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Sample records for understanding language development

  1. Language Development: Understanding Language Diversity in the Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  3. Natural language understanding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoshida, S

    1982-04-01

    Language understanding is essential for intelligent information processing. Processing of language itself involves configuration element analysis, syntactic analysis (parsing), and semantic analysis. They are not carried out in isolation. These are described for the Japanese language and their usage in understanding-systems is examined. 30 references.

  4. Language Games and Musical Understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Arbo

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Wittgenstein has often explored language games that have to do with musical objects of different sizes (phrases, themes, formal sections or entire works. These games can refer to a technical language or to common parlance and correspond to different targets. One of these coincides with the intention to suggest a way of conceiving musical understanding. His model takes the form of the invitation to "hear (something as (something": typically, to hear a musical passage as an introduction or as a conclusion or in a certain tonality. However one may ask to what extent or in what terms (literal or metaphorical these procedures, and usually the intervention of language games, is requested by our common ways of understanding music. This article shows through the use of some examples that aspectual perception inherent to musical understanding does not require language games as a necessary condition (although in many cases the link between them seems very strong, in contradiction with the thesis of an essential linguistic character of music. At a basic level, it seems more appropriate to insist on the notion of a game: to understand music means to enter into the orbit of "music games" which show an autonomous functioning. Language games have, however, an important function when we develop this comprehension in the light of the criteria of judgment that substantiate the manner in which music is incorporated in and operates within specific forms of life.

  5. Flexibility in embodied language understanding.

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    Willems, Roel M; Casasanto, Daniel

    2011-01-01

    Do people use sensori-motor cortices to understand language? Here we review neurocognitive studies of language comprehension in healthy adults and evaluate their possible contributions to theories of language in the brain. We start by sketching the minimal predictions that an embodied theory of language understanding makes for empirical research, and then survey studies that have been offered as evidence for embodied semantic representations. We explore four debated issues: first, does activation of sensori-motor cortices during action language understanding imply that action semantics relies on mirror neurons? Second, what is the evidence that activity in sensori-motor cortices plays a functional role in understanding language? Third, to what extent do responses in perceptual and motor areas depend on the linguistic and extra-linguistic context? And finally, can embodied theories accommodate language about abstract concepts? Based on the available evidence, we conclude that sensori-motor cortices are activated during a variety of language comprehension tasks, for both concrete and abstract language. Yet, this activity depends on the context in which perception and action words are encountered. Although modality-specific cortical activity is not a sine qua non of language processing even for language about perception and action, sensori-motor regions of the brain appear to make functional contributions to the construction of meaning, and should therefore be incorporated into models of the neurocognitive architecture of language.

  6. Flexibility in embodied language understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roel M Willems

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Do people use sensori-motor cortices to understand language? Here we review neurocognitive studies of language comprehension in healthy adults and evaluate their possible contributions to theories of language in the brain. We start by sketching the minimal predictions that an embodied theory of language understanding makes for empirical research, and then survey studies that have been offered as evidence for embodied semantic representations. We explore four debated issues: first, does activation of sensori-motor cortices during action language understanding imply that action semantics relies on mirror neurons? Second, what is the evidence that activity in sensori-motor cortices plays a functional role in understanding language? Third, to what extent do responses in perceptual and motor areas depend on the linguistic and extra-linguistic context? And finally, can embodied theories accommodate language about abstract concepts? Based on the available evidence, we conclude that sensori-motor cortices are activated during a variety of language comprehension tasks, for both concrete and abstract language. Yet, this activity depends on the context in which perception and action words are encountered. Although modality-specific cortical activity is not a sine qua non of language processing even for language about perception and action, sensori-motor regions of the brain appear to make functional contributions to the construction of meaning, and should therefore be incorporated into models of the neurocognitive architecture of language.

  7. Individual differences in children's emotion understanding: Effects of age and language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pons, Francisco; Lawson, J.: Harris, P.; Rosnay, M. de

    2003-01-01

    Over the last two decades, it has been established that children's emotion understanding changes as they develop. Recent studies have also begun to address individual differences in children's emotion understanding. The first goal of this study was to examine the development of these individual...... differences across a wide age range with a test assessing nine different components of emotion understanding. The second goal was to examine the relation between language ability and individual differences in emotion understanding. Eighty children ranging in age from 4 to 11 years were tested. Children...... displayed a clear improvement with age in both their emotion understanding and language ability. In each age group, there were clear individual differences in emotion understanding and language ability. Age and language ability together explained 72% of emotion understanding variance; 20% of this variance...

  8. Research and Development in Natural Language Understanding as Part of the Strategic Computing Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1987-04-01

    facilities. BBN is developing a series of increasingly sophisticated natural language understanding systems which will serve as an integrated interface...Haas, A.R. A Syntactic Theory of Belief and Action. Artificial Intelligence. 1986. Forthcoming. [6] Hinrichs, E. Temporale Anaphora im Englischen

  9. Input and language development in bilingually developing children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  10. 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…

  11. Teachers' understanding of the communicative language teaching ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Teachers' understanding of the communicative language teaching approach: The case of English language teachers in Thohoyandou. ... with CLT theories and practice. Keywords: communicative competence, approach versus method, Grammar translation method, direct method, first additional language, second language ...

  12. 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…

  13. Instructional games: Scientific language use, concept understanding, and attitudinal development of middle school learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mongillo, Geraldine

    The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover the influence of instructional games on middle school learners' use of scientific language, concept understanding, and attitude toward learning science. The rationale for this study stemmed from the lack of research concerning the value of play as an instructional strategy for older learners. Specifically, the study focused on the ways in which 6 average ability 7th grade students demonstrated scientific language and concept use during gameplay. The data were collected for this 6-week study in a southern New Jersey suburban middle school and included audio recordings of the 5 games observed in class, written documents (e.g., student created game questions, self-evaluation forms, pre- and post-assessments, and the final quiz) interviews, and researcher field notes. Data were coded and interpreted borrowing from the framework for scientific literacy developed by Bybee (1997). Based on the findings, the framework was modified to reflect the level of scientific understanding demonstrated by the participants and categorized as: Unacquainted, Nominal, Functional, and Conceptual. Major findings suggested that the participants predominantly achieved the Functional level of scientific literacy (i.e., the ability to adequately and appropriately use scientific language in both written and oral discourse) during games. Further, it was discovered that the participants achieved the Conceptual level of scientific literacy during gameplay. Through games participants were afforded the opportunity to use common, everyday language to explore concepts, promoted through peer collaboration. In games the participants used common language to build understandings that exceeded Nominal or token use of the technical vocabulary and concepts. Additionally, the participants reported through interviews and self-evaluation forms that their attitude (patterns included: Motivation, Interest, Fun, Relief from Boredom, and an Alternate Learning

  14. Understanding Cognitive Language Learning Strategies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergio Di Carlo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Over time, definitions and taxonomies of language learning strategies have been critically examined. This article defines and classifies cognitive language learning strategies on a more grounded basis. Language learning is a macro-process for which the general hypotheses of information processing are valid. Cognitive strategies are represented by the pillars underlying the encoding, storage and retrieval of information. In order to understand the processes taking place on these three dimensions, a functional model was elaborated from multiple theoretical contributions and previous models: the Smart Processing Model. This model operates with linguistic inputs as well as with any other kind of information. It helps to illustrate the stages, relations, modules and processes that occur during the flow of information. This theoretical advance is a core element to classify cognitive strategies. Contributions from cognitive neuroscience have also been considered to establish the proposed classification which consists of five categories. Each of these categories has a different predominant function: classification, preparation, association, elaboration and transfer-practice. This better founded taxonomy opens the doors to potential studies that would allow a better understanding of the interdisciplinary complexity of language learning. Pedagogical and methodological implications are also discussed.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  16. Language understanding and vocabulary of early cochlear implanted children

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Percy-Smith, L; Busch, GW; Sandahl, M

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with the level of language understanding, the level of receptive and active vocabulary, and to estimate effect-related odds ratios for cochlear implanted children's language level.......The aim of the study was to identify factors associated with the level of language understanding, the level of receptive and active vocabulary, and to estimate effect-related odds ratios for cochlear implanted children's language level....

  17. Understanding of Foreign Language Learning of Generation Y

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    Bozavli, Ebubekir

    2016-01-01

    Different generations are constituted depending on social changes and they are designed sociologically as traditional, baby boomer, X, Y and Z. Many studies have been reported on understanding of foreign language learning generation Y. This study aims to realise the gap in and contribute to the research on language learning understanding of…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  19. Intercomprehension - When Everyone Speaks Their Own Language and Understands Others

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nataša Pirih Svetina

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Intercomprehension is a communication practice where two persons speak their mother tongue and are able to understand each other without being taught the language of their adressee. It is a usual practice between languages that belong to the same linguistic family, for example Slavic, Romance or Germanic languages. In the article, the authors present the notion of intercomprehension as an alternative to communication in English as a lingua franca. That kind of communication was known among Scandinavians, whereas the first teaching method was developped for Romance languages (EuRomCom at the beginning of the 21st century. Today, more methods exist including German and Slavic languages. In the article, the authors are enumerating some of them and also give a short outline of existing practices.

  20. Imitation, Sign Language Skill and the Developmental Ease of Language Understanding (D-ELU) Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmer, Emil; Heimann, Mikael; Rudner, Mary

    2016-01-01

    Imitation and language processing are closely connected. According to the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU) model (Rönnberg et al., 2013) pre-existing mental representation of lexical items facilitates language understanding. Thus, imitation of manual gestures is likely to be enhanced by experience of sign language. We tested this by eliciting imitation of manual gestures from deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) signing and hearing non-signing children at a similar level of language and cognitive development. We predicted that the DHH signing children would be better at imitating gestures lexicalized in their own sign language (Swedish Sign Language, SSL) than unfamiliar British Sign Language (BSL) signs, and that both groups would be better at imitating lexical signs (SSL and BSL) than non-signs. We also predicted that the hearing non-signing children would perform worse than DHH signing children with all types of gestures the first time (T1) we elicited imitation, but that the performance gap between groups would be reduced when imitation was elicited a second time (T2). Finally, we predicted that imitation performance on both occasions would be associated with linguistic skills, especially in the manual modality. A split-plot repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that DHH signers imitated manual gestures with greater precision than non-signing children when imitation was elicited the second but not the first time. Manual gestures were easier to imitate for both groups when they were lexicalized than when they were not; but there was no difference in performance between familiar and unfamiliar gestures. For both groups, language skills at T1 predicted imitation at T2. Specifically, for DHH children, word reading skills, comprehension and phonological awareness of sign language predicted imitation at T2. For the hearing participants, language comprehension predicted imitation at T2, even after the effects of working memory capacity and motor skills were taken into

  1. Imitation, sign language skill and the Developmental Ease of Language Understanding (D-ELU model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emil eHolmer

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Imitation and language processing are closely connected. According to the Ease of Language Understanding (ELU model (Rönnberg et al., 2013 pre-existing mental representation of lexical items facilitates language understanding. Thus, imitation of manual gestures is likely to be enhanced by experience of sign language. We tested this by eliciting imitation of manual gestures from deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH signing and hearing non-signing children at a similar level of language and cognitive development. We predicted that the DHH signing children would be better at imitating gestures lexicalized in their own sign language (Swedish Sign Language, SSL than unfamiliar British Sign Language (BSL signs, and that both groups would be better at imitating lexical signs (SSL and BSL than non-signs. We also predicted that the hearing non-signing children would perform worse than DHH signing children with all types of gestures the first time (T1 we elicited imitation, but that the performance gap between groups would be reduced when imitation was elicited a second time (T2. Finally, we predicted that imitation performance on both occasions would be associated with linguistic skills, especially in the manual modality. A split-plot repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that DHH signers imitated manual gestures with greater precision than non-signing children when imitation was elicited the second but not the first time. Manual gestures were easier to imitate for both groups when they were lexicalized than when they were not; but there was no difference in performance between familiar and unfamiliar gestures. For both groups, language skills at the T1 predicted imitation at T2. Specifically, for DHH children, word reading skills, comprehension and phonological awareness of sign language predicted imitation at T2. For the hearing participants, language comprehension predicted imitation at T2, even after the effects of working memory capacity and motor skills

  2. Thinking or feeling? An exploratory study of maternal scaffolding, child mental state talk, and emotion understanding in language-impaired and typically developing school-aged children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuill, Nicola; Little, Sarah

    2018-06-01

    Mother-child mental state talk (MST) supports children's developing social-emotional understanding. In typically developing (TD) children, family conversations about emotion, cognition, and causes have been linked to children's emotion understanding. Specific language impairment (SLI) may compromise developing emotion understanding and adjustment. We investigated emotion understanding in children with SLI and TD, in relation to mother-child conversation. Specifically, is cognitive, emotion, or causal MST more important for child emotion understanding and how might maternal scaffolding support this? Nine 5- to 9-year-old children with SLI and nine age-matched typically developing (TD) children, and their mothers. We assessed children's language, emotion understanding and reported behavioural adjustment. Mother-child conversations were coded for MST, including emotion, cognition, and causal talk, and for scaffolding of causal talk. Children with SLI scored lower than TD children on emotion understanding and adjustment. Mothers in each group provided similar amounts of cognitive, emotion, and causal talk, but SLI children used proportionally less cognitive and causal talk than TD children did, and more such child talk predicted better child emotion understanding. Child emotion talk did not differ between groups and did not predict emotion understanding. Both groups participated in maternal-scaffolded causal talk, but causal talk about emotion was more frequent in TD children, and such talk predicted higher emotion understanding. Cognitive and causal language scaffolded by mothers provides tools for articulating increasingly complex ideas about emotion, predicting children's emotion understanding. Our study provides a robust method for studying scaffolding processes for understanding causes of emotion. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  3. Belief Reasoning and Emotion Understanding in Balanced Bilingual and Language-Dominant Mexican American Young Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weimer, Amy A; Gasquoine, Philip G

    2016-01-01

    Belief reasoning and emotion understanding were measured among 102 Mexican American bilingual children ranging from 4 to 7 years old. All children were tested in English and Spanish after ensuring minimum comprehension in each language. Belief reasoning was assessed using 2 false and 1 true belief tasks. Emotion understanding was measured using subtests from the Test for Emotion Comprehension. The influence of family background variables of yearly income, parental education level, and number of siblings on combined Spanish and English vocabulary, belief reasoning, and emotion understanding was assessed by regression analyses. Age and emotion understanding predicted belief reasoning. Vocabulary and belief reasoning predicted emotion understanding. When the sample was divided into language-dominant and balanced bilingual groups on the basis of language proficiency difference scores, there were no significant differences on belief reasoning or emotion understanding. Language groups were demographically similar with regard to child age, parental educational level, and family income. Results suggest Mexican American language-dominant and balanced bilinguals develop belief reasoning and emotion understanding similarly.

  4. Understanding the Development of a Hybrid Practice of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction and Language Development: A Case Study of One Teacher's Journey Through Reflections on Classroom Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capitelli, Sarah; Hooper, Paula; Rankin, Lynn; Austin, Marilyn; Caven, Gennifer

    2016-04-01

    This qualitative case study looks closely at an elementary teacher who participated in professional development experiences that helped her develop a hybrid practice of using inquiry-based science to teach both science content and English language development (ELD) to her students, many of whom are English language learners (ELLs). This case study examines the teacher's reflections on her teaching and her students' learning as she engaged her students in science learning and supported their developing language skills. It explicates the professional learning experiences that supported the development of this hybrid practice. Closely examining the pedagogical practice and reflections of a teacher who is developing an inquiry-based approach to both science learning and language development can provide insights into how teachers come to integrate their professional development experiences with their classroom expertise in order to create a hybrid inquiry-based science ELD practice. This qualitative case study contributes to the emerging scholarship on the development of teacher practice of inquiry-based science instruction as a vehicle for both science instruction and ELD for ELLs. This study demonstrates how an effective teaching practice that supports both the science and language learning of students can develop from ongoing professional learning experiences that are grounded in current perspectives about language development and that immerse teachers in an inquiry-based approach to learning and instruction. Additionally, this case study also underscores the important role that professional learning opportunities can play in supporting teachers in developing a deeper understanding of the affordances that inquiry-based science can provide for language development.

  5. Do Adolescents with Specific Language Impairment Understand Driving Terminology?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandolfe, Jessica M.; Wittke, Kacie; Spaulding, Tammie J.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined if adolescents with specific language impairment (SLI) understand driving vocabulary as well as their typically developing (TD) peers. Method: A total of 16 adolescents with SLI and 16 TD comparison adolescents completed a receptive vocabulary task focused on driving terminology derived from statewide driver's manuals.…

  6. Understanding Language: A Primer for the Language Arts Teacher.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malmstrom, Jean

    This volume aims to bridge the gap between language arts teaching and linguistic theory. Part one discusses selected aspects of linguistics that are relevant to language arts teaching: the acquisition and development of language during childhood; the English sound system and its relation to spellings and meanings; traditional, structural, and…

  7. Rhetorical meta-language to promote the development of students' writing skills and subject matter understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelger, Susanne; Sigrell, Anders

    2016-01-01

    Background: Feedback is one of the most significant factors for students' development of writing skills. For feedback to be successful, however, students and teachers need a common language - a meta-language - for discussing texts. Not least because in science education such a meta-language might contribute to improve writing training and feedback-giving. Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore students' perception of teachers' feedback given on their texts in two genres, and to suggest how writing training and feedback-giving could become more efficient. Sample: In this study were included 44 degree project students in biology and molecular biology, and 21 supervising teachers at a Swedish university. Design and methods: The study concerned students' writing about their degree projects in two genres: scientific writing and popular science writing. The data consisted of documented teacher feedback on the students' popular science texts. It also included students' and teachers' answers to questionnaires about writing and feedback. All data were collected during the spring of 2012. Teachers' feedback, actual and recalled - by students and teachers, respectively - was analysed and compared using the so-called Canons of rhetoric. Results: While the teachers recalled the given feedback as mainly positive, most students recalled only negative feedback. According to the teachers, suggested improvements concerned firstly the content, and secondly the structure of the text. In contrast, the students mentioned language style first, followed by content. Conclusions: The disagreement between students and teachers regarding how and what feedback was given on the students texts confirm the need of improved strategies for writing training and feedback-giving in science education. We suggest that the rhetorical meta-language might play a crucial role in overcoming the difficulties observed in this study. We also discuss how training of writing skills may contribute to

  8. 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

    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.

  9. 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

  10. The Value of Bilingualism in Pupils' Understanding of Scientific Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kearsey, John; Turner, Sheila

    1999-01-01

    Argues that, although some bilingual pupils may be at a disadvantage in understanding scientific language, there may be some circumstances where being bilingual is an advantage in understanding scientific language. Presents evidence of circumstances where being bilingual was an advantage and circumstances where it was a disadvantage in…

  11. Theoretical approaches to natural language understanding

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1985-01-01

    This book discusses the following: Computational Linguistics, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science and the current state of natural language understanding. Three topics form the focus for discussion; these topics include aspects of grammars, aspects of semantics/pragmatics, and knowledge representation.

  12. Achieving mutual understanding in Argentine Sign Language (LSA)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Manrique Cordeje, M.E.

    2017-01-01

    How does (mis)understanding works in conversation? Problems of understanding occur all the time in our everyday social life. How does miscommunication happen and how do we deal with it? This thesis reports on how sign language users manage to understand each other based on a large Conversational

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

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    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…

  16. Receptive Language Skills in Slovak-Speaking Children With Intellectual Disability: Understanding Words, Sentences, and Stories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Polišenská, Kamila; Kapalková, Svetlana; Novotková, Monika

    2018-06-05

    The study aims to describe receptive language skills in children with intellectual disability (ID) and to contribute to the debate on deviant versus delayed language development. This is the 1st study of receptive skills in children with ID who speak a Slavic language, providing insight into how language development is affected by disability and also language typology. Twenty-eight Slovak-speaking children participated in the study (14 children with ID and 14 typically developing [TD] children matched on nonverbal reasoning abilities). The children were assessed by receptive language tasks targeting words, sentences, and stories, and the groups were compared quantitatively and qualitatively. The groups showed similar language profiles, with a better understanding of words, followed by sentences, with the poorest comprehension for stories. Nouns were comprehended better than verbs; sentence constructions also showed a qualitatively similar picture, although some dissimilarities emerged. Verb comprehension was strongly related to sentence comprehension in both groups and related to story comprehension in the TD group only. The findings appear to support the view that receptive language skills follow the same developmental route in children with ID as seen in younger TD children, suggesting that language development is a robust process and does not seem to be differentially affected by ID even when delayed.

  17. Prenatal chemical exposures and child language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  18. Language development and assessment in the preschool period.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  20. The Language of Information Literacy: Do Students Understand?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schaub, Gayle; Cadena, Cara; Bravender, Patricia; Kierkus, Christopher

    2017-01-01

    To effectively access and use the resources of the academic library and to become information-literate, students must understand the language of information literacy. This study analyzes undergraduate students' understanding of fourteen commonly used information-literacy terms. It was found that some of the terms least understood by students are…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  2. Children’s Third-Party Understanding of Communicative Interactions in a Foreign Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narges Afshordi

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Two studies explored young children’s understanding of the role of shared language in communication by investigating how monolingual English-speaking children interact with an English speaker, a Spanish speaker, and a bilingual experimenter who spoke both English and Spanish. When the bilingual experimenter spoke in Spanish or English to request objects, four-year-old children, but not three-year-olds, used her language choice to determine whom she addressed (e.g. requests in Spanish were directed to the Spanish speaker. Importantly, children used this cue – language choice – only in a communicative context. The findings suggest that by four years, monolingual children recognize that speaking the same language enables successful communication, even when that language is unfamiliar to them. Three-year-old children’s failure to make this distinction suggests that this capacity likely undergoes significant development in early childhood, although other capacities might also be at play.

  3. Early human communication helps in understanding language evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenti Boero, Daniela

    2014-12-01

    Building a theory on extant species, as Ackermann et al. do, is a useful contribution to the field of language evolution. Here, I add another living model that might be of interest: human language ontogeny in the first year of life. A better knowledge of this phase might help in understanding two more topics among the "several building blocks of a comprehensive theory of the evolution of spoken language" indicated in their conclusion by Ackermann et al., that is, the foundation of the co-evolution of linguistic motor skills with the auditory skills underlying speech perception, and the possible phylogenetic interactions of protospeech production with referential capabilities.

