EFL Vocabulary Acquisition through Word Cards: Student Perceptions and Strategies

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Wilkinson, Darrell

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in second language proficiency, and learners need to acquire thousands of words in order to become proficient in the target language. As numerous studies have shown that incidental vocabulary acquisition is not sufficient on its own, it is clear that learners must devote considerable time and effort to…

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

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Webb, Stuart

2005-01-01

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

Effects of Opportunities for Word Retrieval during Second Language Vocabulary Learning

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Barcroft, Joe

2007-01-01

Research suggests that memory for an item improves when one is allowed to retrieve the item (Slamecka & Graf, 1978). This study explored benefits of providing opportunities for target-word retrieval during second language vocabulary learning. English speakers studied new Spanish words while viewing 24 word-picture pairs. They first viewed all 24…

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

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

2013-04-01

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

How is their word knowledge growing? Exploring Grade 3 vocabulary in South African township schools

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Elizabeth J. Pretorius

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In this article, we report on a study that examined the active and receptive English vocabulary of two different groups of Grade 3 learners in South African township schools. The groups consisted of English Home Language (HL learners in the Western Cape and Xhosa HL and English First Additional Language (FAL learners in the Eastern Cape. The purpose was to document their different vocabulary trajectories during Grade 3. The Woodcock-Muñoz Language Survey was used to measure the active vocabulary levels of 118 learners at the beginning and the end of the school year. Another 284 learners from the same eight Grade 3 classes participated in a receptive vocabulary test at the end of the year. This test assessed their knowledge of the 60 most frequent words that occur in South Africa Grade 4 English textbooks. Results showed that although the HL learners knew almost double the number of words their English FAL peers did, both groups of learners increased their active word knowledge through the year by about 9%. Regarding their receptive vocabulary, the English FAL learners on average only knew 27% of the most frequent words at the end of their Grade 3. No significant gender differences were found. Learners in both language groups who were above their grade age had significantly lower scores than their younger peers. This confirms findings that children who start school with weak language skills tend to stay weak. Finally, initial active vocabulary knowledge was found to be a strong predictor of vocabulary development during the school year.

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

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Bellomo, Tom

2012-01-01

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

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

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Eckerth, Johannes; Tavakoli, Parveneh

2012-01-01

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

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

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Ehri, Linnea C.

2014-01-01

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

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

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Mokhtari, Kouider; Velten, Justin

2015-01-01

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

Improving Student Vocabulary Mastery Using Word Mapping Strategy

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Satuna Indah Wardani

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The purpose of this study was to find out whether the word mapping strategywas able to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. The process of masteringis mainly affected by the worst thought of the vocational students who said that English as the most difficult subject to learn and was often tracked into boringcondition since theywere not involved in the process of learning. Thisstudy was conducted by using classroom action research in two cycles and each cycleconsisted of four meetings. The subject of the research was the third grade of Accounting Department at State Vocational School 1 Pamekasan whichconsisted of 34 students. The research was carried out for one month.Theinstruments used to obtained primary data and the secondary data were vocabulary test, the students’ observation sheets, and questionnaire of the respondent.The result of test in preliminary until the test in cycle two showed that there was the improvement of the number of students who passed the test. Hopefully, this outcome will certainly be useful for both teachers and students in which its harmony will give the progress for learning English,especially vocabulary mastery. 

Rapid word-learning in normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children: effects of age, receptive vocabulary, and high-frequency amplification.

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Pittman, A L; Lewis, D E; Hoover, B M; Stelmachowicz, P G

2005-12-01

This study examined rapid word-learning in 5- to 14-year-old children with normal and impaired hearing. The effects of age and receptive vocabulary were examined as well as those of high-frequency amplification. Novel words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz (typical of current amplification devices) and at 9 kHz. It was hypothesized that (1) the children with normal hearing would learn more words than the children with hearing loss, (2) word-learning would increase with age and receptive vocabulary for both groups, and (3) both groups would benefit from a broader frequency bandwidth. Sixty children with normal hearing and 37 children with moderate sensorineural hearing losses participated in this study. Each child viewed a 4-minute animated slideshow containing 8 nonsense words created using the 24 English consonant phonemes (3 consonants per word). Each word was repeated 3 times. Half of the 8 words were low-pass filtered at 4 kHz and half were filtered at 9 kHz. After viewing the story twice, each child was asked to identify the words from among pictures in the slide show. Before testing, a measure of current receptive vocabulary was obtained using the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III). The PPVT-III scores of the hearing-impaired children were consistently poorer than those of the normal-hearing children across the age range tested. A similar pattern of results was observed for word-learning in that the performance of the hearing-impaired children was significantly poorer than that of the normal-hearing children. Further analysis of the PPVT and word-learning scores suggested that although word-learning was reduced in the hearing-impaired children, their performance was consistent with their receptive vocabularies. Additionally, no correlation was found between overall performance and the age of identification, age of amplification, or years of amplification in the children with hearing loss. Results also revealed a small increase in performance for both

The Effects of Receptive and Productive Learning of Word Pairs on Vocabulary Knowledge

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Webb, Stuart

2009-01-01

English as a foreign language students in Japan learned target words in word pairs receptively and productively. Five aspects of vocabulary knowledge--orthography, association, syntax, grammatical functions, and meaning and form--were each measured by receptive and productive tests. The study uses an innovative methodology in that each target word…

Improving Student Vocabulary Mastery Using Word Mapping Strategy

OpenAIRE

Satuna Indah Wardani

2015-01-01

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to find out whether the word mapping strategywas able to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. The process of masteringis mainly affected by the worst thought of the vocational students who said that English as the most difficult subject to learn and was often tracked into boringcondition since theywere not involved in the process of learning. Thisstudy was conducted by using classroom action research in two cycles and each cycleconsisted of four me...

BUSINESS ENGLISH WORD GAMES – A WELCOMED VOCABULARY TEACHING TECHNIQUE

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Ioana Claudia Horea

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Introducing vocabulary has never been very problematic nor a doubt generating aspect in teaching a language, at least not in respect of what has to be done actually along this part of the lesson or how this stage should be approached. It cannot be said that it has ever been too much of a challenge, but rather a simple and straightforward phase in the economy of the English class. Business English vocabulary teaching methods have to make allowance for the specificity of the field, though. Thus, much consideration has to be given to the way Business English lexical units are introduced so that the technique used could produce the desired results into the students: acquisition of specific terminology, assimilation of meanings and development of skills that shall ensure accurate usage of the terms in the future. After an experimental semester, most adequate class approaches to serve the purposes abovementioned proved to be – rather non-academic, it may be argued – the word games. The current study presents the detailed steps of two distinct teaching methods used and the comparative results obtained with the two groups of students submitted to the experiment. Along the Business English courses in one semester, there were four vocabulary introduction lessons. The nonconformist technique of word games was implemented to one of the two groups of students while the other was taught the regular style. The comparative study focused on several aspects, from the observation of the class reactions and participation along the process of teaching, i.e. response to the didactic process during each class, to the checking of the effects of both types of implementation, namely assessing assimilation of the previously taught material in terms of knowledge of vocabulary and correct interpretation, by random tests and by final test results. If teaching methodologies regularly claim that the general to particular approach is the most effective, here a vice

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

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

2013-10-01

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

Foreign language vocabulary learning: word-type effects during the labeling stage

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Groot, A.M.B.; van den Brink, R.C.L.; Kail, M.; Hickmann, M.

2010-01-01

This chapter reviews the results of a set of experiments that examined foreign-language (FL) vocabulary learning by late learners, exploiting the paired-associate-learning (PAL) paradigm. The effects on acquisition and retention of the concreteness and frequency of the native-language (L1) words,

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

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

2013-01-01

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

Developing a Specialized Vocabulary Word List in a Composition Culinary Course through Lecture Notes

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M.Nordin N. R.

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Learning to write in a composition culinary course is very challenging for L2 learners. The main barrier in writing proficiency within this discipline is the lack of vocabulary, specifically the lack of exposure towards specialized vocabulary. This study aims to provide a corpus of specialized vocabulary within a food writing course. By providing students with a word list of specialized vocabulary in the course, students may benefit by familiarizing with the language discourse which will aid in better comprehension of the course, and subsequently facilitate in their writing development. A compilation of all PowerPoint slides from one writing course was assembled and analyzed using the range and frequency program to identify the specialized vocabularies in a food writing course. The corpus was categorized using a four step rating scale, which identified 113 specialized vocabularies in food writing. The learning of specialized vocabulary specialized vocabulary is an important issue at the tertiary level in Malaysia, with educators’ realization of the importance of discourse proficiency in ESP programs, thus many more research is yielded on the many new issues on the teaching and learning of specialized vocabulary particularly within the academic and professional context.

Correlations between vocabulary and phonological acquisition: number of words produced versus acquired consonants.

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Wiethan, Fernanda Marafiga; Mota, Helena Bolli; Moraes, Anaelena Bragança de

2016-01-01

To verify the probable correlations between the number of word types and the number of consonants in the general phonological system in children with typical language development. Study participants were 186 children aged one year and six months to five years, 11 months and 29 days who were monolingual Brazilian Portuguese speakers with typical language development. Data collection involved speech, language and hearing assessments and spontaneous speech recordings. Phonology was assessed with regard to the number of acquired consonants in the general phonological system, in each syllable structure and in Implicational Model of Feature Complexity (IMFC) levels. Vocabulary was assessed with regard to number of word types produced. These data were compared across age groups. After that, correlations between the word types produced and the variables established for the phonological system were analyzed. The significance level adopted was 5%. All phonological aspects evaluated presented gradual growth. Word types produced showed a similar behavior, though with a small regression at the age of five years. Different positive correlations occurred between the spoken word types and the variables analyzed in the phonological system. Only one negative correlation occurred with respect to the production of complex onset in the last age group analyzed. The phonology and vocabulary of the study participants present similar behaviors. There are many positive correlations between the word types produced and the different aspects of phonology, except regarding complex onset.

The effects of audibility and novel word learning ability on vocabulary level in children with cochlear implants.

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Davidson, Lisa S; Geers, Ann E; Nicholas, Johanna G

2014-07-01

A novel word learning (NWL) paradigm was used to explore underlying phonological and cognitive mechanisms responsible for delayed vocabulary level in children with cochlear implants (CIs). One hundred and one children using CIs, 6-12 years old, were tested along with 47 children with normal hearing (NH). Tests of NWL, receptive vocabulary, and speech perception at 2 loudness levels were administered to children with CIs. Those with NH completed the NWL task and a receptive vocabulary test. CI participants with good audibility (GA) versus poor audibility (PA) were compared on all measures. Analysis of variance was used to compare performance across the children with NH and the two groups of children with CIs. Multiple regression analysis was employed to identify independent predictors of vocabulary outcomes. Children with CIs in the GA group scored higher in receptive vocabulary and NWL than children in the PA group, although they did not reach NH levels. CI-aided pure tone threshold and performance on the NWL task predicted independent variance in vocabulary after accounting for other known predictors. Acquiring spoken vocabulary is facilitated by GA with a CI and phonological learning and memory skills. Children with CIs did not learn novel words at the same rate or achieve the same receptive vocabulary levels as their NH peers. Maximizing audibility for the perception of speech and direct instruction of new vocabulary may be necessary for children with CIs to reach levels seen in peers with NH.

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

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Cho, Euna

2017-01-01

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

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

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

2013-01-01

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

Words, Words, Words: English, Vocabulary.

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Lamb, Barbara

The Quinmester course on words gives the student the opportunity to increase his proficiency by investigating word origins, word histories, morphology, and phonology. The course includes the following: dictionary skills and familiarity with the "Oxford,""Webster's Third," and "American Heritage" dictionaries; word…

EST Vocabulary Instruction

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Célia D.S. Bell

2012-05-01

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

Evidence for preserved novel word learning in Down syndrome suggests multiple routes to vocabulary acquisition.

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Mosse, Emma K; Jarrold, Christopher

2011-08-01

Three studies investigated novel word learning, some requiring phonological production, each involving between 11 and 17 individuals with Down syndrome, and between 15 and 24 typically developing individuals matched for receptive vocabulary. The effect of stimuli wordlikeness and incidental procedure-based memory demands were examined to see whether these may account for an apparent impairment in word learning in Down syndrome demonstrated in earlier research. Paired associate word and nonword learning tasks were presented, requiring participants to learn the names of novel characters. The nonword stimuli varied in the degree of wordlikeness in 2 studies. A third study investigated extraneous task demand. Across 3 studies, there was no suggestion of a word learning deficit associated with Down syndrome (η(2)(p) for the main effect of group of .03, .11, and .03, respectively), despite the level of phonological representation required. There was evidence that novel word learning by participants with Down syndrome exceeded that which their verbal short-term memory capacity would predict. Vocabulary acquisition in Down syndrome may not rely on verbal short-term memory to the same extent as in typically developing children, lending support to the suggestion that new word learning may be underpinned by an additional memory process.

The Comparison between Contextual Guessing Strategies vs. Memorizing a List of Isolated Words in Vocabulary Learning Regarding Long Term Memory

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Leyla Vakili S AMIYAN

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Guessing the meaning of unknown vocabularies within a text is a way of learning new words which is named textual vocabulary acquisition. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a textual guessing strategy on vocabulary learning at the intermediate le vel. Textual guessing strategy is to guess the meaning of vocabularies with the help of surrounding words or sentences in the co - text without any translation. This paper reports the findings of two quantitative studies conducted on English language learner s with the Intermediate 2 level of proficiency in Kavosh foreign language institute, Mashhad, Iran. Twenty male and female attendants were selected and assigned to ’context’ and ‘non - context’ groups. The context group received an instruction to infer the m eaning of new words while the non - context participants were treated as learning new vocabularies individually (autonomously. The result of the independent sample t - test at the post - test stage revealed that the probability value of t - test with an equality of variances assumption is lower than 0.05 (0.04700. So this result represented that there is a meaningful difference between the experimental group and the control group considering their amount of learning. The results indicated that textual guessing s trategy had more effect on their long term memory. It was also revealed that the words learned through context are used more frequently than those learned in isolation in the speaking repertoire of the participants.

Associative vocabulary learning: development and testing of two paradigms for the (re-) acquisition of action- and object-related words.

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Freundlieb, Nils; Ridder, Volker; Dobel, Christian; Enriquez-Geppert, Stefanie; Baumgaertner, Annette; Zwitserlood, Pienie; Gerloff, Christian; Hummel, Friedhelm C; Liuzzi, Gianpiero

2012-01-01

Despite a growing number of studies, the neurophysiology of adult vocabulary acquisition is still poorly understood. One reason is that paradigms that can easily be combined with neuroscientfic methods are rare. Here, we tested the efficiency of two paradigms for vocabulary (re-) acquisition, and compared the learning of novel words for actions and objects. Cortical networks involved in adult native-language word processing are widespread, with differences postulated between words for objects and actions. Words and what they stand for are supposed to be grounded in perceptual and sensorimotor brain circuits depending on their meaning. If there are specific brain representations for different word categories, we hypothesized behavioural differences in the learning of action-related and object-related words. Paradigm A, with the learning of novel words for body-related actions spread out over a number of days, revealed fast learning of these new action words, and stable retention up to 4 weeks after training. The single-session Paradigm B employed objects and actions. Performance during acquisition did not differ between action-related and object-related words (time*word category: p = 0.01), but the translation rate was clearly better for object-related (79%) than for action-related words (53%, p = 0.002). Both paradigms yielded robust associative learning of novel action-related words, as previously demonstrated for object-related words. Translation success differed for action- and object-related words, which may indicate different neural mechanisms. The paradigms tested here are well suited to investigate such differences with neuroscientific means. Given the stable retention and minimal requirements for conscious effort, these learning paradigms are promising for vocabulary re-learning in brain-lesioned people. In combination with neuroimaging, neuro-stimulation or pharmacological intervention, they may well advance the understanding of language learning

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

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Tunmer, William E.; Chapman, James W.

2012-01-01

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

Attention to Orthographic and Phonological Word Forms in Vocabulary Instruction for Kindergarten English Learners

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Vadasy, Patricia F.; Sanders, Elizabeth A.

2016-01-01

This study examined benefits of connecting meaning, speech, and print in vocabulary learning for kindergarten English learners. Students screened eligible with limited English proficiency were randomly assigned to two instruction conditions. Both groups received direct instruction in high frequency root words. One condition featured added…

Vocabulary Pruning for Improved Context Recognition

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

2004-01-01

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

Tune in to the Tone: Lexical Tone Identification is Associated with Vocabulary and Word Recognition Abilities in Young Chinese Children.

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Tong, Xiuli; Tong, Xiuhong; McBride-Chang, Catherine

2015-12-01

Lexical tone is one of the most prominent features in the phonological representation of words in Chinese. However, little, if any, research to date has directly evaluated how young Chinese children's lexical tone identification skills contribute to vocabulary acquisition and character recognition. The present study distinguished lexical tones from segmental phonological awareness and morphological awareness in order to estimate the unique contribution of lexical tone in early vocabulary acquisition and character recognition. A sample of 199 Cantonese children aged 5-6 years was assessed on measures of lexical tone identification, segmental phonological awareness, morphological awareness, nonverbal ability, vocabulary knowledge, and Chinese character recognition. It was found that lexical tone awareness and morphological awareness were both associated with vocabulary knowledge and character recognition. However, there was a significant relationship between lexical tone awareness and both vocabulary knowledge and character recognition, even after controlling for the effects of age, nonverbal ability, segmental phonological awareness and morphological awareness. These findings suggest that lexical tone is a key factor accounting for individual variance in young children's lexical acquisition in Chinese, and that lexical tone should be considered in understanding how children learn new Chinese vocabulary words, in either oral or written forms.

Profiling vocabulary acquisition in Irish.

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O'Toole, Ciara; Fletcher, Paul

2012-01-01

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

Changes in Word Usage Frequency May Hamper Intergenerational Comparisons of Vocabulary Skills: An Ngram Analysis of Wordsum, WAIS, and WISC Test Items

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Roivainen, Eka

2014-01-01

Research on secular trends in mean intelligence test scores shows smaller gains in vocabulary skills than in nonverbal reasoning. One possible explanation is that vocabulary test items become outdated faster compared to nonverbal tasks. The history of the usage frequency of the words on five popular vocabulary tests, the GSS Wordsum, Wechsler…

Vocabulary Learning in a Yorkshire Terrier: Slow Mapping of Spoken Words

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Griebel, Ulrike; Oller, D. Kimbrough

2012-01-01

Rapid vocabulary learning in children has been attributed to “fast mapping”, with new words often claimed to be learned through a single presentation. As reported in 2004 in Science a border collie (Rico) not only learned to identify more than 200 words, but fast mapped the new words, remembering meanings after just one presentation. Our research tests the fast mapping interpretation of the Science paper based on Rico's results, while extending the demonstration of large vocabulary recognition to a lap dog. We tested a Yorkshire terrier (Bailey) with the same procedures as Rico, illustrating that Bailey accurately retrieved randomly selected toys from a set of 117 on voice command of the owner. Second we tested her retrieval based on two additional voices, one male, one female, with different accents that had never been involved in her training, again showing she was capable of recognition by voice command. Third, we did both exclusion-based training of new items (toys she had never seen before with names she had never heard before) embedded in a set of known items, with subsequent retention tests designed as in the Rico experiment. After Bailey succeeded on exclusion and retention tests, a crucial evaluation of true mapping tested items previously successfully retrieved in exclusion and retention, but now pitted against each other in a two-choice task. Bailey failed on the true mapping task repeatedly, illustrating that the claim of fast mapping in Rico had not been proven, because no true mapping task had ever been conducted with him. It appears that the task called retention in the Rico study only demonstrated success in retrieval by a process of extended exclusion. PMID:22363421

Vocabulary learning in a Yorkshire terrier: slow mapping of spoken words.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrike Griebel

Full Text Available Rapid vocabulary learning in children has been attributed to "fast mapping", with new words often claimed to be learned through a single presentation. As reported in 2004 in Science a border collie (Rico not only learned to identify more than 200 words, but fast mapped the new words, remembering meanings after just one presentation. Our research tests the fast mapping interpretation of the Science paper based on Rico's results, while extending the demonstration of large vocabulary recognition to a lap dog. We tested a Yorkshire terrier (Bailey with the same procedures as Rico, illustrating that Bailey accurately retrieved randomly selected toys from a set of 117 on voice command of the owner. Second we tested her retrieval based on two additional voices, one male, one female, with different accents that had never been involved in her training, again showing she was capable of recognition by voice command. Third, we did both exclusion-based training of new items (toys she had never seen before with names she had never heard before embedded in a set of known items, with subsequent retention tests designed as in the Rico experiment. After Bailey succeeded on exclusion and retention tests, a crucial evaluation of true mapping tested items previously successfully retrieved in exclusion and retention, but now pitted against each other in a two-choice task. Bailey failed on the true mapping task repeatedly, illustrating that the claim of fast mapping in Rico had not been proven, because no true mapping task had ever been conducted with him. It appears that the task called retention in the Rico study only demonstrated success in retrieval by a process of extended exclusion.

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

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Reynolds, Barry Lee

2016-01-01

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

Beyond static assessment of children's receptive vocabulary: the dynamic assessment of word learning (DAWL).

Science.gov (United States)

Camilleri, Bernard; Botting, Nicola

2013-01-01

Children's low scores on vocabulary tests are often erroneously interpreted as reflecting poor cognitive and/or language skills. It may be necessary to incorporate the measurement of word-learning ability in estimating children's lexical abilities. To explore the reliability and validity of the Dynamic Assessment of Word Learning (DAWL), a new dynamic assessment of receptive vocabulary. A dynamic assessment (DA) of word learning ability was developed and adopted within a nursery school setting with 15 children aged between 3;07 and 4;03, ten of whom had been referred to speech and language therapy. A number of quantitative measures were derived from the DA procedure, including measures of children's ability to identify the targeted items and to generalize to a second exemplar, as well as measures of children's ability to retain the targeted items. Internal, inter-rater and test-retest reliability of the DAWL was established as well as correlational measures of concurrent and predictive validity. The DAWL was found to provide both quantitative and qualitative information which could be used to improve the accuracy of differential diagnosis and the understanding of processes underlying the child's performance. The latter can be used for the purpose of designing more individualized interventions. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Astronomy and Geology Vocabulary, I.e. "NASA Words" in Native American Languages

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Angrum, A.; Alexander, C. J.; Martin, M.

2014-12-01

The US Rosetta Project has developed a program in Native American communities in which contemporary STEM vocabulary is taught alongside the same vocabulary in Navajo. NASA images and science are used and described in the native language, alongside both lay English, and scientific English. Additionally, science curriculum (geology/chemistry/botany/physics) elements drawn from the reservation environment, including geomorphology, geochemistry, soil physics, are included and discussed in the native language as much as possible — with their analogs in other planetary environments (such as Mars). The program began with a student defining 30 Navajo words to describe what he called 'NASA' words, such as: cell phone, astronaut, space suit, computer, and planets not visible to the naked eye. The use of NASA material and imagery have a positive impact on the accessibility of the overall STEM material but community involvement, and buy-in, is criti! cal to the success of the program. The US Rosetta Project modified its goals, and curriculum, to accommodate the programmatic desires of teachers in the district, and the capabilities of the medicine men that agreed to participate. In this presentation we will report on lessons learned, as well as metrics and successes associated with our most recent Summer Science Academy [2014].

