Summary The language of television represents a burning problem which is somewhat underemphasized, in particular with respect to the language of children programs. Television inevitably influences children and contributes to the formation of their language skills. Therefore, the language of TV programs intended for children must be as clear, accurate and comprehensive as possible and the word carried in the ether shall be vivid, expressive and conform to the rules of standard language. The subject matter of this study is the borrowed vocabulary used in TV programs for children. Based on the material collected from programs „Gustavo enciklopedija“ and „Tele bim bam“ (the study material covers eight shows of „Gustavo enciklopedija“ program and eight shows of „Tele bim bam“ program broadcast over Lithuanian TV channel in the period from September 20, 2003 to February 1, 2004), the study has attempted at defining and describing the specifics of loanwords in oral language of children programs as well as at analyzing and comparing the structure of borrowed vocabulary and its use tendencies observed with respect to TV programs „Gustavo enciklopedija“ and „Tele bim bam“. The above shall be considered as constituting the study objective. It should be noted that the language of children programs is not homogeneous. Apart from the native words, the language of children programs uses quite a number of loanwords, including the international words, new borrowings, barbarisms and... [to full text]

This master thesis presents analysis of passive vocabulary, i.e. historicisms and archaisms, found in Lithuanian –Latvian (1964; 1995) and Latvian – Lithuanian (1977; 2003) dictionaries. The mentioned language units are the names of old-fashioned, obsolete things, phenomena, concepts and realia. They are the only mouthpieces of such concepts and that is why we cannot manage without them when speaking about phenomena of the past. Besides, historicisms and archaisms are terms of history, ethnography, archeology and other studies related to the past. A number of this kind of vocabulary can be used in indirect meaning. Passive vocabulary in this thesis is classified and discussed in the aspects of lexis, morphology and topicality. Historicisms and archaisms of the Lithuanian and Latvian languages (formation, grammatical categories, synonymy of passive vocabulary) are compared. The work also analyses how passive vocabulary (systems of labels) is presented in different dictionaries (bilingual, thesauruses) and whether the authors of different lexicographical publications acknowledge the same historicisms and archaisms. The thesis is performed applying the comparative, descriptive – analytical and calculating methods. Lexical and morphological classifications of historicisms and archaisms support the idea that the passive vocabulary found in bilingual Lithuanian – Latvian and Latvian – Lithuanian dictionaries are very diverse and heterogeneous. Historicisms and archaisms noted in... [to full text]