  4. Language and the Developing Child: Pivotal Ideas of Katrina de Hirsch.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansky, Jeannette Jefferson

    1986-01-01

    The paper examines the contributions of Katrina de Hirsch to the understanding of developmental language disabilities, particularly in the areas of neurophysiological immaturity, the cluttering syndrome, the prediction of reading failure, and normal language development. (Author/DB)

  5. [Understand the neurodevelopment of language: a necessity to prevent learning disabilities in children].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charollais, A; Marret, S; Stumpf, M-H; Lemarchand, M; Delaporte, B; Philip, E; Monom-Diverre; Guillois, B; Datin-Dorriere, V; Debillon, T; Simon, M-J; De Barace, C; Pasquet, F; Saliba, E; Zebhib, R

    2013-09-01

    Clinical and radiological knowledge of language development in the former premature infant compared to the newborn allows us to argue for exploration of the sensorimotor co-factors required for proper language development. There are early representations of the maternal language in the infant's visual, auditory, and sensorimotor areas, activated or stabilized by orofacial and articulatory movements. The functional architecture of language is different for vulnerable children such as premature infants. We have already mentioned the impact of early dysfunction of the facial praxis fine motor skills in this population presenting comprehension disorders. A recent meta-analysis confirms the increasing difficulty of understanding between 3 and 12 years, questioning the quality of the initial linguistic processes. A precise analysis of language, referenced from 3 years of age, should be completed by sensorimotor tests to assess possible constraints in automating neurolinguistic foundations. The usual assessment at this age can exclude sensory disturbances and communication and offers guidance and socialization. However, a recent study shows the ineffectiveness of "language-reinforced immersion" at 2 and 3 years in a population of vulnerable children. The LAMOPRESCO study of language and motor skills in the premature infant (National PHRC 2010) has assessed language and sensorimotor skills of preterm-born (theory of speech perception." Early and accurate assessment of language and the patient's constraints should differentiate and specify management strategies for all children, whatever their background and pathologies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  6. False-Belief Understanding and Language Ability Mediate the Relationship between Emotion Comprehension and Prosocial Orientation in Preschoolers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ornaghi, Veronica; Pepe, Alessandro; Grazzani, Ilaria

    2016-01-01

    Emotion comprehension (EC) is known to be a key correlate and predictor of prosociality from early childhood. In the present study, we examined this relationship within the broad theoretical construct of social understanding which includes a number of socio-emotional skills, as well as cognitive and linguistic abilities. Theory of mind, especially false-belief understanding, has been found to be positively correlated with both EC and prosocial orientation. Similarly, language ability is known to play a key role in children's socio-emotional development. The combined contribution of false-belief understanding and language to explaining the relationship between EC and prosociality has yet to be investigated. Thus, in the current study, we conducted an in-depth exploration of how preschoolers' false-belief understanding and language ability each contribute to modeling the relationship between children's comprehension of emotion and their disposition to act prosocially toward others, after controlling for age and gender. Participants were 101 4- to 6-year-old children (54% boys), who were administered measures of language ability, false-belief understanding, EC and prosocial orientation. Multiple mediation analysis of the data suggested that false-belief understanding and language ability jointly and fully mediated the effect of preschoolers' EC on their prosocial orientation. Analysis of covariates revealed that gender exerted no statistically significant effect, while age had a trivial positive effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

  7. Patient empowerment by increasing the understanding of medical language for lay users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Topac, V; Stoicu-Tivadar, V

    2013-01-01

    Patient empowerment is important in order to increase the quality of medical care and the life quality of the patients. An important obstacle for empowering patients is the language barrier the lay patient encounter when accessing medical information. To design and develop a service that will help increase the understanding of medical language for lay persons. The service identifies and explains medical terminology from a given text by annotating the terms in the original text with the definition. It is based on an original terminology interpretation engine that uses a fuzzy matching dictionary. The service was implemented in two projects: a) into the server of a tele-care system (TELEASIS) with the purpose of adapting medical text assigned by medical personnel for the assisted patients. b) Into a dedicated web site that can adapt the medical language from raw text or from existing web pages. The output of the service was evaluated by a group of persons, and the results indicate that such a system can increase the understanding of medical texts. Several design decisions were driven from the evaluation, and are being considered for future development. Other tests measuring accuracy and time performance for the fuzzy terminology recognition have been performed. Test results revealed good performance for accuracy and excellent results regarding time performance. The current version of the service increases the accessibility of medical language by explaining terminology with a good accuracy, while allowing the user to easily identify errors, in order to reduce the risk of incorrect terminology recognition.

  8. 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

  9. Unpacking the Right to plain and understandable Language in the Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip N Stoop

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available The Consumer Protection Act 68 of 2008 came into effect on 1 April 2011. The purpose of this Act is, among other things, to promote fairness, openness and respectable business practice between the suppliers of goods or services and the consumers of such good and services. In consumer protection legislation fairness is usually approached from two directions, namely substantive and procedural fairness. Measures aimed at procedural fairness address conduct during the bargaining process and generally aim at ensuring transparency. Transparency in relation to the terms of a contract relates to whether the terms of the contract terms accessible, in clear language, well-structured, and cross-referenced, with prominence being given to terms that are detrimental to the consumer or because they grant important rights. One measure in the Act aimed at addressing procedural fairness is the right to plain and understandable language. The consumer’s right to being given information in plain and understandable language, as it is expressed in section 22, is embedded under the umbrella right of information and disclosure in the Act. Section 22 requires that notices, documents or visual representations that are required in terms of the Act or other law are to be provided in plain and understandable language as well as in the prescribed form, where such a prescription exists. In the analysis of the concept “plain and understandable language” the following aspects are considered in this article: the development of plain language measures in Australia and the United Kingdom; the structure and purpose of section 22; the documents that must be in plain language; the definition of plain language; the use of official languages in consumer contracts; and plain language guidelines (based on the law of the states of Pennsylvania and Connecticut in the United States of America.

  10. Literary Language in Development of L2 Competence

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dan Lu

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Nowadays it is believed that language in daily communication rather than literary language should be the target of learning in L2 education. This is mainly because literary language is said to be uncommon in life. This paper reports on a study in which some Hong Kong ESL learners’ English proficiency was re-examined through literary texts. These learners had reached intermediate or advanced levels of English prior to the study and were generally competent in daily English. However, many of them encountered difficulty in understanding literary language. Their proficiency in general English test could not match their performances in understanding literary works. The findings reveal that learners who are strong in general proficiency may not be good in understanding literary language. Lack of literary language in the curriculum results in a false and distorted picture about the learners’ proficiency. Literary language helps upgrade L2 learners’ real proficiency in the target language.

  11. 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...

  12. Figurative Idiomatic Language: Strategies and Difficulties of Understanding English Idioms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nisreen Al-Khawaldeh

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Learning idioms which is considered a very essential part of learning and using language (Sridhar and Karunakaran, 2013 has recently attracted a great attention of English learning researchers particularly the assessment of how well Asian language learners acquire and use idioms in communication (Tran, 2013. Understanding and using them fluently could be viewed as a sign towards language proficiency as they could be an effective way to give students better conditions to enhance their communication skills in the daily context (Beloussova, 2015. Investigating how idiomatic expressions are dealt with and processed in a second language or foreign language is an issue worth examining further since it may give language teachers a better idea of some of the strategies language learners use in order to interpret figurative language. Despite their importance, learning and using English idioms by Arab EFL learners have not been investigated extensively, and no research has been conducted on Jordanian students’ idiomatic competency. Thus, the researcher decided to work on these un-tackled issues in the Jordanian context. Most idioms-based investigations are the difficulties Jordanians learners of English face when translating them into Arabic (Hussein, Khanji, and Makhzoumi, 2000; Bataineh and Bataineh, 2002; Alrishan and Smadi, 2015. The analysis of the test showed students’ very poor idiomatic competence; particularly a very limited awareness of the most frequently used idioms despite their overwhelming desire to learn them. Data analysis of the questionnaire revealed the strategies students use and the problems they face in understanding and learning idioms.

  13. False-belief understanding and language ability mediate the relationship between emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation in preschoolers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Veronica Ornaghi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Emotion comprehension is known to be a key correlate and predictor of prosociality from early childhood. The present study look at their relation within the wide theoretical construct of social understanding which includes a number of socio-emotional skills, as well as cognitive and linguistic abilities. Theory of mind, especially false-belief understanding, has been found to have positive correlations with both emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation. Similarly, language ability is known to play a key role in children’s socio-emotional development. The combined contribution of both false-belief understanding and language in explaining the relation between emotion comprehension and prosociality has yet to be investigated. Thus, in the current study, we conducted an in-depth exploration of how preschoolers’ false-belief understanding and language ability each contribute to modeling the relationship between their comprehension of emotion and their disposition to act prosocially towards others, after controlling for age and gender. Participants were 101 4-to-6 year old children (54% boys, who were administered measures of language ability, false-belief understanding, emotion comprehension and prosocial orientation. Multiple mediation analysis of the data suggested that false-belief understanding and language ability jointly and fully mediated the effect of preschoolers’ emotion comprehension on their prosocial orientation. Analysis of covariates revealed that gender exerted no statistically significant effect, while age had a trivial positive effect. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

  14. A phenomenographic study of the ways of understanding conditional and repetition structures in computer programming languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bucks, Gregory Warren

    Computers have become an integral part of how engineers complete their work, allowing them to collect and analyze data, model potential solutions and aiding in production through automation and robotics. In addition, computers are essential elements of the products themselves, from tennis shoes to construction materials. An understanding of how computers function, both at the hardware and software level, is essential for the next generation of engineers. Despite the need for engineers to develop a strong background in computing, little opportunity is given for engineering students to develop these skills. Learning to program is widely seen as a difficult task, requiring students to develop not only an understanding of specific concepts, but also a way of thinking. In addition, students are forced to learn a new tool, in the form of the programming environment employed, along with these concepts and thought processes. Because of this, many students will not develop a sufficient proficiency in programming, even after progressing through the traditional introductory programming sequence. This is a significant problem, especially in the engineering disciplines, where very few students receive more than one or two semesters' worth of instruction in an already crowded engineering curriculum. To address these issues, new pedagogical techniques must be investigated in an effort to enhance the ability of engineering students to develop strong computing skills. However, these efforts are hindered by the lack of published assessment instruments available for probing an individual's understanding of programming concepts across programming languages. Traditionally, programming knowledge has been assessed by producing written code in a specific language. This can be an effective method, but does not lend itself well to comparing the pedagogical impact of different programming environments, languages or paradigms. This dissertation presents a phenomenographic research study

  15. Mother and Infant Talk about Mental States Relates to Desire Language and Emotion Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taumoepeau, Mele; Ruffman, Ted

    2006-01-01

    This study assessed the relation between mother mental state language and child desire language and emotion understanding in 15--24-month-olds. At both times point, mothers described pictures to their infants and mother talk was coded for mental and nonmental state language. Children were administered 2 emotion understanding tasks and their mental…

  16. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. 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.

  18. LANGUAGE CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT: HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  20. 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...

  1. Understanding and representing natural language meaning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waltz, D. L.; Maran, L. R.; Dorfman, M. H.; Dinitz, R.; Farwell, D.

    1982-12-01

    During this contract period the authors have: (1) continued investigation of events and actions by means of representation schemes called 'event shape diagrams'; (2) written a parsing program which selects appropriate word and sentence meanings by a parallel process know as activation and inhibition; (3) begun investigation of the point of a story or event by modeling the motivations and emotional behaviors of story characters; (4) started work on combining and translating two machine-readable dictionaries into a lexicon and knowledge base which will form an integral part of our natural language understanding programs; (5) made substantial progress toward a general model for the representation of cognitive relations by comparing English scene and event descriptions with similar descriptions in other languages; (6) constructed a general model for the representation of tense and aspect of verbs; (7) made progress toward the design of an integrated robotics system which accepts English requests, and uses visual and tactile inputs in making decisions and learning new tasks.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  3. Development of children’s early understanding of numeric structure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vasilyeva, Marina

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Understanding of the base-10 structure of multi-digit numbers is one of the critical aspects in early mathematics learning. It has been documented that children from different countries vary in their use of base-10 representations. Questions concerning potential sources of this variability have been debated for decades. One commonly posited explanation is that some languages provide explicit cues about the structure of multi-digit numbers, facilitating the development of base-10 representations. In the present study, we tested this view against an alternative view, positing that variability in children’s learning of numeric structure may reflect differences in their experiences with numbers. The study examined kindergartners and first-graders from four countries: Taiwan, South Korea, the USA, and Russia. Results showed that the use of base-10 representations by American first-graders increased dramatically over the last decades, following changes in curricular guidelines. First-graders across the four countries showed some differences in performance (however, not consistent with the language account, whereas kindergartners performed comparably despite the differences in their languages. The results suggest that the nature of early math instruction may be critical for children’s developing understanding of numeric structure.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. The Meta Language of Accounting: What's the Level of Students' Understanding?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elson, Raymond J.; O'Callaghan, Susanne; Walker, John P.; Williams, Robert

    2013-01-01

    Students rely on rote knowledge to learn accounting concepts. However, this approach does not allow them to understanding the meta language of accounting. Meta language is simply the concepts and terms that are used in a profession and are easily understood by its users. Terms such as equity, assets, and balance sheet are part of the accounting…

  7. THE ROLE OF AWARENESS IN SECOND LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  8. On Not Understanding Extraordinary Language in the Buddhist Tantra of Japan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Richard K. Payne

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The question motivating this essay is how tantric Buddhist practitioners in Japan understood language such as to believe that mantra, dhāraṇī, and related forms are efficacious. “Extraordinary language” is introduced as a cover term for these several similar language uses found in tantric Buddhist practices in Japan. The essay proceeds to a critical examination of Anglo-American philosophy of language to determine whether the concepts, categories, and concerns of that field can contribute to the analysis and understanding of extraordinary language. However, that philosophy of language does not contribute to this analysis, as it is constrained by its continuing focus on its founding concepts, dating particularly from the work of Frege. Comparing it to Indic thought regarding language reveals a distinct mismatch, further indicating the limiting character of the philosophy of language. The analysis then turns to examine two other explanations of tantric language use found in religious studies literature: magical language and performative language. These also, however, prove to be unhelpful. While the essay is primarily critical, one candidate for future constructive study is historical pragmatics, as suggested by Ronald Davidson. The central place of extraordinary language indicates that Indic reflections on the nature of language informed tantric Buddhist practice in Japan and are not simply cultural baggage.

  9. 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.

    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

  10. 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...

  11. Spoken Language Understanding Systems for Extracting Semantic Information from Speech

    CERN Document Server

    Tur, Gokhan

    2011-01-01

    Spoken language understanding (SLU) is an emerging field in between speech and language processing, investigating human/ machine and human/ human communication by leveraging technologies from signal processing, pattern recognition, machine learning and artificial intelligence. SLU systems are designed to extract the meaning from speech utterances and its applications are vast, from voice search in mobile devices to meeting summarization, attracting interest from both commercial and academic sectors. Both human/machine and human/human communications can benefit from the application of SLU, usin

  12. Learning and Development of Second and Foreign Language Pragmatics as a Higher-Order Language Skill: A Brief Overview of Relevant Theories. Research Report. ETS RR-16-35

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timpe-Laughlin, Veronika

    2016-01-01

    The development of effective second and foreign (L2) language learning materials needs to be grounded in two types of theories: (a) a theory of language and language use and (b) a theory of language learning. Both are equally important, insofar as an effective learning environment requires an understanding of the knowledge, skills, and abilities…

  13. A Report on Language Materials Development for Seven Philippine Languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  14. Understanding developmental language disorder - the Helsinki longitudinal SLI study (HelSLI): a study protocol.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laasonen, Marja; Smolander, Sini; Lahti-Nuuttila, Pekka; Leminen, Miika; Lajunen, Hanna-Reetta; Heinonen, Kati; Pesonen, Anu-Katriina; Bailey, Todd M; Pothos, Emmanuel M; Kujala, Teija; Leppänen, Paavo H T; Bartlett, Christopher W; Geneid, Ahmed; Lauronen, Leena; Service, Elisabet; Kunnari, Sari; Arkkila, Eva

    2018-05-21

    Developmental language disorder (DLD, also called specific language impairment, SLI) is a common developmental disorder comprising the largest disability group in pre-school-aged children. Approximately 7% of the population is expected to have developmental language difficulties. However, the specific etiological factors leading to DLD are not yet known and even the typical linguistic features appear to vary by language. We present here a project that investigates DLD at multiple levels of analysis and aims to make the reliable prediction and early identification of the difficulties possible. Following the multiple deficit model of developmental disorders, we investigate the DLD phenomenon at the etiological, neural, cognitive, behavioral, and psychosocial levels, in a longitudinal study of preschool children. In January 2013, we launched the Helsinki Longitudinal SLI study (HelSLI) at the Helsinki University Hospital ( http://tiny.cc/HelSLI ). We will study 227 children aged 3-6 years with suspected DLD and their 160 typically developing peers. Five subprojects will determine how the child's psychological characteristics and environment correlate with DLD and how the child's well-being relates to DLD, the characteristics of DLD in monolingual versus bilingual children, nonlinguistic cognitive correlates of DLD, electrophysiological underpinnings of DLD, and the role of genetic risk factors. Methods include saliva samples, EEG, computerized cognitive tasks, neuropsychological and speech and language assessments, video-observations, and questionnaires. The project aims to increase our understanding of the multiple interactive risk and protective factors that affect the developing heterogeneous cognitive and behavioral profile of DLD, including factors affecting literacy development. This accumulated knowledge will form a heuristic basis for the development of new interventions targeting linguistic and non-linguistic aspects of DLD.

  15. Language Networks as Models of Cognition: Understanding Cognition through Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beckage, Nicole M.; Colunga, Eliana

    Language is inherently cognitive and distinctly human. Separating the object of language from the human mind that processes and creates language fails to capture the full language system. Linguistics traditionally has focused on the study of language as a static representation, removed from the human mind. Network analysis has traditionally been focused on the properties and structure that emerge from network representations. Both disciplines could gain from looking at language as a cognitive process. In contrast, psycholinguistic research has focused on the process of language without committing to a representation. However, by considering language networks as approximations of the cognitive system we can take the strength of each of these approaches to study human performance and cognition as related to language. This paper reviews research showcasing the contributions of network science to the study of language. Specifically, we focus on the interplay of cognition and language as captured by a network representation. To this end, we review different types of language network representations before considering the influence of global level network features. We continue by considering human performance in relation to network structure and conclude with theoretical network models that offer potential and testable explanations of cognitive and linguistic phenomena.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  17. Socialization, Language, and Scenic Understanding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Henning Salling; Weber, Kirsten

    2012-01-01

    resumida brevemente, enfatizando el rol de los argumentos del investigador en descubrir el significado socialmente inconsciente en la interacción social. Finalmente, una mirada a los problemas epistemológicos contemporáneos. El enfoque de LORENZER para teorizar e investigar al sujeto como una entidad......The article is a guided tour to Alfred LORENZER's proposal for an "in-depth hermeneutic" cultural analysis methodology which was launched in an environment with an almost complete split between social sciences and psychology/psychoanalysis. It presents the background in his materialist...... socialization theory, which combines a social reinterpretation of the core insights in classical psychoanalysis—the unconscious, the drives—with a theory of language acquisition. His methodology is based on a transformation of the "scenic understanding" from a clinical to a text interpretation, which seeks...

  18. 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?

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  19. 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...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  1. Neural Basis of Action Understanding: Evidence from Sign Language Aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogalsky, Corianne; Raphel, Kristin; Tomkovicz, Vivian; O'Grady, Lucinda; Damasio, Hanna; Bellugi, Ursula; Hickok, Gregory

    2013-01-01

    The neural basis of action understanding is a hotly debated issue. The mirror neuron account holds that motor simulation in fronto-parietal circuits is critical to action understanding including speech comprehension, while others emphasize the ventral stream in the temporal lobe. Evidence from speech strongly supports the ventral stream account, but on the other hand, evidence from manual gesture comprehension (e.g., in limb apraxia) has led to contradictory findings. Here we present a lesion analysis of sign language comprehension. Sign language is an excellent model for studying mirror system function in that it bridges the gap between the visual-manual system in which mirror neurons are best characterized and language systems which have represented a theoretical target of mirror neuron research. Twenty-one life long deaf signers with focal cortical lesions performed two tasks: one involving the comprehension of individual signs and the other involving comprehension of signed sentences (commands). Participants' lesions, as indicated on MRI or CT scans, were mapped onto a template brain to explore the relationship between lesion location and sign comprehension measures. Single sign comprehension was not significantly affected by left hemisphere damage. Sentence sign comprehension impairments were associated with left temporal-parietal damage. We found that damage to mirror system related regions in the left frontal lobe were not associated with deficits on either of these comprehension tasks. We conclude that the mirror system is not critically involved in action understanding.

  2. Maternal Mental State Language and Preschool Children's Attachment Security: Relation to Children's Mental State Language and Expressions of Emotional Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mcquaid, Nancy; Bigelow, Ann E.; McLaughlin, Jessica; MacLean, Kim

    2008-01-01

    Mothers' mental state language in conversation with their preschool children, and children's preschool attachment security were examined for their effects on children's mental state language and expressions of emotional understanding in their conversation. Children discussed an emotionally salient event with their mothers and then relayed the…

  3. Theory of mind development in Chinese children: a meta-analysis of false-belief understanding across cultures and languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, David; Wellman, Henry M; Tardif, Twila; Sabbagh, Mark A

    2008-03-01

    Theory of mind is claimed to develop universally among humans across cultures with vastly different folk psychologies. However, in the attempt to test and confirm a claim of universality, individual studies have been limited by small sample sizes, sample specificities, and an overwhelming focus on Anglo- European children. The current meta-analysis of children's false-belief performance provides the most comprehensive examination to date of theory-of-mind development in a population of non-Western children speaking non-Indo-European languages (i.e., Mandarin and Cantonese). The meta-analysis consisted of 196 Chinese conditions (127 from mainland China and 69 from Hong Kong), representing responses from more than 3,000 children, compared with 155 similar North American conditions (83 conditions from the United States and 72 conditions from Canada). The findings show parallel developmental trajectories of false-belief understanding for children in China and North America coupled with significant differences in the timing of development across communities-children's false-belief performance varied across different locales by as much as 2 or more years. These data support the importance of both universal trajectories and specific experiential factors in the development of theory of mind.

  4. Continued professional development of teachers to facilitate language used in numeracy and mathematics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wium, Anna-Marie; Louw, Brenda

    2012-12-01

    Learners in South African schools have been found to perform poorly in mathematics because they do not understand the language used in solving mathematical problems. In order to improve academic performance teachers need to be made aware of the importance of language in the development of numeracy. A continued professional development (CPD) programme addressed this need. The purpose of the research was to understand how the participants implemented the strategies developed during the programme and how they perceived the support provided by the programme. The research was conducted over 2 years in semi-rural and urban contexts. As part of a more comprehensive mixed method study, the qualitative data referred to in this article were obtained through open-ended questions in questionnaires, focus groups,I reflections in portfolios, and a research diary. Results showed that numeracy terminology was often used by learners that differed from standard terminology prescribed by the curriculum. The participants themselves did not necessarily understand the numeracy terminology and thus found it a challenge to implement curriculum outcomes. Issues related to language use of the participants in teaching numeracy were associated with the lack of resources available in the language of learning and teaching (LoLT). Some of the participants taught numeracy in English, rather than LoLT. The results indicated low teacher expectations of the learners. The CPD programme was considered valuable and effective. SLPs in schools need to be expand their role to provide CPD opportunities for teachers.

  5. Continued professional development of teachers to facilitate language used in numeracy and mathematics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anna-Maria Wium

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Learners in South African schools have been found to perform poorly in mathematics because they do not understand the language used in solving mathematical problems. In order to improve academic performance teachers need to be made aware of the importance of language in the development of numeracy. A continued professional development (CPD programme addressed this need. The purpose of the research was to understand how the participants implemented the strategies developed during the programme and how they perceived the support provided by the programme. The research was conducted over 2 years in semi-rural and urban contexts. As part of a more comprehensive mixed method study, the qualitative data referred to in this article were obtained through open-ended questions in questionnaires, focus groups, reflections in portfolios, and a research diary. Results showed that numeracy terminology was often used by learners that differed from standard terminology prescribed by the curriculum. The participants themselves did not necessarily understand the numeracy terminology and thus found it a challenge to implement curriculum outcomes. Issues related to language use of the participants in teaching numeracy were associated with the lack of resources available in the language of learning and teaching  (LoLT. Some of the participants taught numeracy in English, rather than LoLT. The results indicated low teacher expectations of the learners. The CPD programme was considered valuable and effective. SLPs in schools need to be expand their role to provide CPD opportunities for teachers.

  6. Removing obstacles for African American English-speaking children through greater understanding of language difference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pearson, Barbara Zurer; Conner, Tracy; Jackson, Janice E

    2013-01-01

    Language difference among speakers of African American English (AAE) has often been considered language deficit, based on a lack of understanding about the AAE variety. Following Labov (1972), Wolfram (1969), Green (2002, 2011), and others, we define AAE as a complex rule-governed linguistic system and briefly discuss language structures that it shares with general American English (GAE) and others that are unique to AAE. We suggest ways in which mistaken ideas about the language variety add to children's difficulties in learning the mainstream dialect and, in effect, deny them the benefits of their educational programs. We propose that a linguistically informed approach that highlights correspondences between AAE and the mainstream dialect and trains students and teachers to understand language varieties at a metalinguistic level creates environments that support the academic achievement of AAE-speaking students. Finally, we present 3 program types that are recommended for helping students achieve the skills they need to be successful in multiple linguistic environments.

  7. Infant and Toddler Language Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  8. 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

    regression model accounted for 52% of the variance in receptive language scores and 58% of the variance in expressive language scores. On the basis of language test scores of this large group of children, an LQ of 0.60 or lower was considered a risk criterion for problematic language development compared with other deaf children using CIs. Children attaining LQs below 0.60 should be monitored more closely and perhaps their rehabilitation programs should be reconsidered. Improved language outcomes were related to implantation under the age of two, contralateral stimulation, monolingualism, sufficient involvement of the parents, and oral communication by the parents. The presence of an additional learning disability had a negative influence on language development. Understanding these causes of variation can help clinicians and parents to create the best possible circumstances for children with CIs to acquire language.

