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<p>  </p> <p>The ability to interpret speech as it unfolds in sentences is a complex skill that is essential to successful spoken communication. However, variability in sentence processing skills, such as predictive processing, can impair not only concurrent communication success but also future language development. Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) have known deficits in morphosyntax (Leonard, 2014), lexical representation (Sheng & McGregor, 2010b), and speed of processing (Leonard et al., 2007), but less is known about the impact of these impairments on processing sentences in real time during early stages of language development.  The present study examines individual and group differences in online predictive processing skills in 36-month-old children using eye-tracked simple transitive sentences of the structure Article-Agent-Action-Article-Target (e.g., <em>The pirate chases the ship)</em>. Participants listened to the sentences while viewing pictures that corresponded with the sentential input in four different ways (i.e., Target, Agent-related, Action-related, Unrelated). Core Language Index (CLI) scores from the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Preschool 2  (CELF-P2) were used to from two sets of groups: 1) “high language” (n=33) and “low language” (n=22) groups using a median split of CLI scores (median = 102) and 2) “not at risk for DLD” (n=50) and “at risk for DLD” (n=6) group based on a CLI cutoff score of 85 used in clinical practice, which falls one standard deviation below the mean and suggests risk for DLD.</p> <p> Using eye movements as an index of online sentence processing, no individual or group differences were found in terms of prediction of the Target or locally-coherent activations of the Action-related item. These results indicate that three-year-old children at risk for language impairment are predicting highly expected items as well as entertaining alternative sentence representations simultaneously, indicating graded activations. These results contradict previous findings that adolescents with DLD do not make graded predictions (Borovsky et al., 2013). However, we found that children of higher language ability (as quantified by scores on the CELF-P2) completed significantly more fixations to the Agent-related picture. This finding suggests one way (i.e., Agent-related prediction) in which 36-month-olds’ online processing of sentences differs based on overall language skill that is inconsistent with accounts of an over-reliance on global interpretations in DLD later in development.</p>

Verbs and prepositions encode relations within events, such as a child running towards the top of a hill or a second child pushing the first away from the top. These relational terms present significant challenges in language acquisition, requiring the mapping of the categorical system of language onto the continuous stream of information in events. This challenge is magnified when considering the complexities of events themselves. Events consist of part-whole relations, or partonomic hierarchies, in which events defined by smaller boundaries, such as the child running up the hill, can be integrated into broader categories, such as the second child preventing the first from reaching the top (Zacks & Tversky, 2001). This dissertation addresses how this partonomic hierarchy in events is paralleled in the structure of relational language. I examine the semantic category of force dynamics, or "how entities interact with respect to force" (Talmy, 1988, p. 49), which introduces broad categories (e.g., help, prevent) that incorporate previously independent relations in events, such as paths, goals, and causality. Two studies ask how children and adults navigate the tension between fine and broad categories in their nonlinguistic representations of force and motion events and whether language - in the form of both labels and syntactic cues - helps children to integrate previously independent relations into these higher order constructs. Participants completed a novel task designed to assess the saliency of force dynamics relations across events. Participants viewed an animated event depicting a force dynamics relation (e.g., prevent, cause) and were asked to identify which of two perceptually varied events (i.e., different characters and setting) depicted the same relation. Study One extends previous research, showing that adults encode force dynamics relations in nonlinguistic contexts. Study Two examined these representations in 4-year-olds, both with and without linguistic cues. Absent linguistic cues, children showed no evidence of encoding force dynamics; however, the presence of language highlighted these relations, improving children's attention to these broader categories in events. The results are the first to explore the problem of hierarchies in relational language and demonstrate a novel role for language in drawing children's attention to the presence of relations between relations. / Psychology

