Cortical networks for vision and language in dyslexic and normal children of variable socio-economic status.

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Monzalvo, Karla; Fluss, Joel; Billard, Catherine; Dehaene, Stanislas; Dehaene-Lambertz, Ghislaine

2012-05-15

In dyslexia, anomalous activations have been described in both left temporo-parietal language cortices and in left ventral visual occipito-temporal cortex. However, the reproducibility, task-dependency, and presence of these brain anomalies in childhood rather than adulthood remain debated. We probed the large-scale organization of ventral visual and spoken language areas in dyslexic children using minimal target-detection tasks that were performed equally well by all groups. In 23 normal and 23 dyslexic 10-year-old children from two different socio-economic status (SES) backgrounds, we compared fMRI activity to visually presented houses, faces, and written strings, and to spoken sentences in the native or in a foreign language. Our results confirm a disorganization of both ventral visual and spoken language areas in dyslexic children. Visually, dyslexic children showed a normal lateral-to-medial mosaic of preferences, as well as normal responses to houses and checkerboards, but a reduced activation to words in the visual word form area (VWFA) and to faces in the right fusiform face area (FFA). Auditorily, dyslexic children exhibited reduced responses to speech in posterior temporal cortex, left insula and supplementary motor area, as well as reduced responses to maternal language in subparts of the planum temporale, left basal language area and VWFA. By correlating these two findings, we identify spoken-language predictors of VWFA activation to written words, which differ for dyslexic and normal readers. Similarities in fMRI deficits in both SES groups emphasize the existence of a core set of brain activation anomalies in dyslexia, regardless of culture, language and SES, without however resolving whether these anomalies are a cause or a consequence of impaired reading. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Language Development: Understanding Language Diversity in the Classroom

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Levey, Sandra; Polirstok, Susan

2010-01-01

Language Development: Understanding Language Diversity in the Classroom offers comprehensive coverage of the language development process for pre- and in-service teachers while emphasizing the factors that further academic success in the classroom, including literacy skills, phonological awareness, and narrative. With chapters written by respected…

Developing Bigraphical Languages

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damgaard, Troels Christoffer

In this dissertation, we study bigraphical languages—languages based on the theory for bigraphs and bigraphical reactive systems developed by Milner and coworkers. We begin by examining algebraic theory for binding bigraphs. We give a term language for binding bigraphs and develop a complete......, a prototype tool for experimenting with bigraphical reactive systems. In a second line of work, we study bigraphical reactive systems as a vehicle for developing a language to model biochemical reactions at the level of cells and proteins. We discuss and isolate B,R-calculi, a family of bigraphical reactive...

A comparison of vowel normalization procedures for language variation research

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Adank, Patti; Smits, Roel; van Hout, Roeland

2004-11-01

An evaluation of vowel normalization procedures for the purpose of studying language variation is presented. The procedures were compared on how effectively they (a) preserve phonemic information, (b) preserve information about the talker's regional background (or sociolinguistic information), and (c) minimize anatomical/physiological variation in acoustic representations of vowels. Recordings were made for 80 female talkers and 80 male talkers of Dutch. These talkers were stratified according to their gender and regional background. The normalization procedures were applied to measurements of the fundamental frequency and the first three formant frequencies for a large set of vowel tokens. The normalization procedures were evaluated through statistical pattern analysis. The results show that normalization procedures that use information across multiple vowels (``vowel-extrinsic'' information) to normalize a single vowel token performed better than those that include only information contained in the vowel token itself (``vowel-intrinsic'' information). Furthermore, the results show that normalization procedures that operate on individual formants performed better than those that use information across multiple formants (e.g., ``formant-extrinsic'' F2-F1). .

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.

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Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education.

THIS BIBLIOGRAPHY LISTS MATERIAL ON VARIOUS ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT. APPROXIMATELY 65 UNANNOTATED REFERENCES ARE PROVIDED TO DOCUMENTS DATING FROM 1958 TO 1966. JOURNALS, BOOKS, AND REPORT MATERIALS ARE LISTED. SUBJECT AREAS INCLUDED ARE THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE, LINGUISTICS, LANGUAGE LEARNING, LANGUAGE SKILLS, LANGUAGE PATTERNS, AND…

Input and language development in bilingually developing children.

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Hoff, Erika; Core, Cynthia

2013-11-01

Language skills in young bilingual children are highly varied as a result of the variability in their language experiences, making it difficult for speech-language pathologists to differentiate language disorder from language difference in bilingual children. Understanding the sources of variability in bilingual contexts and the resulting variability in children's skills will help improve language assessment practices by speech-language pathologists. In this article, we review literature on bilingual first language development for children under 5 years of age. We describe the rate of development in single and total language growth, we describe effects of quantity of input and quality of input on growth, and we describe effects of family composition on language input and language growth in bilingual children. We provide recommendations for language assessment of young bilingual children and consider implications for optimizing children's dual language development. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

The normal and pathological language

OpenAIRE

Espejo, Luis D.

2014-01-01

The extraordinary development of normal and pathological psychology has achieved in recent decades, thanks to the dual method of objective observation and oral survey enabled the researcher spirit of neuro-psychiatrist penetrate the intimate mechanism of the nervous system whose supreme manifestation is thought. It is normal psychology explaining the complicated game of perceptions: their methods of transmission, their centers of projection, its transformations and its synthesis to construct ...

LANGUAGE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT: HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

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Trisna Dinillah Dinillah Harya

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Language can change and develop by itself slowly. Language can change and development because of adaptation of development and pattern change and system of society life, such as level of education, social, culture and technology mastery. Language change and development can occur internally and externally. In this article the changes internally and language development will be reviewed by looking through the study of historical change and development language based on the history of its development. While changes in external and development will be explored through the study of Sociolinguistics by examining and looking at changes and developments that language is influenced by socio-cultural factors that occur in society. Changes internally initially occurred in the behavior of speakers in their everyday lives to adjust to each other, and followed by a tendency to innovate in groups of people who are already familiar, then followed by other changes in sequence, which ultimately makes a language different each other, although originally derived from a single language family. Changes in the external language change and language development is caused by the contact of a language with other languages, where humans as social beings who have been cultured either interconnected or inter-ethnic nations in the world in a country. Key words: Language Changes, Internal Change, External Change, Historical linguistics

Language Development and Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging Characteristics in Preschool Children With Cerebral Palsy.

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Choi, Ja Young; Choi, Yoon Seong; Park, Eun Sook

2017-05-24

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of language development in relation to brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics and the other contributing factors to language development in children with cerebral palsy (CP). The study included 172 children with CP who underwent brain MRI and language assessments between 3 and 7 years of age. The MRI characteristics were categorized as normal, malformation, periventricular white matter lesion (PVWL), deep gray matter lesion, focal infarct, cortical/subcortical lesion, and others. Neurodevelopmental outcomes such as ambulatory status, manual ability, cognitive function, and accompanying impairments were assessed. Both receptive and expressive language development quotients (DQs) were significantly related to PVWL or deep gray matter lesion severity. In multivariable analysis, only cognitive function was significantly related to receptive language development, whereas ambulatory status and cognitive function were significantly associated with expressive language development. More than one third of the children had a language developmental discrepancy between receptive and expressive DQs. Children with cortical/subcortical lesions were at high risk for this discrepancy. Cognitive function is a key factor for both receptive and expressive language development. In children with PVWL or deep gray matter lesion, lesion severity seems to be useful to predict language development.

Language Planning and Development Aid: The (In)Visibility of Language in Development Aid Discourse

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Taylor-Leech, Kerry; Benson, Carol

2017-01-01

Despite the essential role of local, regional, national and international languages in human development, there is little reference to language planning in development aid discourse. Beginning with definitions of development aid and language planning, the paper examines how the two were linked in pre- and post-colonial times, showing how language…

Notes on Mathematical Language: Development Strings, Development Patterns, String Theory and Conditions Language

CERN Document Server

Struck, James T

2003-01-01

Mathematics, according to Lancelot Hogben, is the language of size, shape, and order. This note adds two words to the language of mathematics. First, a verb, develop or develops, is introduced to describe a development pattern or development string. These are patterns of development with examples from fibrillation, spread of electric changes in muscles and nerves, and matter changing into energy. The relevance of this idea to the idea in physics called String Theory is discussed. A critical comment on the use of the String, rather than other objects like circles, boxes, or spheres is made. Second, an adjective or adverb called conditions language is introduced. Equations like E=mc2, Coulomb's law, Newton's law of Gravitation, the equation for the definition of pie and the path to peace and war are discussed with relevance to the idea of conditions language. Conditions language is nothing more than including the relevant conditions where the equation works or when it applies in parentheses with the equation. V...

The relationship of expressive language development and social skills in 4-6-year-old Persian-speaking children

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Maryam Vahab

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Social interaction plays an essential role in acquisition of speech and language as one of the most important developmental factors. The recent studies indicated that language abilities have a close relationship to social skills. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of development of expressive language and dimensions of social skills in 4-6-years-old Persian-speaking children.Methods: In this study, 123 normal Persian-speaking 4-6-year-old children (76 boys and 47 girls who had all the specific criteria for normality were randomly selected from several preschools in Shiraz, Iran. During the first stage of testing, test of language development (TOLD was administered to investigate language development of participants; later, the social skills rating system (SSRS including the teachers' and parents' forms were completed by the parents and teachers of participants. The data were analyzed using Pearson's correlation coefficients.Results: The correlations between expressive language and dimensions of social skills were significant (p<0.001, but teachers' form had a greater correlation with language development (p=0.031. Besides, Pearson's correlations between teachers' and parents' forms was not significant (p=0.27.Conclusion: According to our results, expressive language develops along with social skills development. On the other hand, these results are based on the differences between home and educational environment in social skills achievements of children. These findings are to be considered to provide crucial training in both environments for the children to improve the development of their expressive language.

Persian competing word test: Development and preliminary results in normal children

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Mohammad Ebrahim Mahdavi

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Assessment of central auditory processing skills needs various behavioral tests in format of a test battery. There is a few Persian speech tests for documenting central auditory processing disorders. The purpose of this study was developing a dichotic test formed of one-syllabic words suitable for evaluation of central auditory processing in Persian language children and reporting its preliminary results in a group of normal children.Materials and Methods: Persian words in competing manner test was developed utilizing most frequent monosyllabic words in children storybooks reported in the previous researches. The test was performed at MCL on forty-five normal children (39 right-handed and 6 left-handed aged 5-11 years. The children did not show any obvious problem in hearing, speech, language and learning. Free (n=28 and directed listening (n=17 tasks were investigated.Results: The results show that in directed listening task, there is significant advantage for performance of pre-cued ear relative to opposite side. Right ear advantage is evident in free recall condition. Average performance of the children in directed recall is significantly better than free recall. Average row score of the test increases with the children age.Conclusion: Persian words in competing manner test as a dichotic test, can show major characteristics of dichotic listening and effect of maturation of central auditory system on it in normal children.

Language Revitalization and the Normalization of Basque: A Study of Teacher Perceptions and Expectations in the Basque Country

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Valadez, Concepción; Etxeberria, Feli; Intxausti, Nahia

2015-01-01

In the Basque Country, Northern Spain, Basque (Euskera) and Spanish are official languages. In recent decades, Basque language revitalization and the efforts to make this an unmarked language (normalization) have co-existed with the rapid increase in immigration from outside the Basque region, and most recently from outside Spain. Given the…

A comparison of the language skills of ELLs and monolinguals who are poor decoders, poor comprehenders, or normal readers.

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Geva, Esther; Massey-Garrison, Angela

2013-01-01

The overall objective of this article is to examine how oral language abilities relate to reading profiles in English language learners (ELLs) and English as a first language (EL1) learners, and the extent of similarities and differences between ELLs and EL1s in three reading subgroups: normal readers, poor decoders, and poor comprehenders. The study included 100 ELLs and 50 EL1s in Grade 5. The effect of language group (ELL/EL1) and reading group on cognitive and linguistic skills was examined. Except for vocabulary, there was no language group effect on any measure. However, within ELL and EL1 alike, significant differences were found between reading groups: Normal readers outperformed the two other groups on all the oral language measures. Distinct cognitive and linguistic profiles were associated with poor decoders and poor comprehenders, regardless of language group. The ELL and EL1 poor decoders outperformed the poor comprehenders on listening comprehension and inferencing. The poor decoders displayed phonological-based weaknesses, whereas the poor comprehenders displayed a more generalized language processing weakness that is nonphonological in nature. Regardless of language status, students with poor decoding or comprehension problems display difficulties with various aspects of language.

Multi-language Development Enviroments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeiffer, Rolf-Helge

-language software systems are heavily interrelated, existing development environments do not sufficiently support developers in development of such systems. In particular, handling relations between heterogeneous artifacts is not supported at development time. This thesis (a) studies the characteristics...... environments. I address these research goals by applying tool prototyping, technical experiments, user experiments, surveys, and literature survey as ethodological tools. The main results of this thesis are (a) a taxonomy for construction, comparison, and characterization of multi-language development...

Changes in language development among autistic and peer children in segregated and integrated preschool settings.

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Harris, S L; Handleman, J S; Kristoff, B; Bass, L; Gordon, R

1990-03-01

Five young children with autism enrolled in a segregated class, five other children with autism in an integrated class, and four normally developing peer children in the integrated class were compared for developmental changes in language ability as measured by the Preschool Language Scale before and after training. The results, based on Mann-Whitney U tests, showed that (a) all of the children as a group made better than normative progress in rate of language development, (b) the scores of the autistic children were significantly lower than the peers before and after treatment, and (c) there were no significant differences in changes in language ability between the autistic children in the segregated and integrated classes.

A Report on Language Materials Development for Seven Philippine Languages.

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McKaughan, Howard; Mirikitani, Leatrice

This report, a follow up to H. McKaughan's article "Language Materials Development" (Philippine Journal for Language Teaching; v2 n1-2 1969), reports on a project at the Pacific and Asian Linguistic Institute (PALI) of the University of Hawaii to develop a set of materials for seven Philippine languages: Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon,…

The Correlation between Early Second Language Learning and Native Language Skill Development

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Caccavale, Terry

2007-01-01

It has long been the assumption of many in the field of second language teaching that learning a second language helps to promote and enhance native language skill development, and that this correlation is direct and positive. Language professionals have assumed that learning a second language directly supports the development of better skills,…

TexMo: A Multi-language Development Environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeiffer, Rolf-Helge; Wasowski, Andrzej

2012-01-01

Contemporary software systems contain a large number of artifacts expressed in multiple languages, ranging from domain-specific languages to general purpose languages. These artifacts are interrelated to form software systems. Existing development environments insufficiently support handling...... relations between artifacts in multiple languages. This paper presents a taxonomy for multi-language development environments, organized according to language representation, representation of relations between languages, and types of these relations. Additionally, we present TexMo, a prototype of a multi-language...... development environment, which uses an explicit relation model and implements visualization, static checking, navigation, and refactoring of cross-language relations. We evaluate TexMo by applying it to development of a web-application, JTrac, and provide preliminary evidence of its feasibility by running...

Ramathibodi Language Development Questionnaire: A Newly Developed Screening Tool for Detection of Delayed Language Development in Children Aged 18-30 Months.

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Chuthapisith, Jariya; Wantanakorn, Pornchanok; Roongpraiwan, Rawiwan

2015-08-01

To develop a parental questionnaire for screening children with delayed language development in primary care settings. Ramathibodi Language Development (RLD) questionnaire was developed and completed by groups of 40 typically developing children age 18 to 30 months old and 30 children with delayed language development. The mean score was significantly lower in the delay language group (6.7 ± 1.9), comparing with the typically developing group (9.6 ± 0.7). The optimal ROC curve cut-off score was 8 with corresponding sensitivity and specificity were 98% and 72%, respectively. The corresponding area under the curve was 0.96 (95% CI = 0.92-0.99). The RLD questionnaire was the promising language developmental screening instrument that easily utilized in well-child examination settings.

Infant and Toddler Language Development.

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Fox, Jill Englebright

A child's need for formal communication may be as much an emotional need as a cognitive need. Several theories attempt to explain children's language development, including the theories developed by B. F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, and J. Bruner. Most children typically follow a standard sequence of language development: crying and cooing, babbling,…

Environmental factors influence language development in children with autism spectrum disorders.

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Marine Grandgeorge

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: While it is clearly admitted that normal behavioural development is determined by the interplay of genetic and environmental influences, this is much less the case for psychiatric disorders for which more emphasis has been given in the past decades on biological determinism. Thus, previous studies have shown that Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD were not affected by parental style. However, animal research suggests that different behavioural traits can be differentially affected by genetic/environmental factors. METHODOLOGY/ PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In the present study we hypothesized that amongst the ASD, language disorders may be more sensitive to social factors as language is a social act that develops under social influences. Using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised, we compared the early characteristics of sensori-motor and language development in a large sample of children with ASD (n = 162 with parents belonging to different levels of education. The results showed that children raised by parents with a high level of education displayed earlier language development. Moreover, they showed earlier first words and phrases if their mother was at a high level of education, which reveals an additional gender effect. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: To our knowledge this study may trigger important new lines of thought and research, help equilibrate social and purely biological perspectives regarding ASD and bring new hopes for environmentally based therapies.

Comparison of fMRI on the cortical organization using two language tasks in normal subjects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jiang Zhen; Zhang Caiyuan; Cai Wu; Shen Junkang; Gong Zhigang

2008-01-01

Objective: To comparatively study the cortical organization using two different language tasks by BOLD-fMRI in normal subjects: Methods: BOLD-fMRI scan was performed in 8 healthy volunteers with right handiness during executing the two language tasks: picture-naming and word-generation. The AFNI software was used to analyze the functional data and to generate the statistical parametric maps for comparatively studying the activation areas of each task. Results: Both activation patterns for two language tasks shared a common brain network dispersed in frontal, parietal, and occipital lobe. The activation areas of occipital lobe for picture-naming was more obvious than those for word-generation. By contraries, the areas related to language processing for word-generation was more active than picture-imaging. Compared with picture naming, the activation patterns for word-generation was mainly left-lateralized. Conclusion: Both of two tasks can activate the brain network which dedicate to language processing, but each of them has its own characteristics according to the processing patterns. (authors)

Television and Language Development.

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Fisher, Eunice

1984-01-01

Considers characteristics of educational television that militate against effective language learning and argues that further research is needed to ascertain whether language development is promoted by educational television and which programs and formats are best. Research in the United States and suggestions for future research are discussed.…

Language Planning, English Language Education and Development Aid in Bangladesh

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Erling, Elizabeth J.

2017-01-01

The increased status of English as the language of international communication and business has meant that development aid has increasingly been used to finance language planning initiatives aimed at improving and/or expanding English language education. The intended outcome of this aid is often to provide expanded economic returns and…

Language and cognitive development in deaf children: deaf children with deaf and deaf children with hearing parents

OpenAIRE

Ajda Pfifer

2011-01-01

The article reviews the current studies regarding language and cognitive development in children who are deaf. Deaf communicate orally and with sign language. 90 % of deaf children are born into hearing families and hearing parents in most cases do not know the sign language. Besides, hearing parents usually want for their child to become "normally" speaking. Most of the deaf children born into hearing families have very poor early communication. It is now well established that deaf children ...

The relationship of expressive language development and social skills in 4-6-year-old Persian-speaking children

OpenAIRE

Maryam Vahab; Sima Shahim; Mohammad Majid Oryadizanjani; Salime Jafari; Maryam Faham

2012-01-01

Background and Aim: Social interaction plays an essential role in acquisition of speech and language as one of the most important developmental factors. The recent studies indicated that language abilities have a close relationship to social skills. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship of development of expressive language and dimensions of social skills in 4-6-years-old Persian-speaking children.Methods: In this study, 123 normal Persian-speaking 4-6-year-old children (76 ...

Taiwan's Chinese Language Development and the Creation of Language Teaching Analysis

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Tsai, Cheng-Hui; Wang, Chuan Po

2015-01-01

Chinese Teaching in Taiwan in recent years in response to the international trend of development, making at all levels of Chinese language teaching in full swing, for the recent boom in Chinese language teaching, many overseas Chinese language learning for children also had a passion while actively learning Chinese language, and even many overseas…

Developing Language in Digital Natives

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Badia, Ingrid C.

2011-01-01

The Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools (FLES) program in Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) provides an opportunity for all students in an elementary school to learn a world language at an early age with a focus on developing students' communicative competence. Technology plays a major role in helping students develop communicative…

Componential Skills in Second Language Development of Bilingual Children with Specific Language Impairment

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Verhoeven, Ludo; Steenge, Judit; van Leeuwe, Jan; van Balkom, Hans

2017-01-01

In this study, we investigated which componential skills can be distinguished in the second language (L2) development of 140 bilingual children with specific language impairment in the Netherlands, aged 6-11 years, divided into 3 age groups. L2 development was assessed by means of spoken language tasks representing different language skills…

High School Teacher Perspectives and Practices: Second Language Writing and Language Development

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Gilliland, Betsy

2015-01-01

Teachers' understandings of second language learning influence their practices in the classroom. This paper analyzes interview and classroom data collected during a year-long ethnographic study of two high school English language development classes to identify (1) what the teachers understood about second language (L2) development and L2 academic…

Redefining Individual Growth and Development Indicators: Oral Language

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Bradfield, Tracy A.; Besner, Amanda C.; Wackerle-Hollman, Alisha K.; Albano, Anthony D.; Rodriguez, Michael C.; McConnell, Scott R.

2014-01-01

Language skills developed during preschool contribute strongly to later reading and academic achievement. Effective preschool assessment and intervention should focus on core components of language development, specifically oral language skills. The Early Language and Literacy Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs) are a set of…

Working memory in Farsi-speaking children with normal development and cochlear implant.

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Soleymani, Zahra; Amidfar, Meysam; Dadgar, Hooshang; Jalaie, Shohre

2014-04-01

Working memory has an important role in language acquisition and development of cognition skills. The ability of encoding, storage and retrieval of phonological codes, as activities of working memory, acquired by audition sense. Children with cochlear implant experience a period that they are not able to perceive sounds. In order to assess the effect of hearing on working memory, we investigated working memory as a cognition skill in children with normal development and cochlear implant. Fifty students with normal hearing and 50 students with cochlear implant aged 5-7 years participated in this study. Children educated in the preschool, the first and second grades. Children with normal development were matched based on age, gender, and grade of education with cochlear implant. Two components of working memory including phonological loop and central executive were compared between two groups. Phonological loop assessed by nonword repetition task and forward digit span. To assess central executive component backward digit span was used. The developmental trend was studied in children with normal development and cochlear implant as well. The effect of age at implantation in children with cochlear implants on components of working memory was investigated. There are significant differences between children with normal development and cochlear implant in all tasks that assess working memory (p memory between different grades showed significant differences both in children with normal development and in children with cochlear implant (p implied that children with cochlear implant may experience difficulties in working memory. Therefore, these children have problems in encoding, practicing, and repeating phonological units. The results also suggested working memory develops when the child grows up. In cochlear implant children, with decreasing age at implantation and increasing their experience in perceiving sound, working memory skills improved. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier

The language of mathematics: investigating the ways language counts for children's mathematical development.

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Vukovic, Rose K; Lesaux, Nonie K

2013-06-01

This longitudinal study examined how language ability relates to mathematical development in a linguistically and ethnically diverse sample of children from 6 to 9 years of age. Study participants were 75 native English speakers and 92 language minority learners followed from first to fourth grades. Autoregression in a structural equation modeling (SEM) framework was used to evaluate the relation between children's language ability and gains in different domains of mathematical cognition (i.e., arithmetic, data analysis/probability, algebra, and geometry). The results showed that language ability predicts gains in data analysis/probability and geometry, but not in arithmetic or algebra, after controlling for visual-spatial working memory, reading ability, and sex. The effect of language on gains in mathematical cognition did not differ between language minority learners and native English speakers. These findings suggest that language influences how children make meaning of mathematics but is not involved in complex arithmetical procedures whether presented with Arabic symbols as in arithmetic or with abstract symbols as in algebraic reasoning. The findings further indicate that early language experiences are important for later mathematical development regardless of language background, denoting the need for intensive and targeted language opportunities for language minority and native English learners to develop mathematical concepts and representations. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Language and Identities: The Exceptional Normality of Italy

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John J. Kinder

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Language issues loom large in current debates on Italian identity/identities, indigenous minorities in Italy and, of course, immigration. While the context of language debates in early 21st century Italy presents new realities and challenges, the fundamental issues are the same as those originally defined by the first European language planner, Dante, and reworked by successive theorists. The debates turn on exclusions and inclusions, on levels of multiple identities, on understandings of otherness. It is no accident that language is at once as a provocation for debates on identity and a metaphor of those debates, for the tensions that run through the debates lie at the heart of language itself. All cultures have a narrative that explains diversity among languages and cultures, either as the result of a mistake or as divine punishment. The Biblical accounts of Creation, Babel and Pentecost provide the framework for European understandings of language diversity. These accounts capture the paradoxical nature of human language, which characterizes us a species and is a tool for building unity between persons and groups, but is, by its nature, always and inevitably an expression of diversity, in time and space. These contradictions are being played out in current language debates as emigration, return migration, internal migration and immigration elicit new constructions of ‘Italianness’, the literary canon and the social weight of the different varieties of language present on Italian soil and in Italian communities abroad.

Parents' and speech and language therapists' explanatory models of language development, language delay and intervention.

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Marshall, Julie; Goldbart, Juliet; Phillips, Julie

2007-01-01

Parental and speech and language therapist (SLT) explanatory models may affect engagement with speech and language therapy, but there has been dearth of research in this area. This study investigated parents' and SLTs' views about language development, delay and intervention in pre-school children with language delay. The aims were to describe, explore and explain the thoughts, understandings, perceptions, beliefs, knowledge and feelings held by: a group of parents from East Manchester, UK, whose pre-school children had been referred with suspected language delay; and SLTs working in the same area, in relation to language development, language delay and language intervention. A total of 24 unstructured interviews were carried out: 15 with parents whose children had been referred for speech and language therapy and nine with SLTs who worked with pre-school children. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and coded using Atlas/ti. The data were analysed, subjected to respondent validation, and grounded theories and principled descriptions developed to explain and describe parents' and SLTs' beliefs and views. Parent and SLT data are presented separately. There are commonalities and differences between the parents and the SLTs. Both groups believe that language development and delay are influenced by both external and internal factors. Parents give more weight to the role of gender, imitation and personality and value television and videos, whereas the SLTs value the 'right environment' and listening skills and consider that health/disability and socio-economic factors are important. Parents see themselves as experts on their child and have varied ideas about the role of SLTs, which do not always accord with SLTs' views. The parents and SLTs differ in their views of the roles of imitation and play in intervention. Parents typically try strategies before seeing an SLT. These data suggest that parents' ideas vary and that, although parents and SLTs may share some

Probing Language Teacher Accountability in Utilizing Self-developed Language Teaching Resources

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Marjan Vosoughi

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This study was aimed at recognizing constraints on the way of some Iranian language teachers' utilization of self-developed, localized, English language teaching resources. To this aim, three sets of teacher variables on pedagogical and personal accounts were examined including Language teachers' experience (novice/experienced, their educational level (BA/MA/PhD and their gender. Data were collected in two phases. In the first phase, through stratified sampling, some eighty-three volunteering, English language teachers (Male and Female, who were indulged in the Iranian Ministry of Education (MoE, university settings (public and private and language institutes were randomly selected.  Teachers’ responses to a validated researcher-made questionnaire on language teacher curriculum autonomy revealed an overall significant Multiple R with F (3, 80 =.88, (0.04 but each individual above-cited predictors could not significantly predict teacher curriculum autonomy score. In the second phase for triangulation aims, three above-cited teacher variables were mapped over the insights gained through written interview sessions with some fourteen English language teachers.  Language teachers' self-reported 'challenges' and 'opportunities' for using self-developed language teaching resources for class use were content analyzed. It became evident that teaching experience was mystified in some respects in terms of its influence over interviewed teachers since diverse intentions on the part of the language teachers in this research might have deterred them not to use their full potential over using their own materials in class. Possible reasons for this situation have been fully discussed in the end.

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

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Zulfiya SAHIN

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to explicate teaching of Russian as a foreign language throughout history: to identify the main achievements of the field, to determine methods and materials used in this area, to trace the developing process from the very begging till present days, when teaching Russian language as a foreign language became a separate specific discipline. To achieve the set purposes mentioned above the known nowadays studies on the field of teaching and learning Russian as a foreign language were investigated. Basing on obtained sources, the history of teaching Russian language as a foreign language was divided into two periods: before and after becoming separate discipline. In the article not only the main features, such as theories, methods, sources of each period were studied, but also history of teaching Russian language as a foreign language was evaluated as a unified process. Keywords: Teaching-Learning activities, Russian as a Foreign Language, Historical linguistic process

Prenatal chemical exposures and child language development.

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Dzwilewski, Kelsey L C; Schantz, Susan L

2015-01-01

The goal of this review is to summarize the evidence that prenatal and/or early postnatal exposure to certain chemicals, both manmade (insulating materials, flame retardants, pesticides) and naturally occurring (e.g., lead, mercury), may be associated with delays or impairments in language development. We focus primarily on a subset of more extensively studied chemicals-polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, and methyl mercury-for which a reasonable body of literature on neurodevelopmental outcomes is available. We also briefly summarize the smaller body of evidence for other chemicals including polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs) and organophosphate pesticides. Very few studies have used specific assessments of language development and function. Therefore, we included discussion of aspects of cognitive development such as overall intellectual functioning and verbal abilities that rely on language, as well as aspects of cognition such as verbal and auditory working memory that are critical underpinnings of language development. A high percentage of prospective birth cohort studies of PCBs, lead, and mercury have reported exposure-related reductions in overall IQ and/or verbal IQ that persist into middle or late childhood. Given these findings, it is important that clinicians and researchers in communication sciences and disorders are aware of the potential for environmental chemicals to impact language development. The goal of this review is to summarize the evidence that prenatal and/or early postnatal exposure to certain chemicals may be associated with delays or impairments in language development. Readers will gain an understanding of the literature suggesting that early exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, and mercury may be associated with decrements in cognitive domains that depend on language or are critical for language development. We also briefly summarize the smaller body of evidence regarding polybrominated diphenyl

Music Training Program: A Method Based on Language Development and Principles of Neuroscience to Optimize Speech and Language Skills in Hearing-Impaired Children

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Samaneh Sadat Dastgheib

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: In recent years, music has been employed in many intervention and rehabilitation program to enhance cognitive abilities in patients. Numerous researches show that music therapy can help improving language skills in patients including hearing impaired. In this study, a new method of music training is introduced based on principles of neuroscience and capabilities of Persian language to optimize language development in deaf children after implantation.    Materials and Methods: The candidate children are classified in three groups according to their hearing age and language development. The music training program is established and centered on four principles, as follows: hearing and listening to music (with special attention to boost hearing, singing, rhythmic movements with music and playing musical instruments.   Results: Recently much research has demonstrated that even after cochlear implant operation, a child cannot acquire language to the same level of detail as a normal child. As a result of this study music could compensate this developmental delay .It is known that the greater the area of the brain that is activated, the more synaptic learning and plasticity changes occur in that specific area. According to the principles of neural plasticity, music could improve language skills by activating the same areas for language processing in the brain.   Conclusion:  In conclusion, the effects of music on the human brain seem to be very promising and therapeutic in various types of disorders and conditions, including cochlear implantation.

The Development of Ojibway Language Materials.

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Pheasant-Williams, Shirley

2003-01-01

Revitalization of the Nishinaabeg language started in 1998 with the development of language materials. A committee on Nishinaabemwin orthography advised on the development of the text and writing system. Teaching methods follow the four parts of Medicine Wheel teachings: spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental. An interactive hockey game and a…

Audiovisual sentence repetition as a clinical criterion for auditory development in Persian-language children with hearing loss.

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Oryadi-Zanjani, Mohammad Majid; Vahab, Maryam; Rahimi, Zahra; Mayahi, Anis

2017-02-01

It is important for clinician such as speech-language pathologists and audiologists to develop more efficient procedures to assess the development of auditory, speech and language skills in children using hearing aid and/or cochlear implant compared to their peers with normal hearing. So, the aim of study was the comparison of the performance of 5-to-7-year-old Persian-language children with and without hearing loss in visual-only, auditory-only, and audiovisual presentation of sentence repetition task. The research was administered as a cross-sectional study. The sample size was 92 Persian 5-7 year old children including: 60 with normal hearing and 32 with hearing loss. The children with hearing loss were recruited from Soroush rehabilitation center for Persian-language children with hearing loss in Shiraz, Iran, through consecutive sampling method. All the children had unilateral cochlear implant or bilateral hearing aid. The assessment tool was the Sentence Repetition Test. The study included three computer-based experiments including visual-only, auditory-only, and audiovisual. The scores were compared within and among the three groups through statistical tests in α = 0.05. The score of sentence repetition task between V-only, A-only, and AV presentation was significantly different in the three groups; in other words, the highest to lowest scores belonged respectively to audiovisual, auditory-only, and visual-only format in the children with normal hearing (P audiovisual sentence repetition scores in all the 5-to-7-year-old children (r = 0.179, n = 92, P = 0.088), but audiovisual sentence repetition scores were found to be strongly correlated with auditory-only scores in all the 5-to-7-year-old children (r = 0.943, n = 92, P = 0.000). According to the study's findings, audiovisual integration occurs in the 5-to-7-year-old Persian children using hearing aid or cochlear implant during sentence repetition similar to their peers with normal hearing

Ira Hirsh and oral deaf education: The role of audition in language development

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Geers, Ann

2002-05-01

Prior to the 1960s, the teaching of speech to deaf children consisted primarily of instruction in lip reading and tactile perception accompanied by imitative exercises in speech sound production. Hirsh came to Central Institute for the Deaf with an interest in discovering the auditory capabilities of normal-hearing listeners. This interest led him to speculate that more normal speech development could be encouraged in deaf children by maximizing use of their limited residual hearing. Following the tradition of Max Goldstein, Edith Whetnall, and Dennis Fry, Hirsh gave scientific validity to the use of amplified speech as the primary avenue to oral language development in prelingually deaf children. This ``auditory approach,'' combined with an emphasis on early intervention, formed the basis for auditory-oral education as we know it today. This presentation will examine how the speech perception, language, and reading skills of prelingually deaf children have changed as a result of improvements in auditory technology that have occurred over the past 30 years. Current data from children using cochlear implants will be compared with data collected earlier from children with profound hearing loss who used hearing aids. [Work supported by NIH.

The effects of psychoactive drugs and neuroleptics on language in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients: a review.

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Salomé, F; Boyer, P; Fayol, M

2000-12-01

The aim of this survey is to present an overview of research into psychopharmacology as regards the effects of different psychoactive drugs and neuroleptics (NL) on language in normal subjects and schizophrenic patients. Eighteen studies that have investigated the effects of different drugs (alcohol, amphetamines, secobarbital, L-dopa, psilocybin, ketamine, fenfluramine) and neuroleptics (conventional and atypical) on language are reviewed. There are no studies concerning the effects of neuroleptics on language in healthy subjects. The results of the effects of other molecules indicate that language production can be increased (alcohol, amphetamine, secobarbital), rendered more complex (d-amphetamine), more focused (L-dopa) or more unfocused (psilocybin) and clearly impaired (ketamine). For schizophrenic patients, most studies show that conventional neuroleptic treatments, at a therapeutic dosage and in acute or chronic mode, reduce language disorders at all levels (clinic, linguistic, psycholinguistic). In conjunction with other molecules, the classical NL, when administered at a moderate dosage and in chronic mode, modify language in schizophrenia, either by improving the verbal flow and reducing pauses and positive thought disorder (NL + amphetamine) or by inducing an impairment in the language measurements (NL + fenfluramine). Clinical, methodological and theoretical considerations of results are debated in the framework of schizophrenic language disorders.