Swimming in New Vocabulary

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Donohue, Kerri; Buck, Gayle

2017-01-01

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

Romanian Words of Arabic Origin: Scientific and Technical Vocabulary

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Georgeta Rata

2016-10-01

Full Text Available There are 141 Romanian words of Arabic origin acquired either directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into Romanian. Most entered one or more of the Romance languages before entering Romanian. To qualify for this list, a word must be reported in etymology dictionaries as having descended from Arabic. Words associated with the Islamic religion are omitted. Archaic and rare words are also omitted. Given the nature of the journal in which the paper is to be published, the author selected for analysis only about 126 terms belonging to the scientific and technical vocabulary: Adobe, alambic, albatros, alcalin, alchimie, alcool, alfalfa, algebră, algoritm, alidadă, alizarină, amalgam, ambră, anil, antimoniu, azimuth, azur, benjoin, bezoar, bor, cafea, calibre, camfor, carat, carciofoi, caric, cârmâz, carob, chimie, cifru, coton, curcuma, cuşcuş, erg, falafel, fanfară, felucă, fenec, gazelă, gerbil, girafă, halva, hamada, humus, iasomie, jar, julep, kaliu, lac, lămâie, lazurit, liliac, lime, marcasit, masicot, mizenă, muson, nadir, natriu, papagal, rachetă, realgar, sabkha, safari, şah, sandarac, şaorma, şerbet, sirop, sodium, şofran, sorbet, spanac, sumac, tabac, tahân, taifun, talc, tamarin(d, tangerină, tar, tară, tarhon, tarif, tasă, ţechin, ton, varan, zahăr, zenith, zero, zircon, etc. Some of them are obsolescent, but a large number are in everyday use and have been so well assimilated into Romanian that they have produced other words through derivation and composition, or they have acquired new meanings.

Effects of classwide peer tutoring on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of science vocabulary words for seventh grade students with learning disabilities and/or low achievement

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Nobel, Michele Mcmahon

2005-07-01

This study investigated the effects of classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) on the acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of science vocabulary words and definitions. Participants were 14 seventh grade students at-risk for failure in a general education science course; 3 students had learning disabilities and 2 had a communication disorder. CWPT was conducted daily for 20 minutes during the last period of the school day. Procedures for CWPT were consistent with the Ohio State University CWPT model. Students were engaged in dyadic, reciprocal tutoring. Tutors presented word cards to tutees to identify the word and definition. Tutors praised correct responses and used a correction procedure for incorrect responses. After practicing their vocabulary words, students completed a daily testing procedure and recorded and plotted data. Many of the study's findings are consistent with previous studies using CWPT to teach word identification. Results of this study indicate a functional relationship between CWPT and acquisition of science vocabulary. All students were able to acquire words and definitions. Results for maintenance and generalization varied. When acquisition criterion was changed, maintenance and generalization scores increased for some students, while other students remained consistently high. All students reported that they enjoyed CWPT, and all but student stated it helped them learn science vocabulary.

Vocabulary Constraint on Texts

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C. Sutarsyah

2008-01-01

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

The Impact of Presenting Semantically Related Clusters of New Words on Iranian Intermediate EFL learners' Vocabulary Acquisition

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Saiede Shiri

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Teaching vocabulary in semantically related sets use as a common practice by EFL teachers. The present study tests the effectiveness of this techniques by comparing it with semantically unrelated clusters as the other technique on Iranian intermediate EFL learners. In the study three intact classes of participants studying at Isfahan were presented with a set of unrelated words through “ 504 Absolutely Essential words”, a set of related words through “The Oxford Picture Dictionary “, and the control group were presented some new words through six texts from “Reading Through Interaction”. Comparing of the results indicated that, while both techniques help the learners to acquire new sets of the words, presenting words in semantically unrelated sets seems to be more effective.

Predicting Contextual Informativeness for Vocabulary Learning

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Kapelner, Adam; Soterwood, Jeanine; Nessaiver, Shalev; Adlof, Suzanne

2018-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is essential to educational progress. High quality vocabulary instruction requires supportive contextual examples to teach word meaning and proper usage. Identifying such contexts by hand for a large number of words can be difficult. In this work, we take a statistical learning approach to engineer a system that predicts…

INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING THROUGH READING

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Holly Warzecha, M.A. TESOL

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the following paper is to take a closer look at the benefits of incidental learning through reading, with a specific focus on vocabulary acquisition. The teaching of vocabulary has traditionally been an explicit process where the target vocabulary is taken out of context and taught separately. However, this kind of explicit teaching and learning may only take into account a form-meaning connection. Therefore, this paper explores research on incidental learning and specifically looks at what it takes to acquire new vocabulary incidentally through reading while considering the coverage rates of texts, how many words must be known already from the text, how many repetitions it takes to learn a word, types of texts that promote learning, and the effects of pairing students‘ reading with learner tasks. After reviewing many studies, it can be concluded that more reading is better. More specifically, extensive reading of chosen novels at an appropriate level and interest to the students showed important gains in vocabulary. In addition, readings that were supplemented with additional activities that focused on both form and meaning showed an even higher increase in word retention.

Core vocabulary in the narratives of bilingual children with and without language impairment.

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Shivabasappa, Prarthana; Peña, Elizabeth D; Bedore, Lisa M

2017-09-22

Children with primary language impairment (PLI) demonstrate deficits in morphosyntax and vocabulary. We studied how these deficits may manifest in the core vocabulary use of bilingual children with PLI. Thirty bilingual children with and without PLI who were matched pairwise (experimental group) narrated two Spanish and two English stories in kindergarten and first grade. Core vocabulary was derived from the 30 most frequently used words in the stories of 65 and 37 typically developing (TD) first graders (normative group) for Spanish and English, respectively. The number of words each child in the experimental group produced out of the 30 identified core vocabulary words and frequency of each of the core words produced each year were analysed. Children with PLI produced fewer core vocabulary words compared to their TD peers after controlling for total words produced. This difference was more pronounced in first grade. They produced core vocabulary words less frequently in kindergarten than their TD peers. Both groups produced core vocabulary words more frequently in English than Spanish. Bilingual children with PLI demonstrate a less productive core vocabulary use compared to their TD peers in both their languages illustrating the nature of their grammatical and lexical-semantic deficits.

Some Notes About Medical Vocabulary in 18th Century New Spain: Technical and Colloquial Words for the Denomination of Illnesses

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José Luis RAMÍREZ LUENGO

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Whereas the 18th Century medical vocabulary is something that has been studied during recent years in Spain, the situation is very different in Latin America, where papers on this subject are very limited. In this case, this paper aims to study the denominations for illnesses that were discovered in a 18th Century New Spain document corpus: to do so, the corpus will be described and then the vocabulary used in the documents will be analysed; the paper will pay special attention to questions such as neologisms, fluctuating words and the presence of colloquial vocabulary. Thus, the purposes of the paper are three: 1 to demonstrate the importance of official documents for the study of medical vocabulary; 2 to provide some data for writing the history of this vocabulary; and 3 to note some analyses that should be done in the future. 

Self-Regulation Abilities and Spanish-Speaking Preschoolers' Vocabulary and Letter-Word Skills in Spanish and English

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Palermo, Francisco; Mikulski, Ariana M.; Conejo, L. Diego

2017-01-01

Research Findings: This study examined the heterogeneity in Spanish-speaking children's (N = 117; M age = 53 months; SD = 5 months; 57% boys) vocabulary and letter-word skills in English and Spanish after one year of preschool and the extent to which early self-regulation abilities (i.e., executive function and effortful control) were associated…

Check This Word Out! Exploring the Factors That Affect Students’ Vocabulary Learning Using Smartphones via Partial Least Squares

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Mohammad Madallh Alhabahba

2014-01-01

Full Text Available A rigorous understanding of the use of Smartphones for foreign language vocabulary acquisition is crucial. Employing the technology acceptance model, this study aims to investigate students’ behavioural factors affecting Saudi students’ attitudes towards employing Smartphones for foreign vocabulary acquisition. Two hundred and seventy-three students studying in a preparatory year programme were surveyed. SmartPLS was employed to analyse the data obtained from the study’s sample. The results revealed that perceived usefulness and attitude proved to be significantly and positively related to vocabulary development. In addition, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use proved to be significant predictors of students’ attitudes towards the use of Smartphone for vocabulary learning. However, the study showed that the relationship between perceived ease of use and vocabulary development is not significant. Thus, publishers of dictionaries may find it necessary to take into account the important role played by the design of dictionaries interfaces in facilitating the use of dictionaries in Smartphones. Furthermore, teachers and educators are encouraged to employ creative activities (e.g., word guessing games that invest students’ use of Smartphones to learn vocabularies. Using Smartphones in learning improves interaction among students and teachers. Discussion and conclusions are also provided.

The Changing Role of Sound-Symbolism for Small Versus Large Vocabularies.

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Brand, James; Monaghan, Padraic; Walker, Peter

2017-12-12

Natural language contains many examples of sound-symbolism, where the form of the word carries information about its meaning. Such systematicity is more prevalent in the words children acquire first, but arbitrariness dominates during later vocabulary development. Furthermore, systematicity appears to promote learning category distinctions, which may become more important as the vocabulary grows. In this study, we tested the relative costs and benefits of sound-symbolism for word learning as vocabulary size varies. Participants learned form-meaning mappings for words which were either congruent or incongruent with regard to sound-symbolic relations. For the smaller vocabulary, sound-symbolism facilitated learning individual words, whereas for larger vocabularies sound-symbolism supported learning category distinctions. The changing properties of form-meaning mappings according to vocabulary size may reflect the different ways in which language is learned at different stages of development. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Cognitive Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Cognitive Science Society.

Powerful Vocabulary Acquisition through Texts Comparison

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Mohammad Reza Hasannejad

2015-03-01

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

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: An ESL Textbook/Workbook [In Four Volumes]: (1) Teaching Guide; (2) Edition A. Key Vocabulary Words Translated into 6 Languages: Hmong, Laotian, Korean, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Chinese; (3) Edition B. Key Vocabulary Words Translated into 6 Languages: Spanish, Somali, Russian, Farsi, Bosnian, Arabic; (4) Edition C. Key Vocabulary Words Translated in 6 Languages: Spanish, Russian, Bosnian, Somali, Vietnamese, Hmong.

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LaRue, Charles

Each of these three separately-published textbook/workbook editions on the topic of recycling presents key vocabulary words relating to this topic for English as a Second Language students in six languages. These books are designed to increase students' understanding of what the most typical local recycling rules are, why complying with them is…

Core vocabulary of young children with Down syndrome.

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Deckers, Stijn R J M; Van Zaalen, Yvonne; Van Balkom, Hans; Verhoeven, Ludo

2017-06-01

The aim of this study was to develop a core vocabulary list for young children with intellectual disabilities between 2 and 7 years of age because data from this population are lacking in core vocabulary literature. Children with Down syndrome are considered one of the most valid reference groups for researching developmental patterns in children with intellectual disabilities; therefore, spontaneous language samples of 30 Dutch children with Down syndrome were collected during three different activities with multiple communication partners (free play with parents, lunch- or snack-time at home or at school, and speech therapy sessions). Of these children, 19 used multimodal communication, primarily manual signs and speech. Functional word use in both modalities was transcribed. The 50 most frequently used core words accounted for 67.2% of total word use; 16 words comprised core vocabulary, based on commonality. These data are consistent with similar studies related to the core vocabularies of preschoolers and toddlers with typical development, although the number of nouns present on the core vocabulary list was higher for the children in the present study. This finding can be explained by manual sign use of the children with Down syndrome and is reflective of their expressive vocabulary ages.

Second Language Vocabulary Growth at Advanced Level

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Ozturk, Meral

2016-01-01

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

Lexical characteristics of expressive vocabulary in toddlers with autism spectrum disorder.

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Kover, Sara T; Ellis Weismer, Susan

2014-08-01

Vocabulary is a domain of particular challenge for many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Recent research has drawn attention to ways in which lexical characteristics relate to vocabulary acquisition. The current study tested the hypothesis that lexical characteristics account for variability in vocabulary size of young children with ASD, applying the extended statistical learning theory of vocabulary delay in late talkers (Stokes, Kern, & Dos Santos, 2012) to toddlers with ASD. Parents reported the words produced by toddlers with ASD (n = 57; age 21-37 months) or toddlers without ASD (n = 41; age 22-26 months) on the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories. The average phonological neighborhood density, word frequency, and word length of each toddler's lexicon were calculated. These lexical characteristics served as predictors of vocabulary size. Findings differed for toddlers with and without ASD and according to subsamples. Word length was the most consistent predictor of vocabulary size for toddlers with ASD. Distinct relationships between lexical characteristics and vocabulary size were observed for toddlers with and without ASD. Experimental studies on distributional cues to vocabulary acquisition are needed to inform what is known about mechanisms of learning in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Modality of Input and Vocabulary Acquisition

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Tetyana Sydorenko

2010-06-01

Full Text Available This study examines the effect of input modality (video, audio, and captions, i.e., on-screen text in the same language as audio on (a the learning of written and aural word forms, (b overall vocabulary gains, (c attention to input, and (d vocabulary learning strategies of beginning L2 learners. Twenty-six second-semester learners of Russian participated in this study. Group one (N = 8 saw video with audio and captions (VAC; group two (N = 9 saw video with audio (VA; group three (N = 9 saw video with captions (VC. All participants completed written and aural vocabulary tests and a final questionnaire.The results indicate that groups with captions (VAC and VC scored higher on written than on aural recognition of word forms, while the reverse applied to the VA group. The VAC group learned more word meanings than the VA group. Results from the questionnaire suggest that learners paid most attention to captions, followed by video and audio, and acquired most words by associating them with visual images. Pedagogical implications of this study are that captioned video tends to aid recognition of written word forms and the learning of word meaning, while non-captioned video tends to improve listening comprehension as it facilitates recognition of aural word forms.

Early vocabulary development in children with bilateral cochlear implants.

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

2018-01-01

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

Strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary

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Feng Teng

2014-11-01

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

Facilitating vocabulary acquisition of young English language learners.

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

2010-07-01

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

The Acquisition of Vocabulary Through Three Memory Strategies

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Libia Maritza Pérez

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The present study reports on an action research study that explores the implications of applying three vocabulary strategies: word cards, association with pictures, and association with a topic through fables in the acquisition of new vocabulary in a group of EFL low-level proficiency teenagers in a public school in Espinal, Tolima, Colombia. The participants had never used vocabulary strategies before and struggled to memorize and recall words.  Two types of questionnaires, a researcher’s journal, and vocabulary tests were the instruments used to gather data.  The results showed that these strategies were effective to expand the range of words progressively and improve the ability to recall them. The study also found that these strategies involve cognitive and affective factors that can affect students’ perception about the strategies and their use. The implementation of the strategies highlighted the need to train teachers and learners in strategies intended to teach and learn vocabulary and to include them in the English language program in any school.

Is Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition Feasible to EFL Learning?

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Luo, Jian-ping

2013-01-01

For learning English as a foreign language, the efficiency of the approach of incidental vocabulary acquisition depends on the word frequency and text coverage. However, the statistics of English corpus reveals that English is a language that has a large vocabulary size but a low word frequency as well as text coverage, which is obviously not in…

Linking vocabulary to imagery: Improving science knowledge through multimedia design

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Adler, Tracy R.

This qualitative study looked at the vocabulary development of four urban sixth-grade students as they used laser disk and computer technologies to view images and then connect those images to textual definitions through multimedia design. Focusing on three science content areas (the water cycle, the rock cycle, and the web of life), students worked in pairs to create their own multimedia stacks that focused on the prescribed vocabulary. Using a combination of text, images, and audio, students demonstrated their understanding of content vocabulary words and how these words are interconnects within a science topic. Further, the study examined the impact that linking images to vocabulary and textual definitions has on helping students memorize definitions of the science content words. It was found that the use of imagery had a positive affect on the students' ability to identify textual definitions and vocabulary words, though it did not have a great impact on their later recall of word/definition connections. In addition, by designing their own multimedia artifacts, students were able to connect the vocabulary and images within a specific content area and explain their function within a broader science concept. The results of this study were inconclusive as to the impact this activity had on the students' ability to transfer their knowledge to correctly answering questions similar to the ones they see on their state proficiency exam.

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

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Korat, Ofra; Shamir, Adina

2012-01-01

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

Incidental Vocabulary Learning in Second Language Acquisition: A Literature Review

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Falcon Dario Restrepo Ramos

2015-01-01

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

Vocabulary Knowledge Predicts Lexical Processing: Evidence from a Group of Participants with Diverse Educational Backgrounds

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Nina Mainz

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary knowledge is central to a speaker's command of their language. In previous research, greater vocabulary knowledge has been associated with advantages in language processing. In this study, we examined the relationship between individual differences in vocabulary and language processing performance more closely by (i using a battery of vocabulary tests instead of just one test, and (ii testing not only university students (Experiment 1 but young adults from a broader range of educational backgrounds (Experiment 2. Five vocabulary tests were developed, including multiple-choice and open antonym and synonym tests and a definition test, and administered together with two established measures of vocabulary. Language processing performance was measured using a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, vocabulary and word frequency were found to predict word recognition speed while we did not observe an interaction between the effects. In Experiment 2, word recognition performance was predicted by word frequency and the interaction between word frequency and vocabulary, with high-vocabulary individuals showing smaller frequency effects. While overall the individual vocabulary tests were correlated and showed similar relationships with language processing as compared to a composite measure of all tests, they appeared to share less variance in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. Implications of our findings concerning the assessment of vocabulary size in individual differences studies and the investigation of individuals from more varied backgrounds are discussed.

Vocabulary Knowledge Predicts Lexical Processing: Evidence from a Group of Participants with Diverse Educational Backgrounds

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Mainz, Nina; Shao, Zeshu; Brysbaert, Marc; Meyer, Antje S.

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is central to a speaker's command of their language. In previous research, greater vocabulary knowledge has been associated with advantages in language processing. In this study, we examined the relationship between individual differences in vocabulary and language processing performance more closely by (i) using a battery of vocabulary tests instead of just one test, and (ii) testing not only university students (Experiment 1) but young adults from a broader range of educational backgrounds (Experiment 2). Five vocabulary tests were developed, including multiple-choice and open antonym and synonym tests and a definition test, and administered together with two established measures of vocabulary. Language processing performance was measured using a lexical decision task. In Experiment 1, vocabulary and word frequency were found to predict word recognition speed while we did not observe an interaction between the effects. In Experiment 2, word recognition performance was predicted by word frequency and the interaction between word frequency and vocabulary, with high-vocabulary individuals showing smaller frequency effects. While overall the individual vocabulary tests were correlated and showed similar relationships with language processing as compared to a composite measure of all tests, they appeared to share less variance in Experiment 2 than in Experiment 1. Implications of our findings concerning the assessment of vocabulary size in individual differences studies and the investigation of individuals from more varied backgrounds are discussed. PMID:28751871

Facilitating Vocabulary Acquisition of Children With Cochlear Implants Using Electronic Storybooks.

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Messier, Jane; Wood, Carla

2015-10-01

The present intervention study explored the word learning of 18 children with cochlear implants in response to E-book instruction. Capitalizing on the multimedia options available in electronic storybooks, the intervention incorporated videos and definitions to provide a vocabulary intervention that includes evidence-based teaching strategies. The extent of the children's word learning was assessed using three assessment tasks: receptive pointing, expressively labeling, and word defining. Children demonstrated greater immediate expressive labeling gains and definition generation gains for words taught in the treatment condition compared to those in the comparison condition. In addition, the children's performance on delayed posttest vocabulary assessments indicated better retention across the expressive vocabulary task for words taught within the treatment condition as compared to the comparison condition. Findings suggest that children with cochlear implants with functional speech perception can benefit from an oral-only multimedia-enhanced intensive vocabulary instruction. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Number-concept acquisition and general vocabulary development.

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Negen, James; Sarnecka, Barbara W

2012-11-01

How is number-concept acquisition related to overall language development? Experiments 1 and 2 measured number-word knowledge and general vocabulary in a total of 59 children, ages 30-60 months. A strong correlation was found between number-word knowledge and vocabulary, independent of the child's age, contrary to previous results (D. Ansari et al., 2003). This result calls into question arguments that (a) the number-concept creation process is scaffolded mainly by visuo-spatial development and (b) that language only becomes integrated after the concepts are created (D. Ansari et al., 2003). Instead, this may suggest that having a larger nominal vocabulary helps children learn number words. Experiment 3 shows that the differences with previous results are likely due to changes in how the data were analyzed. © 2012 The Authors. Child Development © 2012 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Word Sorts for General Music Classes

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Cardany, Audrey Berger

2015-01-01

Word sorts are standard practice for aiding children in acquiring skills in English language arts. When included in the general music classroom, word sorts may aid students in acquiring a working knowledge of music vocabulary. The author shares a word sort activity drawn from vocabulary in John Lithgow's children's book "Never Play…

STRATEGIES IN IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH VOCABULARY ACQUISITION

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Khairil Razali

2013-11-01

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

Consolidation of vocabulary during sleep: The rich get richer?

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

2017-06-01

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

Adapting a receptive vocabulary test for preschool-aged Greek-speaking children.

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Okalidou, Areti; Syrika, Asimina; Beckman, Mary E; Edwards, Jan R

2011-01-01

Receptive vocabulary is an important measure for language evaluations. Therefore, norm-referenced receptive vocabulary tests are widely used in several languages. However, a receptive vocabulary test has not yet been normed for Modern Greek. To adapt an American English vocabulary test, the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test-II (ROWPVT-II), for Modern Greek for use with Greek-speaking preschool children. The list of 170 English words on ROWPVT-II was adapted by (1) developing two lists (A and B) of Greek words that would match either the target English word or another concept corresponding to one of the pictured objects in the four-picture array; and (2) determining a developmental order for the chosen Greek words for preschool-aged children. For the first task, adult word frequency measures were used to select the words for the Greek wordlist. For the second task, 427 children, 225 boys and 202 girls, ranging in age from 2;0 years to 5;11 years, were recruited from urban and suburban areas of Greece. A pilot study of the two word lists was performed with the aim of comparing an equal number of list A and list B responses for each age group and deriving a new developmental list order. The relative difficulty of each Greek word item, that is, its accuracy score, was calculated by taking the average proportion of correct responses across ages for that word. Subsequently, the word accuracy scores in the two lists were compared via regression analysis, which yielded a highly significant relationship (R(2) = 0.97; p word item from the two lists was a better fit. Finally, new starting levels (basals) were established for preschool ages. The revised word list can serve as the basis for adapting a receptive vocabulary test for Greek preschool-aged children. Further steps need to be taken when testing larger numbers of 2;0 to 5;11-year-old children on the revised word list for determination of norms. This effort will facilitate early identification and remediation

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

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Esperanza F. Carranza

2015-05-01

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

Vocabulary Acquisition in L2: Does CALL Really Help?