Sensitive and responsive parenting promotes adaptive outcomes for children. Within the domain of language development, responsiveness has been examined through the effects of temporal and semantic contingency on children’s vocabularies. The term adaptive contingency can be used to characterize the process whereby dyads co-construct common ground, establishing a co-dependence of both timing and meaningfulness. This dissertation examined the role of adaptive contingency in early verb learning by examining the learning consequences when timing is manipulated but meaning is held constant (Study 1) and when meaningfulness is manipulated but timing is held constant (Study 2). In a previous study, toddlers learned novel action words when teaching was uninterrupted, but failed to do so when caregivers were interrupted while teaching by a cell phone call from the experimenter (Reed, Hirsh-Pasek, & Golinkoff, in preparation). Study 1 explored how the timing of interruptions differentially affects word learning. Experimenters blind to study hypotheses taught two-year old toddlers novel words, and learning was assessed via the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm (IPLP). During the teaching period, experimenters responded to text messages, momentarily disrupting the teaching. The timing of these interruptions occurred (1) in the middle of an utterance, such that the label and demonstration of its action referent were decoupled, (2) before the “label + action referent” event occurred, or (3) after (the control condition). At test, only children in the after condition learned the novel words. Study 2 examined whether word learning would be disrupted when teaching interactions were interrupted by an event that breaks the shared focus (e.g., a cell phone call) but not when the interruption shifts the shared context (e.g., when a lighted display suddenly shines). Novel words were learned in one of three experimental conditions (light display to shift attention, cell phone call to break attention, no interruption control), and learning was again assessed via the IPLP. Only toddlers in the shift condition learned the novel words. This dissertation contributes to the growing recognition that the quality of interactions with caregivers affects children’s language trajectories (e.g., rich and diverse vocabulary, Rowe, 2012; fluent and connected bouts of sustained joint attention, Hirsh-Pasek et al., in press). Utilizing ecologically valid interruptions, the two studies together illuminate how the social context can support or hinder early verb learning. / Psychology

The purpose of this qualitative survey is to create a deeper understanding of the school-age educare in Swedish schools, the language development for newly arrived students and what challenges there are, as well as how school-age educare teachers collaborate with guardians and other people in the school to be able to contribute to the language development of newly arrived students. We interviewed four school-age educare teachers from schools in the greater Stockholm area and analyzed the results from a social constructionist perspective and previous research in this area. The results from our study indicate that school-age educare teachers work with newly arrived students' language development in different ways, but there are shortcomings in terms of strategies, tools, methods, and processes. There is a need for skills development to improve this work. In addition, good collaboration between the staff and guardians is essential to achieve better results. Since newly arrived students have different needs and backgrounds, it is important to take this into account and strive for the right conditions so that a safe, inclusive social environment can be created. The school needs to work to find solutions for competence development and improved cooperation in their operations. A fascinating future research area focusing on the language development of newly arrived students is regarding tools, training, and frameworks for after-school teachers. It is about how modern digital tools such as Google Translate and AI services can support after-school teachers in creating a more inclusive learning environment.

There is evidence that language ability is related to a number of cognitive processes, including memory. This study used EEG to investigate the extent to which verbal encoding strategies account for individual differences in short-term recognition memory performance in 44 3-year-olds. As hypothesized, children with better language ability (as measured by the PPVT-III) performed better on the memory task. Analyses of EEG power at the hypothesized electrode sites were not significant, but the hypothesis that children who perform better on the recognition memory task will use more verbal encoding strategies than children who perform less well was partially supported by EEG coherence analyses. Children in the high memory group had significantly greater frontal-temporal coherence in the left hemisphere (F7-T3) than the low memory group. However, this was true both at baseline and during encoding, implying that children in the high memory group have greater overall connectivity between these brain areas and that they tend to use more verbal strategies than the low memory group, as they interact with their environments in general, not just during a memory task. / Master of Science