Mexican sign language recognition using normalized moments and artificial neural networks

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Solís-V., J.-Francisco; Toxqui-Quitl, Carina; Martínez-Martínez, David; H.-G., Margarita

2014-09-01

This work presents a framework designed for the Mexican Sign Language (MSL) recognition. A data set was recorded with 24 static signs from the MSL using 5 different versions, this MSL dataset was captured using a digital camera in incoherent light conditions. Digital Image Processing was used to segment hand gestures, a uniform background was selected to avoid using gloved hands or some special markers. Feature extraction was performed by calculating normalized geometric moments of gray scaled signs, then an Artificial Neural Network performs the recognition using a 10-fold cross validation tested in weka, the best result achieved 95.83% of recognition rate.

Effects of maternal sensitivity and cognitive and linguistic stimulation on cochlear implant users' language development over four years.

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Quittner, Alexandra L; Cruz, Ivette; Barker, David H; Tobey, Emily; Eisenberg, Laurie S; Niparko, John K

2013-02-01

To examine the effects of observed maternal sensitivity (MS), cognitive stimulation (CS), and linguistic stimulation on the 4-year growth of oral language in young, deaf children receiving a cochlear implant. Previous studies of cochlear implants have not considered the effects of parental behaviors on language outcomes. In this prospective, multisite study, we evaluated parent-child interactions during structured and unstructured play tasks and their effects on oral language development in 188 deaf children receiving a cochlear implant and 97 normal-hearing children as controls. Parent-child interactions were rated on a 7-point scale using the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Early Childcare Study codes, which have well-established psychometric properties. Language was assessed using the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventories, the Reynell Developmental Language Scales, and the Comprehensive Assessment of Spoken Language. We used mixed longitudinal modeling to test our hypotheses. After accounting for early hearing experience and child and family demographics, MS and CS predicted significant increases in the growth of oral language. Linguistic stimulation was related to language growth only in the context of high MS. The magnitude of effects of MS and CS on the growth of language was similar to that found for age at cochlear implantation, suggesting that addressing parenting behaviors is a critical target for early language learning after implantation. Copyright © 2013 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Teaching Strategies to Develop Inquiry and Literacy Skills: "Languaging" in Foreign Language Immersion Education

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Husbye, Nicholas; Dorner, Lisa M.

2017-01-01

One-way, or foreign language, immersion schools face unique challenges as they seek to support the literacy development of their students. This manuscript draws on sociocultural theories of literacy development and the concept of languaging, the process of using language to make meaning. Working with two classrooms over one semester, we asked:…

Language development in rural and urban Russian-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder.

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Kornilov, Sergey A; Lebedeva, Tatiana V; Zhukova, Marina A; Prikhoda, Natalia A; Korotaeva, Irina V; Koposov, Roman A; Hart, Lesley; Reich, Jodi; Grigorenko, Elena L

2016-02-01

Using a newly developed Assessment of the Development of Russian Language (ORRIA), we investigated differences in language development between rural vs. urban Russian-speaking children (n = 100 with a mean age of 6.75) subdivided into groups with and without developmental language disorders. Using classical test theory and item response theory approaches, we found that while ORRIA displayed overall satisfactory psychometric properties, several of its items showed differential item functioning favoring rural children, and several others favoring urban children. After the removal of these items, rural children significantly underperformed on ORRIA compared to urban children. The urbanization factor did not significantly interact with language group. We discuss the latter finding in the context of the multiple additive risk factors for language development and emphasize the need for future studies of the mechanisms that underlie these influences and the implications of these findings for our understanding of the etiological architecture of children's language development.

Language development in rural and urban Russian-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Kornilov, Sergey A.; Lebedeva, Tatiana V.; Zhukova, Marina A.; Prikhoda, Natalia A.; Korotaeva, Irina V.; Koposov, Roman A.; Hart, Lesley; Reich, Jodi; Grigorenko, Elena L.

2015-01-01

Using a newly developed Assessment of the Development of Russian Language (ORRIA), we investigated differences in language development between rural vs. urban Russian-speaking children (n = 100 with a mean age of 6.75) subdivided into groups with and without developmental language disorders. Using classical test theory and item response theory approaches, we found that while ORRIA displayed overall satisfactory psychometric properties, several of its items showed differential item functioning favoring rural children, and several others favoring urban children. After the removal of these items, rural children significantly underperformed on ORRIA compared to urban children. The urbanization factor did not significantly interact with language group. We discuss the latter finding in the context of the multiple additive risk factors for language development and emphasize the need for future studies of the mechanisms that underlie these influences and the implications of these findings for our understanding of the etiological architecture of children's language development. PMID:27346924

One-Parent-One-Language (OPOL) Families: Is the Majority Language-Speaking Parent Instrumental in the Minority Language Development?

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Venables, Elizabeth; Eisenchlas, Susana A.; Schalley, Andrea C.

2014-01-01

The aim of this study is to examine the strategies majority language-speaking parents use to support the development of the minority language in families who follow the pattern of exposure known as one-parent-one-language (OPOL). In this particular pattern of raising a child bilingually, each parent speaks only their own native language to their…

The Development of the Standard Lithuanian Language: Ecolinguistic Approach

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Vaida Buivydienė

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The theory of standard languages is closely linked with the standardization policy and prevailing ideology. The language ideology comprises its value, experience and convictions related to language usage and its dis - course being influenced at institutional, local and global levels. Recently, in the last decades, foreign linguists have linked the theories of the development of standard lan- guages and their ideologies with an ecolinguistic approach towards language standardization phenomena. The article is based on Einar Haugen ’s theory about the development of standard languages and ecolinguistic statements and presents the stages of developing the standard language as well as the factors having an influ - ence on them. In conclusion, a strong political and social impact has been made on the development of the standard Lithuanian language. The stages of the progress of the standard Lithuanian language have rapidly changed each other, some have been held very close to one another and some still have been taken part.

Study of child language development and disorders in Iran: A systematic review of the literature

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Yalda Kazemi

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Child language development and disorder in Iran has been the focus for research by different professions, the most prominent ones among them being psychologists and speech therapists. Epidemiological studies indicate that between 8% and 12% of children show noticeable signs of language impairment in the preschool years; however, research on child language in Iran is not extensive compared to studies in English speaking countries, which are currently the basis of clinical decision-making in Iran. Consequently, there is no information about the prevalence of child language disorders in Iranian population. This review summarizes Iranian studies on child language development and disorder in the preschool years and aims to systematically find the most studied topics in the field of normal development, the assessment and diagnosis of language impairments as well as exploring the current gaps within the body of literature. Three main Iranian academic websites of indexed articles along with four other nonIranian databases were scrutinized for all relevant articles according to the inclusion criteria: Iranian studies within the field of Persian language development and disorders in preschool children published up to December 2013. They are classified according to the hierarchy of evidence and weighed against the criteria of critical appraisal of study types. As this is a type of nonintervention systematic review, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses is modified to be more compatible to the designs of eligible studies, including descriptive studies, test-developing and/or diagnostic studies. Several limitations made the process of searching and retrieving problematic; e.g., lack of unified keywords and incompatibility of Persian typing structure embedded in Iranian search engines. Overall, eligible studies met the criteria up to the third level of the hierarchy of evidence that shows the necessity of conducting studies

Study of child language development and disorders in Iran: A systematic review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazemi, Yalda; Stringer, Helen; Klee, Thomas

2015-01-01

Child language development and disorder in Iran has been the focus for research by different professions, the most prominent ones among them being psychologists and speech therapists. Epidemiological studies indicate that between 8% and 12% of children show noticeable signs of language impairment in the preschool years; however, research on child language in Iran is not extensive compared to studies in English speaking countries, which are currently the basis of clinical decision-making in Iran. Consequently, there is no information about the prevalence of child language disorders in Iranian population. This review summarizes Iranian studies on child language development and disorder in the preschool years and aims to systematically find the most studied topics in the field of normal development, the assessment and diagnosis of language impairments as well as exploring the current gaps within the body of literature. Three main Iranian academic websites of indexed articles along with four other nonIranian databases were scrutinized for all relevant articles according to the inclusion criteria: Iranian studies within the field of Persian language development and disorders in preschool children published up to December 2013. They are classified according to the hierarchy of evidence and weighed against the criteria of critical appraisal of study types. As this is a type of nonintervention systematic review, the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses is modified to be more compatible to the designs of eligible studies, including descriptive studies, test-developing and/or diagnostic studies. Several limitations made the process of searching and retrieving problematic; e.g., lack of unified keywords and incompatibility of Persian typing structure embedded in Iranian search engines. Overall, eligible studies met the criteria up to the third level of the hierarchy of evidence that shows the necessity of conducting studies with higher levels of

Language development and assessment in the preschool period.

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Conti-Ramsden, Gina; Durkin, Kevin

2012-12-01

Most young children make significant progress in learning language during the first 4 years of life. Delays or differences in patterns of language acquisition are sensitive indicators of developmental problems. The dynamic, complex nature of language and the variability in the timing of its acquisition poses a number of challenges for the assessment of young children. This paper summarises the key developmental milestones of language development in the preschool years, providing a backdrop for understanding difficulties with language learning. Children with specific language impairment (SLI) are characterised illustrating the types of language difficulties they exhibit. Genetic evidence for language impairment suggests complex interactions among multiple genes of small effect. There are few consistent neurobiological abnormalities and currently there is no identified neurobiological signature for language difficulties. The assessment of young children's language skills thus focuses on the evaluation of their performances in comparison to typically developing peers. Assessment of language abilities in preschool children should involve an evaluation of both expressive and receptive skills and should include an evaluation of more than one dimension of language. The use of a single measure of a language component, such as vocabulary, is considered inadequate for determining whether preschool children have typical language or language impairment. Available evidence supports the inclusion of measures of phonological short-term memory in the assessment of the language abilities of preschool children. Further study of genetic, neurobiological and early behavioural correlates of language impairments in preschool children is needed.

A Comparison of Linguistic Skills between Persian Cochlear Implant and Normal Hearing Children

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Mohammad Rahimi

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Objectives: A large number of congenitally deaf children are born annually. If not treated, this will have destructive effects on their language and speech development, educational achievements and future occupation. In this study it has been tried to determine the level of language skills in children with Cochlear Implants (CI in comparison with Normal Hearing (NH age-mates. Methods: Test of Language Development was administered to 30 pre-lingual, severe-to-profound CI children between the ages of 5 to 8. The obtained scores were compared to a Persian database from scores of normally hearing children with the same age range. Results: Results indicated that in spite of great advancements in different areas of language after hearing gain, CI children still lag behind their hearing age-mates in almost all aspects of language skills. Discussion: Based on the results, it is suggested that children with average or above average cognitive skills who use CI have the potential to produce and understand language comparable to their normally hearing peers.

THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

OpenAIRE

Zulfiya SAHIN

2014-01-01

The purpose of this research is to explicate teaching of Russian as a foreign language throughout history: to identify the main achievements of the field, to determine methods and materials used in this area, to trace the developing process from the very begging till present days, when teaching Russian language as a foreign language became a separate specific discipline. To achieve the set purposes mentioned above the known nowadays studies on the field of teaching and learning Russian as a f...

25 CFR 39.131 - What is a Language Development Program?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What is a Language Development Program? 39.131 Section 39... EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Indian School Equalization Formula Language Development Programs § 39.131 What is a Language Development Program? A Language Development program is one that serves students who either: (a...

The Design Space of Multi-Language Development Environments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pfeiffer, Rolf-Helge; Wasowski, Andrzej

2014-01-01

Non-trivial software systems integrate many artifacts expressed in multiple modeling and program- ming languages. However, even though these artifacts heavily depend on each other, existing development envi- ronments do not sufficiently support handling relations between artifacts in different...... languages. By means of a literature survey, tool prototyping and experiments we study the design space of multi-language development environments (MLDEs)—tools that consider the cross-language relations as first artifacts. We ask: what is the state of the art in the MLDE space? What are the design choices...... and challenges faced by tool builders? To what extent MLDEs are desired by users, and for what support features? Our main conclusions are that (a) cross-language re- lations are ubiquitous and troublesome in multi-language systems, (b) users highly appreciated cross-language sup- port mechanisms of MLDEs and (c...

Language development: Progress and challenges in a multilingual ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Some such challenges discussed include issues like language selection for development, absence of clear language policy and the important issue of attitudes of respective language communities towards language research programmes. The article also looks at how the project and the institute have managed to make ...

Validity of the language development survey in infants born preterm.

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Beaulieu-Poulin, Camille; Simard, Marie-Noëlle; Babakissa, Hélène; Lefebvre, Francine; Luu, Thuy Mai

2016-07-01

Preterm infants are at greater risk of language delay. Early identification of language delay is essential to improve functional outcome in these children. To examine the concurrent validity of Rescorla's Language Development Survey and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) at 18months corrected age in preterm infants. Test accuracy study. 189 preterm infants born Language Development Survey, a parent-reported screening instrument, was administered in French concurrently with the Language Scales of the Bayley-III. Receiver-Operating-Characteristics curves were used to determine optimal cut-off score on the Language Development Survey to identify Bayley-III score language delay as per the Bayley-III. The optimal threshold was ≤10 words for both boys and girls. In girls, lowering the cut-off score decreased sensitivity (79%), but improved specificity (82%), thus lowering the number of false-positives. Our findings support using the Language Development Survey as an expressive language screener in preterm infants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Normal growth and development

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... page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002456.htm Normal growth and development To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. A child's growth and development can be divided into four periods: ...

Developing Oral Language Skills in Middle School English Learners

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Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy

2018-01-01

Oral language development can help English learners develop academic proficiency with the English language. In this investigation, at one middle school, teachers focused on improving oral language skills. Using a formative experiment process, the teachers developed an intervention to accomplish their pedagogical goal and then tracked data to see…

Adding to Product Development Theory - A Language Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Poul H. Kyvsgård; Berg, Pekka; Mabogunje, Ade

2014-01-01

The paper explores the effect that the languages associated with the applied methods have on product development processes. Product development does increasingly involve more diverse disciplines and expanded cross-disciplinary views. Most importantly, the new disciplines: Design Thinking, and......, Innovation Management have introduced new cross-disciplinary methods and approaches. Some of the most important cognitive processes involved in product development: perceiving, meaning making, conceptualizing, communicating, and learning have been reframed and expanded as new disciplines have been introduced...... of these new languages reveals that the traditional methods applied in product development are highly influenced and limited by the languages that are traditionally associated with the application of these methods. Though language plays an important part in these essential processes it is rarely addressed...

Language Patterns Discriminate Mild Depression From Normal Sadness and Euthymic State.

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Smirnova, Daria; Cumming, Paul; Sloeva, Elena; Kuvshinova, Natalia; Romanov, Dmitry; Nosachev, Gennadii

2018-01-01

Deviations from typical word use have been previously reported in clinical depression, but language patterns of mild depression (MD), as distinct from normal sadness (NS) and euthymic state, are unknown. In this study, we aimed to apply the linguistic approach as an additional diagnostic key for understanding clinical variability along the continuum of affective states. We studied 402 written reports from 124 Russian-speaking patients and 77 healthy controls (HC), including 35 cases of NS, using hand-coding procedures. The focus of our psycholinguistic methods was on lexico-semantic [e.g., rhetorical figures (metaphors, similes)], syntactic [e.g., predominant sentence type (single-clause and multi-clause)], and lexico-grammatical [e.g., pronouns (indefinite, personal)] variables. Statistical evaluations included Cohen's kappa for inter-rater reliability measures, a non-parametric approach (Mann-Whitney U -test and Pearson chi-square test), one-way ANOVA for between-group differences, Spearman's and point-biserial correlations to analyze relationships between linguistic and gender variables, discriminant analysis (Wilks' λ) of linguistic variables in relation to the affective diagnostic types, all using SPSS-22 (significant, p  language, single-clause sentences domination over multi-clause, atypical word order, increased use of personal and indefinite pronouns, and verb use in continuous/imperfective and past tenses. In NS, as compared with HC, we found greater use of lexical repetitions, omission of words, and verbs in continuous and present tenses. MD was significantly differentiated from NS and euthymic state by linguistic variables [98.6%; Wilks' λ(40) = 0.009; p  language use distinguishing depression from NS and euthymic state, which points to a potential role of linguistic indicators in diagnosing affective states.

The Development of English as a Second Language With and Without Specific Language Impairment: Clinical Implications.

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Paradis, Johanne

2016-02-01

The purpose of this research forum article is to provide an overview of typical and atypical development of English as a second language (L2) and to present strategies for clinical assessment with English language learners (ELLs). A review of studies examining the lexical, morphological, narrative, and verbal memory abilities of ELLs is organized around 3 topics: timeframe and characteristics of typical English L2 development, comparison of the English L2 development of children with and without specific language impairment (SLI), and strategies for more effective assessment with ELLs. ELLs take longer than 3 years to converge on monolingual norms and approach monolingual norms asynchronously across linguistic subdomains. Individual variation is predicted by age, first language, language learning aptitude, length of exposure to English in school, maternal education, and richness of the English environment outside school. ELLs with SLI acquire English more slowly than ELLs with typical development; their morphological and nonword repetition abilities differentiate them the most. Use of strategies such as parent questionnaires on first language development and ELL norm referencing can result in accurate discrimination of ELLs with SLI. Variability in the language abilities of ELLs presents challenges for clinical practice. Increased knowledge of English language learning development with and without SLI together with evidence-based alternative assessment strategies can assist in overcoming these challenges.

Oral language and narrative skills in children with specific language impairment with and without literacy delay: a three-year longitudinal study.

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Vandewalle, Ellen; Boets, Bart; Boons, Tinne; Ghesquière, Pol; Zink, Inge

2012-01-01

This longitudinal study compared the development of oral language and more specifically narrative skills (storytelling and story retelling) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) with and without literacy delay. Therefore, 18 children with SLI and 18 matched controls with normal literacy were followed from the last year of kindergarten (mean age=5 years 5 months) until the beginning of grade 3 (mean age=8 years 1 month). Oral language tests measuring vocabulary, morphology, sentence and text comprehension and narrative skills were administered yearly. Based on first and third grade reading and spelling achievement, both groups were divided into a group with and a group without literacy problems. Results showed that the children with SLI and literacy delay had persistent oral language problems across all assessed language domains. The children with SLI and normal literacy skills scored also persistently low on vocabulary, morphology and story retelling skills. Only on listening comprehension and storytelling, they evolved towards the level of the control group. In conclusion, oral language skills in children with SLI and normal literacy skills remained in general poor, despite their intact literacy development during the first years of literacy instruction. Only for listening comprehension and storytelling, they improved, probably as a result of more print exposure. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Milestones in Language Planning and Development Aid

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Coleman, Hywel

2017-01-01

This paper tracks the changing relationships between language planning and development aid over a period of 70 years from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Drawing on documentary resources--in particular, the published proceedings of the Language and Development Conferences (LDCs)--the paper identifies a number of significant…

Language choice in bimodal bilingual development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane eLillo-Martin

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Bilingual children develop sensitivity to the language used by their interlocutors at an early age, reflected in differential use of each language by the child depending on their interlocutor. Factors such as discourse context and relative language dominance in the community may mediate the degree of language differentiation in preschool age children.Bimodal bilingual children, acquiring both a sign language and a spoken language, have an even more complex situation. Their Deaf parents vary considerably in access to the spoken language. Furthermore, in addition to code-mixing and code-switching, they use code-blending – expressions in both speech and sign simultaneously – an option uniquely available to bimodal bilinguals. Code-blending is analogous to code-switching sociolinguistically, but is also a way to communicate without suppressing one language. For adult bimodal bilinguals, complete suppression of the non-selected language is cognitively demanding. We expect that bimodal bilingual children also find suppression difficult, and use blending rather than suppression in some contexts. We also expect relative community language dominance to be a factor in children’s language choices.This study analyzes longitudinal spontaneous production data from four bimodal bilingual children and their Deaf and hearing interlocutors. Even at the earliest observations, the children produced more signed utterances with Deaf interlocutors and more speech with hearing interlocutors. However, while three of the four children produced >75% speech alone in speech target sessions, they produced <25% sign alone in sign target sessions. All four produced bimodal utterances in both, but more frequently in the sign sessions, potentially because they find suppression of the dominant language more difficult.Our results indicate that these children are sensitive to the language used by their interlocutors, while showing considerable influence from the dominant

Descriptive markup languages and the development of digital humanities

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Boris Bosančić

2012-11-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the role of descriptive markup languages in the development of digital humanities, a new research discipline that is part of social sciences and humanities, which focuses on the use of computers in research. A chronological review of the development of digital humanities, and then descriptive markup languages is exposed, through several developmental stages. It is shown that the development of digital humanities since the mid-1980s and the appearance of SGML, markup language that was the foundation of TEI, a key standard for the encoding and exchange of humanities texts in the digital environment, is inseparable from the development of markup languages. Special attention is dedicated to the presentation of the Text Encoding Initiative – TEI development, a key organization that developed the titled standard, both from organizational and markup perspectives. By this time, TEI standard is published in five versions, and during 2000s SGML is replaced by XML markup language. Key words: markup languages, digital humanities, text encoding, TEI, SGML, XML

Perfil comunicativo de crianças entre 1 e 3 anos com desenvolvimento normal de linguagem Communicative profile of children between 1 and 3-years old with normal language development

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Mirtes Adiles Sandri

2009-03-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: traçar o perfil comunicativo (habilidades comunicativas e interacionais, compreensão verbal e aspectos do desenvolvimento cognitivo de crianças entre 1 e 3 anos com desenvolvimento normal da linguagem, correlacionando com as variáveis faixa etária e gênero. MÉTODOS: participaram do estudo 24 crianças (12 meninos e 12 meninas, divididas em dois grupos: Grupo 1 (G1 - crianças de 1 e 2 anos e Grupo 2 (G2 - crianças de 2 e 3 anos. O instrumento de avaliação utilizado foi o Protocolo de Observação Comportamental (PROC (Zorzi e Hage, 2004. RESULTADOS: na análise dos dados quantitativos houve diferença estatisticamente significante quando comparados os grupos por faixa etária (PPURPOSE: to trace the communicative profile (communicative and interactive abilities, verbal comprehension and cognitive development aspects of children with normal linguistic development between 1 and 3-year old, correlating with the variables of age groups and gender. METHODS: twenty-four children (12 boys and 12 girls took part in the study, divided in two groups: Group 1 (G1 - children between 1 and 2-year old, and Group 2 (G2 -children between 2 and 3-year old. The used protocol was Behavioral Observation Protocol ("Protocolo de Observação Comportamental - PROC" (Zorzi and Hage, 2004. RESULTS: there was a statistically significant difference in the quantitative data when the groups where compared by their age (P<0.05. When comparing qualitative data by their age group, children of the G2 were better (P<0.05, except in the item with regards to the oral language understanding, which resulted being equivalent between the groups (P=0.217. There was no significant statistical difference related to gender, however, we observed superiority in female gender. CONCLUSION: the used test was sensitive for identifying the differences in performance between the two age groups, with regards to the communicative profile of the studied children.

Phonological competence development in Italian as second/foreign language

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Anja Zorman

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In language courses and teaching materials for Italian as a second or foreign language little attention is generally paid to the development of phonological competence and of speaking ability. The present study involved 140 pupils of elementary schools with Slovene as the language of instruction in the bilingual area of the Slovene Coastal area where Italian is taught as a second language. The research investigated the impact of phonology teaching and the development of phonological awareness on auditory perception abilities. The findings show that programs for the development of discriminatory listening and phonological segmentation of linguistic input critically influence the pupils’ ability of auditory perception, provided such programs are long-term, systematic, intensive, and carried out through direct interaction between the pupils and speakers of the target language. Consequently, such programs also enhance enhance the development of listening comprehension and communicative competence in the target language.

[Assessing and measuring language development in the child. The Reynell Scales in a Dutch language area].

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Schaerlaekens, A

1995-01-01

This article deals with the recent adaptation of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales to the Dutch language. The existing language tests for the Dutch language are reviewed and the need to adapt a test for young children, measuring both receptive and expressive language development, is argued. The adaptation of the original Reynell Developmental Language Scales to the Dutch language is described. An extensive standardisation was carried out with 1,288 Dutch-speaking children, carefully selected geographically and according to socio-economic status. The psychodiagnostic results of the standardisation are discussed. As a result there are now norms for children between 2 and 5 years, both for receptive and expressive language development. The adaptation of the original Reynell Scales to Dutch functions under the new name RTOS (Reynell Taalontwikkelingsschalen).

Subcategory learning in normal and language learning-disabled adults: how much information do they need?

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Richardson, Jessica; Harris, Laurel; Plante, Elena; Gerken, Louann

2006-12-01

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if nonreferential morphophonological information was sufficient to facilitate the learning of gender subcategories (i.e., masculine vs. feminine) in individuals with normal language (NL) and those with a history of language-based learning disabilities (HLD). Thirty-two adults listened for 18 min to a familiarization set of Russian words that included either 1 (single-marked) or 2 (double-marked) morphophonological markers indicating gender. Participants were then tested on their knowledge of both trained and untrained members of each gender subcategory. Testing indicated that morphophonological information is sufficient for lexical subcategory learning in both NL and HLD groups, although the HLD group had lower overall accuracy. The HLD group benefited from double-marking relative to single-marking for subcategory learning. The results demonstrated that learning through implicit mechanisms occurred after a relatively brief exposure to the language stimuli. In addition, the weaker overall learning by the HLD group was facilitated when multiple cues to linguistic subcategory were available in the input group members received.

Historical Development of Hong Kong Sign Language

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Sze, Felix; Lo, Connie; Lo, Lisa; Chu, Kenny

2013-01-01

This article traces the origins of Hong Kong Sign Language (hereafter HKSL) and its subsequent development in relation to the establishment of Deaf education in Hong Kong after World War II. We begin with a detailed description of the history of Deaf education with a particular focus on the role of sign language in such development. We then…

Auditory and language outcomes in children with unilateral hearing loss.

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Fitzpatrick, Elizabeth M; Gaboury, Isabelle; Durieux-Smith, Andrée; Coyle, Doug; Whittingham, JoAnne; Nassrallah, Flora

2018-03-13

Children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) are being diagnosed at younger ages because of newborn hearing screening. Historically, they have been considered at risk for difficulties in listening and language development. Little information is available on contemporary cohorts of children identified in the early months of life. We examined auditory and language acquisition outcomes in a contemporary cohort of early-identified children with UHL and compared their outcomes at preschool age with peers with mild bilateral loss and with normal hearing. As part of the Mild and Unilateral Hearing Loss in Children Study, we collected auditory and spoken language outcomes on children with unilateral, bilateral hearing loss and with normal hearing over a four-year period. This report provides a cross-sectional analysis of results at age 48 months. A total of 120 children (38 unilateral and 31 bilateral mild, 51 normal hearing) were enrolled in the study from 2010 to 2015. Children started the study at varying ages between 12 and 36 months of age and were followed until age 36-48 months. The median age of identification of hearing loss was 3.4 months (IQR: 2.0, 5.5) for unilateral and 3.6 months (IQR: 2.7, 5.9) for the mild bilateral group. Families completed an intake form at enrolment to provide baseline child and family-related characteristics. Data on amplification fitting and use were collected via parent questionnaires at each annual assessment interval. This study involved a range of auditory development and language measures. For this report, we focus on the end of follow-up results from two auditory development questionnaires and three standardized speech-language assessments. Assessments included in this report were completed at a median age of 47.8 months (IQR: 38.8, 48.5). Using ANOVA, we examined auditory and language outcomes in children with UHL and compared their scores to children with mild bilateral hearing loss and those with normal hearing. On most

Use of Francophone Tales in Developing Language Competences

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Nataša Žugelj

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Traditional folktales as an authentic document belong to a literary genre which can be of great use in enhancing foreign language learning. When accompanied by diverse and fun activities, they can con- vert a foreign language learning into a very positive experience for different age groups. Folktales with language exercises for developing different language skills can be a great source for language analysis, vocabulary building and better expression in a foreign language. Its restricted length and its identifiable content make folktales user-friendly for teaching.

MENTAL STATE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT: THE LONGITUDINAL ROLES OF ATTACHMENT AND MATERNAL LANGUAGE.

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Becker Razuri, Erin; Hiles Howard, Amanda R; Purvis, Karyn B; Cross, David R

2017-05-01

Maternal mental state language is thought to influence children's mental state language and sociocognitive understanding (e.g., theory of mind), but the mechanism is unclear. The current study examined the longitudinal development of mental state language in mother-child interactions. The methodology included assessments of the child and/or mother-child dyad at six time points between 12 to 52 months of the child's age. Measures determined child's attachment style and language abilities, and mental state language used by mother and child during a block-building task. Results showed that (a) mental state talk, including belief and desire language, increased over time; (b) there were differences between the type of mental state words used by the mother in insecure versus secure dyads; (c) there were differences in patterns of mental state words used in both mothers and children in insecure versus secure dyads; and (d) attachment appeared to exert a consistent influence over time. © 2017 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.

Specific Language Impairment

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... Some of the tests use interactions between the child and puppets and other toys to focus on specific rules of grammar, especially ... is not treated early, it can affect a child’s performance in school. ... language development. This kind of classroom program might enlist normally ...

Professional Development Needs of English Language Teachers in Malaysia

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Khandehroo, Koroush; Mukundan, Jayakaran; Alavi, Zhinoos Kamal

2011-01-01

This study surveyed the professional development (PD) needs of school English language teachers at Melaka State in Malaysia. With close cooperation with the Department of Language at the Ministry of Education, the whole population of English language teachers had been studied on their types of professional development needs in instructional…

Introduction: Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities

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De Clerck, Goedele A. M.

2017-01-01

This article has been excerpted from "Introduction: Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities" (De Clerck) in "Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities: Envisioning the Future for Deaf Students" (G. A. M. De Clerck & P. V. Paul (Eds.) 2016). The idea of exploring various…

Effective Oral Language Development Strategies for Elementary Teachers

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Kohler, Karen L.

2016-01-01

This action research study explored first and second grade classroom teachers' knowledge of oral language development and interventions for students at-risk of an oral language delay. This was accomplished through collaboration between a speech-language pathologist and classroom teachers. The data was aligned with assessments, the Response to…

Implications of Bilingual Development for Specific Language Impairments in Turkey

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Topbas, Seyhun

2011-01-01

The potential impact of bilingualism on children's language development has emerged as a crucial concern for Turkey, but so far it has not been addressed from the point of view of language disorders. This short review examines the potential impact of bilingual language development for language impairments in Turkey, with special emphasis on the…

Supporting Preschool Dual Language Learners: Parents' and Teachers' Beliefs about Language Development and Collaboration

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Sawyer, Brook E.; Manz, Patricia H.; Martin, Kristin A.

2017-01-01

Guided by Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological theory of human development and Moll's theory of funds of knowledge, the aim of this qualitative study was to examine the beliefs of parents and early childhood teachers on (a) the language development of Spanish-speaking preschool dual language learners (DLLs) and (b) how they can collaborate to support…

Myelination progression in language-correlated regions in brain of normal children determined by quantitative MRI assessment.

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Su, Peijen; Kuan, Chen-Chieh; Kaga, Kimitaka; Sano, Masaki; Mima, Kazuo

2008-12-01

To investigate the myelination progression course in language-correlated regions of children with normal brain development by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis compared with histological studies. The subjects were 241 neurologically intact neonates, infants and young children (128 boys and 113 girls) who underwent MRI between 2001 and 2007 at the University of Tokyo Hospital, ranging in age from 0 to 429 weeks corrected by postnatal age. To compare their data with adult values, 25 adolescents and adults (14 men and 11 women, aged from 14 to 83 years) were examined as controls. Axial T2-weighted images were obtained using spin-echo sequences at 1.5 T. Subjects with a history of prematurity, birth asphyxia, low Apgar score, seizures, active systemic disease, congenital anomaly, delayed development, infarcts, hemorrhages, brain lesions, or central nervous system malformation were excluded from the analysis. Seven regions of interest in language-correlated areas, namely Broca's area, Wernicke's area, the arcuate fasciculus, and the angular gyrus, as well as their right hemisphere homologous regions, and the auditory cortex, the motor cortex, and the visual cortex were examined. Signal intensity obtained by a region-of-interest methodology progresses from hyper- to hypointensity during myelination. We chose the inferior cerebellar peduncle as the internal standard of maturation. Myelination in all these seven language-correlated regions examined in this study shared the same curve pattern: no myelination was observed at birth, it reached maturation at about 1.5 years of age, and it continued to progress slowly thereafter into adult life. On the basis of scatter plot results, we put these areas into three groups: Group A, which included the motor cortex, the auditory cortex, and the visual cortex, myelinated faster than Group B, which included Broca's area, Wernicke's area, and the angular gyrus before 1.5 years old; Group C, consisting of the

Longitudinal changes in resting-state fMRI from age 5 to age 6years covary with language development.

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Xiao, Yaqiong; Friederici, Angela D; Margulies, Daniel S; Brauer, Jens

2016-03-01

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful technique to study the whole-brain neural connectivity that underlies cognitive systems. The present study aimed to define the changes in neural connectivity in their relation to language development. Longitudinal resting-state functional data were acquired from a cohort of preschool children at age 5 and one year later, and changes in functional connectivity were correlated with language performance in sentence comprehension. For this, degree centrality, a voxel-based network measure, was used to assess age-related differences in connectivity at the whole-brain level. Increases in connectivity with age were found selectively in a cluster within the left posterior superior temporal gyrus and sulcus (STG/STS). In order to further specify the connection changes, a secondary seed-based functional connectivity analysis on this very cluster was performed. The correlations between resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and language performance revealed developmental effects with age and, importantly, also dependent on the advancement in sentence comprehension ability over time. In children with greater advancement in language abilities, the behavioral improvement was positively correlated with RSFC increase between left posterior STG/STS and other regions of the language network, i.e., left and right inferior frontal cortex. The age-related changes observed in this study provide evidence for alterations in the language network as language develops and demonstrates the viability of this approach for the investigation of normal and aberrant language development. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Parents' Role in the Early Head Start Children's Language Development

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Griswold, Cecelia Smalls

2014-01-01

The development of language during a child's early years has been linked to parental involvement. While Early Head Start (EHS) researchers have theorized that parental involvement is an important factor in language development, there has been little research on how parents view their roles in the language development process. The purpose of this…

Adaptation, validity, and reliability of the Preschool Language Scale-Fifth Edition (PLS-5) in the Turkish context: The Turkish Preschool Language Scale-5 (TPLS-5).

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Sahli, A Sanem; Belgin, Erol

2017-07-01

Speech and language assessment is very important in early diagnosis of children with hearing and speech disorders. Aim of this study is to determine the validity and reliability of Preschool Language Scale (5th edition) test with its Turkish translation and adaptation. Our study is conducted on 1320 children aged between 0-7 years 11 months. While 1044 of these children have normal hearing, language and speech development, 276 of them have receptive and/or expressive language disorder. After the English-Turkish and Turkish-English translations of PLS-5 made by two experts command of both languages, some of the test items are reorganized because of the grammatical features of Turkish and the cultural structure of the country. The pilot study was conducted with 378 children. The test which is reorganized in the light of data obtained in pilot application, is applied to children chosen randomly with layering technique from different regions of Turkey, then 15 days later the first test applied again to 120 children. While 1044 of 1320 children aged between 0 and 7 years 11 months are normal, 276 of them have receptive and/or expressive language disorder. While 98 of 103 healthy children of 120 taken under the second evaluation have normal language development, 8 of 9 who used to have language development disorder in the past still remaining (Kappa coefficient:0,468, page equivalance is found as IA:0,871, IED: 0,896, TDP: 0,887. TPLS-5 is the first and only language test in our country that can evaluate receptive and/or expressive language skills of children aged between 0-7 years 11 months. Results of the study show that TPLS-5 is a valid and reliable language test for the Turkish children. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Gesture, Play, and Language Development of Spanish-Speaking Toddlers with Developmental Language Disorders: A Preliminary Study

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Guiberson, Mark

2016-01-01

The purpose of this preliminary study was to (a) examine relationships between the symbolic and language skills of a mixed (developmental language disordered [DLD] and typical language [TL]) Spanish-speaking sample; (b) describe gesture, play, and language skills of DLD and TL groups; (c) compare the development between groups; and (d) explore…

Development of the Tensoral Computer Language

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Ferziger, Joel; Dresselhaus, Eliot

1996-01-01

The research scientist or engineer wishing to perform large scale simulations or to extract useful information from existing databases is required to have expertise in the details of the particular database, the numerical methods and the computer architecture to be used. This poses a significant practical barrier to the use of simulation data. The goal of this research was to develop a high-level computer language called Tensoral, designed to remove this barrier. The Tensoral language provides a framework in which efficient generic data manipulations can be easily coded and implemented. First of all, Tensoral is general. The fundamental objects in Tensoral represent tensor fields and the operators that act on them. The numerical implementation of these tensors and operators is completely and flexibly programmable. New mathematical constructs and operators can be easily added to the Tensoral system. Tensoral is compatible with existing languages. Tensoral tensor operations co-exist in a natural way with a host language, which may be any sufficiently powerful computer language such as Fortran, C, or Vectoral. Tensoral is very-high-level. Tensor operations in Tensoral typically act on entire databases (i.e., arrays) at one time and may, therefore, correspond to many lines of code in a conventional language. Tensoral is efficient. Tensoral is a compiled language. Database manipulations are simplified optimized and scheduled by the compiler eventually resulting in efficient machine code to implement them.