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Averianova, Irina

2015-01-01

Language competence in various communicative activities in L2 largely depends on the learners' size of vocabulary. The target vocabulary of adult L2 learners should be between 2,000 high frequency words (a critical threshold) and 10,000 word families (for comprehension of university texts). For a TOEIC test, the threshold is estimated to be…

VOCABULARY LEARNING IN AN AUTOMATED GRADED READING PROGRAM

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Hsien-Chin Liou

2007-02-01

Full Text Available Adult L2 learners are often encouraged to acquire new words through reading in order to promote language proficiency. Yet preparing suitable reading texts is often a challenge for teachers because the chosen texts must have a high percentage of words familiar to specific groups of learners in order to allow the inference of word meanings from context. With the help of word lists research and advances in quantitative corpus analyses using word frequency computer programs, this study selected sixteen articles from the computer corpus of a local Chinese-English magazine and used them to construct an online English extensive reading program. A preliminary assessment of the reading program was conducted with 38 college students over twelve weeks based upon vocabulary gains from a pretest to a posttest. The results showed that learners improved their vocabulary scores after using the reading program. The online extensive reading syllabus demonstrated that such a design for a reading program is technically feasible and pedagogically beneficial and provides value in both vocabulary gains and learner satisfaction.

LEARNING VOCABULARY THROUGH COLOURFUL PUZZLE GAME

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Risca Dwiaryanti

2014-05-01

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

Vocabulary Breadth and Field Dependence/Independence Cognitive Styles

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Nassim Golaghaei

2011-07-01

Full Text Available This article is primarily bidirectional in that it is concerned with two fields of cognitive styles of field-dependency/independency on one hand and breadth of vocabulary knowledge on the other hand. In other word, this research is primarily intended to investigate the nature of the students' vocabulary knowledge in the field of passive and active knowledge of L2 words as a whole with regard to their preferred cognitive style of field dependency/independency. A group of 60 undergraduate students majoring in the field of English Language Teaching was selected. They were then divided into two groups based on the basis of their preferred cognitive styles of field-dependency / independency. Four types of tests, the 1000 frequency word-level test, the passive version of vocabulary Levels Test, the Productive Version of the Vocabulary Levels Test, and the Group Imbedded Figures Test were administered to the participants. The conclusion drawn after the analysis of the data was that the fieldindependent group outperformed their field-dependent counterparts in dealing with both passive and productive vocabulary levels. Finally, the findings of this research could be interpreted as being supportive of the idea that the field-dependent/independent cognitive style could be considered as an effective factor influencing the learners' vocabulary learning in the field of second language acquisition.

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

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

2012-01-01

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

Nouns and verbs in the vocabulary acquisition of Italian children.

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D'Odorico, Laura; Fasolo, Mirco

2007-11-01

The vocabulary development of 24 Italian children aged between 1;4 and 1;6 at the beginning of the study was longitudinally monitored on a monthly basis using the Italian version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory drawn up by their mothers. This study analyzes data from children for whom two sampling stages were available; the first corresponding to a vocabulary size as close as possible to 200 words (mean 217, range 167-281), the second to a vocabulary size ranging from 400 to 650 words (mean 518, range 416-648). The children's vocabulary composition was analyzed by calculating, for each sampling stage, the percentage of common nouns, verbs and closed-class words. The increase in percentage points of the various lexical items between the first and second sampling stages was also analyzed. Data confirmed the predominance of nouns over verbs and closed-class words at both sampling stages, while verbs and closed-class words showed a higher percentage increase than nouns. The results provide evidence that children who reached the first sampling point at an earlier age had a higher percentage of nouns than children who reached the same stage at an older age. However, in the passage from the first to the second sampling point no relationship emerged between a style of acquisition based on the acquisition of nouns and an increase in the rate of vocabulary growth.

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

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

2013-01-01

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

Does Using Language Games Affect Vocabulary Learning in EFL Classes?

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Beyza Silsüpür

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The present study attempted to investigate the role of using word games in L2 vocabulary acquisition. 12 female participants from Uludag University were selected for control and experimental groups. Additionally, 35 participants from different universities in Turkey were invited to attend the study. First, an online questionnaire about the effect of games on vocabulary learning was administered to 35 participants. And results were analysed.  Secondly, 12 female participants were divided into two groups as control group and experimental group. Both groups were taught certain words, however, a word game known as “Bingo” were utilized for the experimental group. Finally, a vocabulary quiz was administered to both groups to determine the differences between them. The scores obtained from vocabulary quiz showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in vocabulary quiz. Even so, there was not a significant difference between the results of the quiz. Similarly, the findings of the questionnaire indicated that the participants preferred learning through vocabulary games rather than traditional way. Also, the findings revealed that games reduce negative feelings during the learning process. It was suggested that teachers should reconsider the role of games and appreciate their educational value.

Learning Words through Multimedia Application

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Zhang, Chun

2007-01-01

  This study explores the relevance of multimedia application in relation to vocabulary acquisition in the classroom of Chinese as a foreign language. The herein depicted application refers to the computer-assisted implicit word-learning, wherein the Danish students built hypertexts to acquire...... meanings of unknown words aiming to research and to enlarging Chinese vocabulary.  ...

Implicit and Explicit Cognitive Processes in Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition

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Ender, Andrea

2016-01-01

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

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

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

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

Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Reading Comprehension Levels of Malaysian Tertiary Students

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Angelina Wan Lin Tan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance among students in a tertiary institution in a Malaysian context and examined the vocabulary size required for students to achieve reading comprehension at various levels of proficiency. The research questions that guided this study were: 1 What is the vocabulary size of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; 2 What is the reading comprehension proficiency of second year diploma students studying Mass Communication?; and 3 What vocabulary size is required for different levels of reading comprehension proficiency? This study used the quantitative approach. The participants were 53 Malaysian second-year students at a private university college in Malaysia who were reading for their Diploma in Mass Communication. The instruments used were the Vocabulary Size Test and the IELTS Reading Test (Academic Module. The findings showed that the average vocabulary size of the students was just over 6000 word families and this vocabulary size was generally insufficient for adequate reading comprehension. Students needed an average vocabulary size of about 8000 word families to achieve adequate reading comprehension and about 10000 word families to achieve proficient reading comprehension. Based on the individual student’s performance, this study did not find a linear relationship between vocabulary size and reading comprehension performance, nor was there a threshold vocabulary size for adequate reading comprehension.

Core Vocabulary: Its Morphological Content and Presence in Exemplar Texts

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Hiebert, Elfrieda H.; Goodwin, Amanda P.; Cervetti, Gina N.

2018-01-01

This study addresses the distribution of words in texts at different points of schooling. The first aim was to identify a core vocabulary that accounts for the majority of the words in texts through the lens of morphological families. Results showed that 2,451 morphological families, averaging 4.61 members, make up the core vocabulary of school…

EXPANDING ACADEMIC VOCABULARY WITH AN INTERACTIVE ON-LINE DATABASE

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Marlise Horst

2005-05-01

Full Text Available University students used a set of existing and purpose-built on-line tools for vocabulary learning in an experimental ESL course. The resources included concordance, dictionary, cloze-builder, hypertext, and a database with interactive self-quizzing feature (all freely available at www.lextutor.ca. The vocabulary targeted for learning consisted of (a Coxhead's (2000 Academic Word List, a list of items that occur frequently in university textbooks, and (b unfamiliar words students had met in academic texts and selected for entry into the class database. The suite of tools were designed to foster retention by engaging learners in deep processing, an aspect that is often described as missing in computer exercises for vocabulary learning. Database entries were examined to determine whether context sentences supported word meanings adequately and whether entered words reflected the unavailability of cognates in the various first languages of the participants. Pre- and post-treatment performance on tests of knowledge of words targeted for learning in the course were compared to establish learning gains. Regression analyses investigated connections between use of specific computer tools and gains.

Patterns of similarity and difference between the vocabularies of psychology and other subjects.

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Benjafield, John G

2014-02-01

The vocabulary of Anglophone psychology is shared with many other subjects. Previous research using the Oxford English Dictionary has shown that the subjects having the most words in common with psychology are biology, chemistry, computing, electricity, law, linguistics, mathematics, medicine, music, pathology, philosophy, and physics. The present study presents a database of the vocabularies of these 12 subjects that is similar to one previously constructed for psychology, enabling the histories of the vocabularies of these subjects to be compared with each other as well as with psychology. All subjects have a majority of word senses that are metaphorical. However, psychology is not among the most metaphorical of subjects, a distinction belonging to computing, linguistics, and mathematics. Indeed, the history of other subjects shows an increasing tendency to recycle old words and give them new, metaphorical meanings. The history of psychology shows an increasing tendency to invent new words rather than metaphorical senses of existing words. These results were discussed in terms of the degree to which psychology's vocabulary remains unsettled in comparison with other subjects. The possibility was raised that the vocabulary of psychology is in a state similar to that of chemistry prior to Lavoisier.

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

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Gusti Astika

2015-01-01

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

Assessing roles of vocabulary knowledge predominating in contextual clues

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Patcharawadee Promduang

2016-07-01

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

Actual Arabic loan-words of religious content (on the material of modern foreign words

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Al Shammari Majid Jamil Ashur

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Application of thematic classification of actual vocabulary as a whole to the formation of loan words allows to see the uniqueness of seperate groups of the vocabulary. English loan words prevail relating to the sphere of economy, science and technology, loan words from Arabic dominate from the religious vocabulary. Application of field approach to the analysis of actual religious Arabisms revealed both nuclear and peripheral components of the field. At the core of the field there are such Arabisms as Allah and Islam, which can be characterized as key words. However, in unifying the features of these words vary at a number of parameters. The word Allah has zero derivation productivity and at lexicographical description (as opposed to functioning in the language of the media is free of connotations. Arabism, Islam, by contrast, has a high derivation productivity and derived words can express evaluation. Lexicographic description of the Arabism Islam is also quite diverse stylistically and in contents. The core of the field “Muslim religion” also includes a number of words fixed in most modern dictionaries of foreign words. At the periphery of the field there are Arabisms that do not have high levels of frequency, but at the same time as an indicator of dominant Arabisms of religious content among topical Arabisms.

The Method of High School English Word Learning

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吴博涵

2016-01-01

Most Chinese students are not interested in English learning, especially English words. In this paper, I focus on English vocabulary learning, for example, the study of high school students English word learning method, and also introduce several ways to make vocabulary memory becomes more effective. The purpose is to make high school students grasp more English word learning skills.

Speeding up Vocabulary Acquisition through Action Research

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Ameerchund (Ashraf Maharaj

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Gaining a wider vocabulary is fundamental to language learning. It follows then that the faster students engage and learn new words, the faster will be their proficiency with the target language. Multi-Dimensional Vocabulary Acquisition (or MDVA means approaching new terms / concepts from a variety of perspectives so that the target word is thoroughly analysed, giving students access to all dimensions of the word. There are many dimensions or elements that will help elucidate and unlock meaning, but for the purposes of this chapter new words will be looked at in terms of their antonyms, synonyms and associated words, rhyming counterparts, idiomatic usage, gender considerations, diminutive implications, proverbial usage and likely confusion with other words. In this study the author employs an Action Research methodology where practical classroom exercises involving students’ writing efforts pre- and post MDVA are closely examined. Using the familiar “spiral of cycles” approach, it becomes clear that “unpacking” the target word means that the meaning of many other words associated with the target word becomes explicit. A workshop with faculty is included as part of the practical application of MDVA.

Efficacy of Using Vocabulary Flashcards in Braille

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

2017-01-01

This article reports on a study that examined whether vocabulary flashcards facilitate spelling acquisition. The study was designed to evaluate whether students who are blind can learn to spell words accurately and incidentally when academic vocabulary instruction is used. Auditory information was provided prior to the introduction of a flashcard,…

Elementary Students' Acquisition of Academic Vocabulary Through Engineering Design

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Kugelmass, Rachel

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

Media-Assisted Language Learning for Young Children: Effects of a Word-Learning App on the Vocabulary Acquisition of Two-Year-Olds

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Walter-Laager, Catherine; Brandenberg, Kathrin; Tinguely, Luzia; Schwarz, Jürg; Pfiffner, Manfred R.; Moschner, Barbara

2017-01-01

The intervention study investigated the effects of an interactive word-learning app Learning apps are developed to achieve certain aims. In our case, the intention was to enrich the vocabulary acquisition of young children. Many other apps, such as games, are developed mainly for entertainment. The intention of games apps is to hold the attention…

Vocabulary Facilitates Speech Perception in Children With Hearing Aids.

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Klein, Kelsey E; Walker, Elizabeth A; Kirby, Benjamin; McCreery, Ryan W

2017-08-16

We examined the effects of vocabulary, lexical characteristics (age of acquisition and phonotactic probability), and auditory access (aided audibility and daily hearing aid [HA] use) on speech perception skills in children with HAs. Participants included 24 children with HAs and 25 children with normal hearing (NH), ages 5-12 years. Groups were matched on age, expressive and receptive vocabulary, articulation, and nonverbal working memory. Participants repeated monosyllabic words and nonwords in noise. Stimuli varied on age of acquisition, lexical frequency, and phonotactic probability. Performance in each condition was measured by the signal-to-noise ratio at which the child could accurately repeat 50% of the stimuli. Children from both groups with larger vocabularies showed better performance than children with smaller vocabularies on nonwords and late-acquired words but not early-acquired words. Overall, children with HAs showed poorer performance than children with NH. Auditory access was not associated with speech perception for the children with HAs. Children with HAs show deficits in sensitivity to phonological structure but appear to take advantage of vocabulary skills to support speech perception in the same way as children with NH. Further investigation is needed to understand the causes of the gap that exists between the overall speech perception abilities of children with HAs and children with NH.

The development of word recognition, sentence comprehension, word spelling, and vocabulary in children with deafness: a longitudinal study.

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Colin, S; Leybaert, J; Ecalle, J; Magnan, A

2013-05-01

Only a small number of longitudinal studies have been conducted to assess the literacy skills of children with hearing impairment. The results of these studies are inconsistent with regard to the importance of phonology in reading acquisition as is the case in studies with hearing children. Colin, Magnan, Ecalle, and Leybaert (2007) revealed the important role of early phonological skills and the contribution of the factor of age of exposure to Cued Speech (CS: a manual system intended to resolve the ambiguities inherent to speechreading) to subsequent reading acquisition (from kindergarten to first grade) in children with deafness. The aim of the present paper is twofold: (1) to confirm the role of early exposure to CS in the development of the linguistic skills necessary in order to learn reading and writing in second grade; (2) to reveal the possible existence of common factors other than CS that may influence literacy performances and explain the inter-individual difference within groups of children with hearing impairment. Eighteen 6-year-old hearing-impaired and 18 hearing children of the same chronological age were tested from kindergarten to second grade. The children with deafness had either been exposed to CS at an early age, at home and before kindergarten (early-CS group), or had first been exposed to it when they entered kindergarten (late-CS group) or first grade (beginner-CS group). Children were given implicit and explicit phonological tasks, silent reading tasks (word recognition and sentence comprehension), word spelling, and vocabulary tasks. Children in the early-CS group outperformed those of the late-CS and beginner-CS groups in phonological tasks from first grade to second grade. They became better readers and better spellers than those from the late-CS group and the beginner-CS group. Their performances did not differ from those of hearing children in any of the tasks except for the receptive vocabulary test. Thus early exposure to CS seems

Contrasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on temporal and parietal brain structure across lifespan.

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Richardson, Fiona M; Thomas, Michael S C; Filippi, Roberto; Harth, Helen; Price, Cathy J

2010-05-01

Using behavioral, structural, and functional imaging techniques, we demonstrate contrasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on temporal and parietal brain structure in 47 healthy volunteers who ranged in age from 7 to 73 years. In the left posterior supramarginal gyrus, vocabulary knowledge was positively correlated with gray matter density in teenagers but not adults. This region was not activated during auditory or visual sentence processing, and activation was unrelated to vocabulary skills. Its gray matter density may reflect the use of an explicit learning strategy that links new words to lexical or conceptual equivalents, as used in formal education and second language acquisition. By contrast, in left posterior temporal regions, gray matter as well as auditory and visual sentence activation correlated with vocabulary knowledge throughout lifespan. We propose that these effects reflect the acquisition of vocabulary through context, when new words are learnt within the context of semantically and syntactically related words.

WORD BORROWING AND VOCABULARY EXCHANGE IN TURKISH DIALECTS: CASE OF OSMANIYE TATAR DIALECT / TÜRK LEHÇELERI ARASINDA SÖZCÜK ALIS VERISI VE SÖZ VARLIĞI DEĞISIMI: OSMANIYE TATAR AĞZI ÖRNEĞI

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Dr. Ercan ALKAYA

2008-08-01

Full Text Available The basic vocabulary which constructs the main vocabulary of alanguage is the word that is transferred from generation to generation in everylanguage, has importance of first degree and reflects important concepts aboutmankind and his environment. The words dealing with body, color, andconcepts about nature, animal names, numbers, and the most used verbs,words of holy concepts and persons and traditions consist of basic vocabularyof a language. In this study, the change in vocabulary of Kazan Tatar Turks, whomigrated from Kazan, Orenburg and Samara regions and inhabited in thevillage of Osmaniye of Çifteler, Eskisehir after 1884, was investigated. Thedialects of Tatar Turks who migrated from Kazan and its surrounding areawere affected by the local people who have been living in that region. Thoughthey still protect phonetical and morphological features of their language, itwas affected by the local dialect and Turkey Turkish.The main changes in the vocabulary of Tatar Turks in Osmaniye villagewere evaluated under several headings.

A System for English Vocabulary Acquisition Based on Code-Switching

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Mazur, Michal; Karolczak, Krzysztof; Rzepka, Rafal; Araki, Kenji

2016-01-01

Vocabulary plays an important part in second language learning and there are many existing techniques to facilitate word acquisition. One of these methods is code-switching, or mixing the vocabulary of two languages in one sentence. In this paper the authors propose an experimental system for computer-assisted English vocabulary learning in…

Vocabulary Growth of the Advanced EFL Learner

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Ozturk, Meral

2015-01-01

This article reports the results of two studies on the vocabulary growth of advanced learners of English as a foreign language in an English-medium degree programme. Growth in learners' written receptive and productive vocabularies was investigated in one cross-sectional and one longitudinal study over three years. The effect of word frequency on…

Baby's first 10 words.

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Tardif, Twila; Fletcher, Paul; Liang, Weilan; Zhang, Zhixiang; Kaciroti, Niko; Marchman, Virginia A

2008-07-01

Although there has been much debate over the content of children's first words, few large sample studies address this question for children at the very earliest stages of word learning. The authors report data from comparable samples of 265 English-, 336 Putonghua- (Mandarin), and 369 Cantonese-speaking 8- to 16-month-old infants whose caregivers completed MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories and reported them to produce between 1 and 10 words. Analyses of individual words indicated striking commonalities in the first words that children learn. However, substantive cross-linguistic differences appeared in the relative prevalence of common nouns, people terms, and verbs as well as in the probability that children produced even one of these word types when they had a total of 1-3, 4-6, or 7-10 words in their vocabularies. These data document cross-linguistic differences in the types of words produced even at the earliest stages of vocabulary learning and underscore the importance of parental input and cross-linguistic/cross-cultural variations in children's early word-learning.

The vocabulary of anglophone psychology in the context of other subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Benjafield, John G

2013-02-01

Anglophone psychology shares its vocabulary with several other subjects. Some of the more obvious subjects that have parts of their vocabulary in common with Anglophone psychology include biology (e.g., dominance), chemistry (e.g., isomorphism), philosophy (e.g., phenomenology), and theology (e.g., mediator). Using data from the Oxford English Dictionary as well as other sources, the present study explored the history of these common vocabularies, with a view to broadening our understanding of the relation between the history of psychology and the histories of other subjects. It turns out that there are at least 156 different subjects that share words with psychology. Those that have the most words in common with psychology are mathematics, biology, physics, medicine, chemistry, philosophy, law, music, linguistics, electricity, pathology, and computing. Words that have senses in other subjects and have their origins in ordinary language are used more frequently as PsycINFO keywords than words that were invented specifically for use in psychology. These and other results are interpreted in terms of the ordinary language roots of the vocabulary of Anglophone psychology and other subjects, the degree to which operational definitions have determined the meaning of the psychological senses of words, the role of the psychologist in interdisciplinary research, and the validity of psychological essentialism.

The 'robustness' of vocabulary intervention in the public schools: targets and techniques employed in speech-language therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Justice, Laura M; Schmitt, Mary Beth; Murphy, Kimberly A; Pratt, Amy; Biancone, Tricia

2014-01-01

This study examined vocabulary intervention-in terms of targets and techniques-for children with language impairment receiving speech-language therapy in public schools (i.e., non-fee-paying schools) in the United States. Vocabulary treatments and targets were examined with respect to their alignment with the empirically validated practice of rich vocabulary intervention. Participants were forty-eight 5-7-year-old children participating in kindergarten or the first-grade year of school, all of whom had vocabulary-specific goals on their individualized education programmes. Two therapy sessions per child were coded to determine what vocabulary words were being directly targeted and what techniques were used for each. Study findings showed that the majority of words directly targeted during therapy were lower-level basic vocabulary words (87%) and very few (1%) were academically relevant. On average, three techniques were used per word to promote deep understanding. Interpreting findings against empirical descriptions of rich vocabulary intervention indicates that children were exposed to some but not all aspects of this empirically supported practice. © 2013 Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition as Student Performance Determinant in Undergraduate Research Modules

Science.gov (United States)

West, Joyce

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in determining a person's language proficiency level. This study investigates the role vocabulary plays in determining students' performance within research modules at private higher education institutions (HEIs). The discipline-specific vocabulary in this study includes target words, sampled from an…

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sahraini Sahraini

2015-02-01

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

499 words every college student should know a professor's handbook on words essential to great writing and better grades

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Spignesi, Stephen

2017-01-01

Words equal credibility. The more articulate a person is, the more seriously they will be taken—by everyone. On any given day, you might read “abrogate" used in a USA Today article; or “demagogue" or “fiduciary" used on CNN. You might hear “ensorcelled" and “torpor" in a TV drama; you'll hear a political candidate described as “truculent." You may hear “pedantic" used in a movie. How many of these words are part of most college students' “arsenal of words"? Hopefully all of them, but if not, 499 Words Every College Student Should Know will provide them with what they need to become more articulate in their speaking and writing. It will also enhance their comprehension in their reading, ultimately culminating in what every student aspires to: earning better grades! 499 Words Every College Student Should Know teaches truly important vocabulary words and focuses on Professor Spignesi's classroom-tested Trinity of Vocabulary Use. For each word, the vocabulary-enriched and educated student will be able to...

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

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

2017-11-09

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

A Novel Text Clustering Approach Using Deep-Learning Vocabulary Network

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Junkai Yi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Text clustering is an effective approach to collect and organize text documents into meaningful groups for mining valuable information on the Internet. However, there exist some issues to tackle such as feature extraction and data dimension reduction. To overcome these problems, we present a novel approach named deep-learning vocabulary network. The vocabulary network is constructed based on related-word set, which contains the “cooccurrence” relations of words or terms. We replace term frequency in feature vectors with the “importance” of words in terms of vocabulary network and PageRank, which can generate more precise feature vectors to represent the meaning of text clustering. Furthermore, sparse-group deep belief network is proposed to reduce the dimensionality of feature vectors, and we introduce coverage rate for similarity measure in Single-Pass clustering. To verify the effectiveness of our work, we compare the approach to the representative algorithms, and experimental results show that feature vectors in terms of deep-learning vocabulary network have better clustering performance.

Dispersion and Frequency: Is There Any Difference as Regards Their Relation to L2 Vocabulary Gains?