  9. Developing an Intersectional Framework: Engaging "the Decenter" in Language Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romero, Yasmine

    2017-01-01

    The author explores how current scholarship has investigated diversified identities and identification practices using a variable-by-variable approach. This kind of approach focuses on developing in-depth understandings of particular variables of identity, such as race and gender. However, this kind of approach has also limited language studies…

  10. Developing Cultural Awareness in Foreign Language Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shemshadsara, Zahra Ghorbani

    2012-01-01

    Culture awareness has become an important focus of modern language education, a shift that reflects a greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture, and the need to prepare students for intercultural communication. The paper reports on an ongoing study into the presence and status of cultural understanding in EFL teaching. In…

  11. CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN LEARNING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

    OpenAIRE

    Luli Sari Yustina

    2012-01-01

    When observed the children’s learning and their development, teachers need to understand what they see. The process of observing, noting, and recording, with the support of record like the Primary Language Record, helps to develop powers of observation, but also directs attention to what is significant in a child’s behavior. The frameworks present in the Record help to structure these observations and provide the basis for a developing profile of a child’s strengths and need as a learner. The...

  12. Multimodal imaging of temporal processing in typical and atypical language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovelman, Ioulia; Wagley, Neelima; Hay, Jessica S F; Ugolini, Margaret; Bowyer, Susan M; Lajiness-O'Neill, Renee; Brennan, Jonathan

    2015-03-01

    New approaches to understanding language and reading acquisition propose that the human brain's ability to synchronize its neural firing rate to syllable-length linguistic units may be important to children's ability to acquire human language. Yet, little evidence from brain imaging studies has been available to support this proposal. Here, we summarize three recent brain imaging (functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and magnetoencephalography (MEG)) studies from our laboratories with young English-speaking children (aged 6-12 years). In the first study (fNIRS), we used an auditory beat perception task to show that, in children, the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) responds preferentially to rhythmic beats at 1.5 Hz. In the second study (fMRI), we found correlations between children's amplitude rise-time sensitivity, phonological awareness, and brain activation in the left STG. In the third study (MEG), typically developing children outperformed children with autism spectrum disorder in extracting words from rhythmically rich foreign speech and displayed different brain activation during the learning phase. The overall findings suggest that the efficiency with which left temporal regions process slow temporal (rhythmic) information may be important for gains in language and reading proficiency. These findings carry implications for better understanding of the brain's mechanisms that support language and reading acquisition during both typical and atypical development. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

  13. Attitude change through understanding (cognition of the influence of the persuasive language of liturgy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ferdi Kruger

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this article is to argue that the use of language in liturgy during worship services should be meaningful to contribute to persuasion in the lives of the participants in liturgy. Language is a prominent medium to convey meaning. In fact, the essence of liturgy that has to lead to the liturgy of life is in itself a meaningful act. The question regarding the meaning of worship services that people often raise is another reason why research on the influence of liturgy is crucial. This investigation is anchored in research on the importance of cognition in persuasive language use to promote attitude change. The research gathers insights from the fields of language philosophy and cognitive psychology. It is clear that the meaning of words in language can never be separated from people’s understanding of the meaning of language. Communication and communion are not opposites. In the normative phase of this investigation, perspectives from Romans 12 are offered. The renewal of the mind that leads to discernment of God’s will must also lead to a new cognition (understanding or phronesis of each believer’s place within the Body of Christ. The insights gained from language philosophy, cognitive psychology and the normative grounding make it evident that people always try to make sense of what they are experiencing and of what they are observing. The attempt to understand necessitates further reflection on the importance of cognition. Finally, practical theological perspectives are offered to indicate that cognition is important to create a meaningful liturgy. This cognition is anchored in God’s presence during worship services and, therefore, it requires meaningful words from liturgists.

  14. Television and Language Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.…

  15. Aware Computing in Spatial Language Understanding Guided by Cognitively Inspired Knowledge Representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masao Yokota

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Mental image directed semantic theory (MIDST has proposed an omnisensory mental image model and its description language Lmd. This language is designed to represent and compute human intuitive knowledge of space and can provide multimedia expressions with intermediate semantic descriptions in predicate logic. It is hypothesized that such knowledge and semantic descriptions are controlled by human attention toward the world and therefore subjective to each human individual. This paper describes Lmd expression of human subjective knowledge of space and its application to aware computing in cross-media operation between linguistic and pictorial expressions as spatial language understanding.

  16. Language Planning, English Language Education and Development Aid in Bangladesh

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. Integrating Multi-Purpose Natural Language Understanding, Robot's Memory, and Symbolic Planning for Task Execution in Humanoid Robots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wächter, Mirko; Ovchinnikova, Ekaterina; Wittenbeck, Valerij

    2017-01-01

    We propose an approach for instructing a robot using natural language to solve complex tasks in a dynamic environment. In this study, we elaborate on a framework that allows a humanoid robot to understand natural language, derive symbolic representations of its sensorimotor experience, generate....... The framework is implemented within the robot development environment ArmarX. We evaluate the framework on the humanoid robot ARMAR-III in the context of two experiments: a demonstration of the real execution of a complex task in the kitchen environment on ARMAR-III and an experiment with untrained users...

  18. Investigating Connections among Reading, Writing, and Language Development: A Multiliteracies Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paesani, Kate

    2016-01-01

    This study explores relationships among reading literature, creative writing, and language development in a university-level advanced French grammar course through the theoretical lens of the multiliteracies framework. The goal is to investigate reading-writing connections and whether these literacy practices facilitate students' understanding and…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  20. Developing Language in Digital Natives

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. Understanding Language Change: Phonetics, Phonology and Child Language Acquisition

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Volk, Kevin

    1999-01-01

    Language change is a phenomenon that has fascinated scholars for centuries. As a science, linguistic theory has evolved considerably during the 20th century, but the overall puzzle of language change still remains unsolved...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  3. Saying What We Mean: Making a Case for "Language Acquisition" to Become "Language Development"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larsen-Freeman, Diane

    2015-01-01

    As applied linguists know very well, how we use language both constructs and reflects our understanding. It is therefore important that we use terms that do justice to our concerns. In this presentation, I suggest that a more apt designation than "multilingual" or "second language acquisition" (SLA) is "multilingual"…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. Redefining Individual Growth and Development Indicators: Oral Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. Shared language:Towards more effective communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Joyce; McDonagh, Deana

    2013-01-01

    The ability to communicate to others and express ourselves is a basic human need. As we develop our understanding of the world, based on our upbringing, education and so on, our perspective and the way we communicate can differ from those around us. Engaging and interacting with others is a critical part of healthy living. It is the responsibility of the individual to ensure that they are understood in the way they intended.Shared language refers to people developing understanding amongst themselves based on language (e.g. spoken, text) to help them communicate more effectively. The key to understanding language is to first notice and be mindful of your language. Developing a shared language is an ongoing process that requires intention and time, which results in better understanding.Shared language is critical to collaboration, and collaboration is critical to business and education. With whom and how many people do you connect? Your 'shared language' makes a difference in the world. So, how do we successfully do this? This paper shares several strategies.Your sphere of influence will carry forward what and how you are communicating. Developing and nurturing a shared language is an essential element to enhance communication and collaboration whether it is simply between partners or across the larger community of business and customers. Constant awareness and education is required to maintain the shared language. We are living in an increasingly smaller global community. Business is built on relationships. If you invest in developing shared language, your relationships and your business will thrive.

  7. Instruction to Help Young Children Develop Language and Literacy Skills: The Roles of Program Design and Instructional Guidance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunn, Barbara; Vadasy, Patricia; Smolkowski, Keith

    2011-01-01

    This article discusses the kinds of instructional activities that young children need to develop basic language and literacy skills based on recent research and program evaluations. This includes approaches to develop alphabetic understanding, phonological awareness, vocabulary, and oral language. Activities and materials from the Pre-kindergarten…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  9. Using Learning Analytics to Understand the Design of an Intelligent Language Tutor – Chatbot Lucy

    OpenAIRE

    Yi Fei Wang; Stephen Petrina

    2013-01-01

    the goal of this article is to explore how learning analytics can be used to predict and advise the design of an intelligent language tutor, chatbot Lucy. With its focus on using student-produced data to understand the design of Lucy to assist English language learning, this research can be a valuable component for language-learning designers to improve second language acquisition. In this article, we present students’ learning journey and data trails, the chatting log architecture and result...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  11. Understanding the Development of a Hybrid Practice of Inquiry-Based Science Instruction and Language Development: A Case Study of One Teacher's Journey through Reflections on Classroom Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capitelli, Sarah; Hooper, Paula; Rankin, Lynn; Austin, Marilyn; Caven, Gennifer

    2016-01-01

    This qualitative case study looks closely at an elementary teacher who participated in professional development experiences that helped her develop a hybrid practice of using inquiry-based science to teach both science content and English language development (ELD) to her students, many of whom are English language learners (ELLs). This case study…

  12. English Development as a Second Language in Relation with TV Exposure

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  13. Understanding Disorder Within Variation: Production of English Grammatical Forms by English Language Learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedore, Lisa M; Peña, Elizabeth D; Anaya, Jissel B; Nieto, Ricardo; Lugo-Neris, Mirza J; Baron, Alisa

    2018-04-05

    This study examines English performance on a set of 11 grammatical forms in Spanish-English bilingual, school-age children in order to understand how item difficulty of grammatical constructions helps correctly classify language impairment (LI) from expected variability in second language acquisition when taking into account linguistic experience and exposure. Three hundred seventy-eight children's scores on the Bilingual English-Spanish Assessment-Middle Extension (Peña, Bedore, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, & Goldstein, 2008) morphosyntax cloze task were analyzed by bilingual experience groups (high Spanish experience, balanced English-Spanish experience, high English experience, ability (typically developing [TD] vs. LI), and grammatical form. Classification accuracy was calculated for the forms that best differentiated TD and LI groups. Children with LI scored lower than TD children across all bilingual experience groups. There were differences by grammatical form across bilingual experience and ability groups. Children from high English experience and balanced English-Spanish experience groups could be accurately classified on the basis of all the English grammatical forms tested except for prepositions. For bilinguals with high Spanish experience, it was possible to rule out LI on the basis of grammatical production but not rule in LI. It is possible to accurately identify LI in English language learners once they use English 40% of the time or more. However, for children with high Spanish experience, more information about development and patterns of impairment is needed to positively identify LI.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  15. Intercultural challenge to language learning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luz María Muñoz de Cote

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the findings of a qualitative research project set to investigate the piloting process of an innovative language program for university students. It challenges traditional English language teaching courses celebrating a view centered on learning; classes become spaces for students to understand the language they are learning through the development of small projects. The approach moves from a teaching transmission paradigm to one where the most important agent is each student who has to engage with a topic of his or her interest. Students are seen as individuals whose knowledge and understanding of the world is valued and not as people whose lack of language skills prevents themfrom engaging in discussions of complex topics. The objective of this innovation is to enhance students’ understanding and use of academic English in their field of interest. In this project, we argue that knowledge and understanding of the mother tongue and culture play key roles in the development of a second language. A number of studies suggest that students who had strong first language literacy skills achieved higher proficiency levels in their second language. Based on this argument and Vygotsky’s sociocultural learning theory, we designed disciplinary content language learning workshops for first-degree students. The main tenet is that students can develop academic English given that they know about their discipline. Findings so far reveal the difficulty of students to take distance from their previous learning experiences. They also show that students’ ideas expressed in English are far more complex than what would be expected of them given their second language skills. The complexity is not only related to thecontent, but to the way they construct their paragraphs and the understanding of how the register of their field  may be used.

  16. THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  17. Computer Understanding of Conventional Metaphoric Language

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Martin, James H

    1990-01-01

    .... This approach asserts that the interpretation of conventional metaphoric language should proceed through the direct application of specific knowledge about the metaphors in the language. MIDAS...

  18. Development and Validation of the Mathematics Teachers' Beliefs about English Language Learners Survey (MTBELL)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gann, Linda; Bonner, Emily P.; Moseley, Christine

    2016-01-01

    Given the increasing number of English Language Learners (ELLs) in secondary mathematics classrooms, it is imperative that mathematics teacher educators develop measures for determining how and why secondary mathematics teachers (SMTs) understand and respond instructionally to these students. This paper reports on the initial development and…

  19. The Development of Ojibway Language Materials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  20. Language, Literacy, Literature: Using Storytelling in the Languages Classroom

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morgan, Anne-Marie

    2011-01-01

    Stories and storytelling have been used for millennia to entertain, challenge and educate. As a shared form of language interaction, storytelling has engaged communities in developing and perpetuating common understandings of both language and culture, as critical foundations to harmonious societies. Stories and storytelling provide a rich source…

  1. CHILDREN’S LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT IN LEARNING SPEAKING AND LISTENING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luli Sari Yustina

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available When observed the children’s learning and their development, teachers need to understand what they see. The process of observing, noting, and recording, with the support of record like the Primary Language Record, helps to develop powers of observation, but also directs attention to what is significant in a child’s behavior. The frameworks present in the Record help to structure these observations and provide the basis for a developing profile of a child’s strengths and need as a learner. There are five dimensions form part of a continuum of learning; they go on being important and developing throughout a person’s life as a learner: Confidence and independence, Experience, Strategies, Knowledge understanding, and reflectiveness. Classroom context is also considered for the young learners in opportunities and experiences. Copyright © 2012 by Al-Ta'lim All right reservedDOI: 10.15548/jt.v19i3.59

  2. The development of second-order social cognition and its relation with complex language understanding and working memory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arslan, Burcu; Hohenberger, Annette; Verbrugge, Rineke

    2012-01-01

    In this study, the development of second-order social cognition and its possible relationship with language and memory were investigated. For this reason two second-order false belief tasks (FBT_2), a short term memory task (WST), a complex working memory task (LST), a linguistic perspective-taking

  3. The Development of English Grammar and Reading Comprehension by Majority and Minority Language Children in a Bilingual Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinlen, Anja K.

    2017-01-01

    Both for the first language (L1) and for all additional languages (L2 or L3), grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005). However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a…

  4. Kaspar Hauser's recovery and autopsy: a perspective on neurological and sociological requirements for language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon, N

    1978-06-01

    The feral children literature has frequently been cited for relevance to understanding historical antecedents of autism. Kaspar Hauser, who appeared in Nuremberg, Germany in 1828, is one of these children, raised under conditions of extreme deprivation. His case history and gradual acquisition of language after age 17 years are summarized. There is strong evidence that he was the prince of Baden, abducted from his cradle in 1812. Findings of postmortem examination, conducted after his assassination, are discussed. Hauser's postadolescent recovery of language contradicts the notion of a "critical period" for language development.

  5. Developmental aspects of English argument structure constructions for Korean-speaking second language learners: Usage-based constructional approaches to language development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gyu-Ho Shin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates developmental aspects of English Argument Structure Constructions (ASCs for Korean-speaking second language (L2 learners, providing evidence of how they manifest human domain-general cognitive systems during language acquisition via usage-based constructional approaches to language development. Participants were instructed on six English ASC types with their representative verbs for three months. The data from grammaticality preference tasks, writing tests, and free-writing tasks were analysed. Comprehension data from the grammaticality preference tasks showed significant improvement in understanding ASCs after instruction, supporting sentence-level generalisations for language comprehension independent of individual verbs. The production data from the writing tests demonstrated more frequent use of two-argument constructions than three-argument ones, which indicates the internal complexity between ASC types. The results of the writing tests also displayed skewed exploitation of verbs representative of the target ASCs, implying a frequency-sensitive nature of language acquisition. All production data further revealed active use of prefabricated chunks and incorporation of new and old language items. Taken all together, these observations suggest language learners’ merging narrowly stabilised L2 routines with other (non-linguistic resources as necessary, sustaining efficiency in a sentence-building process, under the superintendence of cognitive factors when satisfying communicative intents.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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:…

  7. Programming Language Pragmatics

    CERN Document Server

    Scott, Michael L

    2009-01-01

    Programming Language Pragmatics is the most comprehensive programming language textbook available today. Taking the perspective that language design and language implementation are tightly interconnected, and that neither can be fully understood in isolation, this critically acclaimed and bestselling book has been thoroughly updated to cover the most recent developments in programming language design. With a new chapter on run-time program management and expanded coverage of concurrency, this new edition provides both students and professionals alike with a solid understanding of the most impo

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  9. Graphics-oriented application language for LASNEX

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stringer, L.M.

    1985-01-01

    GOAL, a graphics-oriented application language, was developed to help physicists understand the large amounts of data produced by LASNEX. GOAL combines many aspects of the old LASNEX language, computer graphics, and standard computer languages

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  11. Examining Preschool-Aged Dual Language Learners' Language Use: From a Functional Approach. WCER Working Paper No. 2016-1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ahyoung Alicia; Kondo, Akira; Castro, Mariana

    2016-01-01

    Due to the increase in the number of preschool-aged dual language learners (DLLs), there is a need to understand their language development and how to better support them. Although DLLs' language development has traditionally been studied from a structuralist perspective, few have examined their language use from a functional approach, which…

  12. The Development of the Standard Lithuanian Language: Ecolinguistic Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  13. Acquisition of a bodily-tactile language as first language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ask Larsen, Flemming

    2013-01-01

    Language acquisition in the bodily-tactile modality is difficult to understand, describe, and support. This chapter advocates a reinterpretation of the gestural and idiosyncratic bodily-tactile communication of people with congenital deafblindness (CDB) in terms of early language acquisition...... towards Tactile Sign Language (TSL). The access to participation in complex TSL culture is crucial for language acquisition. We already know how to transfer the patterns of social interaction into the bodily-tactile modality. This is the fundation on which to build actual linguistic participation. TSL...... as a first language is presently a theoretic possibility. We need more research on how to accommodate TSL to language Development and on how to fit TSL into participation in complex cultural activities....

  14. [Influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Guo-Kai; Liu, Gui-Hua; Qian, Qin-Fang; Ge, Pin; Xie, Yan-Qin; Yang, Min-Yan; Wang, Zhang-Qiong; Ou, Ping

    2017-05-01

    To investigate the influence of home nurture environment on language development and social emotion in children with developmental language disorder (DLD). The 1-3 Years Child Home Nurture Environment Scale, Gesell Developmental Scale, and Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment Scale were used for the evaluation of 125 children with DLD. A total of 130 children with normal language development matched for age and sex were enrolled as control group. Compared with the control group, the DLD group had a significantly higher proportion of children in a bad home nurture environment and significantly lower scores of all domains of home nurture environment (Pnurture environment score was positively correlated with the level of language development (r=0.536, Pnurture environment had direct influence on language development in children with DLD and affected their language development via the mediating effect of social emotion. Home nurture environment influences language development and social emotion in children with DLD, and social emotion has a partial mediating effect between home nurture environment and language development.

  15. Verbal Problem-Solving Difficulties in Autism Spectrum Disorders and Atypical Language Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alderson-Day, Ben

    2018-01-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing (TD) peers on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a measure of verbal problem-solving skills. Although problems with the TQT are typically associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD. PMID:25346354

  16. Pengembangan Pembelajaran Kemahiran Berbicara Bahasa Arab Menggunakan Pendekatan Cross Cultural Understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cahya Edi Setyawan

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Language and culture are the two components that can not be separated from human communication. As a tool to communicate with one and another, many discussion about the theory between language and culture. The relationship between the language and culture of linguists is the most common concern for those who have included language instruction for foreign language, understanding the language where different cultural complexities are needed in this study were a concern of the Arabic language. Moreover, many scholars emphasize the learning model of Arabic-speaking skills on the basis of theory through cultural understanding. The main aspect you should be interested in learning the Arabic language such as cross cultural knowledge, cross cultural awareness, cross-cultural sensitivity, cross cultural. The theory of Odes developing the intentional skill of speaking Arabic, devolution of educational materials, the development of professional teacher, the development of approaches and the development of the method, and the development of learning assessment. Each component had elements of mutual cultural understanding.

  17. The Development of an Android-Based Anggah-Ungguhing Balinese Language Dictionary

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Made Agus Wirawan

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Indonesia is an archipelago country with a variety of local languages; one of which is Balinese (mother tongue, used by the Balinese people in daily life and in certain ritual ceremonies. In Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Department of Balinese Language Education, students have been given Anggah-Ungguhing in speaking subjects where they are taught to understand the use of Balinese language based on social strata.  But in the process of learning the Anggah-Ungguhing, there are some problems, including: 1 There is no media that supports learning of Anggah-Ungguhing vocabulary. 2 The motivation of students when learning Anggah-Ungguhing by using books is low. Based upon the analysis on the problems and previous researches, this study aims to: 1 Development of mobile dictionary to support the learning process Angggah - Ungguhing anywhere and anytime. 2 Measuring the level of student’s motivation are using mobile dictionary while learning vocabulary Anggah - Ungguhing. The method used in this research is Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC with Waterfall based model. Based on the results of tests that have been done, mobile dictionaries can be declared successfully developed based on user needs. In this research has distributed about 60 questionnaires to measure the level of student’s motivation who use mobile dictionaries on learning Anggah - Ungguhing Balinese language. The result of the student’s motivation measurement shows that the motivation of the students that the learns Anggah - Ungguhing Balinese languange using mobile dictionary is in the positive category.

  18. 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...

  19. 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...

  20. 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...

  1. 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 ...

  2. Validity of the language development survey in infants born preterm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  3. Developing Oral Language Skills in Middle School English Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  4. Speech and Language Development after Infant Tracheostomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, Betsy P.; Singer, Lynn T.

    1990-01-01

    When assessed for speech/language development, 31 children (age 1-12) fitted with endotracheal tubes for more than 3 months beginning by age 13 months showed overall language functioning within normal limits and commensurate with cognitive ability. However, a pattern of expressive language disability was noted in the oldest group. (Author/JDD)

  5. 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...

  6. Language Theories Donation through Materials Development A case study in Jordan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali Ata Alkhaldi

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Materials development assists the teachers to understand and apply language learning theories and achieve professional development (Tomlinson, 2001 which this research has shown. This research aims to find out to what extent theories match the actual practice of materials and to help ‘theorists’ reflect upon language theories which are implicitly or explicitly embedded in the materials. It also aims to reveal the teachers’ and learners’ contributions in determining the practical theories. The sample of this research was purposive, that is, it was selected for a specific purpose to collect qualitative data and cover as wide a range as possible. The researcher interviewed thirty Jordanian teachers and students using qualitative research methods. The findings revealed some key principles donated by the participants, for example, 1 the materials should provide the learners with a variety of useful samples of discourse to enable them to use the language communicatively and meaningfully; 2 the materials should encourage the teachers’ and learners’ creativity; 3 the materials should take into account the teachers’ and learners’ preferences; and 4 the materials should take into consideration the specific and sensitive cultural aspects. Insightful implications and recommendations were suggested for future research.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  8. Milestones in Language Planning and Development Aid

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  9. Verbal problem-solving difficulties in autism spectrum disorders and atypical language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alderson-Day, Ben

    2014-12-01

    Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) adopt less efficient strategies than typically developing (TD) peers on the Twenty Questions Task (TQT), a measure of verbal problem-solving skills. Although problems with the TQT are typically associated with executive dysfunction, they have also been reported in children who are deaf, suggesting a role for atypical language development. To test the contribution of language history to ASD problem solving, TQT performance was compared in children with high-functioning autism (HFA), children with Asperger syndrome (AS) and TD children. The HFA group used significantly less efficient strategies than both AS and TD children. No group differences were evident on tests of question understanding, planning or verbal fluency. Potential explanations for differences in verbal problem-solving skill are discussed with reference to the development of inner speech and use of visual strategies in ASD. © 2014 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. 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

  11. Descriptive markup languages and the development of digital humanities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  12. Phonological competence development in Italian as second/foreign language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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).