Altered functional connectivity of the language network in ASD: Role of classical language areas and cerebellum☆

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Verly, Marjolein; Verhoeven, Judith; Zink, Inge; Mantini, Dante; Peeters, Ronald; Deprez, Sabine; Emsell, Louise; Boets, Bart; Noens, Ilse; Steyaert, Jean; Lagae, Lieven; De Cock, Paul; Rommel, Nathalie; Sunaert, Stefan

2014-01-01

The development of language, social interaction and communicative skills is remarkably different in the child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Atypical brain connectivity has frequently been reported in this patient population. However, the neural correlates underlying their disrupted language development and functioning are still poorly understood. Using resting state fMRI, we investigated the functional connectivity properties of the language network in a group of ASD patients with clear comorbid language impairment (ASD-LI; N = 19) and compared them to the language related connectivity properties of 23 age-matched typically developing children. A verb generation task was used to determine language components commonly active in both groups. Eight joint language components were identified and subsequently used as seeds in a resting state analysis. Interestingly, both the interregional and the seed-based whole brain connectivity analysis showed preserved connectivity between the classical intrahemispheric language centers, Wernicke's and Broca's areas. In contrast however, a marked loss of functional connectivity was found between the right cerebellar region and the supratentorial regulatory language areas. Also, the connectivity between the interhemispheric Broca regions and modulatory control dorsolateral prefrontal region was found to be decreased. This disruption of normal modulatory control and automation function by the cerebellum may underlie the abnormal language function in children with ASD-LI. PMID:24567909

Language Development in Children with Language Disorders: An Introduction to Skinner's Verbal Behavior and the Techniques for Initial Language Acquisition

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Casey, Laura Baylot; Bicard, David F.

2009-01-01

Language development in typically developing children has a very predictable pattern beginning with crying, cooing, babbling, and gestures along with the recognition of spoken words, comprehension of spoken words, and then one word utterances. This predictable pattern breaks down for children with language disorders. This article will discuss…

Structured multi-stream command language

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glad, A.S.

1982-12-01

A multi-stream command language was implemented to provide the sequential and decision-making operations necessary to run the neutral-beam ion sources connected to the Doublet III tokamak fusion device. A multi-stream command language was implemented in Pascal on a Classic 7870 running under MAX IV. The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, to provide a brief description of the programs comprising the command language including the operating system interaction. Second, to give a description of the language syntax and commands necessary to develop a procedure stream. Third, to provide a description of the normal operating procedures for executing either the sequential or interactive streams

Interaction Between Syndromic and Non-Syndromic Factors Affecting Speech and Language Development in Treacher-Collins Syndrome

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Marziyeh Poorjavad

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Treacher-Collins syndrome is a congenital craniofacial disorder with multiple anomalies. This syndrome affects the maxilla, mandible, eyes, middle and outer ears, and soft palate. Conductive hearing loss due to the deformities of the middle and external ears is prevalent. The characteristics of this syndrome include multiple and serious threats to normal communication development in children. In this study, speech and language features of a Persian speaking child with this syndrome are presented.Case: The case was an 8-year old girl with Treacher-Collins syndrome and bilateral moderate conductive hearing loss due to atretic canal. In language and speech assessments, moderate hypernasality, numerous compensatory errors and morphosyntactic deficits were observed. There were 13 phonemes that were incorrectly produced at least in one position. Besides, she used 22 types of phonological processes that were abnormal and disappear before the age of three in normal Persian speaking children.Conclusion: Moderate hearing loss, velopharyngeal incompetency, malocclusion and dental anomalies, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD and environmental factors resulted in severe speech and language disorders in this case. These disorders affected her academic performance as well. Moderate hypernasality, numerous compensatory errors, and excessive and abnormal use of phonological processes were not presented as prevalent characteristics of Treacher-Collins syndrome in other resources.

Development of adolescent reading comprehension in language 1 and language 2 : A longitudinal analysis of constituent components

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Gelderen, Amos; Schoonen, Rob; Stoel, Reinoud D.; de Glopper, C.M.; Hulstijn, Jan

This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension development of 389 adolescents in their dominant language (Language 1 [L 1], Dutch) and a foreign language (Language 2 [L2], English). In each consecutive year from Grades 8 through 10, a number of measurements were taken.

Ambiguous Aims: English-Language Voluntourism as Development

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Jakubiak, Cori

2016-01-01

"English-language voluntourism" is a practice whereby people from the Global North teach English in the Global South as an alternative form of travel and means of development assistance. As part of a larger, multisited ethnography, I investigate how in-service and former English-language voluntourism program participants frame short-term…

Digital-Gaming Trajectories and Second Language Development

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Scholz, Kyle W.; Schulze, Mathias

2017-01-01

Recent research in digital game-based language learning has been encouraging, yet it would benefit from research methods that focus on the gaming processes and second-language development (Larsen-Freeman, 2015) rather than learner/player reflection or individuals' beliefs about the validity of gameplay. This has proven challenging as research…

Reduced sensitivity to context in language comprehension: A characteristic of Autism Spectrum Disorders or of poor structural language ability?

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Eberhardt, Melanie; Nadig, Aparna

2018-01-01

We present two experiments examining the universality and uniqueness of reduced context sensitivity in language processing in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), as proposed by the Weak Central Coherence account (Happé & Frith, 2006, Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 25). That is, do all children with ASD exhibit decreased context sensitivity, and is this characteristic specific to ASD versus other neurodevelopmental conditions? Experiment 1, conducted in English, was a comparison of children with ASD with normal language and their typically-developing peers on a picture selection task where interpretation of sentential context was required to identify homonyms. Contrary to the predictions of Weak Central Coherence, the ASD-normal language group exhibited no difficulty on this task. Experiment 2, conducted in German, compared children with ASD with variable language abilities, typically-developing children, and a second control group of children with Language Impairment (LI) on a sentence completion task where a context sentence had to be considered to produce the continuation of an ambiguous sentence fragment. Both ASD-variable language and LI groups exhibited reduced context sensitivity and did not differ from each other. Finally, to directly test which factors contribute to reduced context sensitivity, we conducted a regression analysis for each experiment, entering nonverbal IQ, structural language ability, and autism diagnosis as predictors. For both experiments structural language ability emerged as the only significant predictor. These convergent findings demonstrate that reduced sensitivity to context in language processing is linked to low structural language rather than ASD diagnosis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language Development across the Life Span: A Neuropsychological/Neuroimaging Perspective

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Mónica Rosselli

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Language development has been correlated with specific changes in brain development. The aim of this paper is to analyze the linguistic-brain associations that occur from birth through senescence. Findings from the neuropsychological and neuroimaging literature are reviewed, and the relationship of language changes observable in human development and the corresponding brain maturation processes across age groups are examined. Two major dimensions of language development are highlighted: naming (considered a major measure of lexical knowledge and verbal fluency (regarded as a major measure of language production ability. Developmental changes in the brain lateralization of language are discussed, emphasizing that in early life there is an increase in functional brain asymmetry for language, but that this asymmetry changes over time, and that changes in the volume of gray and white matter are age-sensitive. The effects of certain specific variables, such as gender, level of education, and bilingualism are also analyzed. General conclusions are presented and directions for future research are suggested.

a Recursive Approach to Compute Normal Forms

Science.gov (United States)

HSU, L.; MIN, L. J.; FAVRETTO, L.

2001-06-01

Normal forms are instrumental in the analysis of dynamical systems described by ordinary differential equations, particularly when singularities close to a bifurcation are to be characterized. However, the computation of a normal form up to an arbitrary order is numerically hard. This paper focuses on the computer programming of some recursive formulas developed earlier to compute higher order normal forms. A computer program to reduce the system to its normal form on a center manifold is developed using the Maple symbolic language. However, it should be stressed that the program relies essentially on recursive numerical computations, while symbolic calculations are used only for minor tasks. Some strategies are proposed to save computation time. Examples are presented to illustrate the application of the program to obtain high order normalization or to handle systems with large dimension.

25 CFR 39.136 - What is the WSU for Language Development programs?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false What is the WSU for Language Development programs? 39.136... EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Indian School Equalization Formula Language Development Programs § 39.136 What is the WSU for Language Development programs? Language Development programs are funded at 0.13 WSUs per student. ...

Oral and Written Language Development of Children Adopted from China

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Kathleen A.; Roberts, Jenny A.; Krakow, Rena

2008-01-01

Purpose: The sharp increase in the number of international adoptions in the United States has prompted a heightened interest in the language development of internationally adopted children. Although recent studies have investigated the early language development of adoptees, little is known about the school-age language and literacy skills of…

Language development in preschool children born after asymmetrical intrauterine growth retardation.

Science.gov (United States)

Simić Klarić, Andrea; Kolundžić, Zdravko; Galić, Slavka; Mejaški Bošnjak, Vlatka

2012-03-01

After intrauterine growth retardation, many minor neurodevelopmental disorders may occur, especially in the motor skills domain, language and speech development, and cognitive functions. The assessment of language development and impact of postnatal head growth in preschool children born with asymmetrical intrauterine growth retardation. Examinees were born at term with birth weight below the 10th percentile for gestational age, parity and gender. Mean age at the time of study was six years and four months. The control group was matched according to chronological and gestational age, gender and maternal education with mean age six years and five months. There were 50 children with intrauterine growth retardation and 50 controls, 28 girls and 22 boys in each group. For the assessment of language development Reynell Developmental Language Scale, the Naming test and Mottier test were performed. There were statistically significant differences (p language comprehension, total expressive language (vocabulary, structure, content), naming skills and non-words repetition. Statistically significant positive correlations were found between relative growth of the head [(Actual head circumference - head circumference at birth)/(Body weight - birth weight)] and language outcome. Children with neonatal complications had lower results (p language comprehension and total expressive language. Intrauterine growth retardation has a negative impact on language development which is evident in preschool years. Slow postnatal head growth is correlated with poorer language outcome. Neonatal complications were negatively correlated with language comprehension and total expressive language. Copyright © 2011 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Persistent Language Delay Versus Late Language Emergence in Children With Early Cochlear Implantation

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholas, Johanna; Tobey, Emily; Davidson, Lisa

2016-01-01

Purpose The purpose of the present investigation is to differentiate children using cochlear implants (CIs) who did or did not achieve age-appropriate language scores by midelementary grades and to identify risk factors for persistent language delay following early cochlear implantation. Materials and Method Children receiving unilateral CIs at young ages (12–38 months) were tested longitudinally and classified with normal language emergence (n = 19), late language emergence (n = 22), or persistent language delay (n = 19) on the basis of their test scores at 4.5 and 10.5 years of age. Relative effects of demographic, audiological, linguistic, and academic characteristics on language emergence were determined. Results Age at CI was associated with normal language emergence but did not differentiate late emergence from persistent delay. Children with persistent delay were more likely to use left-ear implants and older speech processor technology. They experienced higher aided thresholds and lower speech perception scores. Persistent delay was foreshadowed by low morphosyntactic and phonological diversity in preschool. Logistic regression analysis predicted normal language emergence with 84% accuracy and persistent language delay with 74% accuracy. Conclusion CI characteristics had a strong effect on persistent versus resolving language delay, suggesting that right-ear (or bilateral) devices, technology upgrades, and improved audibility may positively influence long-term language outcomes. PMID:26501740

Specific language impairment as a maturational lag: evidence from longitudinal data on language and motor development.

Science.gov (United States)

Bishop, D V; Edmundson, A

1987-08-01

Longitudinal language-test data on 87 language-impaired children assessed at the ages of four, 4 1/2 and 5 1/2 years were converted to age-equivalent scores to compare the rates of development of children who recover from early language delay with those who have more persisting problems. On most measures, over the 18-month period all the children progressed by about 18 months. Thus although children with good and poor outcomes were distinguished in terms of initial level of performance, they did not differ in rate of progress. Speed on a peg-moving task was closely related to language performance. Children who had a good outcome after early language delay had significantly impaired scores at four years, but subsequently were indistinguishable from a control group. Quantitative but not qualitative differences in peg-moving performance were found for children with good and poor outcomes. No association was found between presumptive aetiological factors and language or pegboard performance. These findings are interpreted in terms of a theory which attributes specific language impairment to a maturational lag in neurological development.

On the development of scientific terminology in African languages ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The real development of individual languages and the purposeful cultivation of language pride necessarily accentuate races and ethnical differences, which are contrary to the ideal of nation-building. Consequently, languages are subtly denied acknowledged constitutional rights in practice, which will impact negatively on ...

What pediatricians should know about normal language development: ensuring cultural differences are not diagnosed as disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Weiss, Amy L; Van Haren, Melissa S

2003-07-01

The roles and responsibilities of speech-language pathologists and pediatricians have become greater with the changing population demographics in the United States. In some states, the majority of the population belongs to a national cultural minority, eg, New Mexico. Even a state such as Iowa, with only a 5% nonmajority population, has a school-aged population that is almost 10% nonmajority. This growth of diversity is likely to continue. Rather than viewing sensitivity to the influence of culture on language learning and other developmental areas as an "add-on" to a practice, it may be wiser to recognize that approaching all clients with as few assumptions about their behaviors as possible will guarantee nonbiased service delivery for all. Without nonbiased service delivery, incorrect diagnoses and provision of inappropriate therapy become more likely. Fortunately, many resources are available to assist pediatricians and speech-language pathologists in learning about various cultures. Institutional review boards have become more vigilant about the inclusion of a cross-section of subject populations as participants in research studies in addition to protecting the rights of all participants. Funding agencies also have expressed as a priority the inclusion of research subjects from minority populations to add to the information available about the incidence and prevalence of disorders across the range of our potential patients. In a society in which cultural differences are not just defined by race or ethnicity, but by gender, sexual orientation, age, geographic region, and religion, belief systems about disease, disability, and treatment are dynamic entities for health professionals to take into consideration. It is a challenge that speech-language pathologists and pediatricians must meet if they are to provide the best and most appropriate services for their patients.

Altered functional connectivity of the language network in ASD: Role of classical language areas and cerebellum

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Marjolein Verly

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The development of language, social interaction and communicative skills is remarkably different in the child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD. Atypical brain connectivity has frequently been reported in this patient population. However, the neural correlates underlying their disrupted language development and functioning are still poorly understood. Using resting state fMRI, we investigated the functional connectivity properties of the language network in a group of ASD patients with clear comorbid language impairment (ASD-LI; N = 19 and compared them to the language related connectivity properties of 23 age-matched typically developing children. A verb generation task was used to determine language components commonly active in both groups. Eight joint language components were identified and subsequently used as seeds in a resting state analysis. Interestingly, both the interregional and the seed-based whole brain connectivity analysis showed preserved connectivity between the classical intrahemispheric language centers, Wernicke's and Broca's areas. In contrast however, a marked loss of functional connectivity was found between the right cerebellar region and the supratentorial regulatory language areas. Also, the connectivity between the interhemispheric Broca regions and modulatory control dorsolateral prefrontal region was found to be decreased. This disruption of normal modulatory control and automation function by the cerebellum may underlie the abnormal language function in children with ASD-LI.

The Role of Language in Theory of Mind Development

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de Villiers, Jill G.; de Villiers, Peter A.

2014-01-01

Various arguments are reviewed about the claim that language development is critically connected to the development of theory of mind. The different theories of how language could help in this process of development are explored. A brief account is provided of the controversy over the capacities of infants to read others' false beliefs. Then the…

Foreign language policy and the development of Mandarin Chinese ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This paper discusses the development offoreign language policy in higher educationin the United States (US) and indicates gaps in the study of foreign languages in highereducation in that country. A discussion of current policy, provision, programmes andfunding of foreign languages in higher education are presented, ...

Early bilingualism, language attainment, and brain development.

Science.gov (United States)

Berken, Jonathan A; Gracco, Vincent L; Klein, Denise

2017-04-01

The brain demonstrates a remarkable capacity to undergo structural and functional change in response to experience throughout the lifespan. Evidence suggests that, in many domains of skill acquisition, the manifestation of this neuroplasticity depends on the age at which learning begins. The fact that most skills are acquired late in childhood or in adulthood has proven to be a limitation in studies aimed at determining the relationship between age of acquisition and brain plasticity. Bilingualism, however, provides an optimal model for discerning differences in how the brain wires when a skill is acquired from birth, when the brain circuitry for language is being constructed, versus later in life, when the pathways subserving the first language are already well developed. This review examines some of the existing knowledge about optimal periods in language development, with particular attention to the attainment of native-like phonology. It focuses on the differences in brain structure and function between simultaneous and sequential bilinguals and the compensatory mechanisms employed when bilingualism is achieved later in life, based on evidence from studies using a variety of neuroimaging modalities, including positron emission tomography (PET), task-based and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and structural MRI. The discussion concludes with the presentation of recent neuroimaging studies that explore the concept of nested optimal periods in language development and the different neural paths to language proficiency taken by simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, with extrapolation to general notions of the relationship between age of acquisition and ultimate skill performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Predictors of spoken language development following pediatric cochlear implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Boons, Tinne; Brokx, Jan P L; Dhooge, Ingeborg; Frijns, Johan H M; Peeraer, Louis; Vermeulen, Anneke; Wouters, Jan; van Wieringen, Astrid

2012-01-01

Although deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) are able to develop good language skills, the large variability in outcomes remains a significant concern. The first aim of this study was to evaluate language skills in children with CIs to establish benchmarks. The second aim was to make an estimation of the optimal age at implantation to provide maximal opportunities for the child to achieve good language skills afterward. The third aim was to gain more insight into the causes of variability to set recommendations for optimizing the rehabilitation process of prelingually deaf children with CIs. Receptive and expressive language development of 288 children who received CIs by age five was analyzed in a retrospective multicenter study. Outcome measures were language quotients (LQs) on the Reynell Developmental Language Scales and Schlichting Expressive Language Test at 1, 2, and 3 years after implantation. Independent predictive variables were nine child-related, environmental, and auditory factors. A series of multiple regression analyses determined the amount of variance in expressive and receptive language outcomes attributable to each predictor when controlling for the other variables. Simple linear regressions with age at first fitting and independent samples t tests demonstrated that children implanted before the age of two performed significantly better on all tests than children who were implanted at an older age. The mean LQ was 0.78 with an SD of 0.18. A child with an LQ lower than 0.60 (= 0.78-0.18) within 3 years after implantation was labeled as a weak performer compared with other deaf children implanted before the age of two. Contralateral stimulation with a second CI or a hearing aid and the absence of additional disabilities were related to better language outcomes. The effect of environmental factors, comprising multilingualism, parental involvement, and communication mode increased over time. Three years after implantation, the total multiple

Language and life history: a new perspective on the development and evolution of human language.

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, John L; Bogin, Barry

2006-06-01

It has long been claimed that Homo sapiens is the only species that has language, but only recently has it been recognized that humans also have an unusual pattern of growth and development. Social mammals have two stages of pre-adult development: infancy and juvenility. Humans have two additional prolonged and pronounced life history stages: childhood, an interval of four years extending between infancy and the juvenile period that follows, and adolescence, a stage of about eight years that stretches from juvenility to adulthood. We begin by reviewing the primary biological and linguistic changes occurring in each of the four pre-adult ontogenetic stages in human life history. Then we attempt to trace the evolution of childhood and juvenility in our hominin ancestors. We propose that several different forms of selection applied in infancy and childhood; and that, in adolescence, elaborated vocal behaviors played a role in courtship and intrasexual competition, enhancing fitness and ultimately integrating performative and pragmatic skills with linguistic knowledge in a broad faculty of language. A theoretical consequence of our proposal is that fossil evidence of the uniquely human stages may be used, with other findings, to date the emergence of language. If important aspects of language cannot appear until sexual maturity, as we propose, then a second consequence is that the development of language requires the whole of modern human ontogeny. Our life history model thus offers new ways of investigating, and thinking about, the evolution, development, and ultimately the nature of human language.

Speech and Language Problems in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Children vary in their development of speech and language skills. Health care professionals have lists of milestones ... normal. These milestones help figure out whether a child is on track or if he or she ...

Language policy, translation and language development in Zimbabwe

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The language policy is usually inferred from the language practices that characterise various spheres of life. This article attempts to show how the language policy, which primarily influences text production in the country, has nurtured translation practice. The dominating role of English sees many texts, particularly technical ...

Language to Language: Nurturing Writing Development in Multilingual Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Shagoury, Ruth

2009-01-01

The author spent four years embedded in a multilingual kindergarten classroom in which children spoke six different languages and several more years observing multilingual Head Start classrooms. She shares numerous examples of young dual language learners actively figuring out the way written language works in their first and second languages.…

Early Markers of Vulnerable Language Skill Development in Galactosaemia

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Lewis, Fiona M.; Coman, David J.; Syrmis, Maryanne

2014-01-01

There are no known biomedical or genetic markers to identify which infants with galactosaemia (GAL) are most at risk of poor language skill development, yet pre-linguistic communicative "red flag" behaviours are recognised as early identifiers of heightened vulnerability to impaired language development. We report on pre-linguistic…

RAPID NAMING IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT AND IN CHILDREN WITH TYPICAL LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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Neda MILOSHEVIĆ

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Aimed at the detailed insight into the phonological ability of Serbian-speaking children of preschool age, with and without language impairment, the ability of rapid naming was examined. Method: Operationalization of the set goal was carried out by using the Test for evaluating reading and writing pre-skills. In describing and analyzing the obtained data, methods of descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The sample included 120 subjects of both gender, 40 children diagnosed with specific language impairment (SLI, age from 5,11 to 7 years, and 80 children with typical language development (TLD, age between 5,11 and 7 years, with no statistically significant differences in relation to age and gender of the participants. Results: Summing up the overall results and achievements of children with SLI and children with TLD, we concluded that there are statistically significant differences in the rapid naming between children with specific language impairment and children with typical language development. Conclusions: As it is a global trend to work on preventing disorders and obstructions, and phonological skills in this age are a timely indicator of the development of reading and writing skills, the examined children with SLI are at risk for the occurrence of obstructions and disorders in the area of reading and writing abilities.

Developing a Maori Language Mathematics Lexicon: Challenges for Corpus Planning in Indigenous Language Contexts

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Trinick, Tony; May, Stephen

2013-01-01

Over the last 25 years, there has been significant modernisation and elaboration of the Maori language mathematics lexicon and register to support the teaching of (Western) mathematics as a component of Maori-medium schooling. These developments are situated within the wider Maori language revitalisation movement in Aotearoa/New Zealand, of which…

Cerebellum, Language, and Cognition in Autism and Specific Language Impairment

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Hodge, Steven M.; Makris, Nikos; Kennedy, David N.; Caviness, Verne S., Jr.; Howard, James; McGrath, Lauren; Steele, Shelly; Frazier, Jean A.; Tager-Flusberg, Helen; Harris, Gordon J.

2010-01-01

We performed cerebellum segmentation and parcellation on magnetic resonance images from right-handed boys, aged 6-13 years, including 22 boys with autism [16 with language impairment (ALI)], 9 boys with Specific Language Impairment (SLI), and 11 normal controls. Language-impaired groups had reversed asymmetry relative to unimpaired groups in…

Semantic Richness and Word Learning in Children with Hearing Loss Who Are Developing Spoken Language: A Single Case Design Study

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Lund, Emily; Douglas, W. Michael; Schuele, C. Melanie

2015-01-01

Children with hearing loss who are developing spoken language tend to lag behind children with normal hearing in vocabulary knowledge. Thus, researchers must validate instructional practices that lead to improved vocabulary outcomes for children with hearing loss. The purpose of this study was to investigate how semantic richness of instruction…

Supporting Children's Oral Language Development in the Preschool Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Whorrall, Jennifer; Cabell, Sonia Q.

2016-01-01

Supporting children's oral language development during the preschool years is critical for later reading success. Research shows that preschool teachers may be missing opportunities to engage children in the kinds of conversations that foster the development of rich oral language skills. Teachers hoping to support these skills can provide children…

The Concurrent Development of Spelling Skills in Two Languages

Science.gov (United States)

Joy, Rhonda

2011-01-01

The study reported on in this paper investigated the concurrent development of spelling in children learning two languages. The study compared over time and between languages the types of spelling errors made in English as a first language and French as a second. Fortyseven grade one English-speaking children completed an English and French…

Exploring English-Language Teachers' Professional Development in Developing Countries: Cases from Syria and Pakistan

Science.gov (United States)

Dayoub, Ruba; Bashiruddin, Ayesha

2012-01-01

This paper attempts to present the findings of a study carried out in Pakistan that explored English-language teachers' professional development in developing countries. The main guiding question for the study was: How do English-language teachers at secondary schools learn to teach and develop professionally in Syria and Pakistan? Two cases were…

Evaluating Attributions of Delay and Confusion in Young Bilinguals: Special Insights from Infants Acquiring a Signed and a Spoken Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Petitto, Laura Ann; Holowka, Siobhan

2002-01-01

Examines whether early simultaneous bilingual language exposure causes children to be language delayed or confused. Cites research suggesting normal and parallel linguistic development occurs in each language in young children and young children's dual language developments are similar to monolingual language acquisition. Research on simultaneous…

Examining Transcription, Autonomy and Reflective Practice in Language Development

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Simon D.

2013-01-01

This pilot study explores language development among a class of L2 students who were required to transcribe and reflect upon spoken performances. The class was given tasks for self and peer-evaluation and afforded the opportunity to assume more responsibility for assessing language development of both themselves and their peers. Several studies…

The Elements of Language Curriculum: A Systematic Approach to Program Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, James Dean

A systematic approach to second language curriculum development is outlined, enumerating the phases and activities involved in developing and implementing a sound and effective language program. The first chapter describes a system whereby all language teaching activities can be classified into approaches, syllabuses, techniques, exercises, or…

Textese and use of texting by children with typical language development and Specific Language Impairment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blom, E.; van Dijk, C.; Vasić, N.; van Witteloostuijn, M.; Avrutin, S.

The purpose of this study was to investigate texting and textese, which is the special register used for sending brief text messages, across children with typical development (TD) and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Using elicitation techniques, texting and spoken language messages

Textese and use of texting by children with typical language development and Specific Language Impairment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blom, W.B.T.; van Dijk, Chantal; Vasic, Nada; van Witteloostuijn, Merel; Avrutin, S.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate texting and textese, which is the special register used for sending brief text messages, across children with typical development (TD) and children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Using elicitation techniques, texting and spoken language messages

New Frontiers in Language Evolution and Development.

Science.gov (United States)

Oller, D Kimbrough; Dale, Rick; Griebel, Ulrike

2016-04-01

This article introduces the Special Issue and its focus on research in language evolution with emphasis on theory as well as computational and robotic modeling. A key theme is based on the growth of evolutionary developmental biology or evo-devo. The Special Issue consists of 13 articles organized in two sections: A) Theoretical foundations and B) Modeling and simulation studies. All the papers are interdisciplinary in nature, encompassing work in biological and linguistic foundations for the study of language evolution as well as a variety of computational and robotic modeling efforts shedding light on how language may be developed and may have evolved. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

University Language Policies, Internationalism, Multilingualism, and Language Development in South Africa and the UK

Science.gov (United States)

Balfour, Robert J.

2007-01-01

This paper examines legislation concerning language policy and language choice in the UK and South Africa. In particular an account of the pressures and imperatives to which such policy development must respond is provided. The paper suggests that the comparison between South Africa and the UK is relevant and compelling, not least because both…

Verbal short-term memory development and spoken language outcomes in deaf children with cochlear implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Michael S; Kronenberger, William G; Gao, Sujuan; Hoen, Helena M; Miyamoto, Richard T; Pisoni, David B

2013-01-01

. DSB baseline scores and slopes taken together accounted for an additional 4 to 19% of variance in S/L endpoint measures after controlling for the conventional predictor variables. Verbal STM/WM scores, process measures of information capacity, develop at an average rate in the years after cochlear implantation, but were found to consistently lag in absolute magnitude behind those reported for normal-hearing peers. Baseline verbal STM/WM predicted long-term endpoint S/L outcomes, but verbal STM slopes predicted only endpoint language outcomes. Verbal STM/WM processing skills reflect important underlying core elementary neurocognitive functions and represent potential intervention targets for improving endpoint S/L outcomes in pediatric CI users.

Normal and abnormal aging in bilinguals

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Alfredo Ardila

Full Text Available Abstract Bilinguals use two different language systems to mediate not only social communication, but also cognitive processes. Potential differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in task-solving strategies and patterns of cognitive decline during normal and abnormal aging have been suggested. Main contribution: A research review of the area suggests that normal aging is associated with increased interference between the two languages and tendency to retreat to a single language. General cognitive functioning has been found to be higher in demented bilingual patients if communication is carried out in L1 rather than in L2. Recent research has reported that bilingualism can have a protective effect during aging, attenuating the normal cognitive decline associated with aging, and delaying the onset of dementia. Conclusions: Regardless of the significant heterogeneity of bilingualism and the diversity of patterns in language use during life-span, current research suggests that bilingualism is associated with preserved cognitive test performance during aging, and potentially can have some protective effect in dementia.

The Development of Morbhasa Innovations for Solving Problems in Thai Language Pronunciation

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Siriwan Intrakamhaeng

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This research is aimed to solve the problems of Thai pronunciation by studying the conditions, factors and settings of language therapist (Morbhasa learning activities. The findings are that institutions are driven by different factors when setting learning activities and transmitting Morbhasa innovations. Morbhasa youth projects are aimed at developing leadership in students, particularly those students lacking adequate interpersonal skills. This is the biggest problem because the students have many other activities and burdens that make it difficult for project organizers to arrange schedules. The curriculum is inflexible in accommodating additional subjects, so the teachers have to implement activities after normal class time. They also lack budget, teaching materials, learning media and innovations for motivating students to attend the activities continuously. The teachers lack opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of implementation techniques and there is a lack of working staff and reinforcements. The research finds four methods of setting activities. Eight ways of transmitting the innovations were found: 1 by transmitting among friends; 2 by working together; 3 by working with a sense of beliefs and respect; 4 by creating a variety of activities; 5 by using a peer network; 6 by assignments from leaders; 7 by practicing the learning process; and 8 by integrating the seven strategies. The institutions should select appropriate ways for their own context, readiness and limitations. It is believed that the innovations of the language therapist Morbhasa should be widely transmitted in the educational circle to tackle critical problems of Thai language usage.

Behavior-Based Early Language Development on a Humanoid Robot

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Varshavskaya, Paulina

2002-01-01

We are exploring the idea that early language acquisition could be better modelled on an artificial creature by considering the pragmatic aspect of natural language and of its development in human infants...

There's no language like our language, like no language we know. But how did it evolve?

CERN Multimedia

Wim de Geest

2011-01-01

Every normal child will rapidly acquire the native language to which it is exposed. It will do so with little teaching or coaching. A chimpanzee will fail to do so. Yet, chimpanzees are closer to humans, in genetic and evolutionary terms, than they are to gorillas. The only obvious and important deficit in the ape’s innate intelligence, as compared with man’s, is a missing faculty for using and understanding language. To determine how humans developed this unique capacity for language is the hardest problem in science. It is this problem the talk will address. The approach will be three pronged. In the first part Wim de Geest will attempt to present a couple of innovative insights made possible by the new Evo-Devo and the modern linguistics perspective. In the second part he shall illustrate what is specific for the human faculty of language in its narrow sense. Human linguistic communication is markedly discrete and recursive, to a degree that is obviously absent in other types ...

Dual Language Teachers' Use of Conventional, Environmental, and Personal Resources to Support Academic Language Development

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Lucero, Audrey

2015-01-01

This article reports findings from a study that investigated the ways in which first-grade dual language teachers drew on various resources to instructionally support academic language development among Spanish-English emergent bilingual students. Classroom observations, semistructured interviews, and document collection were conducted over a…

Stimulus-Dominance Effects and Lateral Asymmetries for Language in Normal Subjects and in Patients with a Single Functional Hemisphere

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Di Stefano, Marirosa; Marano, Elena; Viti, Marzia

2004-01-01

The assessment of language laterality by the dichotic fused-words test may be impaired by interference effects revealed by the dominant report of one member of the stimuli-pair. Stimulus-dominance and ear asymmetry were evaluated in normal population (48 subjects of both sex and handedness) and in 2 patients with a single functional hemisphere.…

Attention and Word Learning in Autistic, Language Delayed and Typically Developing Children

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Elena eTenenbaum

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Previous work has demonstrated that patterns of social attention hold predictive value for language development in typically developing infants. The goal of this research was to explore how patterns of attention in autistic, language delayed, and typically developing children relate to early word learning and language abilities. We tracked patterns of eye movements to faces and objects while children watched videos of a woman teaching them a series of new words. Subsequent test trials measured participants’ recognition of these novel word-object pairings. Results indicated that greater attention to the speaker’s mouth was related to higher scores on standardized measures of language development for autistic and typically developing children (but not for language delayed children. This effect was mediated by age for typically developing, but not autistic children. When effects of age were controlled for, attention to the mouth among language delayed participants was negatively correlated with standardized measures of language learning. Attention to the speaker’s mouth and eyes while she was teaching the new words was also predictive of faster recognition of the newly learned words among autistic children. These results suggest that language delays among children with autism may be driven in part by aberrant social attention, and that the mechanisms underlying these delays may differ from those in language delayed participants without autism.

Accelerating Early Language Development with Multi-Sensory Training

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Bjorn, Piia M.; Kakkuri, Irma; Karvonen, Pirkko; Leppanen, Paavo H. T.

2012-01-01

This paper reports the outcome of a multi-sensory intervention on infant language skills. A programme titled "Rhyming Game and Exercise Club", which included kinaesthetic-tactile mother-child rhyming games performed in natural joint attention situations, was intended to accelerate Finnish six- to eight-month-old infants' language development. The…

WAYS OF DEVELOPING PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

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Lyudmyla Gavrilova

2017-04-01

Full Text Available Involvement of future specialists into advanced studying of English as the main language of international communication is a relevant problem of modern higher education in Ukraine. This issue relevance is proved by the country's integration into the European educational environment, changes in strategic directions of higher education development in Ukraine, regulations by Ukrainian Government and the Ministry of Education, in particular, the Decree of the President of Ukraine “On Declaring 2016 the Year of English Language in Ukraine”, “Common European Framework on Language Education”. Essential changes which are now taking place in studying foreign languages, especially English, are also associated with the competency paradigm of education that focuses on achieving certain educational results and orienting scientific research of professional pedagogical education in recent years. An important condition for reformatting process of learning a foreign (English language is monitoring future specialists’ academic achievements in this field, particularly future teachers’ ones. The concept “pedagogical monitoring” is interpreted as a system of measures for collecting and analyzing data to study and evaluate the quality of professional training and to make decisions on further improvement of the educational process. The purpose of the article is to highlight and analyze the results of monitoring the level of English of State higher educational establishment “Donbas State Pedagogical University” students and reveal the ways of improving future teachers` English communicative competence. The monitoring stages are assessing the starting level of foreign (English language of students who are not trained in the field of language-related professions using the tests for A2 level standards of Cambridge Educational Syndicate; reformatting the content of learning English at the university: developing and implementing the course �

The Fifth Milestone in the Development of Chinese Language

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Mateja PETROVČIČ

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Chinese language has changed drastically in the recent century. Papers on the language development mainly stress four big events in the Chinese history that imposed changes in language, i.e. The May Fourth Movement (1919, establishment of the People’s Republic of China (1949, Cultural Revolution (1966, and China’s reform and opening (1978. According to the features of recent neologisms, we suggest that the widening gap between rich and poor should be considered as the fifth milestone for changes in Chinese language.

Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers' Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary.

Science.gov (United States)

Maier, Michelle F; Bohlmann, Natalie L; Palacios, Natalia A

The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's ( N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages.

Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

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Abdul Hameed Panhwar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This paper reviews the literature on Vygotskian theory of Socio-cultural learning and constructivist approach to teaching and learning and attempts to relate the socio-cultural theory to constructivism. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the ways socio-cultural theory helps to develop language pedagogies. Critical analysis of the literature on the socio-cultural theory suggests that the theory has potential for forming new context-oriented language teaching-learning pedagogies which can help teachers in maximising the effectiveness of their teaching and their student’s learning. The review further suggests that the language pedagogies and activities developed from the sociocultural theory of Vygotsky may not only improve students’ language skills, but it also has potential to develop students’ cognition. Since theory promotes more and more communication of students with each other through scaffolding, that is, the Zone of Proximal development (ZPD in Vygotsky’s language. Thus, the theory directly points towards the promotion of student-centred learning by establishing learner autonomy. Keywords: socio-cultural theory, language, constructivism, pedagogies, students

Left Hemisphere Regions Are Critical for Language in the Face of Early Left Focal Brain Injury

Science.gov (United States)

Beharelle, Anjali Raja; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

2010-01-01

A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we…

Simultaneous bilingual language acquisition: The role of parental input on receptive vocabulary development.

Science.gov (United States)

Macleod, Andrea An; Fabiano-Smith, Leah; Boegner-Pagé, Sarah; Fontolliet, Salomé

2013-02-01

Parents often turn to educators and healthcare professionals for advice on how to best support their child's language development. These professionals frequently suggest implementing the 'one-parent-one-language' approach to ensure consistent exposure to both languages. The goal of this study was to understand how language exposure influences the receptive vocabulary development of simultaneous bilingual children. To this end, we targeted nine German-French children growing up in bilingual families. Their exposure to each language within and outside the home was measured, as were their receptive vocabulary abilities in German and French. The results indicate that children are receiving imbalanced exposure to each language. This imbalance is leading to a slowed development of the receptive vocabulary in the minority language, while the majority language is keeping pace with monolingual peers. The one-parent-one-language approach does not appear to support the development of both of the child's languages in the context described in the present study. Bilingual families may need to consider other options for supporting the bilingual language development of their children. As professionals, we need to provide parents with advice that is based on available data and that is flexible with regards to the current and future needs of the child and his family.

What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children.

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Hall, Wyatte C

2017-05-01

A long-standing belief is that sign language interferes with spoken language development in deaf children, despite a chronic lack of evidence supporting this belief. This deserves discussion as poor life outcomes continue to be seen in the deaf population. This commentary synthesizes research outcomes with signing and non-signing children and highlights fully accessible language as a protective factor for healthy development. Brain changes associated with language deprivation may be misrepresented as sign language interfering with spoken language outcomes of cochlear implants. This may lead to professionals and organizations advocating for preventing sign language exposure before implantation and spreading misinformation. The existence of one-time-sensitive-language acquisition window means a strong possibility of permanent brain changes when spoken language is not fully accessible to the deaf child and sign language exposure is delayed, as is often standard practice. There is no empirical evidence for the harm of sign language exposure but there is some evidence for its benefits, and there is growing evidence that lack of language access has negative implications. This includes cognitive delays, mental health difficulties, lower quality of life, higher trauma, and limited health literacy. Claims of cochlear implant- and spoken language-only approaches being more effective than sign language-inclusive approaches are not empirically supported. Cochlear implants are an unreliable standalone first-language intervention for deaf children. Priorities of deaf child development should focus on healthy growth of all developmental domains through a fully-accessible first language foundation such as sign language, rather than auditory deprivation and speech skills.

Aboriginal Language Maintenance, Development, and Enhancement: A Review of Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Burnaby, Barbara

This paper offers a general review of literature relating to the maintenance, development, and enhancement of Aboriginal languages in North America, particularly Canada. Drawing primarily on sociolinguistics, several concepts about language usage and change are outlined that are useful for the purposes of thinking about language maintenance. Next,…

Scholarship and Language Revival: Language Ideologies in Corpus Development for Revived Manx

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lewin Christopher

2017-08-01

Full Text Available In this article the role of different ideological viewpoints concerning corpus development within the Manx revival movement in the second half of the twentieth century is explored. In particular, the work of two prominent figures is examined: the Celtic scholar Robert L. Thomson, who published extensively especially on Manx language and literature, and also contributed to the revival, particularly as editor of several pedagogical resources and as a member of the translation committee Coonceil ny Gaelgey, and Douglas Fargher, a tireless activist and compiler of an English-Manx Dictionary (1979. Broadly speaking, Thomson was of a more preservationist bent, cautious in adapting the native resources of the language and wary of straying too far from attested usage of the traditional language, while Fargher was more radical and open especially to borrowing from Irish and Scottish sources. Both were concerned, in somewhat different ways, to remove perceived impurities or corruptions from the language, and were influenced by the assumptions of existing scholarship. A close reading of the work of these scholar-activists sheds light on the tensions within the revival movement regarding its response to the trauma of language death and the questions of legitimacy and authenticity in the revived variety. Particular space is devoted to an analysis of the preface of Fargher’s dictionary, as well as certain features of the body of the work itself, since this volume is probably the most widely consulted guide to the use of the language today. Finally, it is argued that the Manx language movement today would benefit from a reassessment and discussion of the ideological currents of the past and present, and a judicious evaluation of both the strengths and weaknesses of existing reference works.

Cross-Language Associations in the Development of Preschoolers’ Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary

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Maier, Michelle F.; Bohlmann, Natalie L.; Palacios, Natalia A.

2016-01-01

The increasing population of dual language learners (DLLs) entering preschool classrooms highlights a continued need for research on the development of dual language acquisition, and specifically vocabulary skills, in this age group. This study describes young DLL children's (N = 177) vocabulary development in both English and Spanish simultaneously, and how vocabulary skills in each language relate to one another, during a contextual shift that places greater emphasis on the acquisition of academic English language skills. Findings demonstrated that DLL preschoolers made gains in vocabulary in both languages with more change evidenced in receptive, in comparison to expressive, vocabulary as well as in English in comparison to Spanish. When examining whether children's vocabulary scores in one language at the beginning of preschool interact with their vocabulary scores in the other language to predict vocabulary growth, no significant associations were found for receptive vocabulary. In contrast, the interaction between initial English and Spanish expressive vocabulary scores was negatively related to growth in English expressive vocabulary. This cross-language association suggests that children who have low expressive vocabulary skills in both languages tend to grow faster in their English expressive vocabulary. The study extends previous work on dual language development by examining growth in expressive and receptive vocabulary in both English and Spanish. It also provides suggestions for future work to inform a more comprehensive understanding of DLL children's development in both languages. PMID:26807002

Development of a test and flight engineering oriented language, phase 3

Science.gov (United States)

Kamsler, W. F.; Case, C. W.; Kinney, E. L.; Gyure, J.

1970-01-01

Based on an analysis of previously developed test oriented languages and a study of test language requirements, a high order language was designed to enable test and flight engineers to checkout and operate the proposed space shuttle and other NASA vehicles and experiments. The language is called ALOFT (a language oriented to flight engineering and testing). The language is described, its terminology is compared to similar terms in other test languages, and its features and utilization are discussed. The appendix provides the specifications for ALOFT.

Culture and Early Language Development: Implications for Assessment and Intervention

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Parada, Patricia M.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study--"Culture and Early Language Development: Implications for Assessment and Intervention"--was to explore and describe the perceptions and beliefs of Salvadoran mothers of low socioeconomic status regarding the language development of their young children in order to identify cultural variations in…

Language, Cognitive Flexibility, and Explicit False Belief Understanding: Longitudinal Analysis in Typical Development and Specific Language Impairment

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Farrant, Brad M.; Maybery, Murray T.; Fletcher, Janet

2012-01-01

The hypothesis that language plays a role in theory-of-mind (ToM) development is supported by a number of lines of evidence (e.g., H. Lohmann & M. Tomasello, 2003). The current study sought to further investigate the relations between maternal language input, memory for false sentential complements, cognitive flexibility, and the development of…

Language Development and the Integrationist

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Taylor, Talbot J.

2011-01-01

Despite the growing body of integrationist literature on the study of language and on a wide range of language-related fields of inquiry, there is as yet no integrationist investigation of the field of language acquisition. This paper argues for the need of an integrationist study of what children learn about language and of how they learn it.…

Developing an English Language Textbook Evaluation Checklist

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Mukundan, Jayakaran; Hajimohammadi, Reza; Nimehchisalem, Vahid

2011-01-01

The paper describes the considerations that were taken into account in the development of a tentative English language textbook evaluation checklist. A brief review of the related literature precedes the crucial issues that should be considered in developing checklists. In the light of the previous evaluation checklists the developers created a…

Spoken Spanish Language Development at the High School Level: A Mixed-Methods Study

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Moeller, Aleidine J.; Theiler, Janine

2014-01-01

Communicative approaches to teaching language have emphasized the centrality of oral proficiency in the language acquisition process, but research investigating oral proficiency has been surprisingly limited, yielding an incomplete understanding of spoken language development. This study investigated the development of spoken language at the high…

Physical Development: What's Normal? What's Not?

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... Stages Listen Español Text Size Email Print Share Physical Development: What’s Normal? What’s Not? Page Content Article ... growth . The timing and speed of a child's physical development can vary a lot, because it is ...

PSYCHOLOGY OF CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE TOWARD LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cucu Ardiah Ningrum

2017-05-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to explain how the Cognitive Psychology supports the language development on children. The supporting data was taken from some related books and journals. The data collection is conducted through the proper source collection used for obtaining various information related to the topic. Then the information obtained from many sources was analyzed. The result of the analyses shows that the language acquisition process begins even since infancy period. In this process, the cognitive psychology supported it. In the process of acquiring the language, the children will pass through four steps of Cognitive process namely, sensorimotor stage, pre-operational stage, concrete operation stage, and formal operation stage. The entire stages are related to human’s age. In addition there are some assumptions of children’s cognitive development which are children’s schemas, assimilation, accommodation, and equilibration.

The Development of Metaphorical Language Comprehension in Typical Development and in Williams Syndrome

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Thomas, Michael S. C.; Van Duuren, Mike; Purser, Harry R. M.; Mareschal, Denis; Ansari, Daniel; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2010-01-01

The domain of figurative language comprehension was used to probe the developmental relation between language and cognition in typically developing individuals and individuals with Williams syndrome. Extending the work of Vosniadou and Ortony, the emergence of nonliteral similarity and category knowledge was investigated in 117 typically…

Rapid application development using the Tcl/Tk language

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

van Zeijts, J.

1995-01-01

During the last year, high level applications at CEBAF were written using the Tcl/Tk scripting language. This language is rapidly gaining in popularity, in part due to ease of constructing programs with X11 graphical user interfaces, and in part to ease of adding compiled user code for specialized purposes. Extensions to the language provide object oriented programming, which was used to develop a hierarchy of classes relevant for high level accelerator control. We describe basic language features, some 3rd party add-on packages, and local additions to the toolbox. Next we describe features of the accelerator object hierarchy, and finally describe applications written using this toolbox such as the ModelServer prototype, Slow Orbit and Energy Lock, the Linac Energy Management System, and other applications

Measures of lexical distance between languages

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Petroni, Filippo; Serva, Maurizio

2010-06-01

The idea of measuring distance between languages seems to have its roots in the work of the French explorer Dumont D’Urville (1832) [13]. He collected comparative word lists for various languages during his voyages aboard the Astrolabe from 1826 to 1829 and, in his work concerning the geographical division of the Pacific, he proposed a method for measuring the degree of relation among languages. The method used by modern glottochronology, developed by Morris Swadesh in the 1950s, measures distances from the percentage of shared cognates, which are words with a common historical origin. Recently, we proposed a new automated method which uses the normalized Levenshtein distances among words with the same meaning and averages on the words contained in a list. Recently another group of scholars, Bakker et al. (2009) [8] and Holman et al. (2008) [9], proposed a refined version of our definition including a second normalization. In this paper we compare the information content of our definition with the refined version in order to decide which of the two can be applied with greater success to resolve relationships among languages.

Infant and Newborn Development - Multiple Languages

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... List of All Topics All Infant and Newborn Development - Multiple Languages To use the sharing features on this page, please enable JavaScript. Arabic (العربية) Chinese, Simplified (Mandarin dialect) (简体中文) Chinese, Traditional (Cantonese dialect) ( ...

Language Acquisition and Assessment in Normal and Handicapped Preschool Children: A Review of the Literature. Final Report. Volume II.

Science.gov (United States)

Longhurst, Thomas M.

The second of four documents provides a summary of the scientific literature pertaining to spontaneous language acquisition in handicapped preschool children, and reviews and evaluates procedures for assessing language acquisition in these children. Chapter l focuses on language development in nonhandicapped children after they have acquired their…

Learning about the Literacy Development of English Language Learners in Asynchronous Online Discussions

Science.gov (United States)

De Oliveira, Luciana C.; Olesova, Larisa

2013-01-01

This study examined asynchronous online discussions in the online course "English Language Development" to identify themes related to participants' learning about the language and literacy development of English Language Learners when they facilitated online discussions to determine whether the participants developed sufficient…

Language preference and development of dementia among bilingual individuals.

Science.gov (United States)

McMurtray, Aaron; Saito, Erin; Nakamoto, Beau

2009-10-01

In bilingual individuals, regression to a primary language may be associated with development of cognitive impairment and increased risk for development of dementia. This report describes two bilingual patients who presented with early symptoms of dementia after regression to their primary language. The results of this study may help clinicians identify aging bilingual patients who are beginning to develop cognitive impairment or dementia and suggest that further studies on the long term cognitive effects of bilingualism and interactions with the aging process are indicated.

Language Development of Three- to Twelve-Year-Old Twins Compared to Singletons.

Science.gov (United States)

Dʼhaeseleer, Evelien; Geenens, Eline; Parmentier, Sarah; Corthals, Paul; Van Lierde, Kristiane

2016-01-01

The language development of twins tends to lag behind in comparison to that of singletons. The purpose of this study was to compare expressive and receptive language skills of 3- to 12-year-old twins with singletons. Secondly, correlations between language differences between twins and singletons and age were investigated. Twenty-four twins with a mean age of 5.1 years participated in the study. The control group consisted of 24 singletons who were matched for gender and age. Language development was investigated using the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. Twins scored significantly lower for expressive and receptive language skills compared to singletons. Even when excluding preterm-born children, twins still scored significantly lower for expressive language skills. There was no correlation between age and language differences between twins and their matched singletons. Twins score lower for expressive and receptive language skills compared to singletons, and preterm birth cannot be regarded as the main cause for the language delay. The language delay in twins is rather mild but does not seem to decrease with increasing age. © 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia--Parallel Development of Language Siblings.

Science.gov (United States)

Bostock, William

1994-01-01

Discusses the historical development of Bahasa Indonesia, the official language of the Republic of Indonesia, and Bahasa Malaysia, the official language of the Federation of Malaysia. (30 references) (Author/CK)

A pilot study of language facilitation for bilingual, language-handicapped children: theoretical and intervention implications.

Science.gov (United States)

Perozzi, J A

1985-11-01

Three Spanish-speaking (SS) and 3 English-Speaking (ES) preschool children served as subjects. One SS subject was diagnosed as having mild language delay, 1 as being language disordered, and 1 as having normal language. One ES subject was diagnosed as having mild language delay and 2 as having normal language. A within-subject design wherein Condition A consisted of teaching receptive vocabulary in L1 (native language) followed by L2 (second language) and Condition B consisted of teaching receptive vocabulary in L2 followed by L1 was utilized. The sequence of conditions was ABBA for each subject. Analysis of each subject's trials to criterion for L2 in each condition indicated a strong tendency for recently learned receptive vocabulary in L1 to facilitate the learning of receptive vocabulary in L2. The results are interpreted as support for the practice of initial language intervention in L1 when bilingualism is a goal and for transference/facilitation theories of L2 learning.

The acquisition of nouns in children with Specific Language Impairment

OpenAIRE

Krzemien, Magali; Thibaut, Jean-Pierre; Zghonda, Hela; Maillart, Christelle

2017-01-01

Specific Language Impairment (SLI) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the language development of children with a normal nonverbal intelligence and no history of neurological disorder nor auditory deficit (Leonard, 2014). A difficulty linked to SLI is the poor language productivity and the input dependency that children display compared with their peers: they tend to use a limited variety of verbal forms compared to younger siblings (Conti-Ramsden & Jones, 1997) and use a high prop...

Language Development in Context: A Longitudinal Study of Typically-Developing Children and Children with ASD

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fusaroli, Riccardo; Weed, Ethan; Fein, Deborah

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display distinctive language development trajectories (Tek et al., 2013). Because language-learning is a social endeavor, these trajectories could be partially grounded in the dynamics that characterize the children's social and lingu......Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display distinctive language development trajectories (Tek et al., 2013). Because language-learning is a social endeavor, these trajectories could be partially grounded in the dynamics that characterize the children's social...... and linguistic interactions (Waurlamont et al., 2014). Objectives: We investigate language development trajectories and interpersonal linguistic adaptation over time in a longitudinal corpus of parent-child interactions. Methods: Participants included 66 children, 33 with ASD (MA=33 months at visit 1) and 33 TD...... (linear β: -160, -39; quadratic: 22.92, 5.32), group (β: 332, 100.16), severity (β: -27, -8) and Mullen (β: -6, -1.6). Time significantly interacts with Mullen scores (linear β: 7.4, 1.92; quadratic β: -0.84, -0.2). Children with ASD showed shallower trajectories; higher Mullen scores were associated...

First steps toward developing tools for language assessment in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The development of language and communication skills in young children is directly related to future academic success. Young children who are at risk for language impairment should, therefore, be identified as early as possible. Multilingualism, which has become a universal phenomenon, may mask the presence of ...

Predictors of Spoken Language Development Following Pediatric Cochlear Implantation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Johan Frijns; prof. Dr. Louis Peeraer; van Wieringen; Ingeborg Dhooge; Vermeulen; Jan Brokx; Tinne Boons; Wouters

2012-01-01

Objectives: Although deaf children with cochlear implants (CIs) are able to develop good language skills, the large variability in outcomes remains a significant concern. The first aim of this study was to evaluate language skills in children with CIs to establish benchmarks. The second aim was to

Developing user-centered concepts for language learning video games

OpenAIRE

Poels, Yorick; Annema, Jan Henk; Zaman, Bieke; Cornillie, Frederik

2012-01-01

This paper will report on an ongoing project which aims to develop video games for language learning through a user-centered and evidence-based approach. Therefore, codesign sessions were held with adolescents between 14 and 16 years old, in order to gain insight into their preferences for educational games for language learning. During these sessions, 11 concepts for video games were developed. We noticed a divide between the concepts for games that were oriented towa...

Language production and interpretation linguistics meets cognition

CERN Document Server

Zeevat, Henk

2014-01-01

A model of production and interpretation of natural language utterances is developed which explains why communication is normally fast and successful. Interpretation is taken to be analogous with visual perception in finding the most probable hypothesis that explains the utterance.

Supporting Academic Language Development in Elementary Science: A Classroom Teaching Experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Karl Gerhard

Academic language is the language that students must engage in while participating in the teaching and learning that takes place in school (Schleppegrell, 2012) and science as a content area presents specific challenges and opportunities for students to engage with language (Buxton & Lee, 2014; Gee, 2005). In order for students to engage authentically and fully in the science learning that will take place in their classrooms, it is important that they develop their abilities to use science academic language (National Research Council, 2012). For this to occur, teachers must provide support to their students in developing the science academic language they will encounter in their classrooms. Unfortunately, this type of support remains a challenge for many teachers (Baecher, Farnsworth, & Ediger, 2014; Bigelow, 2010; Fisher & Frey, 2010) and teachers must receive professional development that supports their abilities to provide instruction that supports and scaffolds students' science academic language use and development. This study investigates an elementary science teacher's engagement in an instructional coaching partnership to explore how that teacher planned and implemented scaffolds for science academic language. Using a theoretical framework that combines the literature on scaffolding (Bunch, Walqui, & Kibler, 2015; Gibbons, 2015; Sharpe, 2001/2006) and instructional coaching (Knight, 2007/2009), this study sought to understand how an elementary science teacher plans and implements scaffolds for science academic language, and the resources that assisted the teacher in planning those scaffolds. The overarching goal of this work is to understand how elementary science teachers can scaffold language in their classroom, and how they can be supported in that work. Using a classroom teaching experiment methodology (Cobb, 2000) and constructivist grounded theory methods (Charmaz, 2014) for analysis, this study examined coaching conversations and classroom

Tendências da aquisição lexical em crianças em desenvolvimento normal e crianças com Alterações Específicas no Desenvolvimento da Linguagem Trends on lexical acquisition in children within normal development and children with developmental language disorder

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juliana Perina Gândara

2010-01-01

Full Text Available O objetivo do presente estudo foi descrever as semelhanças e diferenças encontradas ao longo da aquisição lexical por crianças em desenvolvimento normal e crianças com Alterações Específicas no Desenvolvimento da Linguagem (AEDL, por meio de um amplo levantamento bibliográfico em bases de dados (SciELO, Lilacs, PubMed, Web of Science, Dedalus, que abrangeu as últimas décadas de estudos na área. Os estudos selecionados, de natureza observacional ou experimental, mostraram grande variedade de achados relacionados ao desenvolvimento do vocabulário, abrangendo as tendências e variações e também outras habilidades envolvidas no processo de aquisição lexical. De maneira geral, os resultados sugerem que as alterações lexicais que constituem um dos marcos inicialmente observados em crianças com AEDL são justificadas por dificuldades observadas em habilidades e/ou características influenciadas ou diretamente relacionadas aos mecanismos envolvidos no processamento da informação, que comprometem a qualidade e a recuperação das representações fonológicas e semânticas correspondentes a um novo item lexical. Entretanto, vários estudos sugerem que situações ostensivas e de grande suporte contextual que enfoquem poucas novas palavras favorecem a aquisição lexical de crianças com AEDL.The aim of the present study was to describe the similarities and differences found throughout lexical acquisition between normally developing children and children with developmental language disorder through an extensive literature review. The search was carried out in the databases SciELO, Lilacs, PubMed, Web of Science and Dedalus, and covered the last decades of studies in the area. The selected studies, of observational or experimental nature, showed great variability of findings related to vocabulary development, describing tendencies and variations, and also other abilities enrolled in the lexical acquisition process. Generally, the

Theory and Praxis in Community Based Language Development: preliminary findings from applications of the Guide for Planning the Future of Our Language

OpenAIRE

Eberhard David M.

2017-01-01

This study will provide a critique of preliminary results obtained from the application of the ‘Guide for Planning the Future of Our Language’ (Hanawalt, Varenkamp, Lahn, & Eberhard 2015) in minority speech communities. This recent methodological tool was developed to enable and empower minoritized language groups to do their own language planning and to control their own language development. The tool is based on a theoretical approach to community based language development known as the ‘Su...

25 CFR 39.133 - Who decides how Language Development funds can be used?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Who decides how Language Development funds can be used... INDIAN SCHOOL EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Indian School Equalization Formula Language Development Programs § 39.133 Who decides how Language Development funds can be used? Tribal governing bodies or local school...

25 CFR 39.130 - Can ISEF funds be used for Language Development Programs?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... INDIAN SCHOOL EQUALIZATION PROGRAM Indian School Equalization Formula Language Development Programs § 39.130 Can ISEF funds be used for Language Development Programs? Yes, schools can use ISEF funds to... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can ISEF funds be used for Language Development Programs...

Language Teachers' Target Language Project: Language for Specific Purposes of Language Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Korenev, Alexey; Westbrook, Carolyn; Merry, Yvonne; Ershova, Tatiana

2016-01-01

The Language Teachers' Target Language project (LTTL) aims to describe language teachers' target language use domain (Bachman & Palmer 2010) and to develop a language test for future teachers of English. The team comprises four researchers from Moscow State University (MSU) and Southampton Solent University.

Bimodal Bilingual Language Development of Hearing Children of Deaf Parents

Science.gov (United States)

Hofmann, Kristin; Chilla, Solveig

2015-01-01

Adopting a bimodal bilingual language acquisition model, this qualitative case study is the first in Germany to investigate the spoken and sign language development of hearing children of deaf adults (codas). The spoken language competence of six codas within the age range of 3;10 to 6;4 is assessed by a series of standardised tests (SETK 3-5,…

From Language Learner to Language User in English-Medium Higher Education: Language Development Brokers outside the Language Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Blaj-Ward, Lia

2017-01-01

This article explores, from within the social constructivist paradigm and drawing on data from twenty-one semi-structured interviews with international postgraduate university students approaching the end of a one-year full-time taught Masters degree in the UK, the range of language development brokers that have had an impact on these students'…

Infant Language Development Is Related to the Acquisition of Walking

Science.gov (United States)

Walle, Eric A.; Campos, Joseph J.

2014-01-01

The present investigation explored the question of whether walking onset is related to infant language development. Study 1 used a longitudinal design (N = 44) to assess infant locomotor and language development every 2 weeks from 10 to 13.5 months of age. The acquisition of walking was associated with a significant increase in both receptive and…

Programming language concepts for software developers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sestoft, Peter

2008-01-01

This note describes and motivates our current plans for an undergraduate course on programming language concepts for software development students. We describe the competences we expect students to acquire as well as the topics covered by the course. We plan to use C# and Scheme as instruction...

Language and reading development in the brain today: neuromarkers and the case for prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

Buchweitz, Augusto

2016-01-01

The goal of this article is to provide an account of language development in the brain using the new information about brain function gleaned from cognitive neuroscience. This account goes beyond describing the association between language and specific brain areas to advocate the possibility of predicting language outcomes using brain-imaging data. The goal is to address the current evidence about language development in the brain and prediction of language outcomes. Recent studies will be discussed in the light of the evidence generated for predicting language outcomes and using new methods of analysis of brain data. The present account of brain behavior will address: (1) the development of a hardwired brain circuit for spoken language; (2) the neural adaptation that follows reading instruction and fosters the "grafting" of visual processing areas of the brain onto the hardwired circuit of spoken language; and (3) the prediction of language development and the possibility of translational neuroscience. Brain imaging has allowed for the identification of neural indices (neuromarkers) that reflect typical and atypical language development; the possibility of predicting risk for language disorders has emerged. A mandate to develop a bridge between neuroscience and health and cognition-related outcomes may pave the way for translational neuroscience. Copyright © 2016 Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

The effectiveness of a mixed methodology implemented in a Beginner’s Spanish Course to develop the four language skills: a quasi-experimental study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kerwin Anthony Livingstone

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Normal 0 21 false false false ES X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 This present article seeks to provide a mixed methodological model for the development and implementation of a Teaching Module for Spanish as a Foreign Language in the face-to-face environment. The primary objective is to portray how methodological principles from different language teaching approaches (such as task based language teaching and cooperative learning can be combined effectively in designing activities for face-to-face contexts. In this regard, empirical evidence is analysed in order to determine the effectiveness of the mixed methodology in the teaching-learning of Spanish as a Foreign Language in the said settings, in a study based on a longitudinal experimental design with pre-test and post-test, but without control group. The results show an increase in the acquisition of specific knowledge in Spanish as a Foreign Language. It is therefore proposed that mixed methodological models be integrated and implemented when designing Teaching Modules for Language Learning, since they are the most suited for Second and Foreign Language Acquisition.

DEVELOPING LISTENING SKILLS FOR IMPROVING FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iryna Lobachova

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of developing listening skills for improving foreign language communicative competence. The practical value of using an authentic foreign language text at a foreign language lesson is determined. The ways of the use of the English language recordings in the educational process of students are outlined. It is found out that tracks with foreign information should be used only in the certain methodical situations. Multimedia helps effectively a teacher to achieve outlined objectives of improving foreign language communicative competence for multiple repetition of a speech model for making permanent listening item of language units. The basic stages of work with foreign language recordings are determined: teaching a foreign language listening (teaching to listen and understand the foreign language track means to overcome the methodological difficulties that require a certain amount of time and special training. This is explained by the fact that there are lots of difficulties on the way of understanding a foreign language: an unusual speed of speech, presence of unknown vocabulary, specific rhythms and melody; teaching a foreign language speech with the special models pronounced by foreign speakers (teaching students to practical mastery of a foreign language is intrinsically linked with involvement into the educational process of original English tracks, those are made by highly skilled experts (foreign speakers; learning a new vocabulary due to a dialogue, an extract of a play or a conversation, songs, prose and poetry (it is noted that the students’ interest of learning foreign language songs and poems is extremely high, and it primarily promotes strong learning; analysing the recorded students’ speech (fixing student’s speech and analysing their mistakes is very important at any stage of learning a foreign language for self-control and self-correction.

Speech and language development in cognitively delayed children with cochlear implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Holt, Rachael Frush; Kirk, Karen Iler

2005-04-01

The primary goals of this investigation were to examine the speech and language development of deaf children with cochlear implants and mild cognitive delay and to compare their gains with those of children with cochlear implants who do not have this additional impairment. We retrospectively examined the speech and language development of 69 children with pre-lingual deafness. The experimental group consisted of 19 children with cognitive delays and no other disabilities (mean age at implantation = 38 months). The control group consisted of 50 children who did not have cognitive delays or any other identified disability. The control group was stratified by primary communication mode: half used total communication (mean age at implantation = 32 months) and the other half used oral communication (mean age at implantation = 26 months). Children were tested on a variety of standard speech and language measures and one test of auditory skill development at 6-month intervals. The results from each test were collapsed from blocks of two consecutive 6-month intervals to calculate group mean scores before implantation and at 1-year intervals after implantation. The children with cognitive delays and those without such delays demonstrated significant improvement in their speech and language skills over time on every test administered. Children with cognitive delays had significantly lower scores than typically developing children on two of the three measures of receptive and expressive language and had significantly slower rates of auditory-only sentence recognition development. Finally, there were no significant group differences in auditory skill development based on parental reports or in auditory-only or multimodal word recognition. The results suggest that deaf children with mild cognitive impairments benefit from cochlear implantation. Specifically, improvements are evident in their ability to perceive speech and in their reception and use of language. However, it may

Case Study of Teen Mothers' Perceptions of Their Influence on Preschoolers' Language Development

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Duncan, Mary

2016-01-01

Children born to teen mothers tend to score lower on language development assessments and to have school readiness delays. To support teen mothers and their children in improving language development, educators need information about mothers' daily interactions with their children and how they contribute to their children's language development.…

Chaos, Poverty, and Parenting: Predictors of Early Language Development

Science.gov (United States)

Vernon-Feagans, Lynne; Garrett-Peters, Patricia; Willoughby, Michael; Mills-Koonce, Roger

2012-01-01

Studies have shown that distal family risk factors like poverty and maternal education are strongly related to children's early language development. Yet, few studies have examined these risk factors in combination with more proximal day-to-day experiences of children that might be critical to understanding variation in early language. Young…

Working memory, phonological awareness, and developing language skills

OpenAIRE

Engel de Abreu, Pascale; Gathercole, S

2008-01-01

The relationship between working memory, verbal short-term memory, phonological awareness, and developing language skills was explored longitudinally in children growing up in a multilingual society. A sample of 121 children from Luxembourg were followed from the end of Kindergarten to 1st Grade, and completed multiple assessments of verbal short-term memory, complex working memory, phonological awareness, native and foreign vocabulary knowledge, language comprehension, and reading. Resu...

Sex hormones in early infancy seem to predict aspects of later language development.

Science.gov (United States)

Schaadt, Gesa; Hesse, Volker; Friederici, Angela D

2015-02-01

Sex differences in the development of cognitive behavior such as language have long been of great research interest. Lately, researchers have started to associate language function and brain differences with diverse sex hormones (e.g., testosterone/estradiol). However, results concerning the impact of early postnatal sex hormone concentration on the child's later language development are rare. Here, we analyze the impact of testosterone and estradiol in girls and boys as well as their neurophysiological phonemic discrimination at age 5months on language development at age 4years. Interestingly, we found strong positive estradiol and negative testosterone impact on later language performance at age 4years, which was true for both girls and boys. These results demonstrate that postnatal sex hormone surge might be viewed as one factor determining later language development, independent of gender. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Vocabulary Development in European Portuguese: A Replication Study Using the Language Development Survey

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Rescorla, Leslie; Nyame, Josephine; Dias, Pedro

2016-01-01

Purpose: Our objective was to replicate previous cross­linguistic findings by comparing Portuguese and U.S. children with respect to (a) effects of language, gender, and age on vocabulary size; (b) lexical composition; and (c) late talking. Method: We used the Language Development Survey (LDS; Rescorla, 1989) with children (18-35 months) learning…

Working memory and sentence comprehension of Hong Kong Chinese children with specific language impairment.

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Siu, Elaine; Man, David W K

2006-09-01

Children with Specific Language Impairment present with delayed language development, but do not have a history of hearing impairment, mental deficiency, or associated social or behavioral problems. Non-word repetition was suggested as an index to reflect the capacity of phonological working memory. There is a paucity of such studies among Hong Kong Chinese children. This preliminary study aimed to examine the relationship between phonological working memory and Specific Language Impairment, through the processes of non-word repetition and sentence comprehension, of children with Specific Language Impairment and pre-school children with normal language development. Both groups of children were screened by a standardized language test. A list of Cantonese (the commonest dialect used in Hong Kong) multisyllabic nonsense utterances and a set of 18 sentences were developed for this study. t-tests and Pearson correlation were used to study the relationship between non-word repetition, working memory and specific language impairment. Twenty-three pre-school children with Specific Language Impairment (mean age = 68.30 months; SD = 6.90) and another 23 pre-school children (mean age = 67.30 months; SD = 6.16) participated in the study. Significant difference performance was found between the Specific Language Impairment group and normal language group in the multisyllabic nonsense utterances repetition task and the sentence comprehension task. Length effect was noted in Specific Language Impairment group children, which is consistent with the findings of other literature. In addition, correlations were also observed between the number of nonsense utterances repeated and the number of elements comprehended. Cantonese multisyllabic nonsense utterances might be worth further developing as a screening tool for the early detection of children with Specific Language Impairment.

Language in education and language development in Zimbabwe ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This article analyses the language in education policy of Zimbabwe. It attempts to highlight the factors that informed the formulation of this policy, as well as the challenges and constraints that have affected its implementation. The country's language in education policy can be traced back to the colonial history of the country, ...

[Early development of language in small children with autism spectrum disorder using alternative systems].

Science.gov (United States)

Fortea-Sevilla, M Sol; Escandell-Bermúdez, M Olga; Castro-Sánchez, José Juan; Martos-Pérez, Juan

2015-02-25

The latest research findings show the importance of early intervention in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in all areas of development, including language. The use of augmentative and alternative communication systems (AACS) favors linguistic and communicative development. To show the effectiveness of AACS to develop oral language in non-verbal toddlers diagnosed with ASD. Thirty children (25 males and 5 females) diagnosed with ASD when they were between 18 and 30 months of age, through the instruments ADOS and ADIR. None of them displayed oral language development at the time of assessment. An intervention program in the area of language was designed based on the use of total communication by the therapist and training the child in the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS). One year later, the formal aspects of language were assessed with the PLON-R because oral language had been developed. All the children had developed oral language to some extent over a one-year period. Early intervention and the use of AACS with visual props favor the development of oral language in children with ASD in the first years of life.