This paper presents a case study of the strategies used for vocabulary teaching and learning in a multilingual adult education English classroom with recently arrived students in Sweden. Through classroom observations, an analysis of the textbook used, an interview with the teacher, and interviews with recently arrived students, several strategies and approaches to teaching or learning English vocabulary were found. The most common strategies for teaching vocabulary were to explain the word in the target language and to put it in context, although Swedish translations were also frequently used. Among the students’ strategies found were the use of dictionaries, flash cards, wordlists, and guessing from similar words in other languages. The students reported some difficulties with Swedish translations of English words and the use of Swedish in the classroom, albeit some also appreciated the opportunity to learn more Swedish. From these findings, some potential challenges for a multilingual classroom with recently arrived students were drawn.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of group sharing of books and related materials on the number of books borrowed, on the strengthening of reading interests, and on the improvement of vocabulary of second grade pupils.The study was conducted over a period of twelve weeks from the first pre test to the final post test.The subjects selected for the study were forty-two second grade pupils in two classes in Anthony Elementary School, Muncie, Indiana, 1969-70. The pupils had been assigned to the two classrooms by the administrator the previous spring at the close of school. The school is located near the Ball State University campus. The population consisted of white children from a middle class neighborhood. The children ranged in mental ability from 89 to 140 I.Q. The mean I.Q. was 109.9.Thirty-nine pupils completed the study. The experimental group, labeled as Group A, consisted of eleven boys and nine girls. The comparison group, labeled as Group B, contained fourteen boys and seven girls. Two of the boys moved away during the study. One boy was dropped from the study.The following null hypotheses were examined:(1) There will be no significant difference between the children of Group A and the children of Group B in the quantity of books borrowed; (2) There will be no significant differences in terms of broadening of reading interests of the children of Group x as compared to the children of Group B; (3) There will be no significant difference between the children of Group A and the children of Group B in the growth of vocabulary from the pre test to the post test.The instruments of measurement used were: (1) a book count of library books borrowed by the children during the study; (2) an interest inventory constructed by the writer; and (3) the Dolch list of 220 words.Two teachers participated in the study. Each had had previous experience with second grade children. The writer was the teacher of the experimental group.The experimental group differed from the comparison group in that, while both groups had free reading periods, only the experimental group participated in the sharing of books and related materials at the beginning of each free reading period.Some of the library books were selected by the teachers from a neighborhood library. These sets of books were exchanged between Group A and Group B. This afforded the opportunity for children of both groups to make contact with identical books. Other library books were selected by the children from the centrally located school library. A special library period each week was scheduled for both groups. Books were placed in a library corner of the classroom of Group A and of Group B.Free reading time consisted of three twenty minute periods each week. This was for the purpose of allowing the children to select and read library books. Records of the books read were kept by means of the cards which the children signed when they borrowed the books. The cards were collected by the writer each week.The interest inventory was devised by the writer. The selected seven book categories of possible interest to second grade children consisted of (1) humor, (2) farm, (3) make-believe, (4) pets, (5) family and friends,(6) cowboy, and (7) outer space. A book from each category was then selected from the school library. Each book was assessed for its most representative picture. Each child was given an interest inventory sheet which listed numbers corresponding to numbers on the books. Each child was instructed to place an X in the three boxes following the number if he liked the book "a lot"; two boxes were to be marked if he liked it "some"; one box was to be marked if he was indifferent to the book. No boxes were to be marked for that number if he disliked the book.The interest inventory was previously given to the third and first grades of Anthony Elementary School. The teachers of those classes evaluated the inventory. The interest inventory then was given to Groups A and B at the beginning and end of the study.The Dolch Vocabulary Test of 220 basic sight words was administered at the beginning and again at the end of the study to each group by the teacher in charge of that group. The entire list of 220 words was given to each group.The sharing activities of the experimental group consisted of free discussion of stories and pictures, illustrations of ideas and characters found in the books, tape recordings of the children's evaluation of books, and dramatization with the aid of puppets.Attempts were made to keep the formal reading programs of Group A and Group B the same. Both groups used The Ginn Basic Readers, Ginn and Company, as a basic reader series and The New Basic Readers, Scott Foresman and Company, as a supplementary reader series.The total number of books borrowed by Group A during the study was 858. The boys of Group A were found to have borrowed 348 and the girls borrowed 510.A total of 653 books were borrowed by Group B during the study. The boys of Group B borrowed 403 and the girls 250.Group A showed a mean of 47.667 books borrowed, while Group B showed a mean of 31.095. Simple analysis of variance was used to statistically test the difference in the number of books borrowed by each group. The F Ratio was 12.8702, which was significant at the one percent level, thus allowing the null hypothesis to be rejected.Subsequent t-Test was applied and the results showed that when comparing the number of books borrowed between boys and girls of Group A, there was a significant difference at the one percent level favoring the girls. There was also a significant difference at the one percent level favoring Group A girls when comparing girls of Group A with boys of Group B, and girls of Group A with girls of Group B in the number of books borrowed.In consideration of books borrowed there was no significant difference between boys of Group A and boys of Group B, boys of Group A and girls of Group B, or boys of Group B and girls of Group B.Simple analysis of variance was used to test the differences in the reading interests of Group A as compared to Group B as indicated through the interest inventory administered. No significant differences were found.There were no significant differences found between Group A and Group B in vocabulary growth as measured by the Dolch words when tested by simple analysis of variance.In conclusion, it can be stated that children of the experimental group had a tendency to be motivated to check out more books by group sharing of books, and that the experimental group borrowed more books than the comparison group. It may also be stated that boys of both groups tended to narrow their reading interests while girls had a tendency to broaden their reading interests during the study.While the measured vocabulary growth did not indicate significant differences between the comparison group and the experimental group, there was a tendency for the experimental group to show strength in vocabulary growth. Had the experiment been of longer duration, the growth in vocabulary might have been significant.It was noted that children of different mental abilities chose similar books. This was indicated by the result of the reading interest inventory and by the specific books borrowed.As a result of this study, it is recommended that more teachers use motivational techniques to encourage the borrowing of library books by young beginners in reading.It is suggested that boys especially have the advantage of a wide variety of books. The books selected for this study were limited by the neighborhood library and the Anthony School library.It is recommended that further studies such as this be made with large random sampling of groups and over a longer duration of time. It is suggested that a vocabulary test consisting of a wider range than the Dolch test be used as a measuring instrument. Since this study was conducted with children of a white population, whose mental abilities were normal and above, it is suggested that the study be repeated in a more controlled situation to see whether the results would be statistically similar. An inner city population might tend to show different results as related to their background experiences and interests. Another recommendation could be a change in the procedure in administering the interest inventory. Instead of children indicating interest in a book based upon a picture, the children could browse through the book. Several books in each category could be utilized.Further recommendation with regard to testing would be that the study be conducted over a longer period of time and achievement checked with standardized tests. Interest and achievement might be related.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

