Incorporating Vocabulary Instruction in Individual Reading Fluency Interventions with English Language Learners

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Johnston, Lauren E.; Mercer, Sterett H.; Geres-Smith, Rhonda

2018-01-01

The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether incorporating vocabulary instruction in individual reading fluency interventions for English Language Learners (ELLs) would improve reading comprehension. Two vocabulary instructional procedures were contrasted with a fluency-building only condition in an alternating-treatments design…

Analysis of EFL Students' Ability in Reading Vocabulary of Synonyms and Antonyms

OpenAIRE

Vina Fathira

2017-01-01

Reading is an important thing for academic level. Every student must have many vocabularies to encourage her/his reading skill. The aim of this research is to analyze the students' understanding of reading vocabularies of synonyms and antonyms in the higher education level. Synonyms and antonyms are two important things should be mastered to get better reading comprehension. The method used in this research was quantitative with survey design. The population same as the sample of this researc...

A Vocabulary Learning Tool for L2 Undergraduates Reading Science and Technology Textbooks

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Hsu, Chihcheng; Yang, Fang-Chuan Ou

2013-05-01

Students of English as a second language who major in science and technology use English-language textbooks to ensure that they can read English materials upon graduation. Research indicates that teachers spend little time helping these students on the linguistic complexity of such textbooks. Vocabulary, grammar, and article structure are elements of this complexity, but to many students, these elements can be akin to locked doors. This study presents MyVLS-Reader, which focuses on unlocking the first of these doors-vocabulary-while assisting in reading. With explicit vocabulary learning, students learn and memorize individual vocabulary, but the context is lost if the depth of learning discards context. In implicit vocabulary learning, students acquire vocabulary through repeated exposure to contexts, but repeated encounters with new words are required. Few e-learning systems combine both vocabulary-learning approaches. MyVLS-Reader achieves such synergy by (1) using a keyword setting to provide context-matched vocabulary explanation while reading and (2) embedding multiple learning choices, such as keyword setting, the review and memorization of explicit vocabulary, and the option to ask instructors. This study includes two rounds of evaluations: (1) an evaluation of the learning achievements of control and treatment groups and (2) a quantitative and qualitative investigation of perceptions regarding the use of MyVLS-Reader. The evaluation results indicate that the treatment group developed a better vocabulary than the control group in significantly less time. The use of MyVLS-Reader also slightly improved higher-order thinking skills. This result suggests that MyVLS-Reader can effective assist students in building their vocabulary while reading.

Service Learning: Flooding Students with Vocabulary through Read Alouds

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Holmes, Kerry; Thompson, Judith

2014-01-01

In the spirit of the Steven Stahl 600 Book Kid Challenge, 90 preservice teachers engaged children in 36 read-aloud sessions for a vocabulary improvement service learning project. This article describes how the preservice teachers used narrative and informational books as a vehicle for rare-word vocabulary exposure for children ages 8-12.

STRATEGIES IN IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

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Khairil Razali

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary acquisition concerns on how people expand the numbers of words they understand when learning a new language. Knowing words in a second or foreign language is vitally important because the reader will be able to understand the written text well and the speaker will be able to communicate basic ideas through vocabulary even if the person does not understand how to create a grammatically correct sentence. As Madsen argued, “mastering vocabulary is the primary thing that every student should acquire in learning English” (Harold, 1983. Therefore, acquiring a sufficiently large vocabulary is one of the important tasks faced by L2 learners in order to comprehend the written texts in reading as one of the four basic features of language learning.

Vocabulary and Syntactic Knowledge Factors in 5th Grade Students' Reading Comprehension

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Niederhauser, Dale S.

2013-01-01

In this study, we examined 5th grade students' levels of vocabulary knowledge and syntactic awareness relative to their reading comprehension performance. The aim was to explore the contributions of vocabulary and syntactic awareness as potential sources of reading comprehension difficulty for these readers. Overall, we found that both vocabulary…

The Effects of Content-Enriched Shared Book Reading versus Vocabulary-Only Discussions on the Vocabulary Outcomes of Preschool Dual Language Learners

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Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn D.; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Saenz, Laura; Resendez, Nora; Kwok, Oiman; Zhu, Leina; Davis, Heather

2018-01-01

Research Findings: This study compared the effects of content-based shared book-reading instruction versus an explicit vocabulary-only condition on the vocabulary development of preschool dual language learners (DLLs). Using shared book reading as the mode of instruction, we randomly assigned 48 bilingual preschool teachers and 281…

Personalization of Reading Passages Improves Vocabulary Acquisition

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Heilman, Michael; Collins-Thompson, Kevyn; Callan, Jamie; Eskenazi, Maxine; Juffs, Alan; Wilson, Lois

2010-01-01

The REAP tutoring system provides individualized and adaptive English as a Second Language vocabulary practice. REAP can automatically personalize instruction by providing practice readings about topics that match interests as well as domain-based, cognitive objectives. While most previous research on motivation in intelligent tutoring…

Vocabulary Growth and Reading Development across the Elementary School Years [Introduction to Special Issue

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Vermeer, A.R.

2011-01-01

The associations between vocabulary growth and reading development were examined longitudinally for a representative sample of Dutch children throughout the elementary school period. Data on basic and advanced vocabulary, word decoding, and reading comprehension were collected across the different

The Role of Consulting a Dictionary in Reading and Vocabulary Learning

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Carol A. Fraser

1999-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article reviews recent research on consulting a dictionary in L2 reading and vocabulary learning. From the perspective of cognitive learning theory, the author re-evaluates the limited role that has often been accorded to dictionary consulting. It is noted that, among the three available lexical processing strategies (inferencing, consulting and ignoring, learners tend to use consulting infrequently and selectively and also to differ among each other in their strategy use. Consulting in combination with inferencing is shown to have the greatest positive effect on performance in L2 reading and vocabulary learning, although consulting is found to slow down task completion. Excerpts from think-aloud protocols illustrate the potential contribution of strategic dictionary use to the cognitive processes required for vocabulary acquisition: attention to form-meaning connections, rehearsal of words for storage in long-term memory and elaboration of associations with other knowledge. Among the pedagogical implications of these findings is the need for training in lexical processing strategies in order to help learners use the dictionary effectively and accurately in L2 reading comprehension and vocabulary learning.

The relation of linguistic awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling for first-grade students participating in response to intervention.

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Kim, Young-Suk; Apel, Kenn; Al Otaiba, Stephanie

2013-10-01

The relations of phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling were examined for 304 first-grade children who were receiving differentiated instruction in a Response to Intervention (RtI) model of instruction. First-grade children were assessed on their phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness; expressive vocabulary; word reading; and spelling. Year-end word reading and spelling were outcome variables, and phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness; expressive vocabulary; and RtI status (Tiers 1, 2, & 3) were predictor variables. The 3 linguistic awareness skills were unique predictors of word reading, and phonological and orthographic awareness were unique predictors of spelling. The contributions that these linguistic awareness skills and vocabulary made to word reading and spelling did not differ by children's RtI tier status. These results, in conjunction with previous studies, suggest that even beginning readers and spellers draw on multiple linguistic awareness skills for their word reading and spelling regardless of their level of literacy abilities. Educational implications are discussed.

Shared Reading to Build Vocabulary and Comprehension

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Kesler, Ted

2010-01-01

The author presents four approaches to shared reading that he used with first through third graders in a high-needs, urban elementary school with a large population of students from immigrant homes. Using sociocultural and cognitive constructivist principles, the author shows how these approaches built students' academic vocabulary and…

Effect of Focused Vocabulary Instruction on 7th Graders' Reading Comprehension

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Horn, Mary; Feng, Jianhua

2012-01-01

This study reports an investigation on the effects of directed vocabulary and whole class instruction on improving students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. Fifty-eight seventh grade students participated in the study, and a pre-test/post-test experimental design was employed. The results did not indicate any statistically…

Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading: A Hierarchy of Text-Related Exercise Types.

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Wesche, M.; Paribakht, T. Sima

This paper describes a classification scheme developed to examine the effects of extensive reading on primary and second language vocabulary acquisition and reports on an experiment undertaken to test the model scheme. The classification scheme represents a hypothesized hierarchy of the degree and type of mental processing required by various…

The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and Their Interest in English Toward Reading Comprehension in Descriptive Text

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Eva Faliyanti

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract :Vocabulary is one aspects  in reading comprehension. By having  a lot vocabulary, the students understand in reading comprehension. The interest in English also gives effect of students mastery in English. Before the students start to read they are must be interested in English first. Reading is one of skills in English that very essential for the students, because by reading the students can get information from the text. In this research the researcher focoses on reading comprehension in descriptive text. The problems formulation in this research are;(1 How far is the students score of ability in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (2 How far is the students score of ability in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (3 How far is the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text?. The objective of the research are; (1 To identify the students’ score in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (2 To identify the students’ score in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (3 To find out how far the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading compregension in descritive text.Theresearch was conducted at the second semester of Muhammadiyah University Students in Academic Year 2014/2015. The population of this research was 127 students. The researcher used cluster ramdom sampling in taking sample. In collecting the data the researcher used test and questionnarie, namely vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension in descriptive text. In questionnarie used to students interest in English and in analyzing the data, the researcher used Product Moment Formula.After analyzing the data by using the correlation product moment and Regression

Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition "from" and "while" Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study

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Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana

2016-01-01

Previous studies have shown that reading is an important source of incidental second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. However, we still do not have a clear picture of what happens when readers encounter unknown words. Combining offline (vocabulary tests) and online (eye-tracking) measures, the incidental acquisition of vocabulary knowledge…

The relation of linguistic awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling for first grade students participating in Response to Intervention

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Kim, Young-Suk; Apel, Kenn; Otaiba, Stephanie Al

2013-01-01

Purpose We examined the relations of phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness and vocabulary to word reading and spelling for first grade children who were receiving differentiated instruction in a Response to Intervention (RTI) model of instruction (N = 304). Method First grade children were assessed on their phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness, expressive vocabulary, word reading, and spelling. Year-end word reading and spelling were outcome variables while phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness, expressive vocabulary, and RTI status (Tiers 1, 2, & 3) were predictor variables assessed in the middle of the school year. Results The three linguistic awareness skills were unique predictors of word reading and phonological and orthographic awareness were unique predictors of spelling. The contributions these linguistic awareness skills and vocabulary made to word reading and spelling did not differ by children's RTI tier status. Conclusion These results, in conjunction with previous studies, suggest that even beginning readers and spellers draw on multiple linguistic awareness skills for their word reading and spelling regardless of their level of literacy skills. Educational implications are discussed. PMID:23833281

Unique Contributions of Maternal Reading Proficiency to Predicting Children's Preschool Receptive Vocabulary and Reading Proficiency

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Phillips, Linda M.; Norris, Stephen P.; Hayward, Denyse V.; Lovell, Meridith A.

2017-01-01

This study investigated whether mothers' measured reading proficiency and their educational level predict, over and above each other, their children's receptive vocabulary and reading proficiency when confounding factors of speaking a minority language, ethnicity, number of children in the family, and marital and employment status are controlled.…

Effects of a virtual platform in reading comprehension and vocabulary: An alternative to improve reading abilities in Elementary school

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Cecilia Thorne

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Given, on the one hand, the poor results obtained by Peruvian children in the national and international reading assessments. And on the other hand, the increased investment intechnology for schools in the country, this study aimed to develop and test an online tool to improve reading comprehension. In order to do this, the reading comprehension strategies and vocabulary activities from the research-based digital environment ICON were adapted to design the platform LEO. A total of 88 fifth graders from urban middle-to-low-income private schools from Lima participated in this quasi-experimental study, which involved acontrol group and a treatment group that participated in a 12-week teacher-mediated digital intervention. All participants were administered reading and vocabulary assessments pre and post intervention. Results revealed that students who participated in the intervention achieved higher comprehension scores for narrative texts and higher vocabulary scores than those of the control group.

The Effects of Differing Densities of Glossing on Vocabulary Uptake and Reading Comprehension

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Elvenna Majuddin

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the effects of differing densities of glossing on the uptake of target words and the comprehension of idea units from a reading text. The focus was whether different densities of glossing would create trade-off effects. Thirty-three Malaysian ESL learners were assigned to three different conditions: high-density glossing, low-density glossing, and no-glossing. Three weeks after a vocabulary pretest the participants read a text under one of the conditions, and took a reading comprehension test and a vocabulary posttest. The results revealed that there were no trade-off effects between reading comprehension and uptake of the target words. However, the glossed words did appear to detract from the uptake of un-glossed vocabulary. The results also hinted at a trade-off effect between attention given to idea units containing glossed target words, and those that did not contain glosses. The findings suggested that teachers should be aware of potential side-effects of glossing.

IV. NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB): measuring language (vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding).

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Gershon, Richard C; Slotkin, Jerry; Manly, Jennifer J; Blitz, David L; Beaumont, Jennifer L; Schnipke, Deborah; Wallner-Allen, Kathleen; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Gleason, Jean Berko; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy; Adams, Marilyn Jager; Weintraub, Sandra

2013-08-01

Mastery of language skills is an important predictor of daily functioning and health. Vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding are relatively quick and easy to measure and correlate highly with overall cognitive functioning, as well as with success in school and work. New measures of vocabulary comprehension and reading decoding (in both English and Spanish) were developed for the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB). In the Toolbox Picture Vocabulary Test (TPVT), participants hear a spoken word while viewing four pictures, and then must choose the picture that best represents the word. This approach tests receptive vocabulary knowledge without the need to read or write, removing the literacy load for children who are developing literacy and for adults who struggle with reading and writing. In the Toolbox Oral Reading Recognition Test (TORRT), participants see a letter or word onscreen and must pronounce or identify it. The examiner determines whether it was pronounced correctly by comparing the response to the pronunciation guide on a separate computer screen. In this chapter, we discuss the importance of language during childhood and the relation of language and brain function. We also review the development of the TPVT and TORRT, including information about the item calibration process and results from a validation study. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of the measures are discussed. © 2013 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Reading Vocabulary in Children with and without Hearing Loss: The Roles of Task and Word Type

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Coppens, Karien M.; Tellings, Agnes; Verhoeven, Ludo; Schreuder, Robert

2013-01-01

Purpose: To address the problem of low reading comprehension scores among children with hearing impairment, it is necessary to have a better understanding of their reading vocabulary. In this study, the authors investigated whether task and word type differentiate the reading vocabulary knowledge of children with and without severe hearing loss.…

Reading and Vocabulary Recommendations for Spanish for Native Speakers Materials.

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Spencer, Laura Gutierrez

1995-01-01

Focuses on the need for appropriate materials to address the needs of native speakers of Spanish who study Spanish in American universities and high schools. The most important factors influencing the selection of readings should include the practical nature of themes for reading and vocabulary development, level of difficulty, and variety in…

Effects of Hierarchy Vocabulary Exercises on English Vocabulary Acquisition

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Lin, Ching-Ying; Hsu, Wei Shu

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of hierarchy vocabulary exercises and copying vocabulary exercises on EFL students' vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. Two specific factors were probed: (a) vocabulary gains and retention from different exercises; (b) reading comprehension performance through different…

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition from Stories: Second and Fourth Graders Learn More from Listening than Reading

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Suggate, Sebastian P.; Lenhard, Wolfgang; Neudecker, Elisabeth; Schneider, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Both reading and language experiences contribute to vocabulary development, but questions remain as to what effect each has and when. This article investigates the effects that reading, telling and sharing a story have on vocabulary acquisition. Children (N = 37) were told nine stories in a randomized, single-blind and counterbalanced 2 × 3 mixed…

The Effects of Play-Based Intervention on Vocabulary Acquisition by Preschoolers at Risk for Reading and Language Delays

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McLeod, Ragan H.; Hardy, Jessica K.; Kaiser, Ann P.

2017-01-01

Closing the vocabulary gap for young children at risk for reading and language delays due to low socioeconomic status may have far reaching effects, as the relationship between early vocabulary knowledge and later academic achievement has been well-established. Vocabulary instruction for young children at risk for reading and language delays…

Effects of Reading Strategies and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge on Turkish EFL Learners' Text Inferencing Skills

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Çakir, Abdulvahit; Ünaldi, Ihsan; Arslan, Fadime Yalçin; Kiliç, Mehmet

2016-01-01

Within the framework of foreign language teaching and learning, reading strategies, depth of vocabulary knowledge and text inferencing skills have not been researched extensively. This study tries to fill this gap by analyzing the effects of reading strategies used by Turkish EFL learners and their depth of vocabulary knowledge on their text…

Vocabulary Instruction through Books Read in American Sign Language for English-Language Learners with Hearing Loss

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Cannon, Joanna E.; Fredrick, Laura D.; Easterbrooks, Susan R.

2010-01-01

Reading to children improves vocabulary acquisition through incidental exposure, and it is a best practice for parents and teachers of children who can hear. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing are at risk for not learning vocabulary as such. This article describes a procedure for using books read on DVD in American Sign Language with…

Reading vocabulary in children with and without hearing loss: the roles of task and word type.

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Coppens, Karien M; Tellings, Agnes; Verhoeven, Ludo; Schreuder, Robert

2013-04-01

To address the problem of low reading comprehension scores among children with hearing impairment, it is necessary to have a better understanding of their reading vocabulary. In this study, the authors investigated whether task and word type differentiate the reading vocabulary knowledge of children with and without severe hearing loss. Seventy-two children with hearing loss and 72 children with normal hearing performed a lexical and a use decision task. Both tasks contained the same 180 words divided over 7 clusters, each cluster containing words with a similar pattern of scores on 8 word properties (word class, frequency, morphological family size, length, age of acquisition, mode of acquisition, imageability, and familiarity). Whereas the children with normal hearing scored better on the 2 tasks than the children with hearing loss, the size of the difference varied depending on the type of task and word. Performance differences between the 2 groups increased as words and tasks became more complex. Despite delays, children with hearing loss showed a similar pattern of vocabulary acquisition as their peers with normal hearing. For the most precise assessment of reading vocabulary possible, a range of tasks and word types should be used.

Vocabulary Acquisition without Adult Explanations in Repeated Shared Book Reading: An Eye Movement Study

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Evans, Mary Ann; Saint-Aubin, Jean

2013-01-01

When preschoolers listen to storybooks, are their eye movements related to their vocabulary acquisition in this context? This study addressed this question with 36 four-year-old French-speaking participants by assessing their general receptive vocabulary knowledge and knowledge of low-frequency words in 3 storybooks. These books were read verbatim…

Hypertext Glosses for Foreign Language Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition: Effects of Assessment Methods

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Chen, I-Jung

2016-01-01

This study compared how three different gloss modes affected college students' L2 reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. The study also compared how results on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition may differ depending on the four assessment methods used. A between-subjects design was employed with three groups of Mandarin-speaking…

Strengthening Academic Vocabulary with Word Generation® Helps Sixth-Grade Students Improve Reading Comprehension

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Velten, Justin

2015-01-01

In this quasi-experimental study, we assessed the promise of Word Generation, a research-based academic vocabulary program, on improving the reading achievement outcomes of struggling sixth-grade readers in an after-school small group instructional setting. After 34 hours of academic vocabulary instruction, we compared the performance of a…

Translating Vocabulary Research to Social Studies Instruction: Before, during, and after Text-Reading Strategies

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Hairrell, Angela; Simmons, Deborah; Swanson, Elizabeth; Edmonds, Meaghan; Vaughn, Sharon; Rupley, William H.

2011-01-01

In the upper elementary grades, content-area text gains increasing importance as a primary source of reading and information. This article focuses on the specialized vocabulary demands of social studies texts and presents a framework of teaching and learning strategies based on vocabulary research. Strategies are introduced before, during, and…

Exploring Learner Factors in Second Language (L2) Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading

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Zhao, Aiping; Guo, Ying; Biales, Carrie; Olszewski, Arnold

2016-01-01

This study examined the predictive role of several learner factors in second language (L2) incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading: L2 proficiency, motivation, anxiety, and mastery of strategies. Participants were 129 English learners in a comprehensive university in China. Participants read two English texts and were given an…

Helping Children Learn Vocabulary during Computer-Assisted Oral Reading

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Gregory Aist

2002-04-01

Full Text Available This paper addresses an indispensable skill using a unique method to teach a critical component: helping children learn to read by using computer-assisted oral reading to help children learn vocabulary. We build on Project LISTEN’s Reading Tutor, a computer program that adapts automatic speech recognition to listen to children read aloud, and helps them learn to read (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~listen. To learn a word from reading with the Reading Tutor, students must encounter the word and learn the meaning of the word in context. We modified the Reading Tutor first to help students encounter new words and then to help them learn the meanings of new words. We then compared the Reading Tutor to classroom instruction and to human-assisted oral reading as part of a yearlong study with 144 second and third graders. The result: Second graders did about the same on word comprehension in all three conditions. However, third graders who read with the 1999 Reading Tutor, modified as described in this paper, performed statistically significantly better than other third graders in a classroom control on word comprehension gains – and even comparably with other third graders who read one-on-one with human tutors.

Effect of Content Schema, Vocabulary Knowledge, and Reading Comprehension on Translation Performance

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Reza Kafipour

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Schemata refer to all kinds of knowledge which are gained throughout the lifetime. Few studies tried to integrate schema theory and the next two crucial factors in translation and learning which are vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. Thus, the present research aimed at delineating the potential effect of these three factors on translation performance of Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training. To this end, 172 Iranian undergraduate students majoring in translator training were selected based on two-step cluster sampling. To collect data, the participants answered a set of 6 open-ended questions to measure the students’ content schema along with a vocabulary size test, reading comprehension test, and translation task. To analyze data, Pearson correlation coefficient as well as stepwise multiple regressions was conducted through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 17. Data analysis indicated that the independent variables significantly correlated with translation performance. In addition, multiple regressions analysis specified reading comprehension as the main contributing variable and content schema as the second in students’ translation performance. It also showed that vocabulary knowledge could not be a predicting factor in translation performance of the learners; the reason may refer to the inseparable component of their translation task that is dictionary. The results highlighted the role of content schema in translation performance of the learners.

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

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Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-01-01

Background Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Methods Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Results Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Conclusions Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level – a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of ‘late talkers’ resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to

Helping Remedial Readers Master the Reading Vocabulary through a Seven Step Method.

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Aaron, Robert L.

1981-01-01

An outline of seven important steps for teaching vocabulary development includes components of language development, visual memory, visual-auditory perception, speeded recall, spelling, reading the word in a sentence, and word comprehension in written context. (JN)

Variables Predicting Foreign Language Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition in a Linear Hypermedia Environment

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Akbulut, Yavuz

2007-01-01

Factors predicting vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced language learners of English in a linear multimedia text were investigated in the current study. Predictor variables of interest were multimedia type, reading proficiency, learning styles, topic interest and background knowledge about the topic. The outcome variables of…

An Experimental Study on the Effects of Different Reading Tasks on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

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Xu, Jianping

2009-01-01

This empirical study was undertaken to test the Involvement Load Hypothesis (Laufer and Hulstijn, 2001) by examining the impact of three tasks on vocabulary acquisition. It was designed to test and develop the involvement load hypothesis by examining the impact of different reading tasks on the L2 vocabulary acquisition. The results show that…

Using Vocabulary Notebooks for Vocabulary Acquisition and Teaching

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Dubiner, Deborah

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is recognized as an essential element for second language acquisition and reading comprehension. One known way to encourage and support vocabulary development amongst second language learners is keeping a vocabulary notebook. The primary purpose of the present study was to document two aspects of student teachers' own…

Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes?

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Duff, Fiona J; Reen, Gurpreet; Plunkett, Kim; Nation, Kate

2015-08-01

Strong associations between infant vocabulary and school-age language and literacy skills would have important practical and theoretical implications: Preschool assessment of vocabulary skills could be used to identify children at risk of reading and language difficulties, and vocabulary could be viewed as a cognitive foundation for reading. However, evidence to date suggests predictive ability from infant vocabulary to later language and literacy is low. This study provides an investigation into, and interpretation of, the magnitude of such infant to school-age relationships. Three hundred British infants whose vocabularies were assessed by parent report in the 2nd year of life (between 16 and 24 months) were followed up on average 5 years later (ages ranged from 4 to 9 years), when their vocabulary, phonological and reading skills were measured. Structural equation modelling of age-regressed scores was used to assess the strength of longitudinal relationships. Infant vocabulary (a latent factor of receptive and expressive vocabulary) was a statistically significant predictor of later vocabulary, phonological awareness, reading accuracy and reading comprehension (accounting for between 4% and 18% of variance). Family risk for language or literacy difficulties explained additional variance in reading (approximately 10%) but not language outcomes. Significant longitudinal relationships between preliteracy vocabulary knowledge and subsequent reading support the theory that vocabulary is a cognitive foundation of both reading accuracy and reading comprehension. Importantly however, the stability of vocabulary skills from infancy to later childhood is too low to be sufficiently predictive of language outcomes at an individual level - a finding that fits well with the observation that the majority of 'late talkers' resolve their early language difficulties. For reading outcomes, prediction of future difficulties is likely to be improved when considering family

The Relationship between Three Measures of L2 Vocabulary Knowledge and L2 Listening and Reading

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Cheng, Junyu; Matthews, Joshua

2018-01-01

This study explores the constructs that underpin three different measures of vocabulary knowledge and investigates the degree to which these three measures correlate with, and are able to predict, measures of second language (L2) listening and reading. Word frequency structured vocabulary tests tapping "receptive/orthographic (RecOrth)…

Early Vocabulary, Parental Education, and the Frequency of Shared Reading as Predictors of Toddler's Vocabulary and Grammar at Age 2;7: A Slovenian Longitudinal CDI Study

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Marjanovic-Umek, Ljubica; Fekonja-Peklaj, Urška; Socan, Gregor

2017-01-01

The aim of this longitudinal study, carried out on a sample of Slovenian-speaking toddlers, was to analyze developmental changes and stability in early vocabulary development; to establish relations between toddler's vocabulary and grammar; and to analyze the effects of parental education and the frequency of shared reading on toddlers' vocabulary…

Using Multimedia Vocabulary Annotations in L2 Reading and Listening Activities

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Jing Xu

2010-01-01

This paper reviews the role of multimedia vocabulary annotation (MVA) in facilitating second language (L2) reading and listening activities. It examines the multimedia learning and multimedia language learning theories that underlie the MVA research, synthesizes the findings on MVA in the last decade, and identifies three underresearched areas on…

Various Models for Reading Comprehension Process

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Parastoo Babashamsi

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In recent years reading can be viewed as a process, as a form of thinking, as a true experience, and as a tool subject. As a process, reading includes visual discrimination, independent recognition of word, rhythmic progression along a line of print, precision in the return sweep of the eyes, and adjustment of rate. In the same line, the present paper aims at considering the various models of reading process. Moreover, the paper will take a look at various factors such as schema and vocabulary knowledge which affect reading comprehension process.

Developmental, Component-Based Model of Reading Fluency: An Investigation of Predictors of Word-Reading Fluency, Text-Reading Fluency, and Reading Comprehension.

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Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

The primary goal was to expand our understanding of text reading fluency (efficiency or automaticity)-how its relation to other constructs (e.g., word reading fluency and reading comprehension) changes over time and how it is different from word reading fluency and reading comprehension. We examined (1) developmentally changing relations among word reading fluency, listening comprehension, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension; (2) the relation of reading comprehension to text reading fluency; (3) unique emergent literacy predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, letter name knowledge, vocabulary) of text reading fluency vs. word reading fluency; and (4) unique language and cognitive predictors (e.g., vocabulary, grammatical knowledge, theory of mind) of text reading fluency vs. reading comprehension. These questions were addressed using longitudinal data (two timepoints; Mean age = 5;24 & 6;08) from Korean-speaking children ( N = 143). Results showed that listening comprehension was related to text reading fluency at time 2, but not at time 1. At both times text reading fluency was related to reading comprehension, and reading comprehension was related to text reading fluency over and above word reading fluency and listening comprehension. Orthographic awareness was related to text reading fluency over and above other emergent literacy skills and word reading fluency. Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge were independently related to text reading fluency and reading comprehension whereas theory of mind was related to reading comprehension, but not text reading fluency. These results reveal developmental nature of relations and mechanism of text reading fluency in reading development.

The Influence of Spanish Vocabulary and Phonemic Awareness on Beginning English Reading Development: A Three-Year (K-2nd) Longitudinal Study

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Kelley, Michael F.; Roe, Mary; Blanchard, Jay; Atwill, Kim

2015-01-01

This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

The effect of shared book reading on the acquisition of expressive vocabulary of a 7 year old who uses AAC.

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Soto, Gloria; Dukhovny, Elena

2008-05-01

Children who have poor expressive vocabularies are at risk of further language delays and reading comprehension difficulties, which will significantly impact their educational achievement. The role of shared book reading in supporting vocabulary growth continues to receive empirical attention in the field of communication disorders. This single-subject study analyzes the effect of an intervention program based on shared book reading in a girl with no functional speech who used augmentative and alternative communication. The study included three literacy activities, a prereading activity to stimulate the girl's prior knowledge about the topic, a shared reading activity, and a postreading activity to assess and support language comprehension. Our findings suggest that the activities and elicitation techniques used by the clinician had a positive effect on the participant's expressive vocabulary.

The Effect of Interest in Reading on Mastery of English Vocabulary with Fifth Grade Elementary Students

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Herlina Herlina

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of this research is to find out whether there was a positive relationship between students’ interest in reading and their mastery of English vocabulary for fifth grade elementary school students at the lab school in Jakarta. This research used a quantitative method applying a co-relational approach. The population for this research was fifth grade elementary school students from three lab schools. A simple random sampling was used to select a sample of 60 students as respondents from these schools: Lab school Rawamangun in East Jakarta, Lab school Setia Budi in South Jakarta and Lab school Kebayoran also in South Jakarta. Data was collected using a questionnaire with 30 questions requiring answers on a Likert scale and 32 test items were given to each respondent. The conclusion from this research is that there was a positive and significant relationship between interest in reading and mastery of English vocabulary amongst the sample fifth grade elementary school students from these lab schools in Jakarta. Hence, students who had high interest in reading, their mastery of English vocabulary also increased.

Text-Based Vocabulary Intervention Training Study: Supporting Fourth Graders with Low Reading Comprehension and Learning Disabilities

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Solís, Michael; Scammacca, Nancy; Barth, Amy E.; Roberts, Garrett J.

2017-01-01

This experimental study examined the effectiveness of a text-based reading and vocabulary intervention with self-regulatory supports for 4th graders with low reading comprehension. Students with standard scores on the Gates MacGinitie Reading Test between 1.0 standard deviation (SD) and 0.5 SD below the normative sample were included (N=44) and…

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

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Abbas Ali Zarei; Nima Shokri Afshar

2014-01-01

Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kin...

Bilingual Dialogic Book-Reading Intervention for Preschoolers with Slow Expressive Vocabulary Development

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Tsybina, Irina; Eriks-Brophy, Alice

2010-01-01

This study examined the feasibility of using a dialogic book-reading intervention for 22-r41-month-old bilingual preschool children with expressive vocabulary delays. The intervention was provided in English and Spanish concurrently to an experimental group of six children, while six other children were in a delayed treatment control group. Thirty…

Powerful Vocabulary Acquisition through Texts Comparison

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Mohammad Reza Hasannejad

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate if dual version reading comprehension had a positive effect on Intermediate EFL students’ general vocabulary acquisition, receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary and students’ synonymous power of words. Two groups were selected - the experimental group and the control group. The study included: (1 four pretests (2 the dual version reading comprehension, and (3 four posttests. It was found that there was no significant difference between the two groups of students on the pretests. However there was a significant difference between the two groups of the students on the posttests. Overall, the dual version reading comprehension vocabulary-learning made the experimental group learners outperformed the control groups in terms of their performance on four types of vocabulary tests. This indicates that students following dual version reading comprehension were more successful in vocabulary acquisition, and developing their receptive knowledge of vocabulary, transferring their receptive knowledge in to the productive knowledge and enhancing the memorization of the synonymous words.

Development of decoding, reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years

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Aarnoutse, C.A.J.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van; Voeten, M.J.M.; Oud, J.H.L.

2001-01-01

The goal of this study was (1) to investigate the development of decoding (efficiency), reading comprehension, vocabulary and spelling during the elementary school years and (2) to determine the differences between poor, average and good performers with regard to the development of these skills.

Reading Stories to Learn Math: Mathematics Vocabulary Instruction for Children with Early Numeracy Difficulties.

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Hassinger-Das, Brenna; Jordan, Nancy C; Dyson, Nancy

2015-12-01

The present study involved examining whether a storybook reading intervention targeting mathematics vocabulary, such as "equal," "more," and "less," and associated number concepts would increase at-risk children's vocabulary knowledge and number competencies. Children with early numeracy difficulties (N = 124) were recruited from kindergarten classes in four schools. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a storybook number competencies (SNC) intervention, a number sense intervention, or a business-as-usual control. Interventions were carried out in groups of four children over 8 weeks (24 thirty-minute sessions). Findings demonstrated that the SNC intervention group outperformed the other groups on measures of mathematics vocabulary, both in terms of words that were closely aligned to the intervention and those that were not. There was no effect of the SNC intervention, however, on general mathematics measures, suggesting a need to provide the mathematics vocabulary work along with more intensive instruction in number concepts.

Embedded Instruction Improves Vocabulary Learning during Automated Storybook Reading among High-Risk Preschoolers

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Goldstein, Howard; Kelley, Elizabeth; Greenwood, Charles; McCune, Luke; Carta, Judith; Atwater, Jane; Guerrero, Gabriela; McCarthy, Tanya; Schneider, Naomi; Spencer, Trina

2016-01-01

Purpose: We investigated a small-group intervention designed to teach vocabulary and comprehension skills to preschoolers who were at risk for language and reading disabilities. These language skills are important and reliable predictors of later academic achievement. Method: Preschoolers heard prerecorded stories 3 times per week over the course…

Modeling the Nature of Grammar and Vocabulary Trajectories From Prekindergarten to Third Grade.

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Jiang, Hui; Logan, Jessica A; Jia, Rongfang

2018-04-17

This study investigated the longitudinal development of 2 important contributors to reading comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary skills. The primary interest was to examine the trajectories of the 2 skill areas from preschool to 3rd grade. The study involved a longitudinal sample of 420 children from 4 sites. Language skills, including grammar and vocabulary, were assessed annually with multiple measures. Multivariate latent growth curve modeling was used to examine the developmental trajectories of grammar and vocabulary, to test the correlation between the 2 domains, and to investigate the effects of demographic predictors on language growth. Results showed that both grammar and vocabulary exhibited decelerating growth from preschool to Grade 2. In Grade 3, grammar growth further flattened, whereas vocabulary continued to grow stably. Growth of vocabulary and grammar were positively correlated. Demographic characteristics, such as child gender and family socioeconomic status, were found to predict the intercept but not the slope of the growth trajectories. Children's growth in grammar skills is differentiated in a number of important ways from their growth in vocabulary skills. Results of this study suggest the need to differentiate these dimensions of language when seeking to closely examine growth from preschool to primary grades.

Using Different Types of Dictionaries for Improving EFL Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

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Alharbi, Majed A.

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effects of monolingual book dictionaries, popup dictionaries, and type-in dictionaries on improving reading comprehension and vocabulary learning in an EFL program. An experimental design involving four groups and a post-test was chosen for the experiment: (1) pop-up dictionary (experimental group 1); (2) type-in…

A Vocabulary Learning Tool for L2 Undergraduates Reading Science and Technology Textbooks

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Hsu, Chihcheng; Ou Yang, Fang-Chuan

2013-01-01

Students of English as a second language who major in science and technology use English-language textbooks to ensure that they can read English materials upon graduation. Research indicates that teachers spend little time helping these students on the linguistic complexity of such textbooks. Vocabulary, grammar, and article structure are elements…

MODELLING OF THE PROCESS OF TEACHING READING ENGLISH LANGUAGE PERIODICALS

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Тетяна Глушко

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The article reveals a scientifically substantiated process of teaching reading English language periodicals in all its components, which are consistently developed, and form of interconnection of the structural elements in the process of teaching reading. This process is presented as a few interconnected and interdetermined models: 1 the models of the process of acquiring standard and expressive lexical knowledge; 2 the models of the process of formation of skills to use such vocabulary; 3 the models of the development of skills to read texts of the different linguistic levels.