Enhancing English Learners' Language Development Using Wordless Picture Books

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Louie, Belinda; Sierschynski, Jarek

2015-01-01

This article presents an approach to use wordless picture books to enhance the language development of English language learners. This approach is grounded in best practices to teach ELLs. The process starts with viewing and analyzing the visual images, engaging ELLs in discussion, and ending with students' self-authored texts. The wordless…

Longitudinal adaptation in language development: a study of typically-developing children and children with ASD

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weed, Ethan; Fusaroli, Riccardo; Fein, Deborah

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display distinctive language development trajectories (Tek et al., 2013). Because language-learning is a social endeavor, these trajectories could be partially grounded in the dynamics that characterize the children's social and lingu......Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often display distinctive language development trajectories (Tek et al., 2013). Because language-learning is a social endeavor, these trajectories could be partially grounded in the dynamics that characterize the children's social......’s previous behavior. In this study, we tested this model of mutual influence in a longitudinal corpus (6 visits over 2 years), consisting of 30 minutes of controlled playful activities between parents and 66 children (33 ASD and 33 matched typically developing (TD), Goodwin et al. 2012). Methods: We first.......Results:Developmental trajectories: Our models described the developmental trajectories (0.3 ASD (β: from -1.14 to -0.86), with an interaction between the two (children with ASD showed shallower trajectories, β: -2.43 to -1...

The Development of Language and Reading Skills in the Second and Third Languages of Multilingual Children in French Immersion

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Berube, Daniel; Marinova-Todd, Stefka H.

2012-01-01

The relationship between first language (L1) typology, defined as the classification of languages according to their structural characteristics (e.g. phonological systems and writing systems), and the development of second (L2) and third (L3) language skills and literacy proficiency in multilingual children was investigated in this study. The…

The Impact of the English Language on the Development of African ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The predominance and relegation of the English and Igbo Languages in discourse respectively have been speculated with a paucity of empirical backup. The need arises therefore for a quantitative assessment of the Impact of the English Language on the development of values (language, dressing and religion) among the ...

Hormonal influence on language development in physically advanced children.

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McCardle, P; Wilson, B E

1990-04-01

Sex differences in language performance have long been noted, with females more verbal and males superior in visual-spatial tasks. Two theories seek to explain the differences in language function. Waber (1976, Science, 193, 572-574) suggests that these sex differences are secondary to differences in bilateral language function related to the faster maturation rate in girls. Geschwind and Galaburda (1985, Archives of Neurology, 42,(I), 428-459; (II), 521-552; (III), 634-654) on the other hand posit an intimate interrelationship of sex hormones, the immune system, and laterality as influencing the ultimate asymmetry of the nervous system, which in turn could account for such differences. In the present study, language function was examined in patients with accelerated maturation caused by conditions with sex hormone elevation (idiopathic precocious puberty and congenital adrenal hyperplasia). The degree of maturational advancement was similar between the two groups. However, significant language performance differences were noted between androgen- vs. estrogen-exposed patients, regardless of genetic sex or diagnosis of the patient, indicating a hormonal effect on language development over time. These data support Geschwind and Galaburda's multifactorial theory for the origin of sex differences in language performance, and argue against Waber's maturational hypothesis.

The Lexicon of Development: A Quantitative History of the Language of Development Studies

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Christopher David ABSELL

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to examine the history of the language of development theory in order to elucidate the nature of its terminology. The history of the principal terms of development theory (economic/sustainable/human development, Third World, and North/(Global South is examined by way of a quantitative study of the frequency of the usage of these terms during the 20th century based on a dataset of millions of digitised books made available by Google Books. The author argues that the results of the study provide empirical evidence that the language of development theory is a historical-ideological construction which is embedded in the structure of the world economy.

Sit to Talk: Relation between Motor Skills and Language Development in Infancy.

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Libertus, Klaus; Violi, Dominic A

2016-01-01

Relations between walking skills and language development have been reported in 10- to 14-month-old infants. However, whether earlier emerging motor milestones also affect language skills remains unknown. The current research fills this gap by examining the relation between reaching and sitting skills and later language development, respectively. Reaching and sitting were assessed eight times, starting when infants (N = 29) were around 3 months of age. All assessments were completed and recorded remotely via videoconference using Skype or FaceTime. Subsequently, infants' language and motor skills were assessed via parent questionnaires (Communicative Development Inventories and Early Motor Questionnaire) at 10 and 14 months of age. Results revealed a significant correlation between the emergence of sitting skills and receptive vocabulary size at 10 and 14 months of age. Regression analyses further confirmed this pattern and revealed that the emergence of sitting is a significant predictor of subsequent language development above and beyond influences of concurrent motor skills. These findings suggest that the onset of independent sitting may initiate a developmental cascade that results in increased language learning opportunities. Further, this study also demonstrates how infants' early motor skills can be assessed remotely using videoconference.

Sit to talk: Relation between motor skills and language development in infancy

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Klaus eLibertus

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Relations between walking skills and language development have been reported in 10- to 14-month-old infants. However, whether earlier emerging motor milestones also affect language skills remains unknown. The current research fills this gap by examining the relation between reaching and sitting skills and later language development respectively. Reaching and sitting were assessed eight times, starting when infants (N=29 were around three months of age. All assessments were completed and recorded remotely via videoconference using Skype or FaceTime. Subsequently, infants’ language and motor skills were assessed via parent questionnaires (Communicative Development Inventories and Early Motor Questionnaire at 10 and 14 months of age. Results revealed a significant correlation between the emergence of sitting skills and receptive vocabulary size at 10 and 14 months of age. Regression analyses further confirmed this pattern and revealed that the emergence of sitting is a significant predictor of subsequent language development above and beyond influences of concurrent motor skills. These findings suggest that the onset of independent sitting may initiate a developmental cascade that results in increased language learning opportunities. Further, this study also demonstrates how infants’ early motor skills can be assessed remotely using videoconference.

[Psychomotor development and its disorders: between normal and pathological development].

Science.gov (United States)

Vericat, Agustina; Bibiana Orden, Alicia

2013-10-01

This article discusses some aspects of psychomotor development and its disorders, with special emphasis on psychomotor retardation. Diagnostic classifications of psychomotor problems, such as DSM-IV and CIE-10, are referred to and their advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. The concept of normality as a synonym for the statistical mean in the context of psychomotor disorders is also analyzed in order to consider its dynamic and variability, thereby avoiding the normality/pathology opposition, while some issues, such as the social and cultural aspects, are highlighted, making it possible to rethink the universality and relativity of psychomotor development.

Minority Language Researchers and Their Role in Policy Development

Science.gov (United States)

Gorter, Durk

2012-01-01

This paper deals with the role of researchers in the development of language policies for European minority languages. This question is placed in the context of a long-standing debate in sociology to which several authors have contributed; among them are Max Weber, Howard Becker and Alvin Gouldner. This article also briefly refers to the European…

Language Development in Preschool-Age Children Adopted from China.

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Roberts, Jenny A.; Pollock, Karen E.; Krakow, Rena; Price, Johanna; Fulmer, Kathleen C.; Wang, Paul P.

2005-01-01

This study examined the language development of 55 preschool-age children adopted from China who had resided in their permanent homes for approximately 2 years or longer. Slightly over 5% of the children scored below average on 2 or more measures from a battery of standardized speech-language tests normed on monolingual English speakers. However,…

Precursors to Language Development in Typically and Atypically Developing Infants and Toddlers: The Importance of Embracing Complexity

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D'Souza, Dean; D'Souza, Hana; Karmiloff-Smith, Annette

2017-01-01

In order to understand how language abilities emerge in typically and atypically developing infants and toddlers, it is important to embrace complexity in development. In this paper, we describe evidence that early language development is an experience-dependent process, shaped by diverse, interconnected, interdependent developmental mechanisms,…

Language Patterns Discriminate Mild Depression From Normal Sadness and Euthymic State

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Daria Smirnova

2018-04-01

Full Text Available ObjectivesDeviations from typical word use have been previously reported in clinical depression, but language patterns of mild depression (MD, as distinct from normal sadness (NS and euthymic state, are unknown. In this study, we aimed to apply the linguistic approach as an additional diagnostic key for understanding clinical variability along the continuum of affective states.MethodsWe studied 402 written reports from 124 Russian-speaking patients and 77 healthy controls (HC, including 35 cases of NS, using hand-coding procedures. The focus of our psycholinguistic methods was on lexico-semantic [e.g., rhetorical figures (metaphors, similes], syntactic [e.g., predominant sentence type (single-clause and multi-clause], and lexico-grammatical [e.g., pronouns (indefinite, personal] variables. Statistical evaluations included Cohen’s kappa for inter-rater reliability measures, a non-parametric approach (Mann–Whitney U-test and Pearson chi-square test, one-way ANOVA for between-group differences, Spearman’s and point-biserial correlations to analyze relationships between linguistic and gender variables, discriminant analysis (Wilks’ λ of linguistic variables in relation to the affective diagnostic types, all using SPSS-22 (significant, p < 0.05.ResultsIn MD, as compared with healthy individuals, written responses were longer, demonstrated descriptive rather than analytic style, showed signs of spoken and figurative language, single-clause sentences domination over multi-clause, atypical word order, increased use of personal and indefinite pronouns, and verb use in continuous/imperfective and past tenses. In NS, as compared with HC, we found greater use of lexical repetitions, omission of words, and verbs in continuous and present tenses. MD was significantly differentiated from NS and euthymic state by linguistic variables [98.6%; Wilks’ λ(40 = 0.009; p < 0.001; r = 0.992]. The highest predictors in discrimination between

Predicting behavior problems in deaf and hearing children: the influences of language, attention, and parent-child communication.

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, David H; Quittner, Alexandra L; Fink, Nancy E; Eisenberg, Laurie S; Tobey, Emily A; Niparko, John K

2009-01-01

The development of language and communication may play an important role in the emergence of behavioral problems in young children, but they are rarely included in predictive models of behavioral development. In this study, cross-sectional relationships between language, attention, and behavior problems were examined using parent report, videotaped observations, and performance measures in a sample of 116 severely and profoundly deaf and 69 normally hearing children ages 1.5 to 5 years. Secondary analyses were performed on data collected as part of the Childhood Development After Cochlear Implantation Study, funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hearing-impaired children showed more language, attention, and behavioral difficulties, and spent less time communicating with their parents than normally hearing children. Structural equation modeling indicated there were significant relationships between language, attention, and child behavior problems. Language was associated with behavior problems both directly and indirectly through effects on attention. Amount of parent-child communication was not related to behavior problems.

A Trilogy of Philosophy, Language and National Development ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Against this broad canvass of national development, it is argued that man is the centre-piece of national development and, since the humanities play a leading role in the cultivation of man, no national development paradigm can be conceived and executed without the humanities, especially philosophy and language, ...

Expressive Language Development in 45 Cochlear Implanted Children Following 2 Years of Implantation

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Seyed Basir Hashemi

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Objectives: Profound hearing loss encounters children with delay in speech and language. As it is known language acquisition in young deaf children is a lengthy process, but cochlear implanted children have better spoken language skills than if they had not received the device. According to the importance of cochlear implant in deaf child's language development, this study evaluates the effect of different variables on child's language performance. Methods: 45 cochlear implanted children were tested, all of whom had used the device for at least 2 years. In order to evaluate the children, the NEWSHA test which is fitted for Persian speaking children was performed and language development of the children was compared through stepwise discriminant analysis. Results: After evaluation of the effect of different variables like child's age of implantation, participating in rehabilitation classes, parent's cooperation and their level of education, we came to a conclusion that the child's age of implantation and rehabilitation program significantly develop the child's language performance. Discussion: The value of cochlear implant in improvement of deaf children in speech, language perception, production and comprehension is confirmed by different studies which have been done on cochlear implanted children. Also, the present study indicates that language development in cochlear implanted children is highly related to their age of implantation and rehabilitation program.

Towards a Sign Language Synthesizer: a Bridge to Communication Gap of the Hearing/Speech Impaired Community

Science.gov (United States)

Maarif, H. A.; Akmeliawati, R.; Gunawan, T. S.; Shafie, A. A.

2013-12-01

Sign language synthesizer is a method to visualize the sign language movement from the spoken language. The sign language (SL) is one of means used by HSI people to communicate to normal people. But, unfortunately the number of people, including the HSI people, who are familiar with sign language is very limited. These cause difficulties in the communication between the normal people and the HSI people. The sign language is not only hand movement but also the face expression. Those two elements have complimentary aspect each other. The hand movement will show the meaning of each signing and the face expression will show the emotion of a person. Generally, Sign language synthesizer will recognize the spoken language by using speech recognition, the grammatical process will involve context free grammar, and 3D synthesizer will take part by involving recorded avatar. This paper will analyze and compare the existing techniques of developing a sign language synthesizer, which leads to IIUM Sign Language Synthesizer.

Multimedia Materials for Language and Literacy Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Hallett, Terry L.

1999-01-01

Introduces educators to inexpensive, commercially-available CD-ROM software that combines speech, text, graphics, sound, video, animation, and special effects that may be incorporated into classroom activities for both normally developing and language learning disabled children. Discusses three types of multimedia CD-ROM products: (1) virtual…

Development of Markup Language for Medical Record Charting: A Charting Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Won-Mo; Chae, Younbyoung; Jang, Bo-Hyoung

2015-01-01

Nowadays a lot of trials for collecting electronic medical records (EMRs) exist. However, structuring data format for EMR is an especially labour-intensive task for practitioners. Here we propose a new mark-up language for medical record charting (called Charting Language), which borrows useful properties from programming languages. Thus, with Charting Language, the text data described in dynamic situation can be easily used to extract information.

Component-based development of software language engineering tools

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ssanyu, J.; Hemerik, C.

2011-01-01

In this paper we outline how Software Language Engineering (SLE) could benefit from Component-based Software Development (CBSD) techniques and present an architecture aimed at developing a coherent set of lightweight SLE components, fitting into a general-purpose component framework. In order to

Progressive Modularization: Reframing Our Understanding of Typical and Atypical Language Development

Science.gov (United States)

D'Souza, Dean; Filippi, Roberto

2017-01-01

The ability to acquire language is a critical part of human development. Yet there is no consensus on how the skill emerges in early development. Does it constitute an innately-specified, language-processing module or is it acquired progressively? One of Annette Karmiloff-Smith's (1938-2016) key contributions to developmental science addresses…

On Intuitionistic Fuzzy Context-Free Languages

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Jianhua Jin

2013-01-01

automata theory. Additionally, we introduce the concepts of Chomsky normal form grammar (IFCNF and Greibach normal form grammar (IFGNF based on intuitionistic fuzzy sets. The results of our study indicate that intuitionistic fuzzy context-free languages generated by IFCFGs are equivalent to those generated by IFGNFs and IFCNFs, respectively, and they are also equivalent to intuitionistic fuzzy recognizable step functions. Then some operations on the family of intuitionistic fuzzy context-free languages are discussed. Finally, pumping lemma for intuitionistic fuzzy context-free languages is investigated.

Pointing and the Evolution of Language: An Applied Evolutionary Epistemological Approach

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Nathalie Gontier

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Numerous evolutionary linguists have indicated that human pointing behaviour might be associated with the evolution of language. At an ontogenetic level, and in normal individuals, pointing develops spontaneously and the onset of human pointing precedes as well as facilitates phases in speech and language development. Phylogenetically, pointing behaviour might have preceded and facilitated the evolutionary origin of both gestural and vocal language. Contrary to wild non-human primates, captive and human-reared nonhuman primates also demonstrate pointing behaviour. In this article, we analyse the debates on pointing and its role it might have played in language evolution from a meta-level. From within an Applied Evolutionary Epistemological approach, we examine how exactly we can determine whether pointing has been a unit, a level or a mechanism in language evolution.

Language and Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemper, Susan; Anagnopoulos, Cheryl

1989-01-01

Reviews the effects of aging on language usage focusing on three areas of exploration: (1) changes in language in relation to changes in other cognitive abilities, (2) the linguistic consequences of normal aging versus those of dementia and aphasia, and (3) age-group differences in patterns of conversational interaction. (67 references) (GLR)

Influence of Second Language Cherokee Immersion on Children's Development of Past Tense in Their First Language, English

Science.gov (United States)

Hirata-Edds, Tracy

2011-01-01

Metalinguistic skills may develop differently in multilingual and monolingual children. This study investigated effects of immersion in Cherokee as a second language on young children's (4;5-6;1) skills of noticing morphological forms/patterns in English, their first language, by comparing English past tense skills on two nonword and two real-word…

How normal is grammatical development in the right hemisphere following hemispherectomy? The root infinitive stage and beyond.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtiss, Susan; de Bode, Stella

2003-08-01

We examined the morphosyntax of eight left hemispherectomized children at two different stages and compared it to MLU-matched normals. We found that the language of the hemispherectomies paralleled that of their MLU matches with respect to the specific morphosyntactic characteristics of each stage. Our findings provide strong evidence for the presence of functional categories in all early grammars and demonstrate that grammatical development, regardless of its neural substrate, is highly constrained by UG and follows a narrowly determined course. We discuss our findings within a neurobiological framework in which etiology defines the integrity of the remaining hemisphere, which in turn, determines its potential for linguistic reorganization and/or acquisition.

Students who are deaf and hard of hearing and use sign language: considerations and strategies for developing spoken language and literacy skills.

Science.gov (United States)

Nussbaum, Debra; Waddy-Smith, Bettie; Doyle, Jane

2012-11-01

There is a core body of knowledge, experience, and skills integral to facilitating auditory, speech, and spoken language development when working with the general population of students who are deaf and hard of hearing. There are additional issues, strategies, and challenges inherent in speech habilitation/rehabilitation practices essential to the population of deaf and hard of hearing students who also use sign language. This article will highlight philosophical and practical considerations related to practices used to facilitate spoken language development and associated literacy skills for children and adolescents who sign. It will discuss considerations for planning and implementing practices that acknowledge and utilize a student's abilities in sign language, and address how to link these skills to developing and using spoken language. Included will be considerations for children from early childhood through high school with a broad range of auditory access, language, and communication characteristics. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

A Case of Specific Language Impairment in a Deaf Signer of American Sign Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Quinto-Pozos, David; Singleton, Jenny L; Hauser, Peter C

2017-04-01

This article describes the case of a deaf native signer of American Sign Language (ASL) with a specific language impairment (SLI). School records documented normal cognitive development but atypical language development. Data include school records; interviews with the child, his mother, and school professionals; ASL and English evaluations; and a comprehensive neuropsychological and psychoeducational evaluation, and they span an approximate period of 7.5 years (11;10-19;6) including scores from school records (11;10-16;5) and a 3.5-year period (15;10-19;6) during which we collected linguistic and neuropsychological data. Results revealed that this student has average intelligence, intact visual perceptual skills, visuospatial skills, and motor skills but demonstrates challenges with some memory and sequential processing tasks. Scores from ASL testing signaled language impairment and marked difficulty with fingerspelling. The student also had significant deficits in English vocabulary, spelling, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and writing. Accepted SLI diagnostic criteria exclude deaf individuals from an SLI diagnosis, but the authors propose modified criteria in this work. The results of this study have practical implications for professionals including school psychologists, speech language pathologists, and ASL specialists. The results also support the theoretical argument that SLI can be evident regardless of the modality in which it is communicated. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Development of the State Correspondence Language of the Crimean Khanate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R.R. Abduzhemilev

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objectvie and materials of the research: In the article the matter for consideration is the problem of the lingual basis in yarlyks of the Crimean Khanate. The author seeks to trace the process of the formation of the state language of the Crimean Khanate on the material of the official letters and decrees. The main statements characterizing the object of the study are formulated. The article presents the views of the famous orientalists, in which the structure of the yarlyk’s language is reflected. An important attention is focused on the ration of the Kipchak and Oguz elements. The period from the 13th century to the 16th century is marked by the development of the language called «desht tili», i.e. the language of Desht-i Kipchak. Results and novelty of the research: The author emphasizes that the language of the yarlyks of the Crimean Khanate is a heritage of the literary language of the Jochid ulus (Golden Horde, and even earlier one – of Desht-i Kipchak. Kipchaks dominated the extremely vast territory. The Kipchak language for a long time was used in the correspondence between Bakhchisaray and Moscow. As for the correspondence between Bakhchisaray and Istanbul, instead of Kipchak there was used Ottoman language. The correspondence between Crimea and Poland was mixed: both Kipchak and Ottoman languages were in use. Concerning the lexical structure of yarlyks, there are many Arabic and Persian words and forms which became inseparable part of the Crimean Tatar language. While the texts of the early yarlyks are full mostly of Turkic words, then in the late yarlyks Arabic and Persian words in some cases displaced original Turkic words. Therefore, today the issue of the reconstruction of the Turkic basis is of high importance. The language of the official correspondence from the Crimean Khanate’s Office is one of the indicators of the development of integral state formation on the map of the Eastern Europe. On the one hand, the language

Foreign language as a tool for professional mobility development for students specialising in economics

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Polenova Anna, YU.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The paper considers the practical aspects of professional mobility development for students specializing in Economics by means of foreign language. It is noted that the potential of a foreign language is not used in full since training in this discipline is delivered separately with the development of professional competence of the future expert. The article analyzes the existing experience of teaching English at non- linguistic faculties using CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning approach. The article suggests the ways of professional mobility development by means of foreign language. It discusses the advantages of innovative teaching, which is aimed at meeting the professional and educational needs of students, the development of professional mobility and creative thinking. It is concluded that studying a foreign language and non-language subject at the same time is an additional means to achieve high educational outcomes.

THE ROLE OF AWARENESS IN SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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Fahriany Fahriany

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Cognitive psychology and cognitive science appear to agree that attention to stimuli is needed for long-term memory storage and that little, if any, learning can take place without attention. One strand of psycholinguistic research that has drawn quite a lot of interest, both from a theoretical and empirical perspective, is the role awareness plays in second language acquisition (SLA. To promote a further understanding of the role of awareness may potentially contribute to L2 development. This article will  briefly describe current theoretical approaches to the role of awareness in language learning,  review recent studies that have employed verbal reports to investigate the effects of awareness on L2 development, and  provide, based on the review, some awareness-raising pedagogical tasks for the L2 classroom setting. Keywords: attention, awareness, detection, feedback, L2 development

25 CFR 39.132 - Can a school integrate Language Development programs into its regular instructional program?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Can a school integrate Language Development programs into... Language Development Programs § 39.132 Can a school integrate Language Development programs into its regular instructional program? A school may offer Language Development programs to students as part of its...

A Methodology For The Development Of Complex Domain Specific Languages

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Risoldi, Matteo; Falquet, Gilles

2010-01-01

The term Domain-Specific Modeling Language is used in software development to indicate a modeling (and sometimes programming) language dedicated to a particular problem domain, a particular problem representation technique and/or a particular solution technique. The concept is not new -- special-purpose programming language and all kinds of modeling/specification languages have always existed, but the term DSML has become more popular due to the rise of domain-specific modeling. Domain-specific languages are considered 4GL programming languages. Domain-specific modeling techniques have been adopted for a number of years now. However, the techniques and frameworks used still suffer from problems of complexity of use and fragmentation. Although in recent times some integrated environments are seeing the light, it is not common to see many concrete use cases in which domain-specific modeling has been put to use. The main goal of this thesis is tackling the domain of interactive systems and applying a DSML-based...

Object Pragmatics and Language Development.

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Béguin, Marie

2016-12-01

The purpose of this contribution is to investigate the advent of language in the light of the appropriation of the cultural uses of the material objects related to material culture and the constitution of their public and shared meanings linked to their uses. First, we suggest that the Object Pragmatics paradigm offers a framework which allows us to take into account the uses of objects in daily life as a site of social conventions, communication and public and shared meanings. Second, we would like to underline the key role of the adult's mediations in the child's ability to evolve towards linguistic development. This contribution will discuss the notion of scenario involving primarily the object, as a possible semiotic tool to support the child's transition to language. We will finally illustrate that it is possible to take into consideration the mastery of conventional uses of the object in the child's ability to engage in a scenario and then to move towards communication and speech development. These issues will be addressed in the context of a research project which focuses on the observation of children interacting with an adult at 16, 20 and 24 months. These longitudinal data were collected by video in a semi-experimental triadic interaction design. The triadic interaction is considered as a relevant unit for the observation and analysis of the role of material culture in speech development, suggesting the existence of new mechanisms to be taken into account in addition to the interactive conditions largely mentioned in literature.

Do the early development of gestures and receptive and expressive language predict language skills at 5;0 in prematurely born very-low-birth-weight children?

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Stolt, S; Lind, A; Matomäki, J; Haataja, L; Lapinleimu, H; Lehtonen, L

2016-01-01

It is unclear what the predictive value of very early development of gestures and language is on later language ability in prematurely born very-low-birth-weight (VLBW; birth weight ≤1500g) children. The aim of the present study was to analyse the predictive value of early gestures and a receptive lexicon measured between the ages of 0;9 and 1;3, as well as the predictive value of receptive and expressive language ability at 2;0 for language skills at 5;0 in VLBW children. The subjects were 29 VLBW children and 28 full-term children whose language development has been followed intensively between the ages of 0;9 and 2;0 using the Finnish version of the MacArthur Developmental Inventory and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales (RDLS III). At 5;0, five selected verbal subtests of the Nepsy II test and the Boston Naming Test (BNT) were used to assess children's language skills. For the first time in VLBW children, the development of gestures measured between the ages of 0;9 and 1;3 was shown to correlate significantly and positively with language skills at 5;0. In addition, both receptive and expressive language ability measured at 2;0 correlated significantly and positively with later language skills in both groups. Moreover, according to the hierarchical regression analysis, the receptive language score of the RDLS III at 2;0 was a clear and significant predictor for language skills at 5;0 in both groups. The findings particularly underline the role of early receptive language as a significant predictor for later language ability in VLBW children. The results provide evidence for a continuity between early language development and later language skills. After reading this article, readers will understand the associations between the very early (≤2 years of age) development of gestures and language (i.e. early receptive lexicon, expressive lexicon at 2;0, receptive and expressive language ability at 2;0) and the language skills at 5;0 in prematurely born

Developing Formal Correctness Properties from Natural Language Requirements

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Nikora, Allen P.

2006-01-01

This viewgraph presentation reviews the rationale of the program to transform natural language specifications into formal notation.Specifically, automate generation of Linear Temporal Logic (LTL)correctness properties from natural language temporal specifications. There are several reasons for this approach (1) Model-based techniques becoming more widely accepted, (2) Analytical verification techniques (e.g., model checking, theorem proving) significantly more effective at detecting types of specification design errors (e.g., race conditions, deadlock) than manual inspection, (3) Many requirements still written in natural language, which results in a high learning curve for specification languages, associated tools and increased schedule and budget pressure on projects reduce training opportunities for engineers, and (4) Formulation of correctness properties for system models can be a difficult problem. This has relevance to NASA in that it would simplify development of formal correctness properties, lead to more widespread use of model-based specification, design techniques, assist in earlier identification of defects and reduce residual defect content for space mission software systems. The presentation also discusses: potential applications, accomplishments and/or technological transfer potential and the next steps.

Conflict resolution abilities in children with Specific Language Impairment.

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Paula, Erica Macêdo de; Befi-Lopes, Debora Maria

2013-01-01

To investigate the conflict resolution abilities of children with Specific Language Impairment, and to verify whether the time of speech-language therapy correlates to the performance on the conflict resolution task. Participants included 20 children with Specific Language Impairment (Research Group) and 40 children with normal language development (Control Group), with ages ranging from 7 years to 8 years and 11 months. To assess the conflict resolution abilities, five hypothetical contexts of conflict were presented. The strategies used by the children were classified and scored by the following levels: level 0 (solutions that do not match the other levels), level 1 (physical solutions), level 2 (unilateral solutions), level 3 (cooperative solutions), and level 4 (mutual solutions). Statistical analysis showed group effect for the variable total score. There was a difference between the groups for modal development level, with higher level of modal development observed in the Control Group. There was no correlation between the period of speech-language therapy attendance and the total score. Children with Specific Language Impairment present difficulties in solving problems, in view of the fact that they mainly use physical and unilateral strategies. There was no correlation between the time of speech-language therapy and performance in the task.

Language and communication development in preschool children with visual impairment: A systematic review

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Renata Mosca

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Background: Language and communication difficulties of young children with visual impairment (VI are ascribed to intellectual disability, multiple disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD rather than their sensory impairment. Consequently, the communication difficulties of children with VI may have been underestimated and undertreated. Objectives: This report aims to critically appraise recent peer reviewed literature relating to communication and language development in children with VI. Method: A systematic search of the literature (2003–2013 was completed using the PRISMA guidelines, and primary and secondary search phrases. Nine publications were reviewed in terms of the strength of recent evidence. Thematic analysis was used to describe the early language and communication characteristics of children with VI. Results: All the selected articles (n = 9 were from developed countries and participants from seven of the studies had congenital VI. Five of the studies received an evidence level rating of III while four articles were rated as IIb. Two main themes emerged from the studies: early intervention, and multiple disabilities and ASD. Language and communication development is affected by VI, especially in the early stages of development. Speech-language therapists should therefore be included in early intervention for children with VI. Conclusion: Recent evidence on the early language and communication difficulties of children with VI exists, but children in developing countries with acquired VI appear to not be investigated. The identified language and communication developmental characteristics may assist speech-language therapists to build a knowledge base for participation in early intervention for young children with VI and their families.

A systematic literature review of sex differences in childhood language and brain development.

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Etchell, Andrew; Adhikari, Aditi; Weinberg, Lauren S; Choo, Ai Leen; Garnett, Emily O; Chow, Ho Ming; Chang, Soo-Eun

2018-06-01

The extent of sex differences in childhood language development is unclear. We conducted a systematic literature review synthesizing results from studies examining sex differences in brain structure and function relevant to language development during childhood. We searched PubMed and Scopus databases, and this returned a total of 46 published studies meeting criteria for inclusion that directly examined sex differences in brain development relevant to language function in children. The results indicate that: (a) sex differences in brain structure or function do not necessarily lead to differences in language task performance; (b) evidence for sex differences in brain and language development are limited; (c) when present, sex differences often interact with a variety of factors such as age and task. Overall, the magnitude of sexual dimorphism of brain developmental trajectories associated with language is not as significant as previously thought. Sex differences were found, however, in studies employing tighter age ranges. This suggests that sex differences may be more prominent during certain developmental stages but are negligible in other stages, likely due to different rates of maturation between the sexes. More research is needed to improve our understanding of how sex differences may arise due to the influence of sex hormones and developmental stages, and how these differences may lead to differences in various language task performance. These studies are expected to provide normative information that may be used in studies examining neurodevelopmental disorders that frequently affect more males than females, and also often affect language development. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language and communication development in preschool children with visual impairment: A systematic review.

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Mosca, Renata; Kritzinger, Alta; van der Linde, Jeannie

2015-01-01

Language and communication difficulties of young children with visual impairment (VI) are ascribed to intellectual disability, multiple disabilities and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) rather than their sensory impairment. Consequently, the communication difficulties of children with VI may have been underestimated and undertreated. This report aims to critically appraise recent peer reviewed literature relating to communication and language development in children with VI. A systematic search of the literature (2003–2013) was completed using the PRISMA guidelines, and primary and secondary search phrases. Nine publications were reviewed in terms of the strength of recent evidence. Thematic analysis was used to describe the early language and communication characteristics of children with VI. All the selected articles (n = 9) were from developed countries and participants from seven of the studies had congenital VI. Five of the studies received an evidence level rating of III while four articles were rated as IIb. Two main themes emerged from the studies: early intervention, and multiple disabilities and ASD. Language and communication development is affected by VI, especially in the early stages of development. Speech-language therapists should therefore be included in early intervention for children with VI. Recent evidence on the early language and communication difficulties of children with VI exists, but children in developing countries with acquired VI appear to not be investigated. The identified language and communication developmental characteristics may assist speech-language therapists to build a knowledge base for participation in early intervention for young children with VI and their families.

Relational Language Facilitates the Development of Cognitive Flexibility

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Gomila, Antoni

2013-04-01

Full Text Available In several papers, Gentner has shown that relational language facilitates spatial analogical reasoning tasks. In this work we set this question in the context of the development of cognitive flexibility, understood not just as at the representation level, but also at the executive one. To this extent, we modify the design by Ratterman & Gentner (1988 by including order of presentation of the elements as a variable, to increase the executive demands of the task so that the elements to be mentally ordered, which also allows to exclude that the successful answer is based on perceptual appearance. Our results confirm the facilitatory effect of relational language on the development of cognitive flexibility. They also point that a disordered presentation also facilitates correct responses.

Auditory-cognitive training improves language performance in prelingually deafened cochlear implant recipients.

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Ingvalson, Erin M; Young, Nancy M; Wong, Patrick C M

2014-10-01

Phonological and working memory skills have been shown to be important for the development of spoken language. Children who use a cochlear implant (CI) show performance deficits relative to normal hearing (NH) children on all constructs: phonological skills, working memory, and spoken language. Given that phonological skills and working memory have been shown to be important for spoken language development in NH children, we hypothesized that training these foundational skills would result in improved spoken language performance in CI-using children. Nineteen prelingually deafened CI-using children aged 4- to 7-years-old participated. All children had been using their implants for at least one year and were matched on pre-implant hearing thresholds, hearing thresholds at study enrollment, and non-verbal IQ. Children were assessed on expressive vocabulary, listening language, spoken language, and composite language. Ten children received four weeks of training on phonological skills including rhyme, sound blending, and sound discrimination and auditory working memory. The remaining nine children continued with their normal classroom activities for four weeks. Language assessments were repeated following the training/control period. Children who received combined phonological-working memory training showed significant gains on expressive and composite language scores. Children who did not receive training showed no significant improvements at post-test. On average, trained children had gain scores of 6.35 points on expressive language and gain scores of 6.15 points whereas the untrained children had test-retest gain scores of 2.89 points for expressive language and 2.56 for composite language. Our results suggest that training to improve the phonological and working memory skills in CI-using children may lead to improved language performance. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Functional mapping of language networks in the normal brain using a word-association task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ghosh, Shantanu; Basu, Amrita; Kumaran, Senthil S; Khushu, Subash

2010-01-01

Language functions are known to be affected in diverse neurological conditions, including ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors. Because language networks are extensive, interpretation of functional data depends on the task completed during evaluation. The aim was to map the hemodynamic consequences of word association using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in normal human subjects. Ten healthy subjects underwent fMRI scanning with a postlexical access semantic association task vs lexical processing task. The fMRI protocol involved a T2*-weighted gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (GE-EPI) sequence (TR 4523 ms, TE 64 ms, flip angle 90°) with alternate baseline and activation blocks. A total of 78 scans were taken (interscan interval = 3 s) with a total imaging time of 587 s. Functional data were processed in Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM2) with 8-mm Gaussian kernel by convolving the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal with an hemodynamic response function estimated by general linear method to generate SPM{t} and SPM{F} maps. Single subject analysis of the functional data (FWE-corrected, P≤0.001) revealed extensive activation in the frontal lobes, with overlaps among middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior, and inferior frontal gyri. BOLD activity was also found in the medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus (MOG), anterior fusiform gyrus, superior and inferior parietal lobules, and to a smaller extent, the thalamus and right anterior cerebellum. Group analysis (FWE-corrected, P≤0.001) revealed neural recruitment of bilateral lingual gyri, left MFG, bilateral MOG, left superior occipital gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, bilateral thalami, and right cerebellar areas. Group data analysis revealed a cerebellar–occipital–fusiform–thalamic network centered around bilateral lingual gyri for word association, thereby indicating how these areas facilitate language comprehension by activating a semantic

Functional mapping of language networks in the normal brain using a word-association task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghosh Shantanu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Language functions are known to be affected in diverse neurological conditions, including ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors. Because language networks are extensive, interpretation of functional data depends on the task completed during evaluation. Aim: The aim was to map the hemodynamic consequences of word association using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in normal human subjects. Materials and Methods: Ten healthy subjects underwent fMRI scanning with a postlexical access semantic association task vs lexical processing task. The fMRI protocol involved a T2FNx01-weighted gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (GE-EPI sequence (TR 4523 ms, TE 64 ms, flip angle 90º with alternate baseline and activation blocks. A total of 78 scans were taken (interscan interval = 3 s with a total imaging time of 587 s. Functional data were processed in Statistical Parametric Mapping software (SPM2 with 8-mm Gaussian kernel by convolving the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD signal with an hemodynamic response function estimated by general linear method to generate SPM{t} and SPM{F} maps. Results: Single subject analysis of the functional data (FWE-corrected, P≤0.001 revealed extensive activation in the frontal lobes, with overlaps among middle frontal gyrus (MFG, superior, and inferior frontal gyri. BOLD activity was also found in the medial frontal gyrus, middle occipital gyrus (MOG, anterior fusiform gyrus, superior and inferior parietal lobules, and to a smaller extent, the thalamus and right anterior cerebellum. Group analysis (FWE-corrected, P≤0.001 revealed neural recruitment of bilateral lingual gyri, left MFG, bilateral MOG, left superior occipital gyrus, left fusiform gyrus, bilateral thalami, and right cerebellar areas. Conclusions: Group data analysis revealed a cerebellar-occipital-fusiform-thalamic network centered around bilateral lingual gyri for word association, thereby indicating how these

English Development as a Second Language in Relation with TV Exposure

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N. M. Ayu Widiastuti

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The aims of this study are to know the role of young learner’s parents in choosing good and educating television program for their child, and to describe the effects of TV exposure in their child’s English language development. A five-year-old young learner who lives in Denpasar was observed in 2017. The data were collected by giving a questionnaire to the young learner’s parents in order to get the description of the effects of the television programs to her language development. As it is a following research of the previous research on English vocabulary acquisition, the results of the observation of the young learner and the interview with her parents that have already been done are used to support the analysis of this small research. The collected data were analysed descriptively based on approaches from Barr, et.al. (2010, Christakis (2009, and March (2004 about English language acquisition and language development of young children. The results show that the young learner’s parents have the important role in choosing good and educating television program for her. It can be seen from the choices of cartoon movies as one of the television programs that is educating as well as entertaining for a child in her age, the intensive accompaniment when she was watching the movies, the limitation of television watching time, and also the parents’ assistance in order to help her understand the stories and vocabulary meanings. It is true that good content, context, and the amount of daily TV viewing time as well as parental assistance will be beneficial for the young learner’s second language development in informal learning situation. The effectiveness of watching cartoon movies has led her to gain the positive second language development in her bilingual condition, although English code-switching in Indonesian sentences sometimes occur.