  14. Historical Development of Hong Kong Sign Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  15. Predictors of Growth or Attrition of the First Language in Latino Children with Specific Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela; Gutierrez-Clellen, Vera F.; Sweet, Monica

    2013-01-01

    We investigated the factors that may help understand the differential rates of language development in the home language (i.e., Spanish) of Latino preschoolers with specific language impairment. Children were randomly assigned to either bilingual or English-only small group interventions and followed from preschool to kindergarten. Predictors of…

  16. Use of Francophone Tales in Developing Language Competences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  17. Child, family, and school characteristics related to English proficiency development among low-income, dual language learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Yoon Kyong; Curby, Timothy W; Winsler, Adam

    2014-12-01

    Little is known about 2nd language development among young, low-income, language-minority children. This article examined the longitudinal English development of low-income, dual language learners (DLLs) in Miami (n = 18,532) from kindergarten through 5th grade. Growth curve modeling indicated that social skills, good behavior, Spanish (L1) competence in preschool, having a mother born in the United States, and attending larger schools with fewer DLLs were associated with higher initial levels of English proficiency in kindergarten and/or steeper growth over time. Survival analyses indicated that it took about 2 years for half of the sample to become proficient in English according to the school district's criterion. Higher initial proficiency in kindergarten, not receiving free/reduced lunch, not being Hispanic or Black, strong cognitive, language, and socioemotional skills at age 4, and maternal education were associated with faster attainment of English proficiency. It is important for teachers, parents, researchers, and policy makers to understand that DLL students come from diverse backgrounds and that poverty and other factors influence the speed of English language development for DLLs. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  18. The challenge of regional accents for aviation English language proficiency standards: a study of difficulties in understanding in air traffic control-pilot communications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiewtrakul, T; Fletcher, S R

    2010-02-01

    Although English has been the international aviation language since 1951, formal language proficiency testing for key aviation personnel has only recently been implemented by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It aims to ensure minimum acceptable levels of English pronunciation and comprehension universally, but does not attend to particular regional dialect difficulties. However, evidence suggests that voice transmissions between air traffic controllers and pilots are a particular problem in international airspace and that pilots may not understand messages due to the influence of different accents when using English. This study explores the potential impact of 'non-native English' in pilot-air traffic control transmissions using a 'conversation analysis' technique to examine approach phase recordings from Bangkok International Airport. Results support that communication errors, defined by incidents of pilots not understanding, occur significantly more often when speakers are both non-native English, messages are more complex and when numerical information is involved. These results and their possible implications are discussed with reference to the development of ICAO's new language proficiency standards. Statement of Relevance: This study builds on previous work and literature, providing further evidence to show that the risks caused by language and linguistics in aviation must be explored more deeply. Findings are particularly contemporary and relevant today, indicating that recently implemented international standards would benefit from further exploratory research and development.

  19. Areas Recruited during Action Understanding Are Not Modulated by Auditory or Sign Language Experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Yuxing; Chen, Quanjing; Lingnau, Angelika; Han, Zaizhu; Bi, Yanchao

    2016-01-01

    The observation of other people's actions recruits a network of areas including the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). These regions have been shown to be activated through both visual and auditory inputs. Intriguingly, previous studies found no engagement of IFG and IPL for deaf participants during non-linguistic action observation, leading to the proposal that auditory experience or sign language usage might shape the functionality of these areas. To understand which variables induce plastic changes in areas recruited during the processing of other people's actions, we examined the effects of tasks (action understanding and passive viewing) and effectors (arm actions vs. leg actions), as well as sign language experience in a group of 12 congenitally deaf signers and 13 hearing participants. In Experiment 1, we found a stronger activation during an action recognition task in comparison to a low-level visual control task in IFG, IPL and pMTG in both deaf signers and hearing individuals, but no effect of auditory or sign language experience. In Experiment 2, we replicated the results of the first experiment using a passive viewing task. Together, our results provide robust evidence demonstrating that the response obtained in IFG, IPL, and pMTG during action recognition and passive viewing is not affected by auditory or sign language experience, adding further support for the supra-modal nature of these regions.

  20. Professional Development Needs of English Language Teachers in Malaysia

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. How Do 5-Year-Olds Understand Questions? Differences in Languages across Europe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sauerland, Uli; Grohmann, Kleanthes K.; Guasti, Maria Teresa; Andelkovic, Darinka; Argus, Reili; Armon-Lotem, Sharon; Arosio, Fabrizio; Avram, Larisa; Costa, João; Dabašinskiene, Ineta; de López, Kristine; Gatt, Daniela; Grech, Helen; Haman, Ewa; van Hout, Angeliek; Hrzica, Gordana; Kainhofer, Judith; Kamandulyte-Merfeldiene, Laura; Kunnari, Sari; Kovacevic, Melita; Kuvac Kraljevic, Jelena; Lipowska, Katarzyna; Mejias, Sandrine; Popovic, Maša; Ruzaite, Jurate; Savic, Maja; Sevcenco, Anca; Varlokosta, Spyridoula; Varnava, Marina; Yatsushiro, Kazuko

    2016-01-01

    The comprehension of constituent questions is an important topic for language acquisition research and for applications in the diagnosis of language impairment. This article presents the results of a study investigating the comprehension of different types of questions by 5-year-old, typically developing children across 19 European countries, 18…

  2. A real-time spoken-language system for interactive problem-solving, combining linguistic and statistical technology for improved spoken language understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Robert C.; Cohen, Michael H.

    1993-09-01

    Under this effort, SRI has developed spoken-language technology for interactive problem solving, featuring real-time performance for up to several thousand word vocabularies, high semantic accuracy, habitability within the domain, and robustness to many sources of variability. Although the technology is suitable for many applications, efforts to date have focused on developing an Air Travel Information System (ATIS) prototype application. SRI's ATIS system has been evaluated in four ARPA benchmark evaluations, and has consistently been at or near the top in performance. These achievements are the result of SRI's technical progress in speech recognition, natural-language processing, and speech and natural-language integration.

  3. Primate vocal communication: a useful tool for understanding human speech and language evolution?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fedurek, Pawel; Slocombe, Katie E

    2011-04-01

    Language is a uniquely human trait, and questions of how and why it evolved have been intriguing scientists for years. Nonhuman primates (primates) are our closest living relatives, and their behavior can be used to estimate the capacities of our extinct ancestors. As humans and many primate species rely on vocalizations as their primary mode of communication, the vocal behavior of primates has been an obvious target for studies investigating the evolutionary roots of human speech and language. By studying the similarities and differences between human and primate vocalizations, comparative research has the potential to clarify the evolutionary processes that shaped human speech and language. This review examines some of the seminal and recent studies that contribute to our knowledge regarding the link between primate calls and human language and speech. We focus on three main aspects of primate vocal behavior: functional reference, call combinations, and vocal learning. Studies in these areas indicate that despite important differences, primate vocal communication exhibits some key features characterizing human language. They also indicate, however, that some critical aspects of speech, such as vocal plasticity, are not shared with our primate cousins. We conclude that comparative research on primate vocal behavior is a very promising tool for deepening our understanding of the evolution of human speech and language, but much is still to be done as many aspects of monkey and ape vocalizations remain largely unexplored.

  4. Introduction: Sign Language, Sustainable Development, and Equal Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  5. Effective Oral Language Development Strategies for Elementary Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. Implications of Bilingual Development for Specific Language Impairments in Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  7. Educational Environment and Cultural Transmission in Foreign Language Teaching

    Science.gov (United States)

    Memis, Muhammet Rasit

    2016-01-01

    Foreign language teaching is not to teach grammar and vocabulary of the target language and to gain basic language skills only. Foreign language teaching is teaching of the language's culture at the same time. Because of language and community develop and shape together, learning, understanding and speaking a foreign language literally requires…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  9. Duration of watching TV and child language development in young children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silva Audya Perdana

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Background Many factors contribute to language development in children. About 5-8% of children in Indonesia experience delayed language skills. Young children need appropriate stimulation for optimal development. Children who watch television (TV for long periods of time may receive less two-way interaction, the appropriate stimulation for learning. As such, shorter duration of the appropriate stimulation may impede language development in small children. Objective To assess for an association between duration of watching TV and language development in young children. Methods This cross-sectional study was done with primary data collected from questionnaires. Subjects, aged 18 months to 3 years, were from a Jakarta-area community health center (Puskesmas Jatinegara and the Pediatric Growth and Development Clinic, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, Jakarta. Their language development was tested using the Developmental Pre-screening Questionnaire (Kuesioner Pra Skrining Perkembangan, KPSP and the Early Language Milestone (ELM Scale 2 test. Results From a total of 84 subjects, 47 (56% had normal and 37 (44% had delayed language development. Duration of watching TV was categorized as 4 hours per day. Children who watched TV >4 hours/day (OR 4.4; 95%CI 1.68 to 11.7; P=0.002, and children who watched both Indonesian and English language TV programs (OR 14.7; 95%CI 1.77 to 123.0; P=0.004 had higher risk of language delay. Other variables such as sex, first age exposed to TV, use of gadgets, and TV in the bedroom had no significant associations with delayed language development. Conclusion Children who watch TV >4 hours/day had four times higher risk of developing language delay. In addition, those who watch TV programs in both Indonesian and English, also have a 14.7 higher risk of delayed language development.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. L-Py: an L-System simulation framework for modeling plant development based on a dynamic language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frederic eBoudon

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The study of plant development requires increasingly powerful modeling tools to help understand and simulate the growth and functioning of plants. In the last decade, the formalism of L-systems has emerged as a major paradigm for modeling plant development. Previous implementations of this formalism were made based on static languages, i.e. languages that require explicit definition of variable types before using them. These languages are often efficient but involve quite a lot of syntactic overhead, thus restricting the flexibility of use for modelers. In this work, we present an adaptation of L-systems to the Python language, a popular and powerful open-license dynamic language. We show that the use of dynamic language properties makes it possible to enhance the development of plant growth models: i by keeping a simple syntax while allowing for high-level programming constructs, ii by making code execution easy and avoiding compilation overhead iii allowing a high level of model reusability and the building of complex modular models iv and by providing powerful solutions to integrate MTG data-structures (that are a common way to represent plants at several scales into L-systems and thus enabling to use a wide spectrum of computer tools based on MTGs developed for plant architecture. We then illustrate the use of L-Py in real applications to build complex models or to teach plant modeling in the classroom.

  12. d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners: The Development of Communication and Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pizzo, Lianna

    2016-01-01

    The author examines the theory and research relevant to educating d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners (DMLs). There is minimal research on this population, yet a synthesis of related theory, research, and practice on spoken-language bilinguals can be used to add to the body of knowledge on these learners. Specifically, the author reports on three major areas: (a) population characteristics of DMLs, (b) theories relevant to understanding the language development of DMLs, and (c) considerations for programs in designing and implementing educational services for DMLs. In the interest of ensuring that children receive the foundation for linguistic success, aspects of linguistically responsive teaching (Lucas & Villegas, 2013) are addressed, with a focus on adopting an asset-based perspective on educating DMLs that honors all of a child's language, identity, and cultural memberships.

  13. Evolution: Language Use and the Evolution of Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croft, William

    Language change can be understood as an evolutionary process. Language change occurs at two different timescales, corresponding to the two steps of the evolutionary process. The first timescale is very short, namely, the production of an utterance: this is where linguistic structures are replicated and language variation is generated. The second timescale is (or can be) very long, namely, the propagation of linguistic variants in the speech community: this is where certain variants are selected over others. At both timescales, the evolutionary process is driven by social interaction and the role language plays in it. An understanding of social interaction at the micro-level—face-to-face interactions—and at the macro-level—the structure of speech communities—gives us the basis for understanding the generation and propagation of language structures, and understanding the nature of language itself.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  15. Development of the Tensoral Computer Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. The Relationship between Second Language Acquisition Process and English Language Teaching in Indonesia

    OpenAIRE

    Pritz Hutabarat

    2016-01-01

    English as a global language is learned worldwide and a plethora of methods and approaches have been developed and practiced in English classrooms by dedicated teachers and students. Understanding the underlying theories of second and foreign language acquisition and learning will help both teachers and students in learning and teaching a target language. There has not been many research conducted in the area, especially within Indonesian context. This research therefore attempts to fill in g...

  18. Language development of internationally adopted children: Adverse early experiences outweigh the age of acquisition effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rakhlin, Natalia; Hein, Sascha; Doyle, Niamh; Hart, Lesley; Macomber, Donna; Ruchkin, Vladislav; Tan, Mei; Grigorenko, Elena L

    2015-01-01

    We compared English language and cognitive skills between internationally adopted children (IA; mean age at adoption=2.24, SD=1.8) and their non-adopted peers from the US reared in biological families (BF) at two time points. We also examined the relationships between outcome measures and age at initial institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and age at adoption. On measures of general language, early literacy, and non-verbal IQ, the IA group performed significantly below their age-peers reared in biological families at both time points, but the group differences disappeared on receptive vocabulary and kindergarten concept knowledge at the second time point. Furthermore, the majority of children reached normative age expectations between 1 and 2 years post-adoption on all standardized measures. Although the age at adoption, age of institutionalization, length of institutionalization, and time in the adoptive family all demonstrated significant correlations with one or more outcome measures, the negative relationship between length of institutionalization and child outcomes remained most robust after controlling for the other variables. Results point to much flexibility and resilience in children's capacity for language acquisition as well as the potential primacy of length of institutionalization in explaining individual variation in IA children's outcomes. (1) Readers will be able to understand the importance of pre-adoption environment on language and early literacy development in internationally adopted children. (2) Readers will be able to compare the strength of the association between the length of institutionalization and language outcomes with the strength of the association between the latter and the age at adoption. (3) Readers will be able to understand that internationally adopted children are able to reach age expectations on expressive and receptive language measures despite adverse early experiences and a replacement of their first

  19. Computer modelling as a tool for understanding language evolution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Boer, Bart; Gontier, N; VanBendegem, JP; Aerts, D

    2006-01-01

    This paper describes the uses of computer models in studying the evolution of language. Language is a complex dynamic system that can be studied at the level of the individual and at the level of the population. Much of the dynamics of language evolution and language change occur because of the

  20. General Chemistry Students' Conceptual Understanding and Language Fluency: Acid-Base Neutralization and Conductometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nyachwaya, James M.

    2016-01-01

    The objective of this study was to examine college general chemistry students' conceptual understanding and language fluency in the context of the topic of acids and bases. 115 students worked in groups of 2-4 to complete an activity on conductometry, where they were given a scenario in which a titration of sodium hydroxide solution and dilute…

  1. Communication and Gamification in the Web-Based Foreign Language Educational System: Web- Based Foreign Language Educational System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Osipov, Ilya V.; Volinsky, Alex A.; Nikulchev, Evgeny; Prasikova, Anna Y.

    2016-01-01

    The paper describes development of the educational online web communication platform for teaching and learning foreign languages. The main objective was to develop a web application for teaching foreigners to understand casual fluent speech. The system is based on the time bank principle, allowing users to teach others their native language along…

  2. Understanding action language modulates oscillatory mu and beta rhythms in the same way as observing actions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno, Iván; de Vega, Manuel; León, Inmaculada

    2013-08-01

    The mu rhythms (8-13 Hz) and the beta rhythms (15 up to 30 Hz) of the EEG are observed in the central electrodes (C3, Cz and C4) in resting states, and become suppressed when participants perform a manual action or when they observe another's action. This has led researchers to consider that these rhythms are electrophysiological markers of the motor neuron activity in humans. This study tested whether the comprehension of action language, unlike abstract language, modulates mu and low beta rhythms (15-20 Hz) in a similar way as the observation of real actions. The log-ratios were calculated for each oscillatory band between each condition and baseline resting periods. The results indicated that both action language and action videos caused mu and beta suppression (negative log-ratios), whereas abstract language did not, confirming the hypothesis that understanding action language activates motor networks in the brain. In other words, the resonance of motor areas associated with action language is compatible with the embodiment approach to linguistic meaning. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. 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.

  4. Ambiguous Aims: English-Language Voluntourism as Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  5. Digital-Gaming Trajectories and Second Language Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. Development of the next generation code system as an engineering modeling language (1)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yokoyama, Kenji; Uto, Nariaki; Kasahara, Naoto; Nagura, Fuminori; Ishikawa, Makoto; Ohira, Masanori; Kato, Masayuki

    2002-11-01

    In the fast reactor development, numerical simulation using analytical codes plays an important role for complementing theory and experiment. It is necessary that the engineering models and analysis methods can be flexibly changed, because the phenamine to be investigated become more complicated due to the diversity of the needs for research. And, there are large problems in combining physical properties and engineering models in many different fields. In this study, the goal is to develop a flexible and general-purposive analysis system, in which the physical properties and engineering models are represented as a programming language or a diagrams that are easily understandable for humans and executable for computers. The authors named this concept the Engineering Modeling Language (EML). This report describes the result of the investigation for latest computer technologies and software development techniques which seem to be usable for a realization of the analysis code system for nuclear engineering as an EML. (author)

  8. Language matters: thirteen-month-olds understand that the language a speaker uses constrains conventionality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Jessica C; Henderson, Annette M E

    2013-11-01

    Object labels are valuable communicative tools because their meanings are shared among the members of a particular linguistic community. The current research was conducted to investigate whether 13-month-old infants appreciate that object labels should not be generalized across individuals who have been shown to speak different languages. Using a visual habituation paradigm, Experiment 1 tested whether infants would generalize a new object label that was taught to them by a speaker of a foreign language to a speaker from the infant's own linguistic group. The results suggest that infants do not expect 2 individuals who have been shown to speak different languages to use the same label to refer to the same object. The results of Experiment 2 reveal that infants do not generalize a new object label that was taught to them by a speaker of their native language to an individual who had been shown to speak a foreign language. These findings offer the first evidence that by the end of the 1st year of life, infants are sensitive to the fact that the conventional nature of language is constrained by the language that a person has been shown to speak.

  9. 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. ...

  10. Understanding the Relationship between Language Proficiency, Language Impairment and Rehabilitation: Evidence from a Case Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiran, Swathi; Iakupova, Regina

    2011-01-01

    The goal of this study was to address the relationship between language proficiency, language impairment and rehabilitation in bilingual Russian-English individuals with aphasia. As a first step, we examined two Russian-English patients' pre-stroke language proficiency using a detailed and comprehensive language use and history questionnaire and…

  11. Teaching Cultural Taboos and Taboo Language for Intercultural Awareness and Understanding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Georgeta Rata

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The goal of the paper is to show that language can support social and intercultural competence of both students and teachers: one of the ways to do it is teaching cultural taboos and taboo language for intercultural awareness and understanding. The current state of the art in the field points to an increasing interest in the teaching of taboos. The material we analysed consisted in 238 offensive, vulgar and obscene English words that both students and teachers should know to attain social and intercultural competence. The method used is the descriptive one. The degree of novelty is rather high in our cultural area. Results show that there are 134 offensive (slang words and expressions (referring to the country of origin or to an ethnic group, to sex and sex-related issues (sexual orientation, to race, etc., 75 vulgar words and expressions (referring to sex and sex-related issues, to body parts, to people, etc., and 29 obscene words and expressions (referring to body secretions, to sex and sex-related issues, to people, etc.. There seems to be no research limitations given the lexicographic sources that we used. The implications of teaching cultural taboos and taboo language at tertiary level concern both the students and teachers and the organisation they belong to. The paper is original and relevant given the process of globalisation.

  12. 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…

  13. Understanding of subordinate clauses in the language of dysphasic children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lazarević Emilija

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents the results of the research of peculiarities of syntactic development, as an element of language structure on the grammatical level of children suffering from developmental dysphasia, after the completed speech pathology treatment of many years. Syntactic level at younger school age was studied by assessing language competence in the accomplishment of communicative sentence with subordinate clause. The research was performed on the samples of children at school age in regular primary schools in Belgrade. The sample comprised 160 respondents who were divided in two groups: target and comparative. The target group consisted of 60 respondents (children suffering from developmental dysphasia after the completed speech pathology treatment of many years, and the comparative group consisted of 100 respondents from regular primary school "Gavrilo Princip" in Zemun. Research results show that grammatical development of children suffering from developmental dysphasia takes place at a considerably slower rate and entails substantially more difficulties in accomplishing predication in subordinate clauses. This paper discusses the consequences which the difficulties in grammatical development can have on school achievement.

  14. Television viewing associates with delayed language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chonchaiya, Weerasak; Pruksananonda, Chandhita

    2008-07-01

    To identify impact of television viewing on language development. The case-control study included 56 new patients with language delay and 110 normal children, aged 15-48 months. Language delay was diagnosed by reviewing language milestones and Denver-II. Television viewing variables and child/parental characteristics between both groups were interviewed. The data were analyzed by ANOVA and chi-square test. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated from multivariate logistic regression model. Forty-six boys and 10 girls; mean [+/-SD] age, 2.11+/-0.47 years of the case group and 59 boys and 51 girls; mean [+/-SD] age, 2.23+/-0.80 years of the control group were enrolled. Children who had language delay usually started watching television earlier at age 7.22+/-5.52 months vs. 11.92+/-5.86 months, p-valuetelevision than normal children (3.05+/-1.90 h/day vs. 1.85+/-1.18 h/day; p-valuetelevision attelevision>2 h/day were approximately six times more likely to have language delays. There is a relationship between early onset and high frequency of TV viewing and language delay.

  15. 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.

  16. 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.

  17. The relationship between executive functioning and language: Examining vocabulary, syntax, and language learning in preschoolers attending Head Start.

    Science.gov (United States)

    White, Lisa J; Alexander, Alexandra; Greenfield, Daryl B

    2017-12-01

    Early childhood marks a time of dynamic development within language and cognitive domains. Specifically, a body of research focuses on the development of language as related to executive functions, which are foundational cognitive skills that relate to both academic achievement and social-emotional development during early childhood and beyond. Although there is evidence to support the relationship between language and executive functions, existing studies focus mostly on vocabulary and fail to examine other components of language such as syntax and language learning skills. To address this gap, this study examined the relationship between executive functioning (EF) and three aspects of language: syntax, vocabulary, and language learning. A diverse sample of 182 children (67% Latino and 33% African American) attending Head Start were assessed on both EF and language ability. Findings demonstrated that EF related to a comprehensive latent construct of language composed of vocabulary, syntax, and language learning. EF also related to each individual component of language. This study furthers our understanding of the complex relationship between language and cognitive development by measuring EF as it relates to various components of language in a sample of preschoolers from low-income backgrounds. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. 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 ...

  19. Grappling with Language Barriers: Implications for the Professional Development of Immigrant Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abramova, Inna

    2013-01-01

    In this narrative inquiry, I explored the role of language in the lives of six Russian-speaking immigrant teachers. Theoretical perspectives emphasized experience, context, and culture in understanding their beliefs, and language served as an interpretive lens through which the experiences were explored. The inquiry revealed the following…

  20. L-py: an L-system simulation framework for modeling plant architecture development based on a dynamic language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boudon, Frédéric; Pradal, Christophe; Cokelaer, Thomas; Prusinkiewicz, Przemyslaw; Godin, Christophe

    2012-01-01

    The study of plant development requires increasingly powerful modeling tools to help understand and simulate the growth and functioning of plants. In the last decade, the formalism of L-systems has emerged as a major paradigm for modeling plant development. Previous implementations of this formalism were made based on static languages, i.e., languages that require explicit definition of variable types before using them. These languages are often efficient but involve quite a lot of syntactic overhead, thus restricting the flexibility of use for modelers. In this work, we present an adaptation of L-systems to the Python language, a popular and powerful open-license dynamic language. We show that the use of dynamic language properties makes it possible to enhance the development of plant growth models: (i) by keeping a simple syntax while allowing for high-level programming constructs, (ii) by making code execution easy and avoiding compilation overhead, (iii) by allowing a high-level of model reusability and the building of complex modular models, and (iv) by providing powerful solutions to integrate MTG data-structures (that are a common way to represent plants at several scales) into L-systems and thus enabling to use a wide spectrum of computer tools based on MTGs developed for plant architecture. We then illustrate the use of L-Py in real applications to build complex models or to teach plant modeling in the classroom.

  1. 45 CFR 1308.9 - Eligibility criteria: Speech or language impairments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES THE ADMINISTRATION FOR CHILDREN... language impairments. (a) A speech or language impairment means a communication disorder such as stuttering... language disorder may be characterized by difficulty in understanding and producing language, including...