The Relation of Morphological Awareness and Syntactic Awareness to Adults' Reading Comprehension: Is Vocabulary Knowledge a Mediating Variable?

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Guo, Ying; Roehrig, Alysia D.; Williams, Rihana S.

2011-01-01

The authors' goal was to examine the structural relationships among vocabulary knowledge, morphological awareness, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension in English-speaking adults. Structural equation analysis of data collected from 151 participants revealed that morphological awareness affected reading comprehension directly. Syntactic…

The Impact of Vocabulary Enhancement Activities on Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention among Male and Female EFL Learners in Iran

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Sharafi-Nejad, Maryam; Raftari, Shohreh; Bijami, Maryam; Khavari, Zahra; Ismail, Shaik Abdul Malik Mohamed; Eng, Lin Siew

2014-01-01

In general, incidental vocabulary acquisition is represented as the "picking up" of new vocabularies when students are engaged in a variety of reading, listening, speaking, or writing activities. Research has shown when learners read extensively incidental vocabulary acquisition happens. Many EFL students cannot be involved in reading…

A Mixed-Methods Approach to Investigating First- and Second-Language Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through the Reading of Fiction

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Reynolds, Barry Lee

2015-01-01

Adult English-L1 (n = 20) and English-L2 (n = 32) experimental groups were given a novel containing nonce words to read within two weeks to investigate whether the reading of fiction can induce a state of incidental vocabulary acquisition. After reading, an unexpected meaning recall translation assessment measuring acquisition of 49 target nonce…

The Relationship between SES and Reading Comprehension in Chinese: A Mediation Model

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Yahua Cheng

2017-04-01

Full Text Available An increasing body of research provides evidence that socioeconomic status (SES was significantly related to children’s reading development; however, the psychological mechanism underlying the association between them remained an open question. The present study is designed to test the hypothesized three-path effect of vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness as mediators between SES and sentence reading comprehension in Chinese first-graders. Results of mediation model showed that SES exerted its effect on sentence reading comprehension through the indirect path via the simple mediating effect of morphological awareness and the three-path mediating effect of vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness. The findings highlight a previously unidentified mechanism of the relationship between SES and reading comprehension in Chinese young children.

Scaffolding and co-operative learning : Effects on reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge in English as a foreign language

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Wachyunni, Sri

2015-01-01

For university students in Indonesia, English reading comprehension, which partially depends on vocabulary knowledge, is key to success in academic achievement. The current study was set up to compare the effect of two commonly known teaching interventions during a whole semester to improve reading

Developmental relations between reading comprehension and reading strategies

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Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, W.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Jong, P.F. de

2017-01-01

We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary, and working memory were administered. A structural equation model was constructed to estimate the unique relations between reading strategies and reading comprehension, while controlling for reading...

The Effects of Target Word Properties on the Incidental Acquisition of Vocabulary through Reading

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Reynolds, Barry Lee

2016-01-01

The primary aim of this investigation was to determine what combination of target word variables (frequency, patternedness, length, cognateness, lexicalization) could best predict the difficulty of incidentally acquiring vocabulary through reading. A group of adult English First Language (EL1) (n = 20) and adult English as a Foreign Language (EFL)…

Integrating Curriculum through the Learning Cycle: Content-Based Reading and Vocabulary Instruction

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Spencer, Brenda H.; Guillaume, Andrea M.

2006-01-01

The content areas provide rich contexts for developing vocabulary. This article presents some principles and a lesson model--the learning cycle--that can be used to develop vocabulary while building understanding in science. Because science instruction and the learning cycle model promote learning in real-world contexts, they provide students with…

Using an Online Vocabulary Memorization Tool versus Traditional Vocabulary Exercises

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Arif Bakla

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This study was conducted to reveal what Memrise, an online vocabulary study tool, can offer to upper-intermediate EFL learners compared to traditional vocabulary exercises in L2 vocabulary learning. Two groups of upper-intermediate learners (N=80 were randomly assigned to the experimental group and the control group and were given the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale, VKS for short, as the pre-test and post-test. The participants in both groups were exposed to the target vocabulary items in the same reading text. While those in the experimental group created list of target vocabulary items collaboratively in Memrise and then studied the sets individually, the learners in the control group did traditional vocabulary exercises. The results of the post-tests indicated that there was a significant difference between the control group and the experimental group in favor of the experimental group. The researchers discuss possible pedagogical implications of this significant finding for EFL vocabulary instruction.

The Correlation Between Students’Vocabulary Mastery and Their Interest in English Toward Reading Comprehension in descriptive Text at the Second Semester of Muhammadiyah University of Metro Academic Year 2014/2015

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Eva Faliyanti

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Abstarct -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vocabulary is one aspects  in reading comprehension. By having  a lot vocabulary, the students understand in reading comprehension. The interest in English also gives effect of students mastery in English. Before the students start to read they are must be interested in English first. Reading is one of skills in English that very essential for the students, because by reading the students can get information from the text. In this research the researcher focoses on reading comprehension in descriptive text. The problems formulation in this research are; (1 How far is the students score of ability in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (2 How far is the students score of ability in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text? (3 How far is the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text?. The objective of the research are; (1 To identify the students’ score in vocabulary mastery toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (2 To identify the students’ score in students interest in English toward reading comprehension in descriptive text. (3 To find out how far the correlation between students’ score of vocabulary mastery and students interest in English toward reading compregension in descritive text. The research was conducted at the second semester of Muhammadiyah University Students in Academic Year 2014/2015. The population of this research was 127 students. The researcher used cluster ramdom sampling in taking sample. In collecting the data the researcher used test and questionnarie, namely vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension in descriptive text. In questionnarie used to students interest in English and in analyzing the data, the

Orthographic Mapping in the Acquisition of Sight Word Reading, Spelling Memory, and Vocabulary Learning

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Ehri, Linnea C.

2014-01-01

Orthographic mapping (OM) involves the formation of letter-sound connections to bond the spellings, pronunciations, and meanings of specific words in memory. It explains how children learn to read words by sight, to spell words from memory, and to acquire vocabulary words from print. This development is portrayed by Ehri (2005a) as a sequence of…

Assessing roles of vocabulary knowledge predominating in contextual clues

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Patcharawadee Promduang

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and the use of contextual clues and whether EFL learners who are well-equipped with reading skills are able to comprehend the text despite a low level of vocabulary knowledge. Therefore, the study focused on which vocabulary dimensions help students guess unfamiliar words. The study was carried out at Hatyai University in Thailand. The population of this study consisted of 34 undergraduates who were studying International Business English and had taken a course in reading techniques. The present study was conducted to conceptually validate the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge to improve skills by contextual clue. Vocabulary Depth was specially employed to evaluate two dimensions namely Paradigmatic and Syntagmatic. The Schmitt and Clapham Vocabulary Level Test was used to test vocabulary breadth, while the vocabulary depth was implemented by Read’s Vocabulary Depth Test. Reading parts of the TOEFL were adopted for contextual clue items. There were two statistical analysis tools also implemented in this study: paired-sample t-test and bivariate correlation. First, in an attempt to find which vocabulary dimension predominates in guessing word meaning from the text, a paired-sample t-test was utilized to compare the difference of two vocabulary dimensions in reading part: vocabulary depth and contextual clues, and vocabulary breadth and contextual clues. Second, a bivariate correlation was used to find the degree of relationship between vocabulary knowledge and contextual clues. The consequences of this study identified empirical results that 1 there was a positive relationship between contextual clues and vocabulary depth, the reverse is true in vocabulary breadth. Moreover, vocabulary depth is more significantly crucial than breadth to enhance student’s ability to guess words’ meaning from the context.

Direct and Indirect Teaching: Using E-Books for Supporting Vocabulary, Word Reading, and Story Comprehension for Young Children

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Korat, Ofra; Shamir, Adina

2012-01-01

We examine the effect of direct and indirect teaching of vocabulary and word reading on pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children following use of an electronic storybook (e-book). The children in each age group were randomly assigned to an intervention group which read the e-book or to a control group which was afforded the regular school…

Cybertext Redux: Using Digital Game-Based Learning to Teach L2 Vocabulary, Reading, and Culture

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Neville, David O.; Shelton, Brett E.; McInnis, Brian

2009-01-01

The essay reports on a mixed-methods study using an interactive fiction (IF) game to teach German vocabulary, reading, and culture to university students. The study measured knowledge retention and transfer, and evaluated the attitudes of students toward the game. The results tentatively indicate that contextualized, immersive role play may have…

Textual and Pictorial Glosses: Effectiveness on Incidental Vocabulary Growth When Reading in a Foreign Language.

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Kost, Claudia R.; Foss, Pamelo; Lenzini, John J.

1999-01-01

Investigates the effects of pictorial and textual glosses and a combination thereof on incidental vocabulary growth of foreign language learners. Subjects from second-semester German classes read a narrative text passage under one of three marginal gloss conditions: textual gloss (English translation); pictorial gloss; and text and pictures in the…

PROMOTING INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH VERBAL DRAMATIZATION OF WORDS

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Looi-Chin Ch’ng

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Despite the fact that explicit teaching of vocabulary is often practised in English as a Second Language (ESL classrooms, it has been proven to be rather ineffective, largely because words are not taught in context. This has prompted the increasing use of incidental vocabulary learning approach, which emphasises on repeated readings as a source for vocabulary learning. By adopting this approach, this study aims to investigate students’ ability in learning vocabulary incidentally via verbal dramatization of written texts. In this case, readers’ theatre (RT is used as a way to allow learners to engage in active reading so as to promote vocabulary learning. A total of 160 diploma students participated in this case study and they were divided equally into two groups, namely classroom reading (CR and RT groups. A proficiency test was first conducted to determine their vocabulary levels. Based on the test results, a story was selected as the reading material in the two groups. The CR group read the story through a normal reading lesson in class while the RT group was required to verbally dramatize the text through readers’ theatre activity. Then, a post-test based on vocabulary levels was carried out and the results were compared. The findings revealed that incidental learning was more apparent in the RT group and their ability to learn words from the higher levels was noticeable through higher accuracy scores. Although not conclusive, this study has demonstrated the potential of using readers’ theatre as a form of incidental vocabulary learning activity in ESL settings.

Vocabulary skills are well developed in university students with dyslexia: Evidence from multiple case studies.

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Cavalli, Eddy; Casalis, Séverine; El Ahmadi, Abdessadek; Zira, Mélody; Poracchia-George, Florence; Colé, Pascale

2016-01-01

Most studies in adults with developmental dyslexia have focused on identifying the deficits responsible for their persistent reading difficulties, but little is known on how these readers manage the intensive exposure to written language required to obtain a university degree. The main objective of this study was to identify certain skills, and specifically vocabulary skills, that French university students with dyslexia have developed and that may contribute to their literacy skills. We tested 20 university students with dyslexia and 20 normal readers (matched on chronological age, gender, nonverbal IQ, and level of education) in reading, phonological, vocabulary breadth (number of known words), and vocabulary depth (accuracy and precision) tasks. In comparing vocabulary measures, we used both Rasch model and single case study methodologies. Results on reading and phonological tasks confirmed the persistence of deficits in written word recognition and phonological skills. However, using the Rasch model we found that the two groups performed at the same level in the vocabulary breadth task, whereas dyslexics systematically outperformed their chronological age controls in the vocabulary depth task. These results are supplemented by multiple case studies. The vocabulary skills of French university students with dyslexia are well developed. Possible interpretations of these results are discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of dictionary training on Turkish EFL students' reading comprehension and vocabulary learning

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Altun, Arif

1995-01-01

Ankara : The Institute of Economic and Social Sciences of Bilkent Univ., 1995. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1995. Includes bibliographical references leaves 55-59 The present study investigated the effects of monolingual dictionary training on Turkish EFL students' reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Thirty-seven intermediate-level Turkish EFL preparatory students in the Department of English Language Teaching at Mustafa Kemal University participated in this st...

A Study of the Vocabulary Adequacy of College Student Education Majors for Reading "Reader's Digest."

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Greif, Ivo P.

Doubts about the reading vocabulary adequacies of today's high school graduates led to an experiment with a list of 199 difficult words culled from the "Reader's Digest." College juniors and seniors (298 in the first stage and 388 in the second stage) were asked to indicate whether they knew the pronunciation and the meaning of the…

The Importance of SES, Home and School Language and Literacy Practices, and Oral Vocabulary in Bilingual Children's English Reading Development

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Howard, Elizabeth R.; Páez, Mariela M.; August, Diane L.; Barr, Christopher D.; Kenyon, Dorry; Malabonga, Valerie

2014-01-01

This study explores the role that socioeconomic status (SES), home and school language and literacy practices, and oral vocabulary play in the development of English reading skills in Latino English language learners (ELLs) and how these factors contribute differentially to English reading outcomes for children of different ages and in different…

The Effects of a Web-Based Vocabulary Development Tool on Student Reading Comprehension of Science Texts

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Karen Thompson

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The complexities of reading comprehension have received increasing recognition in recent years. In this realm, the power of vocabulary in predicting cognitive challenges in phonological, orthographic, and semantic processes is well documented. In this study, we present a web-based vocabulary development tool that has a series of interactive displays, including a list of the 50 most frequent words in a particular text, Google image and video results for any combination of those words, definitions, and synonyms for particular words from the text, and a list of sentences from the text in which particular words appear. Additionally, we report the results of an experiment that was performed working collaboratively with middle school science teachers from a large urban district in the United States. While this experiment did not show a significant positive effect of this tool on reading comprehension in science, we did find that girls seem to score worse on a reading comprehension assessment after using our web-based tool. This result could reflect prior research that suggests that some girls tend to have a negative attitude towards technology due to gender stereotypes that give girls the impression that they are not as good as boys in working with computers.

Effects of Adapted Dialogic Reading on Oral Language and Vocabulary Knowledge of Latino Preschoolers at Risk for English Language Delays

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Correa, Vivian I.; Lo, Ya-Yu; Godfrey-Hurrell, Kristi; Swart, Katie; Baker, Doris Luft

2015-01-01

In this single-case design study, we examined the effects of an adapted dialogic reading intervention on the oral language and vocabulary skills of four Latino preschool children who were at risk for English language delays. We used adapted dialogic reading strategies in English and two literacy games that included a rapid naming activity and…

Predicting Ethnic Minority Children's Vocabulary from Socioeconomic Status, Maternal Language and Home Reading Input: Different Pathways for Host and Ethnic Language

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Prevoo, Mariëlle J. L.; Malda, Maike; Mesman, Judi; Emmen, Rosanneke A. G.; Yeniad, Nihal; Van Ijzendoorn, Marinus; Linting, Mariëlle

2014-01-01

When bilingual children enter formal reading education, host language proficiency becomes increasingly important. This study investigated the relation between socioeconomic status (SES), maternal language use, reading input, and vocabulary in a sample of 111 six-year-old children of first- and second-generation Turkish immigrant parents in the…

MULTIMEDIA LEARNING IMPLEMENTATION AND VOCABULARY MASTERY FOR ENHANCHING STUDENTS’ JAPANESE LANGUAGE READING SKILL AT SMKN 1 PURWOKERTO

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Haryono Haryono

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The present research is the implementation of the 2013 doctoral disertation report funded by DIKTI. The research is a part of IPTEKS scheme for community devotion that have strong relation to language education technology. It concern with the use of multimedia learning and vocabulary mastery on students’ Japanese language  reading skills at SMK 1 Purwokerto. The method is implemented experimentally by giving multimedia learning treatment such as Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More Japanese. Through some presentation with the use of those multimedia learning material, the purpose of this research is to know the extent to which the level of their vocabulary mastery and to encourage students in order to have an approriate skill to read Japanese documents. With the implementation of this multimedia learning training, graduate students of SMK Negeri I Purwokerto will be increased and for the future they have a good job at Japanese companies in Indonesia

The Impact of Topic Interest, L2 Proficiency, and Gender on EFL Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading

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Lee, Sunjung; Pulido, Diana

2017-01-01

This study investigated the impact of topic interest, alongside L2 proficiency and gender, on L2 vocabulary acquisition through reading. A repeated-measures design was used with 135 Korean EFL students. Control variables included topic familiarity, prior target-word knowledge, and target-word difficulty (word length, class, and concreteness).…

The Impact of a Systematic and Explicit Vocabulary Intervention in Spanish with Spanish-Speaking English Learners in First Grade

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Cena, Johanna; Baker, Doris Luft; Kame'enui, Edward J.; Baker, Scott K.; Park, Yonghan; Smolkowski, Keith

2013-01-01

This study examined the impact of a 15-min daily explicit vocabulary intervention in Spanish on expressive and receptive vocabulary knowledge and oral reading fluency in Spanish, and on language proficiency in English. Fifty Spanish-speaking English learners who received 90 min of Spanish reading instruction in an early transition model were…

The effect of extensive reading and paired-associate learning on long-term vocabulary retention: an event-related potential study.

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Chun, Eunjin; Choi, Sungmook; Kim, Junsoo

2012-07-19

We investigated the relative efficacy of extensive reading (ER) and paired-associate learning (PAL) in the ability of second language (L2) learners to retain new vocabulary words. To that end, we combined behavioral measures (i.e., vocabulary tests) and an event-related potential (ERP) investigation with a focus on the N400 ERP component to track short- and long-term vocabulary retention as a consequence of the two different approaches. Behavioral results indicated that both ER and PAL led to substantial short-term retention of the target words. In contrast, on a long-term basis, ER was more effective than PAL to a considerable degree as indicated by a large-size effect (d=1.35). Evidence from the N400 effects (d=1.70) observed in the parietal electrode group (P3, Pz, P4) provided further support for the superior effects of ER over PAL on long-term vocabulary retention. The converging evidence challenges the assumptions of some L2 researchers and makes a significant contribution to the literature of vocabulary acquisition, because it provides the first ERP evidence that ER is more conducive to long-term vocabulary retention than PAL. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

DESIGNING AND BUILDING EXERCISE MODEL OF TECHNICAL ENGLISH VOCABULARIES USING CALL (COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING

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Yogi Widiawati

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The research is aimed to assist and facilitate the students of Electrical and Electronics Department of Politeknik Negeri Jakarta (State Polytechnics of Jakarta, Indonesia, in learning technical English vocabulary. As technical students, they study ESP (English for Specific Purposes and they find some obstacles in memorizing technical vocabularies which are very important in order to read and understand manual books for laboratory and workshop. Some English technical vocabularies among others are “generate”, “pile”, “bench”, et cetera. The research outcome is software which will be beneficial for technical students, especially electrical and electronics students. This software can be used to practice their vocabulary skills, so they will be more skillful and knowledgeable. This software is designed by using the program of Rapid E-Learning Suite Version 5.2 and Flash CS3. The software practice contains some exercises on reading text and reading comprehension questions and presented with the multiple answers. This software is handy and flexible because students can bring it anywhere and be studied anytime. It is handy because this software is put and saved in CD (compact disc, so the students can take it with them anywhere and anytime they want to learn. In other words, they have flexibility to learn and practice English Technical Vocabularies. As a result, the students are found one of the ways to overcome their problems of memorizing vocabularies. The product is a kind of software which is easily used and portable so that the students can use the software anywhere and anytime. It consists of 3 (three sections of exercises. At the end of each exercise, the students are evaluated automatically by looking at the scoring system. These will encourage them to get good score by repeating it again and again. So the technical words are not problem for them. Furthermore, the students can practice technical English vocabulary both at home and

The Effectiveness of Synectics Instructional Model on Foreign Language Vocabulary Teaching

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Bahadır

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study, which is an experimental research with pre-test and post-test control groups, aims to determine the effectiveness of the Synectics Instructional Model on foreign language vocabulary teaching. The research was conducted with two experimental and two control groups and 82 students taking part in these groups. The experimental application of the research was carried out during the fall semester of 2016-2017, with a total of 16 class hours in English reading course in English preparatory class. Research data was gathered from an English vocabulary achievement test which was designed by the researchers. In the process of analyzing the research data, dependent and independent t-tests, Cohen’s d effect size test and thematic analysis were used. The major findings reveal that Synectics based vocabulary teaching has a strong effect on the level of learning and the persistence of the learning. On the other hand, there is a considerable difference between the numbers of the words that students learn indirectly in the process in favor of the experimental group students. Finally, the analysis also reveals that the experimental and control group students have variability in terms of the thematic diversity and semantic equivalence of the words learned indirectly in the process.

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review

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Falcon Dario Restrepo Ramos

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This literature review aims to analyze previous studies that address the incidental learning of vocabulary in second language acquisition. The articles included in this literature review look into the understanding of vocabulary learning through incidental means, the relationship of reading and incidental vocabulary learning, and the strategies and tasks that promote the incidental learning of vocabulary. The findings show that L2 learners develop much of their vocabulary by incidental means through exposure to words in informative contexts. Moreover, this exposure is promoted by reading, and enhanced through multimodal glosses. Further research may focus on listening for higher lexical retention rates, the circumstances that allow incidental learning of multi-word phrases and collocations, and the use of technology-based methods for incidental vocabulary acquisition.

Extensive Reading of Children’s Literature in First, Second, and Foreign Language Vocabulary Acquisition

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Dominic Cheetham

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Extensive reading of children’s literature can be seen as one of the most powerful means to acquiring a large working vocabulary for both first language learners and second language learners. However, for foreign language learners, children’s literature has a less positive image. For foreign language learners the most commonly recommended reading is of graded readers. Corpus research has shown that work for children has a wide range of rare words, comparable to adult literature, and this leads to the argument that children’s literature puts too great a comprehension and memory strain on foreign language learners, and is an inefficient learning tool compared to graded readers. This paper reviews existing research and examines the arguments for children’s literature in language learning in terms of some features of naturalistic child reading behaviour, and the stylistic choices of writers for children. Replication of child reading behaviours in conjunction with the aid to comprehension and memory inherent in stylistic choices, combined with motivational and practical considerations, are argued to make children’s literature an equal, if not superior choice as extended reading material for foreign language learners.

Does the Freedom of Reader Choice Affect Second Language Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition?

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Reynolds, Barry Lee; Bai, Yi Ling

2013-01-01

In this study, the effect of freedom of reader choice on the incidental acquisition of vocabulary was investigated in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) reading classes. Despite advocating free extensive reading as a means of obtaining a native-like L2 vocabulary,existing studies investigating the incidental acquisition of vocabulary have not…

Examining Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition by Person-and Item-Level Factors in Secondary Students

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Cooper, Jennifer LeeAnn

2016-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is central to the process of reading comprehension (Cromely & Azevedo, 2007; Stahl & Nagy, 2005; Stanovich, 1986). The majority of our vocabulary knowledge is postulated to come from the process of incidental vocabulary acquisition (IVA) while reading (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). Prior studies have estimated an average…

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds on fourth grader's depth of content area science vocabulary knowledge and comprehension

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Hanna, Tania Tamara

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds as a supplement to basal science textbooks on three vocabulary measures, definitions, examples, and characteristics, and one multiple-choice comprehension measure were assessed for 127 fourth graders over three time periods: pretest, posttest, and a 2-week delayed posttest. Two of three fourth-grade elementary science teachers implemented a series of 12 content-enhanced guided interactive scripted lessons. Two of these teachers implemented two treatments each. The first condition employed basal science textbooks as the text for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds while the second treatment employed basal science textbooks in conjunction with nonfiction text sets as the texts for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds. The third teacher, guided by traditional lesson plans, provided students with silent independent reading instruction using basal science textbooks. Multivariate analyses of variance and analyses of variance tests showed that mean scores for both treatment groups significantly improved on definitions and characteristics measures at posttest and either stabilized or slightly declined at delayed posttest. The treatment-plus group lost considerably on the examples posttest measure. The treatment group improved mean scores on the examples posttest measure, outperforming the treatment-plus group and the control group. Alternately, the control group significantly improved on the delayed posttest examples measure. Additionally, the two groups implementing guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds performed better than the independent reading group on multiple-choice comprehension measures at posttest and sustained those gains 2 weeks later on delayed posttests. Findings maintain the incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition and development research and emphasize the roles of listening and speaking as critical features for integrating vocabulary into long

A New Twist on Vocabulary Instruction for Students with Learning Disabilities in Biology

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Grillo, Kelly J.; Dieker, Lisa A.

2013-01-01

An essential element of science instruction is content literacy. In order to improve literacy specific to science, vocabulary must be addressed. As Jitendra et al. (2004) pointed out, "because learning vocabulary during independent reading is very inefficient for students with reading difficulties, vocabulary and word learning skills must be…

Assessing reading comprehension with narrative and expository texts: Dimensionality and relationship with fluency, vocabulary and memory.

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Santos, Sandra; Cadime, Irene; Viana, Fernanda L; Chaves-Sousa, Séli; Gayo, Elena; Maia, José; Ribeiro, Iolanda

2017-02-01

Reading comprehension assessment should rely on valid instruments that enable adequate conclusions to be taken regarding students' reading comprehension performance. In this article, two studies were conducted to collect validity evidence for the vertically scaled forms of two Tests of Reading Comprehension for Portuguese elementary school students in the second to fourth grades, one with narrative texts (TRC-n) and another with expository ones (TRC-e). Two samples of 950 and 990 students participated in Study 1, the study of the dimensionality of the TRC-n and TRC-e forms, respectively. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence of an acceptable fit for the one-factor solution for all test forms. Study 2 included 218 students to collect criterion-related validity. The scores obtained in each of the test forms were significantly correlated with the ones obtained in other reading comprehension measures and with the results obtained in oral reading fluency, vocabulary and working memory tests. Evidence suggests that the test forms are valid measures of reading comprehension. © 2016 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Motivate Students to Engage in Word Study Using Vocabulary Games

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Wells, Jenny C.; Narkon, Drue E.

2011-01-01

Vocabulary instruction across the content areas aids reading comprehension, making it time well spent in the classroom. Although students with learning disabilities (LD) need many practice opportunities to learn new words, engaging them in vocabulary instruction may prove challenging. Due to their past difficulties in acquiring reading skills,…

Comparing Multidimensional and Continuum Models of Vocabulary Acquisition: An Empirical Examination of the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

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Stewart, Jeffrey; Batty, Aaron Olaf; Bovee, Nicholas

2012-01-01

Second language vocabulary acquisition has been modeled both as multidimensional in nature and as a continuum wherein the learner's knowledge of a word develops along a cline from recognition through production. In order to empirically examine and compare these models, the authors assess the degree to which the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS;…

Predictors of Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers: The Case of Spanish-speaking Language Minority Learners.

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Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K

2010-08-01

This longitudinal study examined the process of English reading comprehension at age 11 for 173 low achieving Spanish-speaking children. The influence of growth rates, from early childhood (age 4.5) to pre-adolescence (age 11), in vocabulary and word reading skills on this complex process were evaluated using structural equation modeling. Standardized measures of word reading accuracy and productive vocabulary were administered annually, in English and Spanish, and English reading comprehension measures were administered at age 11. Latent growth curve analyses revealed that English skills accounted for all unique variance in English reading comprehension outcomes. Further, expected developmental shifts in the influence of word reading and vocabulary skills over time were not shown, likely on account of students' below grade level reading comprehension achievement. This work underscores the need for theoretical models of comprehension to account for students' skill profiles and abilities.

The Effects of Word Exposure Frequency and Elaboration of Word Processing on Incidental L2 Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading

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Eckerth, Johannes; Tavakoli, Parveneh

2012-01-01

Research on incidental second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition through reading has claimed that repeated encounters with unfamiliar words and the relative elaboration of processing these words facilitate word learning. However, so far both variables have been investigated in isolation. To help close this research gap, the current study…

Implicit and Explicit Cognitive Processes in Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

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Ender, Andrea

2016-01-01

Studies on vocabulary acquisition in second language learning have revealed that a large amount of vocabulary is learned without an overt intention, in other words, incidentally. This article investigates the relevance of different lexical processing strategies for vocabulary acquisition when reading a text for comprehension among 24 advanced…

Crossword Puzzles as a Learning Tool for Vocabulary Development

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Orawiwatnakul, Wiwat

2013-01-01

Introduction: Since vocabulary is a key basis on which reading achievement depends, various vocabulary acquisition techniques have become pivotal. Among the many teaching approaches, traditional or otherwise, the use of crossword puzzles seems to offer potential and a solution for the problem of learning vocabulary. Method: This study was…

Comparing dictionary-induced vocabulary learning and inferencing ...

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This research examines dictionary-induced vocabulary learning and inferencing in the context of reading. One hundred and four intermediate English learners completed one of two word-focused tasks: reading comprehension and dictionary consultation, and reading comprehen-sion and inferencing. In addition to ...

Developmental Relations Between Reading Comprehension and Reading Strategies

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Muijselaar, M.; Swart, N.M.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G,.; Droop, M.; Verhoeven, L.; de Jong, P.F.

2017-01-01

We examined the developmental relations between knowledge of reading strategies and reading comprehension in a longitudinal study of 312 Dutch children from the beginning of fourth grade to the end of fifth grade. Measures for reading comprehension, reading strategies, reading fluency, vocabulary,

Using the MoodleReader as an Extensive Reading Tool and Its Effect on Iranian EFL Students' Incidental Vocabulary Learning

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Alavi, Sepideh; Keyvanshekouh, Afsaneh

2012-01-01

The present study focused on using the MoodleReader to promote extensive reading (ER) in an Iranian EFL context, emphasizing its effect on students' incidental vocabulary acquisition. Thirty eight Shiraz University sophomores were assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group used the MoodleReader for their ER program, while…

What Is the Influence of Morphological Knowledge in the Early Stages of Reading Acquisition Among Low SES Children? A Graphical Modeling Approach

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Pascale Colé

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Children from low-SES families are known to show delays in aspects of language development which underpin reading acquisition such as vocabulary and listening comprehension. Research on the development of morphological skills in this group is scarce, and no studies exist in French. The present study investigated the involvement of morphological knowledge in the very early stages of reading acquisition (decoding, before reading comprehension can be reliably assessed. We assessed listening comprehension, receptive vocabulary, phoneme awareness, morphological awareness as well as decoding, word reading and non-verbal IQ in 703 French first-graders from low-SES families after 3 months of formal schooling (November. Awareness of derivational morphology was assessed using three oral tasks: Relationship Judgment (e.g., do these words belong to the same family or not? heat-heater … ham-hammer; Lexical Sentence Completion [e.g., Someone who runs is a …? (runner]; and Non-lexical Sentence Completion [e.g., Someone who lums is a…? (lummer]. The tasks differ on implicit/explicit demands and also tap different kinds of morphological knowledge. The Judgement task measures the phonological and semantic properties of the morphological relationship and the Sentence Completion tasks measure knowledge of morphological production rules. Data were processed using a graphical modeling approach which offers key information about how skills known to be involved in learning to read are organized in memory. This modeling approach was therefore useful in revealing a potential network which expresses the conditional dependence structure between skills, after which recursive structural equation modeling was applied to test specific hypotheses. Six main conclusions can be drawn from these analyses about low SES reading acquisition: (1 listening comprehension is at the heart of the reading acquisition process; (2 word reading depends directly on phonemic awareness and

Effects of Multimedia Annotations on Incidental Vocabulary Learning and Reading Comprehension of Advanced Learners of English as a Foreign Language

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Akbulut, Yavuz

2007-01-01

The study investigates immediate and delayed effects of different hypermedia glosses on incidental vocabulary learning and reading comprehension of advanced foreign language learners. Sixty-nine freshman TEFL students studying at a Turkish university were randomly assigned to three types of annotations: (a) definitions of words, (b) definitions…

Facilitating vocabulary acquisition of young English language learners.

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Lugo-Neris, Mirza J; Jackson, Carla Wood; Goldstein, Howard

2010-07-01

This study examined whether English-only vocabulary instruction or English vocabulary instruction enhanced with Spanish bridging produced greater word learning in young Spanish-speaking children learning English during a storybook reading intervention while considering individual language characteristics. Twenty-two Spanish-speaking children learning English (ages 4-6) who participated in a summer education program for migrant families were randomly assigned to receive 2 weeks of each instruction: (a) word expansions in English or (b) English readings with word expansions in Spanish. Researcher-created measures of target vocabulary were administered, as were English and Spanish standardized measures of language proficiency and vocabulary. Results revealed significant improvement in naming, receptive knowledge, and expressive definitions for those children who received Spanish bridging. Spanish expansions produced the greatest gains in the children's use of expressive definitions. Initial language proficiency in both languages was found to affect participants' gains from intervention, as those with limited skills in both languages showed significantly less vocabulary growth than those with strong skills in Spanish. Additional benefits to using Spanish expansions in vocabulary instruction were observed. Future research should explore additional ways of enhancing the vocabulary growth of children with limited skills in both languages in order to support and strengthen the child's first language and promote second language acquisition.

Parents' reading-related knowledge and children's reading acquisition.

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Ladd, Megan; Martin-Chang, Sandra; Levesque, Kyle

2011-12-01

Teacher reading-related knowledge (phonological awareness and phonics knowledge) predicts student reading, however little is known about the reading-related knowledge of parents. Participants comprised 70 dyads (children from kindergarten and grade 1 and their parents). Parents were administered a questionnaire tapping into reading-related knowledge, print exposure, storybook reading, and general cultural knowledge. Children were tested on measures of letter-word knowledge, sound awareness, receptive vocabulary, oral expression, and mathematical skill. Parent reading-related knowledge showed significant positive links with child letter-word knowledge and sound awareness, but showed no correlations with child measures of mathematical skill or vocabulary. Furthermore, parent reading-related knowledge was not associated with parents' own print exposure or cultural knowledge, indicating that knowledge about English word structure may be separate from other cognitive skills. Implications are discussed in terms of improving parent reading-related knowledge to promote child literacy.

E-Book as Facilitator of Vocabulary Acquisition: Support of Adults, Dynamic Dictionary and Static Dictionary

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Korat, Ofra; Levin, Iris; Atishkin, Shifra; Turgeman, Merav

2014-01-01

We investigated the effects of three facilitators: adults' support, dynamic visual vocabulary support and static visual vocabulary support on vocabulary acquisition in the context of e-book reading. Participants were 144 Israeli Hebrew-speaking preschoolers (aged 4-6) from middle SES neighborhoods. The entire sample read the e-book without a…

Vocabulary development and intervention for English learners in the early grades.

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Baker, Doris Luft; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Ortiz, Miriam; Correa, Vivian; Cole, Ron

2014-01-01

The purpose of this chapter is to describe the vocabulary development and promising, evidence-based vocabulary interventions for English learners (ELs) from preschool through second grade. To achieve this purpose, we have taken six steps. First, we describe the elements of language development in the native language (L1) and a second language (L2) and how these elements relate to three phases of reading development (i.e., the prereading phase, the learning to read phase, and the reading to learn phase). We contend that in order for ELs to succeed in school, they need a strong language foundation prior to entering kindergarten. This language foundation needs to continue developing during the "learning to read" and "reading to learn" phases. Second, we describe the limitations of current practice in preschool for ELs related to vocabulary instruction and to family involvement to support children's language development. Third, we report curricular challenges faced by ELs in early elementary school, and we relate these challenges to the increase in reading and language demands outlined in the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Specific language activities that can help meet some of the demands are provided in a table. Fourth, we synthesize the research on evidence-based vocabulary instruction and intervention and discuss implications for practice with ELs. Fifth, we describe two intervention projects under development that have the potential to improve EL vocabulary and language proficiency in the early grades. We conclude with a summary of the chapter and provide additional resources on the topic.