Language development and affecting factors in 3- to 6-year-old children.

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Muluk, Nuray Bayar; Bayoğlu, Birgül; Anlar, Banu

2014-05-01

The aim of this study was to assess factors affecting language developmental screening test results in 33.0- to 75.0-month-old children. The study group consists of 402 children, 172 (42.8%) boys and 230 (57.2%) girls, aged 33.0-75.0 months who were examined in four age groups: 3 years (33.0-39.0 months), 4 years (45.0-51.0 months), 5 years (57.0-63.0 months) and 6 years (69.0-75.0 months). Demographic data and medical history obtained by a standard questionnaire and Denver II Developmental Test results were evaluated. Maternal factors such as mother's age, educational level, and socioeconomic status (SES) correlated with language items in all age groups. Linear regression analysis indicated a significant effect of mother's education and higher SES on certain expressive and receptive language items at 3 and 4 years. Fine motor items were closely related to language items at all ages examined, while in the younger (3- and 4-year-old) group gross motor items also were related to language development. Maternal and socioeconomic factors influence language development in children: these effects, already discernible with a screening test, can be potential targets for social and educational interventions. The interpretation of screening test results should take into account the interaction between fine motor and language development in preschool children.

Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury

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Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

2010-01-01

A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity during category fluency in participants who had sustained pre- or perinatal left h...

"Differently normal" and "normally different": negotiations of female embodiment in women's accounts of 'atypical' sex development.

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Guntram, Lisa

2013-12-01

During recent decades numerous feminist scholars have scrutinized the two-sex model and questioned its status in Western societies and medicine. Along the same line, increased attention has been paid to individuals' experiences of atypical sex development, also known as intersex or 'disorders of sex development' (DSD). Yet research on individuals' experiences of finding out about their atypical sex development in adolescence has been scarce. Against this backdrop, the present article analyses 23 in-depth interviews with women who in their teens found out about their atypical sex development. The interviews were conducted during 2009-2012 and the interviewees were all Swedish. Drawing on feminist research on female embodiment and social scientific studies on diagnosis, I examine how the women make sense of their bodies and situations. First, I aim to explore how the women construe normality as they negotiate female embodiment. Second, I aim to investigate how the divergent manners in which these negotiations are expressed can be further understood via the women's different access to a diagnosis. Through a thematic and interpretative analysis, I outline two negotiation strategies: the "differently normal" and the "normally different" strategy. In the former, the women present themselves as just slightly different from 'normal' women. In the latter, they stress that everyone is different in some manner and thereby claim normalcy. The analysis shows that access to diagnosis corresponds to the ways in which the women present themselves as "differently normal" and "normally different", thus shedding light on the complex role of diagnosis in their negotiations of female embodiment. It also reveals that the women make use of what they do have and how alignments with and work on norms interplay as normality is construed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Literacy Development in Multicultural Settings with Digital Dual-language Books

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Yıldız Turgut

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Problem Statement: Providing a story in two languages, digital dual-language storybooks can play an important role in supporting EFL students‟ cultural awareness, language and literacy skills. Based on constructivist theoretical framework, this study investigates the impact of digital dual-language storybooks on bilingual learners‟ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skills.Methods: The participants of the study were ten seventh and eighth grade students who were bilingual in Arabic and Turkish, studying English at an elementary level as a compulsory course at a primary school in Turkey. In order to determine the impact of digital dual-language storybooks, the students read two different digital dual-language storybooks individually at different times. Through the process, think aloud procedures, observations and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Transcriptions of observations and interviews were analyzed through discourse analysis.Findings and Results: The results of the study indicated that the use of dual language books have a significant impact on learners‟ vocabulary knowledge growth. Using digital dual-language storybooks, learners can develop some strategies for learning new words, make use of images in comprehending the story and engage eagerly to the stories as they reflect and value their own culture and heritage.Conclusions and Recommendations: Awareness about new language systems, diversity and multiculturality in learners‟ immediate environment can be raised.

Effects of Embedded and Direct Language Strategies on Prekindergarten Students' Cognitive and Social Emotional Development

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Dominy, Matthew L.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study is to measure the effect of a standard of care embedded language strategies program utilized in combination with direct language strategy instruction on the measured expressive language, cognitive development, social emotional development, and language development of prekindergarten students attending three neighborhood…

False belief and semantic language development in children aged 2 to 4 years

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Milton Eduardo Bermúdez-Jaimes

2010-02-01

Full Text Available We intended to explore and characterize the relationships between the development of understanding childhood theories of mind and the semantic development of language. We used three versions of the false belief task,programmed with Flash, and the Early Language Development Battery in order to assess semantic abilities in 116 children aged two to four years. Significant differences among ages were found for task performance, and positive associations between social comprehension and language development were found in two tasks. Results were interpreted through the interaction proposal by Wellman (1994.

Factors Related to Professional Development of English Language University Teachers in Thailand

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Wichadee, Saovapa

2012-01-01

Professional development is deemed necessary for university teachers at all levels, as it helps to enhance teaching quality. However, the extent of English language university teachers' professional development might depend on a number of factors. This paper reports on a study investigating English language university teachers' professional…

Measuring and Comparing Academic Language Development and Conceptual Understanding via Science Notebooks

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Huerta, Margarita; Tong, Fuhui; Irby, Beverly J.; Lara-Alecio, Rafael

2016-01-01

The authors of this quantitative study measured and compared the academic language development and conceptual understanding of fifth-grade economically disadvantaged English language learners (ELL), former ELLs, and native English-speaking (ES) students as reflected in their science notebook scores. Using an instrument they developed, the authors…

Cortical language activation in aphasia: a functional MRI study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Xiaojun; Zhang Minming; Shang Desheng; Wang Qidong; Luo Benyan

2004-01-01

Objective: To investigate the differences of the underlying neural basis of language processing between normal subjects and aphasics, and to study the feasibility for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in examining the cortical language activation in clinical aphasics. Methods: fMRI was used to map language network in 6 normal subjects and 3 patients with aphasia who were in the stage of recovery from acute stroke. The participants performed word generation task during fMRI scanning, which measured the signal changes associated with regional neural activity induced by the task. These signal changes were processed to statistically generate the activation map that represented the language area. Results: In normal subjects, a distributed language network was activated. Activations were present in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital regions in normal group. In the patient group, however, no activation was showed in the left inferior frontal gyrus whether or not the patient had lesion in the left frontal lobe. Two patients showed activations in some right hemisphere regions where no activation appeared in normal subjects. Conclusion: The remote effect of focal lesion and functional redistribution or reorganization was found in aphasic patients. fMRI was useful in evaluating the language function in aphasic patients. (authors)

Developing Children's Language Learner Strategies at Primary School

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Kirsch, Claudine

2012-01-01

This article discusses the strategy repertoires and strategy development of six English children who learned foreign languages at primary school. My study differs from mainstream research, in that it focuses on young children and on the development of their strategies, draws on sociocultural theory and uses ethnographic methods. My findings show…

The Impact of Tympanostomy Tubes on Speech and Language Development in Children with Cleft Palate.

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Shaffer, Amber D; Ford, Matthew D; Choi, Sukgi S; Jabbour, Noel

2017-09-01

Objective Describe the impact of hearing loss, tympanostomy tube placement before palatoplasty, and number of tubes received on speech outcomes in children with cleft palate. Study Design Case series with chart review. Setting Tertiary care children's hospital. Subjects and Methods Records from 737 children born between April 2005 and April 2015 who underwent palatoplasty at a tertiary children's hospital were reviewed. Exclusion criteria were cleft repair at an outside hospital, intact secondary palate, absence of postpalatoplasty speech evaluation, sensorineural or mixed hearing loss, no tubes, first tubes after palatoplasty, or first clinic after 12 months of age. Data from 152 patients with isolated cleft palate and 166 patients with cleft lip and palate were analyzed using Wilcoxon rank-sum, χ 2 , and Fisher exact test and logistic regression. Results Most patients (242, 76.1%) received tubes before palatoplasty. Hearing loss after tubes, but not before, was associated with speech/language delays at 24 months ( P = .005) and language delays ( P = .048) and speech sound production disorders (SSPDs, P = .040) at 5 years. Receiving tubes before palatoplasty was associated with failed newborn hearing screen ( P = .001) and younger age at first posttubes type B tympanogram with normal canal volume ( P = .015). Hearing loss after tubes ( P = .021), language delays ( P = .025), SSPDs ( P = .003), and velopharyngeal insufficiency ( P = .032) at 5 years and speech surgery ( P = .022) were associated with more tubes. Conclusion Continued middle ear disease, reflected by hearing loss and multiple tubes, may impair speech and language development. Inserting tubes before palatoplasty did not mitigate these impairments better than later tube placement.

Language and Brain Volumes in Children with Epilepsy

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Caplan, Rochelle; Levitt, Jennifer; Siddarth, Prabha; Wu, Keng Nei; Gurbani, Suresh; Shields, W. Donald; Sankar, Raman

2010-01-01

This study compared the relationship of language skill with fronto-temporal volumes in 69 medically treated epilepsy subjects and 34 healthy children, aged 6.1-16.6 years. It also determined if the patients with linguistic deficits had abnormal volumes and atypical associations between volumes and language skills in these brain regions. The children underwent language testing and magnetic resonance imaging scans at 1.5 Tesla. Brain tissue was segmented and fronto-temporal volumes were computed. Higher mean language scores were significantly associated with larger inferior frontal gyrus, temporal lobe, and posterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes in the epilepsy group and in the children with epilepsy with average language scores. Increased total brain and dorsolateral prefrontal gray and white matter volumes, however, were associated with higher language scores in the healthy controls. Within the epilepsy group, linguistic deficits were related to smaller anterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes and a negative association between language scores and dorsolateral prefrontal gray matter volumes. These findings demonstrate abnormal development of language related brain regions, and imply differential reorganization of brain regions subserving language in children with epilepsy with normal linguistic skills and in those with impaired language. PMID:20149755

Individual Differences in Language Development: Relationship with Motor Skill at 21 Months

Science.gov (United States)

Alcock, Katherine J.; Krawczyk, Kirsty

2010-01-01

Language development has long been associated with motor development, particularly manual gesture. We examined a variety of motor abilities--manual gesture including symbolic, meaningless and sequential memory, oral motor control, gross and fine motor control--in 129 children aged 21 months. Language abilities were assessed and cognitive and…

Language Policy and Development Aid: A Critical Analysis of an ELT Project

Science.gov (United States)

Tupas, Ruanni; Tabiola, Honey

2017-01-01

This paper highlights the political and ideological entanglements of language policy and English language teaching with neocolonialism, neoliberalism, and development aid. It does so by examining the explicit and implicit goals and practices of an educational development aid project in Mindanao, Philippines. The US-funded Job Enabling English…

Lipreading Ability and Its Cognitive Correlates in Typically Developing Children and Children with Specific Language Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Heikkilä, Jenni; Lonka, Eila; Ahola, Sanna; Meronen, Auli; Tiippana, Kaisa

2017-01-01

Purpose: Lipreading and its cognitive correlates were studied in school-age children with typical language development and delayed language development due to specific language impairment (SLI). Method: Forty-two children with typical language development and 20 children with SLI were tested by using a word-level lipreading test and an extensive…

Mental Representation and Early Language Development: Directions for Exploring Relationships. Souvenir of Conversation Hour.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicolich, Lorraine McCune; And Others

This collection of conference abstracts focuses on new directions for research on mental representation and early language development. One page summaries are provided on the following topics: Mental Representation and Initial Language Learning, by Lorraine M. Nicolich; Critical Issues in Language and Cognitive Development, by Roberta Corrigan;…

Language and Literacy Development of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Children: Successes and Challenges

Science.gov (United States)

Lederberg, Amy R.; Schick, Brenda; Spencer, Patricia E.

2013-01-01

Childhood hearing loss presents challenges to language development, especially spoken language. In this article, we review existing literature on deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's patterns and trajectories of language as well as development of theory of mind and literacy. Individual trajectories vary significantly, reflecting access to…

Phonological awareness of children with developmental dysphasia and children with typical language development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Čolić Gordana

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Phonological awareness is the ability of phonological processing of words. Children with developmental dysphasia manifest interference in the development of phonological abilities vital for the development of other language skills. The aim of this study is to investigate phonological awareness in children with typical language development and children with developmental dysphasia at preschool age. Phonological awareness is tested in 60 preschool children by a part of the ELLA test (Emerging Literacy & Language Assessment. The results showed a statistically significant difference in the tested elements of phonological awareness among children with typical language development and children with developmental dysphasia. The most significant differences are deletion of phonemes (p≤0.000, replacement of phonemes, as well as segmentation at the level of whole words (p≤0.000.

Language development in early childhood in relation to child's gender and parental education

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Urška Fekonja

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Many studies show that parental education and child's gender are the factors that influence child's language development. The purpose of the longitudinal study was to examine the effect of parental education and child's gender on language competence of children aged 3 to 4 years. The sample included 80 randomly chosen children, 39 girls and 41 boys, who were included in one of 13 preschool institutions from different regions of Slovenia. The average age of the children was 3;1 years at the first assessment and 4;1 years at the second assessment, one year later. The characteristics of child'slanguage development were assessed by 3 assessors in 3 different social contexts, in test situation by a trained examiner, in child's home environment by his mother and in the preschool institution by his preschool teacher. Results show a positive effect of mother's educational level on some of the measures of child's language development, e.g. achievements on Language development scale; developmental level of storytelling, mother's estimation of child's language competence, while the father's educational level had no significant effect on any of the obtained measures. Child's gender had only a small effect on his achievements on language expression subscale at the age of 3 and 4 as well as on the preschool teacher's estimations of child's language competence at 4 years of age.

Talk to Me, Baby! Supporting Language Development in the First 3 Years

Science.gov (United States)

Bardige, Betty; Bardige, M. Kori

2008-01-01

In their first few years, almost all children learn at least one language, though not equally well. Differences in the quantity, quality, sources, and variety of language inputs and conversation opportunities have a long-lasting effect. This article provides an overview of early language development and explains how talking with babies promotes…

A Stepwise Approach to Developing Languages for SIP Telephony Service Creation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palix, Nicolas; Consel, Charles; Reveillere, Laurent

2007-01-01

Developing a SIP-based telephony service requires a programmer to have expertise in telephony rules and constraints, the SIP protocol, distributed systems, and a SIP API, which is often large and complex. These requirements make the development of telephony software an overwhelming challenge...... a scripting language dedicated to the development of telephony services. This approach enables critical properties of services to be guaranteed and captures expertise on the operational behavior of a service. We have applied this approach to developing the Session Processing Language (SPL) dedicated to SIP...

The impact of reading on language development in the preschool children

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Ljubica Marjanovič Umek

2002-02-01

Full Text Available The importance of the role played by children's literature in the child's mental, social and linguistic development and in the development of his or her basic academic skills, such as reading andwriting, has been confirmed by numerous studies. A central issue in developmental psychology is what activities related to children's books exert an influence on the child's development and in what ways. Thisinterest in children's books and in child language development places our research into two scientific disciplines, viz. psychology and linguistics. The study explores the impact of systematic and regular readingof selected children's books in preschool institutions on the development of language competences in children aged four to six years, boys and girls. Other contributing factors whose relevance for languagedevelopment has been either postulated by theories or highlighted by empirical studies, are also observed - e.g. parents' education, number of books in the family, quality of education in the family (frequencyof conversations, visits to cultural events, reading books together, etc.. The children included in the study all attend a preschool institution with an educational program which is based on the national curriculumand which targets also the language area. The children in the experimental group are submitted to additional reading of selected children's literature. The development of children's linguistic competences isfollowed using two methods: analysis of answers on The Vane evaluation of language scale (The Vane-L and analysis of transcripts of story retelling after the child has been read H. Ch. Andersen's fairy taleThe Princess and the Pea. The results show, that the children who were systematically read selected children's books in their preschool groups, achieved significantly higher scores on the standardized Vanelanguage development scale and on the unstandardized test of retelling a story. Correlations between some of the

The Potential Role(s) of Writing in Second Language Development

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Jessica

2012-01-01

Writing is often seen as having a minor role in second language learning. This article explores recent research that suggests that writing can have a facilitative role in language development. In particular, it focuses on three features of writing: (1) its slower pace, and (2) the enduring record that it leaves, both of which can encourage…

Language comprehension and brain function in individuals with an optimal outcome from autism.

Science.gov (United States)

Eigsti, Inge-Marie; Stevens, Michael C; Schultz, Robert T; Barton, Marianne; Kelley, Elizabeth; Naigles, Letitia; Orinstein, Alyssa; Troyb, Eva; Fein, Deborah A

2016-01-01

Although Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is generally a lifelong disability, a minority of individuals with ASD overcome their symptoms to such a degree that they are generally indistinguishable from their typically-developing peers. That is, they have achieved an Optimal Outcome (OO). The question addressed by the current study is whether this normalized behavior reflects normalized brain functioning, or alternatively, the action of compensatory systems. Either possibility is plausible, as most participants with OO received years of intensive therapy that could alter brain networks to align with typical function or work around ASD-related neural dysfunction. Individuals ages 8 to 21 years with high-functioning ASD (n = 23), OO (n = 16), or typical development (TD; n = 20) completed a functional MRI scan while performing a sentence comprehension task. Results indicated similar activations in frontal and temporal regions (left middle frontal, left supramarginal, and right superior temporal gyri) and posterior cingulate in OO and ASD groups, where both differed from the TD group. Furthermore, the OO group showed heightened "compensatory" activation in numerous left- and right-lateralized regions (left precentral/postcentral gyri, right precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, right supramarginal gyrus, left superior temporal/parahippocampal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus) and cerebellum, relative to both ASD and TD groups. Behaviorally normalized language abilities in OO individuals appear to utilize atypical brain networks, with increased recruitment of language-specific as well as right homologue and other systems. Early intensive learning and experience may normalize behavioral language performance in OO, but some brain regions involved in language processing may continue to display characteristics that are more similar to ASD than typical development, while others show characteristics not like ASD or typical development.

Language comprehension and brain function in individuals with an optimal outcome from autism

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Inge-Marie Eigsti

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Although Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD is generally a lifelong disability, a minority of individuals with ASD overcome their symptoms to such a degree that they are generally indistinguishable from their typically-developing peers. That is, they have achieved an Optimal Outcome (OO. The question addressed by the current study is whether this normalized behavior reflects normalized brain functioning, or alternatively, the action of compensatory systems. Either possibility is plausible, as most participants with OO received years of intensive therapy that could alter brain networks to align with typical function or work around ASD-related neural dysfunction. Individuals ages 8 to 21 years with high-functioning ASD (n = 23, OO (n = 16, or typical development (TD; n = 20 completed a functional MRI scan while performing a sentence comprehension task. Results indicated similar activations in frontal and temporal regions (left middle frontal, left supramarginal, and right superior temporal gyri and posterior cingulate in OO and ASD groups, where both differed from the TD group. Furthermore, the OO group showed heightened “compensatory” activation in numerous left- and right-lateralized regions (left precentral/postcentral gyri, right precentral gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, right supramarginal gyrus, left superior temporal/parahippocampal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus and cerebellum, relative to both ASD and TD groups. Behaviorally normalized language abilities in OO individuals appear to utilize atypical brain networks, with increased recruitment of language-specific as well as right homologue and other systems. Early intensive learning and experience may normalize behavioral language performance in OO, but some brain regions involved in language processing may continue to display characteristics that are more similar to ASD than typical development, while others show characteristics not like ASD or typical development.

DEVELOPING COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTS FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

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Y. M. Harsono

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The Communicative Approach of teaching English in senior high school in Indonesia has been adopted since the implementation of The 1984 Curriculum, but the tests–the communicative language tests–(CL Tests have not been developed and used properly. The objective of the study is to develop CL Tests for senior high school. The procedure of conducting the study consists of three major steps, that is, identifying the objectives, developing the test specification, and developing the CL Tests. The development of the CL Tests in detail consists of fifteen sub-steps from determining what language skills tested, selecting the suitable source materials, up to rewriting the CL Tests to be used as CL Tests alternative for senior high school. The results of the test development reveal that there are fifteen CL Tests consisting of three tests of listening, three reading, three speaking, and three writing tests. The whole tests have construct and content validity, no complete evidence of concurrent validity with report marks and semester test scores, high to very high inter-rater reliability, and no complete practicality.

Switching Language Modes: Complementary Brain Patterns for Formulaic and Propositional Language.

Science.gov (United States)

Sidtis, John J; Van Lancker Sidtis, Diana; Dhawan, Vijay; Eidelberg, David

2018-04-01

Language has been modeled as a rule governed behavior for generating an unlimited number of novel utterances using phonological, syntactic, and lexical processes. This view of language as essentially propositional is expanding as a contributory role of formulaic expressions (e.g., you know, have a nice day, how are you?) is increasingly recognized. The basic features of the functional anatomy of this language system have been described by studies of brain damage: left lateralization for propositional language and greater right lateralization and basal ganglia involvement for formulaic expressions. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies of cerebral blood flow (CBF) have established a cortical-subcortical pattern of brain activity predictive of syllable rate during phonological/lexical repetition. The same analytic approach was applied to analyzing brain images obtained during spontaneous monologues. Sixteen normal, right-handed, native English speakers underwent PET scanning during several language tasks. Speech rate for the repetition of phonological/lexical items was predicted by increased CBF in the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF in the head of the right caudate nucleus, replicating previous results. A complementary cortical-subcortical pattern (CBF increased in the right inferior frontal region and decreased in the left caudate) was predictive of the use of speech formulas during monologue speech. The use of propositional language during the monologues was associated with strong left lateralization (increased CBF at the left inferior frontal region and decreased CBF at the right inferior frontal region). Normal communication involves the integration of two language modes, formulaic and novel, that have different neural substrates.

Person-first and identity-first language: Developing psychologists' cultural competence using disability language.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Dana S; Andrews, Erin E

2015-04-01

The American Psychological Association (APA) advocates the use of person-first language (e.g., people with disabilities) to refer to individuals with disabilities in daily discourse and to reduce bias in psychological writing. Disability culture advocates and disability studies scholars have challenged the rationale for and implications of exclusive person-first language use, promoting use of identity-first language (e.g., disabled people). We argue that psychologists should adopt identity-first language alongside person-first constructions to address the concerns of disability groups while promoting human dignity and maintaining scientific and professional rigor. We review the evolution of disability language and then discuss the major models used to characterize disability and people with disabilities. The rationale for person-first language and the emergence of identity-first language, respectively, are linked to particular models. We then discuss some language challenges posed by identity-first language and the current intent of person-first language, suggesting that psychologists make judicious use of the former when it is possible to do so. We conclude by offering five observations of ways that use of both person-first and identity-first language could enhance psychologists' cultural competence regarding disability issues in personal and scientific communications. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

25 CFR 39.137 - May schools operate a language development program without a specific appropriation from Congress?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 25 Indians 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false May schools operate a language development program... Formula Language Development Programs § 39.137 May schools operate a language development program without a specific appropriation from Congress? Yes, a school may operate a language development program...

Profile Language Development in students with and without Attenion Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

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Hamid َAli-Zadeh

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Objective: The present study was designed to investigate language development in children with and without attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD. Materials & Methods: In this comparative and case–control research, 30 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and 30 healthy matched children were selected simply and conveniently from the elementary first grade students of Qazvin city. Data collection tools included: test of language development– primary: 3th edition (TOLD-P:3, Connors’ rating scale – teachers form, and Raven color matrices. Data were analyzed by repeated measure analysis of variance. Results: There was significant difference in profile of language development between ADHD children and healthy children (P<0.001, but there were no significant differences between boys and girls in both case group (P=0.254 and control group (P=1.00. The results of multivariate analysis showed that the ADHD children were significantly lower in some aspects of language development skills including picture vocabulary, relative vocabulary, oral vocabulary, grammatical understanding, grammatical completion, word discrimination, listening, organizing, speaking, semantics and syntax. No significant difference was found in sentence imitation, phonemic analysis and word articulation. Conclusion: The attention deficit hyperactivity disorder children have some problems in many but not all aspects of language development.

Are language and social communication intact in children with congenital visual impairment at school age?

Science.gov (United States)

Tadić, Valerie; Pring, Linda; Dale, Naomi

2010-06-01

Development of children with congenital visual impairment (VI) has been associated with vulnerable socio-communicative outcomes often bearing striking similarities to those of sighted children with autism.(1) To date, very little is known about language and social communication in children with VI of normal intelligence. We examined the presentation of language and social communication of 15 children with VI and normal-range verbal intelligence, age 6-12 years, using a standardised language assessment and parental reports of everyday social and communicative behaviours. Their profiles were compared to those of typically developing sighted children of similar age and verbal ability. Compared to their sighted peers, and relative to their own good and potentially superior structural language skills, children with VI showed significantly poorer use of language for social purposes. Pragmatic language weaknesses were a part of a broader socio-communicative profile of difficulties, present in a substantial proportion of these children and consistent with the pattern found in sighted children with autism. There are ongoing socio-communicative and pragmatic language difficulties in children with congenital VI at school age, despite their good intellectual abilities and advanced linguistic skills. Further research is required to unpack the underlying causes and factors maintaining this vulnerability in such children.

CRITICAL THINKING TECHNOLOGY AS EFFECTIVE MEANS OF DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE MANAGERS’ LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

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Tatiana V. Masharova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study is to consider the problem of the improvement of the students-managers linguistic competence.Methods. The analysis of the features of the linguistic competence formation of the future managers with the help of critical thinking technology was used at the initial stage. The model of the organization of the effective foreign language practicals is developed by means of pedagogical simulation. The testing of the control and the experimental groups with the future statistical data processing is used to evaluate the developed model effectiveness.Results. Methods and teaching techniques are used in compliance with each stage of cognitive activity. The necessary requirements while the organization and the conducting of the foreign language practicals when critical thinking skills learning are stated. The role of the professionally-oriented foreign texts in the higher educational institutions for the critical thinking development and the improvement of the future managers’ linguistic competence is identified.Scientific novelty. A model of foreign language practicals for students of economics using the stages of cognitive activity and methods and techniques of critical thinking is developed. The dependence between the requirements for foreign language practicals and information mastery level is defined.Practical significance. The complex of foreign language practicals for students of economics increasing the level of language training is developed on the basis of theoretical survey and experimental data.

76 FR 14954 - National Professional Development Program; Office of English Language Acquisition, Language...

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-18

... Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students; Overview... to provide instruction that accelerates ELs' acquisition of language, literacy, and content knowledge.... Rosalinda Barrera, Assistant Deputy Secretary and Director for English Language Acquisition, Language...

Development of a Class for Multiple Precision Arithmetic in C/C++ Language

OpenAIRE

福田, 宏

1998-01-01

We have defined a floating-point variable of arbitrary length for a calculation of high precision and have developed a set of mathematical functions of it in C/C++ language. The variable and the functions are combined into a class in C++ language. In addition, the functions can be easily converted to those in FORTRAN language.

DEVELOPING PLURILINGUAL IDENTITY IN THIRD LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

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HACKETT-JONES A.V.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the notions of plurilingualism and plurilingual identity through the prism of the concepts of multilingualism and multilingual identity and the perspective of the theories of bilingualism. The article suggests that plurilingual identity can be viewed as an objective in third language (second foreign language teaching and contemplates specific characteristic imposed on a third language learner by the process of third language acquisition and the necessity of managing a certain imbalance between the degrees of language command and culture experience in different target languages.

DEVELOPING PLURILINGUAL IDENTITY IN THIRD LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

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HACKETT-JONES A.V.

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the notions of plurilingualism and plurilingual identity through the prism of the concepts of multilingualism and multilingual identity and the perspective of the theories of bilingualism. The article suggests that plurilingual identity can be viewed as an objective in third language (second foreign language teaching and contemplates specific characteristic imposed on a third language learner by the process of third language acquisition and the necessity of managing a certain imbalance between the degrees of language command and culture experience in different target languages.

Medical and biologic factors of speech and language development in children (part 2

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Chernov D.N.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The recent data shows that medico-biological aspects of the study of speech and language development in children should be expanded to include an analysis of various socio-cultural factors as the problem requires an interdisciplinary approach. The review stresses the necessity of methodological approach to study of bio- socio-cultural conditions of emerging speech and language abilities in ontogenesis. Psycho-pedagogical aspect involves: informing parents about the medical and biological aspects of speech and language development in childhood; the active involvement of parents in the remedial and preventive activities carried out by specialists; activities to improve the quality and quantity of child-parent interaction depending on the severity and nature of deviations in child speech and language development.

The Role of Indigenous Languages in National Development: A Case Study of Nigerian Linguistic Situation

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Anthony Ayodele Olaoye

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Indigenous languages are indispensable cultural legacies without which all forms of human interactions can be carried out. National development is the development of individuals in a nation. Individuals can develop educationally, socially, politically, economically, and culturally through interaction with government agencies that disseminate policies through various indigenous languages. Development indices such as internal cohesion, integration, unity, economic wellbeing and citizens’ participation in governance are promoted through indigenous languages. Based on these assertions, the author studied the current linguistic situations in Nigeria and found that native languages play fundamental role on issues  such as democracy, technology, metalanguage and linguistic globalization .There are however some challenges in the optimum  utilization of these mother tongues. The major problems being orthographic inadequacy,the multiplicity of minority languages, linguistic desertification and deforestation and  language endangerment.The author then suggests a way forward.

The effect of differential listening experience on the development of expressive and receptive language in children with bilateral cochlear implants.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Christi; Zettler-Greeley, Cynthia; Godar, Shelly P; Ellis-Weismer, Susan; Litovsky, Ruth Y

2014-01-01

Growing evidence suggests that children who are deaf and use cochlear implants (CIs) can communicate effectively using spoken language. Research has reported that age of implantation and length of experience with the CI play an important role in a predicting a child's linguistic development. In recent years, the increase in the number of children receiving bilateral CIs (BiCIs) has led to interest in new variables that may also influence the development of hearing, speech, and language abilities, such as length of bilateral listening experience and the length of time between the implantation of the two CIs. One goal of the present study was to determine how a cohort of children with BiCIs performed on standardized measures of language and nonverbal cognition. This study examined the relationship between performance on language and nonverbal intelligence quotient (IQ) tests and the ages at implantation of the first CI and second CI. This study also examined whether early bilateral activation is related to better language scores. Children with BiCIs (n = 39; ages 4 to 9 years) were tested on two standardized measures, the Test of Language Development and the Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised, to evaluate their expressive/receptive language skills and nonverbal IQ/memory. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to evaluate whether BiCI hearing experience predicts language performance. While large intersubject variability existed, on average, almost all the children with BiCIs scored within or above normal limits on measures of nonverbal cognition. Expressive and receptive language scores were highly variable, less likely to be above the normative mean, and did not correlate with Length of first CI Use, defined as length of auditory experience with one cochlear implant, or Length of second CI Use, defined as length of auditory experience with two cochlear implants. All children in the present study had BiCIs. Most IQ scores were either at or above that

Development of Pointing Gestures in Children with Typical and Delayed Language Acquisition

Science.gov (United States)

Lüke, Carina; Ritterfeld, Ute; Grimminger, Angela; Liszkowski, Ulf; Rohlfing, Katharina J.

2017-01-01

Purpose: This longitudinal study compared the development of hand and index-finger pointing in children with typical language development (TD) and children with language delay (LD). First, we examined whether the number and the form of pointing gestures during the second year of life are potential indicators of later LD. Second, we analyzed the…

Factors Affecting the Normalization of CALL in Chinese Senior High Schools

Science.gov (United States)

He, Bi; Puakpong, Nattaya; Lian, Andrew

2015-01-01

With the development of Information Technology, increasing attention has been paid to Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). Meanwhile, increasing enthusiasm is seen for English learning and teaching in China. Yet, few research studies have focused on the normalization of CALL in ethnically diverse areas. In response to this research gap,…

Comparison of Social Interaction between Cochlear-Implanted Children with Normal Intelligence Undergoing Auditory Verbal Therapy and Normal-Hearing Children: A Pilot Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Monshizadeh, Leila; Vameghi, Roshanak; Sajedi, Firoozeh; Yadegari, Fariba; Hashemi, Seyed Basir; Kirchem, Petra; Kasbi, Fatemeh

2018-04-01

A cochlear implant is a device that helps hearing-impaired children by transmitting sound signals to the brain and helping them improve their speech, language, and social interaction. Although various studies have investigated the different aspects of speech perception and language acquisition in cochlear-implanted children, little is known about their social skills, particularly Persian-speaking cochlear-implanted children. Considering the growing number of cochlear implants being performed in Iran and the increasing importance of developing near-normal social skills as one of the ultimate goals of cochlear implantation, this study was performed to compare the social interaction between Iranian cochlear-implanted children who have undergone rehabilitation (auditory verbal therapy) after surgery and normal-hearing children. This descriptive-analytical study compared the social interaction level of 30 children with normal hearing and 30 with cochlear implants who were conveniently selected. The Raven test was administered to the both groups to ensure normal intelligence quotient. The social interaction status of both groups was evaluated using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, and statistical analysis was performed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. After controlling age as a covariate variable, no significant difference was observed between the social interaction scores of both the groups (p > 0.05). In addition, social interaction had no correlation with sex in either group. Cochlear implantation followed by auditory verbal rehabilitation helps children with sensorineural hearing loss to have normal social interactions, regardless of their sex.

READING BASED-CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: AN EFFORT TOWARD THE INTEGRATION OF LANGUAGE SKILLS IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN INDONESIA

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Hadi Hadi

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract: This paper proposes the implementation of reading-based classroom activities for teaching English as a foreign language in Indonesia. Compared to other language skills, reading is viewed to provide a relatively stable foundation for Indonesian students to develop their communicative competence in English. It is argued that reading-focused activities stimulate confidence for Indonesian learners to get involved in listening, speaking, and writing related-activities in ways that are similar to normal daily life communication. The reasons for the proposed implementation of reading-based classroom activities in TEFLIN and the role of reading and its relation with other language skills are presented.