  2. Predictors of growth or attrition of the first language in Latino children with specific language impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Simon-Cereijido, Gabriela; Gutiérrez-Clellen, Vera F.; Sweet, Monica

    2012-01-01

    We investigated the factors that may help understand the differential rates of language development in the home language (i.e., Spanish) of Latino preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI). Children were randomly assigned to either bilingual or English-only small group interventions and followed from preschool to kindergarten. Predictors of Spanish growth included the language of intervention, the child’s level of language development or severity, the child’s socio-emotional skills, and the child’s level of English use. Spanish performance outcomes were assessed over time using a series of longitudinal models with baseline and post-treatment measures nested within child. Children demonstrated growth on Spanish outcomes over time. The language of instruction and the child’s level of vocabulary and socio-emotional development at baseline were significant predictors of differences in rates of growth in the home language. Clinicians may need to take into consideration these factors when making clinical recommendations. PMID:24489415

  3. The Role of Language in Theory of Mind Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  4. 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, ...

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Developing Pre-Service English Language Teachers' Comprehension of Texts with Humorous Elements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yangin Ersanli, Ceylan; Çakir, Abdulvahit

    2017-01-01

    Humour is a universal phenomenon and has been studied in many fields of research such as literature, linguistics, psychology, sociology and philosophy. Humour is often expressed through language and it is little wonder that failure to understand humorous language causes breakdowns in communication. What is humorous might be culturally defined, and…

  8. Promoting Intercultural Understanding among School Students through an English Language Based Reading Programme

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manjet Kaur Mehar Singh

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Malaysian intercultural society is typified by three major ethnic groups mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians.  Although education system is the best tool for these three major ethnic groups to work together, contemporary research reveals that there is still lack of intercultural embedding education context and national schools are seen as breeding grounds of racial polarisation.  In Malaysian context, there is a gap in research that focuses on the design of a proper intercultural reading framework for national integration and such initiatives are viable through schools.  The main objective of this conceptual paper is to introduce the English Language Intercultural Reading Programme (ELIRP in secondary schools to promote intercultural understanding among secondary school students.  The proposed framework will facilitate the acquisition of intercultural inputs without being constrained by ideological, political, or psychological demands.  This article will focus on elucidating how ELIRP could affect cognitive (knowledge and behavioural transformations to intercultural perceptions harboured by selected Form 4 students of 20 national schools in Malaysia. Keywords: behavior, knowledge, intercultural reading framework, intercultural understanding, English Language Intercultural Reading Programme, secondary school students

  9. Understanding the Language Demands on Science Students from an Integrated Science and Language Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seah, Lay Hoon; Clarke, David John; Hart, Christina Eugene

    2014-01-01

    This case study of a science lesson, on the topic thermal expansion, examines the language demands on students from an integrated science and language perspective. The data were generated during a sequence of 9 lessons on the topic of "States of Matter" in a Grade 7 classroom (12-13 years old students). We identify the language demands…

  10. 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 ...

  11. The development of English grammar and reading comprehension by majority and minority language children in a bilingual primary school

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anja K. Steinlen

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Both for the first language (L1 and for all additional languages (L2 or L3, grammatical knowledge plays a vital role in understanding texts (e.g., Grabe, 2005. However, little is known about the development and interaction of grammar and reading comprehension in beginning foreign language learning, especially with respect to children with a minority language background. This longitudinal study, therefore, examined minority and majority language children’s English grammar and reading comprehension skills. The children attended a German-English partial immersion primary school and were tested at the end of Grades 3 and 4. As expected, we found grammar to affect reading comprehension but also reverse effects. Most importantly, the results did not reveal any differences between the two language groups, irrespective of the test. Therefore, immersion primary school programs seem to be suitable for minority language children, and these children do not automatically represent an at-risk group for foreign language learning.

  12. Marking of Verb Tense in the English of Preschool English-Mandarin Bilingual Children: Evidence from Language Development Profiles within Subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Rickard Liow, Susan

    2016-01-01

    Background: The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this…

  13. The Ease of Language Understanding (ELU model: theoretical, empirical, and clinical advances

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jerker eRönnberg

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Working memory is important for online language processing during conversation. We use it to maintain relevant information, to inhibit or ignore irrelevant information, and to attend to conversation selectively. Working memory helps us to keep track of and actively participate in conversation, including taking turns and following the gist. This paper examines the Ease of Language Understanding model (i.e., the ELU model, Rönnberg, 2003; Rönnberg et al., 2008 in light of new behavioral and neural findings concerning the role of working memory capacity (WMC in uni-modal and bimodal language processing. The new ELU model is a meaning prediction system that depends on phonological and semantic interactions in rapid implicit and slower explicit processing mechanisms that both depend on WMC albeit in different ways. A revised ELU model is proposed based on findings that address the relationship between WMC and (a early attention processes in listening to speech, (b signal processing in hearing aids and its effects on short-term memory, (c inhibition of speech maskers and its effect on episodic long-term memory, (d the effects of hearing impairment on episodic and semantic long-term memory, and finally, (e listening effort. New predictions and clinical implications are outlined. Comparisons with other WMC and speech perception models are made.

  14. 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.…

  15. Early Markers of Vulnerable Language Skill Development in Galactosaemia

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  16. Language in low-functioning children with autistic disorder: differences between receptive and expressive skills and concurrent predictors of language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maljaars, Jarymke; Noens, Ilse; Scholte, Evert; van Berckelaer-Onnes, Ina

    2012-10-01

    Language profiles of children with autistic disorder and intellectual disability (n = 36) were significantly different from the comparison groups of children with intellectual disability (n = 26) and typically developing children (n = 34). The group low-functioning children with autistic disorder obtained a higher mean score on expressive than on receptive language, whereas both comparison groups showed the reverse pattern. Nonverbal mental age, joint attention, and symbolic understanding of pictures were analyzed in relation to concurrent receptive and expressive language abilities. In the group with autistic disorder and intellectual disability, symbol understanding and joint attention were most strongly related to language abilities. Nonverbal mental age was the most important predictor of language abilities in the comparison groups.

  17. Otitis Media and Speech/Language Development in Late-Talkers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, Rhea; And Others

    This study examines otitis media as a possible factor associated with increased risk for communicative handicap in a group of children with a possible vulnerability for language delay: "late-talkers." Speech and language outcomes at ages 3 and 4 were examined in 28 late talkers and 24 children with normal language development. Late…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  19. What sign language creation teaches us about language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brentari, Diane; Coppola, Marie

    2013-03-01

    How do languages emerge? What are the necessary ingredients and circumstances that permit new languages to form? Various researchers within the disciplines of primatology, anthropology, psychology, and linguistics have offered different answers to this question depending on their perspective. Language acquisition, language evolution, primate communication, and the study of spoken varieties of pidgin and creoles address these issues, but in this article we describe a relatively new and important area that contributes to our understanding of language creation and emergence. Three types of communication systems that use the hands and body to communicate will be the focus of this article: gesture, homesign systems, and sign languages. The focus of this article is to explain why mapping the path from gesture to homesign to sign language has become an important research topic for understanding language emergence, not only for the field of sign languages, but also for language in general. WIREs Cogn Sci 2013, 4:201-211. doi: 10.1002/wcs.1212 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. 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…

  2. Languages in a global world learning for better cultural understanding

    CERN Document Server

    Scott, Jessica; Hinton, Christina

    2012-01-01

    The rise of globalisation makes language competencies more valuable, both at individual and societal levels. This book examines the links between globalisation and the way we teach and learn languages. It begins by asking why some individuals are more successful than others at learning non-native languages, and why some education systems, or countries, are more successful than others at teaching languages. The book comprises chapters by different authors on the subject of language learning. There are chapters on the role of motivation; the way that languages, cultures and identities are interc

  3. 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…

  4. Language and False-Belief Task Performance in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrar, M. Jeffrey; Seung, Hye Kyeung; Lee, Hyeonjin

    2017-01-01

    Purpose: Language is related to false-belief (FB) understanding in both typically developing children and children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The current study examined the role of complementation and general language in FB understanding. Of interest was whether language plays similar or different roles in the groups' FB performance.…

  5. 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…

  6. The missing link in language development of deaf and hard of hearing children: pragmatic language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goberis, Dianne; Beams, Dinah; Dalpes, Molly; Abrisch, Amanda; Baca, Rosalinda; Yoshinaga-Itano, Christine

    2012-11-01

    This article will provide information about the Pragmatics Checklist, which consists of 45 items and is scored as: (1) not present, (2) present but preverbal, (3) present with one to three words, and (4) present with complex language. Information for both children who are deaf or hard of hearing and those with normal hearing are presented. Children who are deaf or hard of hearing are significantly older when demonstrating skill with complex language than their normal hearing peers. In general, even at the age of 7 years, there are several items that are not mastered by 75% of the deaf or hard of hearing children. Additionally, the article will provide some suggestions of strategies that can be considered as a means to facilitate the development of these pragmatic language skills for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

  7. Starting a New Language Education Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harris, Kathy

    2015-01-01

    Early years and primary teachers have a unique opportunity to apply their strong teaching practices, classroom management and understanding of childhood literacy development to teaching a language. This paper reports on a project from Independent Schools Queensland to increase language programs in schools by retraining classroom teachers.…

  8. A brief discussion on the biological factors in the acquisition of language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronivaldo Braz da Silva

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available The understanding of how language is acquired and the role the brain plays in the language acquisition process are crucial because the development of language is one of the most important factcrs in human development. The analysis of language development is intrinsically connected with one's awareness of how human beings or human brains perceive, learn, control, and coordinate elaborate behaviour. The study of language development, therefore, involves research on motor, perceptual, and cognitive development. This paper reviews the three major theories of language acquisition, namely, behaviouristic, psycholinguistic, and interactionistic and examines the biological component of language acquisition and the brain's role in the language development process.

  9. Clinical assessment of early language development: a simplified short form of the Mandarin communicative development inventory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Meng, Zhaoli; Li, Gang

    2012-09-01

    The purpose of this study was to develop a practical mean for clinical evaluation of early pediatric language development by establishing developmental trajectories for receptive and expressive vocabulary growth in children between 6 and 32 months of age using a simple, time-efficient assessment tool. Simplified short form versions of the Words and Gestures and Words and Sentences vocabulary inventories in the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory [1] were developed and used to assess early language development in developmentally normal children from 6 to 32 months of age during routine health checks. Developmental trajectories characterizing the rate of receptive and expressive vocabulary growth between 6 and 32 months of age are reported. These trajectories allow the equivalent age corresponding to a score to be determined after a brief structured interview with the child's parents that can be conducted in a busy clinical setting. The simplified short forms of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventories can serve as a clinically useful tool to assess early child language development, providing a practical mean of objectively assessing early language development following early interventions to treat young children with hearing impairment as well as speech and language delays. Objective evidence of language development is essential for achievement of effective (re)habilitation outcomes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. 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…

  11. 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…

  12. Family Literacy and Second Language Literacy Research: Focus on Language Minority Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Özgür Yıldırım

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Problem Statement: Countries like the U. S. A. or Canada have citizens from various ethnic backgrounds. Although English is the dominant language in many parts of these countries, immigrants generally prefer speaking their native language when they are in their homes. Whatever the reason for using native language at home is, when we consider the children in these families, we can say that being exposed to different languages at home and at school may be a problem for their language development.Purpose of Study: There are many studies conducted in order to better understand the problems of language minority children. A great deal of literature on language minority students focuses on the ties between these children‟s literacy development and their literacy practices at home. In other words, these studies aim to see how the literacy events these children are exposed to at home affect their literacy learning in the second language.Methods: This paper is an attempt to put together and discuss various theoretical and empirical studies conducted on the literacy development of language minority children in English speaking countries.Findings: Literacy education of language minority students is not an easy task. It is very complicated and difficult to achieve as it requires a complete collaboration among all the responsible parties (teachers, families, researchers, education policy makers, school administrators. Conclusion and Recommendations: Successful collaboration among all the involved parties would bring successful outcomes in terms of children‟s healthy literacy development. The collaboration between teachers and families is the most vital one because these two parties are the ones that have one-to-one interaction with children.

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. 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.

  16. 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…

  17. 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...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  20. Accelerating Early Language Development with Multi-Sensory Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. WAYS OF DEVELOPING PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LANGUAGE COMPETENCE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  2. The Fifth Milestone in the Development of Chinese Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  3. Music and Early Language Acquisition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandt, Anthony; Gebrian, Molly; Slevc, L. Robert

    2012-01-01

    Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence. Music, while recognized as a human universal, is often treated as an ancillary ability – one dependent on or derivative of language. In contrast, we argue that it is more productive from a developmental perspective to describe spoken language as a special type of music. A review of existing studies presents a compelling case that musical hearing and ability is essential to language acquisition. In addition, we challenge the prevailing view that music cognition matures more slowly than language and is more difficult; instead, we argue that music learning matches the speed and effort of language acquisition. We conclude that music merits a central place in our understanding of human development. PMID:22973254

  4. An Analysis on Advertising Language from the Perspective of Memetics

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    RAN Shi-wei

    2016-01-01

    Memetics is a new theory to explain the formation and development of language. It is of great importance in the development of advertising language. The paper is going to study advertising language from the perspective of memetics and at the same time try to study and summarize the sources of advertising language as well as the characteristics of language use. The study will provide the advertising designers with a strong theoretical basis for advertising creation and help us understand memetics deeply.

  5. Sociocultural Theory and its Role in the Development of Language Pedagogy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  6. Exploring Language Awareness through Students' Engagement in Language Play

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahn, So-Yeon

    2016-01-01

    The present study explores Korean students' demonstration of language awareness through their engagement in language play. Grounded in the understanding of the relationship between language play and an "engagement with language" (EWL) perspective, this ethnographic and discourse analytic study investigates how Korean students aged 11-15…

  7. Thought and Language in Cognitive Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Destéfano, Mariela

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In cognitive science, the discussion about the relations between language and thought is very heterogeneous. It involves developments on linguistics, philosophy, psychology, etc. Carruthers and Boucher (1998 identify different criteria that would organize the diversity of positions about language and thought assumed in linguistics, philosophy and psychology. One of them is the constitution thesis (CT, which establishes that language is constitutively involved in thought. In this paper I would like to show some problems of CT in order to understand the relation between language and thought in cognitive science.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  9. 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,…

  10. Human Computer Collaboration at the Edge: Enhancing Collective Situation Understanding with Controlled Natural Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-06

    conversational agent with information exchange disabled until the end of the experiment run. The meaning of the indicator in the top- right of the agent... Human Computer Collaboration at the Edge: Enhancing Collective Situation Understanding with Controlled Natural Language Alun Preece∗, William...email: PreeceAD@cardiff.ac.uk †Emerging Technology Services, IBM United Kingdom Ltd, Hursley Park, Winchester, UK ‡US Army Research Laboratory, Human

  11. 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.

  12. Oracle Bones and Mandarin Tones: Demystifying the Chinese Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor. Project on East Asian Studies in Education.

    This publication will provide secondary level students with a basic understanding of the development and structure of Chinese (guo yu) language characters. The authors believe that demystifying the language helps break many cultural barriers. The written language is a good place to begin because its pictographic nature is appealing and inspires…

  13. Theory-based Support for Mobile Language Learning: Noticing and Recording

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agnes Kukulska-Hulme

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper considers the issue of 'noticing' in second language acquisition, and argues for the potential of handheld devices to: (i support language learners in noticing and recording noticed features 'on the spot', to help them develop their second language system; (ii help language teachers better understand the specific difficulties of individuals or those from a particular language background; and (iii facilitate data collection by applied linguistics researchers, which can be fed back into educational applications for language learning. We consider: theoretical perspectives drawn from the second language acquisition literature, relating these to the practice of writing language learning diaries; and the potential for learner modelling to facilitate recording and prompting noticing in mobile assisted language learning contexts. We then offer guidelines for developers of mobile language learning solutions to support the development of language awareness in learners.

  14. A Model of Instruction for Integrating Culture and Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papalia, Anthony

    An integrated model of instruction in language and culture uses a sequential method of discovering sensation, perception, concept, and principle to develop self-analysis skills in students. When planning activities for learning a language and developing cultural understanding, teachers might follow a sequence such as the following: introduce…

  15. 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.

  16. Culture and Early Language Development: Implications for Assessment and Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  17. The Impact of Self-Access Centres in Fostering Confidence, Motivation and Autonomy to Develop Language Skills

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asjad Ahmed Saeed Balla

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available This Paper investigates the relation between studying in Self-Access centres and learners’ confidence, motivation and autonomous learning. The study based on three questions: (a To what extent autonomous learning motivates students/users of SAC? (b Is the use of SAC reinforcing students’ confidence? (c To what extent using SAC help in developing the students; learning skills? A questionnaire conducted to show learners; attitudes towards using SAC. The data was statistically analysed. The most important result revealed that the learners felt more confident and motivated after using SAC. Besides, there were a noticeable change in their language understanding and remarkable improvement in their language skills.

  18. 211 English Language, the Nigerian Education System and Human ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The role English language plays in human development in Nigeria is the focal point of ... learning process thrives on effective communication between the teacher and the .... enable one understand how English language came into Nigeria.

  19. Language Development and the Integrationist

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.…

  20. Developing an English Language Textbook Evaluation Checklist

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. Advances in natural language processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirschberg, Julia; Manning, Christopher D

    2015-07-17

    Natural language processing employs computational techniques for the purpose of learning, understanding, and producing human language content. Early computational approaches to language research focused on automating the analysis of the linguistic structure of language and developing basic technologies such as machine translation, speech recognition, and speech synthesis. Today's researchers refine and make use of such tools in real-world applications, creating spoken dialogue systems and speech-to-speech translation engines, mining social media for information about health or finance, and identifying sentiment and emotion toward products and services. We describe successes and challenges in this rapidly advancing area. Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  2. 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.

  3. Attention problems and language development in preterm low-birth-weight children: Cross-lagged relations from 18 to 36 months

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rohrer-Baumgartner Nina

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Research has highlighted a series of persistent deficits in cognitive ability in preterm low-birth-weight children. Language and attention problems are among these deficits, although the nature of the relation between attention and language in early development is not well known. This study represents a preliminary attempt to shed light on the relations between attention problems and language development in preterm low-birth-weight children. Methods The aim of this study was to analyse reciprocal influences between language and attention problems from 18 to 36 months. We used maternal reports on attention problems and language ability referring to a sample of 1288 premature low-birth-weight infants, collected as part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa. A sample of children born full-term was used as the control group (N = 37010. Cross-lagged panel analyses were carried out to study reciprocal influences between attention problems and language. Results Language ability at 18 months did not significantly predict attention problems at 36 months, adjusting for attention problems at 18 months. Attention problems at 18 months significantly predicted changes in language ability from 18 to 36 months, pointing to a precursor role of attention in relation to language in children born preterm. Gender, age corrected for prematurity, and mother's education emerged as important covariates. Conclusions Preliminary evidence was found for a precursor role of early attention problems in relation to language in prematurity. This finding can contribute to a better understanding of the developmental pathways of attention and language and lead to better management of unfavourable outcomes associated with co-morbid attention and language difficulties.

  4. Attention problems and language development in preterm low-birth-weight children: cross-lagged relations from 18 to 36 months.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro, Luisa A; Zachrisson, Henrik D; Schjolberg, Synnve; Aase, Heidi; Rohrer-Baumgartner, Nina; Magnus, Per

    2011-06-29

    Research has highlighted a series of persistent deficits in cognitive ability in preterm low-birth-weight children. Language and attention problems are among these deficits, although the nature of the relation between attention and language in early development is not well known. This study represents a preliminary attempt to shed light on the relations between attention problems and language development in preterm low-birth-weight children. The aim of this study was to analyse reciprocal influences between language and attention problems from 18 to 36 months. We used maternal reports on attention problems and language ability referring to a sample of 1288 premature low-birth-weight infants, collected as part of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). A sample of children born full-term was used as the control group (N = 37010). Cross-lagged panel analyses were carried out to study reciprocal influences between attention problems and language. Language ability at 18 months did not significantly predict attention problems at 36 months, adjusting for attention problems at 18 months. Attention problems at 18 months significantly predicted changes in language ability from 18 to 36 months, pointing to a precursor role of attention in relation to language in children born preterm. Gender, age corrected for prematurity, and mother's education emerged as important covariates. Preliminary evidence was found for a precursor role of early attention problems in relation to language in prematurity. This finding can contribute to a better understanding of the developmental pathways of attention and language and lead to better management of unfavourable outcomes associated with co-morbid attention and language difficulties.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  6. Towards an understanding of self-directed language as a mechanism of behavior change: A novel strategy for eliciting client language under laboratory conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin O. Ladd

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Change talk (CT and sustain talk (ST are thought to reflect underlying motivation and be important mechanisms of behavior change (MOBCs. However, greater specificity and experimental rigor is needed to establish CT and ST as MOBCs. Testing the effects of self-directed language under laboratory conditions is one promising avenue. The current study presents a replication and extension of research examining the feasibility for using simulation tasks to elicit self-directed language. Methods: First-year college students (N=92 responded to the Collegiate Simulated Intoxication Digital Elicitation, a validated task for assessing decision-making in college drinking. Verbal responses elicited via free-response and structured interview formats were coded based on established definitions of CT and ST, with minor modifications to reflect the non-treatment context. Associations between self-directed language and alcohol use at baseline and eight months were examined. Additionally, this study examined whether a contextually-based measure of decision-making, behavioral willingness, mediated relationships between self-directed language and alcohol outcome. Results: Healthy talk and unhealthy talk independently were associated with baseline alcohol use across both elicitation formats. Only healthy talk during the free-response elicitation was associated with alcohol use at follow up; both healthy talk and unhealthy talk during the interview elicitation were associated with 8-month alcohol use. Behavioral willingness significantly mediated the relationship between percent healthy talk and alcohol outcome. Conclusions: Findings support the utility of studying self-directed language under laboratory conditions and suggest that such methods may provide a fruitful strategy to further understand the role of self-directed language as a MOBC. Keywords: Change talk, College students, Alcohol, Simulation task

  7. Bilingual First Language Acquisition: Exploring the Limits of the Language Faculty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Genesee, Fred

    2001-01-01

    Reviews current research in three domains of bilingual acquisition: pragmatic features of bilingual code mixing, grammatical constraints on child bilingual code mixing, and bilingual syntactic development. Examines implications from these domains for the understanding of the limits of the mental faculty to acquire language. (Author/VWL)

  8. 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

  9. Infant and Newborn Development - Multiple Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... 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) ( ...

  10. 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…

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. Understanding Contextual and Social Meaning in Typically Developing Finnish-Speaking Four- To Eight-Year-Old Children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Loukusa Soile

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available This study examined the development of social-pragmatic comprehension in 170 Finnish four- to eight-year-old children. The children were asked to respond to socially and contextually demanding questions targeting their social-pragmatic language processing, and to explain their correct answers in order to elicit their awareness of how they had derived the answers from the context. The results showed that the number of correct answers increased especially between the ages of four and seven years. We found that questions demanding contextual processing without mind-reading were the easiest to understand, followed by questions demanding processing of feelings of others and false beliefs. The questions demanding understanding of relevant language use and processing of contextual factors including mental states and intentions were the most challenging for the children. Between four and five years of age there was a remarkable developmental phase in children’s ability to give proper explanations.

  14. 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)

  15. Understanding foreign language teachers’ practical knowledge: What’s the role of prior language learning experience?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sibel Arıoğul

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Teachers’ practical knowledge is considered as teachers’ general knowledge, beliefsand thinking (Borg, 2003 which can be traced in teachers’ practices (Connelly & Clandinin,1988 and shaped by various background sources (Borg, 2003; Grossman, 1990; Meijer,Verloop, and Beijard, 1999. This paper initially discusses how language teachers areinfluenced by three background sources: teachers’ prior language learning experiences, priorteaching experience, and professional coursework in pre- and in-service education. Bydrawing its data from the author’s longitidunal study, it also presents the findings of a crosscasetheme emerged from the investigation of three English as a foreign language (EFLteachers’ prior language learning experiences. The paper also discusses how the participationin studies on teachers’ knowledge raises teachers’ own awareness while it informs theresearch.

  16. 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...

  17. 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 ...

  18. 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

  19. 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...

  20. Co-Working: Parents' Conception of Roles in Supporting Their Children's Speech and Language Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, Karen E.; Marshall, Julie; Brown, Laura J. E.; Goldbart, Juliet

    2017-01-01

    Speech and language therapists' (SLTs) roles include enabling parents to provide intervention. We know little about how parents understand their role during speech and language intervention or whether these change during involvement with SLTs. The theory of conceptual change, applied to parents as adult learners, is used as a framework for…

  1. Researching language teaching: Understanding practice through ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    In this article we argue that second language acquisition (SLA) research and theory have a significant role to play in teacher education, especially at the masters level. The danger of overly practical approaches is that they cannot challenge current practice in ways that are both critical and rigorous. However, to engage ...