The purpose of this study is to contribute knowledge about preschool teachers' experiences of working with the mother tongue development of multilingual children in a preschool with several different mother tongues. It is a qualitative study with semi-structured interviews with six preschool teachers, followed by content analysis as a method to categorize the results. The study is based on sociocultural theory, with concepts such as scaffolding, tools, and mediation. Other related concepts used are mother tongue, multilingualism, and translanguaging. The results of the study show a clear ambition among the preschool teachers and a positive attitude towards working with the mother tongue development of multilingual children through the use of various available resources, as well as engaging guardians in different ways. However, the study also shows some uncertainty among a few preschool teachers who feel that this area is challenging for them and needs further development. One conclusion drawn from the study is that mother tongue development mainly depends on the preschool teacher's level of ambition and experience in this work. Additionally, the number of multilingual children in the group affects the preschool teachers' engagement and focus on the mother tongue development of this group of children to varying degrees. / Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med kunskap om förskollärares erfarenheter av att arbeta med flerspråkiga barns modersmålsutveckling i en förskola med flera olika modersmål. Det är en kvalitativ studie med semi-strukturerade intervjuer med sex förskollärare, följt av innehållsanalys som analysmetod för att kategorisera resultaten.  Studien utgår från en sociokulturell teori, med begrepp som scaffolding, redskap och mediering. Andra relaterade begrepp som används är modersmål, flerspråkighet och transspråkande.  Studiens resultat visar en tydlig ambition hos förskollärarna och en positiv inställning till att arbeta med modersmålsutveckling för flerspråkiga barn genom användning av olika tillgängliga resurser, samt genom att engagera vårdnadshavarna på olika sätt. Men studien visar även en osäkerhet hos några förskollärare som upplever att detta område utgör en utmaning för dem och behöver utvecklas ytterligare.   En slutsats som dras i studien är att modersmålsutveckling huvudsakligen vilar på förskollärarens ambitionsnivå och erfarenhet i detta arbete. Även att antalet flerspråkiga barn i barngruppen påverkar förskollärarnas engagemang och fokus på modersmålsutveckling hos denna barngrupp, i varierande grad.

Early language weaknesses are associated with increased risk for behavior challenges (Yew & O’Kearney, 2013). Comorbid language and behavior challenges are common, although the directionality and mechanisms underlying this association are unclear (Bichay-Awadalla et al., 2020; Petersen & LeBeau, 2021). In this project we investigate the association between language and problem behavior within the context of early caregiver-child interactions. We examined the degree to which child problem behavior predicts conversational turn-taking with caregivers, controlling for child language. We also compared child participation across interaction contexts, and the degree to which this was shaped by problem behavior. Finally, we evaluated the association between caregiver use of communicative repairs and child language, controlling for problem behavior. To address our research questions, we used parent-report measures of child language and behavior, as well as recorded interactions with caregiver-child dyads (N = 32) between the ages of 16 and 48 months of age. Using linear regression modeling, we found that child problem behavior was negatively associated with conversational turn-taking after adjusting for expressive language. We used negative binomial mixed effect modeling to examine participation, and found that children’s participation was significantly greater during completion of a puzzle and free play compared to book reading. There was no association between language and problem behavior on participation across contexts. We used zero-inflated binomial regression modeling to examine caregiver repair use, and failed to find significant associations with variables of interest. We conclude that problem behavior uniquely shapes the quality of early language interactions, and discuss clinical implications. / Communication Sciences

