No description available.

No description available.

Provincial and federal government surveys and commissions have consistently reported that English literacy training for adults with no or limited English is urgently needed and that access to training is limited. The effectiveness of existing literacy training programs and instructional strategies at the adult level has not been well researched. However, at the classroom level literacy training can be easily compromised by instructional strategies that limit the concept of full-literacy by focusing ESL literacy instruction on survival, functional and skill-building reading experiences. English and second language reading research suggests that student self-selection of reading materials and a high exposure to text are effective means of increasing vocabulary knowledge and reading proficiency. This study examined the effect of an Extensive Reading program on reading proficiency and vocabulary knowledge for 2 classes (N=33) of adult low intermediate ESL learners enrolled in a 15 week English language training program at a large Canadian community college. This quasi-experimental treatment group participated in a reading program supplemental to their regular classroom reading instruction. Subjects met weekly with the researcher and self-selected reading material from a collection of graded readers. Data on the frequency of the students' reading, their preferences in reading topics and materials and self-evaluations of their first and second language reading abilities were tallied for subjects in both groups. No statistical significant differences were found for the treatment in the analysis of assessments of reading and vocabulary. However, the experimental group posted higher gains in the group mean score on reading proficiency than the control group. Analysis of the Reading Behavior Survey suggests subjects in both groups were low frequency readers (less than 5 hours of reading time in English per week) who generally evaluated themselves fair to good readers in L2 but good to excellent readers in LI. The inconclusive results for the effect of the treatment on reading proficiency and vocabulary acquisition implies the need for future studies on the effectiveness of extensive reading programs on literacy training in ESL programs where literacy in English is a concern for students and educators.

Sweden has a growing proportion of children living in a multilingual environment. It is thus highly important that caretakers as well as professionals who meet these children have knowledge of multilingualism and its impact on language development. Also, an increase of referrals of multilingual children with suspected language impairment to speech and language pathology clinics is seen. The objective of this study was to investigate the linguistic ability in both Swedish and Arabic in a four year old child with suspected language impairment. A further aim was to implement an intensive intervention and evaluate the efficacy of it. Language testing in both languages showed that the boy’s greatest need was in the lexical domain. Thus, the intervention focused on strengthening the vocabulary within a limited number of categories. The study was performed with a single-subject design with multiple baseline assessments before intervention and efficacy measurement after the intervention. These were made with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III and the Boston Naming Test and both in Arabic and Swedish. The intervention was made in Swedish. After the intervention a significant increase in both passive and active Swedish vocabulary was seen. No transfer effect to the non-trained language was noted. / I det svenska samhället lever en växande andel barn i en flerspråkig miljö. Det är därför av stor vikt att så väl vårdnadshavare som alla professioner som möter dessa barn har kunskap om flerspråkighet och dess påverkan på barnets språkutveckling. Det har skett en ökning av remissinflödet av flerspråkiga barn med misstänkt språkstörning till logopedmottagningarna. Syftet med föreliggande studie var att undersöka den språkliga förmågan avseende såväl arabiska som svenska hos ett flerspråkigt fyraårigt barn med misstänkt språkstörning samt genomföra och värdera effekten av en intensiv intervention på svenska. En språklig testning visade att pojkens största svårigheter var i den lexikala domänen varför interventionen inriktades på att stärka ordförrådet. Studien utfördes enligt single-subject design med multipla baslinjemätningar före intervention och effektmätning efter interventionen. Baslinjemätningar och effektmätning skedde med Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III och Boston Naming Test och genomfördes på barnets både språk. Efter interventionen visade sig att såväl passivt som aktivt svenskt ordförråd har ökat signifikant. Det aktiva ordförrådet utvecklades i högre utsträckning än det passiva. Ingen signifikant skillnad mellan resultat före och efter intervention avseende arabiskan noterades. Ingen överföringseffekt till det icke tränade språket kunde således noteras.

A student's proficiency in a language is usually assessed by measuring his competence in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing. Foreign language training programs differ in the emphases placed on the development of each of these four basic language skills. Some of these differences are directly related to the specific needs of particular student populations while others are related to the method of instruction the teacher has adopted. [...]

No description available.