  2. 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...

  3. 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...

  4. 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...

  5. 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.

  6. 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,…

  7. 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'…

  8. 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…

  9. "Real Language": Combining Intermediate Spanish Language Learners and ESOL/Native Speakers for Vernacular Language Acquisition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joe LaValle

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the possibilities of combining Spanish language learners and English language learners in high school and post-secondary institutions for mutual benefit to learn authentic language. Academic or "classroom" Spanish is insufficient to empower students for today's workplace. The concept behind "Real Language" is illustrated by an example of an interdisciplinary activity to facilitate communicative interaction in genuine language and promote cultural understanding between intermediate Spanish students and ESOL/native speakers at the high school and post-secondary level. Students are asked to utilize their life skills in interactive, freestyle conversation without the intervention of an instructor. The learning space for language exchange is an out-of-class venue for a non-intimidating, more authentic setting. This simple qualitative study investigates the potential value of this sort of interdisciplinary activity. The intent is to evaluate attitudes of the participants in relation to confidence in their ability to use the target language, and their willingness to use it in social and professional environments and, in addition, to facilitate cultural understanding. The positive result of the project is validated by the voice of the student participants as they reflect on their experience in "Real Language". Could this concept facilitate evolving strategies for interdisciplinary contemporary foreign language learning?

  10. 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...

  11. 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.

  12. The Iranian Foreign Language Practitioners‟ Perspectives about Iran‟s Foreign Language Education Policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Naser Rashidi

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available The present study was conducted to identify the perceptions of the Iranian foreign language practitioners about Iran‟s foreign language education policy within a systemic functional linguistics approach. To this end, 8 Iranian male and female foreign language practitioners were interviewed and asked to talk about what they thought about Iran‟s foreign language policy. The findings obtained from analysing the process types and participants employed by the Iranian foreign language practitioners within a systemic functional linguistics approach point out that the FLEP document is heavily influenced by and draws on well entrenched ideological, historical, religious, economic, and political discourses. Further investigations within a systemic functional linguistics approach indicate that the Iranian teachers believed that while English is a tool for understanding cultural exchanges and transferring technological advances, achieving these goals through the teaching of English is sometimes problematic within an absolute Islamic framework. The findings obtained from a transitivity analysis for the Iranian foreign language practitioners by subjecting their responses to the questions on the interviews to a systemic functional linguistics approach are also indicative of the Iranian foreign language teachers‟ loyalty to the “the younger, the better” belief. Likewise, course content was a topic for controversy. Some of the practitioners believed that course content should be developed around a variety of topics. Whereas others asserted that the inclusion of different topics in the foreign language education policy document may increase the workload on the part of the teachers. Other issues such as culture, the Islamic ideology, and imperialism were identified as causes of different understandings among the Iranian foreign language practitioners as well.

  13. Understanding the Role of Teaching Materials in a Beginners’ Level English as a Foreign Language Course: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elio Jesús Cruz Rondón

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Learning a foreign language may be a challenge for most people due to differences in the form and structure between one’s mother tongue and a new one. However, there are some tools that facilitate the teaching and learning of a foreign language, for instance, new applications for digital devices, video blogs, educational platforms, and teaching materials. Therefore, this case study aims at understanding the role of teaching materials among beginners’ level students learning English as a foreign language. After conducting five non-participant classroom observations and nine semi-structured interviews, we found that the way the teacher implemented a pedagogical intervention by integrating the four language skills, promoting interactive learning through the use of online resources, and using the course book led to a global English teaching and learning process.

  14. 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

  15. The Relation Between Emotion Understanding and Theory of Mind in Children Aged 3 to 8: The Key Role of Language

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ilaria Grazzani

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Although a significant body of research has investigated the relationships among children’s emotion understanding (EU, theory of mind (ToM, and language abilities. As far as we know, no study to date has been conducted with a sizeable sample of both preschool and school-age children exploring the direct effect of EU on ToM when the role of language was evaluated as a potential exogenous factor in a single comprehensive model. Participants in the current study were 389 children (age range: 37–97 months, M = 60.79 months; SD = 12.66, to whom a False-Belief understanding battery, the Test of Emotion Comprehension, and the Peabody Test were administered. Children’s EU, ToM, and language ability (receptive vocabulary were positively correlated. Furthermore, EU scores explained variability in ToM scores independently of participants’ age and gender. Finally, language was found to play a crucial role in both explaining variance in ToM scores and in mediating the relationship between EU and ToM. We discuss the theoretical and educational implications of these outcomes, particularly in relation to offering social and emotional learning programs through schools.

  16. The Relation Between Emotion Understanding and Theory of Mind in Children Aged 3 to 8: The Key Role of Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grazzani, Ilaria; Ornaghi, Veronica; Conte, Elisabetta; Pepe, Alessandro; Caprin, Claudia

    2018-01-01

    Although a significant body of research has investigated the relationships among children's emotion understanding (EU), theory of mind (ToM), and language abilities. As far as we know, no study to date has been conducted with a sizeable sample of both preschool and school-age children exploring the direct effect of EU on ToM when the role of language was evaluated as a potential exogenous factor in a single comprehensive model. Participants in the current study were 389 children (age range: 37-97 months, M = 60.79 months; SD = 12.66), to whom a False-Belief understanding battery, the Test of Emotion Comprehension, and the Peabody Test were administered. Children's EU, ToM, and language ability (receptive vocabulary) were positively correlated. Furthermore, EU scores explained variability in ToM scores independently of participants' age and gender. Finally, language was found to play a crucial role in both explaining variance in ToM scores and in mediating the relationship between EU and ToM. We discuss the theoretical and educational implications of these outcomes, particularly in relation to offering social and emotional learning programs through schools.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.…

  18. Marking of verb tense in the English of preschool English-Mandarin bilingual children: evidence from language development profiles within subgroups on the Singapore English Action Picture Test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brebner, Chris; McCormack, Paul; Liow, Susan Rickard

    2016-01-01

    The phonological and morphosyntactic structures of English and Mandarin contrast maximally and an increasing number of bilinguals speak these two languages. Speech and language therapists need to understand bilingual development for children speaking these languages in order reliably to assess and provide intervention for this population. To examine the marking of verb tense in the English of two groups of bilingual pre-schoolers learning these languages in a multilingual setting where the main educational language is English. The main research question addressed was: are there differences in the rate and pattern of acquisition of verb-tense marking for English-language 1 children compared with Mandarin-language 1 children? Spoken language samples in English from 481 English-Mandarin bilingual children were elicited using a 10-item action picture test and analysed for each child's use of verb tense markers: present progressive '-ing', regular past tense '-ed', third-person singular '-s', and irregular past tense and irregular past-participle forms. For 4-6 year olds the use of inflectional markers by the different language dominance groups was compared statistically using non-parametric tests. This study provides further evidence that bilingual language development is not the same as monolingual language development. The results show that there are very different rates and patterns of verb-tense marking in English for English-language 1 and Mandarin-language 1 children. Furthermore, they show that bilingual language development in English in Singapore is not the same as monolingual language development in English, and that there are differences in development depending on language dominance. Valid and reliable assessment of bilingual children's language skills needs to consider the characteristics of all languages spoken, obtaining accurate information on language use over time and accurately establishing language dominance is essential in order to make a

  19. 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...

  20. Levers for Language Growth: Characteristics and Predictors of Language Trajectories between 4 and 7 Years.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cristina McKean

    Full Text Available Evidence is required as to when and where to focus resources to achieve the greatest gains for children's language development. Key to these decisions is the understanding of individual differences in children's language trajectories and the predictors of those differences. To determine optimal timing we must understand if and when children's relative language abilities become fixed. To determine where to focus effort we must identify mutable factors, that is those with the potential to be changed through interventions, which are associated with significant differences in children's language scores and rate of progress.Uniquely this study examined individual differences in language growth trajectories in a population sample of children between 4 and 7 years using the multilevel model for change. The influence of predictors, grouped with respect to their mutability and their proximity to the child (least-mutable, mutable-distal, mutable-proximal, were estimated.A significant degree of variability in rate of progress between 4 and 7 years was evident, much of which was systematically associated with mutable-proximal factors, that is, those factors with evidence that they are modifiable through interventions with the child or family, such as shared book reading, TV viewing and number of books in the home. Mutable-distal factors, such as family income, family literacy and neighbourhood disadvantage, hypothesised to be modifiable through social policy, were important predictors of language abilities at 4 years.Potential levers for language interventions lie in the child's home learning environment from birth to age 4. However, the role of a family's material and cultural capital must not be ignored, nor should the potential for growth into the school years. Early Years services should acknowledge the effects of multiple, cascading and cumulative risks and seek to promote child language development through the aggregation of marginal gains in the pre

  1. Understanding Student Language: An Unsupervised Dialogue Act Classification Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ezen-Can, Aysu; Boyer, Kristy Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    Within the landscape of educational data, textual natural language is an increasingly vast source of learning-centered interactions. In natural language dialogue, student contributions hold important information about knowledge and goals. Automatically modeling the dialogue act of these student utterances is crucial for scaling natural language…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  3. 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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  5. Language Assessment Literacy as Self-Awareness: "Understanding" the Role of Interpretation in Assessment and in Teacher Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scarino, Angela

    2013-01-01

    The increasing influence of sociocultural theories of learning on assessment practices in second language education necessitates an expansion of the knowledge base that teacher-assessors need to develop (what teachers need to know) and related changes in the processes of language teacher education (how they learn and develop it). Teacher assessors…

  6. Embodied Language Learning and Cognitive Bootstrapping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lyon, C.E.; Nehaniv, C. L.; Saunders, Joe

    2016-01-01

    Co-development of action, conceptualization and social interaction mutually scaffold and support each other within a virtuous feedback cycle in the development of human language in children. Within this framework, the purpose of this article is to bring together diverse but complementary accounts...... of research methods that jointly contribute to our understanding of cognitive development and in particular, language acquisition in robots. Thus, we include research pertaining to developmental robotics, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics and neuroscience, as well as practical computer science...... the humanoid robot iCub are reported, while human learning relevant to developmental robotics has also contributed useful results. Disparate approaches are brought together via common underlying design principles. Without claiming to model human language acquisition directly, we are nonetheless inspired...

  7. Learning bias, cultural evolution of language, and the biological evolution of the language faculty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Kenny

    2011-04-01

    The biases of individual language learners act to determine the learnability and cultural stability of languages: learners come to the language learning task with biases which make certain linguistic systems easier to acquire than others. These biases are repeatedly applied during the process of language transmission, and consequently should effect the types of languages we see in human populations. Understanding the cultural evolutionary consequences of particular learning biases is therefore central to understanding the link between language learning in individuals and language universals, common structural properties shared by all the world’s languages. This paper reviews a range of models and experimental studies which show that weak biases in individual learners can have strong effects on the structure of socially learned systems such as language, suggesting that strong universal tendencies in language structure do not require us to postulate strong underlying biases or constraints on language learning. Furthermore, understanding the relationship between learner biases and language design has implications for theories of the evolution of those learning biases: models of gene-culture coevolution suggest that, in situations where a cultural dynamic mediates between properties of individual learners and properties of language in this way, biological evolution is unlikely to lead to the emergence of strong constraints on learning.

  8. 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, ...

  9. [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.

  10. Enhancing English Learners' Language Development Using Wordless Picture Books

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  12. Self-Regulation in Language Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Wen-Ta; Liu, Heidi; Nix, John-Michael L

    2017-04-01

    Self-regulated learning has been a widely researched subject for decades in educational psychology. Different instruments have been developed to understand learners' self-regulated learning in a specific subject domain. This study developed a measurement scale to assess English-as-a-foreign-language learners' self-regulatory capacity in English language learning and further examined the effects of gender on English-as-a-foreign-language learners' self-regulatory capacity. A series of psychometric analyses including exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and full structural equation modeling were undertaken to answer the research questions raised. The findings suggest that the scale can attain high reliability and strong validity in two different samplings, and the underlying construct of self-regulation in English language learning is shown to be multidimensional with a significant impact by gender. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are further put forward in light of the research findings.

  13. The Comparative Analysis Between English and Chinese Advertising Language

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    程子润

    2017-01-01

    With the rapid development of economy, advertisements are seen everywhere. Meanwhile, language plays an important role in strengthening the advertisement's expressive force. Owing to many factors, Chinese and English advertisements have different styles and features. Thus, comparing Chinese and English advertising language is helpful to understand and use them better. This article will focus on the language similarities and differences between them.

  14. 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...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  16. Language and Faith Encounters: Bridging Language--Ethnicity and Language--Religion Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Souza, Ana

    2016-01-01

    There has been growing interest by British policy-makers in the importance of acknowledging the role of migrant children's background in their educational progress. Therefore, this article draws on studies of language-ethnicity and of language-religion to understand the linguistic and the religious heritage of four groups of Brazilian migrants in…

  17. 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 ...

  18. Hormonal influence on language development in physically advanced children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  19. Learning the Greek Language via Greeklish

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexandros Karakos

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Learning Greek as a second or foreign language has drawn the attention of many researchers throughout time. A dictionary is amongst the first things a foreign language student uses. Reading comprehension is significantly improved by the use of a dictionary, especially when this includes the way words are pronounced. We developed a assistance software for learning the Greek Language via Greeklish. Since, the basic vocabulary of a language is the basis of understanding the language itself, the dictionary proposed aims to make the basic Greek words easier to pronounce as well as to give the explanation of the word in English. The aim of this software is to provide a useful tool to learn the Greek language individually. Moreover, it aims to be involved, as an assistance tool for learning Greek as a second or foreign language.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  1. Development of Mandarin spoken language after pediatric cochlear implantation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Bei; Soli, Sigfrid D; Zheng, Yun; Li, Gang; Meng, Zhaoli

    2014-07-01

    The purpose of this study was to evaluate early spoken language development in young Mandarin-speaking children during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation, as measured by receptive and expressive vocabulary growth rates. Growth rates were compared with those of normally hearing children and with growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants. Receptive and expressive vocabularies were measured with the simplified short form (SSF) version of the Mandarin Communicative Development Inventory (MCDI) in a sample of 112 pediatric implant recipients at baseline, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implantation. Implant ages ranged from 1 to 5 years. Scores were expressed in terms of normal equivalent ages, allowing normalized vocabulary growth rates to be determined. Scores for English-speaking children were re-expressed in these terms, allowing direct comparisons of Mandarin and English early spoken language development. Vocabulary growth rates during the first 12 months after implantation were similar to those for normally hearing children less than 16 months of age. Comparisons with growth rates for normally hearing children 16-30 months of age showed that the youngest implant age group (1-2 years) had an average growth rate of 0.68 that of normally hearing children; while the middle implant age group (2-3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.65; and the oldest implant age group (>3 years) had an average growth rate of 0.56, significantly less than the other two rates. Growth rates for English-speaking children with cochlear implants were 0.68 in the youngest group, 0.54 in the middle group, and 0.57 in the oldest group. Growth rates in the middle implant age groups for the two languages differed significantly. The SSF version of the MCDI is suitable for assessment of Mandarin language development during the first 24 months after cochlear implantation. Effects of implant age and duration of implantation can be compared directly across

  2. LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND IDENTITY: THE PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE AS A SYMBOLIC IDENTIFICATION SPACE ON DOCUMENTARY: LANGUAGE – LIVES IN PORTUGUESE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joelton Duarte de Santana

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Language as a social element is constitutive to every human being. Language gives each person, as well as to his or her own linguistic community, an individual and peculiar way to figure out the world and its surroundings. Language is influenced by several processes, including sociocultural and historical ones. If we say that each language may allow its speaker to do a very own world reading, a question about its language behavior in other continents arises. This way we were able to understand how sociocultural influences could improve the whole cultural identity construction process. Both defining linguistic communities and specifying social groups, language becomes a symbolic space of identification. The movie – Language- lives In Portuguese reunites Portuguese speakers reports around the world aiming to illustrate Portuguese language as a nations identity construction, autoafirmation and legitimation factor through social, cultural and historic processes. This study is based on the belief in such a kind of dialogism between Language and Culture. The sociolinguistic studies nowadays do not intend, as they used to, understanding or describing structural language aspects and very individuals ones, but especially to reflect upon relations among subject, language, identity, culture and history.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. Development of Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Knowledge in Spanish-Speaking Language Minority Learners: A Parallel Process Latent Growth Curve Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kieffer, Michael J.; Lesaux, Nonie K.

    2012-01-01

    Despite acknowledgement of the limited English vocabularies demonstrated by many language minority (LM) learners, few studies have identified skills that relate to variation in vocabulary growth in this population. This study investigated the concurrent development of morphological awareness (i.e., students' understanding of complex words as…

  6. 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…

  7. Language Development in Preschool-Age Children Adopted from China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  8. 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, ...

  9. Teaching language arts to English language learners

    CERN Document Server

    Vásquez, Anete; Smith, Philip C

    2013-01-01

    This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Teaching Language Arts to English Language Learners provides readers with the comprehensive understanding of both the challenges that face ELLs and ways in which educators might address them in the language arts classroom. The authors offer proven techniques that teachers can readily use to teach reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary as well as speaking, listening, and viewing skills. A complete section is also devoted to ways teachers can integrate all five strands of the language arts curriculum into a comprehensive unit of study w

  10. Language control in different contexts: the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David William Green

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper proposes that different experimental contexts (single or dual language contexts permit different neural loci at which words in the target language can be selected. However, in order to develop a fuller understanding of the neural circuit mediating language control we need to consider the community context in which bilingual speakers typically use their two languages (the behavioural ecology of bilingual speakers. The contrast between speakers from code-switching and non-code switching communities offers a way to increase our understanding of the cortical, subcortical and, in particular, cerebellar structures involved in language control. It will also help us identify the non-verbal behavioural correlates associated with these control processes.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  12. 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 ...

  13. The Influence of ative Language on Ghanaian Junior Secondary ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    cce

    School Students' Understanding of some Science Concepts ... Language is one of the various media through which every culture expresses its ... development of literacy in student's native language provides the social, cognitive, ..... three years of elementary school instruction in most cases, it is used for the greater.

  14. 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.

  15. 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

  16. Development of Ada language control software for the NASA power management and distribution test bed

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Ted; Mackin, Michael; Gantose, Dave

    1989-01-01

    The Ada language software developed to control the NASA Lewis Research Center's Power Management and Distribution testbed is described. The testbed is a reduced-scale prototype of the electric power system to be used on space station Freedom. It is designed to develop and test hardware and software for a 20-kHz power distribution system. The distributed, multiprocessor, testbed control system has an easy-to-use operator interface with an understandable English-text format. A simple interface for algorithm writers that uses the same commands as the operator interface is provided, encouraging interactive exploration of the system.

  17. Linguistics in Language Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Rajesh; Yunus, Reva

    2014-01-01

    This article looks at the contribution of insights from theoretical linguistics to an understanding of language acquisition and the nature of language in terms of their potential benefit to language education. We examine the ideas of innateness and universal language faculty, as well as multilingualism and the language-society relationship. Modern…

  18. Using Network-Based Language Analysis to Bridge Expertise and Cultivate Sensitivity to Differentiated Language Use in Interdisciplinary Geoscience Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hannah, M. A.; Simeone, M.

    2017-12-01

    On interdisciplinary teams, expertise is varied, as is evidenced by differences in team members' language use. Developing strategies to combine that expertise and bridge differentiated language practices is especially difficult between geoscience subdisciplines as researchers assume they use a shared language—vocabulary, jargon, codes, linguistic styles. In our paper, we discuss a network-based approach used to identify varied expertise and language practices between geoscientists (n=29) on a NSF team funded to study how deep and surface Earth processes worked together to give rise to the Great Oxygenation Event. We describe how we modeled the team's expertise from a language corpus consisting of 220 oxygen-related terms frequently used by team members and then compared their understanding of the terms to develop interventions to bridge the team's expertise. Corpus terms were identified via team member interviews, observations of members' interactions at research meetings, and discourse analysis of members' publications. Comparisons of members' language use were based on a Likert scale survey that asked members to assess how they understood a term; how frequently they used a term; and whether they conceptualized a term as an object or process. Rather than use our method as a communication audit tool (Zwijze-Koning & de Jong, 2015), teams can proactively use it in a project's early stages to assess the contours of the team's differentiated expertise and show where specialized knowledge resides in the team, where latent or non-obvious expertise exists, where expertise overlaps, and where gaps are in the team's knowledge. With this information, teams can make evidence based recommendations to forward their work such as allocating resources; identifying and empowering members to serve as connectors and lead cross-functional project initiatives; and developing strategies to avoid communication barriers. The method also generates models for teaching language

  19. From language comprehension to action understanding and back again.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tremblay, Pascale; Small, Steven L

    2011-05-01

    A controversial question in cognitive neuroscience is whether comprehension of words and sentences engages brain mechanisms specific for decoding linguistic meaning or whether language comprehension occurs through more domain-general sensorimotor processes. Accumulating behavioral and neuroimaging evidence suggests a role for cortical motor and premotor areas in passive action-related language tasks, regions that are known to be involved in action execution and observation. To examine the involvement of these brain regions in language and nonlanguage tasks, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a group of 21 healthy adults. During the fMRI session, all participants 1) watched short object-related action movies, 2) looked at pictures of man-made objects, and 3) listened to and produced short sentences describing object-related actions and man-made objects. Our results are among the first to reveal, in the human brain, a functional specialization within the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) for observing actions and for observing objects, and a different organization for processing sentences describing actions and objects. These findings argue against the strongest version of the simulation theory for the processing of action-related language.

  20. The Evolution of a Connectionist Model of Situated Human Language Understanding

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayberry, Marshall R.; Crocker, Matthew W.

    The Adaptive Mechanisms in Human Language Processing (ALPHA) project features both experimental and computational tracks designed to complement each other in the investigation of the cognitive mechanisms that underlie situated human utterance processing. The models developed in the computational track replicate results obtained in the experimental track and, in turn, suggest further experiments by virtue of behavior that arises as a by-product of their operation.

  1. Association between language development and auditory processing disorders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  2. 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…

  3. Applications of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) in Studying Cognitive Development: The Case of Mathematics and Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soltanlou, Mojtaba; Sitnikova, Maria A; Nuerk, Hans-Christoph; Dresler, Thomas

    2018-01-01

    In this review, we aim to highlight the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a useful neuroimaging technique for the investigation of cognitive development. We focus on brain activation changes during the development of mathematics and language skills in schoolchildren. We discuss how technical limitations of common neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have resulted in our limited understanding of neural changes during development, while fNIRS would be a suitable and child-friendly method to examine cognitive development. Moreover, this technique enables us to go to schools to collect large samples of data from children in ecologically valid settings. Furthermore, we report findings of fNIRS studies in the fields of mathematics and language, followed by a discussion of the outlook of fNIRS in these fields. We suggest fNIRS as an additional technique to track brain activation changes in the field of educational neuroscience.

  4. 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.

  5. 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

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  7. The language of football

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rossing, Niels Nygaard; Skrubbeltrang, Lotte Stausgaard

    2014-01-01

    levels (Schein, 2004) in which each player and his actions can be considered an artefact - a concrete symbol in motion embedded in espoused values and basic assumptions. Therefore, the actions of each dialect are strongly connected to the underlying understanding of football. By document and video......The language of football: A cultural analysis of selected World Cup nations. This essay describes how actions on the football field relate to the nations’ different cultural understanding of football and how these actions become spoken dialects within a language of football. Saussure reasoned...... language to have two components: a language system and language users (Danesi, 2003). Consequently, football can be characterized as a language containing a system with specific rules of the game and users with actual choices and actions within the game. All football players can be considered language...

  8. The Difficulties of English as a Foreign Language (EFL Learners in Understanding Pragmatics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fauzia

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Pragmatics is the study of the relation of signs to interpreters. For English foreign language (EFL learners, the knowledge and comprehensible input of pragmatics is much needed. This paper is based on research project. The writer did the research survey by giving some respondents questionnaire. The respondent is some students from UAD, which is taken randomly. Besides using open questionnaire, the writer also got the data from in depth interview with some EFL learners, the native speaker who teaches English, and also did literature review from some books. The result of the research then gives some evidences that EFL learners difficulties in understanding the English pragmatics occurs in 1 greeting, 2 apologizing, 3 complimenting, and 4 thanking. The factors that promotes EFL learners’ difficulties in understanding because 1 the different culture and values between native speaker and learners; 2 habit that the usually use in their daily life.