Science and Literacy: Incorporating Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Research Methods, and Writing into the Science Curriculum

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Nieser, K.; Carlson, C.; Bering, E. A.; Slagle, E.

2012-12-01

Part of preparing the next generation of STEM researchers requires arming these students with the requisite literacy and research skills they will need. In a unique collaboration, the departments of Physics (ECE) and Psychology at the University of Houston have teamed up with NASA in a grant to develop a supplemental curriculum for elementary (G3-5) and middle school (G6-8) science teachers called Mars Rover. During this six week project, students work in teams to research the solar system, the planet Mars, design a research mission to Mars, and create a model Mars Rover to carry out this mission. Targeted Language Arts skills are embedded in each lesson so that students acquire the requisite academic vocabulary and research skills to enable them to successfully design their Mars Rover. Students learn academic and scientific vocabulary using scientifically based reading research. They receive direct instruction in research techniques, note-taking, summarizing, writing and other important language skills. The interdisciplinary collaboration empowers students as readers, writers and scientists. After the curriculum is completed, a culminating Mars Rover event is held at a local university, bringing students teams in contact with real-life scientists who critique their work, ask questions, and generate excite about STEM careers. Students have the opportunity to showcase their Mars Rover and to orally demonstrate their knowledge of Mars. Students discover the excitement of scientific research, STEM careers, important research and writing tools in a practical, real-life setting.

The Contribution of Vocabulary Knowledge and Spelling to the Reading Comprehension of Adolescents Who Are and Are Not English Language Learners.

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Reed, Deborah K; Petscher, Yaacov; Foorman, Barbara R

2016-04-01

This study examined the contributions of vocabulary and spelling to the reading comprehension of students in grades 6-10 who were and were not classified as English language learners. Results indicate that vocabulary accounted for greater between-grade differences and unique variance (Δ R 2 = .11 to .31) in comprehension as compared to spelling (Δ R 2 = .01 to .09). However, the contribution of spelling to comprehension was higher in the upper grade levels included in this cross-sectional analysis and functioned as a mediator of the impact of vocabulary knowledge at all levels. The direct effect of vocabulary was strong but lower in magnitude at each successive grade level from .58 in grade 6 to .41 in grade 10 while the indirect effect through spelling increased in magnitude at each successive grade level from .09 in grade 6 to .16 in grade 10. There were no significant differences between the language groups in the magnitude of the indirect impact, suggesting both groups of students relied more on both sources of lexical information in higher grades as compared to students in lower grades.

Academic Vocabulary Learning in First Through Third Grade in Low-Income Schools: Effects of Automated Supplemental Instruction.

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Goldstein, Howard; Ziolkowski, Robyn A; Bojczyk, Kathryn E; Marty, Ana; Schneider, Naomi; Harpring, Jayme; Haring, Christa D

2017-11-09

This study investigated cumulative effects of language learning, specifically whether prior vocabulary knowledge or special education status moderated the effects of academic vocabulary instruction in high-poverty schools. Effects of a supplemental intervention targeting academic vocabulary in first through third grades were evaluated with 241 students (6-9 years old) from low-income families, 48% of whom were retained for the 3-year study duration. Students were randomly assigned to vocabulary instruction or comparison groups. Curriculum-based measures of word recognition, receptive identification, expressive labeling, and decontextualized definitions showed large effects for multiple levels of word learning. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that students with higher initial Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition scores (Dunn & Dunn, 2007) demonstrated greater word learning, whereas students with special needs demonstrated less growth in vocabulary. This model of vocabulary instruction can be applied efficiently in high-poverty schools through an automated, easily implemented adjunct to reading instruction in the early grades and holds promise for reducing gaps in vocabulary development.

The role of speech prosody and text reading prosody in children's reading comprehension.

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Veenendaal, Nathalie J; Groen, Margriet A; Verhoeven, Ludo

2014-12-01

Text reading prosody has been associated with reading comprehension. However, text reading prosody is a reading-dependent measure that relies heavily on decoding skills. Investigation of the contribution of speech prosody - which is independent from reading skills - in addition to text reading prosody, to reading comprehension could provide more insight into the general role of prosody in reading comprehension. The current study investigates how much variance in reading comprehension scores is explained by speech prosody and text reading prosody, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. A battery of reading and language assessments was performed by 106 Dutch fourth-grade primary school children. Speech prosody was assessed using a storytelling task and text reading prosody by oral text reading performance. Decoding skills, vocabulary, syntactic awareness, and reading comprehension were assessed using standardized tests. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that text reading prosody explained 6% of variance and that speech prosody explained 8% of variance in reading comprehension scores, after controlling for decoding, vocabulary, and syntactic awareness. Phrasing was the significant factor in both speech and text reading. When added in consecutive order, phrasing in speech added 5% variance to phrasing in reading. In contrast, phrasing in reading added only 3% variance to phrasing in speech. The variance that speech prosody explained in reading comprehension scores should not be neglected. Speech prosody seems to facilitate the construction of meaning in written language. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

The Effect of Glosses on Incidental Vocabulary Learning of Iranian EFL learners

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Abbas Moradan

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Reading passages contain many new words. Looking up every word in the dictionary and finding the exact meaning can be a difficult job for learners and may hinder the process of reading. Providing glosses can help learners deal with this issue. The objective of the present study is to make enquiries about the effect of glosses on incidental vocabulary learning. To this end, 45 Iranian EFL learners were selected from 70 according to their performance on KET test. Then they were divided into three groups of 15 randomly. Ten reading texts were selected and unfamiliar vocabularies were glossed in three ways: pictorial, textual and pictorial-textual glosses. Participants were required to read the texts under one of the three conditions. After the completion of ten sessions of treatment, participants were given a vocabulary post-test to measure vocabulary learning. The outcome of the study indicated that the group that received the combination of pictorial and textual glosses outperformed the other two groups. The findings can be of great importance for language teachers and material developers.

Teaching Academic Vocabulary to Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

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Beach, Kristen D.; Sanchez, Victoria; Flynn, Lindsay J.; O'Connor, Rollanda E.

2015-01-01

This article describes the efforts of a U.S. History teacher to directly teach word meanings using the "robust vocabulary instruction" (RVI) approach, because research supports this method as a way to improve vocabulary knowledge for a range of students, including adolescents reading below grade level (i.e., struggling readers) and…

Vocabulary Constraint on Texts

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C. Sutarsyah

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This case study was carried out in the English Education Department of State University of Malang. The aim of the study was to identify and describe the vocabulary in the reading text and to seek if the text is useful for reading skill development. A descriptive qualitative design was applied to obtain the data. For this purpose, some available computer programs were used to find the description of vocabulary in the texts. It was found that the 20 texts containing 7,945 words are dominated by low frequency words which account for 16.97% of the words in the texts. The high frequency words occurring in the texts were dominated by function words. In the case of word levels, it was found that the texts have very limited number of words from GSL (General Service List of English Words (West, 1953. The proportion of the first 1,000 words of GSL only accounts for 44.6%. The data also show that the texts contain too large proportion of words which are not in the three levels (the first 2,000 and UWL. These words account for 26.44% of the running words in the texts.  It is believed that the constraints are due to the selection of the texts which are made of a series of short-unrelated texts. This kind of text is subject to the accumulation of low frequency words especially those of content words and limited of words from GSL. It could also defeat the development of students' reading skills and vocabulary enrichment.

Learning How to Improve Vocabulary Instruction through Teacher Study Groups

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Dimino, Joseph; Taylor, Mary Jo

2009-01-01

Professional development with proven positive effects on vocabulary instruction and student achievement: that's what reading teachers are looking for, and that's what the Teacher Study Group (TSG) model delivers. With the nine complete TSG sessions in this book, K-8 teachers will form dynamic in-school learning groups with their fellow educators…

The efficacy of a vocabulary intervention for dual-language learners with language impairment.

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Restrepo, Maria Adelaida; Morgan, Gareth P; Thompson, Marilyn S

2013-04-01

In this study, the authors evaluated the efficacy of a Spanish-English versus English-only vocabulary intervention for dual-language learners (DLLs) with language impairment compared to mathematics intervention groups and typically developing controls with no intervention. Further, in this study the authors also examined whether the language of instruction affected English, Spanish, and conceptual vocabulary differentially. The authors randomly assigned 202 preschool DLLs with language impairment to 1 of 4 conditions: bilingual vocabulary, English-only vocabulary, bilingual mathematics, or English-only mathematics. Fifty-four DLLs with typical development received no intervention. The vocabulary intervention consisted of a 12-week small-group dialogic reading and hands-on vocabulary instruction of 45 words. Postintervention group differences and linear growth rates were examined in conceptual, English, and Spanish receptive and expressive vocabulary for the 45 treatment words. Results indicate that the bilingual vocabulary intervention facilitated receptive and expressive Spanish and conceptual vocabulary gains in DLLs with language impairment compared with the English vocabulary intervention, mathematics intervention, and no-intervention groups. The English-only vocabulary intervention differed significantly from the mathematics condition and no-intervention groups on all measures but did not differ from the bilingual vocabulary intervention. Vocabulary growth rates postintervention slowed considerably. Results support the idea that bilingual interventions support native- and second-language vocabulary development. English-only intervention supports only English. Use of repeated dialogic reading and hands-on activities facilitates vocabulary acquisition.

Preschoolers' vocabulary acquisition in Chile: the roles of socioeconomic status and quality of home environment.

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Lohndorf, Regina T; Vermeer, Harriet J; Cárcamo, Rodrigo A; Mesman, Judi

2018-05-01

Preschoolers' vocabulary acquisition sets the stage for later reading ability and school achievement. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and the quality of the home environment of seventy-seven Chilean majority and Mapuche minority families from low and lower-middle-class backgrounds in explaining individual differences in vocabulary acquisition of their three-and-a-half-year-old children. Additionally, we investigated whether the relation between SES and receptive and expressive vocabulary was mediated by the quality of the home environment as the Family Investment Model suggests. The quality of the home environment significantly predicted receptive and expressive vocabulary above and beyond ethnicity, SES, parental caregiver status, and quantity of daycare. Furthermore, the quality of the home environment mediated the relation between SES and expressive and receptive vocabulary acquisition.

The Predictor Factor of Reading Comprehension Performance in English as a Foreign Language: Breadth or Depth

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Shima Kameli

2013-03-01

Full Text Available The present study explored the association among vocabulary breadth/size, depth/quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension in English as a foreign language. The main intention of this research was to  explore the association of vocabulary knowledge depth/quality and reading comprehension performance. This study was also intended to find out which aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth/size or depth/quality, has more significant association with determining EFL learners’ reading comprehension performance. The Vocabulary Level Test (VLT, Word Associates Test (WAT, and Reading Comprehension test (IELTS have been administered among all the respondents. The participants were 220 adult male and female EFL learners who were learning English in advanced level in BAHAR institute, Shiraz, Iran. The findings revealed that 1 test  scores on vocabulary size/ breadth, depth/ quality of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension were  positively correlated, 2 vocabulary size/ breadth was a stronger predictor of reading comprehension than depth/ Quality of vocabulary knowledge.

Reading component skills in dyslexia: word recognition, comprehension and processing speed

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Darlene Godoy Oliveira

2014-11-01

Full Text Available The cognitive model of reading comprehension posits that reading comprehension is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the reading comprehension model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8-13 years were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG, 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66 and Control Group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86. All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and reading comprehension, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and reading comprehension, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on reading comprehension test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Different Glossing Conditions on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Recall

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Tayebeh Danesh

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of different glossing conditions on English as a foreign language (EFL learners’ vocabulary recall. To this end, five glossing conditions were adopted (i.e., inference-gloss-gloss, gloss-retrieval-gloss, inference-gloss-retrieval-gloss, gloss-retrieval-gloss-retrieval, and full glossing. The participants were 140 MA students of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL. They were randomly assigned to one glossing condition to read an English reading passage. Five target words were glossed in different glossing conditions within a reading passage. To ensure the participants’ attention focused on the reading material, the participants were told that a multiple-choice reading comprehension test would be administrated. Afterward, two vocabulary tests (i.e., form recall and meaning recall were conducted. The results of one-way MANOVAs and the post hoc Scheffé tests revealed that the full glossing condition group did significantly better than other glossing groups in vocabulary form recall, whereas the gloss-retrieval-gloss-retrieval condition group outperformed other four groups in vocabulary meaning recall.

Modeling Floor Effects in Standardized Vocabulary Test Scores in a Sample of Low SES Hispanic Preschool Children under the Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Framework

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Leina Zhu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Researchers and practitioners often use standardized vocabulary tests such as the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-4 (PPVT-4; Dunn and Dunn, 2007 and its companion, the Expressive Vocabulary Test-2 (EVT-2; Williams, 2007, to assess English vocabulary skills as an indicator of children's school readiness. Despite their psychometric excellence in the norm sample, issues arise when standardized vocabulary tests are used to asses children from culturally, linguistically and ethnically diverse backgrounds (e.g., Spanish-speaking English language learners or delayed in some manner. One of the biggest challenges is establishing the appropriateness of these measures with non-English or non-standard English speaking children as often they score one to two standard deviations below expected levels (e.g., Lonigan et al., 2013. This study re-examines the issues in analyzing the PPVT-4 and EVT-2 scores in a sample of 4-to-5-year-old low SES Hispanic preschool children who were part of a larger randomized clinical trial on the effects of a supplemental English shared-reading vocabulary curriculum (Pollard-Durodola et al., 2016. It was found that data exhibited strong floor effects and the presence of floor effects made it difficult to differentiate the invention group and the control group on their vocabulary growth in the intervention. A simulation study is then presented under the multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM framework and results revealed that in regular multilevel data analysis, ignoring floor effects in the outcome variables led to biased results in parameter estimates, standard error estimates, and significance tests. Our findings suggest caution in analyzing and interpreting scores of ethnically and culturally diverse children on standardized vocabulary tests (e.g., floor effects. It is recommended appropriate analytical methods that take into account floor effects in outcome variables should be considered.

Students' Perceptions of Vocabulary Knowledge and Learning in a Middle School Science Classroom

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Brown, Patrick L.; Concannon, James P.

2016-01-01

This study investigated eighth-grade science students' (13-14-year-olds) perceptions of their vocabulary knowledge, learning, and content achievement. Data sources included pre- and posttest of students' perceptions of vocabulary knowledge, students' perceptions of vocabulary and reading strategies surveys, and a content achievement test.…

Risk factors for low receptive vocabulary abilities in the preschool and early school years in the longitudinal study of Australian children.

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Daniel Christensen

Full Text Available Receptive vocabulary development is a component of the human language system that emerges in the first year of life and is characterised by onward expansion throughout life. Beginning in infancy, children's receptive vocabulary knowledge builds the foundation for oral language and reading skills. The foundations for success at school are built early, hence the public health policy focus on reducing developmental inequalities before children start formal school. The underlying assumption is that children's development is stable, and therefore predictable, over time. This study investigated this assumption in relation to children's receptive vocabulary ability. We investigated the extent to which low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years was associated with low receptive vocabulary ability at 8 years, and the predictive utility of a multivariate model that included child, maternal and family risk factors measured at 4 years. The study sample comprised 3,847 children from the first nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate risks for low receptive vocabulary ability from 4-8 years and sensitivity-specificity analysis was used to examine the predictive utility of the multivariate model. In the multivariate model, substantial risk factors for receptive vocabulary delay from 4-8 years, in order of descending magnitude, were low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years, low maternal education, and low school readiness. Moderate risk factors, in order of descending magnitude, were low maternal parenting consistency, socio-economic area disadvantage, low temperamental persistence, and NESB status. The following risk factors were not significant: One or more siblings, low family income, not reading to the child, high maternal work hours, and Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ethnicity. The results of the sensitivity-specificity analysis showed that a well

PROFILING THE VOCABULARY OF NEWS TEXTS AS CAPACITY BUILDING FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS

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Gusti Astika

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The importance of vocabulary in reading has been discussed extensively in the literature. Researchers claim that vocabulary is essential and has a central role in comprehension.   Development in ICT and easy access to information from the internet necessitate language teachers to have relevant knowledge and skills to utilize pedagogical tools to use authentic online materials for learning purposes.  One of such a tool is the Vocabulary Profiler that can be used to categorize lexical words in a text into different frequency levels: high, low, and academic word list. This paper discusses how to use the Vocabulary Profiler to classify words in a text into the different categories.  The utilization of this tool can significantly alleviate the workload of teachers in selecting vocabulary in  reading text which is conventionally based on teachers’ intuition and perception. The sample text in this paper was selected from VOA website which may not be found in the textbooks currently used at schools. The paper ends with some implication for teaching about vocabulary selection.

Reading in a second language: Considering the "simple view of reading" as a foundation to support ESL readers in Lesotho, Southern Africa

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van Staden, Annalene

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Globally, reading proficiency has been a major area of difficulty for English second-language (ESL learners. This research inter alia utilised a quantitative, quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test research design to address the paucity of evidence-based second-language reading research internationally, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in Lesotho in particular; and to determine if second-language learners (L2 in the experimental group can improve their L2 reading abilities after being exposed to reading intervention strategies, based on the “simple view of reading”. Drawing from both psycholinguistic and cognitive linguistic principles, the authors considered this as a working model to develop reading strategies to support ESL learners in Lesotho who experienced significant delays in L2 reading abilities and comprehension. In the present study, strategies based on the “simple view of reading”, , included, inter alia, effective language exposure, building a rich vocabulary, improving reading fluency and word recognition abilities, and creating socio-linguistic opportunities to develop vocabulary and enhance reading comprehension (for example, creating a “word wall”, interactive story-book reading and the application of the ReQuest reading method. Results from this quantitative study demonstrated that Grade 4 ESL learners in the experimental group (N=36 significantly outperformed those in the control group (N=36 with regard to sight word fluency, word recognition, syntactic awareness, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. As we move forward in an attempt to understand the nuances of creating a responsive reading environment to support ESL learners’ reading development, assessing the effectiveness of strategies to improve their reading skills is essential.

Teaching Vocabulary to Preschoolers with Disabilities Using Adult-Child Shared Bookreading: A Comparison of Traditional and Electronic Books

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Rhodehouse, Sara Bernice

2013-01-01

This study sought to validate adult-child shared storybook reading as a method for teaching target vocabulary words to preschool children with disabilities. The Vocabulary Learning through Books (VLTB) instructional procedure incorporates, adult-child book reading, questioning during reading requiring the child to answer with a target word, and…

Towards a Unified Business Model Vocabulary: A Proposition of Key Constructs

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Mettler, Tobias

2014-01-01

The design of business models is of decisive importance and as such it has been a major research theme in service and particularly electronic markets. Today, different definitions of the term and ideas of core constructs of business models exist. In this paper we present a unified vocabulary for business models that builds upon the elementary perception of three existing, yet very dissimilar ontologies for modeling the essence of a business. The resulting unified business model vocabulary not...

Dynamic Models of Learning That Characterize Parent-Child Exchanges Predict Vocabulary Growth

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Ober, David R.; Beekman, John A.

2016-01-01

Cumulative vocabulary models for infants and toddlers were developed from models of learning that predict trajectories associated with low, average, and high vocabulary growth rates (14 to 46 months). It was hypothesized that models derived from rates of learning mirror the type of exchanges provided to infants and toddlers by parents and…

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 5E MODEL STAGES TO BUILD STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY

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Muhammad Rochman

2015-12-01

Full Text Available There are stages of human to learn something. In early ages, they will learn simplest things to the complicated ones. A learning process of human is started with and introductory and it tries to connect with their prior knowledge to the new one. Children begin to curious about what they want to know and start to make some questions about what they want to know. In the process of finding the answers of their own questions, they will interact with others and try to share the knowledge in this process. The result of this study illustrates that the implementation of the 5E model in teaching vocabulary that can enhance the students’ vocabulary achievement and successfully encourages them to actively and enthusiastically take part in the teaching-learning process of vocabulary through group task. Keywords: implementation, vocabulary, vocabulary course, and 5E model

What Can Readers Read after Graded Readers?

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McQuillan, Jeff

2016-01-01

Nation (2014) concluded that most of the vocabulary one needs to read challenging texts in English can be acquired incidentally through voluminous reading. This study examines possible texts that second language (L2) readers can use to move from controlled-vocabulary materials such as graded readers, which go up through approximately the…

Extracting business vocabularies from business process models: SBVR and BPMN standards-based approach

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Skersys, Tomas; Butleris, Rimantas; Kapocius, Kestutis

2013-10-01

Approaches for the analysis and specification of business vocabularies and rules are very relevant topics in both Business Process Management and Information Systems Development disciplines. However, in common practice of Information Systems Development, the Business modeling activities still are of mostly empiric nature. In this paper, basic aspects of the approach for business vocabularies' semi-automated extraction from business process models are presented. The approach is based on novel business modeling-level OMG standards "Business Process Model and Notation" (BPMN) and "Semantics for Business Vocabularies and Business Rules" (SBVR), thus contributing to OMG's vision about Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) and to model-driven development in general.

Groundwork for a Better Vocabulary. Second Edition. Instructor's Edition. Townsend Press Vocabulary Series.

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Smith, R. Kent; Johnson, Beth; Mohr, Carole

This instructor's edition of a vocabulary textbook for college students, who read at the fifth to eighth grade level, features 25 chapters and teaches 250 basic words. The first and third chapters in each unit contain word-part practices. The second and fourth chapters in each unit contain synonym-antonym practices. The book's last chapter in each…

Roles of General versus Second Language (L2) Knowledge in L2 Reading Comprehension

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Guo, Ying; Roehrig, Alysia D.

2011-01-01

We examined the roles of metacognitive awareness of reading strategies, syntactic awareness in English, and English vocabulary knowledge in the English reading comprehension of Chinese-speaking university students (n = 278). Results suggested a two-factor model of a General Reading Knowledge factor (metacognitive awareness employed during the…

Exploring vocabulary language in action

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Gardner, Dee

2013-01-01

Routledge Introductions to Applied Linguistics is a series of introductory level textbooks covering the core topics in Applied Linguistics, primarily designed for those beginning postgraduate studies, or taking an introductory MA course as well as advanced undergraduates. Titles in the series are also ideal for language professionals returning to academic study. The books take an innovative 'practice to theory' approach, with a 'back-to-front' structure. This leads the reader from real-world problems and issues, through a discussion of intervention and how to engage with these concerns, before finally relating these practical issues to theoretical foundations. Additional features include tasks with commentaries, a glossary of key terms, and an annotated further reading section. Vocabulary is the foundation of language and language learning and as such, knowledge of how to facilitate learners’ vocabulary growth is an indispensable teaching skill and curricular component. Exploring Vocabulary is designed t...

COMMENTARY: CAN FREE READING TAKE YOU ALL THE WAY? A RESPONSE TO COBB (2007

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Jeff McQuillan

2008-02-01

Full Text Available Cobb (2007 argues that free reading cannot provide L2 readers with sufficient opportunities for acquiring vocabulary in order to reach an adequate level of reading comprehension of English texts. In this paper, we argue that (1 Cobb severely underestimates the amount of reading even a very modest reading habit would afford L2 readers, and therefore underestimates the impact of free reading on L2 vocabulary development; and (2 Cobb’s data show that free reading is in fact a very powerful tool in vocabulary acquisition.

Why and How EFL Students Learn Vocabulary in Parliamentary Debate Class

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Aclan, Eunice M.; Aziz, Noor Hashima Abdul

2015-01-01

Vocabulary, the backbone of any language including English, is foundational for listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four macro-skills are necessary not only in gaining knowledge as English is the language to access major information sources particularly the World Wide Web but also in the demanding globalized workplace. Vocabulary is…

Promoting an Interest in Language To Stimulate College Students' Vocabulary Development.

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Wellington, Kathy

1999-01-01

Describes using the book "The Professor and the Madman" (which tells the story of how the "Oxford English Dictionary" came into being) in a college or developmental reading class. Notes it motivates students to take greater interest in language and work on expanding their vocabularies, thus promoting vocabulary development and…

Vocabulary Word Instruction for Students Who Read Braille

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Savaiano, Mackenzie E.; Compton, Donald L.; Hatton, Deborah D.; Lloyd, Blair P.

2016-01-01

The association made between the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of a word has been shown to help children remember the meanings of words. The present study addressed whether the presence of a target word in Braille during instruction facilitated vocabulary learning more efficiently than an auditory-only instructional condition. The authors…

Delayed Early Vocabulary Development in Children at Family Risk of Dyslexia

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van Viersen, Sietske; de Bree, Elise H.; Verdam, Mathilde; Krikhaar, Evelien; Maassen, Ben; van der Leij, Aryan; de Jong, Peter F.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This study aimed to gain more insight into the relation between vocabulary and reading acquisition by examining early growth trajectories in the vocabulary of children at family risk (FR) of dyslexia longitudinally. Method: The sample included 212 children from the Dutch Dyslexia Program with and without an FR. Parents reported on their…

Lexical quality and executive control predict children's first and second language reading comprehension.

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Raudszus, Henriette; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual and 102 bilingual children (mean age 10 years, SD  = 5 months) learning to read Dutch in the Netherlands. Bilingual children showed lower Dutch vocabulary, syntactic integration and reading comprehension skills, but better decoding skills than their monolingual peers. There were no differences in working memory or inhibition. Multigroup path analysis showed relatively invariant connections between predictors and reading comprehension for monolingual and bilingual readers. For both groups, there was a direct effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension. In addition, lexical quality and executive control indirectly influenced reading comprehension via syntactic integration. The groups differed in that inhibition more strongly predicted syntactic integration for bilingual than for monolingual children. For a subgroup of bilingual children, for whom home language vocabulary data were available ( n  = 56), there was an additional positive effect of home language vocabulary on second language reading comprehension. Together, the results suggest that similar processes underlie reading comprehension in first and second language readers, but that syntactic integration requires more executive control in second language reading. Moreover, bilingual readers additionally benefit from first language vocabulary to arrive at second language reading comprehension.

Do You Read Me? Service Supplement: Reading Development Activities Guide.

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Kendall, Elizabeth L.; Chenoweth, Roberta

This activity guide is one of four supplements to be used with "Do You Read Me? Prevocational-Vocational Reading Development Activities" (ED 210 454). Each supplement deals with a different occupational category. Games, puzzles, and other activities are offered to aid in developing the word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension…

The Effects of Extensive Reading on Reading Comprehension, Reading Rate, and Vocabulary Acquisition

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Suk, Namhee

2017-01-01

Several empirical studies and syntheses of extensive reading have concluded that extensive reading has positive impacts on language learning in second- and foreign-language settings. However, many of the studies contained methodological or curricular limitations, raising questions about the asserted positive effects of extensive reading. The…

Synthetic phonics and decodable instructional reading texts: How far do these support poor readers?

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Price-Mohr, Ruth Maria; Price, Colin Bernard

2018-05-01

This paper presents data from a quasi-experimental trial with paired randomisation that emerged during the development of a reading scheme for children in England. This trial was conducted with a group of 12 children, aged 5-6, and considered to be falling behind their peers in reading ability and a matched control group. There were two intervention conditions (A: using mixed teaching methods and a high percentage of non-phonically decodable vocabulary; P: using mixed teaching methods and low percentage of non-decodable vocabulary); allocation to these was randomised. Children were assessed at pre- and post-test on standardised measures of receptive vocabulary, phoneme awareness, word reading, and comprehension. Two class teachers in the same school each selected 6 children, who they considered to be poor readers, to participate (n = 12). A control group (using synthetic phonics only and phonically decodable vocabulary) was selected from the same 2 classes based on pre-test scores for word reading (n = 16). Results from the study show positive benefits for poor readers from using both additional teaching methods (such as analytic phonics, sight word vocabulary, and oral vocabulary extension) in addition to synthetic phonics, and also non-decodable vocabulary in instructional reading text. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Elementary Students' Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary Through Engineering Design

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Kugelmass, Rachel

This study examines how STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) inquiry-based learning through a hands-on engineering design can be beneficial in helping students acquire academic vocabulary. This research took place in a second grade dual- language classroom in a public, suburban elementary school. English language learners, students who speak Spanish at home, and native English speakers were evaluated in this study. Each day, students were presented with a general academic vocabulary focus word during an engineering design challenge. Vocabulary pre-tests and post-tests as well as observation field notes were used to evaluate the student's growth in reading and defining the focus academic vocabulary words. A quiz and KSB (knowledge and skill builder) packet were used to evaluate students' knowledge of science and math content and engineering design. The results of this study indicate that engineering design is an effective means for teaching academic vocabulary to students with varying levels of English proficiency.

Pupil's motivation in the 3. grades for required reading and The Reading Badge

OpenAIRE

Logar, Renata

2013-01-01

Reading is extremely important for pupils and their development. The pupil with reading habits riches his vocabulary and gaining knowledge. On the other hand the pupil through reading entry into the world of imagination and stories. Major role in motivating students to read have parents and teachers. In this graduation thesis I was interested in how third grade teachers motivate their pupils to read. In doing so, I was focused mainly to reading for required reading and The Reading Badge. ...

The Role of Home and School Factors in Predicting English Vocabulary among Bilingual Kindergarten Children in Singapore

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Dixon, L. Quentin

2011-01-01

Research in monolingual populations indicate that vocabulary knowledge is essential to reading achievement, but how vocabulary develops in bilingual children has been understudied. The current study investigated the role of home and school factors in predicting English vocabulary among 284 bilingual kindergartners (168 Chinese, 65 Malay, 51…

A model-Driven Approach to Customize the Vocabulary of Communication Boards: Towards More Humanization of Health Care.

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Franco, Natália M; Medeiros, Gabriel F; Silva, Edson A; Murta, Angela S; Machado, Aydano P; Fidalgo, Robson N

2015-01-01

This work presents a Modeling Language and its technological infrastructure to customize the vocabulary of Communication Boards (CB), which are important tools to provide more humanization of health care. Using a technological infrastructure based on Model-Driven Development (MDD) approach, our Modelin Language (ML) creates an abstraction layer between users (e.g., health professionals such as an audiologist or speech therapist) and application code. Moreover, the use of a metamodel enables a syntactic corrector for preventing creation of wrong models. Our ML and metamodel enable more autonomy for health professionals in creating customized CB because it abstracts complexities and permits them to deal only with the domain concepts (e.g., vocabulary and patient needs). Additionally, our infrastructure provides a configuration file that can be used to share and reuse models. This way, the vocabulary modelling effort will decrease our time since people share vocabulary models. Our study provides an infrastructure that aims to abstract the complexity of CB vocabulary customization, giving more autonomy to health professionals when they need customizing, sharing and reusing vocabularies for CB.

Sharing a Reading Technique with Families

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Irish, Christy K.; Parsons, Seth A.

2016-01-01

Sharing reading techniques with families is an important responsibility of teachers. Dialogic reading is one way to improve young students' expressive vocabulary skills, which are important for later reading success. Dialogic reading also supports students' understanding of story structure and content. This well researched technique has not been…

Supporting Preschool Teachers' Vocabulary Instruction during Storybook Reading

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Blamey, Katrin L.; Beauchat, Katherine A.; Sweetman, Heidi

2012-01-01

Preschool educators represent a unique population for which to design professional development; as a result, innovative professional development models are necessary. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of training preschool teachers to use a Shared Reading Innovation Configuration (IC) tool on their planning, implementation, and…

The Effects of Hypertext Glosses on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition: A Meta-Analysis

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Yun, Jeehwan

2011-01-01

This study examines (1) the effects of hypertext gloss use on L2 vocabulary acquisition in computerized reading contexts; (2) which specific combination of either text-only (single) or text + visual (multiple) hypertext glosses is more effective on L2 vocabulary acquisition; and (3) potential moderators to systematically account for between study…

Shared Book Reading Promotes Not Only Language Development, But Also Grapheme Awareness in German Kindergarten Children.

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Wesseling, Patricia B C; Christmann, Corinna A; Lachmann, Thomas

2017-01-01

Effects of shared book reading on expressive vocabulary and grapheme awareness without letter instruction in German kindergarteners (longitudinal; N = 69, 3;0-4;8 years) were investigated. Expressive vocabulary was measured by using a standardized test; grapheme awareness was measured by asking children to identify one grapheme per trial presented amongst non-letter distractors. Two methods of shared book reading were investigated, literacy enrichment (additional books) and teacher training in shared book reading strategies, both without explicit letter instruction. Whereas positive effects of shared book reading on expressive vocabulary were evident in numerous previous studies, the impact of shared book reading on grapheme awareness has not yet been investigated. Both methods resulted in positive effects on children's expressive vocabulary and grapheme awareness over a period of 6 months. Thus, early shared book reading may not only be considered to be a tool for promoting the development of expressive vocabulary, but also for implicit acquisition of grapheme awareness. The latter is considered an important precondition required for the explicit learning of grapheme-phoneme conversion rules (letter knowledge).

THE VOCABULARY TEACHING AND VOCABULARY LEARNING: PERCEPTION, STRATEGIES, AND INFLUENCES ON STUDENTS' VOCABULARY MASTERY

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Dewi Nur Asyiah

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary plays pivotal role in foreign language learning. However, vocabulary teaching and vocabulary learning in TEFL seems to be neglected. The study was aimed to investigate how vocabulary teaching and learning are perceived by teacher and students, strategies to teach and learn the vocabulary, and also influences of students’ vocabulary learning strategy on their vocabulary mastery. Accordingly, a mix method design was employed to one English teacher and 30 junior high school students to reveal the issues being investigated. The findings showed that both teacher and students have positive response on vocabulary teaching and learning. Concerning strategies, it was found that teacher mostly employed Fully-contextual strategy, meanwhile Determination and Metacognitive strategy were found as the most favored VLS chosen by students. The study also confirmed that there is a significant relationship between students’ vocabulary learning strategy and their vocabulary mastery (r-value Discovery = .023 and r-value Consolidating = .000, p<.05. It is recommended for EFL teachers to give a bigger portion to vocabulary in the EFL teaching and to teach vocabulary using the combination of fully-contextual and de-contextual strategy. It is also suggested to introduce students to various kinds of vocabulary learning strategies.  

Early Vocabulary Development of Australian Indigenous Children: Identifying Strengths

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Brad M. Farrant

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The current study sought to increase our understanding of the factors involved in the early vocabulary development of Australian Indigenous children. Data from the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children were available for 573 Indigenous children (291 boys who spoke English (M=37.0 months, SD=5.4 months, at wave 3. Data were also available for 86 children (51 boys who spoke an Indigenous language (M=37.1 months, SD=6.0 months, at wave 3. As hypothesised, higher levels of parent-child book reading and having more children’s books in the home were associated with better English vocabulary development. Oral storytelling in Indigenous language was a significant predictor of the size of children’s Indigenous vocabulary.

An In-Depth Investigation into the Relationship between Vocabulary Knowledge and Academic Listening Comprehension

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Teng, Feng

2016-01-01

The present study was conducted in the context of learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) with the purpose of assessing the roles of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in academic listening comprehension. The Vocabulary Size Test (VST, Nation & Beglar, 2007) and the Word Associates Test (WAT, Read, 2004) were administered to…

Reading to deaf children who sign: a response to Williams (2012) and suggestions for future research.

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Andrews, Jean F

2012-01-01

A commentary on Williams's (2012) invited article on the use of adapted vocabulary learning interventions focuses on three areas: (a) Vocabulary interventions with storybook reading originally designed for hearing children can be adapted for deaf children. (b) Teachers are invited to reflect on how the read-aloud process in English differs from the read-aloud process in sign. (b) Teachers are asked to consider adding drawing and writing activities to reading lessons to show young deaf readers how reading and writing are reciprocal processes. The emergent literacy theory is used, as it informs and drives instructional vocabulary teaching practices for deaf children in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The emergent literacy theory broadly captures cognitive, social, perceptual, and linguistic understandings of how young signing deaf children acquire both English word recognition abilities and vocabulary knowledge, among other important prereading concepts.