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Alcaraz-Mármol, Gema

2015-01-01

Despite the current importance given to L2 vocabulary acquisition in the last two decades, considerable deficiencies are found in L2 students' vocabulary size. One of the aspects that may influence vocabulary learning is word frequency. However, scholars warn that frequency may lead to wrong conclusions if the way words are distributed is ignored.…

Teaching Academic Vocabulary to Adolescents with Learning Disabilities

Science.gov (United States)

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

2015-01-01

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

Word Lists for Vocabulary Learning and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Lessard-Clouston, Michael

2013-01-01

Within the communicative approach, often the assumption has been that with the right exposure, students will simply "pick up" the vocabulary required for learning and using English, and thus there is no need to focus on or teach it. Yet, as many teachers can attest, this is frequently not the case, and there have been recent efforts to…

[Lexical development. The construction of different vocabulary tests used in clinical practice].

Science.gov (United States)

Ptok, M; Kühn, D; Miller, S

2014-04-01

During first language acquisition (L1), children need to gather knowledge about the speech sounds and grammar of their mother tongue. Furthermore, communication skills require an adequate vocabulary. Individual profiles of vocabulary acquisition can vary considerably. However, actively using around 50 words by the age of 24 months is considered a milestone in first language acquisition. This is usually followed by the so-called vocabulary spurt, a rapid increase in lexical knowledge. This article provides an overview of the theories of lexical development and discusses how the acquisition of vocabulary may be explained. A selective literature search was conducted in PubMed and Scopus. Current textbooks were also considered. In order to acquire new words, a child has to identify what the new string of speech sounds refers to. The child has to construct a valid concept of the word and subsequently store both word and concept into long-term memory. Several theories have been put forward to explain lexicon organization, the acquisition of concepts and the mechanisms underlying the so-called fast mapping phenomenon in particular. All of these attempt to explain the phenomenon of lexicon acquisition in terms of a model scheme. In the context of the fast mapping mechanism, constraints and assumptions, cognitive, intentionalist and emergence-based theories are discussed. Knowledge of the different theories of vocabulary acquisition is mandatory to understand the construction of the tests used to assess vocabulary skills in clinical practice and to apply these appropriately.

Nuclear engineering vocabulary

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dumont, X.; Andrieux, C.

2001-01-01

The members of the CSTNIN - the Special Commission for Nuclear Engineering Terminology and Neology - have just produced a Nuclear Engineering Vocabulary, published by SFEN. A 120-page document which, to date, includes 400 nuclear engineering terms or expressions. For each term or expression, this Glossary gives: the primary and secondary subject field in which it is applied, a possible abbreviation, its definition, a synonym if appropriate, any relevant comments, any associated word(s), the English equivalent, its status on the date of publication of the Glossary. (author)

The Dictionary and Vocabulary Behavior: A Single Word or a Handful?

Science.gov (United States)

Baxter, James

1980-01-01

To provide a context for dictionary selection, the vocabulary behavior of students is examined. Distinguishing between written and spoken English, the relation between dictionary use, classroom vocabulary behavior, and students' success in meeting their communicative needs is discussed. The choice of a monolingual English learners' dictionary is…

Essential words for the TOEFL

CERN Document Server

Matthiesen, Steven J

2017-01-01

This revised book is specifically designed for ESL students preparing to take the TOEFL. Includes new words and phrases, a section on purpose words, a list of vocabulary words with definitions, sample sentences, practice exercises for 500 need-to-know words, practice test with answer key, and more.

Word/sub-word lattices decomposition and combination for speech recognition

OpenAIRE

Le , Viet-Bac; Seng , Sopheap; Besacier , Laurent; Bigi , Brigitte

2008-01-01

International audience; This paper presents the benefit of using multiple lexical units in the post-processing stage of an ASR system. Since the use of sub-word units can reduce the high out-of-vocabulary rate and improve the lack of text resources in statistical language modeling, we propose several methods to decompose, normalize and combine word and sub-word lattices generated from different ASR systems. By using a sub-word information table, every word in a lattice can be decomposed into ...

SAIL: A Framework for Promoting Next-Generation Word Study

Science.gov (United States)

Ganske, Kathy

2016-01-01

This article introduces SAIL, an instructional framework designed to help teachers optimize students' learning during small-group word study instruction. Small-group word study interactions afford opportunities for teachers to engage students in thinking, talking, advancing vocabulary knowledge (including general academic vocabulary), and making…

The Mouse that Roared: Teaching Vocabulary with Source-Based Lessons

Science.gov (United States)

Blasingame, James, Jr.; Nilsen, Alleen Pace

2005-01-01

A lesson focusing on the names of muscles but relating them to more common words is presented, as current research suggests that the best way to teach vocabulary is to group related words. Students create visual representations of word groups and teach the words to the class.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2010-12-01

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

Academic vocabulary in learner writing from extraction to analysis

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Paquot, Magali

2010-01-01

Academic vocabulary is in fashion, as witnessed by the increasing number of books published on the topic. In the first part of this book, Magali Paquot scrutinizes the concept of academic vocabulary and proposes a corpus-driven procedure based on the criteria of keyness, range and evenness of distribution to select academic words that could be part of a common-core academic vocabulary syllabus. In the second part, the author offers a thorough analysis of academic vocabulary in the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE) and describes the factors that account for learners difficulties in

Application-Based Crossword Puzzles: Players’ Perception and Vocabulary Retention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dzulfikri Dzulfikri

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the perceptions of students towards Application-Based Crossword Puzzles and how playing this game can affect the development of vocabulary amongst students. Drawing on Vygostky’s Socio-Cultural Theory which states that the human mind is mediated by cultural artifacts, the nature of this game poses challenges and builds curiosity, allowing players to pay more attention to the words to fill in the boxes which subsequently enhances their retention of vocabulary. This game has very good potential to build positive perceptions and to develop cognition in the linguistic domain of players, i.e. the amount of their vocabulary. In this study, the researcher conducted interviews with eligible or selected student players to find out their perceptions toward this game and administered a vocabulary test to find out how this game had added to the retention in memory of new words acquired by the players from the game. The study findings showed that the participants perceive this game positively and it affects the players’ vocabulary retention positively as indicated by their test results. It is recommended that English teachers consider using Application-Based Crossword Puzzles to help students build their vocabularies especially as part of extracurricular activities.

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

Science.gov (United States)

1998

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

Measuring Explicit Word Learning of Preschool Children: A Development Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Elizabeth Spencer

2017-08-15

The purpose of this article is to present preliminary results related to the development of a new measure of explicit word learning. The measure incorporated elements of explicit vocabulary instruction and dynamic assessment and was designed to be sensitive to differences in word learning skill and to be feasible for use in clinical settings. The explicit word learning measure included brief teaching trials and repeated fine-grained measurement of semantic knowledge and production of 3 novel words (2 verbs and 1 adjective). Preschool children (N = 23) completed the measure of explicit word learning; standardized, norm-referenced measures of expressive and receptive vocabulary; and an incidental word learning task. The measure of explicit word learning provided meaningful information about word learning. Performance on the explicit measure was related to existing vocabulary knowledge and incidental word learning. Findings from this development study indicate that further examination of the measure of explicit word learning is warranted. The measure may have the potential to identify children who are poor word learners. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.5170738.

Towards a Southern African English Defining Vocabulary

African Journals Online (AJOL)

user

of parameters, such as avoiding synonyms and antonyms, to determine which words are necessary to write definitions in a concise and simple way. It has been found that existing defining vocabularies lack certain words that would make definitions more accessible to southern African learners, and therefore there is a need ...

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2013-04-01

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

Vocabulary Instruction and Mexican-American Bilingual Students: How Two High School Teachers Integrate Multiple Strategies to Build Word Consciousness in English Language Arts Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Ajayi, Lasisi

2015-01-01

Despite the significance of vocabulary knowledge to student learning, limited studies have examined English language arts (ELA) teachers' skills and practices that may be effective for building word consciousness in high school Mexican-American bilingual students. The research objective of the present study is to examine how two high school ELA…

Cross-situational statistically based word learning intervention for late-talking toddlers.

Science.gov (United States)

Alt, Mary; Meyers, Christina; Oglivie, Trianna; Nicholas, Katrina; Arizmendi, Genesis

2014-01-01

To explore the efficacy of a word learning intervention for late-talking toddlers that is based on principles of cross-situational statistical learning. Four late-talking toddlers were individually provided with 7-10 weeks of bi-weekly word learning intervention that incorporated principles of cross-situational statistical learning. Treatment was input-based meaning that, aside from initial probes, children were not asked to produce any language during the sessions. Pre-intervention data included parent-reported measures of productive vocabulary and language samples. Data collected during intervention included production on probes, spontaneous production during treatment, and parent report of words used spontaneously at home. Data were analyzed for number of target words learned relative to control words, effect sizes, and pre-post treatment vocabulary measures. All children learned more target words than control words and, on average, showed a large treatment effect size. Children made pre-post vocabulary gains, increasing their percentile scores on the MCDI, and demonstrated a rate of word learning that was faster than rates found in the literature. Cross-situational statistically based word learning intervention has the potential to improve vocabulary learning in late-talking toddlers. Limitations on interpretation are also discussed. Readers will describe what cross-situational learning is and how it might apply to treatment. They will identify how including lexical and contextual variability in a word learning intervention for toddlers affected treatment outcomes. They will also recognize evidence of improved rate of vocabulary learning following treatment. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Contextual Clues Vocabulary Strategies Choice among Business Management Students

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Siti Nurshafezan; Muhammad, Ahmad Mazli; Kasim, Aini Mohd

2018-01-01

New trends in vocabulary learning focus on strategic vocabulary learning to create more active and independent language learners. Utilising suitable contextual clues strategies is seen as vital in enabling and equipping language learners with the skill to guess word meaning accurately, moving away from dependency on a dictionary to improve their…

AN OBSERVATION TO THE VOCABULARY OF UZBEK / ÖZBEK TÜRKÇESİ SÖZ VARLIĞINA BİR BAKIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dr. Feridun TEKİN

2008-12-01

Full Text Available From second half of 19.th Century -to beginning of20.th Century is an important time scale that Uzbekvocabulary developed importantly. Up to this periodUzbek vocabulary has generally import words from Arabicand Persian languages. Since Kingdom of Russiaoccupied Turkestan after the second part of 19.thcentury, Russian and indirectly western words vocabulary which has carried by Russian Culture cameinto Uzbek. Also those vocabularies has carried out somemorphological and fonetical characteristics withthemselves.In this study Russian words and western orientedwords both came through with Russian language intothe vocabulary of Uzbek. This subject will be evaluatedfrom various perspectives.

Some Techniques for Teaching Vocabulary. ERIC Focus Reports on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Number 27.

Science.gov (United States)

Michel, Joseph; Patin, Paul

Discussion of techniques for teaching vocabulary in language programs centers on five major areas: (1) "knowing" the word, (2) selection of vocabulary, (3) grading vocabulary for presentation, (4) teaching methods, and (5) vocabulary expansion in advanced levels. Theory of vocabulary instruction is largely supported by writings of Nelson Brooks,…

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Gomes-Koban

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

Reading. Functional Programming for People with Autism: Revised. A Series.

Science.gov (United States)

Porco, Barbara

This booklet describes techniques for teaching reading with teacher-made materials to students with autism. A modified language experience approach built around the Dolch Basic Sight Word List is used, incorporating familiar names and words of importance for each child. Readiness skills are incorporated into the approach as well as an emphasis on…

Teaching vocabulary using collocations versus using definitions in EFL classes

OpenAIRE

Altınok, Şerife İper

2000-01-01

Ankara : Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent Univ., 2000. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2000. Includes bibliographical references leaves 40-43 Teaching words in collocations is a comparatively new technique and it is accepted as an effective one in vocabulary teaching. The purpose of this study was to find out whether teaching vocabulary would result in better learning and remembering vocabulary items. This study investigated the differences betw...

Self-reported reading as a predictor of vocabulary knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Pratheeba, N; Krashen, S

2013-10-01

25 engineering students in India, who were highly motivated to improve their English, filled out a questionnaire about their reading habits in English and took a demanding vocabulary test based on words taken from preparation books for the Graduate Records Examination. The correlation between reading habits and vocabulary was substantial (r = .78).

Service Learning: Flooding Students with Vocabulary through Read Alouds

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, Kerry; Thompson, Judith

2014-01-01

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

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

Science.gov (United States)

Grillo, Kelly J.; Dieker, Lisa A.

2013-01-01

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

Build an Interactive Word Wall

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Julie

2018-01-01

Word walls visually display important vocabulary covered during class. Although teachers have often been encouraged to post word walls in their classrooms, little information is available to guide them. This article describes steps science teachers can follow to transform traditional word walls into interactive teaching tools. It also describes a…

Does "Word Coach" Coach Words?

Science.gov (United States)

Cobb, Tom; Horst, Marlise

2011-01-01

This study reports on the design and testing of an integrated suite of vocabulary training games for Nintendo[TM] collectively designated "My Word Coach" (Ubisoft, 2008). The games' design is based on a wide range of learning research, from classic studies on recycling patterns to frequency studies of modern corpora. Its general usage…

Beyond word recognition: understanding pediatric oral health literacy.

Science.gov (United States)

Richman, Julia Anne; Huebner, Colleen E; Leggott, Penelope J; Mouradian, Wendy E; Mancl, Lloyd A

2011-01-01

Parental oral health literacy is proposed to be an indicator of children's oral health. The purpose of this study was to test if word recognition, commonly used to assess health literacy, is an adequate measure of pediatric oral health literacy. This study evaluated 3 aspects of oral health literacy and parent-reported child oral health. A 3-part pediatric oral health literacy inventory was created to assess parents' word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension of 35 terms used in pediatric dentistry. The inventory was administered to 45 English-speaking parents of children enrolled in Head Start. Parents' ability to read dental terms was not associated with vocabulary knowledge (r=0.29, P.06) of the terms. Vocabulary knowledge was strongly associated with comprehension (r=0.80, PParent-reported child oral health status was not associated with word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, or comprehension; however parents reporting either excellent or fair/poor ratings had higher scores on all components of the inventory. Word recognition is an inadequate indicator of comprehension of pediatric oral health concepts; pediatric oral health literacy is a multifaceted construct. Parents with adequate reading ability may have difficulty understanding oral health information.

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

Science.gov (United States)

Pellicer-Sánchez, Ana

2016-01-01

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

Reassessing word frequency as a determinant of word recognition for skilled and unskilled readers.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuperman, Victor; Van Dyke, Julie A

2013-06-01

The importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension emphasizes the need to accurately assess an individual's familiarity with words. The present article highlights problems with using occurrence counts in corpora as an index of word familiarity, especially when studying individuals varying in reading experience. We demonstrate via computational simulations and norming studies that corpus-based word frequencies systematically overestimate strengths of word representations, especially in the low-frequency range and in smaller-size vocabularies. Experience-driven differences in word familiarity prove to be faithfully captured by the subjective frequency ratings collected from responders at different experience levels. When matched on those levels, this lexical measure explains more variance than corpus-based frequencies in eye-movement and lexical decision latencies to English words, attested in populations with varied reading experience and skill. Furthermore, the use of subjective frequencies removes the widely reported (corpus) Frequency × Skill interaction, showing that more skilled readers are equally faster in processing any word than the less skilled readers, not disproportionally faster in processing lower frequency words. This finding challenges the view that the more skilled an individual is in generic mechanisms of word processing, the less reliant he or she will be on the actual lexical characteristics of that word. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

Reassessing word frequency as a determinant of word recognition for skilled and unskilled readers

Science.gov (United States)

Kuperman, Victor; Van Dyke, Julie A.

2013-01-01

The importance of vocabulary in reading comprehension emphasizes the need to accurately assess an individual’s familiarity with words. The present article highlights problems with using occurrence counts in corpora as an index of word familiarity, especially when studying individuals varying in reading experience. We demonstrate via computational simulations and norming studies that corpus-based word frequencies systematically overestimate strengths of word representations, especially in the low-frequency range and in smaller-size vocabularies. Experience-driven differences in word familiarity prove to be faithfully captured by the subjective frequency ratings collected from responders at different experience levels. When matched on those levels, this lexical measure explains more variance than corpus-based frequencies in eye-movement and lexical decision latencies to English words, attested in populations with varied reading experience and skill. Furthermore, the use of subjective frequencies removes the widely reported (corpus) frequency-by-skill interaction, showing that more skilled readers are equally faster in processing any word than the less skilled readers, not disproportionally faster in processing lower-frequency words. This finding challenges the view that the more skilled an individual is in generic mechanisms of word processing the less reliant he/she will be on the actual lexical characteristics of that word. PMID:23339352

A Comparative Study of Televised and Non-televised Vocabulary ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

dell

Vocabulary Teaching: the Case of Grade Ten in Focus. ... words were taken from Units 2 and 3 (English for Ethiopia, student text for ... On the other hand, even if it was below average, the study indicated that the ..... Table 1: How frequently the teachers use visual aids to teach vocabulary items .... This is a great disadvantage.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elvenna Majuddin

2014-12-01

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

Neural Correlates of High Performance in Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning

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Macedonia, Manuela; Muller, Karsten; Friederici, Angela D.

2010-01-01

Learning vocabulary in a foreign language is a laborious task which people perform with varying levels of success. Here, we investigated the neural underpinning of high performance on this task. In a within-subjects paradigm, participants learned 92 vocabulary items under two multimodal conditions: one condition paired novel words with iconic…

Validity of a parent-report measure of vocabulary and grammar for Spanish-speaking toddlers.

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Thal, D; Jackson-Maldonado, D; Acosta, D

2000-10-01

The validity of the Fundación MacArthur Inventario del Desarrollo de Habilidades Comunicativas: Palabras y Enunciados (IDHC:PE) was examined with twenty 20- and nineteen 28-month-old, typically developing, monolingual, Spanish-speaking children living in Mexico. One measure of vocabulary (number of words) and two measures of grammar (mean of the three longest utterances and grammatical complexity score) from the IDHC:PE were compared to behavioral measures of vocabulary (number of different words from a language sample and number of objects named in a confrontation naming task) and one behavioral measure of grammar (mean length of utterance from a language sample). Only vocabulary measures were assessed in the 20-month-olds because of floor effects on the grammar measures. Results indicated validity for assessing expressive vocabulary in 20-month-olds and expressive vocabulary and grammar in 28-month-olds.

[The early expressive vocabulary size in simultaneous bilingual growing-up infants - a diagnostic relevant criterion?].

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Kiese-Himmel, C; Sellner, L; Bockmann, A-K

2013-08-01

Bilingual young children's early expressive vocabulary size and its composition (as one domain of the language development) should be examined to find out whether children with a risk for delayed language development may be identified in this way. 30 bilingual kindergarten infants from Berlin (with simultaneous language acquisition; second language German) and 30 monolingual German infants from the greater areas of Stuttgart and Heidelberg were pair matched (mean chronological age 22.5 [SD 3.1] months; min 16; max 26). The German expressive vocabulary checklist Elternfragebogen zur Wort-schatzentwicklung im frühen Kindesalter (ELAN; Bockmann & Kiese-Himmel, 2006) was filled out by all parents. In addition, parents of bilingual infants completed the adaption of the German vocabulary checklist Sprachbeurteilung durch Eltern (SBE-2-KT; v. Suchodoletz & Sachse, 2008) for the second mother tongue. The monolinguals' word sum in the ELAN (145.7; SD 75.8) differed significantly (p=0.001) from the bilinguals' word sum (78.3; SD 78.9 words). In contrast, bilinguals did not significantly differ in their overall expressive vocabulary size (ELAN+SBE-2-KT: 101.2; SD 77.0 words) from their monolingual counterparts (ELAN). Because bilinguals had a similar sized overall early vocabulary (both languages) like monolingual German-learning infants, the diagnostic criterion to identify late talkers with 24 months of age (less than 50 German words and no word combinations) should not be applied to bilingually infants with simultaneously double language acquisition. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Developing a Specialized Vocabulary Word List in a Composition Culinary Course through Lecture Notes

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M.Nordin, N. R.; Stapa, S. H.; Darus, S.

2013-01-01

Learning to write in a composition culinary course is very challenging for L2 learners. The main barrier in writing proficiency within this discipline is the lack of vocabulary, specifically the lack of exposure towards specialized vocabulary. This study aims to provide a corpus of specialized vocabulary within a food writing course. By providing…

Organizing Vocabulary (Open to Suggestion).

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Dixon, Dorothy J.

1990-01-01

Describes a technique for vocabulary instruction in which students complete a chart by providing two synonyms, an antonym, and the pronunciation of a given word. Reports that, even though the chart is easy to complete, students using it began to think both critically and creatively. (RS)

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

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Is’haaq Akbarian

2017-01-01

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

The Effects of Pre-Learning Vocabulary on Reading Comprehension and Writing

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Webb, Stuart A.

2009-01-01

This study investigates the effects of pre-learning vocabulary on reading comprehension and writing. Japanese students studying English as a foreign language (EFL) learned word pairs receptively and productively; four tests were used to measure reading comprehension, writing, and receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge. The findings suggest…

The Effect of Using Bizarre Images as Mnemonics to Enhance Vocabulary Learning

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Hassan Saleh Mahdi

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Mnemonic is a technique that helps someone remember better. The combination of images with mnemonics can make it more powerful and effective to help language learners remember better and for a longer time. Acquiring L2 vocabulary can be enhanced by using images. In the previous studies, mnemonics were used traditionally, that is, learners were asked to create a mental image to remember a word or any new item. Several studies were conducted to explore the use of mental images as mnemonics for vocabulary learning. However, no study has examined the integration of images as a mnemonic tool for vocabulary acquisition. Therefore, this study aimed at investigating the effect of images as mnemonics on vocabulary acquisition. The study examined the effect of images as a mnemonic tool for vocabulary acquisition in three conditions (i.e. normal images, bizarre images and traditional way of learning vocabulary. Sixty Arab learners of English as a foreign language enrolled in the English Department at Hodeidah University participated in this study and were randomly assigned into three groups. This study used an experimental method in which pre-, post- and delayed post-tests were administered to these groups. The results indicated that mnemonics with the help of images are useful tools to help learners remember many words. Keywords: Bizarre images, Multimedia, Mnemonics, Vocabulary learning, Vocabulary retention.

Developmental differences in masked form priming are not driven by vocabulary growth.

