Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 75-78).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 75-78). Also available in print.

An open question in autism research is how to assess language abilities in this population. We investigated language development in monolingual and bilingual children with varying degrees of autism, ages 3 to 9, with the aim of better understanding vocabulary comprehension. Two different methodologies were used: the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (ROWPVT) and eye-tracker technique. We examined whether the eye-tracker could help in the assessment of these children because it does not require the child to point during the test. Four typically developing control children, 14 monolingual English children with moderate/mild autism, and 4 children (2 monolingual English, 2 bilingual Spanish/English) with severe autism were tested and the results of the ROWPVT test were compared to the eye-tracker results. Interestingly, bilingual children with severe autism had better results using eye-tracker than the traditional ROWPVT test. These results suggest that these children know more vocabulary than traditional test measures indicate.

The diploma thesis deals with comprehension of selected vocabulary in children of younger school age. In the introduction it presents basic characteristics of children in this developmental stage. It also analyses what place the cross-sectional topic of Media Education has in current educational programs of elementary schools and in the children's families. As the researched lexicon was selected from the children's news program od Czech Television Zprávičky, the thesis also focuses on the news genre and the characteristics of the program Zprávičky, especially on the language of the program and the way it is adapted to the audience of children. The research part is based on a qualitative analysis of individual interviews with children and focuses on finding out how pupils of first and fifth grade of elementary school understand the lexicon selected from two broadcasts of the program Zprávičky. The aim of the research is to verify whether children fully understand the selected vocabulary and to find out whether the tested words are part of the active or passive vocabulary of children. The research also monitors differences in understanding between both age groups of children. It also tests children's knowledge of individual meanings in selected polysemic words. In addition, it examines the extent to...