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH COLOURFUL PUZZLE GAME

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Risca Dwiaryanti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary plays an important role because it links to the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Those aspects should be integrated in teaching and learning process of English. However, the students must be able to know the meaning of each word or vocabulary of English in order to master the four skills. It is as a mean to create a sentence in daily communication to show someone’s feeling, opinion, idea, desire, etc. So that, both speakers understand what the other speaker mean. However, English as a second language in Indonesia seems very hard for the students to master vocabulary of English. It makes them not easy to be understood directly and speak fluently. The students, sometimes, get difficulties in understanding, memorizing the meaning of the vocabulary, and getting confused in using the new words. There must be an effective strategy to attract students’ interest, break the boredom, and make the class more lively. Based on the writer experience, Colourful Puzzle Game is able to make the students learn vocabulary quickly. It needs teacher’s creativity to create the materials of this game based on the class condition. The teacher just need a game board made from colourful papers, write any command and prohibition words on it. A dice is a tool to decide where the player should stop based on the number. Some pins as counter as sign of each player.

Reading component skills in dyslexia: word recognition, comprehension and processing speed.

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de Oliveira, Darlene G; da Silva, Patrícia B; Dias, Natália M; Seabra, Alessandra G; Macedo, Elizeu C

2014-01-01

The cognitive model of reading comprehension (RC) posits that RC is a result of the interaction between decoding and linguistic comprehension. Recently, the notion of decoding skill was expanded to include word recognition. In addition, some studies suggest that other skills could be integrated into this model, like processing speed, and have consistently indicated that this skill influences and is an important predictor of the main components of the model, such as vocabulary for comprehension and phonological awareness of word recognition. The following study evaluated the components of the RC model and predictive skills in children and adolescents with dyslexia. 40 children and adolescents (8-13 years) were divided in a Dyslexic Group (DG; 18 children, MA = 10.78, SD = 1.66) and control group (CG 22 children, MA = 10.59, SD = 1.86). All were students from the 2nd to 8th grade of elementary school and groups were equivalent in school grade, age, gender, and IQ. Oral and RC, word recognition, processing speed, picture naming, receptive vocabulary, and phonological awareness were assessed. There were no group differences regarding the accuracy in oral and RC, phonological awareness, naming, and vocabulary scores. DG performed worse than the CG in word recognition (general score and orthographic confusion items) and were slower in naming. Results corroborated the literature regarding word recognition and processing speed deficits in dyslexia. However, dyslexics can achieve normal scores on RC test. Data supports the importance of delimitation of different reading strategies embedded in the word recognition component. The role of processing speed in reading problems remain unclear.

Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Learning: The Effects of Reading and Writing on Word Knowledge

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Webb, Stuart

2005-01-01

This study investigates the effects of receptive and productive vocabulary learning on word knowledge. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language learned target words in three glossed sentences and in a sentence production task in two experiments. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, syntax, association, grammatical…

Risk factors for children's receptive vocabulary development from four to eight years in the longitudinal study of Australian children.

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Catherine L Taylor

Full Text Available Receptive vocabulary develops rapidly in early childhood and builds the foundation for language acquisition and literacy. Variation in receptive vocabulary ability is associated with variation in children's school achievement, and low receptive vocabulary ability is a risk factor for under-achievement at school. In this study, bivariate and multivariate growth curve modelling was used to estimate trajectories of receptive vocabulary development in relation to a wide range of candidate child, maternal and family level influences on receptive vocabulary development from 4-8 years. The study sample comprised 4332 children from the first nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC. Predictors were modeled as risk variables with the lowest level of risk as the reference category. In the multivariate model, risks for receptive vocabulary delay at 4 years, in order of magnitude, were: Maternal Non- English Speaking Background (NESB, low school readiness, child not read to at home, four or more siblings, low family income, low birthweight, low maternal education, maternal mental health distress, low maternal parenting consistency, and high child temperament reactivity. None of these risks were associated with a lower rate of growth from 4-8 years. Instead, maternal NESB, low school readiness and maternal mental health distress were associated with a higher rate of growth, although not sufficient to close the receptive vocabulary gap for children with and without these risks at 8 years. Socio-economic area disadvantage, was not a risk for low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years but was the only risk associated with a lower rate of growth in receptive vocabulary ability. At 8 years, the gap between children with and without socio-economic area disadvantage was equivalent to eight months of receptive vocabulary growth. These results are consistent with other studies that have shown that social gradients in children

Risk factors for children's receptive vocabulary development from four to eight years in the longitudinal study of Australian children.

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Taylor, Catherine L; Christensen, Daniel; Lawrence, David; Mitrou, Francis; Zubrick, Stephen R

2013-01-01

Receptive vocabulary develops rapidly in early childhood and builds the foundation for language acquisition and literacy. Variation in receptive vocabulary ability is associated with variation in children's school achievement, and low receptive vocabulary ability is a risk factor for under-achievement at school. In this study, bivariate and multivariate growth curve modelling was used to estimate trajectories of receptive vocabulary development in relation to a wide range of candidate child, maternal and family level influences on receptive vocabulary development from 4-8 years. The study sample comprised 4332 children from the first nationally representative Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC). Predictors were modeled as risk variables with the lowest level of risk as the reference category. In the multivariate model, risks for receptive vocabulary delay at 4 years, in order of magnitude, were: Maternal Non- English Speaking Background (NESB), low school readiness, child not read to at home, four or more siblings, low family income, low birthweight, low maternal education, maternal mental health distress, low maternal parenting consistency, and high child temperament reactivity. None of these risks were associated with a lower rate of growth from 4-8 years. Instead, maternal NESB, low school readiness and maternal mental health distress were associated with a higher rate of growth, although not sufficient to close the receptive vocabulary gap for children with and without these risks at 8 years. Socio-economic area disadvantage, was not a risk for low receptive vocabulary ability at 4 years but was the only risk associated with a lower rate of growth in receptive vocabulary ability. At 8 years, the gap between children with and without socio-economic area disadvantage was equivalent to eight months of receptive vocabulary growth. These results are consistent with other studies that have shown that social gradients in children's developmental outcomes

The Effect of Task-based Teaching on Incidental Vocabulary Learning in English for Specific Purposes

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FALLAHRAFIE, Zahra; RAHMANY, Ramin; SADEGHI, Bahador

2015-01-01

Abstract. Learning vocabulary is an essential part of language learning linking the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing together. This paper considers the incidental vocabulary teaching and learning within the framework of task-based activities in the hope of improving learners’ vocabulary acquiring in English for Specific Purposes courses (ESP), concentrating on Mechanical Engineering students at Islamic Azad University of Hashtgerd, Iran. A total number of 55 male and fe...

A Learning Log Analysis of an English-Reading e-Book System Combined with a Guidance Mechanism

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Wu, Ting-Ting

2016-01-01

Learning English by reading articles on multimedia e-book devices can assist students in improving their vocabulary and in understanding the associations among vocabulary, textual meaning, and paragraph composition. Adaptive integration of reading technologies and strategies not only strengthens their language ability and reading comprehension,…

Longitudinal vocabulary development in Australian urban Aboriginal children: Protective and risk factors.

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Short, K; Eadie, P; Descallar, J; Comino, E; Kemp, L

2017-11-01

Vocabulary is a key component of language that can impact on children's future literacy and communication. The gap between Australian Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children's reading and academic outcomes is well reported and similar to Indigenous/non-Indigenous gaps in other nations. Determining factors that influence vocabulary acquisition over time and may be responsive to treatment is important for improving Aboriginal children's communication and academic outcomes. To determine what factors influence Australian urban Aboriginal children's receptive vocabulary acquisition and whether any of these are risks or protective for vocabulary development. One hundred thirteen Aboriginal children in South Western Sydney from the longitudinal birth cohort Gudaga study were assessed on The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test multiple times: 3 years, just prior to school entry, at the end of the first and second years of formal schooling. Multilevel models were used to determine the effects of 13 fixed and manipulable maternal, child, and family variables drawn from previous research. Higher maternal education was found to be protective at 3 years and over time. The number of children in urban Australian Aboriginal households made an impact on vocabulary development and this varied over time. From 3 to 6 years, those with early poor non-verbal cognitive skills had vocabulary skills that remained below those with stronger non-verbal skills at 3 years. Girls exhibit an earlier advantage in vocabulary acquisition, but this difference is not sustained after 4 years of age. The risk and protective factors for vocabulary development in Australian Aboriginal children are similar to those identified in other studies with some variation related to the number of children in the home. In this limited set of predictors, maternal education, gender, non-verbal cognitive skills, and the number of children in households were all shown to impact on the acquisition of vocabulary to 3�

Auditory Perception, Suprasegmental Speech Processing, and Vocabulary Development in Chinese Preschoolers.

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Wang, Hsiao-Lan S; Chen, I-Chen; Chiang, Chun-Han; Lai, Ying-Hui; Tsao, Yu

2016-10-01

The current study examined the associations between basic auditory perception, speech prosodic processing, and vocabulary development in Chinese kindergartners, specifically, whether early basic auditory perception may be related to linguistic prosodic processing in Chinese Mandarin vocabulary acquisition. A series of language, auditory, and linguistic prosodic tests were given to 100 preschool children who had not yet learned how to read Chinese characters. The results suggested that lexical tone sensitivity and intonation production were significantly correlated with children's general vocabulary abilities. In particular, tone awareness was associated with comprehensive language development, whereas intonation production was associated with both comprehensive and expressive language development. Regression analyses revealed that tone sensitivity accounted for 36% of the unique variance in vocabulary development, whereas intonation production accounted for 6% of the variance in vocabulary development. Moreover, auditory frequency discrimination was significantly correlated with lexical tone sensitivity, syllable duration discrimination, and intonation production in Mandarin Chinese. Also it provided significant contributions to tone sensitivity and intonation production. Auditory frequency discrimination may indirectly affect early vocabulary development through Chinese speech prosody. © The Author(s) 2016.

How storage and executive functions contribute to children's reading comprehension

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Nouwens, S.; Groen, M.A.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2016-01-01

In the current study we investigated the contribution of storage and separate measures of executive functions to reading comprehension in Dutch 5th graders, while controlling for word recognition and vocabulary. In addition we investigated the relationship between this model and working memory as

Improving reading in the primary grades.

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Duke, Nell K; Block, Meghan K

2012-01-01

Almost fifteen years have passed since the publication of the National Research Council's seminal report Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, which provided research-based recommendations on what could be done to better position students in prekindergarten through third grade for success in grade four and above. This article by Nell Duke and Meghan Block first examines whether specific key recommendations from the report have been implemented in U.S. classrooms. They find that recommendations regarding increased access to kindergarten and greater attention to and improvement of students' word-reading skills have been widely adopted. Others have not. Vocabulary and comprehension, long neglected in the primary grades, still appear to be neglected. Contrary to the report's recommendations, attention to building conceptual and content knowledge in science and social studies has actually decreased in the past fifteen years. In other words, the easier-to-master skills are being attended to, but the broader domains of accomplishment that constitute preparation for comprehension and learning in the later grades--vocabulary knowledge, comprehension strategy use, and conceptual and content knowledge--are being neglected. Near stagnation in fourth-grade students' comprehension achievement is thus unsurprising. The authors then turn to research and reviews of research on improving primary-grade reading published since 1998, when Preventing Reading Difficulties was issued. They discuss several instructional approaches identified as effective in improving word-reading skill, vocabulary and conceptual knowledge, comprehension strategies, and reading outside of school; they discuss advances in interventions for struggling readers, and in whole-school literacy reform. Duke and Block then identify three key obstacles that have prevented widespread adoption of these best practices in teaching reading. The first obstacle is a short-term orientation toward instruction and

Impact of Training Deep Vocabulary Learning Strategies on Vocabulary Retention of Iranian EFL Learners

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Seyed Javad Es-hagi Sardroud

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Considering the overall tendency of foreign language learners to use mechanical strategies of rote rehearsal in vocabulary learning and their resistance towards use of 'deep' vocabulary learning strategies, namely contextual guessing, Keyword Method, metacognitive strategy, and semantic mapping, this study intended (a to explore what impact the instruction of these deep strategies, on vocabulary retention of 32 post-intermediate adult EFL Iranian learners, (b to determine how the variable of gender influences the vocabulary retention of students after receiving training in these strategies. To this end, on the basis of a strategy-based model of instruction–CALLA (Chamot & O'Malley, 1994, the experimental group received training in using 'deep' vocabulary learning strategies while the control group received only the common method of vocabulary teaching. After the treatment, following factorial design, the performance of the participants in the teacher-made vocabulary test as posttest was analyzed statistically.  The results indicated higher vocabulary retention for the experimental group, and it was revealed that female students were more receptive to strategy training. This study provides evidence for confirmation of 'depth of processing' hypothesis and the emerging theory about the impact of gender on effective strategy teaching and use, and it recommends incorporation of teaching these 'deep' strategies of vocabulary learning into EFL classrooms.

Effects of multimedia vocabulary instruction on adolescents with learning disabilities.

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Kennedy, Michael J; Deshler, Donald D; Lloyd, John Wills

2015-01-01

The purpose of this experimental study is to investigate the effects of using content acquisition podcasts (CAPs), an example of instructional technology, to provide vocabulary instruction to adolescents with and without learning disabilities (LD). A total of 279 urban high school students, including 30 with LD in an area related to reading, were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions with instruction occurring at individual computer terminals over a 3-week period. Each of the four conditions contained different configurations of multimedia-based instruction and evidence-based vocabulary instruction. Dependent measures of vocabulary knowledge indicated that students with LD who received vocabulary instruction using CAPs through an explicit instructional methodology and the keyword mnemonic strategy significantly outperformed other students with LD who were taught using the same content, but with multimedia instruction that did not adhere to a specific theoretical design framework. Results for general education students mirrored those for students with LD. Students also completed a satisfaction measure following instruction with multimedia and expressed overall agreement that CAPs are useful for learning vocabulary terms. © Hammill Institute on Disabilities 2013.

Interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth

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Smeets, Daisy J. H.; Bus, Adriana G

2012-01-01

The goals of this study were to examine (a) whether extratextual vocabulary instructions embedded in electronic storybooks facilitated word learning over reading alone and (b) whether instructional formats that required children to invest more effort were more effective than formats that required

THE IMPACT OF GLOSS TYPES ON IRANIAN EFL STUDENTS’ READING COMPREHENSION AND LEXICAL RETENTION

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Mohammad Taghi Farvardin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Research has shown that the effect of marginal glosses on reading comprehension and vocabulary retention is a controversial issue. The purpose of this study was to investigate this issue among Iranian university EFL students. Three types of glosses were applied in this study: single gloss in participants’ first language (SL1G, single gloss in participants’ second language (SL2G, and multiple-choice gloss (MCG in participants’ second language. One hundred and twenty undergraduate students majoring in English Teaching at Azad University of Najafabad, Iran, read the texts under three conditions: SL1G, SL2G, and MCG. Afterwards, participants answered two vocabulary tests, one administered immediately after the reading test and another three weeks later. One-way repeated measures ANOVA and follow-up post hoc tests (p<.05 showed that MCG facilitated participants’ vocabulary learning while reading the text more than SLGs. The results of One-way ANOVA also revealed that SL2G was the most facilitative gloss type for the participants’ reading comprehension. The study illustrates how different types of textual glosses can affect both reading comprehension and vocabulary retention. Limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Vocabulary knowledge mediates the link between socioeconomic status and word learning in grade school.

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Maguire, Mandy J; Schneider, Julie M; Middleton, Anna E; Ralph, Yvonne; Lopez, Michael; Ackerman, Robert A; Abel, Alyson D

2018-02-01

The relationship between children's slow vocabulary growth and the family's low socioeconomic status (SES) has been well documented. However, previous studies have often focused on infants or preschoolers and primarily used static measures of vocabulary at multiple time points. To date, there is no research investigating whether SES predicts a child's word learning abilities in grade school and, if so, what mediates this relationship. In this study, 68 children aged 8-15 years performed a written word learning from context task that required using the surrounding text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Results revealed that vocabulary knowledge significantly mediated the relationship between SES (as measured by maternal education) and word learning. This was true despite the fact that the words in the linguistic context surrounding the target word are typically acquired well before 8 years of age. When controlling for vocabulary, word learning from written context was not predicted by differences in reading comprehension, decoding, or working memory. These findings reveal that differences in vocabulary growth between grade school children from low and higher SES homes are likely related to differences in the process of word learning more than knowledge of surrounding words or reading skills. Specifically, children from lower SES homes are not as effective at using known vocabulary to build a robust semantic representation of incoming text to identify the meaning of an unknown word. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers

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Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

2017-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditi...

Differential lexical predictors of reading comprehension in fourth graders

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Swart, N.M.; Muijselaar, M.M.L.; Steenbeek-Planting, E.G.; Droop, M.; de Jong, P.F.; Verhoeven, L.

The mental lexicon plays a central role in reading comprehension (Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). It encompasses the number of lexical entries in spoken and written language (vocabulary breadth), the semantic quality of these entries (vocabulary depth), and the connection strength between lexical

Motivation, strategy, and English as a foreign language vocabulary learning: A structural equation modelling study.

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Zhang, Yining; Lin, Chin-Hsi; Zhang, Dongbo; Choi, Yunjeong

2017-03-01

In spite of considerable advancements in our understanding of the different factors involved in achieving vocabulary-learning success, the overall pattern and interrelationships of critical factors involved in L2 vocabulary learning - particularly, the mechanisms through which learners regulate their motivation and learning strategies - remain unclear. This study examined L2 vocabulary learning, focusing on the joint influence of different motivational factors and learning strategies on the vocabulary breadth of adolescent learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in China. The participants were 107 tenth graders (68 females, 39 males) in China. The data were collected via two questionnaires, one assessing students' motivation towards English-vocabulary learning and the other their English vocabulary-learning strategies, along with a test measuring vocabulary breadth. Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that learning strategy partially mediated the relationship between motivation (i.e., a composite score of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and vocabulary learning. Separate SEM analyses for intrinsic (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) revealed that there were significant and positive direct and indirect effects of IM on vocabulary knowledge; and while EM's direct effect over and above that of learning strategies did not achieve significance, its indirect effect was significant and positive. The findings suggest that vocabulary-learning strategies mediate the relationship between motivation and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, IM may have a greater influence on vocabulary learning in foreign-language contexts. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Vocabulary and Sentence Structure in Emergent Spanish Literacy

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Briceño, Allison

2016-01-01

Dual language and bilingual education programs are increasing in number and popularity across the country. However, little information is available on how to teach children to read and write in Spanish. This article explores some of the similarities and differences in vocabulary and sentence structure in Spanish and English and considers the…

Working memory contributions to reading comprehension components in middle childhood children.

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Chrysochoou, Elisavet; Bablekou, Zoe; Tsigilis, Nikolaos

2011-01-01

This study examined working memory contributions to reading comprehension subskills in Greek children (mean age 9 years, 1 month). The phonological loop of the Baddeley and Hitch working memory model was assessed with 3 recall tasks (words, nonwords, and digits) and a word list matching task. The central executive (CE) was assessed with 3 tasks (listening, counting, and backward digit recall). Participants were also given a receptive vocabulary task, a reading fluency task, and written stories accompanied by comprehension questions. Canonical correlation analyses showed that the comprehension variables were related to the CE rather than the phonological loop measures. CE functions were more strongly associated with elaborative inference generation (involving significant offline processing) and comprehension control (involving metacognitive monitoring). Smaller yet significant associations were observed between the CE and the necessary inference and literal comprehension measures, whereas a moderate relationship was found in the case of the simile comprehension variable. Among the CE variables, listening recall demonstrated the highest loading on the canonical function, followed by moderate yet significant counting and backward digit recall loadings. Vocabulary was found to fully mediate several associations between working memory and comprehension measures; however, the relationship between listening recall and elaborative inferences was partly mediated. Reading fluency and, on several occasions, Greek vocabulary knowledge did not mediate the relationships between CE measures and comprehension skills assessed. This study demonstrates the usefulness of CE measures for identifying young children's possible difficulties in carrying out specific reading comprehension processes.

Effects of early language, speech, and cognition on later reading: A mediation analysis

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Vanessa N Durand

2013-09-01

Full Text Available This longitudinal secondary analysis examined which early language and speech abilities are associated with school-aged reading skills, and whether these associations are mediated by cognitive ability. We analyzed vocabulary, syntax, speech sound maturity, and cognition in a sample of healthy children at age 3 years (N=241 in relation to single word reading (decoding, comprehension, and oral reading fluency in the same children at age 9 to 11 years. All predictor variables and the mediator variable were associated with the three reading outcomes. The predictor variables were all associated with cognitive abilities, the mediator. Cognitive abilities partially mediated the effects of language on reading. After mediation, decoding was associated with speech sound maturity; comprehension was associated with receptive vocabulary; and oral fluency was associated with speech sound maturity, receptive vocabulary, and syntax. In summary, all of the effects of language on reading could not be explained by cognition as a mediator. Specific components of language and speech skills in preschool made independent contributions to reading skills 6 to 8 years later. These early precursors to later reading skill represent potential targets for early intervention to improve reading.

Consciência sintática no ensino fundamental: correlações com consciência fonológica, vocabulário, leitura e escrita Syntactic awareness in elementary school: correlation with phonological awareness, vocabulary, reading and spelling

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Alessandra Gotuzo Seabra Capovilla

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Habilidades metalingüísticas, como consciência fonológica e consciência sintática, são importantes à aquisição de leitura e escrita. Provas de consciência fonológica por escolha de figuras, escrita sob ditado, competência de leitura e vocabulário receptivo auditivo já se encontram disponíveis na bibliografia. Este estudo apresenta a Prova de Consciência Sintática e dados preliminares de validação com 204 crianças de 1a a 4a séries do ensino fundamental. Resultados mostraram efeito significativo da série escolar sobre o escore geral na Prova de Consciência Sintática e os escores específicos de seus quatro subtestes, mesmo depois de controlado o efeito da inteligência verbal usando o escore em vocabulário como covariante. O efeito da série escolar também foi significativo para os escores em consciência fonológica, competência de leitura, escrita sob ditado e vocabulário. Os escores gerais dos cinco testes mostraram-se positiva e significativamente intercorrelacionados, corroborando evidências bibliográficas sobre as relações entre leitura, escrita e habilidades metalingüísticas.Metalinguistic skills such as phonological awareness and syntactic awareness are important to reading and spelling acquisition. Standardized tests on phonological awareness, reading competence, spelling under dictation and receptive vocabulary in Brazilian Portuguese are already available in the literature. This paper presents a Syntactic Awareness Test, along with preliminary validation data from 204 first to fourth grade elementary school children. Children were tested in syntactic awareness, phonological awareness, reading, spelling and receptive vocabulary. Results showed significant effects of school grade upon Syntactic Awareness Test overall scores, as well as upon specific scores in all its four subtests, even after controlling for the effect of verbal intelligence by using vocabulary scores as covariant. Significant effects

Effects of Multimedia Instruction on L2 Acquisition of High-Level, Low-Frequency English Vocabulary Words

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Cho, Euna

2017-01-01

The present study examined the effects of multimedia enhancement in video form in addition to textual information on L2 vocabulary instruction for high-level, low-frequency English words among Korean learners of English. Although input-based incidental learning of L2 vocabulary through extensive reading has been conventionally believed to be…

Executive Functioning Skills Uniquely Predict Chinese Word Reading

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Chung, Kevin K. H.; McBride-Chang, Catherine

2011-01-01

Eighty-five Hong Kong Chinese children were tested across both the 2nd and 3rd years of kindergarten (ages 4-5 years) on tasks of inhibitory control, working memory, vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and word reading. With age, vocabulary knowledge, and metalinguistic skills statistically controlled, the…

Multimedia Glosses and Their Effect on L2 Text Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

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Iñigo Yanguas

2009-06-01

Full Text Available The present study investigates the effects that different types of multimedia glosses, namely textual, pictorial, and textual + pictorial, have on text comprehension and vocabulary learning when the goal is exclusively comprehension of a computerized text. This study is based on the theoretical framework of attention, which maintains that attention is critical in the acquisition process of an L2 (Robinson, 1995; Schmidt, 1995, 2001; Tomlin and Villa, 1994. Ninety-four participants read a text under one of four gloss conditions while asked to think aloud. This study investigated whether any of the conditions promoted noticing and whether this noticing led to better comprehension of the text and learning of the target vocabulary words. Reading comprehension, recognition, and production measures were utilized in a pre-post test design. Results of quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data gathered showed first that all multimedia gloss groups noticed and recognized significantly more of the target words than the control group. Second, no significant differences were found among any of the groups in production of the target vocabulary items. Finally, regarding comprehension, results showed that the combination gloss group significantly outperformed all other groups. These results confirm that the multimedia glosses under investigation have a different effect on comprehension and vocabulary learning respectively.

The association between visual, nonverbal cognitive abilities and speech, phonological processing, vocabulary and reading outcomes in children with cochlear implants.

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Edwards, Lindsey; Anderson, Sara

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore the possibility that specific nonverbal, visual cognitive abilities may be associated with outcomes after pediatric cochlear implantation. The study therefore examined the relationship between visual sequential memory span and visual sequential reasoning ability, and a range of speech, phonological processing, vocabulary knowledge, and reading outcomes in children with cochlear implants. A cross-sectional, correlational design was used. Sixty-six children aged 5 to 12 years completed tests of visual memory span and visual sequential reasoning, along with tests of speech intelligibility, phonological processing, vocabulary knowledge, and word reading ability (the outcome variables). Auditory memory span was also assessed, and its relationship with the other variables examined. Significant, positive correlations were found between the visual memory and reasoning tests, and each of the outcome variables. A series of regression analyses then revealed that for all the outcome variables, after variance attributable to the age at implantation was accounted for, visual memory span and visual sequential reasoning ability together accounted for significantly more variance (up to 25%) in each outcome measure. These findings have both clinical and theoretical implications. Clinically, the findings may help improve the identification of children at risk of poor progress after implantation earlier than has been possible to date as the nonverbal tests can be administered to children as young as 2 years of age. The results may also contribute to the identification of children with specific learning or language difficulties as well as improve our ability to develop intervention strategies for individual children based on their specific cognitive processing strengths or difficulties. Theoretically, these results contribute to the growing body of knowledge about learning and development in deaf children with cochlear implants.

Grammar and vocabulary for First and First for schools with answers

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Thomas, Barbara; Matthews, Laura

2015-01-01

Grammar and Vocabulary reference and practice for the revised Cambridge English: First (FCE) and Cambridge English: First (FCE) for Schools from 2015 Cambridge Grammar and Vocabulary for First and First for Schools provides complete coverage of the grammar and vocabulary needed for the Cambridge First exams, and develops listening skills at the same time. It includes the full range of First and First for Schools exam tasks from the Reading and Use of English, Writing and Listening papers, and contains helpful grammar explanations. This edition is updated for the new exam to be introduced from 2015. It is informed by the Cambridge Learner Corpus to ensure that the language tackles real learner errors. The accompanying listening material is available online for download.

Building English Vocabulary through Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes

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Yurtbasi, Metin

2015-01-01

Semantics, the study of the meaning of words, is the sum of the basic elements of four skills, namely, reading, writing, speaking and listening effectively. The knowledge of vocabulary words in lexico-semantics, on the other hand, is essential in every grade level, subject area and assessment for every student. In order to improve students'…

Early productive vocabulary predicts academic achievement 10 years later

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Bleses, Dorthe; Makransky, Guido; Dale, Philip

2016-01-01

comprehension, can be predicted from an early vocabulary measure as early as 16 months with effect sizes (in proportion of variance accounted for) comparable to one year’s mean growth in reading scores. The findings confirm in a relatively large population based study that late talkers are at risk for later...

Task complexity, student perceptions of vocabulary learning in EFL, and task performance.

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Wu, Xiaoli; Lowyck, Joost; Sercu, Lies; Elen, Jan

2013-03-01

The study deepened our understanding of how students' self-efficacy beliefs contribute to the context of teaching English as a foreign language in the framework of cognitive mediational paradigm at a fine-tuned task-specific level. The aim was to examine the relationship among task complexity, self-efficacy beliefs, domain-related prior knowledge, learning strategy use, and task performance as they were applied to English vocabulary learning from reading tasks. Participants were 120 second-year university students (mean age 21) from a Chinese university. This experiment had two conditions (simple/complex). A vocabulary level test was first conducted to measure participants' prior knowledge of English vocabulary. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the learning tasks. Participants were administered task booklets together with the self-efficacy scales, measures of learning strategy use, and post-tests. Data obtained were submitted to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and path analysis. Results from the MANOVA model showed a significant effect of vocabulary level on self-efficacy beliefs, learning strategy use, and task performance. Task complexity showed no significant effect; however, an interaction effect between vocabulary level and task complexity emerged. Results from the path analysis showed self-efficacy beliefs had an indirect effect on performance. Our results highlighted the mediating role of self-efficacy beliefs and learning strategy use. Our findings indicate that students' prior knowledge plays a crucial role on both self-efficacy beliefs and task performance, and the predictive power of self-efficacy on task performance may lie in its association with learning strategy use. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

Why and How EFL Students Learn Vocabulary in Parliamentary Debate Class

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Eunice M. Aclan

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary, the backbone of any language including English, is foundational for listening, speaking, reading and writing. These four macro-skills are necessary not only in gaining knowledge as English is the language to access major information sources particularly the World Wide Web but also in the demanding globalized workplace. Vocabulary is seen to be learned better when it is contextualized thus language teachers should design communicative activities such as debate. However, debate, being more known as a competitive rather than a classroom activity worldwide, has not been explored yet for its potential to develop vocabulary among EFL/ESL students although it has been identified for its power in developing communication skills in general as well as critical thinking and other soft skills. Thus, this qualitative study was conducted to explore why and how EFL students learn vocabulary in classroom debate. The data were gathered through end-of-course evaluation and focus group interview with seven participants from the Middle East, African and ASEAN countries. The findings show that students learned vocabulary due to debate’s interactive nature requiring contextualized and meaningful language use from preparation to actual debate. EFL students described how they learned vocabulary through debate which has implications for SLA and language teaching.   Keywords: Noticing hypothesis, Comprehensible input, Incomprehensible input, Vocabulary building strategies

[Reading aloud as rehabilitation method for children with dyslexia detected at the first grade in their primary school].

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Koeda, Tatsuya; Uchiyama, Hitoshi; Seki, Ayumi

2011-09-01

We provided reading aloud instructions to a child who was diagnosed with dyslexia in a regular class of 69 first graders, comprising 33 boys and 36 girls, during a test of reading sentences aloud. The instructions consisted of a 2-step approach, i.e., decoding instruction and vocabulary instruction. First, a decoding instruction, which emphasized an important point in effortless decoding, was presented to the child. Next, a vocabulary instruction, which aimed to facilitate word-form recognition, was provided. We found that, the decoding instruction was effective in decreasing the number of reading errors, and that the vocabulary instruction was effective against reducing the time taken to read aloud.

A Model of Communicative Teaching and Learning of English Vocabulary Through Interactive Actin vities

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Sahraini Sahraini

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Teaching English vocabulary is very important, and it is more than just presenting and introducing new vocabulary to the students. Knowing words is not only memorizing them, but the students need to understand the meaning of the word in context and how the words are used. This can be achieved through correct vocabulary instruction which should involve vocabulary selection, word knowledge, and techniques. The needs of prospective teachers in mastering English both spoken and written, and the ability to teach using English as the language of instruction in the teaching and learning process in the classroom is very important. They also need the skills to teach English effectively and enjoyable to make the students have confident to use English communicatively. Deciding an interesting method for students is also an English teachers’ job to do. In this paper the writer tries to design a model of teaching and learning of English vocabulary through interactive activities. By using a lot of interactive activities, hopefully the students are able to practice to communicate by using English in oral and written.

The role of working memory and fluency practice on the reading comprehension of students who are dysfluent readers.

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Swanson, H Lee; O'Connor, Rollanda

2009-01-01

The authors investigated whether practice in reading fluency had a causal influence on the relationship between working memory (WM) and text comprehension for 155 students in Grades 2 and 4 who were poor or average readers. Dysfluent readers were randomly assigned to repeated reading or continuous reading practice conditions and compared with untreated dysfluent and fluent readers on posttest measures of fluency, word identification, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Three main findings emerged: (a) The influence of WM on text comprehension was not related to fluency training, (b) dysfluent readers in the continuous-reading condition had higher posttest scores than dysfluent readers in the other conditions on measures of text comprehension but not on vocabulary, and (c) individual differences in WM better predicted posttest comprehension performance than word-attack skills. In general, the results suggested that although continuous reading increased comprehension, fluency practice did not compensate for WM demands. The results were interpreted within a model that viewed reading comprehension processes as competing for a limited supply of WM resources that operate independent of fluency.

An Investigation of Learner-Control Variables in Vocabulary Learning Using Traditional Instruction and Two Forms of Computer-Based Instruction.

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Balajthy, Ernest

1988-01-01

Investigates college students' ability to monitor learner-controlled vocabulary instruction when performed in traditional workbook-like tasks and in two different computer-based formats: video game and text game exercises. Suggests that developmental reading students are unable to monitor their own vocabulary development accurately. (MM)

Reading and esl writers Reading and esl writers

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John R. Edlund

2008-04-01

Full Text Available Whether the student population consists of basic writers, non-native speakers, or well-prepared freshmen and whether the primary goal of the class is improvement in writing ability, language and vocabulary acquisition, or critical thinking skills, there is considerable evidence that substantial amounts of reading arc an essential component of the course (See Krashen Writing: Research, Theory and Applications for a summary. This is especially true in the ESL composition class, where language acquisition is still a major factor in the student's success as a writer. Whether the student population consists of basic writers, non-native speakers, or well-prepared freshmen and whether the primary goal of the class is improvement in writing ability, language and vocabulary acquisition, or critical thinking skills, there is considerable evidence that substantial amounts of reading arc an essential component of the course (See Krashen Writing: Research, Theory and Applications for a summary. This is especially true in the ESL composition class, where language acquisition is still a major factor in the student's success as a writer.

Peek, Peak, Pique: Using Homophones to Teach Vocabulary (and Spelling!).

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Pryle, Marilyn Bogusch

2000-01-01

Argues that regular homophone practice enhances vocabulary knowledge, spelling skills, pronunciation ability, and overall reading proficiency. Describes how card games played with decks of homophones helped to accomplish these things. Notes particular benefits of homophone games to English-as-a-second-language students, and outlines key advantages…

Investigating an Intervention Program Linking Writing and Vocabulary Development for Homeless Children

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Richard Sinatra

2010-03-01

Full Text Available The presented study investigated the effects of a four-week academic and activity – enriched summer program on vocabulary development and writing achievement of homeless children residing in traditional shelter facilities. When compared to controls the experimental students did not reveal gains in vocabulary and spelling as measured by two norm referenced tests. They did however demonstrate highly significant gains in writing ability based on the New York State standards criteria, reflecting five qualities of writing. On two project-developed instruments designed to measure improvement in book vocabulary and tennis skills, they showed significant increases based on analyses of their pre- and posttest scores. The program closed achievement gaps, fulfilled standards criteria, and may be the first of its kind in the homeless literature whereby students’ writing development was compared to matched controls as vocabulary development occurred based on literary readings.

Reading comprehension of ambiguous sentences by school-age children with autism spectrum disorder.