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Bhide, Adeetee; Schlaggar, Bradley L; Barnes, Kelly Anne

2014-01-01

As children develop into skilled readers, they are able to more quickly and accurately distinguish between words with similar visual forms (i.e., they develop precise lexical representations). The masked form priming lexical decision task is used to test the precision of lexical representations. In this paradigm, a prime (which differs by one letter from the target) is briefly flashed before the target is presented. Participants make a lexical decision to the target. Primes can facilitate reaction time by partially activating the lexical entry for the target. If a prime is unable to facilitate reaction time, it is assumed that participants have a precise orthographic representation of the target and thus the prime is not a close enough match to activate its lexical entry. Previous developmental work has shown that children and adults' lexical decision times are facilitated by form primes preceding words from small neighborhoods (i.e., very few words can be formed by changing one letter in the original word; low N words), but only children are facilitated by form primes preceding words from large neighborhoods (high N words). It has been hypothesized that written vocabulary growth drives the increase in the precision of the orthographic representations; children may not know all of the neighbors of the high N words, making the words effectively low N for them. We tested this hypothesis by (1) equating the effective orthographic neighborhood size of the targets for children and adults and (2) testing whether age or vocabulary size was a better predictor of the extent of form priming. We found priming differences even when controlling for effective neighborhood size. Furthermore, age was a better predictor of form priming effects than was vocabulary size. Our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that growth in written vocabulary size gives rise to more precise lexical representations. We propose that the development of spelling ability may be a more

Developmental differences in masked form priming are not driven by vocabulary growth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adeetee eBhide

2014-07-01

Full Text Available As children develop into skilled readers, they are able to more quickly and accurately distinguish between words with similar visual forms (i.e. they develop precise lexical representations. The masked form priming lexical decision task is used to test the precision of lexical representations. In this paradigm, a prime (which differs by one letter from the target is briefly flashed before the target is presented. Participants make a lexical decision to the target. Primes can facilitate reaction time by partially activating the lexical entry for the target. If a prime is unable to facilitate reaction time, it is assumed that participants have a precise orthographic representation of the target and thus the prime is not a close enough match to activate its lexical entry. Previous developmental work has shown that children and adults' lexical decision times are facilitated by form primes preceding words from small neighborhoods (i.e. very few words can be formed by changing one letter in the original word; low N words, but only children are facilitated by form primes preceding words from large neighborhoods (high N words. It has been hypothesized that written vocabulary growth drives the increase in the precision of the orthographic representations; children may not know all of the neighbors of the high N words, making the words effectively low N for them. We tested this hypothesis by 1 equating the effective orthographic neighborhood size of the targets for children and adults and 2 testing whether age or vocabulary size was a better predictor of the extent of form priming. We found priming differences even when controlling for effective neighborhood size. Furthermore, age was a better predictor of form priming effects than vocabulary size. Our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that growth in written vocabulary size gives rise to more precise lexical representations. We propose that the development of spelling ability may be a more

The digital history of the anglophone vocabulary of psychology: An exploration using Zipfian methods.

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Benjafield, John G

2016-05-01

The digital humanities are being applied with increasing frequency to the analysis of historically important texts. In this study, the methods of G. K. Zipf are used to explore the digital history of the vocabulary of psychology. Zipf studied a great many phenomena, from word frequencies to city sizes, showing that they tend to have a characteristic distribution in which there are a few cases that occur very frequently and many more cases that occur very infrequently. We find that the number of new words and word senses that writers contribute to the vocabulary of psychology have such a Zipfian distribution. Moreover, those who make the most contributions, such as William James, tend also to invent new metaphorical senses of words rather than new words. By contrast, those who make the fewest contributions tend to invent entirely new words. The use of metaphor makes a text easier for a reader to understand. While the use of new words requires more effort on the part of the reader, it may lead to more precise understanding than does metaphor. On average, new words and word senses become a part of psychology's vocabulary in the time leading up to World War I, suggesting that psychology was "finding its language" (Danziger, 1997) during this period. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Building English Vocabulary through Roots, Prefixes and Suffixes

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Yurtbasi, Metin

2015-01-01

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

Relevance of useful visual words in object retrieval

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Qi, Siyuan; Luo, Yupin

2013-07-01

The most popular methods in object retrieval are almost based on bag-of-words(BOW) which is both effective and efficient. In this paper we present a method use the relations between words of the vocabulary to improve the retrieval performance based on the BOW framework. In basic BOW retrieval framework, only a few words of the vocabulary is useful for retrieval, which are spatial consistent in images. We introduce a method to useful select useful words and build a relevance between these words. We combine useful relevance with basic BOW framework and query expansion as well. The useful relevance is able to discover latent related words which is not exist in the query image, so that we can get a more accurate vector model for retrieval. Combined with query expansion method, the retrieval performance are better and fewer time cost.

Developing a Vocabulary Size Test Measuring Two Aspects of Receptive Vocabulary Knowledge: Visual versus Aural

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Aizawa, Kazumi; Iso, Tatsuo; Nadasdy, Paul

2017-01-01

Testing learners' English proficiency is central to university English classes in Japan. This study developed and implemented a set of parallel online receptive aural and visual vocabulary tests that would predict learners' English proficiency. The tests shared the same target words and choices--the main difference was the presentation of the…

Lexical availability of young Spanish EFL learners: emotion words versus non-emotion words

OpenAIRE

Jiménez Catalán, R.; Dewaele, Jean-Marc

2017-01-01

This study intends to contribute to L2 emotion vocabulary research by looking at the words that primary school EFL learners produce in response to prompts in a lexical availability task. Specifically, it aims to ascertain whether emotion prompts (Love, Hate, Happy and Sad) generate a greater number of words than non-emotion prompts (School and Animals). It also seeks to identify the words learners associate with each semantic category to determine whether the words produced in response to emo...

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

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Rhodehouse, Sara Bernice

2013-01-01

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

Benefits of Using Vocabulary Flash Cards in an EFL Classroom

OpenAIRE

Jonathan, Aliponga; Christopher C, Johnston

2013-01-01

This paper was written to research and advocate the use of English word cards withregard to vocabulary acquisition and English productive and receptive competency. Also,student perceptions of using and making word cards will be examined to show theimportance of including a word card policy in an EFL classroom. Despite all the positiveresearch done on word cards, it is surprising how many Japanese EFL students do notutilize word cards in their English studies. For this research, 108 students f...

The Shakespeare in All of Us: A Monumental, Multitudinous, Premeditated Approach to Vocabulary Instruction

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Savino, Jennifer Ann

2011-01-01

Shakespeare, who worked actively with words through punning, playing, and inventing, serves as the model for students to experience a deepening knowledge of vocabulary and love of words. Through instructional activities aimed at increasing word play, word exposure, and word consciousness, students gain the verbal capacity needed to understand…

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

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

2018-01-01

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

The Effect of Key-Words Video Captions on Vocabulary Learning through Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

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Mahdi, Hassan Saleh

2017-01-01

Video captioning is a useful tool for vocabulary learning. In the literature, video captioning has been investigated by many studies, and the results indicated that video captioning is useful to foster vocabulary learning. However, most of the previous studies have investigated the effect of full captions on vocabulary learning. In addition, most…

Lexical Availability of Young Spanish EFL Learners: Emotion Words versus Non-Emotion Words

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Jiménez Catalán, Rosa M.; Dewaele, Jean-Marc

2017-01-01

This study intends to contribute to L2 emotion vocabulary research by looking at the words that primary-school English as foreign language learners produce in response to prompts in a lexical availability task. Specifically, it aims to ascertain whether emotion prompts (Love, Hate, Happy and Sad) generate a greater number of words than non-emotion…

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

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Aaron, Robert L.

1981-01-01

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

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2011-01-01

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

Contrasting contributions of phonological short-term memory and long-term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language.

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Masoura, Elvira V; Gathercole, Susan E

2005-01-01

The contributions of phonological short-term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired-associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.

Three-M in Word Problem Solving

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Hajra, Sayonita Ghosh; Kofman, Victoria

2018-01-01

We describe three activities that help undergraduates (pre-service teachers) to develop scientific vocabulary on measurable attributes and units of measurement. Measurable attributes are important features in understanding a word problem and solving the problem. These activities help students comprehend word problems better by identifying…

Playing with fire: effects of negative mood induction and working memory on vocabulary acquisition.

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Miller, Zachary F; Fox, Jessica K; Moser, Jason S; Godfroid, Aline

2017-08-03

We investigated the impact of emotions on learning vocabulary in an unfamiliar language to better understand affective influences in foreign language acquisition. Seventy native English speakers learned new vocabulary in either a negative or a neutral emotional state. Participants also completed two sets of working memory tasks to examine the potential mediating role of working memory. Results revealed that participants exposed to negative stimuli exhibited difficulty in retrieving and correctly pairing English words with Indonesian words, as reflected in a lower performance on the prompted recall tests and the free recall measure. Emotional induction did not change working memory scores from pre to post manipulation. This suggests working memory could not explain the reduced vocabulary learning in the negative group. We argue that negative mood can adversely affect language learning by suppressing aspects of native-language processing and impeding form-meaning mapping with second language words.

Speaking My Mind: Why I No Longer Teach Vocabulary

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Heverly, Jerry

2011-01-01

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

Implementing Controlled Composition to Improve Vocabulary Mastery of EFL Students

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Juriah Juriah

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The purposes of this study was to know how (1 Controlled composition teaching techniques implemented by the English teacher at SDN 027 Samarinda to improve vocabulary mastery, and (2 Controlled composition teaching techniques improves vocabulary mastery of the sixth grade students of SDN 027 Samarinda. This research used a Classroom Action Research (CAR as the research design. The subject of the research is the sixth grade students in the 2013/2014 academic year that consists of 43 students. The instruments employed in this study were observation checklist, field note, and vocabulary test. The result of the research showed that in cycle 1 the students’ achievement did not fulfill the minimal criteria of success. However the result of the cycle 1 was better than the preliminary study. The criteria of success did not fulfill in cycle one, some enhancement of the implementation of Controlled Composition were made in cycle two in the form of: Instruct the students bring dictionary, give more examples English sentences, guide the students find the mining of words in the dictionary and write a paragraph, more motivate the students and preparing a media/ picture .Meanwhile the students ’achievement in cycle two showed that fulfilled the criteria of success. Based on the findings and discussion, the conclusions : Firstly, Controlled composition was implemented well by the teacher of SDN 027 Samarinda. Controlled composition was implemented and gave impacts in: (a increasing the students’ vocabulary mastery significantly, (b making the students able to spell the vocabularies, (c making the students understand the meaning English words, and (d making the students able to pronounce English words quite good. Secondly, Controlled composition improved the students’ vocabulary mastery; it was only 20.9% of the students who achieved the English passing grade in the preliminary study, but then 81.39% of the students achieved the English passing grade in

Morpho-phonemic analysis boosts word reading for adult struggling readers

OpenAIRE

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

2017-01-01

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

Comparing dictionary-induced vocabulary learning and inferencing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

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

Working Memory and Distributed Vocabulary Learning.

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Atkins, Paul W. B.; Baddeley, Alan D.

1998-01-01

Tested the hypothesis that individual differences in immediate-verbal-memory span predict success in second-language vocabulary acquisition. In the two-session study, adult subjects learned 56 English-Finnish translations. Tested one week later, subjects were less likely to remember those words they had difficulty learning, even though they had…

The Word Frequency Effect on Second Language Vocabulary Learning

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Koirala, Cesar

2015-01-01

This study examines several linguistic factors as possible contributors to perceived word difficulty in second language learners in an experimental setting. The investigated factors include: (1) frequency of word usage in the first language, (2) word length, (3) number of syllables in a word, and (4) number of consonant clusters in a word. Word…

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

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Pressley, Michael; And Others

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

Quantitative learning strategies based on word networks

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Zhao, Yue-Tian-Yi; Jia, Zi-Yang; Tang, Yong; Xiong, Jason Jie; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

2018-02-01

Learning English requires a considerable effort, but the way that vocabulary is introduced in textbooks is not optimized for learning efficiency. With the increasing population of English learners, learning process optimization will have significant impact and improvement towards English learning and teaching. The recent developments of big data analysis and complex network science provide additional opportunities to design and further investigate the strategies in English learning. In this paper, quantitative English learning strategies based on word network and word usage information are proposed. The strategies integrate the words frequency with topological structural information. By analyzing the influence of connected learned words, the learning weights for the unlearned words and dynamically updating of the network are studied and analyzed. The results suggest that quantitative strategies significantly improve learning efficiency while maintaining effectiveness. Especially, the optimized-weight-first strategy and segmented strategies outperform other strategies. The results provide opportunities for researchers and practitioners to reconsider the way of English teaching and designing vocabularies quantitatively by balancing the efficiency and learning costs based on the word network.

Cueing vocabulary during sleep increases theta activity during later recognition testing.

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Schreiner, Thomas; Göldi, Maurice; Rasch, Björn

2015-11-01

Neural oscillations in the theta band have repeatedly been implicated in successful memory encoding and retrieval. Several recent studies have shown that memory retrieval can be facilitated by reactivating memories during their consolidation during sleep. However, it is still unknown whether reactivation during sleep also enhances subsequent retrieval-related neural oscillations. We have recently demonstrated that foreign vocabulary cues presented during sleep improve later recall of the associated translations. Here, we examined the effect of cueing foreign vocabulary during sleep on oscillatory activity during subsequent recognition testing after sleep. We show that those words that were replayed during sleep after learning (cued words) elicited stronger centroparietal theta activity during recognition as compared to noncued words. The reactivation-induced increase in theta oscillations during later recognition testing might reflect a strengthening of individual memory traces and the integration of the newly learned words into the mental lexicon by cueing during sleep. © 2015 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

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

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Abbas Moradan

2016-11-01

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

Sound Symbolism in Basic Vocabulary

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Søren Wichmann

2010-04-01

Full Text Available The relationship between meanings of words and their sound shapes is to a large extent arbitrary, but it is well known that languages exhibit sound symbolism effects violating arbitrariness. Evidence for sound symbolism is typically anecdotal, however. Here we present a systematic approach. Using a selection of basic vocabulary in nearly one half of the world’s languages we find commonalities among sound shapes for words referring to same concepts. These are interpreted as due to sound symbolism. Studying the effects of sound symbolism cross-linguistically is of key importance for the understanding of language evolution.

Executive Functioning Skills Uniquely Predict Chinese Word Reading

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

2011-01-01

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

Teaching Vocabulary to English Language Learners

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Daniels, Sharilyn Fox

2009-01-01

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

A Word Count of Modern Arabic Prose.

Science.gov (United States)

Landau, Jacob M.

This book presents a word count of Arabic prose based on 60 twentieth-century Egyptian books. The text is divided into an alphabetical list and a word frequency list. This word count is intended as an aid in the: (1) writing of primers and the compilation of graded readers, (2) examination of the vocabulary selection of primers and readers…

Engaging in vocabulary learning in science: the promise of multimodal instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Townsend, Dianna; Brock, Cynthia; Morrison, Jennifer D.

2018-02-01

To a science 'outsider', science language often appears unnecessarily technical and dense. However, scientific language is typically used with the goal of being concise and precise, which allows those who regularly participate in scientific discourse communities to learn from each other and build upon existing scientific knowledge. One essential component of science language is the academic vocabulary that characterises it. This mixed-methods study investigates middle school students' (N = 59) growth in academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher's instructional practices that supported academic language development. Students made significant gains in their production of general academic words, t(57) = 2.32, p = .024 and of discipline-specific science words, t(57) = 3.01, p = .004 in science writing. Results from the qualitative strand of this inquiry contextualised the students' learning of academic vocabulary as it relates to their teacher's instructional practices and intentions as well as the students' perceptions of their learning environment. These qualitative findings reveal that both the students and their teacher articulated that the teacher's intentional use of resources supported students' academic vocabulary growth. Implications for research and instruction with science language are shared.

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

Science.gov (United States)

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

2016-01-01

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

Vocabulary Use by Low, Moderate, and High ASL-Proficient Writers Compared to Hearing ESL and Monolingual Speakers.

Science.gov (United States)

Singleton, Jenny L; Morgan, Dianne; DiGello, Elizabeth; Wiles, Jill; Rivers, Rachel

2004-01-01

The written English vocabulary of 72 deaf elementary school students of various proficiency levels in American Sign Language (ASL) was compared with the performance of 60 hearing English-as-a-second-language (ESL) speakers and 61 hearing monolingual speakers of English, all of similar age. Students were asked to retell "The Tortoise and the Hare" story (previously viewed on video) in a writing activity. Writing samples were later scored for total number of words, use of words known to be highly frequent in children's writing, redundancy in writing, and use of English function words. All deaf writers showed significantly lower use of function words as compared to their hearing peers. Low-ASL-proficient students demonstrated a highly formulaic writing style, drawing mostly on high-frequency words and repetitive use of a limited range of function words. The moderate- and high-ASL-proficient deaf students' writing was not formulaic and incorporated novel, low-frequency vocabulary to communicate their thoughts. The moderate- and high-ASL students' performance revealed a departure from findings one might expect based on previous studies with deaf writers and their vocabulary use. The writing of the deaf writers also differed from the writing of hearing ESL speakers. Implications for deaf education and literacy instruction are discussed, with special attention to the fact that ASL-proficient, deaf second-language learners of English may be approaching English vocabulary acquisition in ways that are different from hearing ESL learners.

Scaling laws and fluctuations in the statistics of word frequencies

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Gerlach, Martin; Altmann, Eduardo G.

2014-11-01

In this paper, we combine statistical analysis of written texts and simple stochastic models to explain the appearance of scaling laws in the statistics of word frequencies. The average vocabulary of an ensemble of fixed-length texts is known to scale sublinearly with the total number of words (Heaps’ law). Analyzing the fluctuations around this average in three large databases (Google-ngram, English Wikipedia, and a collection of scientific articles), we find that the standard deviation scales linearly with the average (Taylor's law), in contrast to the prediction of decaying fluctuations obtained using simple sampling arguments. We explain both scaling laws (Heaps’ and Taylor) by modeling the usage of words using a Poisson process with a fat-tailed distribution of word frequencies (Zipf's law) and topic-dependent frequencies of individual words (as in topic models). Considering topical variations lead to quenched averages, turn the vocabulary size a non-self-averaging quantity, and explain the empirical observations. For the numerous practical applications relying on estimations of vocabulary size, our results show that uncertainties remain large even for long texts. We show how to account for these uncertainties in measurements of lexical richness of texts with different lengths.

Four Practical Principles for Enhancing Vocabulary Instruction

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Manyak, Patrick C.; Von Gunten, Heather; Autenrieth, David; Gillis, Carolyn; Mastre-O'Farrell, Julie; Irvine-McDermott, Elizabeth; Baumann, James F.; Blachowicz, Camille L. Z.

2014-01-01

This article presents four practical principles that lead to enhanced word-meaning instruction in the elementary grades. The authors, a collaborative team of researchers and classroom teachers, identified and developed these principles and related instructional activities during a three-year vocabulary instruction research project. The principles…

THE ROLE OF TASK-INDUCED INVOLVEMENT IN VOCABULARY LEARNING OF IRANIAN LANGUAGE LEARNERS

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Fatemeh Khonamri

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This study investigated Laufer and Hustijn’s (2001 Involvement Load Hypothesis in vocabulary learning. It comprised two experiments. Experiment 1 examined whether two tasks with equal involvement load but different distribution of components would yield the same result in initial learning and retention of target words. Experiment 2 investigated whether two tasks, one input and another output, with equal involvement load and the same distribution of components would result in equivalent initial learning and retention of target words. 126 advanced English learners completed one of three vocabulary learning tasks that equated in the amount of involvement they induced: sentence writing, fill-in, and translation (L2-L1. Receptive knowledge of the target words was assessed immediately after treatment and two weeks later, and one month interval after the first delayed posttest. The result of t-test for Experiment 1 showed that when two tasks had equal involvement load but different distribution of components they resulted in similar amounts of initial learning and retention of new words. The findings of Experiment 2 indicated when two tasks, one input and another output, had equal involvement load and the same distribution of components, they led to superiority of fill-in task over translation task in initial vocabulary learning, however, not in retention of new words.

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

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

2018-01-01

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

A New Spin on Teaching Vocabulary: A Source-Based Approach.

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Nilsen, Alleen Pace; Nilsen, Don L. F.

2003-01-01

Suggests that teachers should try to use a source-based approach to teaching vocabulary. Explains that a source-based approach starts with basic concepts of human languages and then works with lexical and metaphorical extensions of these basic words. Notes that the purpose of this approach is to find groups of words that can be taught as webs and…

MANIPULATING L2 LEARNERS' ONLINE DICTIONARY USE AND ITS EFFECT ON L2 WORD RETENTION

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Elke Peters

2007-02-01

Full Text Available This study explored the effect of two enhancement techniques on L2 learners' look-up behaviour during a reading task and word retention afterwards amongst Flemish learners of German: a Vocabulary Test Announcement and Task-induced Word Relevance. Eighty-four participants were recruited for this study. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: 1 not forewarned of an upcoming vocabulary test (incidental condition or 2 forewarned of a vocabulary test (intentional condition. Task-induced Word Relevance was operationalized by a reading comprehension task. The relevance factor comprised two levels: plus-relevant and minus-relevant target words. Plus-relevant words needed to be looked up and used receptively in order to answer the comprehension questions. In other words, the reading comprehension task could not be accomplished without knowing the meaning of the plus-relevant words. The minus-relevant target words, on the other hand, were not linked to the reading comprehension questions. Our findings show a significant effect of Test Announcement and Word Relevance on whether a target word is looked up. In addition, Word Relevance also affects the frequency of clicks on target words. Word retention is only influenced by Task-induced Word Relevance. The effect of Word Relevance is durable.

1001 most useful French words

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McCoy, Heather

2012-01-01

Up-to-date entries cover technology terms, and sections on vocabulary and grammar offer helpful tips. Each word is accompanied by a brief definition, a sentence demonstrating proper usage, and a translation.

SCAFFOLDINGAND REINFORCEMENT: USING DIGITAL LOGBOOKS IN LEARNING VOCABULARY

OpenAIRE

Khalifa, Salma Hasan Almabrouk; Shabdin, Ahmad Affendi

2016-01-01

Reinforcement and scaffolding are tested approaches to enhance learning achievements. Keeping a record of the learning process as well as the new learned words functions as scaffolding to help learners build a comprehensive vocabulary. Similarly, repetitive learning of new words reinforces permanent learning for long-term memory. Paper-based logbooks may prove to be good records of the learning process, but if learners use digital logbooks, the results may be even better. Digital logbooks wit...

500 words, phrases, idioms for the TOEFL iBT plus typing strategies

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Sterling, Bruce

2010-01-01

HOW IS THIS TOEFL BOOK DIFFERENT?. This TOEFL book is different because it uses an integrated vocabulary learning system called recycling. Recycling is simple. Each exercise is divided into four quizzes. Quiz 1, a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz, introduces ten new words. Next, you will do Quiz 2. Quiz 2 is a sentence-completion quiz based on the ten words in Quiz 1. Next, you will do Quiz 3, a spelling quiz. The speaker on the CD will say the same ten words in turn. You will then have ten seconds to spell each word by saying it and typing it. Finally, you will do Quiz 4. Quiz 4 is a 60-word t

Improving the Student's Vocabulary Mastery by Using Constructivism Principle in the Second Year Students of Sman 1 Kauman

OpenAIRE

Budairi, Ahmad

2017-01-01

Vocabulary plays important roles in mastering English. Vocabulary refers to all words in the whole language used in a particular variety. In this case, the students have some problems. The problems about difficult in mastering vocabulary, that the students are lack of vocabularies, the students often get difficult in expressing their ideas, the students have low motivation. The students felt unsatisfactory in their results. It's caused the students are lack of practice and lack vocabulary to ...

Examining continuity of early expressive vocabulary development: the generation R study.

