб 2.0 в обучении лексической стороне речи учащихся старшей школы. Цель настоящей магистерской диссертации состоит в определении возможностей социальных сетевых сервисов Web2.0 в обучении иностранным языкам учащихся старших классов, а также разработке методических рекомендаций по формированию лексического навыка на базе интернет-технологий. В практической части работы был разработан электронный комплекс упражнений по теме “Travelling”, который впоследствии был апробирован в опытно-экспериментальном обучении. Благодаря пробному обучению экспериментальная группа улучшила свой результат и даже превзошла результат контрольной группы, что может говорить об эффективности применения интерактивных упражнений, созданных с помощью сервисов Web2.0. Использование ресурсов Web2.0 позволило не только повысить качество формируемого навыка, но и спроектировать уроки английского языка так, чтобы они были увлекательными, интерактивными и результативными. Также были созданы методические рекомендации по формированию лексического навыка учащихся старшей школы с использованием сервисов Web2.0, которые могут быть использованы как учителями английского языка среднеобразовательных учреждений, так и студентами педагогических и лингвистических высших учебных заведений. / The dissertation is devoted to the use of Web2.0 services in the process of teaching the lexical side of foreign language speech in high school. The object of the study is the process of teaching the lexical side of foreign language speech in high school, the subject of the study is the use of Web 2.0 social networking services in teaching the lexical side of speech to high school students. The purpose of the study is to determine the capabilities of Web2.0 social networking services in teaching foreign languages to high school students, as well as to develop methodological recommendations for the formation of lexical skills based on Internet technologies. In the practical part of the work, an electronic set of exercises on the topic “Traveling” was developed, which was subsequently tested in experiential learning. Thanks to the experiential learning, the experimental group improved its result and even surpassed the result of the control group, which can indicate the effectiveness of the use of interactive exercises created with the help of Web2.0 services. The use of Web2.0 resources made it possible not only to improve the quality of the formed skill, but also to design English lessons so that they were exciting, interactive and effective. Guidelines were also created for the formation of lexical skills of high school students using Web2.0 services, which can be used by both teachers of English at secondary educational institutions and students of pedagogical and linguistic higher educational institutions.