Research has consistently shown that ESL students lag behind their EL1 peers in English oral vocabulary skills. Despite this lag in English vocabulary skill development and the important role that vocabulary plays in key models of English writing development, recent results indicate that for ESL children becoming both orally proficient and literate in English since kindergarten, their writing achievement is on par with EL1 students. To date, no research has examined the lexical quality of ESL students’ writing across various measures, and in relation to oral vocabulary. This study examines (1) how EL1 and ESL children’s writing compares on different indices of lexical quality, and (2) whether there is an association between oral vocabulary knowledge and lexical quality in the writing of EL1 and ESL children. Results indicate that, in contrast to the differences in their respective levels of oral receptive vocabulary, EL1 and ESL children are using vocabulary of roughly the same quality in their writing. However, results did suggest that there are different patterns of associations between different vocabulary measures based on language group. / Graduate / 0282

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) have deficits in communication and delays in language development, but there have been few studies of their vocabulary. This study compared longitudinal parent report data from the MCDI collected for 49 children with ASD over three years with data from the MCDI norms. It focused on three aspects of lexical development: (1) change in lexical composition as evident in percentage of predicates/nominals; (2) order of emergence for predicate types and (3) predictive value of lexical variables for later grammatical development. ASD Groups were matched to typically developing group norms on total MCDI scores for each comparison. Subsequent analysis indicated: (1) no differences in the percentages of predicates/nominals for the two groups at 3 time points; and, (2) virtually identical orders of emergence for different predicate types with the exception of three meaning type categories—quantitative predicates, cognitive/affective predicates and predicates involving causal acts to change experiential states. Cognitive/affective predicates were found to come in somewhat later in ASD groups while quantitative predicates and predicates involving changes in experiential states came in earlier in ASD groups. This study also found (3) that lexical variables, especially number of predicates, strongly predicted grammatical complexity one year later, a process common in typical language development. The study concludes that lexical development in ASD follows the normal course, albeit later and more slowly. It also suggests that communication deficits in this population are rooted in challenges with social acts rather than from an inability to match meanings to words.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Widener University, 2006. / Adviser: Mary Strong. Includes bibliographical references.

Research paper (M.A.) -- Cardinal Stritch College -- Milwaukee, 1971. / A research paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Education (Reading Specialist). Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-49).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 66-73).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. John Murphy, committee chair; Diane Belcher, Gayle Nelson, Sara Weigle, committee members. Electronic text (288 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 9, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-273).