"Those Anime Students": Foreign Language Literacy Development through Japanese Popular Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Fukunaga, Natsuki

2006-01-01

Using multiliteracies and sociocultural perspectives on language and literacy learning, this article describes three Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) students' literacy development through involvement with Japanese popular culture. As part of a larger qualitative ethnographic study, the author interviewed JFL learners who have a particular…

Dealing with Distinctiveness. Development of Chinese in the "Australian Curriculum: Languages"

Science.gov (United States)

Scrimgeour, Andrew; Foster, Marnie; Mao, Weifeng

2013-01-01

This article explores some of the distinctive challenges in Chinese language education in schools and discusses how the development of the "Australian Curriculum: Chinese" has responded to these challenges. It details how the curriculum framework outlined in the "Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Languages" (ACARA, 2011)…

Current Research/Development in Language Testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Oller, John W., Jr.

A discussion of language testing looks at the relationship between the processes of language learning and language testing, particularly from the point of view of pragmatics theory. It outlines some of the theory of Charles Sanders Pierce and its role in the evolution of linguistic theory, as well as the work of other theorists concerning the…

When learning a second language does not mean losing the first: bilingual language development in low-income, Spanish-speaking children attending bilingual preschool.

Science.gov (United States)

Winsler, A; Díaz, R M; Espinosa, L; Rodríguez, J L

1999-01-01

This article discusses two investigations which explored the bilingual language development outcomes of comparable groups of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican American children who either did or did not attended a bilingual (Spanish/English) preschool. Study 1 is a replication of a study by Rodríguez, Díaz, Duran, and Espinosa, involving a new sample of 26 children who attended bilingual preschool for one year and 20 control children who remained at home. Study 2 represents a 1-year, longitudinal follow-up of Rodríguez et al.'s, sample of children during and after the children spent another year at home or in the preschool. In both investigations, standardized, objective measures of three components of children's language proficiency (productive language, receptive language, and language complexity) in English and Spanish were obtained at the beginning and end of the academic year. Contrary to fears that have been expressed by some that early exposure to English would lead to children's native language loss, the results of both studies offered no evidence of Spanish proficiency loss for children attending bilingual preschool. Children who attended bilingual preschool, compared to those who remained at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish language development as well as significant and greater increases in English language proficiency over time. Results are discussed in terms of the need for more systematic research to be conducted in this area to inform policy and practice in the early education and development of language-minority children.

The development of children's language and ethical media competences and media skills

OpenAIRE

Valli, Raine; Hautaviita, Janika; Meriläinen, Merja

2015-01-01

The children's developing media competences and media skills are evaluated in this article on the basis of the evaluation indicator developed by Hautaviita (2012). The indicator has been developed for measuring the 6–9-year-old children's (the preschoolers and the pupils in grades 1-2) media competences. In it, the children's developing media skills are divided into practical, social, language and ethical media competences, of which this article concentrates on the last two, language and ethi...

Spoken language development in oral preschool children with permanent childhood deafness.

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Sarant, Julia Z; Holt, Colleen M; Dowell, Richard C; Rickards, Field W; Blamey, Peter J

2009-01-01

This article documented spoken language outcomes for preschool children with hearing loss and examined the relationships between language abilities and characteristics of children such as degree of hearing loss, cognitive abilities, age at entry to early intervention, and parent involvement in children's intervention programs. Participants were evaluated using a combination of the Child Development Inventory, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, and the Preschool Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals depending on their age at the time of assessment. Maternal education, cognitive ability, and family involvement were also measured. Over half of the children who participated in this study had poor language outcomes overall. No significant differences were found in language outcomes on any of the measures for children who were diagnosed early and those diagnosed later. Multiple regression analyses showed that family participation, degree of hearing loss, and cognitive ability significantly predicted language outcomes and together accounted for almost 60% of the variance in scores. This article highlights the importance of family participation in intervention programs to enable children to achieve optimal language outcomes. Further work may clarify the effects of early diagnosis on language outcomes for preschool children.

White Matter Volume Predicts Language Development in Congenital Heart Disease.

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Rollins, Caitlin K; Asaro, Lisa A; Akhondi-Asl, Alireza; Kussman, Barry D; Rivkin, Michael J; Bellinger, David C; Warfield, Simon K; Wypij, David; Newburger, Jane W; Soul, Janet S

2017-02-01

To determine whether brain volume is reduced at 1 year of age and whether these volumes are associated with neurodevelopment in biventricular congenital heart disease (CHD) repaired in infancy. Infants with biventricular CHD (n = 48) underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neurodevelopmental testing with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development-II and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories at 1 year of age. A multitemplate based probabilistic segmentation algorithm was applied to volumetric MRI data. We compared volumes with those of 13 healthy control infants of comparable ages. In the group with CHD, we measured Spearman correlations between neurodevelopmental outcomes and the residuals from linear regression of the volumes on corrected chronological age at MRI and sex. Compared with controls, infants with CHD had reductions of 54 mL in total brain (P = .009), 40 mL in cerebral white matter (P Development-II scores but did correlate positively with MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory language development. Infants with biventricular CHD show total brain volume reductions at 1 year of age, driven by differences in cerebral white matter. White matter volume correlates with language development, but not broader developmental indices. These findings suggest that abnormalities in white matter development detected months after corrective heart surgery may contribute to language impairment. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00006183. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language : Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nomura, Saeko; Ishida, Saeko; Jensen, Mika Yasuoka

2002-01-01

”Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language: Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002,” 10th International Conference on Human – Computer Interaction (HCII2003), June 2003, Crete, Greece.......”Open Source Software Development with Your Mother Language: Intercultural Collaboration Experiment 2002,” 10th International Conference on Human – Computer Interaction (HCII2003), June 2003, Crete, Greece....

Abnormal functional lateralization and activity of language brain areas in typical specific language impairment (developmental dysphasia)

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De Guibert, Clément; Maumet, Camille; Jannin, Pierre; Ferré, Jean-Christophe; Tréguier, Catherine; Barillot, Christian; Le Rumeur, Elisabeth; Allaire, Catherine; Biraben, Arnaud

2011-01-01

Atypical functional lateralization and specialization for language have been proposed to account for developmental language disorders, yet results from functional neuroimaging studies are sparse and inconsistent. This functional magnetic resonance imaging study compared children with a specific subtype of specific language impairment affecting structural language (n=21), to a matched group of typically-developing children using a panel of four language tasks neither requiring reading nor metalinguistic skills, including two auditory lexico-semantic tasks (category fluency and responsive naming) and two visual phonological tasks based on picture naming. Data processing involved normalizing the data with respect to a matched pairs pediatric template, groups and between-groups analysis, and laterality indexes assessment within regions of interest using single and combined task analysis. Children with specific language impairment exhibited a significant lack of left lateralization in all core language regions (inferior frontal gyrus-opercularis, inferior frontal gyrus-triangularis, supramarginal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus), across single or combined task analysis, but no difference of lateralization for the rest of the brain. Between-group comparisons revealed a left hypoactivation of Wernicke’s area at the posterior superior temporal/supramarginal junction during the responsive naming task, and a right hyperactivation encompassing the anterior insula with adjacent inferior frontal gyrus and the head of the caudate nucleus during the first phonological task. This study thus provides evidence that this specific subtype of specific language impairment is associated with atypical lateralization and functioning of core language areas. PMID:21719430

Low empathy in deaf and hard of hearing (preadolescents compared to normal hearing controls.

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Anouk P Netten

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to examine the level of empathy in deaf and hard of hearing (preadolescents compared to normal hearing controls and to define the influence of language and various hearing loss characteristics on the development of empathy.The study group (mean age 11.9 years consisted of 122 deaf and hard of hearing children (52 children with cochlear implants and 70 children with conventional hearing aids and 162 normal hearing children. The two groups were compared using self-reports, a parent-report and observation tasks to rate the children's level of empathy, their attendance to others' emotions, emotion recognition, and supportive behavior.Deaf and hard of hearing children reported lower levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than normal hearing children, regardless of their type of hearing device. The level of emotion recognition was equal in both groups. During observations, deaf and hard of hearing children showed more attention to the emotion evoking events but less supportive behavior compared to their normal hearing peers. Deaf and hard of hearing children attending mainstream education or using oral language show higher levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than deaf and hard of hearing children who use sign (supported language or attend special education. However, they are still outperformed by normal hearing children.Deaf and hard of hearing children, especially those in special education, show lower levels of empathy than normal hearing children, which can have consequences for initiating and maintaining relationships.

A NEW CONCEPT IN LANGUAGE LEARNING: APPLICATION OF EUROPEAN LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

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Ahmet GÜNEYLI

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to adapt European Language Portfolio (ELP to teaching Turkish as a foreign languagewhose application has been planned since 2005 in all European countries. With the European Language Passport programEuropean Validity Committee aims to set a langugage learning standard and encourage multi-culturalism among EUcountries. This program targets to find out which langugages the individuals speak and to discover where, how and whenthey have learnt the language. It also provides an opportunity for them to travel, reside and work in European countries.Today, ELP is in progress of becoming a common purpose in Europe. Therefore, ELP must be utilized in teaching Turkishas a foreign language. ELP must be piloted in laboratory schools through experimental studies with an approprietlydeveloped portfolio. Pilot projects must be applied in elementary, secondary, high schools and universities with acollaboration with the Ministry of Education. This study was conducted in TOMER ( the language center of AnkaraUniversity. For this study an experimental design was used. The sample includes 20 students in the control group and 20students in the experimental group. In this study students’ proficiency level of Turkish related to four basic language skills(reading, writing, listening and speaking and their attitude towards ELP application were examined.

Uneven Expressive Language Development in Mandarin-Exposed Preschool Children with ASD: Comparing Vocabulary, Grammar, and the Decontextualized Use of Language via the PCDI-Toddler Form.

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Su, Yi Esther; Naigles, Letitia R; Su, Lin-Yan

2018-05-21

Data from children with ASD who are learning Indo-European languages indicate that (a) they vary hugely in their expressive language skills and (b) their pragmatic/socially-based language is more impaired than their structural language. We investigate whether similar patterns of language development exist for Mandarin-exposed children with ASD. Parent report data of the Putonghua Communicative Development Inventory-Toddler Form were collected from 160 17-83-month-old children with ASD. These children with ASD demonstrated similar levels of variability as Western children with ASD. In particular, they could be divided into three distinct subgroups (high verbal, middle verbal, low verbal), all of which manifested relative strengths in lexical and grammatical language compared to pragmatic usage of decontextualized language.

Parental Support for Language Development during Joint Book Reading for Young Children with Hearing Loss

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DesJardin, Jean L.; Doll, Emily R.; Stika, Carren J.; Eisenberg, Laurie S.; Johnson, Karen J.; Ganguly, Dianne Hammes; Colson, Bethany G.; Henning, Shirley C.

2014-01-01

Parent and child joint book reading (JBR) characteristics and parent facilitative language techniques (FLTs) were investigated in two groups of parents and their young children; children with normal hearing (NH; "n" = 60) and children with hearing loss (HL; "n" = 45). Parent-child dyads were videotaped during JBR interactions,…

SOME ASPECTS OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT IN THE SYSTEM OF CONTINUED PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

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A. G. Gorbunov

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The system of continued professional education in modern Russia is aimed at raising the level of professional workers’ ability for competition at the global vocational market. Among the most required competences we put an emphasis on the ability for efficient communication in the native and foreign languages pursuing social, cultural and professional interaction. The practical experience proves that students of various courses of study within the system of continued professional education have difficulties while communicating in a foreign language because of a low level of their foreign language communication competence that is based on ability for decoding and producing a discourse. Aim. The article considers the factors to develop students’ ability for decoding and producing a discourse in the format of reflexive positional discussion. Methodology and research methods. Development of the advanced and high level of foreign language competence is possible via introduction of institutional discursive practices into the educational process. Development of foreign language competence in the system of continued professional education is being discussed from the point of synergy of pedagogical science and applied linguistics. System-synergetic, communicative-activity, discursive and technological approaches have been chosen as the methodological base to develop the system of criteria of students’ preparedness and ability to communicate in a foreign language. Methods of analysis and synthesis have been used during the work as well. Results and scientific novelty. The materials presented in the publication make a contribution to the theory and methodology of continued professional education regarding effective experts’ foreign language mastering, and skills acquisition for the most productive interpersonal and professional-oriented communication. Methodologically-based definition and description of the components of subject and

Minority Languages Learned Informally: The Social Construction of Language Skills through the Discourse of Ontario Employers. NALL Working Paper.

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Goldberg, Michelle; Corson, David

Many immigrants, refugees, and aboriginal Canadians learn their own languages in the normal, informal way. These minority languages learned informally are not valued as a skill that yields returns in the labor market in the same way the official languages or formally learned languages do. What counts as a skill in a society, in a given point in…

Language Acquisition and Language Learning: Developing the System of External and Internal Perspectives

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Zascerinska, Jelena

2010-01-01

Introduction. The use of three-five languages is of the greatest importance in order to form varied cooperative networks for the creation of new knowledge. Aim of the paper is to analyze the synergy between language acquisition and language learning. Materials and Methods. The search for the synergy between language acquisition and language…

Transliteration normalization for Information Extraction and Machine Translation

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Yuval Marton

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Foreign name transliterations typically include multiple spelling variants. These variants cause data sparseness and inconsistency problems, increase the Out-of-Vocabulary (OOV rate, and present challenges for Machine Translation, Information Extraction and other natural language processing (NLP tasks. This work aims to identify and cluster name spelling variants using a Statistical Machine Translation method: word alignment. The variants are identified by being aligned to the same “pivot” name in another language (the source-language in Machine Translation settings. Based on word-to-word translation and transliteration probabilities, as well as the string edit distance metric, names with similar spellings in the target language are clustered and then normalized to a canonical form. With this approach, tens of thousands of high-precision name transliteration spelling variants are extracted from sentence-aligned bilingual corpora in Arabic and English (in both languages. When these normalized name spelling variants are applied to Information Extraction tasks, improvements over strong baseline systems are observed. When applied to Machine Translation tasks, a large improvement potential is shown.

An Understanding of Language Development Models--Pidginization from the Perspective of Chaos Theory

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Zhao, Guodong

2010-01-01

With the accelerated globalization, domestic and international communications become more frequent than ever before. As the major media of international communication, languages contact with each other more actively by day. And in the active contact any language would gradually develop and change. Pidgin language is a unique linguistic phenomenon…

Improving developer productivity with C++ embedded domain specific languages

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Kozacik, Stephen; Chao, Evenie; Paolini, Aaron; Bonnett, James; Kelmelis, Eric

2017-05-01

Domain-specific languages are a useful tool for productivity allowing domain experts to program using familiar concepts and vocabulary while benefiting from performance choices made by computing experts. Embedding the domain specific language into an existing language allows easy interoperability with non-domain-specific code and use of standard compilers and build systems. In C++, this is enabled through the template and preprocessor features. C++ embedded domain specific languages (EDSLs) allow the user to write simple, safe, performant, domain specific code that has access to all the low-level functionality that C and C++ offer as well as the diverse set of libraries available in the C/C++ ecosystem. In this paper, we will discuss several tools available for building EDSLs in C++ and show examples of projects successfully leveraging EDSLs. Modern C++ has added many useful new features to the language which we have leveraged to further extend the capability of EDSLs. At EM Photonics, we have used EDSLs to allow developers to transparently benefit from using high performance computing (HPC) hardware. We will show ways EDSLs combine with existing technologies and EM Photonics high performance tools and libraries to produce clean, short, high performance code in ways that were not previously possible.

From Concepts to Design in Developing Languages in the Australian Curriculum

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Scarino, Angela

2013-01-01

Developing curricula for languages in the context of the Australian Curriculum is a complex undertaking that needs to address a number of demands. These include: the nature of language-and-culture learning for contemporary times within an increasingly diverse linguistic and cultural world; the goals of mainstream education and the…

Development and Validation of the Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS)

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Smyk, Ekaterina; Restrepo, M. Adelaida; Gorin, Joanna S.; Gray, Shelley

2013-01-01

Purpose: This study examined the development and validation of a criterion-referenced Spanish-English Language Proficiency Scale (SELPS) that was designed to assess the oral language skills of sequential bilingual children ages 4-8. This article reports results for the English proficiency portion of the scale. Method: The SELPS assesses syntactic…

Developing Pedagogical Practices for English-Language Learners: A Design-Based Approach

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Iddings, Ana Christina DaSilva; Rose, Brian Christopher

2012-01-01

This study draws on the application of sociocultural theory to second-language learning and teaching to examine the impact of a design-based research approach on teacher development and literacy instruction to English-language learners (ELLs). Design-based research methodology was employed to derive theoretical suppositions relating to the process…

The irreversibility of sensitive period effects in language development: evidence from second language acquisition in international adoptees.

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Norrman, Gunnar; Bylund, Emanuel

2016-05-01

The question of a sensitive period in language acquisition has been subject to extensive research and debate for more than half a century. While it has been well established that the ability to learn new languages declines in early years, the extent to which this outcome depends on biological maturation in contrast to previously acquired knowledge remains disputed. In the present study, we addressed this question by examining phonetic discriminatory abilities in early second language (L2) speakers of Swedish, who had either maintained their first language (L1) (immigrants) or had lost it (international adoptees), using native speaker controls. Through this design, we sought to disentangle the effects of the maturational state of the learner on L2 development from the effects of L1 interference: if additional language development is indeed constrained by an interfering L1, then adoptees should outperform immigrant speakers. The results of an auditory lexical decision task, in which fine vowel distinctions in Swedish had been modified, showed, however, no difference between the L2 groups. Instead, both L2 groups scored significantly lower than the native speaker group. The three groups did not differ in their ability to discriminate non-modified words. These findings demonstrate that L1 loss is not a crucial condition for successfully acquiring an L2, which in turn is taken as support for a maturational constraints view on L2 acquisition. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/1J9X50aePeU. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Development of Reference Realisation and Narrative in an Australian Contact Language, Wumpurrarni English

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Samantha eDisbray

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The development of narrative skill has been investigated extensively in a wide range of languages, cross-linguistically and in multilingual settings (Berman & Slobin, 1994b; Hickmann, 2004; Severing & Verhoeven 2001, Strömqvist & Verhoeven, 2004. The present study investigates the development of reference realisation in narrative among Indigenous children in a remote urban township in Central Australia. The children, aged between 5 and 14 years, are speakers of a contact language, Wumpurrarni English. Language development is rarely investigated among speakers of minority languages, whose language development is often appraised in the majority language, with little attention to language performance in the speaker’s home variety. The present study addresses this gap through a fine-grained qualitative analysis of the development of reference in narrative, drawing on a complex stimulus and a model of discourse strategy. The results show a a developmental trajectory similar to that found in other languages, with children aged eight and under producing simpler and less globally organised narratives than older speaker groups, and b vulnerability to the changing demands of the stimulus among these younger speakers. In addition, a subset of narrations were produced in ‘school variety’, a style more like Standard Australian English, and the results for this set showed that the narrative content and global organisation of the productions by ten- and twelve–year-olds was more similar to the productions of younger children, than like-aged speakers narrating in their home variety. Analysis of speaker responses to two factors of complexity, the stimulus and code choice, illuminated mechanisms for discourse production and development, and suggest that constructing discourse requires co-ordination of an underlying schema and on-line construction of a particular story through the deployment of linguistic devices in a particular narrative context, and

Echolalia in the language development of autistic individuals: a bibliographical review.

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Saad, Andressa Gouveia de Faria; Goldfeld, Marcia

2009-01-01

echolalia is one of the most common symptoms among the language characteristics in Autism. to provide a detailed literature revision about the role of echolalia in the language development process of autistic individuals, and to discuss the use of this language feature in the speech-language clinical practice. The researches show classifications and analysis criterions of echolalia in a discursive context. A few of the analyzed studies are against the use of echolalia, pointing that it has no communicative function, and therefore should be discouraged. On the other hand, other studies indicate that echolalia has a communicative value and can be used as a communicative in speech-language intervention. this bibliographical review raises the issue about the importance of evaluating the conditions in which echolalia might occur before considering it as having a communicative value or not.

Development of clinical contents model markup language for electronic health records.

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Yun, Ji-Hyun; Ahn, Sun-Ju; Kim, Yoon

2012-09-01

To develop dedicated markup language for clinical contents models (CCM) to facilitate the active use of CCM in electronic health record systems. Based on analysis of the structure and characteristics of CCM in the clinical domain, we designed extensible markup language (XML) based CCM markup language (CCML) schema manually. CCML faithfully reflects CCM in both the syntactic and semantic aspects. As this language is based on XML, it can be expressed and processed in computer systems and can be used in a technology-neutral way. CCML HAS THE FOLLOWING STRENGTHS: it is machine-readable and highly human-readable, it does not require a dedicated parser, and it can be applied for existing electronic health record systems.

Language Development and Impairment in Children with Mild to Moderate Sensorineural Hearing Loss

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Halliday, Lorna F.; Tuomainen, Outi; Rosen, Stuart

2017-01-01

Purpose: The goal of this study was to examine language development and factors related to language impairments in children with mild to moderate sensorineural hearing loss (MMHL). Method: Ninety children, aged 8-16 years (46 children with MMHL; 44 aged-matched controls), were administered a battery of standardized language assessments, including…

Hidden Language Impairments in Children: Parallels between Poor Reading Comprehension and Specific Language Impairment?

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Nation, Kate; Clarke, Paula; Marshall, Catherine M.; Durand, Marianne

2004-01-01

This study investigates the oral language skills of 8-year-old children with impaired reading comprehension. Despite fluent and accurate reading and normal nonverbal ability, these children are poor at understanding what they have read. Tasks tapping 3 domains of oral language, namely phonology, semantics, and morphosyntax, were administered,…

Developing Language in a Developing Body: The Relationship between Motor Development and Language Development

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Iverson, Jana M.

2010-01-01

During the first eighteen months of life, infants acquire and refine a whole set of new motor skills that significantly change the ways in which the body moves in and interacts with the environment. In this review article, I argue that motor acquisitions provide infants with an opportunity to practice skills relevant to language acquisition before…

Factors Influencing Verbal Intelligence and Spoken Language in Children with Phenylketonuria.

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Soleymani, Zahra; Keramati, Nasrin; Rohani, Farzaneh; Jalaei, Shohre

2015-05-01

To determine verbal intelligence and spoken language of children with phenylketonuria and to study the effect of age at diagnosis and phenylalanine plasma level on these abilities. Cross-sectional. Children with phenylketonuria were recruited from pediatric hospitals in 2012. Normal control subjects were recruited from kindergartens in Tehran. 30 phenylketonuria and 42 control subjects aged 4-6.5 years. Skills were compared between 3 phenylketonuria groups categorized by age at diagnosis/treatment, and between the phenylketonuria and control groups. Scores on Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence for verbal and total intelligence, and Test of Language Development-Primary, third edition for spoken language, listening, speaking, semantics, syntax, and organization. The performance of control subjects was significantly better than that of early-treated subjects for all composite quotients from Test of Language Development and verbal intelligence (Pphenylketonuria subjects.

The Impact of Early Social Interactions on Later Language Development in Spanish-English Bilingual Infants

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Ramírez-Esparza, Nairán; García-Sierra, Adrián; Kuhl, Patricia K.

2017-01-01

This study tested the impact of child-directed language input on language development in Spanish-English bilingual infants (N = 25, 11- and 14-month-olds from the Seattle metropolitan area), across languages and independently for each language, controlling for socioeconomic status. Language input was characterized by social interaction variables,…

The development of executive function and language skills in the early school years.

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Gooch, Debbie; Thompson, Paul; Nash, Hannah M; Snowling, Margaret J; Hulme, Charles

2016-02-01

The developmental relationships between executive functions (EF) and early language skills are unclear. This study explores the longitudinal relationships between children's early EF and language skills in a sample of children with a wide range of language abilities including children at risk of dyslexia. In addition, we investigated whether these skills independently predict children's attention/behaviour skills. Data are presented from 243 children at four time points. Children were selected for being at risk of reading difficulties either because of a family history of dyslexia (FR; N = 90) or because of concerns regarding their language development (LI; N = 79) or as typically developing controls (TD; N = 74). The children completed tasks to assess their executive function and language skills at ages 4, 5 and 6 years. At 6 (T4) and 7 years (T5) parents and teachers rated the children's attention/behaviour skills. There was a strong concurrent relationship between language and EF at each assessment. Longitudinal analyses indicated a considerable degree of stability in children's language and EF skills: the influence of language on later EF skills (and vice versa) was weak and not significant in the current sample. Children's EF, but not language, skills at T3 predicted attention/behaviour ratings at T4/T5. There is a strong concurrent association between language and EF skills during the preschool and early school years, when children with language impairment show persistent EF deficits. Latent variables measuring language and EF show high longitudinal stability with little evidence of significant or strong reciprocal influences between these constructs. EF, but not language, skills predict later ratings of children's attention and behaviour. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.

Advanced software development workstation project: Engineering scripting language. Graphical editor

Science.gov (United States)

1992-01-01

Software development is widely considered to be a bottleneck in the development of complex systems, both in terms of development and in terms of maintenance of deployed systems. Cost of software development and maintenance can also be very high. One approach to reducing costs and relieving this bottleneck is increasing the reuse of software designs and software components. A method for achieving such reuse is a software parts composition system. Such a system consists of a language for modeling software parts and their interfaces, a catalog of existing parts, an editor for combining parts, and a code generator that takes a specification and generates code for that application in the target language. The Advanced Software Development Workstation is intended to be an expert system shell designed to provide the capabilities of a software part composition system.

Effects of Academic and Non-Academic Instructional Approaches on Preschool English Language Learners' Classroom Engagement and English Language Development

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Markova, Ivana

2017-01-01

This research compared the relative impact of different preschool activities on the development of bilingual students' English-language skills. The study investigated whether bilingual preschool children would engage more, and use more of their second language (English), during free-play (non-academic) versus teacher-structured (academic)…

Verbal communication skills in typical language development: a case series.

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Abe, Camila Mayumi; Bretanha, Andreza Carolina; Bozza, Amanda; Ferraro, Gyovanna Junya Klinke; Lopes-Herrera, Simone Aparecida

2013-01-01

The aim of the current study was to investigate verbal communication skills in children with typical language development and ages between 6 and 8 years. Participants were 10 children of both genders in this age range without language alterations. A 30-minute video of each child's interaction with an adult (father and/or mother) was recorded, fully transcribed, and analyzed by two trained researchers in order to determine reliability. The recordings were analyzed according to a protocol that categorizes verbal communicative abilities, including dialogic, regulatory, narrative-discursive, and non-interactive skills. The frequency of use of each category of verbal communicative ability was analyzed (in percentage) for each subject. All subjects used more dialogical and regulatory skills, followed by narrative-discursive and non-interactive skills. This suggests that children in this age range are committed to continue dialog, which shows that children with typical language development have more dialogic interactions during spontaneous interactions with a familiar adult.

Information Technology and Language Development. Occasional Paper InTER/10/89.

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Rymaszewski, Rachel, Ed.

This report of a seminar on information technology (IT) and language development begins by presenting background on language skills and information technology in order to define the scope of the topic. The report then pulls together and elaborates on the output of the seminar. The first section discusses media-centered issues, including the design…

Language Planning and Planned Languages: How Can Planned Languages Inform Language Planning?

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Humphrey Tonkin

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The field of language planning (LP has largely ignored planned languages. Of classic descriptions of LP processes, only Tauli (preceded by Wüster suggests that planned languages (what Wüster calls Plansprache might bear on LP theory and practice. If LP aims "to modify the linguistic behaviour of some community for some reason," as Kaplan and Baldauf put it, creating a language de novo is little different. Language policy and planning are increasingly seen as more local and less official, and occasionally more international and cosmopolitan. Zamenhof's work on Esperanto provides extensive material, little studied, documenting the formation of the language and linking it particularly to issues of supranational LP. Defining LP decision-making, Kaplan & Baldauf begin with context and target population. Zamenhof's Esperanto came shortly before Ben-Yehuda's revived Hebrew. His target community was (mostly the world's educated elite; Ben-Yehuda's was worldwide Jewry. Both planners were driven not by linguistic interest but by sociopolitical ideology rooted in reaction to anti-Semitism and imbued with the idea of progress. Their territories had no boundaries, but were not imaginary. Function mattered as much as form (Haugen's terms, status as much as corpus. For Zamenhof, status planning involved emphasis on Esperanto's ownership by its community - a collective planning process embracing all speakers (cf. Hebrew. Corpus planning included a standardized European semantics, lexical selectivity based not simply on standardization but on representation, and the development of written, and literary, style. Esperanto was successful as linguistic system and community language, less as generally accepted lingua franca. Its terminology development and language cultivation offers a model for language revival, but Zamenhof's somewhat limited analysis of language economy left him unprepared to deal with language as power.

DISTANCE LEARNING FOR DEVELOPING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

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Natalia A. Kameneva

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The importance of using distance learning for developing knowledge, skills and competences in English Language teaching in contemporary educational process is justified in the article. In this connection the great attention is focused on radical changes in English Language teaching methodology. With the advent of online education the relationships between the lecturers or the tutors and the students alter and become more open and cooperating, because the students get more involved, interested and motivated in learning foreign languages. Apart from this, the main components of distance education are briefly considered.

Relationship between the linguistic environments and early bilingual language development of hearing children in deaf-parented families.

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Kanto, Laura; Huttunen, Kerttu; Laakso, Marja-Leena

2013-04-01

We explored variation in the linguistic environments of hearing children of Deaf parents and how it was associated with their early bilingual language development. For that purpose we followed up the children's productive vocabulary (measured with the MCDI; MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory) and syntactic complexity (measured with the MLU10; mean length of the 10 longest utterances the child produced during videorecorded play sessions) in both Finnish Sign Language and spoken Finnish between the ages of 12 and 30 months. Additionally, we developed new methodology for describing the linguistic environments of the children (N = 10). Large variation was uncovered in both the amount and type of language input and language acquisition among the children. Language exposure and increases in productive vocabulary and syntactic complexity were interconnected. Language acquisition was found to be more dependent on the amount of exposure in sign language than in spoken language. This was judged to be related to the status of sign language as a minority language. The results are discussed in terms of parents' language choices, family dynamics in Deaf-parented families and optimal conditions for bilingual development.

Bilingual children referred for psychiatric services: associations of language disorders, language skills, and psychopathology.

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Toppelberg, Claudio O; Medrano, Laura; Peña Morgens, Liana; Nieto-Castañon, Alfonso

2002-06-01

To investigate (1) the prevalence of language deficits and disorders and (2) the relationship of bilingual language skills and psychopathology, in Spanish-English bilingual children referred for child and adolescent psychiatry services. Bilingual language skills, emotional/behavioral problems, sociodemographics, immigration variables, and nonverbal IQ were studied in 50 consecutively referred children. Estimated prevalence was high for language deficits (48%) and disorders (41%), with most cases (>79%) being of the mixed receptive-expressive type. In children with clinically significant emotional/behavioral problems, bilingual language skills were strongly and inversely correlated with problem scores, particularly global problems (r = -0.67, p or = -0.54; p language disorders and delays and (2) the close tie between poor language skills and emotional/behavioral problems. The data strongly suggest the clinical importance and feasibility of language assessment and the significance of receptive problems in bilingual children referred for psychiatric services. A safe approach is to fully assess language skills, rather than misattributing these children's language delays to normal bilingual acquisition processes.

Maternal Gesture Use and Language Development in Infant Siblings of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Talbott, Meagan R.; Nelson, Charles A.; Tager-Flusberg, Helen

2015-01-01

Impairments in language and communication are an early-appearing feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD), with delays in language and gesture evident as early as the first year of life. Research with typically developing populations highlights the importance of both infant and maternal gesture use in infants' early language development.…

A Longitudinal Study of Pragmatic Language Development in Three Children with Cochlear Implants

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Dammeyer, Jesper

2012-01-01

Research has shown how cochlear implants (CIs), in children with hearing impairments, have improved speech perception and production, but very little is known about the children's pragmatic language development. During a 4-year longitudinal study of three children with CIs, certain aspects of pragmatic language development were observed in free…

Education Course Syllabus Development, Thai Language Major According to Buddhism Way of Thailand

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Waree, Chaiwat

2016-01-01

This research aims to develop Education Course Syllabus, Thai language major, according to Buddhism way of Thailand by using Taba's Approach and to evaluate the efficiency of Education Course Syllabus, Thai language major, according to Buddhism way of Thailand. This research was conducted according to research and development format and its…

Association between language development and auditory processing disorders

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Caroline Nunes Rocha-Muniz

2014-06-01

Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: It is crucial to understand the complex processing of acoustic stimuli along the auditory pathway ;comprehension of this complex processing can facilitate our understanding of the processes that underlie normal and altered human communication. AIM: To investigate the performance and lateralization effects on auditory processing assessment in children with specific language impairment (SLI, relating these findings to those obtained in children with auditory processing disorder (APD and typical development (TD. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Prospective study. Seventy-five children, aged 6-12 years, were separated in three groups: 25 children with SLI, 25 children with APD, and 25 children with TD. All went through the following tests: speech-in-noise test, Dichotic Digit test and Pitch Pattern Sequencing test. RESULTS: The effects of lateralization were observed only in the SLI group, with the left ear presenting much lower scores than those presented to the right ear. The inter-group analysis has shown that in all tests children from APD and SLI groups had significantly poorer performance compared to TD group. Moreover, SLI group presented worse results than APD group. CONCLUSION: This study has shown, in children with SLI, an inefficient processing of essential sound components and an effect of lateralization. These findings may indicate that neural processes (required for auditory processing are different between auditory processing and speech disorders.

Low empathy in deaf and hard of hearing (pre)adolescents compared to normal hearing controls.

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Netten, Anouk P; Rieffe, Carolien; Theunissen, Stephanie C P M; Soede, Wim; Dirks, Evelien; Briaire, Jeroen J; Frijns, Johan H M

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the level of empathy in deaf and hard of hearing (pre)adolescents compared to normal hearing controls and to define the influence of language and various hearing loss characteristics on the development of empathy. The study group (mean age 11.9 years) consisted of 122 deaf and hard of hearing children (52 children with cochlear implants and 70 children with conventional hearing aids) and 162 normal hearing children. The two groups were compared using self-reports, a parent-report and observation tasks to rate the children's level of empathy, their attendance to others' emotions, emotion recognition, and supportive behavior. Deaf and hard of hearing children reported lower levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than normal hearing children, regardless of their type of hearing device. The level of emotion recognition was equal in both groups. During observations, deaf and hard of hearing children showed more attention to the emotion evoking events but less supportive behavior compared to their normal hearing peers. Deaf and hard of hearing children attending mainstream education or using oral language show higher levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than deaf and hard of hearing children who use sign (supported) language or attend special education. However, they are still outperformed by normal hearing children. Deaf and hard of hearing children, especially those in special education, show lower levels of empathy than normal hearing children, which can have consequences for initiating and maintaining relationships.