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Henrichs, Jens; Rescorla, Leslie; Schenk, Jacqueline J; Schmidt, Henk G; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Hofman, Albert; Raat, Hein; Verhulst, Frank C; Tiemeier, Henning

2011-06-01

The authors investigated continuity and discontinuity of vocabulary skills in a population-based cohort in the Netherlands. Mothers of 3,759 children completed the Dutch version of the MacArthur Short Form Vocabulary Checklist (Zink & Lejaegere, 2003) at 18 months and a Dutch translation of the Language Development Survey (Rescorla, 1989) at 30 months. At both ages, expressive vocabulary delay was defined as vocabulary scores vocabulary development at both ages, 6.2% were "late bloomers," 6.0% had late onset expressive vocabulary delay, and 2.6% had persistent expressive vocabulary delay. Word production and comprehension at 18 months explained 11.5% of the variance in 30-month vocabulary scores, with low birth weight, child age, gender and ethnicity, maternal age and education, and parenting stress explaining an additional 6.2%. Multinomial logistic regression was used to identify biological, demographic, and psychological factors associated with each of the vocabulary delay outcome groups relative to the typically developing group. Although multiple perinatal, demographic, and maternal psychosocial factors significantly predicted vocabulary skills at 30 months, positive predictive value and sensitivity were low. Future studies should address to what extent additional factors, such as brain maturation and genetic influences, can improve the prediction and understanding of continuity and discontinuity of language delay.

MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES AS PREDICTORS OF READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE

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Abbas Ali Zarei

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract: The present study was conducted to investigate types of Multiple Intelligences as predictors of reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge. To meet this objective, a 60-item TOEFL test and a 90-item multiple intelligences questionnaire were distributed among 240 male and female Iranians studying English at Qazali and Parsian Universities in Qazvin. Data were analyzed using a multiple regression procedure. The result of the data analysis indicated that musical, interpersonal, kinesthetic, and logical intelligences were predicators of reading comprehension. Moreover, musical, verbal, visual, kinesthetic and natural intelligences made significant contributions to predicting vocabulary knowledge.   Key words: Multiple intelligences, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge.

Investigating the Effects of Word Games on Iranian EFL Learners’ Application of the Words in Writing Paragraph Essays

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Fatemeh Rezapanah

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In Iran, learning vocabulary has been considered a boring subject for a long time and the traditional way of learning vocabulary by mere copying and remembering has shown to be less than effective. Meanwhile, games are also seen as a time-filling activity in most English classrooms. The current research sought to explore the effectiveness of using word games on Iranian EFL intermediate students’ application of the words in writing one paragraph essay. It was carried out at Jahad Sharif English Institute among 60 intermediate male and female learners with the age range of 17-30 through a quasi-experimental research design. The researcher administered a PET test to determine the homogeneity of the participants regarding their general English language proficiency level. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups. After coming up with the conclusion that the two groups were homogeneous, during 16 sessions of treatment, the experimental group was taught using different techniques of word games while the control group received no special treatment. At the end of the treatment, both groups participated in the word game writing test of the word game questions available in Top Notch series the post-test. A t-test was used to compare the mean scores of the two groups, the result of which showed that the learners’ mean score in the experimental group was significantly higher than the learners’ mean score in the control group. In conclusion, the result of this study suggests that foreign language pedagogy, especially for young adult English learners, would benefit from applying word games in their vocabulary instruction and writing.

An Investigation of Three Methods of Teaching Vocabulary at the Junior High Level.

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Geiger, Evangeline Drury

This study of methods of teaching vocabulary in the junior high school investigated three approaches: use of a programed text in vocabulary development that emphasized context clues, use of the programed text augmented by listening assistance, and use of the programed text augmented by a word-analysis supplement. Over 300 students with I.Q.'s…

Lexical Leverage: Category Knowledge Boosts Real-Time Novel Word Recognition in 2-Year-Olds

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Borovsky, Arielle; Ellis, Erica M.; Evans, Julia L.; Elman, Jeffrey L.

2016-01-01

Recent research suggests that infants tend to add words to their vocabulary that are semantically related to other known words, though it is not clear why this pattern emerges. In this paper, we explore whether infants leverage their existing vocabulary and semantic knowledge when interpreting novel label-object mappings in real time. We initially…

Redundancy Effect on Retention of Vocabulary Words Using Multimedia Presentation

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Samur, Yavuz

2012-01-01

This study was designed to examine the effect of the redundancy principle in a multimedia presentation constructed for foreign language vocabulary learning on undergraduate students' retention. The underlying hypothesis of this study is that when the students are exposed to the material in multiple ways through animation, concurrent narration,…

Development and transfer of vocabulary knowledge in Spanish-speaking language minority preschool children.

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Goodrich, J Marc; Lonigan, Christopher J; Kleuver, Cherie G; Farver, Joann M

2016-09-01

In this study we evaluated the predictive validity of conceptual scoring. Two independent samples of Spanish-speaking language minority preschoolers (Sample 1: N = 96, mean age = 54·51 months, 54·3% male; Sample 2: N = 116, mean age = 60·70 months, 56·0% male) completed measures of receptive, expressive, and definitional vocabulary in their first (L1) and second (L2) languages at two time points approximately 9-12 months apart. We examined whether unique L1 and L2 vocabulary at time 1 predicted later L2 and L1 vocabulary, respectively. Results indicated that unique L1 vocabulary did not predict later L2 vocabulary after controlling for initial L2 vocabulary. An identical pattern of results emerged for L1 vocabulary outcomes. We also examined whether children acquired translational equivalents for words known in one language but not the other. Results indicated that children acquired translational equivalents, providing partial support for the transfer of vocabulary knowledge across languages.

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

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

2013-08-01

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

Effects of Explicit Vocabulary Videos Delivered through iPods on Students with Language Impairments

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Lowman, J. Joneen; Dressler, Emily V.

2016-01-01

Poor word learning is a hallmark characteristic of students with specific language impairment (SLI). Explicit vocabulary instruction has shown to positively improve word learning in this population. Mobile technology has many advantages making it conducive for addressing the word learning needs of students with SLI. The current study utilized a…

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

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Evans, Mary Ann; Saint-Aubin, Jean

2013-01-01

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

Sustainability of Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary after Implicit versus Explicit Instruction in Kindergarten

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

2014-01-01

We investigated the sustained effects of explicit versus implicit instruction on the breadth and depth of children's vocabularies, while taking their general vocabulary and verbal short-term memory into account. Two experimental groups with 12 and 15 kindergarten children respectively learned two sets of 17 words counterbalanced to be taught first…

Reading is FUNdamental: The effect of a reading programme on vocabulary development in a high poverty township school

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Scheepers, Ruth

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the development of the vocabulary of grade 7 learners in a reading project currently underway at a school in Atteridgeville, a township on the outskirts of Pretoria. A library has been established at the school and teachers throughout the school attend workshops designed to heighten their awareness of the value of reading and the importance of vocabulary, and to provide them with strategies to facilitate the development of reading. This paper focuses on the vocabulary development of grade 7 learners – they are in the senior phase of primary school and will soon be entering high school where they will be faced with more academic vocabulary in context-reduced textbooks. Learners’ vocabulary was tested early in the year and then again towards the end to assess whether increased access to books and reading had had an effect on vocabulary growth. Results revealed that learners at the project school showed a lack of vocabulary, even at the end of the study period, not only in terms of academic words but also high frequency words. Extensive reading alone is clearly not enough – learners need explicit vocabulary instruction: in order to read successfully at high school level, learners need a working knowledge of academic vocabulary, and this knowledge is developed by reading – but learners cannot read successfully without an adequate basic high-frequency vocabulary.

L2 Vocabulary Acquisition in Children: Effects of Learning Method and Cognate Status

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Tonzar, Claudio; Lotto, Lorella; Job, Remo

2009-01-01

In this study we investigated the effects of two learning methods (picture- or word-mediated learning) and of word status (cognates vs. noncognates) on the vocabulary acquisition of two foreign languages: English and German. We examined children from fourth and eighth grades in a school setting. After a learning phase during which L2 words were…

Word-Level Stress Patterns in the Academic Word List

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Murphy, John; Kandil, Magdi

2004-01-01

This paper addresses teachers and researchers of English as a second or foreign language who are interested in speech intelligibility training and/or vocabulary acquisition. The study reports a stress-pattern analysis of the Academic Word List (AWL) as made available by Coxhead [TESOL Quarterly 34 (2000) 213]. To examine the AWL in a new way, we…

Boosting Vocabulary Learning by Verbal Cueing During Sleep.

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Schreiner, Thomas; Rasch, Björn

2015-11-01

Reactivating memories during sleep by re-exposure to associated memory cues (e.g., odors or sounds) improves memory consolidation. Here, we tested for the first time whether verbal cueing during sleep can improve vocabulary learning. We cued prior learned Dutch words either during non-rapid eye movement sleep (NonREM) or during active or passive waking. Re-exposure to Dutch words during sleep improved later memory for the German translation of the cued words when compared with uncued words. Recall of uncued words was similar to an additional group receiving no verbal cues during sleep. Furthermore, verbal cueing failed to improve memory during active and passive waking. High-density electroencephalographic recordings revealed that successful verbal cueing during NonREM sleep is associated with a pronounced frontal negativity in event-related potentials, a higher frequency of frontal slow waves as well as a cueing-related increase in right frontal and left parietal oscillatory theta power. Our results indicate that verbal cues presented during NonREM sleep reactivate associated memories, and facilitate later recall of foreign vocabulary without impairing ongoing consolidation processes. Likewise, our oscillatory analysis suggests that both sleep-specific slow waves as well as theta oscillations (typically associated with successful memory encoding during wakefulness) might be involved in strengthening memories by cueing during sleep. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Techniques in Presenting Vocabulary to Young Efl Learners

OpenAIRE

Awaluddin, Annisa

2013-01-01

This paper reports on research results aimed at investigating the techniques used by a teacher of a young learner course in presenting meaning and form of vocabulary, as well as the reasons in employing the techniques. This study applied framework from Takač (2008). Observations and interview were carried out to collect the data. The findings indicate that the teacher applied various techniques with various reasons, both in presenting word meaning and form. In presenting word meaning, the tea...

Evidence for the Task-Induced Involvement Construct in Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition through Digital Gaming

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Reynolds, Barry Lee

2017-01-01

This article reports on an investigation of the suitability of mobile vocabulary games for inducing a state of incidental vocabulary acquisition. Draw Something, a social digital drawing game in which players draw and guess words, was selected as a focus for this investigation. Results from an exploratory factor analysis of the questionnaire data…

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

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Teng, Feng

2016-01-01

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

Scaling laws and fluctuations in the statistics of word frequencies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gerlach, Martin; Altmann, Eduardo G

2014-01-01

In this paper, we combine statistical analysis of written texts and simple stochastic models to explain the appearance of scaling laws in the statistics of word frequencies. The average vocabulary of an ensemble of fixed-length texts is known to scale sublinearly with the total number of words (Heaps’ law). Analyzing the fluctuations around this average in three large databases (Google-ngram, English Wikipedia, and a collection of scientific articles), we find that the standard deviation scales linearly with the average (Taylor's law), in contrast to the prediction of decaying fluctuations obtained using simple sampling arguments. We explain both scaling laws (Heaps’ and Taylor) by modeling the usage of words using a Poisson process with a fat-tailed distribution of word frequencies (Zipf's law) and topic-dependent frequencies of individual words (as in topic models). Considering topical variations lead to quenched averages, turn the vocabulary size a non-self-averaging quantity, and explain the empirical observations. For the numerous practical applications relying on estimations of vocabulary size, our results show that uncertainties remain large even for long texts. We show how to account for these uncertainties in measurements of lexical richness of texts with different lengths. (paper)

The New Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-III: An Illusion of Unbiased Assessment?

Science.gov (United States)

Stockman, Ida J

2000-10-01

This article examines whether changes in the ethnic minority composition of the standardization sample for the latest edition of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT-III, Dunn & Dunn, 1997) can be used as the sole explanation for children's better test scores when compared to an earlier edition, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R, Dunn & Dunn, 1981). Results from a comparative analysis of these two test editions suggest that other factors may explain improved performances. Among these factors are the number of words and age levels sampled, the types of words and pictures used, and characteristics of the standardization sample other than its ethnic minority composition. This analysis also raises questions regarding the usefulness of converting scores from one edition to the other and the type of criteria that could be used to evaluate whether the PPVT-III is an unbiased test of vocabulary for children from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.

WORD FORMATION ON DRAGON NEST CHAT LANGUAGE

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Shavitri Cecillia Harsono

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Word formation is creation of new words, which sometimes changes a word’s meaning. Words can be formed from multi word phrases as well. In many cases vocabularies in language are formed from combination of words (Haspelmath 2010: 102. Word formation does not only involve changing physical form of the word itself, but also changing the meaning of said word. There are also instances where the physical form retain its original form while the meaning changes. The phenomenon is called semantic change (Stockwell-Minkova 2001:149. In this thesis the research proposed that the said phenomenon occur in virtual environment, such as in MMORPG. Multiplayer online games that feature fantasy setting virtual environment. For the purpose of this research, Dragon Nest South East Asia server was chosen as data source. The samples are taken from players perusing [World] communication channel. The result of the data analysis has shown that the phenomenon of word formation could occur in a virtual environment of MMORPG, specifcally in Dragon Nest SEA. There are two word formation processes found: processes that involve physical changes and processes that do not involve physical changes but rather innate meaning. It is done by both processing daily language vocabulary both physically and changing its innate meaning to create new words that suits the said virtual environment context. This fnding may influence future research on a fresh perspective and untilled feld.

Vocabulary test Strategies used by the Students to answer Vocabulary Test the Reading Comprehension of TOEFL

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Suyatman Suyatman

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Test of English as a foreign Language or TOEFL is a standardized test of English for non-native speaker. It consists of three parts or three sections of tests. In Reading Comprehension test, it consists of vocabulary test. To get better result of score, it needs strategies. The purposes of this study are to know the strategies used by the students to answer the vocabulary test on reading section of TOEFL, to know the most strategy used by the students, to know the least strategy used by the students and to know the distribution of strategies used by the students to answer the Vocabulary test of Reading Comprehension of the TOEFL. The researcher used descriptive qualitative research. The subject was twelve students. The instrument was questionnaire that consisted of thirty questions. Data analyzes technique was by using mean score. The result of the research showed that; (1 students used all strategies to answer the vocabulary test of reading comprehension of TOEFL. (2 the most strategies used by the students was ‘Looking for contextual clues to the meaning of unknown words.(3 the least strategy used by the students to answer vocabulary test was ‘Developing a new vocabulary study system, and (4 the distribution of the strategy number 1 was 3.88,strategy number 2 was 3.61, number 3 was 2.94, number four was 2.91, strategy number 5 was3.88, strategy number six was 3.47, strategy number seven was 3.69, strategy number eight was 3.02, strategy number nine was 3.00 and the last strategy was 3.13.

Direct Vocabulary Instruction in Preschool: A Comparison of Extended Instruction, Embedded Instruction, and Incidental Exposure

Science.gov (United States)

Loftus-Rattan, Susan M.; Mitchell, Alison M.; Coyne, Michael D.

2016-01-01

Based on its coincidence with a significant period in language development for children, preschool provides a favorable setting to foster vocabulary growth. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of two instructional conditions and an incidental exposure condition for teaching targeted vocabulary words to preschool students…

Using Hypnosis to Enhance Learning Second Language Vocabulary.

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Çetin, Yakup; Çimen, O Arda; Yetkiner, Zeynep Ebrar

2016-04-01

In this article, we measure the effects of hypnosis and suggestions for learning second language vocabulary. Participants (N = 70) were randomly assigned to a hypnosis or a control group. They were pre-tested, and then presented 21 Spanish words, post-tested immediately and 1 week later. The data were analyzed using repeated measures analysis of variance with group (experimental versus control) as the between-subjects factor, and time as the within-subjects factor. The experimental group performed significantly better in both tests. Our results indicate that hypnosis is beneficial for second language vocabulary learning and retrieval.

The relationship between phonological short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in children with specific language impairment.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Emily; Leitao, Suze; Claessen, Mary

2016-01-01

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often experience word-learning difficulties, which are suggested to originate in the early stage of word learning: fast mapping. Some previous research indicates significantly poorer fast mapping capabilities in children with SLI compared with typically developing (TD) counterparts, with a range of methodological factors impacting on the consistency of this finding. Research has explored key issues that might underlie fast mapping difficulties in children with SLI, with strong theoretical support but little empirical evidence for the role of phonological short-term memory (STM). Additionally, further research is required to explore the influence of receptive vocabulary on fast mapping capabilities. Understanding the factors associated with fast mapping difficulties that are experienced by children with SLI may lead to greater theoretically driven word-learning intervention. To investigate whether children with SLI demonstrate significant difficulties with fast mapping, and to explore the related factors. It was hypothesized that children with SLI would score significantly lower on a fast mapping production task compared with TD children, and that phonological STM and receptive vocabulary would significantly predict fast mapping production scores in both groups of children. Twenty-three children with SLI (mean = 64.39 months, SD = 4.10 months) and 26 TD children (mean = 65.92 months, SD = 2.98) were recruited from specialist language and mainstream schools. All participants took part in a unique, interactive fast-mapping task whereby nine novel objects with non-word labels were presented and production accuracy was assessed. A non-word repetition test and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition (PPVT-IV) were also administered as measures of phonological STM capacity and receptive vocabulary, respectively. Results of the fast-mapping task indicated that children with SLI had significantly poorer fast

The Critical Difference: Identifying the Dyslexic.

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Burgett, Russell; King, James

A study compared peripheral vision applied to letter-pair and Dolch word recognition. Subjects, 6 normal readers, 12 Chapter 1 students, and 34 learning disabled (and assumed dyslexic) students from grades one through three enrolled in a parochial school, a public school, and a university summer reading clinic, completed a test designed to…

The Effect of Mnemonic Vocabulary Instruction on Reading Comprehension of Students

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Parima Fasih

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The present article was an investigation of mnemonic vocabulary teaching to improve reading comprehension in the EFL classrooms. A major problem with the most of the past researches was that they paid no or little attention to the effects of using mnemonic strategies to improve reading comprehension. The purpose of this paper was to investigate how key word mnemonic vocabulary teaching can improve reading comprehension of the students. To this end, 360 third grade senior high school students from 6 senior high schools of Zanjan were selected through multistage cluster random sampling method and based on Cambridge placement test (2010, 345 students proved to be upper intermediate. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the effects of a mnemonic vocabulary intervention on reading comprehension. In this article there were one control group (A, n=115, and two experimental groups (B, n=115; C, n=115 all of which were male and there were selected randomly by the researchers. During one month in four weeks, every week in two thirty-minute session, group B received direct vocabulary instruction and group C received key word mnemonic instruction. The quantitative component of this article was comprised of the Unit Cloze test. In order to test the effects of Mnemonic Vocabulary Teaching on reading comprehension, the covariance analysis was employed and the results demonstrated that by eliminating the covariance factor of the pre-test, mnemonic vocabulary instruction improved the reading comprehension of the students. The use of keyword mnemonics as a means to differentiate instruction is an educational implication that can assist teachers seeking better student achievement outcomes.

Investigating Arabic Academic Vocabulary Knowledge Among Middle School Pupils: Receptive Versus Productive Knowledge.

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Makhoul, Baha

2017-08-01

The current study attempted to investigate the development of Arabic academic vocabulary knowledge among middle-school Arabic native speakers, taking into account the socioeconomic status of the Arab population in Israel. For this purpose, Arabic academic word list was developed, mapping the required academic words that are needed for adequate coping with informational texts as appearing in the different content areas text-books. Six-hundred Arabic speaking middle school pupils from the different areas in Israel, representing the different Arab subgroups: general Arab community, Druze and Bedouins, have participated in the current study. Two academic vocabulary tests, including receptive and productive academic vocabulary evaluation tests, were administrated to the students across the different age groups (7th, 8th and 9th). The results pointed to no significant difference between 7th and 9th grade in academic vocabulary knowledge. In contrast, significant difference was encountered between the different Arab sub-groups where the lowest scores were noted among the Bedouin sub-group, characterized by the lowest SES. When comparing receptive and productive academic vocabulary knowledge between 7th and 9th grade, the results pointed to improvement in receptive academic knowledge towards the end of middle school but not on the productive knowledge level. In addition, within participants' comparison indicated a gap between the pupils' receptive and productive vocabulary. The results are discussed in relation to the existing scientific literature and to its implication of both research and practice in the domain of Arabic literacy development.

Dictionary of Regional Vocabulary and Informal Toponymes of Novosibirsk: Principles of Arrangement and Stages of Composing

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Irina Vladimirovna Livinskaya

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at presenting scientific experience of the author in composing a "Dictionary of the regional vocabulary and informal toponymes of Novosibirsk" with an anthropocentrically based lexicographical approach (offered in the works by V.V . Morkovkin as a model "from dictionary to a person" viewed as the way to overcome key challenges in building a dictionary of regional vocabulary, that is subjectivity of the authors in formation of the glossary. The four stages of the dictionary creation are characterised: 1 collecting regionally limited words in the Internet (Online Dictionary "Languages of Russian cities", forums; 2 making a survey of residents from other cities to discover regional status of the tentative entries; 3organizing a survey of Novosibirsk residents with the aim to state regional status of the words and present their meaning; 4 database analysis (about 800 units of the regionalism and informal toponymes that helped to verify the regionally limited status of the words and present contexts of their usage. The novelty of the dictionary consists in its content structure: regional vocabulary is presented as regional words (regionalism and informal toponyms. The word entries are presented in two parts – "Regional words" and "Falk toponyms". The author gives samples of the dictionary entries that illustrate the way information is presented in every part.

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist…: what children learn about the "high-level" vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston-Price, Carmel; Howe, Jodie A; Lintern, Natalie J

2014-01-01

Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child's own use of such "high-level" vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children's knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and six-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives) through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding-a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task-and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components.

N400 Response Indexes Word Learning from Linguistic Context in Children

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Abel, Alyson D.; Schneider, Julie; Maguire, Mandy J

2018-01-01

Word learning from linguistic context is essential for vocabulary growth from grade school onward; however, little is known about the mechanisms underlying successful word learning in children. Current methods for studying word learning development require children to identify the meaning of the word after each exposure, a method that interacts…

Incidental acquisition of foreign language vocabulary through brief multi-modal exposure.

Science.gov (United States)

Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

2013-01-01

First language acquisition requires relatively little effort compared to foreign language acquisition and happens more naturally through informal learning. Informal exposure can also benefit foreign language learning, although evidence for this has been limited to speech perception and production. An important question is whether informal exposure to spoken foreign language also leads to vocabulary learning through the creation of form-meaning links. Here we tested the impact of exposure to foreign language words presented with pictures in an incidental learning phase on subsequent explicit foreign language learning. In the explicit learning phase, we asked adults to learn translation equivalents of foreign language words, some of which had appeared in the incidental learning phase. Results revealed rapid learning of the foreign language words in the incidental learning phase showing that informal exposure to multi-modal foreign language leads to foreign language vocabulary acquisition. The creation of form-meaning links during the incidental learning phase is discussed.

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

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Dewi Nur Asyiah

2017-11-01

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

Word formation is aware of morpheme family size.

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Daniela Barbara Keller

Full Text Available Words are built from smaller meaning bearing parts, called morphemes. As one word can contain multiple morphemes, one morpheme can be present in different words. The number of distinct words a morpheme can be found in is its family size. Here we used Birth-Death-Innovation Models (BDIMs to analyze the distribution of morpheme family sizes in English and German vocabulary over the last 200 years. Rather than just fitting to a probability distribution, these mechanistic models allow for the direct interpretation of identified parameters. Despite the complexity of language change, we indeed found that a specific variant of this pure stochastic model, the second order linear balanced BDIM, significantly fitted the observed distributions. In this model, birth and death rates are increased for smaller morpheme families. This finding indicates an influence of morpheme family sizes on vocabulary changes. This could be an effect of word formation, perception or both. On a more general level, we give an example on how mechanistic models can enable the identification of statistical trends in language change usually hidden by cultural influences.