  9. A Framework for Developing Self-Directed Technology Use for Language Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Chun

    2013-01-01

    Critical to maximizing the potential of technology for learning is enhancing language learners' self-directed use of technology for learning purposes. This study aimed to enhance our understanding of the determinants of self-directed technology use through the construction of a structural equation modelling (SEM) framework of factors and…

  10. 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...

  11. Speech-language pathology students' self-reports on voice training: easier to understand or to do?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindhe, Christina; Hartelius, Lena

    2009-01-01

    The aim of the study was to describe the subjective ratings of the course 'Training of the student's own voice and speech', from a student-centred perspective. A questionnaire was completed after each of the six individual sessions. Six speech and language pathology (SLP) students rated how they perceived the practical exercises in terms of doing and understanding. The results showed that five of the six participants rated the exercises as significantly easier to understand than to do. The exercises were also rated as easier to do over time. Results are interpreted within in a theoretical framework of approaches to learning. The findings support the importance of both the physical and reflective aspects of the voice training process.

  12. A Methodology For The Development Of Complex Domain Specific Languages

    CERN Document Server

    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...

  13. Learning to Understand Natural Language with Less Human Effort

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-05-01

    Supervision Distant supervision is a recent trend in information extraction. Distantly-supervised extractors are trained using a corpus of unlabeled text...consists of fill-in-the-blank natural language questions such as “Incan emperor ” or “Cunningham directed Auchtre’s second music video .” These questions...with an 132 unknown knowledge base, simultaneously learning how to semantically parse language and pop - ulate the knowledge base. The weakly

  14. Object Pragmatics and Language Development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  15. Is Afrikaans a suitable model in planning the development of African Languages?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanley G M Ridge

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available The repeated claim that Afrikaans provides a useful model for planning the development of theAfrican languages is examined critically in this article with a view to elucidating importantissues in South African language planning. The first part acknowledges the fascination of alanguage which has developed sofast for all domains of use, before examining thefactors whichdrove that development, identifying particularly its affinity to Dutch and its tempestuous politicaland social history as making it a deceptive model for African languages. The second partexplores some aspects of its history which do suggest valuable perspectives for other languagesat this stage of our history. The examples discussed are language medium in schooling, thedangers of loss of confidence in a language considered with the possibilities of effective statusinterventions, and the complex issues surrounding language standards. The third part brieflyexamines the history of Afrikaans's ambiguous relation to English. It notes the persistence of theEnglish 'enemy' metaphor along with a practical demand for English, considers the racialpolitics of the statutory equality debate at the time of Union, and analyses three distortionsoccasioned by an ambiguous attitude to English in a contemporary discussion of the role of Afrikaans. Finally, the notion of a model or example is itself questioned. The article proposesdeveloping a deeper understanding of actual needs and attitudes in an ongoing process oflanguage planning as the most likely way of doingjustice to all South Africa's languages.Die herhaalde aanspraak dat Afrikaans 'n bruikbare model bied waarvolgens die ontwikkelingvan Afrika-tale beplan kan word, word in hierdie artikel krities ondersoek met die oog daaropom belangrike vraagstukke in die Suid-Afrikaanse taalbeplanning toe te lig. Die eerste deel geeerkenning aan die bekoring van 'n taal wat op aile gebruiksterreine baie vinnig ontwikkel het,voordat die faktore wat aan

  16. Developing Formal Correctness Properties from Natural Language Requirements

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  17. The Invisible Revolving Door: The Issue of Teacher Attrition in English Language Development Classrooms in Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heineke, Amy J.

    2018-01-01

    The most restrictive language policy context in the United States, Arizona's monolingual and prescriptive approach to teaching English learners continues to capture national and international attention. Five school years removed from the initial implementation, this study aimed to understand the complexities of Arizona language policy in…

  18. Working with the Bilingual Child Who Has a Language Delay. Meeting Learning Challenges

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenspan, Stanley I.

    2005-01-01

    It is very important to determine if a bilingual child's language delay is simply in English or also in the child's native language. Understandably, many children have higher levels of language development in the language spoken at home. To discover if this is the case, observe the child talking with his parents. Sometimes, even without…

  19. Assembly processor program converts symbolic programming language to machine language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelto, E. V.

    1967-01-01

    Assembly processor program converts symbolic programming language to machine language. This program translates symbolic codes into computer understandable instructions, assigns locations in storage for successive instructions, and computer locations from symbolic addresses.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  2. Relational Language Facilitates the Development of Cognitive Flexibility

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  4. Language and Cross-Culture Understanding—Through Cross-Culture Study of the Word'Dragon'

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    周玲

    2016-01-01

    This essay contributes to the analysis of the significance of cross-culture understanding in connection with language. It is important and necessary to promote cross-cultural understanding in order to communicate with people from various cultural backgrounds with the development of globalization. This essay also gives the example of the word'dragon'to illustrate that the cross-culture understanding of language will make us communicate with each other more effectively.

  5. Literacy Development in Multicultural Settings with Digital Dual-language Books

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  7. A Comparison and Evaluation of Real-Time Software Systems Modeling Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evensen, Kenneth D.; Weiss, Kathryn Anne

    2010-01-01

    A model-driven approach to real-time software systems development enables the conceptualization of software, fostering a more thorough understanding of its often complex architecture and behavior while promoting the documentation and analysis of concerns common to real-time embedded systems such as scheduling, resource allocation, and performance. Several modeling languages have been developed to assist in the model-driven software engineering effort for real-time systems, and these languages are beginning to gain traction with practitioners throughout the aerospace industry. This paper presents a survey of several real-time software system modeling languages, namely the Architectural Analysis and Design Language (AADL), the Unified Modeling Language (UML), Systems Modeling Language (SysML), the Modeling and Analysis of Real-Time Embedded Systems (MARTE) UML profile, and the AADL for UML profile. Each language has its advantages and disadvantages, and in order to adequately describe a real-time software system's architecture, a complementary use of multiple languages is almost certainly necessary. This paper aims to explore these languages in the context of understanding the value each brings to the model-driven software engineering effort and to determine if it is feasible and practical to combine aspects of the various modeling languages to achieve more complete coverage in architectural descriptions. To this end, each language is evaluated with respect to a set of criteria such as scope, formalisms, and architectural coverage. An example is used to help illustrate the capabilities of the various languages.

  8. Language Models With Meta-information

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Shi, Y.

    2014-01-01

    Language modeling plays a critical role in natural language processing and understanding. Starting from a general structure, language models are able to learn natural language patterns from rich input data. However, the state-of-the-art language models only take advantage of words themselves, which

  9. Exploring educators' understanding of developing learners' reading ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study explored what three Intermediate Phase English First Additional Language teachers understood about reading and teaching reading, and the strategies they used to develop learners' reading skills. Data gathered through interviews and observations of classroom practice were used to consider the extent of their ...

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, READING COMPREHENSION AND IDIOM COMREHENSION TRILOGY: PEER COMMENTARY ON LEVORATO ET

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huseyin UYSAL

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper is a peer commentary on Levorato, M. C., Nesi, B. & Cacciari, C. (2004. Reading comprehension and understanding idiomatic expressions: A developmental study. Brain and Language, 91(3, 303-314.

  12. PSYCHOLINGUISTIC SIMILARITIES IN THE ACQUISITION OF ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN AS NATIVE LANGUAGES.

    Science.gov (United States)

    SLOBIN, DAN I.

    ONE APPROACH TO CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IS THAT OF TRANSFORMATIONAL, GENERATIVE GRAMMAR WHICH EMPHASIZES MAN'S ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND AND PRODUCE AN UNLIMITED VARIETY OF SENTENCES THROUGH CONTROL OF A LIMITED NUMBER OF LANGUAGE RULES. THUS, A CHILD LEARNS TO SPEAK BY DEVELOPING HIS OWN THEORIES OF THE STRUCTURE OF HIS LANGUAGE. STUDIES OF…

  13. Developing Children's Language Learner Strategies at Primary School

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  14. Language Policy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lauridsen, Karen M.

    2008-01-01

    Like any other text, instructive texts function within a given cultural and situational setting and may only be available in one language. However, the end users may not be familiar with that language and therefore unable to read and understand the instructions. This article therefore argues...... that instructive texts should always be available in a language that is understood by the end users, and that a corporate communication policy which includes a language policy should ensure that this is in fact the case for all instructive texts....

  15. Language and disciplinary differences in a biliterate context

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Margrethe; Shaw, Philip

    2002-01-01

    and the international academic forum; it shows that a languages-of-communication profile can be drawn for each department; it develops a notion of two types of publication cycles, reflecting different attitudes and demands across disciplines or academic units; and it shows that the existence of four potential...... communities to be served may contribute to our understanding of choice of language for publication....

  16. 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…

  17. 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…

  18. 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…

  19. 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;…

  20. 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…

  1. Use of an orton-gillingham approach to teach a foreign language to dyslexic/learning-disabled students: Explicit teaching of phonology in a second language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, R L; Ganschow, L; Kenneweg, S; Miller, K

    1991-01-01

    Recent research findings suggest that students who have difficulty learning a second language have weaknesses in oral and written native-language skills which affect their performance in the foreign-language classroom. These weaknesses involve understanding the phonological, syntactic, and semantic codes of language. Evidence suggests that dyslexic/learning-disabled and other "at risk" students who struggle in the second language classroom exhibit particular difficulty with the phonological and syntactic codes of the language. The Orton-Gillingham method, a multisensory, structured language approach which adheres to the direct and explicit teaching of phonology, is presented as an alternative to the "natural" communication approaches recently developed by foreign-language educators to teach a second language. A method for adapting this approach for teaching Spanish is described.

  2. 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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  4. 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…

  5. 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...

  6. A step beyond local observations with a dialog aware bidirectional GRU network for Spoken Language Understanding

    OpenAIRE

    Vukotic , Vedran; Raymond , Christian; Gravier , Guillaume

    2016-01-01

    International audience; Architectures of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) recently become a very popular choice for Spoken Language Understanding (SLU) problems; however, they represent a big family of different architectures that can furthermore be combined to form more complex neural networks. In this work, we compare different recurrent networks, such as simple Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, Gated Memory Units (GRU) and their bidirectional versions,...

  7. The impact of reading on language development in the preschool children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  8. 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…

  9. DEVELOPING COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TESTS FOR SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  10. Understanding Risk for Reading Difficulties in Children with Language Impairment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Kimberly A.; Justice, Laura M.; O'Connell, Ann A.; Pentimonti, Jill M.; Kaderavek, Joan N.

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to retrospectively examine the preschool language and early literacy skills of kindergarten good and poor readers, and to determine the extent to which these skills predict reading status. Method: Participants were 136 children with language impairment enrolled in early childhood special education classrooms.…

  11. PREPARING STUDENTS FOR BUSINESS LANGUAGE EXAMINATION WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON DEVELOPING SPEAKING SKILLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mária Czellér

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Today public awareness of technical language knowledge and the social demand for related language skills are on the rise, and the Hungarian labour market requires an increasingly competent command of foreign languages from professionals involved in business and economics; compliance with these growing demands is reflected in the nature and structure of teaching foreign languages in the Hungarian higher education institutions Due to the high degree of institutional autonomy each Hungarian university has the right to work out its own language teaching policy and adopt it in its training programme. This paper will show that foreign language study at Hungarian universities can be devoted either to general language or language for specific purposes. These criteria can differ according to the field of study. Given that obtaining a language exam certificate is a pre-requisite of graduation, the role of academic education in providing students with the required knowledge base and successfully preparing them for language exams has become more important. The structure and content of modern business language exams reflect the need to meet the demands of the labour market. There has been a definite shift from grammar-oriented, translation-based tasks towards a more communicative approach which involves testing reading comprehension, writing skills and performance in situational role plays. However, while students generally cope well with understanding written business texts, many of them frequently fail in oral communication. Consequently, the question arises of whether it is possible to bridge the obvious gap between reading and speaking skills. This paper aims to give a possible example of how a descriptive text can be adapted to prepare students for the situational role play tasks in business language exams at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Debrecen

  12. A qualitative exploration of trial-related terminology in a study involving Deaf British Sign Language users.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Young, Alys; Oram, Rosemary; Dodds, Claire; Nassimi-Green, Catherine; Belk, Rachel; Rogers, Katherine; Davies, Linda; Lovell, Karina

    2016-04-27

    Internationally, few clinical trials have involved Deaf people who use a signed language and none have involved BSL (British Sign Language) users. Appropriate terminology in BSL for key concepts in clinical trials that are relevant to recruitment and participant information materials, to support informed consent, do not exist. Barriers to conceptual understanding of trial participation and sources of misunderstanding relevant to the Deaf community are undocumented. A qualitative, community participatory exploration of trial terminology including conceptual understanding of 'randomisation', 'trial', 'informed choice' and 'consent' was facilitated in BSL involving 19 participants in five focus groups. Data were video-recorded and analysed in source language (BSL) using a phenomenological approach. Six necessary conditions for developing trial information to support comprehension were identified. These included: developing appropriate expressions and terminology from a community basis, rather than testing out previously derived translations from a different language; paying attention to language-specific features which support best means of expression (in the case of BSL expectations of specificity, verb directionality, handshape); bilingual influences on comprehension; deliberate orientation of information to avoid misunderstanding not just to promote accessibility; sensitivity to barriers to discussion about intelligibility of information that are cultural and social in origin, rather than linguistic; the importance of using contemporary language-in-use, rather than jargon-free or plain language, to support meaningful understanding. The study reinforces the ethical imperative to ensure trial participants who are Deaf are provided with optimum resources to understand the implications of participation and to make an informed choice. Results are relevant to the development of trial information in other signed languages as well as in spoken/written languages when

  13. [Environmental and genetic variables related with alterations in language acquisition in early childhood].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moriano-Gutierrez, A; Colomer-Revuelta, J; Sanjuan, J; Carot-Sierra, J M

    2017-01-01

    A great deal of research has addressed problems in the correct acquisition of language, but with few overall conclusions. The reasons for this lie in the individual variability, the existence of different measures for assessing language and the fact that a complex network of genetic and environmental factors are involved in its development. To review the environmental and genetic variables that have been studied to date, in order to gain a better under-standing of the causes of specific language impairment and create new evidence that can help in the development of screening systems for the early detection of these disorders. The environmental variables related with poorer early child language development include male gender, low level of education of the mother, familial history of problems with language or psychiatric problems, perinatal problems and health problems in early childhood. Bilingualism seems to be a protective factor. Temperament and language are related. Within the genetic factors there are several specific genes associated with language, two of which have a greater influence on its physiological acquisition: FOXP2 and CNTNAP2. The other genes that are most related with specific language disorders are ATP2C2, CMIP, ROBO2, ZNF277 and NOP9. The key to comprehending the development of specific language disorders lies in reaching an understanding of the true role played by genes in the ontogenesis, in the regulation of the different developmental processes, and how this role is modulated by the environment.

  14. 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).

  15. 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...

  16. The emergence of temporal language in Nicaraguan Sign Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kocab, Annemarie; Senghas, Ann; Snedeker, Jesse

    2016-11-01

    Understanding what uniquely human properties account for the creation and transmission of language has been a central goal of cognitive science. Recently, the study of emerging sign languages, such as Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL), has offered the opportunity to better understand how languages are created and the roles of the individual learner and the community of users. Here, we examined the emergence of two types of temporal language in NSL, comparing the linguistic devices for conveying temporal information among three sequential age cohorts of signers. Experiment 1 showed that while all three cohorts of signers could communicate about linearly ordered discrete events, only the second and third generations of signers successfully communicated information about events with more complex temporal structure. Experiment 2 showed that signers could discriminate between the types of temporal events in a nonverbal task. Finally, Experiment 3 investigated the ordinal use of numbers (e.g., first, second) in NSL signers, indicating that one strategy younger signers might have for accurately describing events in time might be to use ordinal numbers to mark each event. While the capacity for representing temporal concepts appears to be present in the human mind from the onset of language creation, the linguistic devices to convey temporality do not appear immediately. Evidently, temporal language emerges over generations of language transmission, as a product of individual minds interacting within a community of users. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Imitation (rather than core language) predicts pragmatic development in young children with ASD: a preliminary longitudinal study using CDI parental reports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miniscalco, Carmela; Rudling, Maja; Råstam, Maria; Gillberg, Christopher; Johnels, Jakob Åsberg

    2014-01-01

    Research in the last decades has clearly pointed to the important role of language and communicative level when trying to understand developmental trajectories in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate whether (1) core language skills, measured as expressive vocabulary and grammar, and/or (2) pre-linguistic social-communicative skills, including gestures and imitation abilities, drive pragmatic language development in young children with ASD. We examined correlates and longitudinal predictors of pragmatic growth in a sample of 34 children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), whose parents were given parts of two MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories (CDI: Words & Gestures and CDI: Words & Sentences) for completion at two time points (at time 1 the mean child age was 41 months, and at time 2 it was 54 months). A novel feature in this study is that the relevant parts from both CDI forms were included at both time points, allowing us to examine whether pre-linguistic social-communication skills (e.g. imitation and gesturing) and/or core language skills (i.e. grammar and vocabulary) predict pragmatic language growth. The results show that basically all pre-linguistic, linguistic and pragmatic skills were associated concurrently. When controlling for possible confounders and for the autoregressive effect, imitation skills predicted pragmatic growth over time, whereas core language did not. This could only have been shown by the use of both CDI forms. This preliminary study may be of both conceptual and methodological importance for research in the field of language and communication development in ASD. Imitation may play a pivotal role in the development of subsequent conversational pragmatic abilities in young children with ASD. Future research should be directed at unravelling the mechanisms underlying this association. © 2014 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

  18. Socialization, Language, and Scenic Understanding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olesen, Henning Salling; Weber, Kirsten

    2013-01-01

    is based on a transformation of the "scenic understanding" from a clinical to a text interpretation, which seeks to understand collective unconscious meaning in text, and is presented with an illustration of the interpretation procedure from social research. Then follows a brief systematic account of key...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  20. 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...

  1. 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.

  2. Corporate Language Policies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sanden, Guro Refsum

    This paper offers a review of literature dealing with language policies in general and corporate language policies in particular. Based on a discussion of various definitions of these concepts within two research traditions, i.e. sociolinguistics and international management, a three......-level definition of corporate language policies is presented, emphasising that a corporate language policy is a context-specific policy about language use. The three-level definition is based on the argument that in order to acquire a complete understanding of what corporate language policies involve, one needs...... to consider three progressive questions; 1) what is a policy? 2) what is a language policy?, and ultimately, 3) what is a corporate language policy?...

  3. Corporate Language Policies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sanden, Guro Refsum

    2015-01-01

    This paper offers a review of literature dealing with language policies in general and corporate language policies in particular. Based on a discussion of various definitions of these concepts within two research traditions, i.e. sociolinguistics and international management, a three......-level definition of corporate language policies is presented, emphasising that a corporate language policy is a context-specific policy about language use. The three-level definition is based on the argument that in order to acquire a complete understanding of what corporate language policies involve, one needs...... to consider three progressive questions; 1) what is a policy? 2) what is a language policy?, and ultimately, 3) what is a corporate language policy?...

  4. DEVELOPING PLURILINGUAL IDENTITY IN THIRD LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. DEVELOPING PLURILINGUAL IDENTITY IN THIRD LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  8. The Arabic Language Fog of War: Exploring Iraq War Veterans’ Motivations to Study Arabic Language and Culture Post-Deployment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Jennifer Nichols

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available This article describes research into Iraq War Veterans studying Arabic at the college level post-deployment. What is it about their exposure to the language and culture that motivates them to study the language after serving in Iraq? Few research studies exist in the area of Veterans’ education, a federally recognized minority. The study’s purpose was to explore Iraq war veterans’ language learning motivations and described their experiences, through the use of qualitative research methodology and the development of case study narratives. Results indicate that understanding the Veteran experience can foster a diversity-friendly, inclusive environment in the critical language classroom. There are broader implications for veteran higher education, other Less Commonly Taught Languages, alternative pedagogies, non-traditional student education, K-12, foreign language education policy, foreign relations, diversity & equity in the classroom, and national security.

  9. 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…

  10. Language and learning in transformative learning spaces – multilingual learner’s stories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Maslo, Elina

    : Practice to theory, theory to practice. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier. Van Manen, M. (1997). Researching Lived Experience. The Althouse Press.  Intent of the Publication:This publication intends to provide a more nuanced understanding of human learning processes, not least......Proposal information:The necessity of knowing languages, many languages in fact, is emphasised in many different contexts in Europe, often in connection with globalisation. Languages are referred to as a key that opens a door – or many doors. Language is “a key to education”, ”a key to employment...... to success – language and learning in transformative learning spaces” is a study of multilingual people’s experiences of their (language) learning processes. It is aimed to improve our understanding of human learning processes, not least the subjective dimensions of these processes. Despite rapid development...

  11. Teacher educators’ personal practical knowledge of language

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Swart, Fenna; de Graaff, H.C.J.; Onstenk, Jeroen; Knezic, Dubravka

    2018-01-01

    This paper describes teacher educators’ understanding of language for classroom communication in higher education. We argue that teacher educators who are aware of their personal practical knowledge of language have a better understanding of their students’ language use and provide better support

  12. The influence of linguistic background on benefits derived from language intervention in Danish daycares

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Højen, Anders; Bleses, Dorthe; Justice, Laura M.

    , narrative competence, print knowledge and phonological awareness. The children participated in teacher administered soft-scripted biweekly lessons, each lasting about 30 minutes and targeting two language learning objectives each time. The results of the studies showed that children from immigrant families...... of linguistic skill, e.g., vocabulary, rhyme detection and language comprehension. The results of the study are important for understanding what hampers second-language acquisition in some groups of immigrant children but not others, and for developing future language interventions tailored to meliorate...... specific weaknesses in the second-language development of children....

  13. "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…

  14. 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)…

  15. 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…

  16. 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.

  17. 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...

  18. Language Learning in Outdoor Environments: Perspectives of preschool staff

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martina Norling

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Language environment is highlighted as an important area in the early childhood education sector. The term language environment refers to language-promoting aspects of education, such as preschool staff’s use of verbal language in interacting with the children. There is a lack of research about language learning in outdoor environments; thus children’s language learning is mostly based on the indoor physical environment. The aim of this study is therefore to explore, analyse, and describe how preschool staff perceive language learning in outdoor environments. The data consists of focus-group interviews with 165 preschool staff members, conducted in three cities in Sweden. The study is meaningful, thus results contribute knowledge regarding preschool staffs’ understandings of language learning in outdoor environments and develop insights to help preschool staff stimulate children’s language learning in outdoor environments.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  20. White Matter Volume Predicts Language Development in Congenital Heart Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  1. 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....

  2. Aspects of an ecological theory of language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bang, J. C.; Trampe, W.

    2014-01-01

    Our aim and knowledge-constitutive interest is to identify some central aspects of an ecological theory of language. In our understanding of building an integrative ecological theory of language, it seems useful to look first for roots of a special ecological understanding of language. Here...

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  4. 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.

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  5. Rights to Language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Phillipson, Robert

    This work brings together cutting-edge scholarship in language, education and society from all parts of the world. Celebrating the 60th birthday of Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, it is inspired by her work in minority, indigenous and immigrant education; multilingualism; linguistic human rights; and global...... language and power issues. Drawn from all parts of the world, the contributors are active in a range of scientific and professional areas including bilingual education; sociolinguistics; the sociology of education, law and language; economics and language; linguistics; sign language; racism; communication......; discourse analysis; language policy; minority issues; and language pedagogy. The book situates issues of minorities and bilingual education in broader perspectives of human rights, power and the ecology of language. It aims at a distillation of themes that are central to an understanding of language rights...