LANGUAGE, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION: FOCUS ON CHILDREN’S EDUCATION

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Solange Maria Alves

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Based on theoretical patterns of historical-cultural approach, this text proposes a critical discussion about the relation among the process of human development, the role of language and scholar education as elements of specific and intentional mediation, directed to the development of typical human ways of thinking, or, as preferred by Vygotsky, superior psychological functions. Under this focus, the author points some characteristics to be assumed by scholar organization, committed with pedagogic praxis for childhood, approaching the playful of social roles and the game as linguistic elements itself, and, thus, owners of social content, fundamental symbolic contents to be taken as start element for the educative action of change. KEYWORDS: Language and play. Human development. Education. Childhood. AUTORA

Television viewing in Thai infants and toddlers: impacts to language development and parental perceptions

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Ruangdaraganon, Nichara; Chuthapisith, Jariya; Mo-suwan, Ladda; Kriweradechachai, Suntree; Udomsubpayakul, Umaporn; Choprapawon, Chanpen

2009-01-01

Background Effects of television to language development in infants and toddlers, especially in the Asian children, are inconclusive. This study aimed to (a) study time spent on television in Thai infants and toddlers (age television (as recommended by the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), television toward their child's development. Methods Two hundred and sixty children and their parents were recruited into the study. Time spent on television and parental perceptions on television viewing toward their child's development were recorded during face-to-face and telephone interviews. Language development was assessed at the age of 2 years using the Clinical Linguistic Auditory Milestone Scale (CLAMS), and parents' report. Association between delayed language development and time spent on television viewing, as well as other various parameters such as gender, maternal education and family income, were analysed using a multivariate logistic regression model. Results Most Thai infants and toddlers watched television at the age of 6 months, 1 year and 2 years old (98.0, 95.3 and 96.7%, respectively). On average, 1-year-old children watched television 1.23 ± 1.42 hours per day. This increased to 1.69 ± 1.56 hours per day when they were 2 years old. However, watching television longer than 2 hours per day did not associate with delayed language development. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, gender (male) was the only significant factor associated with delayed language development (OR = 6.9, 95% CI = 1.5–31.3). Moreover, 75%, 71%, and 66% of Thai parents believed that television viewing yielded benefits to children's developments. Conclusion Thai children commenced watching television at an early age and the amount of television viewing time increased by age. Most parents had positive perceptions to television viewing. The study found no association between time spent on television viewing (≥ 2 hours per day) and delayed language development at the

Facilitating Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners

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Molle, Daniella

2013-01-01

The study explores the process of facilitation in professional development for educators. The study relies on discourse analysis of interaction among K-12 teachers and administrators in a Midwestern U.S. state during a semester-long professional development program especially designed for educators working with English language learners (ELLs).…

Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Sign Language Test Development: Results of an International Survey

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Haug, Tobias

2015-01-01

Sign language test development is a relatively new field within sign linguistics, motivated by the practical need for assessment instruments to evaluate language development in different groups of learners (L1, L2). Due to the lack of research on the structure and acquisition of many sign languages, developing an assessment instrument poses…

BAIK– PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE BASED ON INDONESIAN LEXICAL PARSING FOR MULTITIER WEB DEVELOPMENT

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Haris Hasanudin

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Business software development with global team is increasing rapidly and the programming language as development tool takes the important role in the global web development. The real user friendly programming language should be written in local language for programmer who has native language is not in English. This paper presents our design of BAIK (Bahasa Anak Indonesia untuk Komputerscripting language which syntax is modeled with Bahasa Indonesian for multitier web development. Researcher propose the implementation of Indonesian Parsing Engine and Binary Search Tree structure for memory allocation of variable and compose the language features that support basic Object Oriented Programming, Common Gateway Interface, HTML style manipulation and database connection. Our goal is to build real programming language from simple structure design for web development using Indonesian lexical words. Pengembangan bisnis perangkat lunak dalam tim berskala global meningkat dengan cepat dan bahasa pemrograman berperan penting dalam pengembangan web secara global. Bahasa pemrograman yang benar-benar ramah terhadap pengguna harus ditulis dalam bahasa lokal programmer yang bahasa ibunya bukan Bahasa Inggris. Paper ini menyajikan desain dari bahasa penulisan BAIK (Bahasa Anak Indonesia untuk Komputer, yang sintaksisnya dimodelkan dengan Bahasa Indonesia untuk pengembangan web multitier. Peneliti mengusulkan implementasi dari parsing engine Bahasa Indonesia dan struktur binary search tree untuk alokasi memori terhadap variabel, serta membuat fitur bahasa yang mendukung dasar pemrograman berbasis objek, common gateway interface, manipulasi gaya HTML, dan koneksi basis data. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menciptakan bahasa pemrograman yang sesungguhnya dan menggunakan desain struktur sederhana untuk pengembangan web dengan menggunakan kata-kata dari Bahasa Indonesia.

Developing Visualization Support System for Teaching/Learning Database Normalization

Science.gov (United States)

Folorunso, Olusegun; Akinwale, AdioTaofeek

2010-01-01

Purpose: In tertiary institution, some students find it hard to learn database design theory, in particular, database normalization. The purpose of this paper is to develop a visualization tool to give students an interactive hands-on experience in database normalization process. Design/methodology/approach: The model-view-controller architecture…

Digital gaming and second language development: Japanese learners interactions in a MMORPG

OpenAIRE

Mark Peterson

2011-01-01

Massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are identified as valuable arenas for language learning, as they provide access to contexts and types of interaction that are held to be beneficial in second language acquisition research. This paper will describe the development and key features of these games, and explore claims made regarding their value as environments for language learning. The discussion will then examine current research. This is followed by an analysis of t...

'Beyond Milestones': a randomised controlled trial evaluating an innovative digital resource teaching quality observation of normal child development.

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Connolly, Anne M; Cunningham, Clare; Sinclair, Adriane J; Rao, Arjun; Lonergan, Amy; Bye, Ann M E

2014-05-01

The study aimed to create and evaluate the educational effectiveness of a digital resource instructing paediatric trainees in a systematic approach to critical and quality observation of normal child development. A digital educational resource was developed utilising the skills of an expert developmental paediatrician who was videoed assessing normal early child development at a series of critical stages. Videos illustrated aspects of language, sophistication of play and socialisation, cognition, and motor progress. Expert commentary, teaching text and summaries were used. A randomised controlled trial evaluated the resource. Paediatric trainees were recruited from The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network. Outcome measures were repeated at three time points (pre-teaching, immediate-post and 1 month) and included self-rated attitudes, knowledge of markers of development and observational expertise. Qualitative data on teaching usefulness were obtained through open-ended questions. Fifty-six paediatric trainees (registrar 79%, women 82%; mean age 31 years) completed the pre-assessment, 46 the immediate-post and 45 the 1-month follow-up (20% attrition). Compared with the Control group, the Teaching group scored higher over time on markers of development (P = 0.006), observational expertise (P improves knowledge, increases confidence and is useful, providing a structured approach to developmental assessment. The techniques taught can be applied to every paediatric consultation. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2013 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Examining the Language Phenotype in Children with Typical Development, Specific Language Impairment, and Fragile X Syndrome

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Haebig, Eileen; Sterling, Audra; Hoover, Jill

2016-01-01

Purpose: One aspect of morphosyntax, finiteness marking, was compared in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), specific language impairment (SLI), and typical development matched on mean length of utterance (MLU). Method: Nineteen children with typical development (mean age = 3.3 years), 20 children with SLI (mean age = 4.9 years), and 17 boys…

Language as a Problem of Development: Ideological Debates and Comprehensive Education in the Philippines

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Ruanni, T.; Tupas, F.

2009-01-01

Fixation on language in language policy debates is not a natural given. In fact, it has to be re-examined. This paper argues that another effective way to look at language policy is to suspend talk on language, and instead first engage with social development issues where people are at the heart of the social landscape. It discusses three ways of…

Validity and reliability of Preschool Language Scale 4 for measuring language development in children 48-59 months of age

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Nuryani Sidarta

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Prevalence rates for speech and language delay have been reported across wide ranges. Speech and language delay affects 5% to 8% of preschool children, often persisting into the school years.  A cross-sectional study was conducted in 208 children aged 48-59 months to determine the validity and reliability of the Indonesian edition of the Preschool Language Scale version 4 (PLS4 as a screening tool for the identification of language development disorders. Construct validity was examined by using Pearson correlation coefficient. Internal consistency was tested and repeated measurements were taken to establish the stability coefficient and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC for test-retest reliability. For construct validity, the Pearson correlation coefficient ranged from 0.151-0.526, indicating that all questions in this instrument were valid for measuring auditory comprehension (AC and expressive communication skills (EC. Cronbach’s alpha level ranged from 0.81-0.95 with standard error of measurement (SEM ranging from 3.1-3.3. Stability coefficients ranged from 0.98-.0.99 with ICC coefficient ranging from 0.97-0.99 both of which showed an excellent reliability. This study found that PLS-4 is a valid and reliable instrument. It is easy to handle and can be recommended for assessing language development in children aged 48-59 months.

Propositional Density in Spoken and Written Language of Czech-Speaking Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment

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Smolík, Filip; Stepankova, Hana; Vyhnálek, Martin; Nikolai, Tomáš; Horáková, Karolína; Matejka, Štepán

2016-01-01

Purpose Propositional density (PD) is a measure of content richness in language production that declines in normal aging and more profoundly in dementia. The present study aimed to develop a PD scoring system for Czech and use it to compare PD in language productions of older people with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and control…

Television viewing in Thai infants and toddlers: impacts to language development and parental perceptions

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Kriweradechachai Suntree

2009-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Effects of television to language development in infants and toddlers, especially in the Asian children, are inconclusive. This study aimed to (a study time spent on television in Thai infants and toddlers (age Methods Two hundred and sixty children and their parents were recruited into the study. Time spent on television and parental perceptions on television viewing toward their child's development were recorded during face-to-face and telephone interviews. Language development was assessed at the age of 2 years using the Clinical Linguistic Auditory Milestone Scale (CLAMS, and parents' report. Association between delayed language development and time spent on television viewing, as well as other various parameters such as gender, maternal education and family income, were analysed using a multivariate logistic regression model. Results Most Thai infants and toddlers watched television at the age of 6 months, 1 year and 2 years old (98.0, 95.3 and 96.7%, respectively. On average, 1-year-old children watched television 1.23 ± 1.42 hours per day. This increased to 1.69 ± 1.56 hours per day when they were 2 years old. However, watching television longer than 2 hours per day did not associate with delayed language development. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, gender (male was the only significant factor associated with delayed language development (OR = 6.9, 95% CI = 1.5–31.3. Moreover, 75%, 71%, and 66% of Thai parents believed that television viewing yielded benefits to children's developments. Conclusion Thai children commenced watching television at an early age and the amount of television viewing time increased by age. Most parents had positive perceptions to television viewing. The study found no association between time spent on television viewing (≥ 2 hours per day and delayed language development at the age of 2 years. Gender (male was the only variable associated with delayed language development.

Generalized Motor Abilities and Timing Behavior in Children with Specific Language Impairment

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Zelaznik, Howard N.; Goffman, Lisa

2010-01-01

Purpose: To examine whether children with specific language impairment (SLI) differ from normally developing peers in motor skills, especially those skills related to timing. Method: Standard measures of gross and fine motor development were obtained. Furthermore, finger and hand movements were recorded while children engaged in 4 different timing…

Speech and language delay in two children: an unusual presentation of hyperthyroidism.

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Sohal, Aman P S; Dasarathi, Madhuri; Lodh, Rajib; Cheetham, Tim; Devlin, Anita M

2013-01-01

Hyperthyroidism is rare in pre-school children. Untreated, it can have a profound effect on normal growth and development, particularly in the first 2 years of life. Although neurological manifestations of dysthyroid states are well known, specific expressive speech and language disorder as a presentation of hyperthyroidism is rarely documented. Case reports of two children with hyperthyroidism presenting with speech and language delay. We report two pre-school children with hyperthyroidism, who presented with expressive speech and language delay, and demonstrated a significant improvement in their language skills following treatment with anti-thyroid medication. Hyperthyroidism must be considered in all children presenting with speech and language difficulties, particularly expressive speech delay. Prompt recognition and early treatment are likely to improve outcome.

The Unified Problem-Solving Method Development Language UPML

OpenAIRE

Fensel, Dieter; Motta, Enrico; van Harmelen, Frank; Benjamins, V. Richard; Crubezy, Monica; Decker, Stefan; Gaspari, Mauro; Groenboom, Rix; Grosso, William; Musen, Mark; Plaza, Enric; Schreiber, Guus; Studer, Rudi; Wielinga, Bob

2003-01-01

Problem-solving methods provide reusable architectures and components for implementing the reasoning part of knowledge-based systems. The UNIFIED PROBLEM-SOLVING METHOD DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE (UPML) has been developed to describe and implement such architectures and components to facilitate their semi-automatic reuse and adaptation. In a nutshell, UPML is a framework for developing knowledge-intensive reasoning systems based on libraries ofg eneric problem-solving components. The paper describe...

[Multilingualism and child psychiatry: on differential diagnoses of language disorder, specific learning disorder, and selective mutism].

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Tamiya, Satoshi

2014-01-01

Multilingualism poses unique psychiatric problems, especially in the field of child psychiatry. The author discusses several linguistic and transcultural issues in relation to Language Disorder, Specific Learning Disorder and Selective Mutism. Linguistic characteristics of multiple language development, including so-called profile effects and code-switching, need to be understood for differential diagnosis. It is also emphasized that Language Disorder in a bilingual person is not different or worse than that in a monolingual person. Second language proficiency, cultural background and transfer from the first language all need to be considered in an evaluation for Specific Learning Disorder. Selective Mutism has to be differentiated from the silent period observed in the normal successive bilingual development. The author concludes the review by remarking on some caveats around methods of language evaluation in a multilingual person.

Safety case development with SBVR-based controlled language

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Luo, Y.; van den Brand, M.G.J.; Kiburse, A.; Desfray, P.; Philipe, J.; Hammoudi, S.; Pires, L.F.

2015-01-01

Safety case development is highly recommended by some safety standards to justify the safety of a system. The Goal Structuring Notation (GSN) is a popular approach to construct a safety case. However, the content of the safety case elements, such as safety claims, is in natural language. Therefore,

Lesion characteristics driving right-hemispheric language reorganization in congenital left-hemispheric brain damage.

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Lidzba, Karen; de Haan, Bianca; Wilke, Marko; Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Staudt, Martin

2017-10-01

Pre- or perinatally acquired ("congenital") left-hemispheric brain lesions can be compensated for by reorganizing language into homotopic brain regions in the right hemisphere. Language comprehension may be hemispherically dissociated from language production. We investigated the lesion characteristics driving inter-hemispheric reorganization of language comprehension and language production in 19 patients (7-32years; eight females) with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions (periventricular lesions [n=11] and middle cerebral artery infarctions [n=8]) by fMRI. 16/17 patients demonstrated reorganized language production, while 7/19 patients had reorganized language comprehension. Lesions to the insular cortex and the temporo-parietal junction (predominantly supramarginal gyrus) were significantly more common in patients in whom both, language production and comprehension were reorganized. These areas belong to the dorsal stream of the language network, participating in the auditory-motor integration of language. Our data suggest that the integrity of this stream might be crucial for a normal left-lateralized language development. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Maternal Depressive Symptomatology, Social Support, and Language Development of Bilingual Preschoolers From Low-Income Households.

Science.gov (United States)

Cycyk, Lauren M; Bitetti, Dana; Hammer, Carol Scheffner

2015-08-01

This study examined the impact of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support on the English and Spanish language growth of young bilingual children from low-income backgrounds. It was hypothesized that maternal depression would slow children's development in both languages but that social support would buffer the negative effect. Longitudinal data were collected from 83 mothers of Puerto Rican descent and their children who were attending Head Start preschool for 2 years. The effects of maternal depressive symptomatology and social support from family and friends on receptive vocabulary and oral comprehension development in both languages were examined. Growth curve modeling revealed that maternal depressive symptomatology negatively affected Spanish receptive vocabulary development only. Maternal depression did not affect children's English receptive vocabulary or their oral comprehension in either language. Social support was not related to maternal depressive symptomatology or child language. These findings suggest that maternal depression is 1 risk factor that contributes to less robust primary language development of bilingual children from low-income households. Speech-language pathologists must (a) increase their awareness of maternal depression in order to provide families with appropriate mental health referrals and (b) consider their roles as supportive adults for children whose mothers may be depressed.

SPEAKING IN TEAMS: MOTIVATING A PATTERN LANGUAGE FOR COLLABORATION

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Darrin Hicks

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Collaborative work is increasing in frequency and importance in business, academia, and communities. The knowledge behind what makes for a successful collaboration is also increasing but is normally focused on only one aspect of collaboration theory. The understanding of how successful collaborations are built is greatly improved by the creation of a unified framework that organises and transfers knowledge and practices. The framework proposed in this paper is the concept of a pattern language for collaboration. The notion of a pattern language was first detailed in 1979 by Christopher Alexander in his book, A Timeless Way of Building [1]. A pattern language consists of a hierarchy of individual patterns that are used to solve problems associated with the parts in the pattern. When developed, researchers can use a pattern language for collaboration as a tool set to evaluate existing collaborations, repair unhealthy collaborations, and build future collaborations. The core concept is that the structure of an environment guides the pattern of events that occurs. A healthy collaboration is more likely to be responsive to the needs of its community and robust enough to overcome unanticipated challenges. The development and evolution of the pattern language is similar to a genetic process in that quality of the overall language emerges from the interaction of individual and complex patterns. The article applies the pattern language to the real world example of twenty eight different collaborations that are part of the Colorado Healthy Communities Initiative to illustrate the application of the pattern language in context. The article closes with recommendations for future development of the language.

Investigation of normal organ development with fetal MRI

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prayer, Daniela; Brugger, Peter C.

2007-01-01

The understanding of the presentation of normal organ development on fetal MRI forms the basis for recognition of pathological states. During the second and third trimesters, maturational processes include changes in size, shape and signal intensities of organs. Visualization of these developmental processes requires tailored MR protocols. Further prerequisites for recognition of normal maturational states are unequivocal intrauterine orientation with respect to left and right body halves, fetal proportions, and knowledge about the MR presentation of extrafetal/intrauterine organs. Emphasis is laid on the demonstration of normal MR appearance of organs that are frequently involved in malformation syndromes. In addition, examples of time-dependent contrast enhancement of intrauterine structures are given. (orig.)

Investigation of normal organ development with fetal MRI

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prayer, Daniela [Medical University of Vienna, Department of Radiology, Vienna (Austria); Brugger, Peter C. [Medical University of Vienna, Center of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Integrative Morphology Group, Vienna (Austria)

2007-10-15

The understanding of the presentation of normal organ development on fetal MRI forms the basis for recognition of pathological states. During the second and third trimesters, maturational processes include changes in size, shape and signal intensities of organs. Visualization of these developmental processes requires tailored MR protocols. Further prerequisites for recognition of normal maturational states are unequivocal intrauterine orientation with respect to left and right body halves, fetal proportions, and knowledge about the MR presentation of extrafetal/intrauterine organs. Emphasis is laid on the demonstration of normal MR appearance of organs that are frequently involved in malformation syndromes. In addition, examples of time-dependent contrast enhancement of intrauterine structures are given. (orig.)

Using the FORTH Language to Develop an ICU Data Acquisition System

Science.gov (United States)

Goldberg, Arthur; SooHoo, Spencer L.; Koerner, Spencer K.; Chang, Robert S. Y.

1980-01-01

This paper describes a powerful programming tool that should be considered as an alternative to the more conventional programming languages now in use for developing medical computer systems. Forth provides instantaneous response to user commands, rapid program execution and tremendous programming versatility. An operating system and a language in one carefully designed unit, Forth is well suited for developing data acquisition systems and for interfacing computers to other instruments. We present some of the general features of Forth and describe its use in implementing a data collection system for a Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU).

MRI of normal and pathological fetal lung development

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasprian, Gregor; Balassy, Csilla; Brugger, Peter C.; Prayer, Daniela

2006-01-01

Normal fetal lung development is a complex process influenced by mechanical and many biochemical factors. In addition to ultrasound, fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) constitutes a new method to investigate this process in vivo during the second and third trimester. The techniques of MRI volumetry, assessment of signal intensities, and MRI spectroscopy of the fetal lung have been used to analyze this process and have already been applied clinically to identify abnormal fetal lung growth. Particularly in conditions such as oligohydramnios and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), pulmonary hypoplasia may be the cause of neonatal death. A precise diagnosis and quantification of compromised fetal lung development may improve post- and perinatal management. The main events in fetal lung development are reviewed and MR volumetric data from 106 normal fetuses, as well as different examples of pathological lung growth, are provided

MRI of normal and pathological fetal lung development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kasprian, Gregor [University Clinic of Radiodiagnostics, Medical University of Vienna (Austria)]. E-mail: gregor.kasprian@meduniwien.ac.at; Balassy, Csilla [University Clinic of Radiodiagnostics, Medical University of Vienna (Austria); Brugger, Peter C. [Center of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Medical University of Vienna (Austria); Prayer, Daniela [University Clinic of Radiodiagnostics, Medical University of Vienna (Austria)

2006-02-15

Normal fetal lung development is a complex process influenced by mechanical and many biochemical factors. In addition to ultrasound, fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) constitutes a new method to investigate this process in vivo during the second and third trimester. The techniques of MRI volumetry, assessment of signal intensities, and MRI spectroscopy of the fetal lung have been used to analyze this process and have already been applied clinically to identify abnormal fetal lung growth. Particularly in conditions such as oligohydramnios and congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), pulmonary hypoplasia may be the cause of neonatal death. A precise diagnosis and quantification of compromised fetal lung development may improve post- and perinatal management. The main events in fetal lung development are reviewed and MR volumetric data from 106 normal fetuses, as well as different examples of pathological lung growth, are provided.

Developing CALL for heritage languages: The 7 Keys of the Dragon

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Anthi Revithiadou

2015-09-01

Full Text Available n this article we present an interactive extensible software, The 7 Keys of the Dragon, for the teaching/learning of Albanian and Russian to students that attend primary and secondary education in Greece with the respective languages as their heritage languages. We address the key challenges we encountered during the conceptualization phase of the project development and the specific design choices we implemented in order to accommodate them. Drawing on recent research on the role of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL applications for young bilingual populations, we aimed at creating a user friendly environment with a clear pedagogical orientation. Furthermore, given that games in language learning are associated with intrinsic motivation and meaningful exposure to the target language, we have integrated a fairy-tale background narrative, a game-inspired reward system, and two cartoon-like assistant characters to stimulate the user’s involvement in the learning tasks. Five chapters for each target language were created, each comprising a text, a variety of scaffolding material and quizzes. The software is designed to provide real-time automatic correction of quizzes and allow for easy expansion with additional quizzes and texts. A separate application for teachers facilitates essay correction and commenting on the students’ language learning progress and achievements.

Methodes for identification of specific language impairment

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Toktam Maleki Shahmahmood

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Background and Aim: Specific language impiarment (SLI is one of the most prevalent developmental language disorders its diagnosis is a problematic issue among researchers and clinicians because of the heterogeneity of language profiles in the affected population and overlapping with other developmental language disorders. The aim of this study was to review the suggested diagnostic criteria for this disorder, controversies about these criteria and identify the most accurate diagnostic methods.Methods: Published article from 1980 to 2012 in bibliographic and publisher databases including Pubmed, Google scholar, Cochran library, Web of Science, ProQuest, Springer, Oxford, Science direct, Ovid, Iran Medex and Magiran about the diagnostic methods for discriminating preschoool children with specific language impiarment from normal developing children were reviewd in this article. These keywords were used for research: “specific language impairment”, “SLI”, “diagnosis or identification”, “standardized tests”, and “tests for language development”.Conclusion: The results of this study show inspite of agreement of researchers and clinicians about exclusionary criteria as one basic part of the diagnosis of specific language impiarment , there is no consensus about the other part, inclusionary criteria. Different studies used different inclusionary criteria which can be divided to categories of clincal judgment, discrepancy-based criteria, standardized testing, clinical markers and markers from spontaneous speech samples. Advantages, disadvantages, and clinical applicability of each diagnostic method are discussed in this article.

Speech and language development in 2-year-old children with cerebral palsy.

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Hustad, Katherine C; Allison, Kristen; McFadd, Emily; Riehle, Katherine

2014-06-01

We examined early speech and language development in children who had cerebral palsy. Questions addressed whether children could be classified into early profile groups on the basis of speech and language skills and whether there were differences on selected speech and language measures among groups. Speech and language assessments were completed on 27 children with CP who were between the ages of 24 and 30 months (mean age 27.1 months; SD 1.8). We examined several measures of expressive and receptive language, along with speech intelligibility. Two-step cluster analysis was used to identify homogeneous groups of children based on their performance on the seven dependent variables characterizing speech and language performance. Three groups of children identified were those not yet talking (44% of the sample); those whose talking abilities appeared to be emerging (41% of the sample); and those who were established talkers (15% of the sample). Group differences were evident on all variables except receptive language skills. 85% of 2-year-old children with CP in this study had clinical speech and/or language delays relative to age expectations. Findings suggest that children with CP should receive speech and language assessment and treatment at or before 2 years of age.

A Comparative Study of Vygotsky's Perspectives on Child Language Development with Nativism and Behaviorism

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Dastpak, Mehdi; Behjat, Fatemeh; Taghinezhad, Ali

2017-01-01

This study aimed at investigating the similarities and differences between Vygotsky's perspectives on child language development with nativism and behaviorism. Proposing the idea of the Zone of Proximal Development, Vygotsky emphasized the role of collaborative interaction, scaffolding, and guided participation in language learning. Nativists, on…

Linguistically deprived children: meta-analysis of published research underlines the importance of early syntactic language use for normal brain development

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Andrey Vyshedskiy

2017-08-01

Full Text Available We analyzed all published reports of individuals not exposed to syntactic language until puberty: two feral children, who grew up without hearing any language, and eight deaf linguistic isolates, who grew up communicating to their families using homesign or kitchensign, a system of gestures which allows them to communicate simple commands but lacks much in the way of syntax. A common observation in these individuals is the lifelong difficulty understanding syntax and spatial prepositions, even after many years of rehabilitation. This debilitating condition stands in stark contrast to linguistic isolates’ performance on memory as well as semantic tests: they could easily remember hundreds of newly learned words and identify previously seen objects by name. The lack of syntactic language comprehension in linguistic isolates may stem from inability to understand words and/or grammar or inability to mentally synthesize known objects into novel configurations. We have previously shown that purposeful construction of novel mental images is the function of the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC ability to dynamically control posterior cortex neurons (Vyshedskiy et al. 2017. Here we have ranked all tests performed on linguistic isolates by their reliance on the LPFC control of the posterior cortex: a the amount of posterior cortex territory that needs to be recruited by the LPFC and b the number of disparate objects that have to be combined together by the LPFC in order to answer the test question. According to our analysis, linguistic isolates performed well in all tests that did not involve the LPFC control of the posterior cortex, showed decreasing scores in tests that involved greater recruitment of the posterior cortex by the LPFC, and failed in tests that involved greatest recruitment of posterior cortex necessary for mental synthesis of multiple objects. This pattern is consistent with inadequate frontoposterior connections in linguistic isolates

Profiles of verbal working memory growth predict speech and language development in children with cochlear implants.

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Kronenberger, William G; Pisoni, David B; Harris, Michael S; Hoen, Helena M; Xu, Huiping; Miyamoto, Richard T

2013-06-01

Verbal short-term memory (STM) and working memory (WM) skills predict speech and language outcomes in children with cochlear implants (CIs) even after conventional demographic, device, and medical factors are taken into account. However, prior research has focused on single end point outcomes as opposed to the longitudinal process of development of verbal STM/WM and speech-language skills. In this study, the authors investigated relations between profiles of verbal STM/WM development and speech-language development over time. Profiles of verbal STM/WM development were identified through the use of group-based trajectory analysis of repeated digit span measures over at least a 2-year time period in a sample of 66 children (ages 6-16 years) with CIs. Subjects also completed repeated assessments of speech and language skills during the same time period. Clusters representing different patterns of development of verbal STM (digit span forward scores) were related to the growth rate of vocabulary and language comprehension skills over time. Clusters representing different patterns of development of verbal WM (digit span backward scores) were related to the growth rate of vocabulary and spoken word recognition skills over time. Different patterns of development of verbal STM/WM capacity predict the dynamic process of development of speech and language skills in this clinical population.

Normalizing tweets with edit scripts and recurrent neural embeddings

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Chrupala, Grzegorz; Toutanova, Kristina; Wu, Hua

2014-01-01

Tweets often contain a large proportion of abbreviations, alternative spellings, novel words and other non-canonical language. These features are problematic for standard language analysis tools and it can be desirable to convert them to canonical form. We propose a novel text normalization model

Modelling gesture use and early language development in autism spectrum disorder.

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Manwaring, Stacy S; Mead, Danielle L; Swineford, Lauren; Thurm, Audrey

2017-09-01

Nonverbal communication abilities, including gesture use, are impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, little is known about how common gestures may influence or be influenced by other areas of development. To examine the relationships between gesture, fine motor and language in young children with ASD compared with a comparison group using multiple measures and methods in a structural equation modelling framework. Participants included 110 children with ASD and a non-ASD comparison group of 87 children (that included children with developmental delays (DD) or typical development (TD)), from 12 to 48 months of age. A construct of gesture use as measured by the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales-Developmental Profile Caregiver Questionnaire (CQ) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), as well as fine motor from the Mullen Scales of Early Learning and Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-II (VABS-II) was examined using second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). A series of structural equation models then examined concurrent relationships between the aforementioned latent gesture construct and expressive and receptive language. A series of hierarchical regression analyses was run in a subsample of 36 children with ASD with longitudinal data to determine how gesture factor scores predicted later language outcomes. Across study groups, the gesture CFA model with indicators of gesture use from both the CQ (parent-reported) and ADOS (direct observation), and measures of fine motor provided good fit with all indicators significantly and strongly loading onto one gesture factor. This model of gesture use, controlling for age, was found to correlate strongly with concurrent expressive and receptive language. The correlations between gestures and concurrent language were similar in magnitude in both the ASD and non-ASD groups. In the longitudinal subsample of children with ASD, gestures at time 1 predicted later receptive (but not

Development of pedagogical design in technology-rich environments for language teaching and learning

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Jalkanen, Juha

2015-01-01

This study explores the development of pedagogical design for language teaching and learning in increasingly technology-rich environments. More specifically, it focuses on the process of design, enactment and analysis of language and literacy pedagogies in technology-rich environments. Two substudies are reported in five articles, each of which approaches pedagogical design from a different perspective. The first substudy examined (a) what pedagogical choices language studen...

Developing the Bilingual Competence in Learning Foreign Languages

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T. A. Znamenskaya

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper considers the problem of bilingualism and its effect on the personality of the speaker. Various types of bilingualism are described along with the factors determining the bilingual competence formation: age, individual experience, socio-cultural conditions of the native and foreign language interaction. The author points out both the positive and negative impact on the native language as the result of the second language learning. The special emphasis is on language interference in the process of learning a foreign language. To make sure the students achieve the adequate degree of its authenticity, and therefore the bilingual competence, the teacher should take into account the specificity of national styles, communicative strategies and speech tactics of both languages. A comparative analysis of linguistic differences of the English and Russian languages is demonstrated on the level of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and national communicative stylistics. The author maintains that successful inter-language and cross-cultural communication requires the integrative cross-disciplinary approach, consolidation of the linguistic theory and methods of foreign language teaching. 

Developing Textbook Materials in Uncommon Languages.

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Lathrop, Thomas A.

Guidelines are offered for preparing and publishing textbook materials in Portuguese and other uncommonly taught languages. The available options for publishing Portuguese materials include two textbook publishers, three university presses, self-publication, and the Cabrilho Press, which produces language textbooks. Methods for submitting…

Language development in Japanese children who receive cochlear implant and/or hearing aid.

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Iwasaki, Satoshi; Nishio, Shinya; Moteki, Hideaki; Takumi, Yutaka; Fukushima, Kunihiro; Kasai, Norio; Usami, Shin-Ichi

2012-03-01

This study aimed to investigate a wide variety of factors that influence auditory, speech, and language development following pediatric cochlear implantation (CI). Prospective collection of language tested data in profound hearing-impaired children. Pediatric CI can potentially be effective to development of practical communication skills and early implantation is more effective. We proposed a set of language tests (assessment package of the language development for Japanese hearing-impaired children; ALADJIN) consisting of communication skills testing (test for question-answer interaction development; TQAID), comprehensive (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised; PVT-R and Standardized Comprehension Test for Abstract Words; SCTAW) and productive vocabulary (Word Fluency Test; WFT), and comprehensive and productive syntax (Syntactic processing Test for Aphasia; STA). Of 638 hearing-impaired children recruited for this study, 282 (44.2%) with >70 dB hearing impairment had undergone CI. After excluding children with low birth weight (11 points on the Pervasive Developmental Disorder ASJ Rating Scale for the test of autistic tendency, and those better than those in HA-only users. The scores for PVT-R (pbetter than those in HA-only users. STA and TQAID scores in CI-HA users were significantly (pbetter than those in unilateral CI-only users. The high correlation (r=0.52) has been found between the age of CI and maximum speech discrimination score. The scores of speech and language tests in the implanted children before 24 months of age have been better than those in the implanted children after 24 months of age. We could indicate that CI was effective for language development in Japanese hearing-impaired children and early CI was more effective for productive vocabulary and syntax. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Influence of Socio-Economic Status and Ethnicity on Speech and Language Development

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Basit, Tehmina N.; Hughes, Amanda; Iqbal, Zafar; Cooper, Janet

2015-01-01

A number of factors influence the speech and language development of young children. Delays in the development of speech and language can have repercussions for school attainment and life chances. This paper is based on a survey of 3- to 4-year-old children in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in the UK. It analyses the data collected from 255 children…

The Relationship between Phonological Memory, Receptive Vocabulary, and Fast Mapping in Young Children with Specific Language Impairment

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Gray, Shelley

2006-01-01

Purpose: This study assessed the fast mapping performance of children with specific language impairment (SLI) across the preschool to kindergarten age span in relation to their phonological memory and vocabulary development. Method: Fifty-three children diagnosed with SLI and 53 children with normal language (NL) matched for age and gender (30…

Low Empathy in Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Pre)Adolescents Compared to Normal Hearing Controls

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Netten, Anouk P.; Rieffe, Carolien; Theunissen, Stephanie C. P. M.; Soede, Wim; Dirks, Evelien; Briaire, Jeroen J.; Frijns, Johan H. M.

2015-01-01

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the level of empathy in deaf and hard of hearing (pre)adolescents compared to normal hearing controls and to define the influence of language and various hearing loss characteristics on the development of empathy. Methods The study group (mean age 11.9 years) consisted of 122 deaf and hard of hearing children (52 children with cochlear implants and 70 children with conventional hearing aids) and 162 normal hearing children. The two groups were compared using self-reports, a parent-report and observation tasks to rate the children’s level of empathy, their attendance to others’ emotions, emotion recognition, and supportive behavior. Results Deaf and hard of hearing children reported lower levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than normal hearing children, regardless of their type of hearing device. The level of emotion recognition was equal in both groups. During observations, deaf and hard of hearing children showed more attention to the emotion evoking events but less supportive behavior compared to their normal hearing peers. Deaf and hard of hearing children attending mainstream education or using oral language show higher levels of cognitive empathy and prosocial motivation than deaf and hard of hearing children who use sign (supported) language or attend special education. However, they are still outperformed by normal hearing children. Conclusions Deaf and hard of hearing children, especially those in special education, show lower levels of empathy than normal hearing children, which can have consequences for initiating and maintaining relationships. PMID:25906365

Language Development in the First Year of Life: What Deaf Children Might Be Missing Before Cochlear Implantation.

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Levine, Dani; Strother-Garcia, Kristina; Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy

2016-02-01

Language development is a multifaceted, dynamic process involving the discovery of complex patterns, and the refinement of native language competencies in the context of communicative interactions. This process is already advanced by the end of the first year of life for hearing children, but prelingually deaf children who initially lack a language model may miss critical experiences during this early window. The purpose of this review is twofold. First, we examine the published literature on language development during the first 12 months in typically developing children. Second, we use this literature to inform our understanding of the language outcomes of prelingually deaf children who receive cochlear implants (CIs), and therefore language input, either before or after the first year. During the first 12 months, typically developing infants exhibit advances in speech segmentation, word learning, syntax acquisition, and communication, both verbal and nonverbal. Infants and their caregivers coconstruct a communication foundation during this time, supporting continued language growth. The language outcomes of hearing children are robustly predicted by their experiences and acquired competencies during the first year; yet these predictive links are absent among prelingually deaf infants lacking a language model (i.e., those without exposure to sign). For deaf infants who receive a CI, implantation timing is crucial. Children receiving CIs before 12 months frequently catch up with their typically developing peers, whereas those receiving CIs later do not. Explanations for the language difficulties of late-implanted children are discussed.

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