Young children with expressive language delay often present with limited vocabulary and reduced length of utterance. In consideration of the relationship between vocabulary and grammar, intervention that targets vocabulary may also result in improved syntax development. This study investigated whether a hybrid approach to verb-focused vocabulary intervention would result in improvements in increased use of target words, increased expressive vocabulary and/or increased sentence length. Four participants, aged two years nine months to three years six months participated in an intervention program that targeted vocabulary, specifically verbs. Number of target verbs, number of different words (NDW) used and mean length of utterance (MLU) were measured in baseline, intervention and post-intervention phases. Results indicated that all participants had increased use of targeted words and increased NDW. The majority of participants also had increased MLU. These findings suggest that verb-focused vocabulary intervention has the potential to have broad effects on the language skills of young children with expressive language delay. Further research is warranted to determine whether similar results would be found in a larger cohort. The study also raises questions around choice of intervention targets and intervention approaches for young children with expressive language delay.

This study explored relationships between vocabulary size and self-regulation and joint engagement in 28 children with multi-system developmental delay (DD) aged 2;5 (years;months) to 5;6 and a language age-matched control group of 28 typically developing (TD) children aged 0;7 to 5;6 drawn from a larger sample of 77. Parents completed the ABASII, Second Edition (ABASII; Harrison & Oakland, 2003), with the Leisure, Self-direction, and Social subtests serving as measures of self-regulation and joint engagement. Vocabulary size was measured using an adaptation of the New Zealand version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory: Toddlers (CDI; Reese & Read, 2000). Responses to the Language Use Inventory (O'Neill, 2007) were also collected for comparison with the CDI. Group differences on vocabulary size and the ABASII Social and Self-direction subtests were not significant. However, children with multi-system DD scored significantly higher on the Leisure subtest. Data from the children with multi-system DD revealed a medium, positive correlation between the CDI total score and the raw score of the Leisure subtest, r = 0.34, p = 0.075 and for the TD children a strong, positive correlation r = 0.51, p = 0.006. For the children with multi-system DD, there was a medium, positive correlation between the CDI total score and the raw score of the Self-direction subtest, r = 0.39, p = 0.038 and a strong, positive correlation for the TD children, r = 0.52, p = 0.005. Similarly, for the children with multi-system DD there was a medium, positive correlation between the CDI total score and the raw score of the Social subtest, r = 0.41, p = 0.032 and a strong, positive correlation for the TD children, r = 0.63, p < 0.001. The results suggest a positive correlation between self-regulation and joint engagement and vocabulary development in both groups of children.

Research has shown that cultural differences and the lack of experiences in the lives of young children can affect the rate of vocabulary development. In particular, children from different ability, socioeconomic status, and culturally and linguistically diverse groups are considered at risk for later academic achievement because their home experiences and word usage may be incongruent with that of the mainstream school cultural environment. Therefore, it has been suggested that to decrease the gap between children in need of vocabulary development and their typically achieving peers, instruction in vocabulary should systematically provide information about words and their uses. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a systematic vocabulary instructional technique in children with clinically depressed vocabulary skills. An additional goal was to examine the role of book type in the retention of novel vocabulary words among young African American children. Using an Adapted Alternating Treatments Design, five children were read two storybooks in the context of robust vocabulary training. Storybooks were used as a source for contextualizing novel vocabulary words. One book depicted an African American theme and images and the other depicted a Caucasian theme and images. Robust vocabulary instruction consisted of frequent and varied opportunities for word usage in meaningful contexts that stressed the relations between target words and previously acquired vocabulary. Childrens productive definitions were used to assess developing word knowledge at 4 periodic probes. Definitions were scored using a 4-stage continuum ranging from no knowledge to full concept knowledge. Results showed significant gains in word learning for novel words two weeks following conclusion of the study. The difference in scores between the instructional and control word sets resulted in a large effect size attributable to robust vocabulary instruction. African American children appeared to learn words at a deeper level from a storybook that displayed sociocultural images and experiences different from their own.

This study examined the effectiveness of the context and the direct vocabulary strategies in the acquisition of vocabulary by secondary students. Forty-eight low-ability tenth grade and eleventh grade students were divided into either the direct or context treatment group. One hundred sixty words were presented over a period of sixteen weeks using either the direct or the context vocabulary strategy. A pretest and a post test of fifty randomly selected words from the one hundred sixty words taught were administered to determine any gains in vocabulary acquisition by the students in the two treatment groups. A multivariate analysis of covariance indicated that there was no significant difference in the two different vocabulary strategies of context and direct in the acquisition of vocabulary by low-ability secondary students. / Department of Elementary Education