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Davidson, Meghan M; Ellis Weismer, Susan

2017-12-01

Weak central coherence (processing details over gist), poor oral language abilities, poor suppression, semantic interference, and poor comprehension monitoring have all been implicated to affect reading comprehension in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study viewed the contributions of different supporting skills as a collective set of skills necessary for context integration-a multi-component view-to examine individual differences in reading comprehension in school-age children (8-14 years) with ASD (n = 23) and typically developing control peers (n = 23). Participants completed a written ambiguous sentence comprehension task in which participants had to integrate context to determine the correct homonym meaning via picture selection. Both comprehension products (i.e., offline representations after reading) and processes (i.e., online processing during reading) were evaluated. Results indicated that children with ASD, similar to their TD peers, integrated the context to access the correct homonym meanings while reading. However, after reading the sentences, when participants were asked to select the meanings, both groups experienced semantic interference between the two meanings. This semantic interference hindered the children with ASD's sentence representation to a greater degree than their peers. Individual differences in age/development, word recognition, vocabulary breadth (i.e., number of words in the lexicon), and vocabulary depth (i.e., knowledge of the homonym meanings) contributed to sentence comprehension in both children with ASD and their peers. Together, this evidence supports a multi-component view, and that helping children with ASD develop vocabulary depth may have cascading effects on their reading comprehension. Autism Res 2017, 10: 2002-2022. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Like their peers, children with ASD were able to integrate context, or link words while reading

Teaching reading in an OBE framework | Lessing | Journal for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The workshop dealt with reading as an important aspect of the literacy learning area and suggestions were made to enhance the acquisition of vocabulary, sight reading words, decoding skills and comprehension. The importance of integration of the different aspects (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in the literacy ...

An analysis of reading profiles of first-year students at Potchefstroom ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

An analysis of reading profiles of first-year students at Potchefstroom University: a cross-sectional study and a case study. ... South African Journal of Education ... that these students experienced problems across all aspects of the reading process (i.e. vocabulary, fluency, reading comprehension, and reading strategy use).

It's Story Time!: Exploring the Potential of Multimodality in Oral Storytelling to Support Children's Vocabulary Learning

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Lwin, Soe Marlar

2016-01-01

Although many studies have been done on the benefits of parent/teacher-child interactions during shared storybook reading or read'aloud sessions, very few have examined the potential of professional storytellers' oral discourse to support children's vocabulary learning. In those storytelling sessions conducted by professional storytellers, the…

Task-based incidental vocabulary learning in L2 Arabic: The role of proficiency and task performance

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Ayman A. Mohamed

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This study tests the claim that word learning in a second language are contingent upon a task’s involvement load (i.e. the amount of need, search, and evaluation it imposes, as proposed by Laufer and Hulstijn (2001. Fifty-three English-speaking learners of Arabic were assigned to one of three vocabulary learning tasks that varied in the degree of involvement: reading comprehension with glosses (low, fill-in-the-gap task (medium, and sentence writing (high. Ten words, selected based on a pretest, were targeted in the tasks. Results showed a main effect of task, with the sentence writing task yielding the highest rates of vocabulary learning, followed by the gap-fill task, and finally the reading comprehension task. A significant correlation was found between accuracy of performance across participants and their subsequent vocabulary acquisition in the immediate posttest. Within groups, only the performance of the writing group correlated significantly with their posttest scores. Results of the present study validate the hypothesis and point to multiple factors at play in incidental vocabulary acquisition. The study provides further arguments to refine the hypothesis and implement pedagogical practices that accommodate incidental learning in foreign language settings.

Build Your Child's Vocabulary! Ten Fun and Easy Tips.

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1998

This booklet presents parents with 10 tips for helping their children expand their vocabulary. The 10 tips in the booklet are: read and use context; look for synonyms and antonyms; rhyming and homophones; compound words; look for related words; prefixes and suffixes; word maps; see how words are formed; mine the wealth of other languages; and use…

Speaking My Mind: Why I No Longer Teach Vocabulary

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Heverly, Jerry

2011-01-01

It's one of those assumptions of the English teaching game that students must learn and store up vocabulary as a precondition of tackling literature or history or any of those fields that feature big words. How, some ask, could a child read a challenging passage if he or she didn't understand those key, usually multisyllabic, words often sprinkled…

Morphology and Vocabulary Acquisition: Using Visual Cues from Word Parts to Enhance Recall and Decode Newly Encountered Words

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Bellomo, Tom

2012-01-01

An enhanced replication of an original quasi-experiment (Tom Bellomo, 2009b) was conducted to quantify the extent of long term retention of word parts and vocabulary. Such were introduced as part of a vocabulary acquisition strategy in a developmental reading course at one southeast four-year college. Aside from incorporating changes to the test…

The Impact of Teachers' Commenting Strategies on Children's Vocabulary Growth

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Barnes, Erica M.; Dickinson, David K.

2017-01-01

We examined the relations between teachers' use of comments during book reading sessions in preschool classrooms and the vocabulary growth of children with low and moderately low language ability. Using data from a larger randomized controlled trial, we analyzed comments defined as utterances that give, explain, expand, or define. Comments were…

Assessment of the Vocabulary Learning and Strategies Used by Teacher Education Students

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Esperanza F. Carranza

2015-05-01

Full Text Available One way to assess a person’s communicative competence is through his ability to express his thoughts and ideas in appropriate words and meaningful sentences. Vocabulary learning then is critical to learning a language – be it the first, second or even foreign. However, test results, daily communication and English proficiency exams show that students have difficulty in learning vocabulary. This descriptive-evaluative study assessed the vocabulary learning and the strategies used along context clues, word analysis and dictionary skills of the 100 randomly selected second-year education students of the Sorsogon State College. The study utilized survey-questionnaire, teacher- made test and unstructured interview in gathering data. The study revealed that most of the Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED and Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSED students oftentimes used strategies in learning vocabulary such as reading books and other materials, looking for clues in sentences and use the dictionary to unlock the unfamiliar words. The students attained nearly competent vocabulary performance along context clues, word analysis and dictionary skills. The context clues and word analysis skills are significantly related to the use of learning strategies when tested at 0.05 level. The developed vocabulary module to enhance the skills of the students can be validated and utilized for instruction.

Using reading to teach a world language strategies and activities

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Spangler, Donna

2015-01-01

To help your students learn a world language, don't forget the power of reading! In this practical book from Donna Spangler and John Alex Mazzante, you'll gain a variety of strategies and activities that you can use to teach students to read in a world language, boosting their comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. Perfect for any age or proficiency level, these classroom-ready activities can easily be adapted to suit your needs! Special features: A discussion of the challenges to teaching reading in the world language classroom A variety of adaptable pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading strategies and activities for students across grade levels and languages Essential tips for cultivating vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension Reader's Theater - a special chapter of strategies for implementing this exciting technique A list of helpful websites and apps for world language teachers Useful appendices, including reproducible material for your classroom Busy world language teachers will love this book's...

Morpho-Phonemic Analysis Boosts Word Reading for Adult Struggling Readers

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Gray, Susan H.; Ehri, Linnea C.; Locke, John L.

2018-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language…

Achieve3000®. Beginning Reading. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

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What Works Clearinghouse, 2018

2018-01-01

"Achieve3000®" is a supplemental online literacy program that provides nonfiction reading content to students in grades preK-12 and focuses on building phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills. "Achieve3000®" is designed to help students advance their nonfiction reading skills…

Using Concept Mapping to Teach Young EFL Learners Reading Skills

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Teo, Adeline; Shaw, Yun F.; Chen, Jimmy; Wang, Derek

2016-01-01

Many English as a foreign language (EFL) students fail to be effective readers because they lack knowledge of vocabulary and appropriate reading strategies. We believe that teaching proper reading strategies can help second-language learners overcome their reading problems, especially when the instruction begins in elementary school. Effective…

The effect of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition

OpenAIRE

Bozkurt, Neval

2007-01-01

Ankara : The Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Bilkent University, 2007. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2007. Includes bibliographical references leaves 82-87 This study investigated the effectiveness of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition, and the attitudes of teachers and learners towards keeping vocabulary notebooks. The study was conducted with the participation of 60 pre-intermediate level students, divided into one treatment ...

The pace of vocabulary growth helps predict later vocabulary skill

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Rowe, Meredith L.; Raudenbush, Stephen W.; Goldin-Meadow, Susan

2011-01-01

Children vary widely in the rate at which they acquire words—some start slow and speed up, others start fast and continue at a steady pace. Do early developmental variations of this sort help predict vocabulary skill just prior to kindergarten entry? This longitudinal study starts by examining important predictors (SES, parent input, child gesture) of vocabulary growth between 14 and 46 months (n=62), and then uses growth estimates to predict children's vocabulary at 54 months. Velocity and acceleration in vocabulary development at 30 months predicted later vocabulary, particularly for children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Understanding the pace of early vocabulary growth thus improves our ability to predict school readiness, and may help identify children at risk for starting behind. PMID:22235920

Reading: Focus for Enjoyment. Proceedings of the Annual Reading Conference (10th, Terre Haute, Indiana, June 12-13, 1980). Studies in Curriculum Development No. 1, 1981.

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Waterman, David C., Comp.; Gibbs, Vanita M., Comp.

Focusing on reading for enjoyment, the seven articles in this collection were drawn from the Tenth Annual Reading Conference held at Indiana State University. Topics discussed in the articles are: (1) reading aloud to students, (2) how to have fun while teaching vocabulary, (3) the enjoyment and affective dimensions of "EAS into Reading," (4)…

Self-awareness moderates the relation between maternal mental state language about desires and children's mental state vocabulary.

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Taumoepeau, Mele; Ruffman, Ted

2016-04-01

In this intervention study, we tested the differential effect of talking about children's desires versus talking about others' thoughts and knowledge on children's acquisition of mental state vocabulary for children who did and did not have mirror self-recognition. In a sample of 96 mother-toddler dyads, each mother was randomly assigned a specially constructed, interactive lift-the-flap book to read to her child three times a week for 4 weeks. In the child desire condition the story elicited comments regarding the child's desires, and in the cognitive condition the story elicited the mother's comments about her own thoughts and knowledge while reading the story. Children's mirror self-recognition and mental state vocabulary were assessed at pre- and post-test. Children in the condition that focused on the child's desires showed a significantly greater increase in their mental state vocabulary; however, this effect was moderated by their levels of self-awareness, with children benefitting more from the intervention if they also showed self-recognition at pre-test. We argue that the combination of specific types of maternal talk and children's prior insights facilitates gains in children's mental state vocabulary. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Effective Strategies for Turning Receptive Vocabulary into Productive Vocabulary in EFL Context

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Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

2015-01-01

Vocabulary acquisition has been a main concern of EFL English teachers and learners. There have been tons of research to examine the student's level of receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary, but no research has conducted on how turning receptive vocabulary into productive vocabulary. This study has reported the impact of the teaching…

Lexical inference as an obstacle to reading comprehension at senior ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The first utilised twenty-five Multiple Choice questions to test vocabulary out of context. Before the students attempted the second test they read three different passages of text after which they were tested on the same vocabulary items as in Test 1. They also answered twenty-five Short Answer comprehension questions ...

Reading Skills of Students With Speech Sound Disorders at Three Stages of Literacy Development

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Skebo, Crysten M.; Lewis, Barbara A.; Freebairn, Lisa A.; Tag, Jessica; Ciesla, Allison Avrich; Stein, Catherine M.

2015-01-01

Purpose The relationship between phonological awareness, overall language, vocabulary, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills to decoding and reading comprehension was examined for students at 3 stages of literacy development (i.e., early elementary school, middle school, and high school). Students with histories of speech sound disorders (SSD) with and without language impairment (LI) were compared to students without histories of SSD or LI (typical language; TL). Method In a cross-sectional design, students ages 7;0 (years; months) to 17;9 completed tests that measured reading, language, and nonlinguistic cognitive skills. Results For the TL group, phonological awareness predicted decoding at early elementary school, and overall language predicted reading comprehension at early elementary school and both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and high school. For the SSD-only group, vocabulary predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at early elementary school, and overall language predicted both decoding and reading comprehension at middle school and decoding at high school. For the SSD and LI group, overall language predicted decoding at all 3 literacy stages and reading comprehension at early elementary school and middle school, and vocabulary predicted reading comprehension at high school. Conclusion Although similar skills contribute to reading across the age span, the relative importance of these skills changes with children’s literacy stages. PMID:23833280

Getting Ready to Read: Promoting Children´s Emergent Literacy Through Shared Book Reading in a German Context

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de Brito Castilho Wesseling, Patricia

2016-01-01

The present study investigated the effects of two methods of shared book reading on children´s emergent literacy skills, such as language skills (expressive vocabulary and semantic skills) and grapheme awareness, i.e. before the alphabetic phase of reading acquisition (Lachmann & van Leeuwen, 2014) in home and in kindergarten contexts. The two following shared book reading methods were investigated: Method I - literacy enrichment: 200 extra children's books were distributed in kindergartens a...

Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning.

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Adlof, Suzanne M; Patten, Hannah

2017-03-01

This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information. Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses examined the variance in word learning that was explained by vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition after controlling for chronological age. Together with chronological age, nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge explained up to 44% of the variance in children's word learning. Nonword repetition was the stronger predictor of phonological recall, phonological recognition, and semantic recognition, whereas vocabulary knowledge was the stronger predictor of verbal semantic recall. These findings extend the results of past studies indicating that both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge are important for new word learning, but the relative influence of each predictor depends on the way word learning is measured. Suggestions for further research involving typically developing children and children with language or reading impairments are discussed.

Can Explaining Less Be More? Enhancing Vocabulary through Explicit versus Elaborative Storytelling

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Vaahtoranta, Enni; Suggate, Sebastian; Jachmann, Cornelia; Lenhart, Jan; Lenhard, Wolfgang

2018-01-01

Shared reading represents an established practice to foster preschool vocabulary development, particularly when coupled with explicit instruction in word meanings. However, a question remains as to whether explicit word definitions detract from story delivery and hence language learning. Accordingly, this study compared explicit versus…

Reading comprehension skills of young adults with childhood diagnoses of dyslexia.

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Ransby, Marilyn J; Swanson, H Lee

2003-01-01

This study explores the contribution of cognitive processes to comprehension skills in adults who suffered from childhood developmental dyslexia (CD). The performance of adults with CD (ages 17 to 23), chronological age-matched (CA) adults, and reading level-matched (RL) children was compared on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, working memory (WM), general knowledge, vocabulary, and comprehension. The results showed that adults with CD scored lower on measures of phonological processing, naming speed, WM, general knowledge, and vocabulary when compared to CA readers but were comparable to RL children on the majority of process measures. Phonological processing, naming speed, vocabulary, general knowledge, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to reading comprehension accuracy, whereas WM, intelligence, phonological processing, and listening comprehension contributed independent variance to comprehension fluency. Adults with CD scored lower than CA adults and higher than RL children on measures of lexical processing, WM, and listening comprehension when word recognition and intelligence were partialed from the analysis. In summary, constraints in phonological processing and naming speed mediate only some of the influence of high-order processes on reading comprehension. Furthermore, adults with CD experience difficulties in WM, listening comprehension, and vocabulary independently of their word recognition problems and intellectual ability.

Socio-cultural predictors of reading literacy in fourth graders in Lima, Peru

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Morales Silva, S.L.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2008-01-01

This study investigates socio-cultural cognitive literacy predictors for reading literacy (RL), tested in 314 fourth graders from two different levels of social economic status in Lima, Peru. The following variables were tested as predictors: word decoding, vocabulary, motivation to read, reading

Water Quality Vocabulary Development and Deployment

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Simons, B. A.; Yu, J.; Cox, S. J.

2013-12-01

Semantic descriptions of observed properties and associated units of measure are fundamental to understanding of environmental observations, including groundwater, surface water and marine water quality. Semantic descriptions can be captured in machine-readable ontologies and vocabularies, thus providing support for the annotation of observation values from the disparate data sources with appropriate and accurate metadata, which is critical for achieving semantic interoperability. However, current stand-alone water quality vocabularies provide limited support for cross-system comparisons or data fusion. To enhance semantic interoperability, the alignment of water-quality properties with definitions of chemical entities and units of measure in existing widely-used vocabularies is required. Modern ontologies and vocabularies are expressed, organized and deployed using Semantic Web technologies. We developed an ontology for observed properties (i.e. a model for expressing appropriate controlled vocabularies) which extends the NASA/TopQuadrant QUDT ontology for Unit and QuantityKind with two additional classes and two properties (see accompanying paper by Cox, Simons and Yu). We use our ontology to populate the Water Quality vocabulary with a set of individuals of each of the four key classes (and their subclasses), and add appropriate relationships between these individuals. This ontology is aligned with other relevant stand-alone Water Quality vocabularies and domain ontologies. Developing the Water Quality vocabulary involved two main steps. First, the Water Quality vocabulary was populated with individuals of the ObservedProperty class, which was determined from a census of existing datasets and services. Each ObservedProperty individual relates to other individuals of Unit and QuantityKind (taken from QUDT where possible), and to IdentifiedObject individuals. As a large fraction of observed water quality data are classified by the chemical substance involved, the

Oral vocabulary training program for Spanish third-graders with low socio-economic status: A randomized controlled trial.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Gomes-Koban

Full Text Available Although the importance of vocabulary training in English speaking countries is well recognized and has been extensively studied, the same is not true for Spanish-few evidence based vocabulary studies for Spanish-speaking children have been reported. Here, two rich oral vocabulary training programs (definition and context, based on literature about vocabulary instruction for English-speaking children, were developed and applied in a sample of 100 Spanish elementary school third-graders recruited from areas of predominantly low socio-economic status (SES. Compared to an alternative read-aloud method which served as the control, both explicit methods were more effective in teaching word meanings when assessed immediately after the intervention. Nevertheless, five months later, only the definition group continued to demonstrate significant vocabulary knowledge gains. The definition method was more effective in specifically teaching children word meanings and, more broadly, in helping children organize and express knowledge of words. We recommend the explicit and rich vocabulary instruction as a means to fostering vocabulary knowledge in low SES children.

Elementary Science and Reading Activities for Teacher Educators.

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Rezba, Richard J.

The author suggests ways reading can be integrated with science and describes the reading activities in an elementary science methods course. The activities include: (1) selecting a science tradebook for children to review and for the teacher to analyze vocabulary; (2) helping children review science tradebooks; and (3) encouraging independent…

Early vocabulary development in children with bilateral cochlear implants.

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Välimaa, Taina; Kunnari, Sari; Laukkanen-Nevala, Päivi; Lonka, Eila

2018-01-01

Children with unilateral cochlear implants (CIs) may have delayed vocabulary development for an extended period after implantation. Bilateral cochlear implantation is reported to be associated with improved sound localization and enhanced speech perception in noise. This study proposed that bilateral implantation might also promote early vocabulary development. Knowledge regarding vocabulary growth and composition in children with bilateral CIs and factors associated with it may lead to improvements in the content of early speech and language intervention and family counselling. To analyse the growth of early vocabulary and its composition during the first year after CI activation and to investigate factors associated with vocabulary growth. The participants were 20 children with bilateral CIs (12 boys; eight girls; mean age at CI activation = 12.9 months). Vocabulary size was assessed with the Finnish version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories (CDI) Infant Form and compared with normative data. Vocabulary composition was analysed in relation to vocabulary size. Growth curve modelling was implemented using a linear mixed model to analyse the effects of the following variables on early vocabulary growth: time, gender, maternal education, residual hearing with hearing aids, age at first hearing aid fitting and age at CI activation. Despite clear vocabulary growth over time, children with bilateral CIs lagged behind their age norms in receptive vocabulary during the first 12 months after CI activation. In expressive vocabulary, 35% of the children were able to catch up with their age norms, but 55% of the children lagged behind them. In receptive and expressive vocabularies of 1-20 words, analysis of different semantic categories indicated that social terms constituted the highest proportion. Nouns constituted the highest proportion in vocabularies of 101-400 words. The proportion of verbs remained below 20% and the proportion of function words and

One Year of Extensive Reading on Mobile Devices: Engagement and Impressions

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Milliner, Brett; Cote, Travis

2015-01-01

Extensive Reading (ER) is a popular strategy to improve reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge and reading confidence. The process of ER, traditionally done with paperbacks, is a practice being transformed by smartphone technology. This paper introduces Xreading® (www.xreading.com), an online Graded Reader (GR) library and Learning Management…

A new sensory vocabulary for crisp and crunchy dry model foods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dijksterhuis, G.B.; Luyten, J.M.J.G.; Wijk, de R.A.; Mojet, J.

2007-01-01

The creation of a sensory descriptive panel for dry crusted, `crispy¿ and `crunchy¿ food products is presented. A sensory vocabulary comprising appearance, odour, taste, texture and sound is developed and the panel is trained to use these attributes. Model deep-fried battered snack and baked bread

Predicting English Word Reading Skills for Spanish-Speaking Students in First Grade.

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Páez, Mariela; Rinaldi, Claudia

2006-10-01

This article describes the word reading skills in English and Spanish for a sample of 244 Spanish-speaking, English-learning (hence, bilingual) students in first grade and presents a predictive model for English word reading skills. The children in the study were assessed at the end of kindergarten and first grade, respectively. Data were gathered with 3 subtests of the Woodcock Language Proficiency Battery and a researcher-developed phonological awareness task. Results showed that, on average, children's English word reading skills were similar to monolingual norms whereas their Spanish word reading skills averaged 1 SD below the mean. English vocabulary, English phonological awareness, and Spanish word reading skills in kindergarten were found to be significant predictors of English word reading skills in first grade. Educational implications for screening language and reading skills and promising areas for targeted instruction for this population are discussed.

Reading Ability as a Predictor of Academic Procrastination among African American Graduate Students

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Collins, Kathleen M. T.; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J.; Jiao, Qun G.

2008-01-01

The present study examined the relationship between reading ability (i.e., reading comprehension and reading vocabulary) and academic procrastination among 120 African American graduate students. A canonical correlation analysis revealed statistically significant and practically significant multivariate relationships between these two reading…

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review (Aprendizaje incidental de vocabulario en la adquisición de una segunda lengua: una revisión de literatura)

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Restrepo Ramos, Falcon Dario

2015-01-01

This literature review aims to analyze previous studies that address the incidental learning of vocabulary in second language acquisition. The articles included in this literature review look into the understanding of vocabulary learning through incidental means, the relationship of reading and incidental vocabulary learning, and the strategies…

Consolidation of vocabulary during sleep: The rich get richer?

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James, Emma; Gaskell, M Gareth; Weighall, Anna; Henderson, Lisa

2017-06-01

Sleep plays a role in strengthening new words and integrating them with existing vocabulary knowledge, consistent with neural models of learning in which sleep supports hippocampal transfer to neocortical memory. Such models are based on adult research, yet neural maturation may mean that the mechanisms supporting word learning vary across development. Here, we propose a model in which children may capitalise on larger amounts of slow-wave sleep to support a greater demand on learning and neural reorganisation, whereas adults may benefit from a richer knowledge base to support consolidation. Such an argument is reinforced by the well-reported "Matthew effect", whereby rich vocabulary knowledge is associated with better acquisition of new vocabulary. We present a meta-analysis that supports this association between children's existing vocabulary knowledge and their integration of new words overnight. Whilst multiple mechanisms likely contribute to vocabulary consolidation and neural reorganisation across the lifespan, we propose that contributions of existing knowledge should be rigorously examined in developmental studies. Such research has potential to greatly enhance neural models of learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cross-lagged relationships between morphological awareness and reading comprehension among Chinese children

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Yahua Cheng

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The present study examined the developmental relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension using a two-year and four-wave cross-lagged design with a sample of 149 Chinese children (80 male and 69 female. We measured children’s morphological awareness, word reading, and reading comprehension from T1 to T4, in addition to phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and general cognitive ability at T1 as control measures. Four plausible cross-lagged models were assessed and compared to examine the direction of the developmental relationships between morphological awareness and reading comprehension over time. Results found support for a reciprocal-causation model, that is, morphological awareness stably predicted subsequent reading comprehension, and the reverse relation was also found. Longitudinal mediation analyses revealed that word reading partially mediated the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in Chinese children. These findings extend our understanding of the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. The practical implications for these two developing skills in Chinese children are discussed.

Cognitive Abilities Underlying Reading Accuracy, Fluency and Spelling Acquisition in Korean Hangul Learners from Grades 1 to 4: A Cross-Sectional Study.

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Park, Hyun-Rin; Uno, Akira

2015-08-01

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine the cognitive abilities that predict reading and spelling performance in Korean children in Grades 1 to 4, depending on expertise and reading experience. As a result, visual cognition, phonological awareness, naming speed and receptive vocabulary significantly predicted reading accuracy in children in Grades 1 and 2, whereas visual cognition, phonological awareness and rapid naming speed did not predict reading accuracy in children in higher grades. For reading, fluency, phonological awareness, rapid naming speed and receptive vocabulary were crucial abilities in children in Grades 1 to 3, whereas phonological awareness was not a significant predictor in children in Grade 4. In spelling, reading ability and receptive vocabulary were the most important abilities for accurate Hangul spelling. The results suggested that the degree of cognitive abilities required for reading and spelling changed depending on expertise and reading experience. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Learning Vocabulary in a Foreign Language: A Computer Software Based Model Attempt

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Yelbay Yilmaz, Yasemin

2015-01-01

This study aimed at devising a vocabulary learning software that would help learners learn and retain vocabulary items effectively. Foundation linguistics and learning theories have been adapted to the foreign language vocabulary learning context using a computer software named Parole that was designed exclusively for this study. Experimental…

Latino Maternal Literacy Beliefs and Practices Mediating Socioeconomic Status and Maternal Education Effects in Predicting Child Receptive Vocabulary

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Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Acosta, Sandra; Davis, Heather; Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn; Saenz, Laura; Soares, Denise; Resendez, Nora; Zhu, Leina

2017-01-01

Research Findings: This study investigated the association between Mexican American maternal education and socioeconomic status (SES) and child vocabulary as mediated by parental reading beliefs, home literacy environment (HLE), and parent-child shared reading frequency. As part of a larger study, maternal reports of education level, SES, HLE, and…

Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers.

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Gray, Susan H; Ehri, Linnea C; Locke, John L

2018-01-01

A randomized control trial compared the effects of two kinds of vocabulary instruction on component reading skills of adult struggling readers. Participants seeking alternative high school diplomas received 8 h of scripted tutoring to learn forty academic vocabulary words embedded within a civics curriculum. They were matched for language background and reading levels, then randomly assigned to either morpho-phonemic analysis teaching word origins, morpheme and syllable structures, or traditional whole word study teaching multiple sentence contexts, meaningful connections, and spellings. Both groups made comparable gains in learning the target words, but the morpho-phonemic group showed greater gains in reading unfamiliar words on standardized tests of word reading, including word attack and word recognition. Findings support theories of word learning and literacy that promote explicit instruction in word analysis to increase poor readers' linguistic awareness by revealing connections between morphological, phonological, and orthographic structures within words.

The relationship between component skills, reading experience, and reading comprehension in Danish 3rd graders

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rønberg, Louise Flensted-Jensen; Petersen, Dorthe Klint

data sets were obtained from 179 Danish Grade 3 pupils. Participants were given a standard reading comprehension test requiring multiple-choice answers to six different texts of various length and type. Orthographic and phonological coding, as well as non-verbal problem solving were assessed by means......Purpose The main aim of this study was to investigate the contribution of aspects of vocabulary, word reading abilities, and reading experience to reading comprehension, and to analyse sub-samples of students with comprehension difficulties. Method The study employed a cross-sectional design. Full......: path, street, road, river). Results Data analyses showed that in the entire sample, skills of semantic lexical structuring and reading experience made strong contributions to reading comprehension. Analyses of the pupils below the 25%-percentile in reading comprehension revealed that for the vast...

Promoting Word Consciousness to Close the Vocabulary Gap in Young Word Learners

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Neugebauer, Sabina Rak; Gámez, Perla B.; Coyne, Michael D.; McCoach, D. Betsy; Cólon, Ingrid T.; Ware, Sharon

2017-01-01

A proposed avenue for increasing students' vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension is instruction that promotes students' enthusiasm and attention to words, referred to as "word consciousness". This study seeks to investigate, at the utterance level, whether and how word consciousness talk is used in classrooms with young word…

Correlates of Early Reading Comprehension Skills: A Componential Analysis

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Babayigit, Selma; Stainthorp, Rhona

2014-01-01

This study had three main aims. First, we examined to what extent listening comprehension, vocabulary, grammatical skills and verbal short-term memory (VSTM) assessed prior to formal reading instruction explained individual differences in early reading comprehension levels. Second, we examined to what extent the three common component skills,…

Learning Vocabulary through E-Book Reading of Young Children with Various Reading Abilities

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Lee, Sung Hee

2017-01-01

Previous studies revealed that young children learn novel word meanings by simply reading and listening to a printed book. In today's classroom, many children's e-books provide audio narration support so young readers can simply listen to the e-books. The focus of the present study is to examine the effect of e-book reading with audio narration…

Content Matters: Building Vocabulary and Conceptual Understanding in the Subject Areas

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Greenwood, Scott

2004-01-01

This article focuses on traditional vocabulary instruction that has often had pernicious side effects: drill and kill that turned kids off to reading and word study. This trend can be reversed through careful attention to the needs and predilections of students as well as conspicuous consideration of the ramifications of time-cost. Here, the…

Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry

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MacLeod, Andrea A. N.; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R.

2017-01-01

Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se. PMID:29354017

Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry.

Science.gov (United States)

MacLeod, Andrea A N; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R

2018-01-01

Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, multilingual children show different vocabulary sizes or rates of vocabulary growth, (3) the age of onset of second-language acquisition for multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth, and (4) the sociolinguistic context of the languages spoken by multilingual children is associated with vocabulary size or rate of vocabulary growth. Results showed increases in vocabulary size across time for all children, with a steeper increase prior to school entry. A significant difference between monolingual and multilingual children who speak a minority language was observed with regards to vocabulary size at school entry and vocabulary growth prior to school entry, but growth rate differences were no longer present following school entry. Taken together, results suggest that which languages children speak may matter more than being multilingual per se.

VOCABULARY LEARNING IN AN AUTOMATED GRADED READING PROGRAM

OpenAIRE

Hsien-Chin Liou; Hung-Tzu Huang

2007-01-01

Adult L2 learners are often encouraged to acquire new words through reading in order to promote language proficiency. Yet preparing suitable reading texts is often a challenge for teachers because the chosen texts must have a high percentage of words familiar to specific groups of learners in order to allow the inference of word meanings from context. With the help of word lists research and advances in quantitative corpus analyses using word frequency computer programs, this study selected s...

THE COMPARISON OF USING SNAKE LADDERS AND SCRABBLE MEDIA TOWARDS VOCABULARY MASTERY OF STUDENTS

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Eka Pra Setiawati

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary is an essential component in learning English. It influences four English skills; they are listening, speaking, reading, and writing, for getting a good result in English. In teaching learning process, the teacher often implements the less interesting method, technique, or even media of vocabulary mastery in teaching and learning process which make the students to be bored, inactive, an uniterested in memorizing English vocabulary. Some media can be interested as the solutions in vocabulary mastery, they are Snake Ladders media and Scrabble media. The investigation was undergone by quantitative research. The researcher applied experimental research. This research underwent pre-test post-test control group design. To analyze data, t-test formula is used to measure the result of collected data. From the t-test measurement, it showed that t-test is 3.15 and t-table is 2.66. It means that t-hit > t-table. Based on the collected data, there is different result of using Snake Ladders from Scrabble media toward students’ vocabulary mastery. It was found that the students who are taught by using Snake Ladders resulted significant outcome than those are instructed by Scrabble media. It means that Snake Ladders is effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.

Improving South African third graders’ reading skills: Lessons learnt from the use of Guided Reading approach

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Mohlanhledi P. Makumbila

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This professional development project, known as Literacy Leadership Project, enabled four Foundation Phase teachers in South Africa to implement the Guided Reading approach. Developed by American researchers Fountas and Pinnell (1996, Guided Reading helps elementary students strengthen their phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension and fluency in small group activities. Over an 8-month period, lessons learnt came from data collected from this professional development included workshop activities, classroom observations, teachers’ group discussions and students’ artefacts. Results indicated improvement in students’ literacy engagement and motivation because of the use of levelled books, oral reading and group activities Keywords:  Guided Reading programme; foundation phase; childhood literacy; teacher professional development; literacy leadership; South Africa

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition from an Authentic Novel: Do "Things Fall Apart"?

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Pellicer-Sanchez, Ana; Schmitt, Norbert

2010-01-01

Nation (2006) has calculated that second language (L2) learners require much more vocabulary than previously thought to be functional with language (e.g., 8,000-9,000 word families to read independently). This level is far beyond the highest graded reader, and would be difficult to explicitly teach. One way for learners to be exposed to…

How logical reasoning mediates the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension.

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Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

The present study aimed to examine the role of logical reasoning in the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension in 146 fourth grade Dutch children. We assessed their standardized reading comprehension measure, along with their decoding efficiency and vocabulary as measures of lexical quality, syllogistic reasoning as measure of (verbal) logical reasoning, and nonverbal reasoning as a control measure. Syllogistic reasoning was divided into a measure tapping basic, coherence inferencing skill using logical syllogisms, and a measure tapping elaborative inferencing skill using indeterminate syllogisms. Results showed that both types of syllogisms partly mediated the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension, but also had a unique additional effect on reading comprehension. The indirect effect of lexical quality on reading comprehension via syllogisms was driven by vocabulary knowledge. It is concluded that measures of syllogistic reasoning account for higher-order thinking processes that are needed to make inferences in reading comprehension. The role of lexical quality appears to be pivotal in explaining the variation in reading comprehension both directly and indirectly via syllogistic reasoning.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Task Effectiveness in Involvement Load Hypothesis: A case in Iran

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Hassan Soleimani

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Involvement load hypothesis as a cognitive construct states that tasks with higher involvements yield better results in vocabulary retention. This comparison group designed study examined the immediate and delayed effects of tasks with different involvements in involvement load hypothesis (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001. Applying a version of Nelson Proficiency Test as a homogenizing exclusion criterion, 33 low proficiency Iranian EFL learners were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: blank-filling, sentence making, and reading comprehension. The results of ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis tests supported task-induced involvement in immediate posttest since the sentence making task (M=5.72 yielded better results in comparison with the other two blank-filling (M=5.45 and reading comprehension (M=3.18 tasks. Nevertheless, sentence making and blank-filling tasks of which the involvements were somehow similar did not yield significant superiority to each other. It is inferred that tasks with nearer involvements yield somehow similar results in vocabulary acquisition.

Read-Alouds in Calca, Peru: A Bilingual Indigenous Context

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Neugebauer, Sabina Rak; Currie-Rubin, Rachel

2009-01-01

A read-aloud program focused on vocabulary and comprehension skills for children bilingual in Quechua and Spanish was evaluated for efficacy. The authors present a study with classrooms of first-grade students, suggesting that specific read-aloud strategies that target the use of background knowledge in a discussion-based format can be a…

German Vocabulary.

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Coombs, Virginia M.

This article discusses in general terms derivational aspects of English vocabulary. Citing examples of Anglo-Saxon origin, the author provides a glimpse into the nature of the interrelatedness of English, German, and French vocabulary. (RL)

Effects of a phonological awareness program on English reading and spelling among Hong Kong Chinese ESL children.

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Yeung, Susanna S S; Siegel, Linda S; Chan, Carol K K

2013-05-01

This study investigated the effects of a 12-week language-enriched phonological awareness instruction on 76 Hong Kong young children who were learning English as a second language. The children were assigned randomly to receive the instruction on phonological awareness skills embedded in vocabulary learning activities or comparison instruction which consisted of vocabulary learning and writing tasks but no direct instruction in phonological awareness skills. They were tested on receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness at the syllable, rhyme and phoneme levels, reading, and spelling in English before and after the program implementation. The results indicated that children who received the phonological awareness instruction performed significantly better than the comparison group on English word reading, spelling, phonological awareness at all levels and expressive vocabulary on the posttest when age, general intelligence and the pretest scores were controlled statistically. The findings suggest that phonological awareness instruction embedded in vocabulary learning activities might be beneficial to kindergarteners learning English as a second language.