Interactive electronic storybooks for kindergartners to promote vocabulary growth

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2012-01-01

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

The learner as lexicographer: using monolingual and bilingual corpora to deepen vocabulary knowledge

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Kristina HMELJAK SANGAWA

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Learning vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks faced by learners with a non-kanji background when learning Japanese as a foreign language. However, learners are often not aware of the range of different aspects of word knowledge they need in order to successfully use Japanese. This includes not only the spoken and written form of a word and its meaning, but also morphological, grammatical, collocational, connotative and pragmatic knowledge as well as knowledge of social constraints to be observed. In this article, we present some background data on the use of dictionaries among students of Japanese at the University of Ljubljana, a selection of resources and a series of exercises developed with the following aims: a to foster greater awareness of the different aspects of Japanese vocabulary, both from a monolingual and a contrastive perspective, b to learn about tools and methods that can be applied in different contexts of language learning and language use, and c to develop strategies for learning new vocabulary, reinforcing knowledge about known vocabulary, and effectively using this knowledge in receptive and productive language tasks.

The Function of Negotiation in Iranian EFL Students’ Vocabulary Acquisition

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Hassan Soleimani

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Negotiation is believed to play a key role in language learning in general and vocabulary learning in particular. The present study aimed at investigating the effect of types of instructions (negotiation, non-negotiation, or in isolation on learning and recalling of new words by Iranian learners. Using a quasi-experimental research design, 39 EFL students of a secondary school were sampled and assigned into three experimental groups: the input plus negotiated group (IPN, the input without negotiated group (IWN, and the elaborative, un-instructed input group (EUI. The first group had the chance for negotiated interaction; the second one received the input without any negotiation with their instructor and the last group received elaborative input without any interaction with their teachers. The groups were rated on their degree of comprehension and the acquisition of vocabulary items. The results revealed that negotiation had a non-significant effect over non-negotiation tasks. However, the results indicated that negotiation was significantly effective against un-instruction task. Thus, in acquisition and retention of new vocabulary, IPN group was not significantly different than IWN group, but they outperformed those learners who used their own strategy to learn new words (EUI.

Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by EAP Learners: The Case of the Students of Social Sciences

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Haghi, Eshrat Bazarmaj; Pasand, Parastou Gholami

2013-01-01

The significance of using language learning strategies in general and vocabulary learning strategies in particular is quite clear to both language learners and language specialists. Being familiar with and making use of a range of different vocabulary learning strategies is a great aid for EAP learners in dealing with unknown words. The present…

The concurrent use of three implicit measures (eye movements, pupillometry, and event-related potentials) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adults.

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Ledoux, Kerry; Coderre, Emily; Bosley, Laura; Buz, Esteban; Gangopadhyay, Ishanti; Gordon, Barry

2016-03-01

Recent years have seen the advent and proliferation of the use of implicit techniques to study learning and cognition. One such application is the use of event-related potentials (ERPs) to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge. Other implicit assessment techniques that may be well-suited to other testing situations or to use with varied participant groups have not been used as widely to study receptive vocabulary knowledge. We sought to develop additional implicit techniques to study receptive vocabulary knowledge that could augment the knowledge gained from the use of the ERP technique. Specifically, we used a simple forced-choice paradigm to assess receptive vocabulary knowledge in normal adult participants using eye movement monitoring (EM) and pupillometry. In the same group of participants, we also used an N400 semantic incongruity ERP paradigm to assess their knowledge of two groups of words: those expected to be known to the participants (high-frequency, familiar words) and those expected to be unknown (low-frequency, unfamiliar words). All three measures showed reliable differences between the known and unknown words. EM and pupillometry thus may provide insight into receptive vocabulary knowledge similar to that from ERPs. The development of additional implicit assessment techniques may increase the feasibility of receptive vocabulary testing across a wider range of participant groups and testing situations, and may make the conduct of such testing more accessible to a wider range of researchers, clinicians, and educators.

Morpho-Phonemic Analysis Boosts Word Reading for Adult Struggling Readers

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

2018-01-01

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

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

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Cheng, Junyu; Matthews, Joshua

2018-01-01

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

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist…: what children learn about the “high-level” vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories

Science.gov (United States)

Houston-Price, Carmel; Howe, Jodie A.; Lintern, Natalie J.

2013-01-01

Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child's own use of such “high-level” vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children's knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and six-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives) through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding—a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task—and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components. PMID:24570670

Once upon a time, there was a fabulous funambulist...: What children learn about the ‘high-level’ vocabulary they encounter while listening to stories

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Carmel eHouston-Price

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Previous research has shown that listening to stories supports vocabulary growth in preschool and school-aged children and that lexical entries for even very difficult or rare words can be established if these are defined when they are first introduced. However, little is known about the nature of the lexical representations children form for the words they encounter while listening to stories, or whether these are sufficiently robust to support the child’s own use of such ‘high-level’ vocabulary. This study explored these questions by administering multiple assessments of children’s knowledge about a set of newly-acquired vocabulary. Four- and 6-year-old children were introduced to nine difficult new words (including nouns, verbs and adjectives through three exposures to a story read by their class teacher. The story included a definition of each new word at its first encounter. Learning of the target vocabulary was assessed by means of two tests of semantic understanding – a forced choice picture-selection task and a definition production task – and a grammaticality judgment task, which asked children to choose between a syntactically-appropriate and syntactically-inappropriate usage of the word. Children in both age groups selected the correct pictorial representation and provided an appropriate definition for the target words in all three word classes significantly more often than they did for a matched set of non-exposed control words. However, only the older group was able to identify the syntactically-appropriate sentence frames in the grammaticality judgment task. Further analyses elucidate some of the components of the lexical representations children lay down when they hear difficult new vocabulary in stories and how different tests of word knowledge might overlap in their assessment of these components.

Teachability of collocations: The role of word frequency counts ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... beginner/low-intermediate students and only exceed the 2 000-word band from the upper-intermediate learning stage onwards, a suggestion in line with Nation's (2006) discussion on how to teach vocabulary. Keywords: collocation size, controlled productive knowledge, teachability of collocations, word frequency counts, ...

Joint learning and weighting of visual vocabulary for bag-of-feature based tissue classification

KAUST Repository

Wang, Jim Jing-Yan

2013-12-01

Automated classification of tissue types of Region of Interest (ROI) in medical images has been an important application in Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD). Recently, bag-of-feature methods which treat each ROI as a set of local features have shown their power in this field. Two important issues of bag-of-feature strategy for tissue classification are investigated in this paper: the visual vocabulary learning and weighting, which are always considered independently in traditional methods by neglecting the inner relationship between the visual words and their weights. To overcome this problem, we develop a novel algorithm, Joint-ViVo, which learns the vocabulary and visual word weights jointly. A unified objective function based on large margin is defined for learning of both visual vocabulary and visual word weights, and optimized alternately in the iterative algorithm. We test our algorithm on three tissue classification tasks: classifying breast tissue density in mammograms, classifying lung tissue in High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) images, and identifying brain tissue type in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The results show that Joint-ViVo outperforms the state-of-art methods on tissue classification problems. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Human simulations of vocabulary learning.

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Gillette, J; Gleitman, H; Gleitman, L; Lederer, A

1999-12-07

The work reported here experimentally investigates a striking generalization about vocabulary acquisition: Noun learning is superior to verb learning in the earliest moments of child language development. The dominant explanation of this phenomenon in the literature invokes differing conceptual requirements for items in these lexical categories: Verbs are cognitively more complex than nouns and so their acquisition must await certain mental developments in the infant. In the present work, we investigate an alternative hypothesis; namely, that it is the information requirements of verb learning, not the conceptual requirements, that crucially determine the acquisition order. Efficient verb learning requires access to structural features of the exposure language and thus cannot take place until a scaffolding of noun knowledge enables the acquisition of clause-level syntax. More generally, we experimentally investigate the hypothesis that vocabulary acquisition takes place via an incremental constraint-satisfaction procedure that bootstraps itself into successively more sophisticated linguistic representations which, in turn, enable new kinds of vocabulary learning. If the experimental subjects were young children, it would be difficult to distinguish between this information-centered hypothesis and the conceptual change hypothesis. Therefore the experimental "learners" are adults. The items to be "acquired" in the experiments were the 24 most frequent nouns and 24 most frequent verbs from a sample of maternal speech to 18-24-month-old infants. The various experiments ask about the kinds of information that will support identification of these words as they occur in mother-to-child discourse. Both the proportion correctly identified and the type of word that is identifiable changes significantly as a function of information type. We discuss these results as consistent with the incremental construction of a highly lexicalized grammar by cognitively and pragmatically

Bye-bye mummy - Word comprehension in 9-month-old infants.

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Syrnyk, Corinne; Meints, Kerstin

2017-06-01

From the little research that exists on the onset of word learning in infants under the age of 1 year, the evidence suggests an idiosyncratic comprehensive vocabulary is developing. To further this field, we tested 49 nine-month-old infants by pre-assessing their vocabularies using a UK version of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Developmental Inventory. Intermodal preferential looking (IPL) was then used to examine word comprehension including: (a) words parents reported as understood, (b) words infants are expected to understand according to age-related frequency data, and (c) words parents had reported infants not to understand. Assuming parents are good assessors of their infant's early word knowledge, we expected a naming effect with IPL in condition (a), but not condition (c). As language research uses standard samples of words, we expected a discernible naming effect in condition (b). Results show clear IPL evidence of word comprehension for those words that parents reported their infants to understand (condition a). This agreement between methods demonstrates the usefulness of parental communicative developmental inventory in conjunction with IPL to assess infant's individual word knowledge. No naming effects were found for condition (c) and the lack of naming effects in (b) shows that pre-established word lists may not give a sufficiently clear picture of infant's true vocabulary - an important insight for researchers and practitioners alike. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Most word comprehension research is mainly based on older infants (12, 15, or 18 months of age to 2-3 years and older). Some evidence of word comprehension for common and novel nouns in 6- to 10-month-olds. Existing evidence uses either only specific word groups or nouns combined with specific training and/or repetition procedures. What does this study add? Nine-month-olds display word knowledge independent of context and without repetitions of words

Perceptual Learning Style Matching and L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

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Tight, Daniel G.

2010-01-01

This study explored learning and retention of concrete nouns in second language Spanish by first language English undergraduates (N = 128). Each completed a learning style (visual, auditory, tactile/kinesthetic, mixed) assessment, took a vocabulary pretest, and then studied 12 words each through three conditions (matching, mismatching, mixed…

Holiday or vacation? The processing of variation in vocabulary across dialects

OpenAIRE

Martin, Clara D.; Garcia, Xabier; Potter, Douglas; Melinger, Alissa; Costa, ALbert

2016-01-01

Published online: 20 Oct 2015 Native speakers with different linguistic backgrounds differ in their usage of language, and particularly in their vocabulary. For instance, British natives would use the word "holiday" when American natives would prefer the word "vacation". This study investigates how cross-dialectal lexical variation impacts lexical processing. Electrophysiological responses were recorded, while British natives listened to British or American speech in which lexi...

Learning and Consolidation of New Spoken Words in Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Henderson, Lisa; Powell, Anna; Gaskell, M. Gareth; Norbury, Courtenay

2014-01-01

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by rich heterogeneity in vocabulary knowledge and word knowledge that is not well accounted for by current cognitive theories. This study examines whether individual differences in vocabulary knowledge in ASD might be partly explained by a difficulty with consolidating newly learned spoken words…

Vocabulary learning benefits from REM after slow-wave sleep.

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Batterink, Laura J; Westerberg, Carmen E; Paller, Ken A

2017-10-01

Memory reactivation during slow-wave sleep (SWS) influences the consolidation of recently acquired knowledge. This reactivation occurs spontaneously during sleep but can also be triggered by presenting learning-related cues, a technique known as targeted memory reactivation (TMR). Here we examined whether TMR can improve vocabulary learning. Participants learned the meanings of 60 novel words. Auditory cues for half the words were subsequently presented during SWS in an afternoon nap. Memory performance for cued versus uncued words did not differ at the group level but was systematically influenced by REM sleep duration. Participants who obtained relatively greater amounts of REM showed a significant benefit for cued relative to uncued words, whereas participants who obtained little or no REM demonstrated a significant effect in the opposite direction. We propose that REM after SWS may be critical for the consolidation of highly integrative memories, such as new vocabulary. Reactivation during SWS may allow newly encoded memories to be associated with other information, but this association can include disruptive linkages with pre-existing memories. Subsequent REM sleep may then be particularly beneficial for integrating new memories into appropriate pre-existing memory networks. These findings support the general proposition that memory storage benefits optimally from a cyclic succession of SWS and REM. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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

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KIM, K.-H.

2011-02-01

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

First-year university students’ receptive and productive use of academic vocabulary

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Déogratias Nizonkiza

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The present study explores academic vocabulary knowledge, operationalised through the Academic Word List, among first-year higher education students. Both receptive and productive knowledge and the proportion between the two are examined. Results show that while receptive knowledge is readily acquired by first-year students, productive knowledge lags behind and remains problematic. This entails that receptive knowledge is much larger than productive knowledge, which confirms earlier indications that receptive vocabulary knowledge is larger than productive knowledge for both academic vocabulary (Zhou 2010 and general vocabulary (cf. Laufer 1998, Webb 2008, among others. Furthermore, results reveal that the ratio between receptive and productive knowledge is slightly above 50%, which lends empirical support to previous findings that the ratio between the two aspects of vocabulary knowledge can be anywhere between 50% and 80% (Milton 2009. This finding is extended here to academic vocabulary; complementing Zhou’s (2010 study that investigated the relationship between the two aspects of vocabulary knowledge without examining the ratio between them. On the basis of these results, approaches that could potentially contribute to fostering productive knowledge growth are discussed. Avenues worth exploring to gain further insight into the relationship between receptive and productive knowledge are also suggested.

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

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

2015-12-01

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

English-Spanish Cognates in Picture Books: Toward a Vocabulary Curriculum for Latino ELLs

Science.gov (United States)

Montelongo, José A.; Durán, Richard; Hernández, Anita C.

2013-01-01

English-Spanish cognates are words that are spelled similarly or identically and possess the same or nearly the same meanings in both languages. Many cognates are academic vocabulary words and are very common in content area textbooks. The primary purpose of this investigation was to obtain an estimate of the number of different cognates in…

Learning Words from Context and Dictionaries: An Experimental Comparison.

Science.gov (United States)

Fischer, Ute

1994-01-01

Investigated the independent and interactive effects of contextual and definitional information on vocabulary learning. German students of English received either a text with unfamiliar English words or their monolingual English dictionary entries. A third group received both. Information about word context is crucial to understanding meaning. (44…

The availability and accessibility of basic concept vocabulary in AAC software: a preliminary study.

Science.gov (United States)

McCarthy, Jillian H; Schwarz, Ilsa; Ashworth, Morgan

2017-09-01

Core vocabulary lists obtained through the analyses of children's utterances include a variety of basic concept words. Supporting young children who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to develop their understanding and use of basic concepts is an area of practice that has important ramifications for successful communication in a classroom environment. This study examined the availability of basic concept words across eight frequently used, commercially available AAC language systems, iPad© applications, and symbol libraries used to create communication boards. The accessibility of basic concept words was subsequently examined using two AAC language page sets and two iPad applications. Results reveal that the availability of basic concept words represented within the different AAC language programs, iPad applications, and symbol libraries varied but was limited across programs. However, there is no significant difference in the accessibility of basic concept words across the language program page sets or iPad applications, generally because all of them require sophisticated motor and cognitive plans for access. These results suggest that educators who teach or program vocabulary in AAC systems need to be mindful of the importance of basic concept words in classroom settings and, when possible, enhance the availability and accessibility of these words to users of AAC.

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

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iñigo Yanguas

2009-06-01

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

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

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Lee, Sunjung; Pulido, Diana

2017-01-01

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

When a text is translated does the complexity of its vocabulary change? Translations and target readerships.

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Rêgo, Hênio Henrique Aragão; Braunstein, Lidia A; D'Agostino, Gregorio; Stanley, H Eugene; Miyazima, Sasuke

2014-01-01

In linguistic studies, the academic level of the vocabulary in a text can be described in terms of statistical physics by using a "temperature" concept related to the text's word-frequency distribution. We propose a "comparative thermo-linguistic" technique to analyze the vocabulary of a text to determine its academic level and its target readership in any given language. We apply this technique to a large number of books by several authors and examine how the vocabulary of a text changes when it is translated from one language to another. Unlike the uniform results produced using the Zipf law, using our "word energy" distribution technique we find variations in the power-law behavior. We also examine some common features that span across languages and identify some intriguing questions concerning how to determine when a text is suitable for its intended readership.

The Contribution of Vocabulary Knowledge and Semantic Orthographic Fluency to Text Quality through Elementary School in Catalan

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Castillo, Cristina; Tolchinsky, Liliana

2018-01-01

Building a text is a multidimensional endeavor. Writers must work simultaneously on the content of the text, its discursive organization, the structure of the sentences, and the individual words themselves. Knowledge of vocabulary is central to this endeavor. This study intends (1) to trace the development of writer's vocabulary depth, their…

Incidental Vocabulary Learning: A Semantic Field Approach

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Parvaneh Khosravizadeh

2011-10-01

Full Text Available

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

Early Vocabulary Development in Rural and Urban Mozambique

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Paul Vogt

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (short version into three languages spoken in Southern Mozambique. The tool was adapted to study vocabulary development among children of 12 to 25 months of age in two communities: a rural, monolingual Changana speaking community and an urban bilingual Ronga and Portuguese speaking community. We present a norming study carried out with the adaptation, as well as a validation study. The norming study revealed various predictors for reported expressive and receptive vocabulary size. These predictors include age, socioeconomic status, reported health problems, caregiving practices, and location. The validation of the CDI among a small sample in both communities shows positive correlations between the reported expressive vocabulary scores and children’s recorded word production. We conclude that the adapted CDI is useful for research purposes and could be used as a template for adaptations into other languages from similar cultures.

Teaching Students How to Self-Regulate Their Online Vocabulary Learning by Using a Structured Think-to-Yourself Procedure

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Ebner, Rachel J.; Ehri, Linnea C.

2016-01-01

Using the Internet for vocabulary development is a powerful way for students to rapidly expand their vocabularies. The Internet affords students opportunities to interact both instantaneously and multimodaly with words in different contexts. By using search engines and hyperlinks, students can immediately access textual, visual, and auditory…

Relationship between Performance on Oral Narrative Retells and Vocabulary Assessments for Spanish-English Speaking Children

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Wood, Carla; Wofford, Mary Claire; Schatschneider, Christopher

2018-01-01

This project aimed to describe oral narrative retells of Spanish-English speaking dual language learners (DLLs) and examine relationships with standardized vocabulary assessments. Investigators described oral narrative retells of 145 DLLs in kindergarten and first grade by number of different words (NDW), words per minute (WPM), and…

The Categorical Facilitation Effects on L2 Vocabulary Learning in a Classroom Setting

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Hoshino, Yuko

2010-01-01

In the field of vocabulary acquisition, there have been many studies on the efficacy of word lists. However, very few of these were based on research in a classroom setting, and therefore, their results may not be applicable to standard classroom situations. This study investigated which of the five types of word lists (synonyms, antonyms,…

Desirable difficulties in vocabulary learning

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Bjork, RA; Kroll, JF

2015-01-01

© 2015 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. In this article we discuss the role of desirable difficulties in vocabulary learning from two perspectives, one having to do with identifying conditions of learning that impose initial challenges to the learner but then benefit later retention and transfer, and the other having to do with the role of certain difficulties that are intrinsic to language processes, are engaged during word learning, and reflect how language is underst...

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

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Chung, Wei-Lun; Jarmulowicz, Linda

2017-08-01

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

The effect of retrieval practice in primary school vocabulary learning

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Goossens, Nicole; Camp, Gino; Verkoeijen, Peter; Tabbers, Huib

2018-01-01

The testing effect refers to the finding that retrieval practice leads to better long-term retention than additional study of course material. In the present study, we examined whether this finding generalizes to primary school vocabulary learning. We also manipulated the word learning context.

Vocabulary Acquisition through Written Input: Effects of Form-Focused, Message-Oriented, and Comprehension Tasks

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Tajeddin, Zia; Daraee, Dina

2013-01-01

The present study investigated the effect of form-focused and non-form-focused tasks on EFL learners' vocabulary learning through written input. The form-focused task aimed to draw students' attention to the word itself through word recognition activities. Non-form-focused tasks were divided into (a) the comprehension question task, which required…

Challenges of Testing Deep Word Knowledge of Vocabulary: Which ...

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Journal for Language Teaching ... Results indicate that (i) ESL students outperform their EFL counterparts of comparable class level, (ii) aspects of deep word knowledge among both higher education EFL and ESL students ... Furthermore, teaching implications aimed to foster deep word knowledge growth are discussed.

Comparative Difficulties with Non-Scientific General Vocabulary and Scientific/Medical Terminology in English as a Second Language (ESL) Medical Students.

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Heming, Thomas A; Nandagopal, Shobha

2012-11-01

Medical education requires student comprehension of both technical (scientific/medical) and non-technical (general) vocabulary. Our experience with "English as a second language" (ESL) Arab students suggested they often have problems comprehending scientific statements because of weaknesses in their understanding of non-scientific vocabulary. This study aimed to determine whether ESL students have difficulties with general vocabulary that could hinder their understanding of scientific/medical texts. A survey containing English text was given to ESL students in the premedical years of an English-medium medical school in an Arabic country. The survey consisted of sample questions from the Medical College Admission Test (USA). Students were instructed to identify all unknown words in the text. ESL students commenced premedical studies with substantial deficiencies in English vocabulary. Students from English-medium secondary schools had a selective deficiency in scientific/medical terminology which disappeared with time. Students from Arabic-medium secondary schools had equal difficulty with general and scientific/medical vocabulary. Deficiencies in both areas diminished with time but remained even after three years of English-medium higher education. Typically, when teaching technical subjects to ESL students, attention is focused on subject-unique vocabulary and associated modifiers. This study highlights that ESL students also face difficulties with the general vocabulary used to construct statements employing technical words. Such students would benefit from increases in general vocabulary knowledge.

Does the introduction of newborn hearing screening improve vocabulary development in hearing-impaired children? A population-based study in Japan.

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Ohmori, Shuhei; Sugaya, Akiko; Toida, Naomi; Suzuki, Etsuji; Izutsu, Masato; Tsutsui, Tomoko; Kataoka, Yuko; Maeda, Yukihide; Fukushima, Kunihiro; Nishizaki, Kazunori

2015-02-01

Permanent hearing impairment has a life-long impact on children and its early identification is important for language development. A newborn hearing screening (NHS) program has started in Okayama Prefecture, Japan, in 1999 to detect hearing impairment immediately after birth. We aim to examine the effect of this screening program on vocabulary development in pre-school children in a before and after comparative study design. A total of 107 5-year-old children who graduated from Okayama Kanariya Gakuen (an auditory center for hearing-impaired children) between 1998 and 2011 were enrolled in this study. The pre-NHS group (n=40) was defined as those who graduated between 1998 and 2003, while the post-NHS group (n=67) was defined as those who graduated between 2004 and 2011. The primary outcome was receptive vocabulary, which was assessed by the Picture Vocabulary Test [score vocabulary, or the number of productive words, which was assessed by an original checklist [vocabulary development and compared both groups. The adjusted Picture Vocabulary Test score and number of productive words were significantly higher (pvocabulary and 4.17 (95% confidence interval: 1.69-10.29) for productive vocabulary. The introduction of NHS in Okayama Prefecture significantly improved both receptive and productive vocabulary development in hearing-impaired children. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neutral evolution and turnover over centuries of English word popularity

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Ruck, D.; Bentley, R.A.; Acerbi, A.; Garnett, P.; Hruschka, D.J.