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / PURPOSE OF THE STUDY.-- To test the hypothesis that poor language achievement in children of average to better intelligence and middle class background is attributable to basic anxiety. PROCESS EMPLOYED.-- To a group of fourth-grade children of such background and intelligence there were administered a language test (composed of the subtests Information and Vocabulary of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) and three projective tests (the Gilmore Sentence Completion Test, the Bellak Children's Apperception Test, and the Machover Draw-A-Person Test) for the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the relationship, if any, between their language achievement and the degree of basic anxiety manifested in their responses to the projective tests. The number of Freudian defense mechanisms expressed in their responses to the projective tests was designated as the index of anxiety. The defense mechanisms used were selected, defined, and a glossary for their interpretations set up only after consultations with a group of child psychiatrists and child psychologists in practice in the Boston area. Their consensus of opinion was that these defense mechanisms were the ones most likely to be employed by children in this age group. They consist of the following: denial, introjection-incorporation, projection, regression, reaction-formation, displacement, and isolation. The scores resulting from the language test were divided into a High and a Low Language Group. They were then correlated with the defense mechanisms scores obtained from each of the three projective tests and with the total defense mechanisms scores resulting from all three projective tests. FINDINGS.-- The correlation of the High and Low Language Groups, taken as one, revealed no significant relationship between poor language achievement and high anxiety but did indicate a trend in the opposite direction from the one that had been hypothesized. Analysis of the verbal responses revealed that Verbal Output was the deciding factor with regard to the number of defense mechanisms expressed. However, this phenomenon was not considered as negating the original hypothesis but rather as pointing to the possibility that anxiety not only inhibited language achievement but inhibited the expression of verbal defense mechanisms as well. The separate correlation of High and Low Language Group scores with defense mechanisms scores did indicate a trend towards the hypothesized direction but not to a significant degree. The correlation of the defense mechanisms expressed in the drawings for the Draw-A-Person Test likewise failed to establish the predicted inverse relationship between anxiety and language achievement. Here again, production automatically controlled the expression of defense mechanisms, thus bringing about a situation in which those subjects who did not complete their drawings earned the lowest defense mechanisms scores. INDICATIONS OF THE STUDY.-- (1) That a more sensitive language test is needed for the purpose of establishing sharper differentiations between language achievers as a preliminary basis for similar studies. (2) That the study of the types of language employed by the subjects might be more revealing of anxiety than the utilizing of defense mechanisms as indicators of anxiety. (3) That the limiting agent in the non-verbal projective test employed (the Machover Draw-A-Person Test) may have been the anxious individual's self image. This would suggest the need for devising ways of uncovering the self image and using it as one index of anxiety. (4) That there may be a significant relationship among the self image, the type of verbal output, the quantity of verbal output, and basic anxiety. / 2999-01-01

Syftet med kunskapsöversikten var att ta reda på hur högläsning i skolan kan användas som en språkutvecklande aktivitet av läraren och hur det påverkar eleverna. Genom att sökningar har genomförts i olika databaser framkom ett urval av två avhandlingar och sju vetenskapliga artiklar som kunskapsöversiktens resultat grundades på. Avhandlingarna och de vetenskapliga artiklarna var både nationella och internationella. För att sortera urvalet gjordes en tematisk innehållsanalys som resulterade i tre olika teman som resultatet byggde på. Dessa teman var: boksamtal, bokval och lärarens roll i högläsning. Det som framkom i resultatet var att högläsning i sig inte ger en språkutvecklande effekt utan att mycket ligger på lärarens arbete med det. Metoder som beskrevs som användbara och gynnsamma för att högläsning ska bli språkutvecklande var boksamtal och bokval, dock framkom det att inte alla typer av boksamtal och bokval ger en språkutvecklande effekt. Även här beskrevs att läraren har en viktig roll för att det ska bli språkutvecklande genom att exempelvis använda öppna frågor i boksamtal och variera genre i bokvalet. Genomförs högläsning på ett språkutvecklande sätt kan bland annat elevernas ordförråd, läsförståelse och hörförståelse utvecklas. / The purpose of this literature review was to examine how reading aloud in school can be used as a language development activity by the teacher and how it affects students. The results of this review were based on two dissertations and seven scientific articles, selected by searching in different databases. The dissertations and scientific articles were both national and international. A thematic analysis was made to categories the samples, which resulted in three themes being identified. These themes were book talks, book choice, and the teacher’s role in reading aloud. The results showed that reading aloud in itself does not have a language development effect, but instead it depends on the teacher’s work with the material. Book talk and book choice were described as useful and beneficial methods to make reading aloud language developing. However, it became clear that not all types of book talks and book choice were beneficial. The teacher’s important role in language development was again described, for example through the use of open questions in book talks and by varying the genre of the choice of book. If reading aloud is carried out in a language-developing way, the students´ vocabulary, reading comprehension and listening comprehension can be developed, among other things.