The Relationship between Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge

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Zhang, Xian; Lu, Xiaofei

2015-01-01

This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary breadth and depth knowledge. One hundred and fifty first-year university students in China took the Vocabulary Levels Test, a meaning recall task, and the Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge Test. The first two tests were used to elicit two types of vocabulary…

Predictors of Reading Comprehension among Struggling Readers Who Exhibit Differing Levels of Inattention and Hyperactivity

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Swanson, Elizabeth; Barnes, Marcia; Fall, Anna-Mari; Roberts, Greg

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of inference making, decoding, memory, and vocabulary on reading comprehension among 7th- through 12th-grade struggling readers with varying levels of inattention and hyperactivity. We categorized a group of 414 struggling readers into 3 groups based on results from factor mixture modeling:…

Stress Judgment and Production in English Derivation, and Word Reading in Adult Mandarin-Speaking English Learners.

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Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda

2017-08-01

For monolingual English-speaking children, judgment and production of stress in derived words, including words with phonologically neutral (e.g., -ness) and non-neutral suffixes (e.g., -ity), is important to both academic vocabulary growth and to word reading. For Mandarin-speaking adult English learners (AELs) the challenge of learning the English stress system might be complicated by cross-linguistic differences in prosodic function and features. As Mandarin-speakers become more proficient in English, patterns similar to those seen in monolingual children could emerge in which awareness and use of stress and suffix cues benefit word reading. A correlational design was used to examine the contributions of English stress in derivation with neutral and non-neutral suffixes to English word and nonword reading. Stress judgment in non-neutral derivation predicted word reading after controlling for working memory and English vocabulary; whereas stress production in neutral derivation contributed to word reading and pseudoword decoding, independent of working memory and English vocabulary. Although AELs could use stress and suffix cues for word reading, AELs were different from native English speakers in awareness of non-neutral suffix cues conditioning lexical stress placement. AELs may need to rely on lexical storage of primary stress in derivations with non-neutral suffixes.

The Effect of Semantic Mapping as a Vocabulary Instruction Technique on EFL Learners with Different Perceptual Learning Styles

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Esmaeel Abdollahzadeh

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Traditional and modern vocabulary instruction techniques have been introduced in the past few decades to improve the learners’ performance in reading comprehension. Semantic mapping, which entails drawing learners’ attention to the interrelationships among lexical items through graphic organizers, is claimed to enhance vocabulary learning significantly. However, whether this technique suits all types of learners has not been adequately investigated. This study examines the effectiveness of employing semantic mapping versus traditional approaches in vocabulary instruction to EFL learners with different perceptual modalities. A modified version of Reid’s (1987 perceptual learning style questionnaire was used to determine the learners’ modality types. The results indicate that semantic mapping in comparison to the traditional approaches significantly enhances vocabulary learning of EFL learners. However, although visual learners slightly outperformed other types of learners on the post-test, no significant differences were observed among intermediate learners with different perceptual modalities employing semantic mapping for vocabulary practice.

Students’ Perception on Pre-reading Activities in Basic Reading II Class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University

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Vindy Cahya Ekaningrum

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The students’ perception on the teacher instruction shows whether the teaching techniques meet the students’ need or not. Because of this reason, the researcher wants to find out the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher and the students’ perception on the implementation of the pre-reading activities. There were two problem formulations in this study: 1 What kinds of pre-reading activities that are used by Basic Reading II teacher in the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University? 2 How is the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher? This research was a survey research. In gathering the data, there were two instruments used in this research. They were interview and questionnaire. The interview was done by interviewing the teacher of Basic Reading II Class. The interview was used to answer the first research question about the varieties of pre-reading activities in Basic Reading II class. Then, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to 56 students of Basic Reading II class. The questionnaire was used to answer the second research question about the students’ perception on pre-reading activities used by the teacher. The result of this research showed that brainstorming, pre-teaching vocabulary, pre-questioning, visual aids, and KWL strategy were the varieties of pre-reading activities used by the teacher. There were two different implementation of pre-teaching vocabulary. There were also two activities combined together, they were the use of visual aids and KWL strategy. The students had positive perception on the implementation of pre-reading activities in Basic Reading II Class.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2015.180206

Vocabularies in the VO

Science.gov (United States)

Gray, A. J. G.; Gray, N.; Ounis, I.

2009-09-01

There are multiple vocabularies and thesauri within astronomy, of which the best known are the 1993 IAU Thesaurus and the keyword list maintained by A&A, ApJ and MNRAS. The IVOA has agreed on a standard for publishing vocabularies, based on the W3C skos standard, to allow greater automated interaction with them, in particular on the Web. This allows links with the Semantic Web and looks forward to richer applications using the technologies of that domain. Vocabulary-aware applications can benefit from improvements in both precision and recall when searching for bibliographic or science data, and lightweight intelligent filtering for services such as VOEvent streams. In this paper we present two applications, the Vocabulary Explorer and its companion the Mapping Editor, which have been developed to support the use of vocabularies in the Virtual Observatory. These combine Semantic Web and Information Retrieval technologies to illustrate the way in which formal vocabularies might be used in a practical application, provide an online service which will allow astronomers to explore and relate existing vocabularies, and provide a service which translates free text user queries into vocabulary terms.

Click, Clack, Moo: Designing Effective Reading Instruction for Children in Preschool and Early Primary Grades

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Barclay, Kathy

2009-01-01

As teachers have struggled to implement scientifically based instructional practices in reading, some researchers have begun to focus on ways to "boost the value of reading aloud to young children". Such studies seek ways to promote oral language as well as comprehension and vocabulary through read-aloud experiences. Interactive read-alouds…

Strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary

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Feng Teng

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract This article presents an overview of current research on second language vocabulary learning and proposes eight strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary. First, to facilitate effective vocabulary teaching, choosing high-frequency words is essential. Teachers of vocabulary also need to add explicit, intentional teaching to incidental learning. In addition, vocabulary learning strategies including morphological awareness and lexical inference provides a platform by which learners can improve both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. This article also suggests that productive vocabulary knowledge needs more attention than receptive vocabulary knowledge, and that available textbooks seldom address vocabulary sufficiently. In summary, it is very important for all learners and teachers to acknowledge that learning vocabulary is incremental in nature, and we should develop a principled, long-term program for teaching and learning vocabulary.

Progress Monitoring Instrument Development: Silent Reading Fluency, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension. Technical Report #1110

Science.gov (United States)

Nese, Joseph F. T.; Anderson, Daniel; Hoelscher, Kyle; Tindal, Gerald; Alonzo, Julie

2011-01-01

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is designed to measure students' academic status and growth so the effectiveness of instruction may be evaluated. In the most popular forms of reading CBM, the student's oral reading fluency is assessed. This behavior is difficult to sample in a computer-based format, a limitation that may be a function of the…

Precursors of Reading Skill From Infancy to First Grade in Finnish: Continuity and Change in a Highly Inflected Language

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Silvén, M.; Poskiparta, E.H.; Niemi, P.; Voeten, M.J.M.

2007-01-01

The course of language acquisition from infancy to public primary school was followed in a sample of 56 Finnish children to examine precursors to reading at first grade. Structural equation modeling of continuity suggested effects from growth in early vocabulary to mastery of inflectional forms at

What’s in a name depends on the type of name: The relationships between semantic and phonological access, reading fluency and reading comprehension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Poulsen, Mads; Elbro, Carsten

2013-01-01

examined both components in naming tasks – with isolated letters (phonological) and pictures (semantic). Seventy-five Grade 5 students were administered measures of letter and picture naming speed, word and nonword reading fluency, reading comprehension, together with control measures of vocabulary....... The results showed that letter naming was a unique predictor of word reading fluency, while picture naming was not. Conversely, picture naming speed contributed unique variance to reading comprehension, while letter naming did not. The results indicate that phonological and semantic lexical access speed...

Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys.

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Carroll, Julia M; Fox, Amy C

2016-01-01

The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child's perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures.

Reading Self-Efficacy Predicts Word Reading But Not Comprehension in Both Girls and Boys

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Julia M.; Fox, Amy C.

2017-01-01

The relationship between cognitive skills and reading has been well-established. However, the role of motivational factors such as self-efficacy in reading progress is less clear. In particular, it is not clear how self-efficacy relates to word level reading versus comprehension, and whether this differs in boys and girls. This study examines the relationship between self-efficacy, word reading and reading comprehension across the range of reading abilities after controlling for reading-related cognitive factors. One hundred and seventy nine children (86 males and 93 females) between 8 and 11 years old completed a self-report measure of reading self-efficacy together with measures of reading comprehension and word reading, working memory, auditory short-term memory, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. Boys and girls showed similar levels of attainment and reading self-efficacy. Reading self-efficacy was associated with word reading, but not with reading comprehension in either boys or girls. It is argued that this may reflect important differences between reading self-efficacy and more general measures of reading motivation and engagement. Reading self-efficacy is an element of reading motivation that is closely associated with a child’s perceived attainments in reading and is less susceptible to the gender differences seen in broader measures. PMID:28144223

Developing and Standardization of a Diagnostic Reading Test

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Tahereh Sima-Shirazi

2004-06-01

Full Text Available Objective: This paper is a report on the development, structure and content of a diagnostic dyslexia reading test. The target population of this test is persian children who have problems in learning reading and may be considered as dyslexic. This diagnostic test is the first reading test developed for the native speakers of persian. Materials & Methods: The theoretical framework of the test is based on two well- established reading tests for the English speaking children, namely Durrell Analysis of Reading and Neale Analysis of Reading Ability. The linguistic content of the subtests is selected from the vocabulary and texts of the textbook used in the primary schools. Both the vocabulary and the sentences of the parrallel passeges were controlled for frequency, phonemic/graphemic regularity, syllable structure, morphology, syntax and semantics. They were also controlled for value judgement by two linguistics and three first grader teachers.The first version of the test is normed on 605 boy and girl first graders from different educational sectors and schools selected randomly.The method used in this research is cross- sectional, descriptive- analytic and the data analysis is based on pearson, and mann-whitney u. Results: Reliability of the test is calculated based on parrallel forms (~ 90% and validity is based on content validity.This test has a supplementary section including spelling, graphem/ phoneme correspondness, nonword reading, irregular word reading, and copy subtests. Conclusion: Considering highreliability and precise validation of the test it can be used to diagnose the dyslexia and related linguistic impairments.

Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge and Their Effects on L2 Vocabulary Profiles

Science.gov (United States)

Bardakçi, Mehmet

2016-01-01

Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge have been studied from many different perspectives, but the related literature lacks serious studies dealing with their effects on vocabulary profiles of EFL learners. In this paper, with an aim to fill this gap, the relative effects of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge on L2 vocabulary profiles…

EST Vocabulary Instruction

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Célia D.S. Bell

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This study aims at contributing to the investigation on the instruction of EST (English for Science and Technology vocabulary, in terms of receptive use of the language. It evaluates the effectiveness of two teaching approaches to the acquisition of vocabulary. The first approach consisted of teaching vocabulary through the use of dictionaries, where the words were merely translated into the learners’ L1 or defined in the target language thus promoting superficial level of word processing. The second approach employed activities promoting deep level of word processing. Data were analysed quantitatively. Results indicated that the two approaches seem to have some equipotentiality, as far as EST vocabulary is concerned.

COMPUTER-ASSISTED VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE POWER OF GAMING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT

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Yune Andryani Pinem

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The main objective of this study was to find out whether the power of gaming contributed to vocabulary learning and gave significant upgrading in students‘ vocabulary scores through its comparison to the dull and routine vocabulary learning. The subjects, two groups of Indonesian students, were tested in a pre-test before joining two different methods of vocabulary learning, and finally were tested in a post-test. Data were collected from the students‘ pre-test and post-test scores. From the comparison of these two groups‘ data, the output proved that the vocabulary class using ―Little Shop of Treasure‖ online games was better in boosting students‘ scores.

An Integrated Approach to Establish Validity and Reliability of Reading Tests

Science.gov (United States)

Razi, Salim

2012-01-01

This study presents the processes of developing and establishing reliability and validity of a reading test by administering an integrative approach as conventional reliability and validity measures superficially reveals the difficulty of a reading test. In this respect, analysing vocabulary frequency of the test is regarded as a more eligible way…

Rhythmic Reading and Role-Playing

Science.gov (United States)

Lombarbdo, Mary A.

2005-01-01

Children listen, act out and recite nursery rhymes and thus learn about rhyming words, absorb the rhythm of English language, and begin to develop speech sound awareness in an interactive and fun way, which can further enhance reading achievement. Encouraging children to dramatize the rhymes leads to role plays which uses basic vocabulary sight…

Low-income fathers’ speech to toddlers during book reading versus toy play*

Science.gov (United States)

Salo, Virginia C.; Rowe, Meredith L.; Leech, Kathryn A.; Cabrera, Natasha J.

2016-01-01

Fathers’ child-directed speech across two contexts was examined. Father–child dyads from sixty-nine low-income families were videotaped interacting during book reading and toy play when children were 2;0. Fathers used more diverse vocabulary and asked more questions during book reading while their mean length of utterance was longer during toy play. Variation in these specific characteristics of fathers’ speech that differed across contexts was also positively associated with child vocabulary skill measured on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory. Results are discussed in terms of how different contexts elicit specific qualities of child-directed speech that may promote language use and development. PMID:26541647

Low-income fathers' speech to toddlers during book reading versus toy play.

Science.gov (United States)

Salo, Virginia C; Rowe, Meredith L; Leech, Kathryn A; Cabrera, Natasha J

2016-11-01

Fathers' child-directed speech across two contexts was examined. Father-child dyads from sixty-nine low-income families were videotaped interacting during book reading and toy play when children were 2;0. Fathers used more diverse vocabulary and asked more questions during book reading while their mean length of utterance was longer during toy play. Variation in these specific characteristics of fathers' speech that differed across contexts was also positively associated with child vocabulary skill measured on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory. Results are discussed in terms of how different contexts elicit specific qualities of child-directed speech that may promote language use and development.

The Melding of Literacy Strategies to Enhance Reading Fluency, Comprehension, and Enjoyment

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Weih, Timothy G.

2013-01-01

This report describes an individualized literacy intervention program that was developed for a fifth grade boy who struggled with reading. Based upon informal assessment and evaluation procedures, the following literacy strategies were taught within a one-to-one instructional setting: Repeated Readings, Personal Vocabulary Journal, Phonemic…

Principles Guiding Vocabulary Learning through Extensive Reading

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Nation, Paul

2015-01-01

Extensive reading is one of a range of activities that can be used in a language learning course. Ideally, the choice of activities to go into a course should be guided by principles which are well supported by research. Similarly, the way each of those activities is used should be guided by well-justified principles. In this article, we look at…

Investigation of basic cognitive predictors of reading and spelling abilities in Tunisian third-grade primary school children.

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Batnini, Soulef; Uno, Akira

2015-06-01

This study investigated first the main cognitive abilities; phonological processing, visual cognition, automatization and receptive vocabulary in predicting reading and spelling abilities in Arabic. Second, we compared good/poor readers and spellers to detect the characteristics of cognitive predictors which contribute to identifying reading and spelling difficulties in Arabic speaking children. A sample of 116 Tunisian third-grade children was tested on their abilities to read and spell, phonological processing, visual cognition, automatization and receptive vocabulary. For reading, phonological processing and automatization uniquely predicted Arabic word reading and paragraph reading abilities. Automatization uniquely predicted Arabic non-word reading ability. For spelling, phonological processing was a unique predictor for Arabic word spelling ability. Furthermore, poor readers had significantly lower scores on the phonological processing test and slower reading times on the automatization test as compared with good readers. Additionally, poor spellers showed lower scores on the phonological processing test as compared with good spellers. Visual cognitive processing and receptive vocabulary were not significant cognitive predictors of Arabic reading and spelling abilities for Tunisian third grade children in this study. Our results are consistent with previous studies in alphabetic orthographies and demonstrate that phonological processing and automatization are the best cognitive predictors in detecting early literacy problems. We suggest including phonological processing and automatization tasks in screening tests and in intervention programs may help Tunisian children with poor literacy skills overcome reading and spelling difficulties in Arabic. Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval.

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Lancaster, F. W.

This book deals with properties of vocabularies for indexing and searching document collections; the construction, organization, display, and maintenance of these vocabularies; and the vocabulary as a factor affecting the performance of retrieval systems. Most of the text is concerned with vocabularies for post-coordinate retrieval systems, with…

Role of Narrative Skills on Reading Comprehension: Spanish-English and Cantonese-English Dual Language Learners

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Uchikoshi, Yuuko; Yang, Lu; Liu, Siwei

2018-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the role of narrative skills in English reading comprehension, after controlling for vocabulary and decoding, with a sample of 112 dual language learners (DLLs), including both Spanish-English and Cantonese-English children. Decoding, vocabulary, and narrative samples were collected in the winter of first grade and…

The Benefit of Orthographic Support for Oral Vocabulary Learning in Children with Down Syndrome

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Mengoni, Sylvana E.; Nash, Hannah; Hulme, Charles

2013-01-01

Children with Down syndrome typically have weaknesses in oral language, but it has been suggested that this domain may benefit from learning to read. Amongst oral language skills, vocabulary is a relative strength, although there is some evidence of difficulties in learning the phonological form of spoken words. This study investigated the effect…

Domain Independent Vocabulary Generation and Its Use in Category-based Small Footprint Language Model

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KIM, K.-H.

2011-02-01

Full Text Available The work in this paper pertains to domain independent vocabulary generation and its use in category-based small footprint Language Model (LM. Two major constraints of the conventional LMs in the embedded environment are memory capacity limitation and data sparsity for the domain-specific application. This data sparsity adversely affects vocabulary coverage and LM performance. To overcome these constraints, we define a set of domain independent categories using a Part-Of-Speech (POS tagged corpus. Also, we generate a domain independent vocabulary based on this set using the corpus and knowledge base. Then, we propose a mathematical framework for a category-based LM using this set. In this LM, one word can be assigned assign multiple categories. In order to reduce its memory requirements, we propose a tree-based data structure. In addition, we determine the history length of a category n-gram, and the independent assumption applying to a category history generation. The proposed vocabulary generation method illustrates at least 13.68% relative improvement in coverage for a SMS text corpus, where data are sparse due to the difficulties in data collection. The proposed category-based LM requires only 215KB which is 55% and 13% compared to the conventional category-based LM and the word-based LM, respectively. It successively improves the performance, achieving 54.9% and 60.6% perplexity reduction compared to the conventional category-based LM and the word-based LM in terms of normalized perplexity.

Vocabulary development in children with hearing loss: The role of child, family, and educational variables

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coppens, K.M.; Tellings, A.E.J.M.; Veld, W.M. van der; Schreuder, R.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2012-01-01

In the present study we examined the effect of hearing status on reading vocabulary development. More specifically, we examined the change of lexical competence in children with hearing loss over grade 4-7 and the predictors of this change. Therefore, we used a multi-factor longitudinal design with

Profiling vocabulary in psychology journal abstracts: A comparison between Iranian and Anglo-American journals

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Is’haaq Akbarian

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Lexical profiling has yielded fruitful results for language description and pedagogy (Liu, 2014, and particularly highlighted the significance of academic vocabulary for EFL learners in this process. This investigation, likewise, attempts to comparatively profile the vocabulary, more particularly the academic vocabulary, in the ‘abstract’ section of scholarly articles in Iranian and Anglo-American refereed journals in psychology. Iranian journals under study publish articles in Persian but also include an English abstract whereas the latter publish papers in English. For this purpose, a corpus (consisting of 307,126 words, with two sub-corpora of almost similar size and characteristics, was collected from Iranian and Anglo-American journals and analyzed through the software Range. The analyses conducted show a coverage of over 15 percent and the use of over 500 words of the Academic Word List (AWL in both Iranian and Anglo-American sub-corpora. However, there are variations in academic and nonacademic vocabulary use in abstracts across the two sub-corpora above. Most of the academic words used belong to the beginning AWL sub-lists. Pedagogical implications are made for reading and writing, particularly in EAP contexts.

Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry

OpenAIRE

MacLeod, Andrea A. N.; Castellanos-Ryan, Natalie; Parent, Sophie; Jacques, Sophie; Séguin, Jean R.

2017-01-01

Differences between monolingual and multilingual vocabulary development have been observed but few studies provide a longitudinal perspective on vocabulary development before and following school entry. This study compares vocabulary growth profiles of 106 multilingual children to 211 monolingual peers before and after school entry to examine whether: (1) school entry coincides with different rates of vocabulary growth compared to prior to school entry, (2) compared to monolingual peers, mult...

Ontology Based Vocabulary Matching for Oceanographic Instruments

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Chen, Yu; Shepherd, Adam; Chandler, Cyndy; Arko, Robert; Leadbetter, Adam

2014-05-01

Data integration act as the preliminary entry point as we enter the era of big data in many scientific domains. However the reusefulness of various dataset has met the hurdle due to different initial of interests of different parties, therefore different vocabularies in describing similar or semantically related concepts. In this scenario it is vital to devise an automatic or semi-supervised algorithm to facilitate the convergence of different vocabularies. The Ocean Data Interoperability Platform (ODIP) seeks to increase data sharing across scientific domains and international boundaries by providing a forum to harmonize diverse regional data systems. ODIP participants from the US include the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) program, whose mission is to capture, catalog, and describe the underway/environmental sensor data from US oceanographic research vessels and submit the data to public long-term archives. In an attempt to harmonize these regional data systems, especially vocabularies, R2R recognizes the value of the SeaDataNet vocabularies served by the NERC Vocabulary Server (NVS) hosted at the British Oceanographic Data Centre as a trusted, authoritative source for describing many oceanographic research concepts such as instrumentation. In this work, we make use of the semantic relations in the vocabularies served by NVS to build a Bayesian network and take advantage of the idea of entropy in evaluating the correlation between different concepts and keywords. The performance of the model is evaluated against matching instruments from R2R against the SeaDataNet instrument vocabularies based on calculated confidence scores in the instrument pairings. These pairings with their scores can then be analyzed for assertion growing the interoperability of the R2R vocabulary through its links to the SeaDataNet entities.

How Logical Reasoning Mediates the Relation between Lexical Quality and Reading Comprehension

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Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2016-01-01

The present study aimed to examine the role of logical reasoning in the relation between lexical quality and reading comprehension in 146 fourth grade Dutch children. We assessed their standardized reading comprehension measure, along with their decoding efficiency and vocabulary as measures of lexical quality, syllogistic reasoning as measure of…

Reading Right: Korean Translation Manual. English for Special Purposes Series: Nursing Aide.

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Park, Yong-Ok

This Korean translation manual for nursing aides is designed to improve reading skills of U.S. immigrants. After short readings in Korean and English translations of vocabulary/phrases, comprehension, grammar, and language usage exercises are presented. Topical areas include: food, the hospital staff, body language, cleanliness in the hospital,…

Effects of Help Options in a Multimedia Listening Environment on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

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Mohsen, Mohammed Ali

2016-01-01

Several types of help options have been incorporated into reading and listening comprehension activities to aid second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. Textbook authors, teachers, and sometimes even students may pick and choose which help options they wish to use. In this paper, I investigate the effects of two help options in a multimedia…

Adolescents' Motivation in the Context of an Academic Vocabulary Intervention in Urban Middle School Classrooms

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Lesaux, Nonie K.; Harris, Julie Russ; Sloane, Phoebe

2012-01-01

In a large urban district's ELA classrooms, an academic vocabulary intervention designed to improve linguistically diverse 6th-graders' reading and language skills was implemented and evaluated. These classrooms were characterized by high numbers of struggling readers, and linguistic diversity was the norm. As part of the evaluation, this study…

Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary

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Food and Feed Vocabulary was developed to consolidate all the major OPP Commodity Vocabularies into one standardized vocabulary. The EPA-preferred term is the only term that can be used in setting tolerances.

Linking open vocabularies

CERN Document Server

Greifender, Elke; Seadle, Michael

2013-01-01

Linked Data (LD), Linked Open Data (LOD) and generating a web of data, present the new knowledge sharing frontier. In a philosophical context, LD is an evolving environment that reflects humankinds' desire to understand the world by drawing on the latest technologies and capabilities of the time. LD, while seemingly a new phenomenon did not emerge overnight; rather it represents the natural progression by which knowledge structures are developed, used, and shared. Linked Open Vocabularies is a significant trajectory of LD. Linked Open Vocabularies targets vocabularies that have traditionally b

Some Relationships Between Birth Order, Sex, Family Size, Sibling Span, and Reading Achievement.

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Grygo, Rosemary E. Cox

Reading scores earned by 286 fifth-grade pupils taking the California Test of Basic Skills were used in a study examining the relationship between reading achievement and birth order and related family factors. Vocabulary scores were significantly related to birth order, family size, and socioeconomic status. Comprehension scores were…

Building Maintenance. Reading and Language Activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Kessman, William A.

The student manual has been designed primarily for beginning students in a high school level vocational program in building maintenance. A workbook for special needs students, the document does not cover all areas of custodial training but has been written for the purpose of refining the basic skills of reading comprehension, vocabulary building,…

EFFICIENCY OF READING COMPREHENSION TRAINING IN PUPILS LIVING IN POVERTY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milena Kosak Babuder

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The results of Slovene and foreign studies reveal the connection between literacy levels and the level of education, employment opportunities and consequent socio-economic status of individuals and families. Reading efficiency relating to reading comprehension is an important element of reading literacy performance. The findings of several authors indicate empirical evidence of the existence of deficits and poor reading comprehension in pupils living in poverty and stress the importance of offsetting deficits and developing reading comprehension. Results of both foreign and Slovene studies indicate that the program of reading comprehension should be implemented in this group of pupils. In the article, we want to present effectiveness of the reading comprehension improvement program in pupils living in poverty. According to the findings of our research, in which we structured and implemented the reading comprehension program for pupils living in poverty with the Metacognitive-intersentential model of reading comprehension, the reading comprehension of the experimental group pupils who participated in the program improved compared to the control group pupils who did not participate in the program. Experimental group pupils also significantly improved correctness of their reading, their vocabulary and skills of verbal expression. When the program ended, we tested its efficiency by applied tests. The results on the manifest variables indicated that the program was good and efficient for pupils who live in poverty and experience reading comprehension problems.

Age of Bilingual Exposure Is Related to the Contribution of Phonological and Semantic Knowledge to Successful Reading Development.

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Jasińska, Kaja K; Petitto, Laura-Ann

2018-01-01

Bilingual children's reading as a function of age of first bilingual language exposure (AoE) was examined. Bilingual (varied AoE) and monolingual children (N = 421) were compared in their English language and reading abilities (6-10 years) using phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, and reading tasks. Structural equation modeling was applied to determine how bilingual AoE predicts reading outcomes. Early exposed bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on phonological awareness and word reading. Phonology and semantic (vocabulary) knowledge differentially predicted reading depending on the bilingual experience and AoE. Understanding how bilingual experiences impact phonological awareness and semantic knowledge, and in turn, impact reading outcomes is relevant for our understanding of what language and reading skills are best to focus on, and when, to promote optimal reading success. © 2017 The Authors. Child Development © 2017 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Reading through Films

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Madhavi Gayathri Raman

2016-02-01

Full Text Available This paper captures the design of a comprehensive curriculum incorporating the four skills based exclusively on the use of parallel audio-visual and written texts. We discuss the use of authentic materials to teach English to Indian undergraduates aged 18 to 20 years. Specifically, we talk about the use of parallel reading (screen-play and audio-visual texts (Shawshank Redemption, and Life is Beautiful, A Few Good Men and Lion King drawn from popular culture in the classroom as an effective teaching medium. Students were gradually introduced to films based on novels with extracts from the original texts (Schindler’s List, Beautiful Mind for extended reading and writing practice. We found that students began to pay more attention to aspects such as pronunciation, intonational variations, discourse markers and vocabulary items (phrasal verbs, synonyms, homophones, and puns. Keywords: Reading, films, popular culture, ESL classroom, language skills

The Effects of an Extensive Reading Program on Improving English as Foreign Language Proficiency in University Level Education

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Alzu'bi, Mohammad Akram

2014-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the impact of extensive reading on improving reading proficiency. The study tried to find the effect of ER on EFL student's reading, vocabulary and grammar. The researcher designed two instruments; a program based on the extensive reading strategy and general test. Forty-one university students who study English…

Does Set for Variability Mediate the Influence of Vocabulary Knowledge on the Development of Word Recognition Skills?

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Tunmer, William E.; Chapman, James W.

2012-01-01

This study investigated the hypothesis that vocabulary influences word recognition skills indirectly through "set for variability", the ability to determine the correct pronunciation of approximations to spoken English words. One hundred forty children participating in a 3-year longitudinal study were administered reading and…

Vocabulary Development in Children with Hearing Loss: The Role of Child, Family, and Educational Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Coppens, Karien M.; Tellings, Agnes; van der Veld, William; Schreuder, Robert; Verhoeven, Ludo

2012-01-01

In the present study we examined the effect of hearing status on reading vocabulary development. More specifically, we examined the change of lexical competence in children with hearing loss over grade 4-7 and the predictors of this change. Therefore, we used a multi-factor longitudinal design with multiple outcomes, measuring the reading…

Improving Vocabulary of English Language Learners through Direct Vocabulary Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Hunt, Meghan; Feng, Jay

2016-01-01

This is a report of a professional development project. The purpose of the project was to provide professional development to teachers in vocabulary instructional strategies and to examine vocabulary acquisition of English language learners. The participants were 8 second grade ELL students and 6 second grade teachers. The eight second grade…

An analysis of the reading profiles of first-year students at ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Erna Kinsey

Many South African students enter higher education under-prepared for the reading demands ... quate strategies to face the challenges that emanated from their imple- .... vocal relationship between teaching vocabulary and improving com-.

GLOSSARY TO READINGS IN HINDI LITERATURE.

Science.gov (United States)

Wisconsin Univ., Madison. Indian Language and Area Center.

INCLUDED IN THIS GLOSSARY ARE THE IMPORTANT VOCABULARY ITEMS WHICH APPEAR IN THE VOLUME OF READINGS. THESE ITEMS ARE ARRANGED BY SELECTION AND ARE IN SERIAL ORDER. THE LISTING INCLUDES THE DEVANAGARI FORM, AN ABBREVIATION OF THE FORM CLASS, AND A SHORT ENGLISH GLOSS. WHEN A NUMBER OF TRANSLATIONS ARE POSSIBLE, THE FIRST ONE GIVEN IS APPROPRIATE TO…

Influence of Native Language Vocabulary and Topic Knowledge on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning in Health Care Providers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcia Foresee Drumhiller

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Adults attending short, language for specific purpose courses may have expertise not utilized in general foreign language courses. The present study investigates two factors that may influence the acquisition of medical Spanish vocabulary in such persons: native English vocabulary size and topic knowledge. Forty-four health care workers attended 12 hr of medical Spanish instruction. Prior to instruction, the Nelson–Denny Vocabulary Test, a Medical Spanish vocabulary test, and an English Medical Terminology Test (an indicator of topic knowledge were administered. The Medical Spanish Vocabulary Test was readministered at posttest. Individually, both English medical terminology knowledge and English vocabulary size were significant predictors of medical Spanish vocabulary acquisition, but English medical terminology knowledge explained most of the variance in medical Spanish vocabulary acquisition. The results are discussed in terms of the impact of expert memory organization on the ability to learn new labels in a second language. A curricular shift toward content-centered vocabulary in language for specific purpose courses may be advantageous for some groups of foreign language learners.

Linguistic Interdependence between Spanish Language and English Language and Reading: A Longitudinal Exploration from Second through Fifth Grade

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Proctor, C. Patrick; Harring, Jeffrey R.; Silverman, Rebecca D.

2017-01-01

This study explored effects of Spanish oral language skills (vocabulary and syntax) on the development of English oral language skills (vocabulary, morphology, semantics, syntax) and reading comprehension among 156 bilingual Latino children in second through fifth grade whose first language was Spanish and whose second language was English. Using…

The Impact of the "First Language First" Model on Vocabulary Development among Preschool Bilingual Children

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Schwartz, Mila

2014-01-01

The aim of this exploratory study was to examine the role of the "First Language First" model for preschool bilingual education in the development of vocabulary depth. The languages studied were Russian (L1) and Hebrew (L2) among bilingual children aged 4-5 years in Israel. According to this model, the children's first language of…

The Longitudinal Contribution of Early Morphological Awareness Skills to Reading Fluency and Comprehension in Greek

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George Manolitsis

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the role of three morphological awareness (MA skills (inflection, derivation, and compounding in word reading fluency and reading comprehension in a relatively transparent orthography (Greek. Two hundred and fifteen (104 girls; Mage = 67.40 months, at kindergarten Greek children were followed from kindergarten (K to grade 2 (G2. In K and grade 1 (G1, they were tested on measures of MA (two inflectional, two derivational, and three compounding, letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN, and general cognitive ability (vocabulary and non-verbal IQ. At the end of G1 and G2, they were also tested on word reading fluency and reading comprehension. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that the inflectional and derivational aspects of MA in K as well as all aspects of MA in G1 accounted for 2–5% of unique variance in reading comprehension. None of the MA skills predicted word reading fluency, after controlling for the effects of vocabulary and RAN. These findings suggest that the MA skills, even when assessed as early as in kindergarten, play a significant role in reading comprehension development.

Vocabulary Theatre: A Peer-Teaching Approach for Academic Vocabulary Acquisition

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Robb, Elizabeth; Sinatra, Richard; Eschenauer, Robert

2014-01-01

This mixed methods counterbalanced study compared the gain score means of two different approaches to vocabulary acquisition--Vocabulary Theater (VT) and Teacher Directed Instruction (TDI) for 8th grade students from three schools in New York. The purpose of the study was to explore the effects of a peer teaching approach on students' vocabulary…

Preschoolers' Vocabulary Acquisition in Chile: The Roles of Socioeconomic Status and Quality of Home Environment

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Lohndorf, Regina T.; Vermeer, Harriet J.; Cárcamo, Rodrigo A.; Mesman, Judi

2018-01-01

Preschoolers' vocabulary acquisition sets the stage for later reading ability and school achievement. This study examined the role of socioeconomic status (SES) and the quality of the home environment of seventy-seven Chilean majority and Mapuche minority families from low and lower-middle-class backgrounds in explaining individual differences in…

Genetic and environmental influences on Chinese language and reading abilities.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bonnie Wing-Yin Chow

2011-02-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the etiology of individual differences in Chinese language and reading skills in 312 typically developing Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years (228 pairs of monozygotic twins and 84 pairs of dizygotic twins; 166 male pairs and 146 female pairs. Children were individually given tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary, phonological memory, tone awareness, syllable and rhyme awareness, rapid automatized naming, morphological awareness and orthographic skills, and Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices. All analyses controlled for the effects of age. There were moderate to substantial genetic influences on word reading, tone awareness, phonological memory, morphological awareness and rapid automatized naming (estimates ranged from .42 to .73, while shared environment exerted moderate to strong effects on receptive vocabulary, syllable and rhyme awareness and orthographic skills (estimates ranged from .35 to .63. Results were largely unchanged when scores were adjusted for nonverbal reasoning as well as age. Findings of this study are mostly similar to those found for English, a language with very different characteristics, and suggest the universality of genetic and environmental influences across languages.

The Literacy Skills and Motivation to Read of Children Enrolled in Title I: A Comparison of Electronic and Print Nonfiction Books

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Barnyak, Natalie Conrad; McNelly, Tracy A.