  6. The development of environmental awareness through a proposal for promoting intercomprehension in romance languages among high school seniors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bibiana Amado

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available This work aims to analyze the treatment of environmental issues in an educational proposal for Intercomprehension in Romance Languages (hereinafter called IC developed by InterRom, a research team from Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, in Argentina. This proposal, aimed at developing high school seniors’ language skills from the perspective of teaching and learning IC from text genres, integrates pluralistic approaches to languages with contributions from socio-discursive interactionism (BRONCKART, 2007, from the sociocultural theory of human development (BRUNER, 1994; NELSON, 1996; ROGOFF, 1993; VYGOTSKY, 1962, 1988 and from cognitive approaches to text comprehension and production (BRITTON and GRAESSER, 1996; HAYES and FLOWERS, 1980, HAYES, 1996; SCARDAMALIA and BEREITER, 1992. Through the convergence of these theoretical perspectives, the proposal promotes IC in French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, related to environmental conservation, as well as actions for writing texts in Spanish. The planned language activities involve working with different text genres on environmental issues, such as the extinction of animal species, the production of genetically modified foods and the use of agrochemicals that contaminate the biosphere and threaten the life of all living species, including human beings. The exercises related to these topics, at the same time, encourage students to reflect on critical environmental issues and to develop strategies for writing texts in Spanish. To conclude, it can be argued that the IC proposal is based on social and intercultural approaches that integrate teaching actions, text production processes and science issues regarding the environment. As a result, students are regarded as subjects with competencies to understand discourses from different cultures and to think, write and act within their natural, social and cultural environments.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

  8. SECOND-LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND THE SYSTEM OF EDUCATION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CAMELIA NEAGU

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available As a branch of applied linguistics, language education or educational linguistics2 has had a long history dating back in ancient times. However, at present, under the influence of globalization, second-language acquisition3 has become a sine qua non condition for any potential employee or employer in the knowledge society. Basically, democratic regimes and developing countries encourage language education which they regard as an important asset in the process of globalization. Moreover, the study of foreign languages significantly contributes to the development of any human being’s personality and implicitly of any society by eliminating cultural biases and borders. Currently, countries which fail to understand the importance of second-language acquisition deprive their citizens of a key social and cultural development factor. Last but not least, we could say that at present the ability to speak English has become synonym with acquiring a universal language. In consequence, educational policies should seriously focus on the study of the new lingua franca4, i.e. English, while accepting as an undeniable possibility – given the rapidly changing political and economic environment – the fact that another language (such as Chinese or Spanish etc. may replace English in time.

  9. Sign language comprehension: the case of Spanish sign language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodríguez Ortiz, I R

    2008-01-01

    This study aims to answer the question, how much of Spanish Sign Language interpreting deaf individuals really understand. Study sampling included 36 deaf people (deafness ranging from severe to profound; variety depending on the age at which they learned sign language) and 36 hearing people who had good knowledge of sign language (most were interpreters). Sign language comprehension was assessed using passages of secondary level. After being exposed to the passages, the participants had to tell what they had understood about them, answer a set of related questions, and offer a title for the passage. Sign language comprehension by deaf participants was quite acceptable but not as good as that by hearing signers who, unlike deaf participants, were not only late learners of sign language as a second language but had also learned it through formal training.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  11. Understanding the Development of Chinese EFL Learners' Email Literacy through Exploratory Practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yuan-shan

    2016-01-01

    While many empirical studies demonstrate the effects of instruction on enhancing second language (L2) learners' pragmatic competence (Rose, 2005), few have attempted to gain an understanding of the quality of classroom life in addition to instructional efficacy. Drawing on the framework of Exploratory Practice (Allwright, 2005), the present study…

  12. Improving developer productivity with C++ embedded domain specific languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  13. School Leadership for Dual Language Education: A Social Justice Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeMatthews, David; Izquierdo, Elena

    2016-01-01

    This article examines how a dual language program can be developed within the framework of social justice leadership. The authors analyzed principal, teacher, and parent interview transcripts as well as field notes and key documents to understand the role of school leadership in creating inclusive dual language programs to close the Latina/o-White…

  14. From Concepts to Design in Developing Languages in the Australian Curriculum

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  18. A 'Hermeneutic Objection': Language and the Inner View

    OpenAIRE

    Nixon, Gregory M.

    1999-01-01

    In the worlds of philosophy, linguistics, and communications theory, a view has developed that understands conscious experience as experience that is 'reflected' back upon itself through language. This indicates that the consciousness we experience is possible only because we have culturally invented language and subsequently evolved to accommodate it. This accords with the conclusions of Daniel Dennett (1991) and Terrence Deacon (1997), but the 'hermeneutic objection' would go further and de...

  19. A Global Approach to Foreign Language Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conner, Maurice W., Ed.

    The papers collected here are largely devoted to foreign language education as a means of increasing international and cross-cultural understanding. Titles include: (1) "Language Is the Medium, Culture Is the Message: Globalizing Foreign Languages" (Lorraine A. Strasheim); (2) "Cultural Understanding for Global Citizenship: An Inservice Model"…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  2. Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Byers-Heinlein, Krista; Chen, Ke Heng; Xu, Fei

    2014-03-01

    Languages function as independent and distinct conventional systems, and so each language uses different words to label the same objects. This study investigated whether 2-year-old children recognize that speakers of their native language and speakers of a foreign language do not share the same knowledge. Two groups of children unfamiliar with Mandarin were tested: monolingual English-learning children (n=24) and bilingual children learning English and another language (n=24). An English speaker taught children the novel label fep. On English mutual exclusivity trials, the speaker asked for the referent of a novel label (wug) in the presence of the fep and a novel object. Both monolingual and bilingual children disambiguated the reference of the novel word using a mutual exclusivity strategy, choosing the novel object rather than the fep. On similar trials with a Mandarin speaker, children were asked to find the referent of a novel Mandarin label kuò. Monolinguals again chose the novel object rather than the object with the English label fep, even though the Mandarin speaker had no access to conventional English words. Bilinguals did not respond systematically to the Mandarin speaker, suggesting that they had enhanced understanding of the Mandarin speaker's ignorance of English words. The results indicate that monolingual children initially expect words to be conventionally shared across all speakers-native and foreign. Early bilingual experience facilitates children's discovery of the nature of foreign language words. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  5. Using Educative Assessments to Support Science Teaching for Middle School English-language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buxton, Cory A.; Allexsaht-Snider, Martha; Suriel, Regina; Kayumova, Shakhnoza; Choi, Youn-jeng; Bouton, Bobette; Baker, Melissa

    2013-03-01

    Grounded in Hallidayan perspectives on academic language, we report on our development of an educative science assessment as one component of the language-rich inquiry science for English-language learners teacher professional learning project for middle school science teachers. The project emphasizes the role of content-area writing to support teachers in diagnosing their students' emergent understandings of science inquiry practices, science content knowledge, and the academic language of science, with a particular focus on the needs of English-language learners. In our current school policy context, writing for meaningful purposes has received decreased attention as teachers struggle to cover large numbers of discrete content standards. Additionally, high-stakes assessments presented in multiple-choice format have become the definitive measure of student science learning, further de-emphasizing the value of academic writing for developing and expressing understanding. To counter these trends, we examine the implementation of educative assessment materials—writing-rich assessments designed to support teachers' instructional decision making. We report on the qualities of our educative assessment that supported teachers in diagnosing their students' emergent understandings, and how teacher-researcher collaborative scoring sessions and interpretation of assessment results led to changes in teachers' instructional decision making to better support students in expressing their scientific understandings. We conclude with implications of this work for theory, research, and practice.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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,…

  9. Understanding the Role of Academic Language on Conceptual Understanding in an Introductory Materials Science and Engineering Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, Jacquelyn

    2012-01-01

    Students may use the technical engineering terms without knowing what these words mean. This creates a language barrier in engineering that influences student learning. Previous research has been conducted to characterize the difference between colloquial and scientific language. Since this research had not yet been applied explicitly to…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  11. 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.

  12. Developing a Spanish-language consumer report for CAHPS health plan surveys.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Derose, Kathryn Pitkin; Kanouse, David E; Weidmer, Beverly; Weech-Maldonado, Robert; García, Rosa Elena; Hays, Ron D

    2007-11-01

    A Spanish-language consumer report on health plan quality was developed for the Consumer Assessments of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) project. Multiple translations, a committee review, and a readability assessment were performed to produce a draft Spanish report. The report was revised on the basis of a series of cognitive interviews with 24 Latinos. The median age of participants was 41 years, and the median number of years in the United States was 9; 67% were female, and 63% had less than a high school education. In general, participants understood the report and said they would use it to choose a health plan. Less-educated respondents had difficulty understanding the segmented bar graphs that showed the proportion of health plan members' responses. A summary chart comparing all health plans on all dimensions was easier to comprehend when differences were represented by word icons rather than by stars. Concepts and terms about health care quality translated well from English to Spanish. Simplifying graphical information involves losing some detail but makes information more usable. Summary charts facilitate comparisons across plans, but differences relative to a mean are difficult for both Spanish- and English-speaking consumers to understand.

  13. Communication Access for Deaf People in Healthcare Settings: Understanding the Work of American Sign Language Interpreters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olson, Andrea M; Swabey, Laurie

    Despite federal laws that mandate equal access and communication in all healthcare settings for deaf people, consistent provision of quality interpreting in healthcare settings is still not a reality, as recognized by deaf people and American Sign Language (ASL)-English interpreters. The purpose of this study was to better understand the work of ASL interpreters employed in healthcare settings, which can then inform on training and credentialing of interpreters, with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of healthcare and communication access for deaf people. Based on job analysis, researchers designed an online survey with 167 task statements representing 44 categories. American Sign Language interpreters (N = 339) rated the importance of, and frequency with which they performed, each of the 167 tasks. Categories with the highest average importance ratings included language and interpreting, situation assessment, ethical and professional decision making, manage the discourse, monitor, manage and/or coordinate appointments. Categories with the highest average frequency ratings included the following: dress appropriately, adapt to a variety of physical settings and locations, adapt to working with variety of providers in variety of roles, deal with uncertain and unpredictable work situations, and demonstrate cultural adaptability. To achieve health equity for the deaf community, the training and credentialing of interpreters needs to be systematically addressed.

  14. Crossing borders: High school science teachers learning to teach the specialized language of science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patrick, Jennifer Drake

    The highly specialized language of science is both challenging and alienating to adolescent readers. This study investigated how secondary science teachers learn to teach the specialized language of science in their classrooms. Three research questions guided this study: (a) what do science teachers know about teaching reading in science? (b) what understanding about the unique language demands of science reading do they construct through professional development? and (c) how do they integrate what they have learned about these specialized features of science language into their teaching practices? This study investigated the experience of seven secondary science teachers as they participated in a professional development program designed to teach them about the specialized language of science. Data sources included participant interviews, audio-taped professional development sessions, field notes from classroom observations, and a prior knowledge survey. Results from this study suggest that science teachers (a) were excited to learn about disciplinary reading practices, (b) developed an emergent awareness of the specialized features of science language and the various genres of science writing, and (c) recognized that the challenges of science reading goes beyond vocabulary. These teachers' efforts to understand and address the language of science in their teaching practices were undermined by their lack of basic knowledge of grammar, availability of time and resources, their prior knowledge and experiences, existing curriculum, and school structure. This study contributes to our understanding of how secondary science teachers learn about disciplinary literacy and apply that knowledge in their classroom instruction. It has important implications for literacy educators and science educators who are interested in using language and literacy practices in the service of science teaching and learning. (Full text of this dissertation may be available via the University

  15. Do children with autism have a theory of mind? A non-verbal test of autism vs. specific language impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colle, Livia; Baron-Cohen, Simon; Hill, Jacqueline

    2007-04-01

    Children with autism have delays in the development of theory of mind. However, the sub-group of children with autism who have little or no language have gone untested since false belief tests (FB) typically involve language. FB understanding has been reported to be intact in children with specific language impairment (SLI). This raises the possibility that a non-verbal FB test would distinguish children with autism vs. children with SLI. The present study tested two predictions: (1) FB understanding is to some extent independent of language ability; and (2) Children with autism with low language levels show specific impairment in theory of mind. Results confirmed both predictions. Results are discussed in terms of the role of language in the development of mindreading.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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)…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  18. Understanding the centrality deficit: insight from foreign language learners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Amanda C; Keenan, Janice M

    2011-07-01

    This study replicated and extended a phenomenon in the text memory literature referred to as the centrality deficit Miller & Keenan (Annals of Dyslexia 59:99-113, 2009). It examined how reading in a foreign language (L2) affects one's text representation and ability to recall the most important information. Readers recalled a greater proportion of central than of peripheral ideas, regardless of whether reading in their native language (L1) or a foreign language (L2). Nonetheless, the greatest deficit in participants' L2 recalls, as compared with L1 recalls, was on the central, rather than the peripheral, information. This centrality deficit appears to stem from resources being diverted from comprehension when readers have to devote more cognitive resources to lower level processes (e.g., L2 word identification and syntactic processing), because the deficit was most evident among readers who had lower L2 proficiency. Prior knowledge (PK) of the passage topic helped compensate for the centrality deficit. Readers with less L2 proficiency who did not have PK of the topic displayed a centrality deficit, relative to their L1 recall, but this deficit dissipated when they did possess PK.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  1. DISTANCE LEARNING FOR DEVELOPING KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  3. Kinematic differentiation of prosodic categories in normal and disordered language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goffman, Lisa

    2004-10-01

    Prosody is complex and hierarchically organized but is realized as rhythmic movement sequences. Thus, observations of the development of rhythmic aspects of movement can provide insight into links between motor and language processes, specifically whether prosodic distinctions (e.g., feet and prosodic words) are instantiated in rhythmic movement output. This experiment examined 4-7-year-old children's (both normally developing and specifically language impaired) and adults' productions of prosodic sequences that were controlled for phonetic content but differed in morphosyntactic structure (i.e., content vs. function words). Primary analyses included kinematic measures of rhythmic structure (i.e., amplitude and duration of movements in weak vs. strong syllables) across content and function contexts. Findings showed that at the level of articulatory movement, adults produced distinct rhythmic categories across content and function word contexts, whereas children did not. Children with specific language impairment differed from normally developing peers only in their ability to produce well-organized and stable rhythmic movements, not in the differentiation of prosodic categories.

  4. Language Learning Strategies of Language e-Learners in Turkey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solak, Ekrem; Cakir, Recep

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to determine the use of language learning strategies of e-learners and to understand whether there were any correlations between language learning strategies and academic achievement. Participants of the study were 274?e-learners, 132 males and 142 females, enrolled in an e-learning program from various majors and…

  5. 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.…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  10. Facilitating Professional Development for Teachers of English Language Learners

    Science.gov (United States)

    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).…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  12. Beliefs in Context: Understanding Language Policy Implementation at a Systems Level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hopkins, Megan

    2016-01-01

    Drawing on institutional theory, this study describes how cognitive, normative, and regulative mechanisms shape bilingual teachers' language policy implementation in both English-only and bilingual contexts. Aligned with prior educational language policy research, findings indicate the important role that teachers' beliefs play in the policy…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  14. 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...

  15. Establishing New Norms of Language Use: The Circulation of Linguistic Ideology in Three New Irish-Language Communities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armstrong, Timothy Currie

    2012-01-01

    Ideology can be understood as a guide to action, and therefore, language ideology can be viewed as a link between language ability on the one hand, and language use on the other. In this respect, language ideology plays a central role in the success of language revitalization movements. In an effort to understand how new language ideologies are…

  16. Instruction understanding for intelligent robots in nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kambayashi, Shaw; Abe, Yasuaki

    1993-01-01

    As a first step to realize an autonomous mobile robot for plant maintenance, where the robot is capable to understand instructions written in natural languages, we have developed a prototype of instruction understanding system which makes the robot construct its motion sequences to approach instrumentations and inspect them from input sentences written in Japanese. In the prototype system, the instruction understanding and planning capabilities are integrated by an inference engine which consists of a cyclic operation of three processings, i.e., sensing, decision, and execution. Based on environmental data and current states of the robot, a proper process such as natural language processing is triggered by the decision part of the inference engine to accomplish the input instructions. The multiple- and dynamic-planning capabilities, which are necessary to cope with dynamic changes of environments surrounding the robot, are achieved by utilizing the cyclic inference engine together with a set of the inference packets which keep intermediate results of natural language processing and planning for respective input instructions. (orig.)

  17. A Block-Structure Concurrent Object-Oriented Language

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Ole Lehrmann

    1998-01-01

    The BETA programming language has been developed in the Scandinavian tradition for object-orientation based on Simula. In this tradition, support for modeling and design have been important design goals for programming language design. There has thus been two accompanying design criteria for BETA...... of conceptual means for understanding knowledge abuout the real world. It includes means such as concepts and phenomena, identification of objects, identification of classes, classification, generalization/specialization, multiple classification, refence- and part-of-composition, etc. In this paper we...

  18. Teaching and Learning the Language of Science: A Case Study of Academic Language Acquisition in a Dual Language Middle School

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gose, Robin Margaretha

    English language learners (EL) are the fastest growing sub-group of the student population in California, yet ELs also score the lowest on the science section of the California Standardized Tests. In the area of bilingual education, California has dramatically changed its approach to English learners since the passage of Proposition 227 in 1998, which called for most EL instruction to be conducted in English (Cummins, 2000; Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2008). In reality, this means that EL students are often placed in programs that focus on basic language skills rather than rigorous content, meaning that they are not getting access to grade level science content (Lee & Fradd, 1998). As a result, many EL students exit eighth grade without a strong foundation in science, and they continue to score below their English-speaking peers on standardized achievements. While the usefulness of the academic language construct remains controversial (Bailey, 2012), the language used in science instruction is nevertheless often unfamiliar to both EL and English proficient students. The discourse is frequently specialized for discipline-specific interactions and activities (Bailey, 2007; Lemke, 1990). This qualitative case study examined academic language instruction in three middle school science classrooms at a dual language charter school. The goal was to understand how teachers integrate academic language and content for linguistically diverse students. The findings fom this study indicate that targeting language instruction in isolation from science content instruction prohibits students from engaging in the "doing of science" and scientific discourse, or the ability to think, reason, and communicate about science. The recommendations of this study support authentically embedding language development into rigorous science instruction in order to maximize opportunities for learning in both domains.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…

  1. Foreign Language Learners' Views on the Importance of Learning the Target Language Pronunciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Çakir, Ismail; Baytar, Birtan

    2014-01-01

    Pronunciation is one of the controversial topics in the field of English language teaching as a second or foreign language. The aim of this study is to understand the attitudes of prep class students at Kastamonu University (state university) in Turkey towards the importance of pronunciation in language learning. Therefore, a pronunciation…

  2. Storytelling, behavior planning, and language evolution in context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBride, Glen

    2014-01-01

    An attempt is made to specify the structure of the hominin bands that began steps to language. Storytelling could evolve without need for language yet be strongly subject to natural selection and could provide a major feedback process in evolving language. A storytelling model is examined, including its effects on the evolution of consciousness and the possible timing of language evolution. Behavior planning is presented as a model of language evolution from storytelling. The behavior programming mechanism in both directions provide a model of creating and understanding behavior and language. Culture began with societies, then family evolution, family life in troops, but storytelling created a culture of experiences, a final step in the long process of achieving experienced adults by natural selection. Most language evolution occurred in conversations where evolving non-verbal feedback ensured mutual agreements on understanding. Natural language evolved in conversations with feedback providing understanding of changes.

  3. Cassirer's View of Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Ying

    2009-01-01

    Myth is the breakthrough point of [Ernest] Cassirer's philosophy; Art is one of key words to understand his defined language; and Symbolism infiltrates into all aspects of human cultures especially language. The shift of Cassirer from great theories of science and philosophy to the world of art, language, myth, and culture mirrors his bold and…

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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.

  5. Teacher and Student Language Practices and Ideologies in a Third-Grade Two-Way Dual Language Program Implementation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Kathryn I.; Palmer, Deborah K.

    2015-01-01

    This article provides an in-depth exploration of the language ecologies of two classrooms attempting to implement a two-way dual language (TWDL) program and its mediating conditions. Drawing on ethnographic methods and a sociocultural understanding of language, we examined both teachers' and students' language ideologies and language practices,…

  6. Linguistic Models at the Crossroads of Agents, Learning and Formal Languages

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonor BECERRA-BONACHE

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims at reviewing the most relevant linguistic applications developed in the intersection between three different fields: machine learning, formal language theory and agent technologies. On the one hand, we present some of the main linguistic contributions of the intersection between machine learning and formal languages, which constitutes a well-established research area known as Grammatical Inference. On the other hand, we present an overview of the main linguistic applications of models developed in the intersection between agent technologies and formal languages, such as colonies, grammar systems and eco-grammar systems. Our goal is to show how interdisciplinary research between these three fields can contribute to better understand how natural language is acquired and processed.

  7. 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.

  8. 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...

  9. Teachers’ competences in the foreign language teaching/learning process

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    Douglas Altamiro Consolo

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available In this article we discuss competences demanded from the foreign language teacher for him or her to perform in the teaching-learning process efficiently. Our reflections are based mainly on Paulo Freire (2001, Philippe Perrenoud (2000, Edgar Morin (2003, Maurice Tardif (2002 and Almeida Filho (1999, providing, in this way, a reflective dialogue among studies that focus on teachers’ competences. The main objective is a better understanding of the necessary knowledge about teaching practices so that foreign language teachers’ actions can meet the needs of education at present. We expect to highlight important issues in the development of the aforementioned competences, and suggest that their development can contribute for better language teaching.

  10. 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,

  11. 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.

  12. 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).

  13. 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.

  14. A new Approach to the Study of Russian Language Acquisition in Preschool Children with Normal and Abnormal Development

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    Lebedeva T.V

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available We discuss the possibilities of using a standardized method of psychological evaluation of the Russian language development in preschool children. We provide a rationale for the relevance of timely differentiation of children with language and speech difficulties in modern educational practice. We present the results of comparative analysis of language and speech development in the two groups of children 5-6 years old: normally developing (N=92 and with language and speech disorders (N=59. We describe the diagnostic potential of this research tool for clinical sample of children with speech and language disorders, reveal differences in the development of Russian language between the two groups of children. The data obtained can be used in solving the problems of differentiated correctional help to pre-school children with impaired language and speech development.

  15. The influence of the visual modality on language structure and conventionalization: insights from sign language and gesture.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perniss, Pamela; Özyürek, Asli; Morgan, Gary

    2015-01-01

    For humans, the ability to communicate and use language is instantiated not only in the vocal modality but also in the visual modality. The main examples of this are sign languages and (co-speech) gestures. Sign languages, the natural languages of Deaf communities, use systematic and conventionalized movements of the hands, face, and body for linguistic expression. Co-speech gestures, though non-linguistic, are produced in tight semantic and temporal integration with speech and constitute an integral part of language together with speech. The articles in this issue explore and document how gestures and sign languages are similar or different and how communicative expression in the visual modality can change from being gestural to grammatical in nature through processes of conventionalization. As such, this issue contributes to our understanding of how the visual modality shapes language and the emergence of linguistic structure in newly developing systems. Studying the relationship between signs and gestures provides a new window onto the human ability to recruit multiple levels of representation (e.g., categorical, gradient, iconic, abstract) in the service of using or creating conventionalized communicative systems. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  16. Teacher Educators' Personal Practical Knowledge of Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Swart, Fenna; de Graaff, Rick; Onstenk, Jeroen; Knezic, Dubravka

    2018-01-01

    This paper describes teacher educators' understanding of language for classroom communication in higher education. We argue that teacher educators who are aware of their personal practical knowledge of language have a better understanding of their students' language use and provide better support for knowledge construction. Personal practical…

  17. "Speaking English Naturally": The Language Ideologies of English as an Official Language at a Korean University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jinsook

    2016-01-01

    This study explores language ideologies of English at a Korean university where English has been adopted as an official language. This study draws on ethnographic data in order to understand how speakers respond to and experience the institutional language policy. The findings show that language ideologies in this university represent the…

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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.

  19. Storytelling, behavior planning and language evolution in context.

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    Glen eMcbride

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available An attempt is made to specify the structure of the hominin bands that began steps to language. 8 Storytelling could evolve without need for language yet be strongly subject to natural selection 9 and could provide a major feedback process in evolving language. A storytelling model is 10 examined, including its effects on the evolution of consciousness and the possible timing of 11 language evolution. Behavior planning is presented as a model of language evolution from 12 storytelling. The behavior programming mechanism in both directions provide a model of 13 creating and understanding behavior and language. Culture began with societies, then family 14 evolution, family life in troops, but storytelling created a culture of experiences, a final step in 15 the long process of achieving experienced adults by natural selection. Most language evolution 16 occurred in conversations where evolving non-verbal feedback ensured mutual agreements on 17 understanding. Natural language evolved in conversations with feedback providing 18 understanding of changes.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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…