2016-01-01

This mixed method study, grounded in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, examines if nonfiction e-books read independently by children enrolled in a summer reading program will increase vocabulary, improve comprehension, and enhance motivation to read as compared to children reading nonfiction trade books with adult support. Findings indicate…

Low working memory capacity is only spuriously related to poor reading comprehension.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dyke, Julie A; Johns, Clinton L; Kukona, Anuenue

2014-06-01

Accounts of comprehension failure, whether in the case of readers with poor skill or when syntactic complexity is high, have overwhelmingly implicated working memory capacity as the key causal factor. However, extant research suggests that this position is not well supported by evidence on the span of active memory during online sentence processing, nor is it well motivated by models that make explicit claims about the memory mechanisms that support language processing. The current study suggests that sensitivity to interference from similar items in memory may provide a better explanation of comprehension failure. Through administration of a comprehensive skill battery, we found that the previously observed association of working memory with comprehension is likely due to the collinearity of working memory with many other reading-related skills, especially IQ. In analyses which removed variance shared with IQ, we found that receptive vocabulary knowledge was the only significant predictor of comprehension performance in our task out of a battery of 24 skill measures. In addition, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal memory for serial order-but not simple verbal memory or working memory-were the only predictors of reading times in the region where interference had its primary affect. We interpret these results in light of a model that emphasizes retrieval interference and the quality of lexical representations as key determinants of successful comprehension. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Low working memory capacity is only spuriously related to poor reading comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dyke, Julie A.; Johns, Clinton L.; Kukona, Anuenue

2014-01-01

Accounts of comprehension failure, whether in the case of readers with poor skill or when syntactic complexity is high, have overwhelmingly implicated working memory capacity as the key causal factor. However, extant research suggests that this position is not well supported by evidence on the span of active memory during online sentence processing, nor is it well motivated by models that make explicit claims about the memory mechanisms that support language processing. The current study suggests that sensitivity to interference from similar items in memory may provide a better explanation of comprehension failure. Through administration of a comprehensive skill battery, we found that the previously observed association of working memory with comprehension is likely due to the collinearity of working memory with many other reading-related skills, especially IQ. In analyses which removed variance shared with IQ, we found that receptive vocabulary knowledge was the only significant predictor of comprehension performance in our task out of a battery of 24 skill measures. In addition, receptive vocabulary and non-verbal memory for serial order—but not simple verbal memory or working memory—were the only predictors of reading times in the region where interference had its primary affect. We interpret these results in light of a model that emphasizes retrieval interference and the quality of lexical representations as key determinants of successful comprehension. PMID:24657820

Coherent image layout using an adaptive visual vocabulary

Science.gov (United States)

Dillard, Scott E.; Henry, Michael J.; Bohn, Shawn; Gosink, Luke J.

2013-03-01

When querying a huge image database containing millions of images, the result of the query may still contain many thousands of images that need to be presented to the user. We consider the problem of arranging such a large set of images into a visually coherent layout, one that places similar images next to each other. Image similarity is determined using a bag-of-features model, and the layout is constructed from a hierarchical clustering of the image set by mapping an in-order traversal of the hierarchy tree into a space-filling curve. This layout method provides strong locality guarantees so we are able to quantitatively evaluate performance using standard image retrieval benchmarks. Performance of the bag-of-features method is best when the vocabulary is learned on the image set being clustered. Because learning a large, discriminative vocabulary is a computationally demanding task, we present a novel method for efficiently adapting a generic visual vocabulary to a particular dataset. We evaluate our clustering and vocabulary adaptation methods on a variety of image datasets and show that adapting a generic vocabulary to a particular set of images improves performance on both hierarchical clustering and image retrieval tasks.

Effect of Home Video on the Reading Habit of Literate Nigerian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Nekky Umera

energy, concentration and time so that one is able to understand the content of what is ... good readers, develop a good writing style, acquire more vocabulary, build .... Intelligent Test. ... Administrative Strategies for Improving Reading Skills.

Language delays, reading delays, and learning difficulties: interactive elements requiring multidimensional programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Hay, Ian; Elias, Gordon; Fielding-Barnsley, Ruth; Homel, Ross; Freiberg, Kate

2007-01-01

Researchers have hypothesized four levels of instructional dialogue and claimed that teachers can improve children's language development by incorporating these dialogue levels in their classrooms. It has also been hypothesized that enhancing children's early language development enhances children's later reading development. This quasi-experimental research study investigated both of these hypotheses using a collaborative service delivery model for Grade 1 children with language difficulties from a socially and economically disadvantaged urban community in Australia. Comparing the end-of-year reading achievement scores for the 57 children who received the language intervention with those of the 59 children in the comparison group, the findings from this research are supportive of both hypotheses. The interrelationships between learning difficulties, reading difficulties, and language difficulties are discussed along with children's development in vocabulary, use of memory strategies and verbal reasoning, and the need for multidimensional programming.

Predictors of Reading Skills for Kindergartners and First Grade Students in Spanish: A Longitudinal Study

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Young-Suk; Pallante, Daniel

2012-01-01

This study investigated predictors of word reading and reading comprehension skills using longitudinal data from Spanish-speaking kindergartners (N = 163) and first grade students (N = 305) from high SES families in Chile. Individual differences in letter-naming fluency and phonemic segmentation fluency, but not vocabulary, were positive…

iPad Use for Accelerating Reading Gains in Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Retter, Shannan; Anderson, Christine; Kieran, Laura

2013-01-01

This action research project explored the use of the iPad 2 in a special education classroom with high school students who were considered struggling readers to determine if an academic gain in reading comprehension, reading fluency, and vocabulary implementing the intervention of an iPad and four specific applications (apps). The high school…

Prediction of the development of reading comprehension: a longitudinal study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Verhoeven, L.T.W.; Leeuwe, J.F.J. van

2008-01-01

Specific effects of word decoding, vocabulary and listening comprehension abilities on the development of reading comprehension were longitudinally examined for a representative sample of 2143 Dutch children throughout the elementary school period. An attempt was made to test two theoretical

Relations among student attention behaviors, teacher practices, and beginning word reading skill.

Science.gov (United States)

Sáez, Leilani; Folsom, Jessica Sidler; Al Otaiba, Stephanie; Schatschneider, Christopher

2012-01-01

The role of student attention for predicting kindergarten word reading was investigated among 432 students. Using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale behavior rating scores, the authors conducted an exploratory factor analysis, which yielded three distinct factors that reflected selective attention. In this study, the authors focused on the role of one of these factors, which they labeled attention-memory, for predicting reading performance. Teacher ratings of attention-memory predicted word reading above and beyond the contribution of phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, the relations between four teacher practices and attention ratings for predicting reading performance were examined. Using hierarchical linear modeling, the authors found significant interactions between student attention and teacher practices observed during literacy instruction. In general, as ratings of attention improved, better kindergarten word reading performance was associated with high levels of classroom behavior management. However, better word reading performance was not associated with high levels of teacher task orienting. A significant three-way interaction was also found among attention, individualized instruction, and teacher task redirections. The role of regulating kindergarten student attention to support beginning word reading skill development is discussed.

Preschool Phonological and Morphological Awareness As Longitudinal Predictors of Early Reading and Spelling Development in Greek.

Science.gov (United States)

Diamanti, Vassiliki; Mouzaki, Angeliki; Ralli, Asimina; Antoniou, Faye; Papaioannou, Sofia; Protopapas, Athanassios

2017-01-01

Different language skills are considered fundamental for successful reading and spelling acquisition. Extensive evidence has highlighted the central role of phonological awareness in early literacy experiences. However, many orthographic systems also require the contribution of morphological awareness. The goal of this study was to examine the morphological and phonological awareness skills of preschool children as longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling ability by the end of first grade, controlling for the effects of receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. At Time 1 preschool children from kindergartens in the Greek regions of Attika, Crete, Macedonia, and Thessaly were assessed on tasks tapping receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness (syllable and phoneme), and morphological awareness (inflectional and derivational). Tasks were administered through an Android application for mobile devices (tablets) featuring automatic application of ceiling rules. At Time 2 one year later the same children attending first grade were assessed on measures of word and pseudoword reading, text reading fluency, text reading comprehension, and spelling. Complete data from 104 children are available. Hierarchical linear regression and commonality analyses were conducted for each outcome variable. Reading accuracy for both words and pseudowords was predicted not only by phonological awareness, as expected, but also by morphological awareness, suggesting that understanding the functional role of word parts supports the developing phonology-orthography mappings. However, only phonological awareness predicted text reading fluency at this age. Longitudinal prediction of reading comprehension by both receptive vocabulary and morphological awareness was already evident at this age, as expected. Finally, spelling was predicted by preschool phonological awareness, as expected, as well as by morphological awareness, the contribution of which is expected to

Preschool Phonological and Morphological Awareness As Longitudinal Predictors of Early Reading and Spelling Development in Greek

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vassiliki Diamanti

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Different language skills are considered fundamental for successful reading and spelling acquisition. Extensive evidence has highlighted the central role of phonological awareness in early literacy experiences. However, many orthographic systems also require the contribution of morphological awareness. The goal of this study was to examine the morphological and phonological awareness skills of preschool children as longitudinal predictors of reading and spelling ability by the end of first grade, controlling for the effects of receptive and expressive vocabulary skills. At Time 1 preschool children from kindergartens in the Greek regions of Attika, Crete, Macedonia, and Thessaly were assessed on tasks tapping receptive and expressive vocabulary, phonological awareness (syllable and phoneme, and morphological awareness (inflectional and derivational. Tasks were administered through an Android application for mobile devices (tablets featuring automatic application of ceiling rules. At Time 2 one year later the same children attending first grade were assessed on measures of word and pseudoword reading, text reading fluency, text reading comprehension, and spelling. Complete data from 104 children are available. Hierarchical linear regression and commonality analyses were conducted for each outcome variable. Reading accuracy for both words and pseudowords was predicted not only by phonological awareness, as expected, but also by morphological awareness, suggesting that understanding the functional role of word parts supports the developing phonology–orthography mappings. However, only phonological awareness predicted text reading fluency at this age. Longitudinal prediction of reading comprehension by both receptive vocabulary and morphological awareness was already evident at this age, as expected. Finally, spelling was predicted by preschool phonological awareness, as expected, as well as by morphological awareness, the contribution of which is

Learning to Read in Williams Syndrome and Down Syndrome: Syndrome-Specific Precursors and Developmental Trajectories

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Steele, Ann; Scerif, Gaia; Cornish, Kim; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2013-01-01

Background: In typical development, early reading is underpinned by language skills, like vocabulary and phonological awareness (PA), as well as taught skills like letter knowledge. Less is understood about how early reading develops in children with neurodevelopmental disorders who display specific profiles of linguistic strengths and weaknesses,…

Development and Use of an EFL Reading Practice Application for an Android Tablet Computer

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Ishikawa, Yasushige; Smith, Craig; Kondo, Mutsumi; Akano, Ichiro; Maher, Kate; Wada, Norihisa

2014-01-01

This paper reports on the use of an English-language reading practice application for an Android tablet computer with students who are not native speakers of English. The application materials for vocabulary learning in reading-passage contexts were created to include words from a database of low-frequency and technical noun-verb collocations…

Predicting expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities: a 2-year longitudinal study.

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Vandereet, Joke; Maes, Bea; Lembrechts, Dirk; Zink, Inge

2010-12-01

This study's objectives were to describe expressive vocabulary acquisition in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) and to examine specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension as predictors of expressive vocabulary. This study included 36 children with ID, age 3;00 (years;months) to 6;05, with an average initial expressive vocabulary of 67 words. Expressive vocabulary acquisition was longitudinally followed over a 2-year period based on 4-monthly administrations of the Dutch version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory/Words and Gestures (I. Zink & M. Lejaegere, 2002). Specific pre- and early linguistic behaviors used to request and comment as well as cognitive skills and vocabulary comprehension were measured at baseline. Individual growth modeling indicated that vocabulary comprehension was the only unique predictor of initial expressive vocabulary. Subsequent vocabulary growth was uniquely predicted by proportion of bimodal gesture + vocalization comments, chronological age, and cognitive skills. The results of this study underscore the great heterogeneity in expressive vocabulary skills in children with ID. The importance of prelinguistic communication, chronological age, cognitive skills, and vocabulary comprehension for explaining differences in expressive vocabulary skills is discussed.

Schemata-Building Role of Teaching Word History in Developing Reading Comprehension Ability

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Gholam-reza Abbasian

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Methodologically, vocabulary instruction has faced significant ups and downs during the history of language education; sometimes integrated with the other elements of language network, other times tackled as a separate component. Among many variables supposedly affecting vocabulary achievement, the role of teaching word history, as a schemata-building strategy, in developing reading comprehension has received the least, if not any, attention. This study was an attempt, in fact, to explore the possibility of an integration of word history and reading comprehension ability of a group (No=100 of Iranian intermediate EFL learners. To conduct the study, 60/100 participants, identified as homogeneous members based on the Comprehensive English Language Test (CELT, were randomly divided them into two groups; an experimental and a control group. They were exposed to a teacher-made pretest and a post-test to check the participants' knowledge of word history and reading comprehension ability prior and posterior to the experiment. Pertinent statistical analyses proved that teaching word history plays both statistically and affectively, through enhancing motivation and attitude, meaningful schemata-building role in developing reading ability. Pedagogically, resort to word history may then be suggested as an effective and affective mechanism as far as teaching language skills, in particular reading, is concerned.

Computer Multimedia Assisted English Vocabulary Teaching Courseware

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Nan Yue

2017-12-01

Full Text Available English vocabulary is often regarded as the most boring link in English learning. However, English vocabulary is the basis of all aspects of English learning. Therefore, enriching the process of English vocabulary learning and stimulating the interest of English vocabulary learning are the keys to the reform of English vocabulary teaching. The computer multimedia is developing and popularizing rapidly with the rapid development of informationization and networking, which plays its role in more and more fields. The application of multimedia technology in the field of teaching is no longer strange. This paper mainly studied the design of computer multimedia assisted English vocabulary teaching courseware. First of all, this paper gave an overview of computer multimedia technology from the aspects of concept, characteristics, development and application situation, which cited and analyzed the cognitive learning theory and memory law. Under the guidance of scientific laws and in combination with the requirement analysis and pattern construction of English vocabulary teaching, this paper realized the module design, style design and database design of English vocabulary courseware. Finally, the content of English vocabulary teaching courseware was demonstrated, and its application effect was verified through the combination of subjective evaluation and objective evaluation. This article has an important guiding significance for stimulating students’ interest in English vocabulary learning and enhancing the quality of vocabulary teaching.

Incidental Vocabulary Learning: A Semantic Field Approach

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Parvaneh Khosravizadeh

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

This study is an attempt to explore the difference between acquiring new words with different semantic fields to which they belong. In other words, the purpose of this study is to scrutinize the contribution of semantic field theory in learning new vocabulary items in an EFL setting. Thirty-eight students of three different levels of education took part in this research. They were exposed to some new words from four different semantic fields, and then they were tested on their acquisition of the words meaning. This exposure was through reading texts and the aim of reading was just comprehension, therefore the words were acquired incidentally. The outcome showed significant differences between groups with different levels of education regarding retention of words from different semantic fields.

Mnemonic Versus Nonmnemonic Vocabulary-Learning Strategies: Putting "Depth" to Rest. Report from the Project on Studies in Language: Reading and Communication. Working Paper No. 312.

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Pressley, Michael; And Others

A study examined the efficacy of the keyword method of vocabulary instruction by comparing it with five methods designed to increase semantic processing of the definitions of the vocabulary words. Subjects in all five experiments were college students. In the first three experiments, recall of the definitions from the vocabulary words was the…

Scanpath Based N-Gram Models for Predicting Reading Behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mishra, Abhijit; Bhattacharyya, Pushpak; Carl, Michael

2013-01-01

Predicting reading behavior is a difficult task. Reading behavior depends on various linguistic factors (e.g. sentence length, structural complexity etc.) and other factors (e.g individual's reading style, age etc.). Ideally, a reading model should be similar to a language model where the model i...

Ban the Book Report: Promoting Frequent and Enthusiastic Reading

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Foster, Graham

2012-01-01

Teachers recognize that frequent independent reading increases student knowledge on a wide range of topics, enhances vocabulary, and improves comprehension. "Ban the Book Report" inspires teachers to go beyond narrow and analytical book reports by exploring the potential of book talks, alternate book covers, identifying features of informational…

Profiling vocabulary acquisition in Irish.

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O'Toole, Ciara; Fletcher, Paul

2012-01-01

Investigations into early vocabulary development, including the timing of the acquisition of nouns, verbs and closed-class words, have produced conflicting results, both within and across languages. Studying vocabulary development in Irish can contribute to this area, as it has potentially informative features such as a VSO word order, and semantically rich prepositions. This study used a parent report adapted for Irish, to measure vocabulary development longitudinally for children aged between 1,04 and 3,04. The findings indicated that the children learned closed-class words at relatively smaller vocabulary sizes compared to children acquiring other languages, and had a strong preference for nouns.

Examining the Role of Concentration, Vocabulary and Self-Concept in Listening and Reading Comprehension

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Wolfgramm, Christine; Suter, Nicole; Göksel, Eva

2016-01-01

Listening is regarded as a key requirement for successful communication and is fundamentally linked to other language skills. Unlike reading, it requires both hearing and processing information in real-time. We therefore propose that the ability to concentrate is a strong predictor of listening comprehension. Using structural equation modeling,…

An Examination of Preschool Teachers' Shared Book Reading Practices in Spanish: Before and after Instructional Guidance

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Pollard-Durodola, Sharolyn D.; Gonzalez, Jorge E.; Simmons, Deborah C.; Taylor, Aaron B.; Davis, Matthew J.; Simmons, Leslie; Nava-Walichowski, Miranda

2012-01-01

Shared book reading is a prominent practice in preschools; however, limited research has examined this practice in classrooms with English language learners (ELLs). This study investigated the shared book reading practices of seven preschool teachers of Spanish-speaking ELLs to describe their vocabulary instructional practices before and after…

Specific Reading Comprehension Disability: Major Problem, Myth, or Misnomer?

OpenAIRE

Spencer, Mercedes; Quinn, Jamie M.; Wagner, Richard K.

2014-01-01

The goal of the present study was to test three competing hypotheses about the nature of comprehension problems of students who are poor in reading comprehension. Participants in the study were first, second, and third graders, totaling 9 cohorts and over 425,000 participants in all. The pattern of results was consistent across all cohorts: Less than one percent of first- through third-grade students who scored as poor in reading comprehension were adequate in both decoding and vocabulary. Al...

The Effects of YouTube in Multimedia Instruction for Vocabulary Learning: Perceptions of EFL Students and Teachers

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Kabooha, Raniah; Elyas, Tariq

2018-01-01

The present study sought to examine the improvement in vocabulary comprehension and retention of Saudi English as foreign language female students at King Abdul Aziz University as a result of integrating YouTube in their reading classes. The study also investigated the perceptions of both students as well as teachers towards the inclusion of…

Second Language Vocabulary Growth at Advanced Level

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Ozturk, Meral

2016-01-01

This study investigated the receptive vocabulary growth of advanced EFL learners in an English-medium degree programme. The study used the Vocabulary Size Test in a cross-sectional design to measure the vocabulary size of learners at various stages of study. The effect of word frequency on vocabulary development and the presence of an…

Predictors of Reading Comprehension for Struggling Readers: The Case of Spanish Speaking Language Minority Learners

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Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette; Lesaux, Nonie K.

2010-01-01

This longitudinal study examined the process of English reading comprehension at age 11 years for 173 low-achieving Spanish-speaking children. The influence of growth rates, from early childhood (age 4.5 years) to pre-adolescence (age 11 years), in vocabulary and word reading skills on this complex process were evaluated with structural equation…

Using Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition to Enrich the Students Vocabulary Mastery

OpenAIRE

Asmayanti, St

2015-01-01

The research aimed to find out the improvement the students'vocabulary in terms of improving their understanding about of nouns and adjectives. To explain the increase, the researcher used a classroom action research (CAR) which was conducted in two cycles in which each cycle consisted of four meetings.The subject was the students at the eight grade of SMP Askari Pallangga Gowa. The number of samples consisted of 37 students. The research findings indicated that using Incidental Vocabulary Ac...

Foreign Language Reading Anxiety among Yemeni Secondary School Students

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Yehia Ahmed Y. Al-Sohbani

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to examine Foreign Language (FL reading anxiety level of Arabicspeaking Yemeni students learning English as a foreign language (n = 106. It utilized (a a background information questionnaire, (b the Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Scale (FLRAS, and (c students' English school marks. Results of the study showed that learners of English experienced an above moderate level of FL reading anxiety. There was no significant difference between students' FL reading anxiety and their gender. However, a statistically reliable difference between the means of public and private schools regarding their FL reading anxiety in favor of the private school. Moreover, a positive correlation was found between students' FL reading anxiety and their type of school. Difficulties of uncertainty, pronunciation of English words, unfamiliar topic, unknown vocabulary, reading aloud, using word by word translation, unfamiliar English culture and history, unfamiliar grammar, English letters and symbols were identified as the major sources of FL reading anxiety.

The Importance of Phonological Awareness for the Development of Early English Reading Skills among Bilingual Singaporean Kindergartners

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Dixon, L. Quentin

2010-01-01

To examine the relationship between phonological awareness (PA) and English word-level reading among a multilingual sample, a random sample of 297 Singaporean kindergartners, stratified by ethnicity (169 Chinese, 65 Malay, and 63 Indian), were tested on their PA, receptive vocabulary, and word-level reading skills. Singaporean kindergartners are…

Evaluation of Models of the Reading Process.

Science.gov (United States)

Balajthy, Ernest

A variety of reading process models have been proposed and evaluated in reading research. Traditional approaches to model evaluation specify the workings of a system in a simplified fashion to enable organized, systematic study of the system's components. Following are several statistical methods of model evaluation: (1) empirical research on…

NEWordS A News Search Engine for English Vocabulary Learning

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Xuejing Huang

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary is the first hurdle for English learners to over- come. Instead of simply showing a word again and again we come up with an idea to develop an English news article search engine based on users word-reciting record on Shanbay.com. It is designed for advanced English learners to find suitable reading materials. The search engine consists of Crawling Module Document Normalizing module Indexing Module Querying Module and Interface Module. We propose three sorting amp ranking algorithms for Querying Module. For the basic algorithm five crucial principles are taken into consideration. Term frequency inverse document frequency familiarity degree and article freshness degree are factors in this algorithm. Then we think of a improved algorithm for the scene in which a user read multiple articles in the searching result list. Here we adopt a iterative amp greedy method. The essential idea is to select English news articles one by one according to the query meanwhile dynamically update the unfamiliarity of the words during each iterative step. Moreover we develop an advanced algorithm to take article difficulty in to account. Interface Module is designed as a website meanwhile some data visualization technologies e.g. word cloud are applied here. Furthermore we conduct both applicability check and performance evaluation. Metrics such as searching time word-covering ratio and minimum number of articles that completely cover all the queried vocabulary are randomly sampled and profoundly analyzed. The result shows that our search engine works very well with satisfying performance.

The Influence of the Intermediary System of Cognition on Vocabulary Acquisition for Chinese English-Majors

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Luo, Yanyan

2009-01-01

In the article, the author tries to find out the main factors that affect the subject's vocabulary acquisition by an investigation. It is concluded that vocabulary acquisition models and strategies are something external, what really works upon vocabulary acquisition is the intermediary system of cognition including the knowledge structure and…

Exploring Expressive Vocabulary Variability in Two-Year-Olds: The Role of Working Memory.

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Newbury, Jayne; Klee, Thomas; Stokes, Stephanie F; Moran, Catherine

2015-12-01

This study explored whether measures of working memory ability contribute to the wide variation in 2-year-olds' expressive vocabulary skills. Seventy-nine children (aged 24-30 months) were assessed by using standardized tests of vocabulary and visual cognition, a processing speed measure, and behavioral measures of verbal working memory and phonological short-term memory. Strong correlations were observed between phonological short-term memory, verbal working memory, and expressive vocabulary. Speed of spoken word recognition showed a moderate significant correlation with expressive vocabulary. In a multivariate regression model for expressive vocabulary, the most powerful predictor was a measure of phonological short-term memory (accounting for 66% unique variance), followed by verbal working memory (6%), sex (2%), and age (1%). Processing speed did not add significant unique variance. These findings confirm previous research positing a strong role for phonological short-term memory in early expressive vocabulary acquisition. They also extend previous research in two ways. First, a unique association between verbal working memory and expressive vocabulary in 2-year-olds was observed. Second, processing speed was not a unique predictor of variance in expressive vocabulary when included alongside measures of working memory.

Comparison of the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Text Previewing and Preteaching Keywords as Small-Group Reading Comprehension Strategies with Middle-School Students

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Burns, Matthew K.; Hodgson, Jennifer; Parker, David C.; Fremont, Kathryn

2011-01-01

Reading instruction for middle- and high-school students is focused on vocabulary and comprehension, yet research suggests that comprehension skills among these students are alarmingly low. Small-group reading interventions are becoming more prevalent in schools, but there are few studies regarding small-group reading comprehension interventions.…

Interactive Book Reading in Early Education: A Tool to Stimulate Print Knowledge as Well as Oral Language

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Mol, Suzanne E.; Bus, Adriana G.; de Jong, Maria T.

2009-01-01

This meta-analysis examines to what extent interactive storybook reading stimulates two pillars of learning to read: vocabulary and print knowledge. The authors quantitatively reviewed 31 (quasi) experiments (n = 2,049 children) in which educators were trained to encourage children to be actively involved before, during, and after joint book…

Second Language Learners' Vocabulary Expansion Is Associated with Improved Second Language Vowel Intelligibility

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Bundgaard-Nielsen, Rikke L.; Best, Catherine T.; Kroos, Christian; Tyler, Michael D.

2012-01-01

This paper tests the predictions of the vocabulary-tuning model of second language (L2) rephonologization in the domain of L2 segmental production. This model proposes a facilitating effect of adults' L2 vocabulary expansion on L2 perception and production and suggests that early improvements in L2 segmental production may be positively associated…

Teacher Modeling: Its Impact on an Extensive Reading Program

Science.gov (United States)

Loh, Jason Kok Khiang

2009-01-01

This case study investigates whether teachers model reading in 1 Singapore primary school during an exercise called "uninterrupted sustained silent reading" (USSR) carried out in the classroom. Even though reading is an important determinant of a student's growth in language skills and ability, and modeling the act of reading is…

If You Build It, They Will Come: From a "Field of Dreams" to a More Realistic View of Extensive Reading in an EFL Context

Science.gov (United States)

Mori, Setsuko

2015-01-01

There is no shortage of studies that have reported the beneficial effects of extensive reading (ER) on various aspects of second/foreign language acquisition, including reading comprehension, reading speed, and vocabulary development. Anecdote after anecdote shows the effectiveness of ER, and no one seems to repudiate the power of reading in large…

Swimming in New Vocabulary

Science.gov (United States)

Donohue, Kerri; Buck, Gayle

2017-01-01

This article describes an informal program in one school where grade K-1 students learn a variety of new science vocabulary words relating to animal characteristics. The students are introduced to a new group of animals and their characteristics through storytelling, games, discussion, and crafts (see Table 1, p. 34). The new vocabulary words are…

Extensive reading through the Internet: is it worth the while?

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Juan Pino Silva

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Reading materials written in English is the prime goal of many reading programs around the world. Extensive reading (ER has for years aided new students at my institution to gradually acquire large vocabularies and other sub-skills that are needed to read fluently. To continue to do that effectively, a new scheme involving the use of internet - called w-ERP- was set in place in collaboration with the students. The main focus of this article is to describe the 3-phase, gradual process that led to the current design of the web-based ER scheme. The paper begins with a brief discussion of ER, reading on line (RO and self-directed learning as part of the rationale for the new scheme. Participants’ preliminary data on the benefits and potentials for learning to read and reading for learning other things are discussed.

Reading Processing Skills among EFL Learners in Different Proficiency Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Dhanapala, Kusumi Vasantha; Yamada, Jun

2015-01-01

This study aims to understand how EFL learners in different reading proficiency levels comprehend L2 texts, using five-component skills involving measures of (1) vocabulary knowledge, (2) drawing inferences and predictions, (3) knowledge of text structure and discourse organization, (4) identifying the main idea and summarizing skills, and (5)…

EDMODO AS A MEDIA TO TEACH VOCABULARY

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Sutrisno Sadji Evenddy

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This article aims at intoducing how to use Edmodo to teach vocabulary. Vocabulary is a component of English language. When we are speaking and writing, we need to master vocabulary related to certain topic. Therefore vocabulary is important thing in learning language. But, mastering English vocabularies is not easy. Teacher needs a media to make an interesting teaching-learning process. One of the most accepted trends in the field of teaching vocabulary in a foreign language teaching is Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL. CALL has several applications that can be used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary. Computer and mobile telephone internet allow immediate connection to a server. In the internet browser the teachers and students can browse Edmodo. One of media is Edmodo. Edmodo is one of social media which can be operated by students, teachers or lecturers, and parents. It is able to be used to post various assignments and students’ learning achievement, actual discussion topics, video, appointments, and to facilitate students’ polls which are related to teaching learning process.

Teaching Vocabulary to Preschool Children with Hearing Loss

Science.gov (United States)

Lund, Emily; Douglas, W. Michael

2016-01-01

Despite poor vocabulary outcomes for children with hearing loss, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of specific vocabulary teaching methods on vocabulary learning for this group. The authors compared three vocabulary instruction conditions with preschool children with hearing loss: (a) explicit, direct instruction; (b) follow-in…

Basic Concepts of Reading Instruction

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Gökhan ARI

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Reading act is performed by connected physiological, psychological and cognitive processes. The operations taking place in these processes are expected to continue for life by being developed with certain strategies. A lot of information is gained with reading skill in education life. Therefore, basic concepts that constitute reading education in teaching and improving reading are important for teachers. The aim of this study is to submit information compiled from the literature about reading education process and which basic concepts are used in reading education. While teaching reading from part to whole, from whole to part and interactional approaches are used. From part to whole approach is at the forefront. Then with interactional approach strategies, both code solving and making sense is improved. Teachers should know the characteristics of bouncing, stopping, turning back, and scanning movements of the eye both in code solving and making sense. The teacher should configure the teaching for the students to gain fluid reading elements by making use of reading out and reading silently. After reading act is acquired; good reader characteristics should be gained by improving asking questions, guessing, summarizing, interpretation skills in integrated readings. Reading skill is improved by studies on the text. Therefore, the students should come across texts that are suitable to their levels, textuality and readability criteria. The vocabulary of children should be improved in a planned way with text-based word and meaning studies. Fluid reading, making sense and interpretation skills of children should be pursued with different evaluation types. In the long term, work should be done to make reading a habit for them.

Lexical quality and executive control predict children's first and second language reading comprehension

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Raudszus, H.; Segers, P.C.J.; Verhoeven, L.T.W.

2018-01-01

This study compared how lexical quality (vocabulary and decoding) and executive control (working memory and inhibition) predict reading comprehension directly as well as indirectly, via syntactic integration, in monolingual and bilingual fourth grade children. The participants were 76 monolingual

Maternal Correlates of Growth in Toddler Vocabulary Production in Low-Income Families

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Barbara Alexander; Rowe, Meredith L.; Singer, Judith D.; Snow, Catherine E.

2005-01-01

This study investigated predictors of growth in toddlers' vocabulary production between the ages of 1 and 3 years by analyzing mother-child communication in 108 low-income families. Individual growth modeling was used to describe patterns of growth in children's observed vocabulary production and predictors of initial status and between-person…

RoLo: A Dictionary Interface that Minimizes Extraneous Cognitive Load of Lookup and Supports Incidental and Incremental Learning of Vocabulary

Science.gov (United States)

Dang, Thanh-Dung; Chen, Gwo-Dong; Dang, Giao; Li, Liang-Yi; Nurkhamid

2013-01-01

Dictionary use can improve reading comprehension and incidental vocabulary learning. Nevertheless, great extraneous cognitive load imposed by the search process may reduce or even prevent the improvement. With the help of technology, dictionary users can now instantly access the meaning list of a searched word using a mouse click. However, they…

Key Vocabulary Learning Strategies in ESP And EGP Course Books

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Zahra Akbari

2015-01-01

Full Text Available An increasing body of research evidence is showing the advantages of using certain skills and behaviours called language learning strategies in general and vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs in particular in the process of L2 acquisition. University students who require reading English texts in their fields of study have to expand their vocabulary knowledge in a much more efficient way than ordinary ESL/EFL learners.  And ELT course books are a good place to incorporate learner training in this regard. The purpose of this study is to see how vocabulary learning strategies are treated in both the book designer's claims section and the exercises of English for Specific Purposes (ESP course books for students of medicine and para-medicine on the one hand and English for General Purposes (EGP course book used commonly by these students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran on the other. In other words, the specified course books were analyzed based on the insights gained from VLS research to gauge the extent to which they have incorporated VLSs and training in using them. These books were published under the supervision of the center for studying and compiling university books in humanities (SAMT. Based on the review of the relevant literature, three key strategies were identified and an analytic framework was devised. The framework was then applied to the course books. It was found that the treatments in the specified course books were deemed unlikely to improve students’ abilities with these important skills and strategies.

Learners' independent records of vocabulary

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Shaw, Philip; Leeke, Philip

1999-01-01

Handbooks recommend a variety of quite complicated procedures for learning and remembering vocabulary, but most learners only engage in very simple procedures. The aim of this project was to establish a basis for identifying optimal vocabulary recording procedures by finding out what learners...

The effectiveness of semantic aspect of language on reading comprehension in a 4-year-old child with autistic spectrum disorder and hyperlexia

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Atusa Rabiee

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Background: Hyperlexia is a super ability demonstrated by a very specific group of individuals with developmental disorders. This term is used to describe the children with high ability in word recognition, but low reading comprehension skills, despite the problems in language, cognitive and social skills. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of improving the semantic aspect of language (increase in understanding and expression vocabulary on reading comprehension in an autistic child with hyperlexia.Case: The child studied in this research was an autistic child with hyperlexia. At the beginning of this study he was 3 years and 11 months old. He could read, but his reading comprehension was low. In a period of 12 therapy session, understanding and expression of 160 words was taught to child. During this period, the written form of words was eliminated. After these sessions, the reading comprehension was re-assessed for the words that child could understand and express.Conclusion: Improving semantic aspect of language (understanding and expression of vocabulary increase reading comprehension of written words.

Semantic Web-based Vocabulary Broker for Open Science

Science.gov (United States)

Ritschel, B.; Neher, G.; Iyemori, T.; Murayama, Y.; Kondo, Y.; Koyama, Y.; King, T. A.; Galkin, I. A.; Fung, S. F.; Wharton, S.; Cecconi, B.

2016-12-01

Keyword vocabularies are used to tag and to identify data of science data repositories. Such vocabularies consist of controlled terms and the appropriate concepts, such as GCMD1 keywords or the ESPAS2 keyword ontology. The Semantic Web-based mash-up of domain-specific, cross- or even trans-domain vocabularies provides unique capabilities in the network of appropriate data resources. Based on a collaboration between GFZ3, the FHP4, the WDC for Geomagnetism5 and the NICT6 we developed the concept of a vocabulary broker for inter- and trans-disciplinary data detection and integration. Our prototype of the Semantic Web-based vocabulary broker uses OSF7 for the mash-up of geo and space research vocabularies, such as GCMD keywords, ESPAS keyword ontology and SPASE8 keyword vocabulary. The vocabulary broker starts the search with "free" keywords or terms of a specific vocabulary scheme. The vocabulary broker almost automatically connects the different science data repositories which are tagged by terms of the aforementioned vocabularies. Therefore the mash-up of the SKOS9 based vocabularies with appropriate metadata from different domains can be realized by addressing LOD10 resources or virtual SPARQL11 endpoints which maps relational structures into the RDF format12. In order to demonstrate such a mash-up approach in real life, we installed and use a D2RQ13 server for the integration of IUGONET14 data which are managed by a relational database. The OSF based vocabulary broker and the D2RQ platform are installed at virtual LINUX machines at the Kyoto University. The vocabulary broker meets the standard of a main component of the WDS15 knowledge network. The Web address of the vocabulary broker is http://wdcosf.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp 1 Global Change Master Directory2 Near earth space data infrastructure for e-science3 German Research Centre for Geosciences4 University of Applied Sciences Potsdam5 World Data Center for Geomagnetism Kyoto6 National Institute of Information and

A Comparative Study of the Effects of Different Glossing Conditions on EFL Learners’ Vocabulary Recall

OpenAIRE

Tayebeh Danesh; Mohammad Taghi Farvardin

2016-01-01

This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of different glossing conditions on English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ vocabulary recall. To this end, five glossing conditions were adopted (i.e., inference-gloss-gloss, gloss-retrieval-gloss, inference-gloss-retrieval-gloss, gloss-retrieval-gloss-retrieval, and full glossing). The participants were 140 MA students of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). They were randomly assigned to one glossing condition to read an En...

A Study on the Relationship between English Vocabulary Threshold and Word Guessing Strategy for Pre-University Chinese Students in Malaysia

Science.gov (United States)

Juan, Wu Xiao; Abidin, Mohamad Jafre Zainol; Eng, Lin Siew

2013-01-01

This survey aims at studying the relationship between English vocabulary threshold and word guessing strategy that is used in reading comprehension learning among 80 pre-university Chinese students in Malaysia. T-test is the main statistical test for this research, and the collected data is analysed using SPSS. From the standard deviation test…

Controlled Vocabulary Service Application for Environmental Data Store

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, P.; Piasecki, M.; Lovell, R.

2013-12-01

In this paper we present a controlled vocabulary service application for Environmental Data Store (EDS). The purpose for such application is to help researchers and investigators to archive, manage, share, search, and retrieve data efficiently in EDS. The Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) is used in the application for the representation of the controlled vocabularies coming from EDS. The controlled vocabularies of EDS are created by collecting, comparing, choosing and merging controlled vocabularies, taxonomies and ontologies widely used and recognized in geoscience/environmental informatics community, such as Environment ontology (EnvO), Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology (SWEET) ontology, CUAHSI Hydrologic Ontology and ODM Controlled Vocabulary, National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI), National Water Information System (NWIS) codes, EPSG Geodetic Parameter Data Set, WQX domain value etc. TemaTres, an open-source, web -based thesaurus management package is employed and extended to create and manage controlled vocabularies of EDS in the application. TemaTresView and VisualVocabulary that work well with TemaTres, are also integrated in the application to provide tree view and graphical view of the structure of vocabularies. The Open Source Edition of Virtuoso Universal Server is set up to provide a Web interface to make SPARQL queries against controlled vocabularies hosted on the Environmental Data Store. The replicas of some of the key vocabularies commonly used in the community, are also maintained as part of the application, such as General Multilingual Environmental Thesaurus (GEMET), NetCDF Climate and Forecast (CF) Standard Names, etc.. The application has now been deployed as an elementary and experimental prototype that provides management, search and download controlled vocabularies of EDS under SKOS framework.

On the Efficiency of Text Production in Vocabulary Learning: An Empirical Study on Iranian GFL-Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Haghani, Nader; Kiani, Samira

2018-01-01

The concept of text-oriented vocabulary exercises is based on Kühn's (2000) three-step model of vocabulary teaching--receptive, reflective and productive vocabulary exercises--which focuses on working with texts. Since the production is in principle more exhausting than the reception--as can be seen from the Levels of Processing Effect--one can…

DSpace and customized controlled vocabularies

Science.gov (United States)

Skourlas, C.; Tsolakidis, A.; Kakoulidis, P.; Giannakopoulos, G.

2015-02-01

The open source platform of DSpace could be defined as a repository application used to provide access to digital resources. DSpace is installed and used by more than 1000 organizations worldwide. A predefined taxonomy of keyword, called the Controlled Vocabulary, can be used for describing and accessing the information items stored in the repository. In this paper, we describe how the users can create, and customize their own vocabularies. Various heterogeneous items, such as research papers, videos, articles and educational material of the repository, can be indexed in order to provide advanced search functionality using new controlled vocabularies.

Learning English Idioms through Reading in an LMS: Etymological Notes versus Pictorial Support

OpenAIRE

Demiröz, Hakan; Çekiç, Ahmet; Bakla, Arif

2016-01-01

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of definition + etymological notes versus definition + pictorial support on the learning of English idioms through reading online texts with hyperlinks to definitions. 121 Turkish learners of English as a foreign language assigned to two different courses were given a vocabulary knowledge scale, revealing that the idioms were unfamiliar to the learners. Participants in both groups read 17 passages with definitions as hyperlink annotations for 18 id...

The Dimensional Approach to Vocabulary Testing: What Can We ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

1999), i.e. vocabulary size, depth, and receptive-productive knowledge/skills, has influenced test design for measuring L2/FL vocabulary acquisition. This article aims to describe the major vocabulary tests along the vocabulary dimensions and ...

Towards a universal model of reading.

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, Ram

2012-10-01

In the last decade, reading research has seen a paradigmatic shift. A new wave of computational models of orthographic processing that offer various forms of noisy position or context-sensitive coding have revolutionized the field of visual word recognition. The influx of such models stems mainly from consistent findings, coming mostly from European languages, regarding an apparent insensitivity of skilled readers to letter order. Underlying the current revolution is the theoretical assumption that the insensitivity of readers to letter order reflects the special way in which the human brain encodes the position of letters in printed words. The present article discusses the theoretical shortcomings and misconceptions of this approach to visual word recognition. A systematic review of data obtained from a variety of languages demonstrates that letter-order insensitivity is neither a general property of the cognitive system nor a property of the brain in encoding letters. Rather, it is a variant and idiosyncratic characteristic of some languages, mostly European, reflecting a strategy of optimizing encoding resources, given the specific structure of words. Since the main goal of reading research is to develop theories that describe the fundamental and invariant phenomena of reading across orthographies, an alternative approach to model visual word recognition is offered. The dimensions of a possible universal model of reading, which outlines the common cognitive operations involved in orthographic processing in all writing systems, are discussed.

Individual Variation in Children's Reading Comprehension across Digital Text Types

Science.gov (United States)

Fesel, Sabine S.; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

The present study examined children's digital text comprehension of digital text types linear digital text vs hypertext, with or without graphical navigable overviews. We investigated to what extent individual variation in children's comprehension could be explained by lexical quality (word reading efficiency and vocabulary knowledge), cognitive…

A Dual Coding View of Vocabulary Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Sadoski, Mark

2005-01-01

A theoretical perspective on acquiring sight vocabulary and developing meaningful vocabulary is presented. Dual Coding Theory assumes that cognition occurs in two independent but connected codes: a verbal code for language and a nonverbal code for mental imagery. The mixed research literature on using pictures in teaching sight vocabulary is…

The Effect of Vocabulary Self-Selection Strategy and Input Enhancement Strategy on the Vocabulary Knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Masoudi, Golfam

2017-01-01

The present study was designed to investigate empirically the effect of Vocabulary Self-Selection strategy and Input Enhancement strategy on the vocabulary knowledge of Iranian EFL Learners. After taking a diagnostic pretest, both experimental groups enrolled in two classes. Learners who practiced Vocabulary Self-Selection were allowed to…

The Relative Impact of Aligning Tier 2 Intervention Materials with Classroom Core Reading Materials in Grades K-2

Science.gov (United States)

Foorman, Barbara R.; Herrera, Sarah; Dombek, Jennifer

2018-01-01

This randomized controlled trial in 55 low-performing schools across Florida compared 2 early literacy interventions--1 using stand-alone materials and 1 using materials embedded in the existing core reading/language arts program. A total of 3,447 students who were below the 30th percentile in vocabulary and reading-related skills participated in…

Social validation of vocabulary selection: ensuring stakeholder relevance.

Science.gov (United States)

Bornman, Juan; Bryen, Diane Nelson

2013-06-01

The vocabulary needs of individuals who are unable to spell their messages continue to be of concern in the field of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Social validation of vocabulary selection has been suggested as one way to improve the effectiveness and relevance of service delivery in AAC. Despite increased emphasis on stakeholder accountability, social validation is not frequently used in AAC research. This paper describes an investigation of the social validity of a vocabulary set identified in earlier research. A previous study used stakeholder focus groups to identify vocabulary that could be used by South African adults who use AAC to disclose their experiences as victims of crime or abuse. Another study used this vocabulary to create communication boards for use by adults with complex communication needs. In this current project, 12 South African adults with complex communication needs who use AAC systems used a 5-point Likert scale to score the importance of each of the previously identified 57 vocabulary items. This two-step process of first using stakeholder focus groups to identify vocabulary, and then having literate persons who use AAC provide information on social validity of the vocabulary on behalf of their peers who are illiterate, appears to hold promise as a culturally relevant vocabulary selection approach for sensitive topics such as crime and abuse.

Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Daniels, Sharilyn Fox

2009-01-01

This study determined if the vocabulary gap for English Language Learners (ELLs) and their peers could be bridged through providing home interventions with multiple exposures to words, definitions, model sentences and context. Ninety-one first grade students from a public school in Southern California with a 95% ELL population were researched. ELL…

Components for Maintaining and Publishing Earth Science Vocabularies

Science.gov (United States)

Cox, S. J. D.; Yu, J.

2014-12-01

Shared vocabularies are an important aid to geoscience data interoperability. Many organizations maintain useful vocabularies, with Geologic Surveys having a particularly long history of vocabulary and lexicon development. However, the mode of publication is heterogeneous, ranging from PDFs and HTML web pages, spreadsheets and CSV, through various user-interfaces and APIs. Update and maintenance ranges from tightly-governed and externally opaque, through various community processes, all the way to crowd-sourcing ('folksonomies'). A general expectation, however, is for greater harmonization and vocabulary re-use. In order to be successful this requires (a) standardized content formalization and APIs (b) transparent content maintenance and versioning. We have been trialling a combination of software dealing with registration, search and linking. SKOS is designed for formalizing multi-lingual, hierarchical vocabularies, and has been widely adopted in earth and environmental sciences. SKOS is an RDF vocabulary, for which SPARQL is the standard low-level API. However, for interoperability between SKOS vocabulary sources, a SKOS-based API (i.e. based on the SKOS predicates prefLabel, broader, narrower, etc) is required. We have developed SISSvoc for this purpose, and used it to deploy a number of vocabularies on behalf of the IUGS, ICS, NERC, OGC, the Australian Government, and CSIRO projects. SISSvoc Search provides simple search UI on top of one or more SISSvoc sources. Content maintenance is composed of many elements, including content-formalization, definition-update, and mappings to related vocabularies. Typically there is a degree of expert judgement required. In order to provide confidence in users, two requirements are paramount: (i) once published, a URI that denotes a vocabulary item must remain dereferenceable; (ii) the history and status of the content denoted by a URI must be available. These requirements match the standard 'registration' paradigm which is

Vocabulary Pruning for Improved Context Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Rasmus Elsborg; Sigurdsson, Sigurdur; Hansen, Lars Kai

2004-01-01

Language independent `bag-of-words' representations are surprisingly effective for text classification. The representation is high dimensional though, containing many non-consistent words for text categorization. These non-consistent words result in reduced generalization performance of subsequent...... of term relevancy, when pruning the vocabularies. With reduced vocabularies documents are classified using a latent semantic indexing representation and a probabilistic neural network classifier. Reducing the bag-of-words vocabularies with 90%-98%, we find consistent classification improvement using two...

Does EFL Readers' Lexical and Grammatical Knowledge Predict Their Reading Ability? Insights from a Perceptron Artificial Neural Network Study

Science.gov (United States)

Aryadoust, Vahid; Baghaei, Purya

2016-01-01

This study aims to examine the relationship between reading comprehension and lexical and grammatical knowledge among English as a foreign language students by using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). There were 825 test takers administered both a second-language reading test and a set of psychometrically validated grammar and vocabulary tests.…

Vocabulary of preschool children with typical language development and socioeducational variables.

Science.gov (United States)

Moretti, Thaís Cristina da Freiria; Kuroishi, Rita Cristina Sadako; Mandrá, Patrícia Pupin

2017-03-09

To investigate the correlation between age, socioeconomic status (SES), and performance on emissive and receptive vocabulary tests in children with typical language development. The study sample was composed of 60 preschool children of both genders, aged 3 years to 5 years 11 months, with typical language development divided into three groups: G I (mean age=3 years 6 months), G II (mean age=4 years 4 months) and G III (mean age=5 years 9 months). The ABFW Child Language Test - Vocabulary and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) for emissive and receptive language were applied to the preschoolers. The socioeconomic classification questionnaire of the Brazilian Association of Survey Companies (ABEP) was applied to the preschoolers' parents/legal guardians. Data were analyzed according to the criteria of the aforementioned instruments and were arranged in Excel spreadsheet for Windows XP®. A multiple linear regression model was used, adopting a statistical significance level of 5%, to analyze the correlation between age, SES, and performance on the receptive and emissive vocabulary tests. In the ABEP questionnaire, participants were classified mostly into social level C (63.3%), followed by levels B (26.6%) and D (10%). The preschoolers investigated presented emissive and receptive vocabulary adequate for the age groups. No statistically significant difference was found for the variables age and SES regarding emissive and receptive vocabulary. Higher test scores were observed with increased age and SES, for social levels "B" compared with "D" and for "C" with "D". The variables age and socioeconomic status influenced the performance on emissive and receptive vocabulary tests in the study group.

Teaching Reading Skills in the EFL Class. A Practical Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ovidiu Aniculaese

2008-11-01

Full Text Available Teaching reading first requires careful consideration regarding the choice of text that may yield the richest and most relevant exposure to language. Reading is most effective through a top-down approach and students must develop speed and efficiency by avoiding sub-vocalisation, focusing on key words and taking in clusters of meaning at one time. Pre-reading for gist speeds up understanding by discovery of the text’s structure and of the type of paragraph in question. Explanatory paraphrasing and context clues should be sought when difficult vocabulary is encountered. Correct answers to comprehension questions may come from an awareness of the range of distracters possible, the writer’s attitude and the focus of the question.

Effects of Individualized Word Retrieval in Kindergarten Vocabulary Intervention

Science.gov (United States)

Damhuis, Carmen M. P.; Segers, Eliane; Scheltinga, Femke; Verhoeven, Ludo

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of adaptive word retrieval intervention on a classroom vocabulary program on children's vocabulary acquisition in kindergarten. In the experimental condition, word retrieval was provided in a classroom vocabulary program, combining implicit and explicit vocabulary instructions. Children performed extra word retrieval…

Longitudinal analysis of receptive vocabulary growth in young Spanish English-speaking children from migrant families.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Carla Wood; Schatschneider, Christopher; Leacox, Lindsey

2014-01-01

The authors of this study described developmental trajectories and predicted kindergarten performance of Spanish and English receptive vocabulary acquisition of young Latino/a English language learners (ELLs) from socioeconomically disadvantaged migrant families. In addition, the authors examined the extent to which gender and individual initial performance in Spanish predict receptive vocabulary performance and growth rate. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling of 64 children's receptive vocabulary performance to generate growth trajectories, predict performance at school entry, and examine potential predictors of rate of growth. The timing of testing varied across children. The ELLs (prekindergarten to 2nd grade) participated in 2-5 testing sessions, each 6-12 months apart. The ELLs' average predicted standard score on an English receptive vocabulary at kindergarten was nearly 2 SDs below the mean for monolingual peers. Significant growth in the ELLs' receptive vocabulary was observed between preschool and 2nd grade, indicating that the ELLs were slowly closing the receptive vocabulary gap, although their average score remained below the standard score mean for age-matched monolingual peers. The ELLs demonstrated a significant decrease in Spanish receptive vocabulary standard scores over time. Initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was a significant predictor of growth in English receptive vocabulary. High initial Spanish receptive vocabulary was associated with greater growth in English receptive vocabulary and decelerated growth in Spanish receptive vocabulary. Gender was not a significant predictor of growth in either English or Spanish receptive vocabulary. ELLs from low socioeconomic backgrounds may be expected to perform lower in English compared with their monolingual English peers in kindergarten. Performance in Spanish at school entry may be useful in identifying children who require more intensive instructional support for English vocabulary

EXPLORING STUDENTS‟ DIFFICULTIES IN READING ACADEMIC TEXTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ira Ernawati

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Academic texts play an important role for university students. However, those texts are considered difficult. This study is intended to investigate students‘ difficulties in reading academic texts. The qualitative approach was employed in this study. The design was a case study. The participants were ten students from fifth semester of CLS: EE (Classroom Language and Strategy: Explaining and Exemplifying class who were selected by using purposive sampling. The data were gathered from students‘ journal reflections, observation, and interview. The finding shows that the students encountered reading difficulties in area of textual factors, namely vocabulary, comprehending specific information, text organization, and grammar and human factors including background knowledge, mood, laziness, and time constraint.

Predicting growth in English and French vocabulary: The facilitating effects of morphological and cognate awareness.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Angelo, Nadia; Hipfner-Boucher, Kathleen; Chen, Xi

2017-07-01

The present study investigated the contribution of morphological and cognate awareness to the development of English and French vocabulary knowledge among young minority and majority language children who were enrolled in a French immersion program. Participating children (n = 75) were assessed in English and French on measures of morphological awareness, cognate awareness, and vocabulary knowledge from Grades 1 to 3. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to investigate linear trends in English and French vocabulary growth for minority and majority language children and to identify metalinguistic contributions to Grade 1 and Grade 3 English and French vocabulary performance and rate of growth. Results demonstrated a similar pattern of prediction for both groups of children. English and French morphological awareness and French-English cognate awareness significantly predicted concurrent and longitudinal vocabulary development after controlling for nonverbal reasoning, phonological awareness, and word identification. The contributions of morphological awareness to English vocabulary and cognate awareness to French vocabulary strengthened between Grades 1 and 2. These findings highlight the emerging importance of morphological and cognate awareness in children's vocabulary development and suggest that these metalinguistic factors can serve to broaden the vocabulary repertoire of children who enter school with limited language proficiency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations between Preschool Language and First Grade Reading Outcomes in Bilingual Children

Science.gov (United States)

Davison, Megan Dunn; Hammer, Carol; Lawrence, Frank R.

2011-01-01

It is well established that monolingual preschoolers' oral language development (vocabulary and oral comprehension) contributes to their later reading abilities; however, less is known about this relationship in bilingual populations where children are developing knowledge of two languages. It may be that children's abilities in one language do…

Identifying Learning Patterns of Children at Risk for Specific Reading Disability

Science.gov (United States)

Barbot, Baptiste; Krivulskaya, Suzanna; Hein, Sascha; Reich, Jodi; Thuma, Philip E.; Grigorenko, Elena L.

2016-01-01

Differences in learning patterns of vocabulary acquisition in children at risk (+SRD) and not at risk (-SRD) for Specific Reading Disability (SRD) were examined using a microdevelopmental paradigm applied to the multi-trial Foreign Language Learning Task (FLLT; Baddeley et al., 1995). The FLLT was administered to 905 children from rural…

Acquiring, Teaching, and Testing Vocabulary.

Science.gov (United States)

Mobarg, Mats

1997-01-01

Argues that treatment of foreign language vocabulary will vary predictably according to whether the instructional activity is based on a structural or a lexical/collocational view of language. Notes that in a structural approach, vocabulary learning is primarily a frequency- and input-based individual endeavor, while the lexical approach is more…

The Influence of Parents' Backgrounds, Beliefs about English Learning, and a Dialogic Reading Program on Thai Kindergarteners' English Lexical Development

Science.gov (United States)

Petchprasert, Anongnad

2014-01-01

This study investigated parents' backgrounds and their beliefs about English language learning, and compared the receptive English vocabulary development of three to six year-old-Thai children before and after participating in a parent-child reading program with the dialogic reading (DR) method. Fifty-four single parents of 54 children voluntarily…

Mobile English Vocabulary Learning Based on Concept-Mapping Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Pei-Lin

2016-01-01

Numerous researchers in education recognize that vocabulary is essential in foreign language learning. However, students often encounter vocabulary that is difficult to remember. Providing effective vocabulary learning strategies is therefore more valuable than teaching students a large amount of vocabulary. The purpose of this study was to…

Motivation, Strategy, and English as a Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning: A Structural Equation Modelling Study

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yining; Lin, Chin-Hsi; Zhang, Dongbo; Choi, Yunjeong

2017-01-01

Background: In spite of considerable advancements in our understanding of the different factors involved in achieving vocabulary-learning success, the overall pattern and interrelationships of critical factors involved in L2 vocabulary learning--particularly, the mechanisms through which learners regulate their motivation and learning…

Teacher knowledge, instructional expertise, and the development of reading proficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Reid Lyon, G; Weiser, Beverly

2009-01-01

Teacher knowledge and instructional expertise have been found in correlational and pre- and posttest studies to be related to student reading achievement. This article summarizes data presented in this special issue and additional research to address four questions: (a) What do expert reading teachers know? (b) Why do teachers need to acquire this knowledge? (c) Do teachers believe they have this knowledge? and (d) Are teachers being adequately prepared to teach reading? Well-designed studies relevant to this topic have been sparse with a noticeable lack of attention given to identifying specific causal links between teacher knowledge, teaching expertise, and student reading achievement. Until the appropriate research designs and methodologies are applied to address the question of causal effects, conclusions about the specific content that teachers must know and the instructional practices that are most beneficial in presenting this content are preliminary at best. Future studies of the effect of essential reading content knowledge must be extended beyond word-level skills to vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing.

Learning vocabulary through a serious game in Primary Education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heitink, Maaike Christine; Fisser, Petra; Voogt, Joke; McBride, Ron; Searson, Michael

2013-01-01

This study explored the effect of a serious game on the vocabulary of students in primary education. 206 students and 10 teachers used the game during vocabulary lessons in three conditions: (a)online game and vocabulary instruction, (b)online game only, and (c)paper game and vocabulary instruction.

Reading Comprehension Difficulties in Chinese-English Bilingual Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Tong, Xiuhong; McBride, Catherine; Shu, Hua; Ho, Connie Suk-Han

2018-02-01

The co-occurrence of reading comprehension difficulties for first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English and associated longitudinal cognitive-linguistic correlates in each language were investigated. Sixteen poor comprehenders in English and 16 poor comprehenders in Chinese, 18 poor readers in both, and 18 children with normal performance in both were identified at age 10. The prevalence rate for being poor in both was 52.94%, suggesting that approximately half of children who are at risk for Chinese reading comprehension difficulty are also at risk for English reading comprehension difficulty. Chinese word reading, phonological, and morphological awareness were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in Chinese. English word reading and vocabulary were longitudinal correlates of poor comprehension in English. Chinese phonological awareness was an additional correlate of poor comprehension in English. Moreover, poor comprehenders in both Chinese and English showed slower rapid automatized naming scores than the other groups. Findings highlight some factors that might be critical for reading comprehension in L1 Chinese and L2 English; fluency is likely to be a critical part of reading comprehension across languages. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Recommendations for Recognizing Video Events by Concept Vocabularies

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Habibian, A.; Snoek, C.G.M.

2014-01-01

Representing videos using vocabularies composed of concept detectors appears promising for generic event recognition. While many have recently shown the benefits of concept vocabularies for recognition, studying the characteristics of a universal concept vocabulary suited for representing events is

Improving Elementary School Students’ English Vocabulary Through Local Cultural Content Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Frans Manurung

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Elementary students of a certain public school in Indonesia had difficulties in learning English. One of the crucial problems was learning English vocabulary. In an attempt to help the students learn and improve English vocabulary, the researchers decided to use CAR to teach English vocabulary with local cultural content materials. The aim of this study was to investigate how the teaching of English vocabulary with local cultural content materials contributed to the improvement of the students’ English vocabulary mastery. The topics covered in the materials were selected based on schemata theory. Vocabulary learning process was done through several activities provided in the materials: classroom and outside vocabulary learning. The results showed that the teaching of local cultural content materials have contributed to the improvement of the Elementary students’ vocabulary mastery. The schematic knowledge found in the familiar topics has aroused the students’ interest and motivation in learning English vocabulary. Students who were more familiar with the topics could respond to the vocabulary learning better than those who were not familiar with. The vocabulary mastery was more successful only if the students participated in both classroom and outside vocabulary learning process. Keywords: Vocabulary Mastery, Vocabulary Improvement, Local Cultural Content Materials, Vocabulary Learning, Schemata

Home environmental influences on children's language and reading skills in a genetically sensitive design: Are socioeconomic status and home literacy environment environmental mediators and moderators?

Science.gov (United States)

Chow, Bonnie Wing-Yin; Ho, Connie Suk-Han; Wong, Simpson W L; Waye, Mary M Y; Zheng, Mo

2017-12-01

This twin study examined how family socioeconomic status (SES) and home literacy environment (HLE) contributes to Chinese language and reading skills. It included 312 Chinese twin pairs aged 3 to 11. Children were individually administered tasks of Chinese word reading, receptive vocabulary and reading-related cognitive skills, and nonverbal reasoning ability. Information on home environment was collected through parent-reported questionnaires. Results showed that SES and HLE mediated shared environmental influences but did not moderate genetic influences on general language and reading abilities. Also, SES and HLE mediated shared environmental contributions to receptive vocabulary and syllable and rhyme awareness, but not orthographic skills. The findings of this study add to past twin studies that focused on alphabetic languages, suggesting that these links could be universal across languages. They also extend existing findings on SES and HLE's contributions to reading-related cognitive skills. © 2017 Scandinavian Psychological Associations and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Effects of Instructional Ratios on Students' Reading Performance in a Regular Education Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Maura L.; Shapiro, Edward S.

1996-01-01

Used 4 experimental conditions to examine the effectiveness of different instructional ratios of known to unknown vocabulary words on the reading progress of 46 students. Results suggest that students acquired new information as instructional ratios expanded. An inverse relationship was established between instructional material presented and…

Differences in the predictors of reading comprehension in first graders from low socio-economic status families with either good or poor decoding skills.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edouard Gentaz

Full Text Available Based on the assumption that good decoding skills constitute a bootstrapping mechanism for reading comprehension, the present study investigated the relative contribution of the former skill to the latter compared to that of three other predictors of reading comprehension (listening comprehension, vocabulary and phonemic awareness in 392 French-speaking first graders from low SES families. This large sample was split into three groups according to their level of decoding skills assessed by pseudoword reading. Using a cutoff of 1 SD above or below the mean of the entire population, there were 63 good decoders, 267 average decoders and 62 poor decoders. 58% of the variance in reading comprehension was explained by our four predictors, with decoding skills proving to be the best predictor (12.1%, 7.3% for listening comprehension, 4.6% for vocabulary and 3.3% for phonemic awareness. Interaction between group versus decoding skills, listening comprehension and phonemic awareness accounted for significant additional variance (3.6%, 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively. The effects on reading comprehension of decoding skills and phonemic awareness were higher in poor and average decoders than in good decoders whereas listening comprehension accounted for more variance in good and average decoders than in poor decoders. Furthermore, the percentage of children with impaired reading comprehension skills was higher in the group of poor decoders (55% than in the two other groups (average decoders: 7%; good decoders: 0% and only 6 children (1.5% had impaired reading comprehension skills with unimpaired decoding skills, listening comprehension or vocabulary. These results challenge the outcomes of studies on "poor comprehenders" by showing that, at least in first grade, poor reading comprehension is strongly linked to the level of decoding skills.

The Efficacy of Dictionary Use while Reading for Learning New Words

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, Harley

2012-01-01

The researcher investigated the use of three types of dictionaries while reading by high school students with severe to profound hearing loss. The objective of the study was to determine the effectiveness of each type of dictionary for acquiring the meanings of unknown vocabulary in text. The three types of dictionaries were (a) an online…

The Efficacy of Dictionary Use while Reading for Learning New Words

Science.gov (United States)

Hamilton, Harley

2012-01-01

This paper describes a study investigating the use of three types of dictionaries by deaf (i.e., with severe to profound hearing loss) high school students while reading to determine the effectiveness of each type for acquiring the meanings of unknown vocabulary in text. The dictionary types used include an online bilingual multimedia English-ASL…

A Research on Vocabulary Teaching Strategies and Students’ Mastery

OpenAIRE

Tian Yuan; Liu Bingbing

2013-01-01

By means of questionnaire and quantitative research, this article aims at investigating the effects on students’ mastery of vocabulary by studying teachers’ adoption of seven kinds of common vocabulary teaching strategies and the usage of analyzing strategies in intensive English in order to improve vocabulary teaching strategies and to help enlarge students’ vocabulary.

Orthographic facilitation in oral vocabulary acquisition.

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Ricketts, Jessie; Bishop, Dorothy V M; Nation, Kate

2009-10-01

An experiment investigated whether exposure to orthography facilitates oral vocabulary learning. A total of 58 typically developing children aged 8-9 years were taught 12 nonwords. Children were trained to associate novel phonological forms with pictures of novel objects. Pictures were used as referents to represent novel word meanings. For half of the nonwords children were additionally exposed to orthography, although they were not alerted to its presence, nor were they instructed to use it. After this training phase a nonword-picture matching posttest was used to assess learning of nonword meaning, and a spelling posttest was used to assess learning of nonword orthography. Children showed robust learning for novel spelling patterns after incidental exposure to orthography. Further, we observed stronger learning for nonword-referent pairings trained with orthography. The degree of orthographic facilitation observed in posttests was related to children's reading levels, with more advanced readers showing more benefit from the presence of orthography.

Children's understanding of Aesop's fables: relations to reading comprehension and theory of mind.

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Pelletier, Janette; Beatty, Ruth

2015-01-01

Two studies examined children's developing understanding of Aesop's fables in relation to reading comprehension and to theory of mind. Study 1 included 172 children from Junior Kindergarten through Grade 6 in a school-wide examination of the relation between reading comprehension skills and understanding of Aesop's fables told orally. Study 2 examined the relation between theory of mind and fables understanding among 186 Junior (4-year-old) and Senior (5-year-old) Kindergarten children. Study 1 results showed a developmental progression in fables understanding with children's responses becoming increasingly decontextualized as they were able to extract the life lesson. After general vocabulary, passage comprehension predicted fables understanding. Study 2 results showed a relation between young children's theory of mind development and their understanding of fables. After general vocabulary, second-order theory of mind predicted children's fables understanding. Findings point to the importance of developing mental state awareness in children's ability to judge characters' intentions and to understand the deeper message embedded in fables.

Motivating Students to Learn Biology Vocabulary with Wikipedia

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Boriana Marintcheva

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Timely learning of specialized science vocabulary is critical for building a solid knowledge base in any scientific discipline. To motivate students to dedicate time and effort mastering biology vocabulary, I have designed a vocabulary exercise utilizing the popular web encyclopedia Wikipedia. The exercise creates an opportunity for students to connect the challenge of vocabulary learning to a prior positive experience of self-guided learning using a content source they are familiar and comfortable with.

The Relations of Early Television Viewing to School Readiness and Vocabulary of Children from Low-Income Families: The Early Window Project.

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Wright, John C.; Auston, Aletha C.; Murphy, Kimberlee C.; St. Peters, Michelle; Pinon, Ronda Scantlin; Kotler, Jennifer

2001-01-01

Collected time-use diaries of television viewing from two cohorts of children (ages 2-5 and 4-7) from low-income families and gave annual tests of reading, math, receptive vocabulary, and school readiness. Found that viewing of child-audience informative programs between ages 2 and 3 predicted higher academic performance. Frequent viewers of…

Getting ready for reading: a follow-up study of inner city second language learners at the end of Key Stage 1.

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Stuart, Morag

2004-03-01

A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner-city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. The present study, a follow-up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main questions: (1) Are these improvements maintained to the end of Key Stage 1? (2) Are different patterns of cognitive process evident in the word recognition skills of phonics trained versus untrained children? (3) Do the phonics trained children now also show a significant advantage in reading comprehension? (4) Are there differences in amount of reading, in self-concept as readers and in oral vocabulary development between phonics trained and untrained children? Relationships between reading and spelling ages and Key Stage 1 SATs levels are also explored. Data are reported from 101 seven-year-olds (85 of whom were second language learners) remaining from the original 112 children reported on previously. Children were tested on four standardized tests of reading, spelling and vocabulary, and on a further six experimental tests of phoneme segmentation, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, regular, exception and nonword reading, author recognition and reading self-concept. Lasting influences of early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching on phoneme awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondence knowledge, word reading and spelling were found. Part of the previously untrained group had now received structured phonics teaching, and were therefore treated as a third (late trained) group. Early and late-trained groups showed similar levels of attainment and similar cognitive processing patterns, which were different from the untrained group. However, there were no influences of training on reading comprehension, self-concept or oral vocabulary. Early phoneme awareness and phonics training efficiently accelerates the word recognition and spelling

The Role of Reading in a Japanese Language Program: A Response to the MLA Ad Hoc Committee's Report (2007)

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Marcus, Ginger

2010-01-01

Reading is defined as a socio-cultural act negotiated between text and reader, and the act of reading is considered to be a cognitive process that involves knowledge not only of symbols/letters, vocabulary and structure, but also of culture. In other words, in order to understand the intentions of the author and to formulate meaning, the second…

Effect of Computerized Gloss Presentation Format on Reading Comprehension: A Cognitive Load Perspective

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Marefat, Hamideh; Rezaee, Abbas Ali; Naserieh, Farid

2016-01-01

In recent years, gloss presentation format or the location where a gloss appears with respect to its related target word has received renewed attention. Research suggested that different gloss presentation formats could have differential effects on reading comprehension and/or vocabulary learning. This study hypothesized that the effectiveness of…

Online Independent Vocabulary Learning Experience of Hong Kong University Students

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Eunice Tang

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In response to the limited vocabulary size of its undergraduates, an independent vocabulary learning platform, VLearn was designed and launched in a university in Hong Kong. As an elearning environment that supports self-directed vocabulary learning of Chinese learners, the primary aim of VLearn is to equip users with appropriate knowledge and skills for vocabulary expansion. This paper introduces the contents of VLearn, and the theoretical underpinnings of its design. It also reports on the vocabulary learning experience of its users during an eight week evaluation study. Suggestions are made on how independent vocabulary building at higher education, as well as comprehensive vocabulary instruction at early years could be supported by means of technology.

Tagging vs. Controlled Vocabulary

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogers, Toine; Petras, Vivien

2015-01-01

The popularity of social tagging has sparked a great deal of debate on whether tags could replace or improve upon professional metadata as descriptors of books and other information objects. In this paper we present a large-scale empirical comparison of the contributions of individual information...... that tags and controlled vocabulary terms do not actually outperform each other consistently, but seem to provide complementary contributions: some information needs are best addressed using controlled vocabulary terms whereas other are best addressed using tags....

Vocabulary Growth in College-Level Students’ Narrative Writing

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Hicham ZYAD

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The nature and size of vocabulary significantly determine quality in a given piece of writing. It therefore follows that an extensive vocabulary repertoire is a key factor to success in academic life. Most certainly, this explains the vast amount of scholarly attention that has been invested in this line of research. In this regard, a wide array of studies have provided evidence suggesting that human assessors of writing quality are substantially influenced by the range and sophistication of the vocabulary used by L2 learners. The studies that offered such evidence used different measurement tools to evaluate the nature and/or size of L2 learners’ vocabulary. However, very few studies have attempted to chart vocabulary knowledge across different college-level proficiency levels in narrative writing productions in the Moroccan context. To contribute to this debate, the present study aims to investigate university L2 learners’ vocabulary knowledge across three proficiency levels from two post-secondary institutions. More specifically, this cross-sectional study operationalized vocabulary knowledge in terms of diversity and sophistication in order to chart growth in the lexical repertoire of 90 participants. Data analysis showed that the participants displayed different levels of vocabulary knowledge. In terms of lexical diversity, second-year students’ vocabulary was as diverse as third-year students but it was not as sophisticated. Nonetheless, sophistication did not differentiate first- and second-year students but it did differentiate between second- and third-year students. Additionally, diversity and sophistication were both good markers of difference between first- and second-year students. The implications of the findings will be discussed.