2017-01-01

Here we test Neutral models against the evolution of English word frequency and vocabulary at the population scale, as recorded in annual word frequencies from three centuries of English language books. Against these data, we test both static and dynamic predictions of two neutral models, including

FOSTERING AND DEVELOPMENT OF MULTICULTURALISM VIA SITUATIVE VOCABULARIES

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О В Львова

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The search for ways and means of fostering and development of multiculturalism is now of great importance for the world community. Situational vocabulary was previously proposed by the author as an ICT tool for fostering and development of communicative competence in foreign language. They contain lexical structures used in specific communicative situations, as well as modern ICT tools (blogs, chats, forums, mail, etc. to supplement already gained data and to discuss the ways and situations of use of various linguistic constructions or meanings of the words. Further study of the possibilities and ways of application of the instrument showed that students are not able to choose a relevant form for certain situations, or they lack or do not know the appropriate words and expressions, both in native and in a foreign language. In addition, the incorrect use of certain words or expressions in the situation may be regarded by representatives of other cultures as rude or disrespectful. The peculiarity of the method offered by the author is based on the idea of using situational vocabularies for gaining information and study of various linguistic and cultural aspects of the host country and other countries. In addition, the interaction in the familiar for learners ICT space motivates them and increase the effectiveness of such activities.

Contextual Richness and Word Learning: Context Enhances Comprehension but Retrieval Enhances Retention

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van den Broek, Gesa S. E.; Takashima, Atsuko; Segers, Eliane; Verhoeven, Ludo

2018-01-01

Learning new vocabulary from context typically requires multiple encounters during which word meaning can be retrieved from memory or inferred from context. We compared the effect of memory retrieval and context inferences on short- and long-term retention in three experiments. Participants studied novel words and then practiced the words either…

Iconic Factors and Language Word Order

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Moeser, Shannon Dawn

1975-01-01

College students were presented with an artificial language in which spoken nonsense words were correlated with visual references. Inferences regarding vocabulary acquisition were drawn, and it was suggested that the processing of the language was mediated through a semantic memory system. (CK)

Effects of Stimulus Characteristics and Background Music on Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning and Forgetting

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de Groot, Annette M. B.

2006-01-01

This study examined the effects of three stimulus variables and background music on paired-associate learning of foreign language (FL) vocabulary. The stimulus variables were the frequency and concreteness of the native language (L1) words and the (phonotactical) typicality of the FL words. Sixty-four L1-FL pairs were presented for learning six…

Children's level of word knowledge predicts their exclusion of familiar objects as referents of novel words

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Susanne eGrassmann

2015-08-01

Full Text Available When children are learning a novel object label, they tend to exclude as possible referents familiar objects for which they already have a name. In the current study, we wanted to know if children would behave in this same way regardless of how well they knew the name of potential referent objects, specifically, whether they could only comprehend it or they could both comprehend and produce it. Sixty-six monolingual German-speaking 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old children participated in two experimental sessions. In one session the familiar objects were chosen such that their labels were in the children's productive vocabularies, and in the other session the familiar objects were chosen such that their labels were only in the children's receptive vocabularies. Results indicated that children at all three ages were more likely to exclude a familiar object as the potential referent of the novel word if they could comprehend and produce its name rather than comprehend its name only. Indeed, level of word knowledge as operationalized in this way was a better predictor than was age. These results are discussed in the context of current theories of word learning by exclusion.

English words structure, history, usage

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Katamba, Francis

2015-01-01

How do we find the right word for the job? Where does that word come from? Why do we spell it like that? And how do we know what it means? Words are all around us - we use them every day to communicate our joys, fears, hopes, opinions, wishes and demands - but we don't often think about them too deeply. In this highly accessible introduction to English words, the reader will discover what the study of words can tell them about the extraordinary richness and complexity of our daily vocabulary and about the nature of language in general. Assuming no prior knowledge of linguistics, the book covers a wide range of topics, including the structure of words, the meaning of words, how their spelling relates to pronunciation, how new words are manufactured or imported from other languages, and how the meaning of words changes with the passage of time. It also investigates how the mind deals with words by highlighting the amazing intellectual feat performed routinely when the right word is retrieved from the mental dic...

When a text is translated does the complexity of its vocabulary change? Translations and target readerships.

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Hênio Henrique Aragão Rêgo

Full Text Available In linguistic studies, the academic level of the vocabulary in a text can be described in terms of statistical physics by using a "temperature" concept related to the text's word-frequency distribution. We propose a "comparative thermo-linguistic" technique to analyze the vocabulary of a text to determine its academic level and its target readership in any given language. We apply this technique to a large number of books by several authors and examine how the vocabulary of a text changes when it is translated from one language to another. Unlike the uniform results produced using the Zipf law, using our "word energy" distribution technique we find variations in the power-law behavior. We also examine some common features that span across languages and identify some intriguing questions concerning how to determine when a text is suitable for its intended readership.

When a Text Is Translated Does the Complexity of Its Vocabulary Change? Translations and Target Readerships

Science.gov (United States)

Rêgo, Hênio Henrique Aragão; Braunstein, Lidia A.; D′Agostino, Gregorio; Stanley, H. Eugene; Miyazima, Sasuke

2014-01-01

In linguistic studies, the academic level of the vocabulary in a text can be described in terms of statistical physics by using a “temperature” concept related to the text's word-frequency distribution. We propose a “comparative thermo-linguistic” technique to analyze the vocabulary of a text to determine its academic level and its target readership in any given language. We apply this technique to a large number of books by several authors and examine how the vocabulary of a text changes when it is translated from one language to another. Unlike the uniform results produced using the Zipf law, using our “word energy” distribution technique we find variations in the power-law behavior. We also examine some common features that span across languages and identify some intriguing questions concerning how to determine when a text is suitable for its intended readership. PMID:25353343

A Quantitative Content Analysis of Leveled Vocabulary Embedded within Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs)

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Haas, Leslie

2012-01-01

This content analysis examined levels of vocabulary within massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). A total of six MMORPGs were studied; three were pay-to-play (P2P), and three were free-to-play (F2P). Sixty hours of game play (10 hours per game) provided the researcher with 50,240 embedded vocabulary words. Each MMORPG was…

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

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

2014-01-01

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

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

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Chun, Eunjin; Choi, Sungmook; Kim, Junsoo

2012-07-19

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

The Role Of Playing Online Games In Teen’s Developing English Vocabulary

OpenAIRE

Ambarita, Ridho Vandi H

2016-01-01

This Thesis entitled "The Role of playing Online Games in Teens' Developing Vocabulary" This is a study of the influence of online gaming in the development of English vocabulary teenagers. This study using qualitative methods. Miles and Huberman (1994) defined the way of qualitative research was to find the meaning of data based on the goals stated by the researcher. This study is held in the SMP Neg. 45 Medan and some of his students became participant. Data from this study are the words co...

Age of acquisition effects in vocabulary learning.

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Palmer, Shekeila D; Havelka, Jelena

2010-11-01

Two experiments examined whether the age of acquisition (AoA) of a concept influences the speed at which native English speakers are able to name pictures using a newly acquired second language (L2) vocabulary. In Experiment 1, participants were taught L2 words associated with pictures. In Experiment 2 a second group of participants were taught the same words associated with L1 translations. Following training both groups performed a picture naming task in which they were asked to name pictures using the newly acquired words. Significant AoA effects were observed only in Experiment 1, in that participants were faster at naming pictures representing early acquired relative to late acquired concepts. The results suggest that the AoA of a concept can exert influence over processing which is independent of the AoA of the word form. The results also indicate that different training methods may lead to qualitative differences in the nature of the links formed between words and concepts during the earliest stages of second language learning. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Anatomical traces of vocabulary acquisition in the adolescent brain.

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Lee, HweeLing; Devlin, Joseph T; Shakeshaft, Clare; Stewart, Lauren H; Brennan, Amanda; Glensman, Jen; Pitcher, Katherine; Crinion, Jenny; Mechelli, Andrea; Frackowiak, Richard S J; Green, David W; Price, Cathy J

2007-01-31

A surprising discovery in recent years is that the structure of the adult human brain changes when a new cognitive or motor skill is learned. This effect is seen as a change in local gray or white matter density that correlates with behavioral measures. Critically, however, the cognitive and anatomical mechanisms underlying these learning-related structural brain changes remain unknown. Here, we combined brain imaging, detailed behavioral analyses, and white matter tractography in English-speaking monolingual adolescents to show that a critical linguistic prerequisite (namely, knowledge of vocabulary) is proportionately related to relative gray matter density in bilateral posterior supramarginal gyri. The effect was specific to the number of words learned, regardless of verbal fluency or other cognitive abilities. The identified region was found to have direct connections to other inferior parietal areas that separately process either the sounds of words or their meanings, suggesting that the posterior supramarginal gyrus plays a role in linking the basic components of vocabulary knowledge. Together, these analyses highlight the cognitive and anatomical mechanisms that mediate an essential language skill.

Effects of Hierarchy Vocabulary Exercises on English Vocabulary Acquisition

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Lin, Ching-Ying; Hsu, Wei Shu

2013-01-01

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

The Effects of Interactive Word Walls on Students with Learning Disabilities in the Secondary Science Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Eustace-DeBaun, Casey Elizabeth

Effective approaches for teaching vocabulary to various populations of learners is a topic of current research (Barr, Eslami, & Malatesha, 2012) yet little research is dedicated to students with learning disabilities in the science classroom. Within this study the interac-tive word wall was used as a tool to build vocabulary and to encourage usage of new sub-ject-specific terminology. The experiment utilized quasi-experimental pre-post test com-parison group design using interrupted time-series (Johnson & Christiensen, 2007) due to the inability to randomize participants and establish a clear control group. The data was collected across four units of terminology and with a student satisfaction survey. Stu-dents reported at least seventy percent satisfaction with the use of Interactive Word Walls and demonstrated some performance increase in both vocabulary retention and reading comprehension when utilizing Interactive Word Walls.

The Effectiveness of Synectics Instructional Model on Foreign Language Vocabulary Teaching

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Bahadır

2017-06-01

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

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

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Ayman A. Mohamed

2016-03-01

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

Online multilingual vocabulary system and its application in L2 learning

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Haruko Miyakoda

2010-06-01

Full Text Available In the field of second language teaching, vocabulary has been one of the most neglected areas in the classroom. Although language teachers/ instructors are well aware of the importance of vocabulary, there is not enough time in the classroom to actually “teach” vocabulary. Therefore, we need to find ways to promote autonomous vocabulary learning so that students can make good use of their time outside theclassrooms.In this study, we present an online vocabulary learning system that we have developed. The results obtained from our evaluation experiment indicate that our system is more effective in retaining the meaning of the words compared to the traditional learning method.As an example of applying this system to language learning, we will give a demonstration of a Japanese onomatopoeia dictionary that we are compiling. Onomatopoeia are especially troublesome for learners of the Japanese language. Although they are frequently used in both written and spoken Japanese, they are very difficult to translate to other languages. We demonstrate that by employing our system, learners are better able to understand the meaning and the context of eachlexical item.

An Action Research on Deep Word Processing Strategy Instruction

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Zhang, Limei

2010-01-01

For too long a time, how to memorize more words and keep them longer in mind has been a primary and everlasting problem for vocabulary teaching and learning. This study focused on deep processing as a word memorizing strategy in contextualizing, de- and re- contextualizing learning stages. It also examined possible effects of such pedagogy on…

NEWordS A News Search Engine for English Vocabulary Learning

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Xuejing Huang

2015-08-01

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

Introducing a Romanian Frequency List and the Romanian Vocabulary Levels Test

OpenAIRE

Szabo, Cz.

2015-01-01

Vocabulary is considered essential to language learning, thus English word lists and tests based on frequency information have become the centre of attention for researchers, teachers and learners alike. As a result, it is argued hereby that frequency based word lists and tests should be adapted and regarded as key elements for teaching and learning Romanian as an additional language as well. \\ud Since there are currently no reliable frequency lists and lexical tests in Romanian, this paper a...

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

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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…

Gradient phonological inconsistency affects vocabulary learning.

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Muench, Kristin L; Creel, Sarah C

2013-09-01

Learners frequently experience phonologically inconsistent input, such as exposure to multiple accents. Yet, little is known about the consequences of phonological inconsistency for language learning. The current study examines vocabulary acquisition with different degrees of phonological inconsistency, ranging from no inconsistency (e.g., both talkers call a picture /vig/) to mild but detectable inconsistency (e.g., one talker calls a picture a /vig/, and the other calls it a /vIg/), up to extreme inconsistency (e.g., the same picture is both a /vig/ and a /dIdʒ/). Previous studies suggest that learners readily extract consistent phonological patterns, given variable input. However, in Experiment 1, adults acquired phonologically inconsistent vocabularies more slowly than phonologically consistent ones. Experiment 2 examined whether word-form inconsistency alone, without phonological competition, was a source of learning difficulty. Even without phonological competition, listeners learned faster in 1 accent than in 2 accents, but they also learned faster in 2 accents (/vig/ = /vIg/) than with completely different labels (/vig/ = /dIdʒ/). Overall, results suggest that learners exposed to multiple accents may experience difficulty learning when 2 forms mismatch by more than 1 phonological feature, plus increased phonological competition due to a greater number of word forms. Implications for learning from variable input are discussed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The Role of Repeated Exposure to Multimodal Input in Incidental Acquisition of Foreign Language Vocabulary.

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Bisson, Marie-Josée; van Heuven, Walter J B; Conklin, Kathy; Tunney, Richard J

2014-12-01

Prior research has reported incidental vocabulary acquisition with complete beginners in a foreign language (FL), within 8 exposures to auditory and written FL word forms presented with a picture depicting their meaning. However, important questions remain about whether acquisition occurs with fewer exposures to FL words in a multimodal situation and whether there is a repeated exposure effect. Here we report a study where the number of exposures to FL words in an incidental learning phase varied between 2, 4, 6, and 8 exposures. Following the incidental learning phase, participants completed an explicit learning task where they learned to recognize written translation equivalents of auditory FL word forms, half of which had occurred in the incidental learning phase. The results showed that participants performed better on the words they had previously been exposed to, and that this incidental learning effect occurred from as little as 2 exposures to the multimodal stimuli. In addition, repeated exposure to the stimuli was found to have a larger impact on learning during the first few exposures and decrease thereafter, suggesting that the effects of repeated exposure on vocabulary acquisition are not necessarily constant.

Vocabularies of happiness

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Roxana Bratu

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper seeks to explore through interviews the vocabularies of happiness that interviewees invoke in face-to-face interactions to account for their happiness or lack thereof and, especially, for the (unhappiness of others. In other words, how do respondents present their own or others’ happiness – be they close or distant acquaintances, or people in general, in an interview conversation? Also, what understanding of others do these accounts make visible? This work embraces a discursive psychological (DP perspective, focusing on how different versions of happiness are being put together by respondents presenting themselves as competent and credible individuals, while at the same time positioning themselves in a moral order of happiness.

The Eastern Origin of English Words

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Ömer Şekerci

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Etymology is a branch of linguistics describing the origin of words, their changeand development. To-day the far reaching advances in linguistics and in ELT and EFLoblige us, teachers of English to know well not only the language itself but about thelanguage as well. So are they for the English vocabulary. This paper explains thereasons for the percentage of borrowings in the English language. Explanations for thisshould be sought in the eventful history of England. If to summarize the origin of theEnglish vocabulary, it can be roughly called Anglo-Saxon, Norman, Scandinavian andFrench. However, the borrowings are not confined only to these languages. There areborrowings from Arabic, Turkish, Indian and many others. Some of the borrowingshave been fully adapted to the phonetic system of the English language, while otherslook and sound as loan words. The English language can be regarded as the mosthospitable language in the world.

TEACHING VOCABULARY BY USING REALIA (REAL-OBJECT MEDIA

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Dodi Irawan

2017-03-01

Full Text Available English is one of scary subject for some students of Indonesia. The students feel afraid to speak in English because of their less word of vocabulary. Realia media is the one simple interesting media that may bring motivation for the student who afraid to study English. Teacher of English can use realia media and bring it in the class to get more attention, and participation of students. In this research, the writer try to focuses on how realia media make significant difference ability of vocabulary to the students. The reserach of this study used a quasi-experimental method the population of this research was taken from the seventh grade Students of SMP Negeri 23 Palembang in the academic of year 2015/2016. Based on the research, it found that there was a significance difference using Realia media in teaching vocabulary. From the result on this research, it was found that there is a significant difference in achievement before and after the treatment in experimental group.

Compiling an OPEC Word List: A Corpus-Informed Lexical Analysis

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Ebtisam Saleh Aluthman

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The present study is conducted within the borders of lexicographic research, where corpora have increasingly become all-pervasive. The overall goal of this study is to compile an open-source OPEC[1] Word List (OWL that is available for lexicographic research and vocabulary learning related to English language learning for the purpose of oil marketing and oil industries. To achieve this goal, an OPEC Monthly Reports Corpus (OMRC comprising of 1,004,542 words was compiled. The OMRC consists of 40 OPEC monthly reports released between 2003 and 2015. Consideration was given to both range and frequency criteria when compiling the OWL which consists of 255 word types. Along with this basic goal, this study aims to investigate the coverage of the most well-recognised word lists, the General Service List of English Words (GSL (West ,1953  and  the Academic Word List (AWL (Coxhead, 2000 in the OMRC corpus. The 255 word types included in the OWL are not overlapping with either the AWL or the GSL. Results suggest the necessity of making this discipline-specific word list for ESL students of oil marketing industries. The availability of the OWL has significant pedagogical contributions to curriculum design, learning activities and the overall process of vocabulary learning in the context of teaching English for specific purposes (ESP. OPEC stands for Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

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

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

2015-01-01

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

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

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

2017-07-01

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

Applying Cognitive Science Principles to Improve Retention of Science Vocabulary

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Shore, Rebecca; Ray, Jenna; Gooklasian, Paula

2015-01-01

We investigated whether three student-centred strategies influenced retention of science vocabulary words among 7th grade students. Two of the strategies (drawing pictures and talking about the definition of the terms) were developed to involve the students in more constructive and interactive exercises when compared to the technique that was in…

Task type and incidental L2 vocabulary learning: Repetition versus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study investigated the effect of task type on incidental L2 vocabulary learning. The different tasks investigated in this study differed in terms of repetition of encounters and task involvement load. In a within-subjects design, 72 Iranian learners of English practised 18 target words in three exercise conditions: three ...

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

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Darlene Godoy Oliveira

2014-11-01

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

The Keyword Method of Foreign Vocabulary Learning: An Investigation of Its Generalizability. Working Paper No. 270.

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Pressley, Michael; And Others

In five experiments, college-age students of differing foreign language-learning abilities were asked to learn Latin word translations to determine the effectiveness of the keyword method of foreign language vocabulary learning. The Latin words were the types for which it has been argued that the keyword method effects would be maximized (the…

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

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Hsu, Chihcheng; Yang, Fang-Chuan Ou

2013-05-01

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

Analysis of words to development of augmentative and alternative communication boards for disabled student

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Andréa Carla Paura

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyze the contribution of the words used in language assessment instruments and/or the vocabulary used in Brazil for the development of alternative communication boards. Methods: word lists from the selected assessment instruments were analyzed through a protocol designed for this purpose. The frequency of occurrence of each word was verified considering four word lists from the instruments and the frequency of occurrence of these words according to the classification proposed by Comunication Pictu Symbols system - PCS. Results: Results showed that the frequency words occurred only once was of 67.88% and the frequency of occurrence of concrete and abstract nouns in the instruments was 60.04%. The instrument that presented words with more than one occurrence was the Vocabulary Test-PPVT Peabody Picture. Conclusions: The use of tool that are already used and standardized may contribute to the process of evaluation, selection and deployment of augmentative and alternative communication resources for children and youth with disabilities.

Using Vocabulary Notebooks for Vocabulary Acquisition and Teaching

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Dubiner, Deborah

2017-01-01

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

Using an Online Vocabulary Memorization Tool versus Traditional Vocabulary Exercises

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Arif Bakla

2017-10-01

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

Does frequency count? Parental input and the acquisition of vocabulary.

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Goodman, Judith C; Dale, Philip S; Li, Ping

2008-08-01

Studies examining factors that influence when words are learned typically investigate one lexical category or a small set of words. We provide the first evaluation of the relation between input frequency and age of acquisition for a large sample of words. The MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory provides norming data on age of acquisition for 562 individual words collected from the parents of children aged 0 ; 8 to 2 ; 6. The CHILDES database provides estimates of frequency with which parents use these words with their children (age: 0 ; 7-7 ; 5; mean age: 36 months). For production, across all words higher parental frequency is associated with later acquisition. Within lexical categories, however, higher frequency is related to earlier acquisition. For comprehension, parental frequency correlates significantly with the age of acquisition only for common nouns. Frequency effects change with development. Thus, frequency impacts vocabulary acquisition in a complex interaction with category, modality and developmental stage.

The Effect of Known-and-Unknown Word Combinations on Intentional Vocabulary Learning

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Kasahara, Kiwamu

2011-01-01

The purpose of this study is to examine whether learning a known-and-unknown word combination is superior in terms of retention and retrieval of meaning to learning a single unknown word. The term "combination" in this study means a two-word collocation of a familiar word and a word that is new to the participants. Following the results of…

Word of the Day Improves and Redirects Student Attention while Supporting Vocabulary Development

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Vesely, Pamela J.; Gryder, Nancy L.

2009-01-01

To learn and master new concepts, including the acquisition of new vocabulary, students must be able to sustain attention during direct instruction, stay focused throughout the guided practice activity, and successfully complete the independent practice assignments. Yet, difficulty with maintaining attention is a common characteristic for students…

The paca that roared: Immediate cumulative semantic interference among newly acquired words.

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Oppenheim, Gary M

2018-08-01

With 40,000 words in the average vocabulary, how can speakers find the specific words that they want so quickly and easily? Cumulative semantic interference in language production provides a clue: when naming a large series of pictures, with a few mammals sprinkled about, naming each subsequent mammal becomes slower and more error-prone. Such interference mirrors predictions from an incremental learning algorithm applied to meaning-driven retrieval from an established vocabulary, suggesting retrieval benefits from a constant, implicit, re-optimization process (Oppenheim et al., 2010). But how quickly would a new mammal (e.g. paca) engage in this re-optimization? In this experiment, 18 participants studied 3 novel and 3 familiar exemplars from each of six semantic categories, and immediately performed a timed picture-naming task. Consistent with the learning model's predictions, naming latencies revealed immediate cumulative semantic interference in all directions: from new words to new words, from new words to old words, from old words to new words, and from old words to old words. Repeating the procedure several days later produced similar-magnitude effects, demonstrating that newly acquired words can be immediately semantically integrated, at least to the extent necessary to produce typical cumulative semantic interference. These findings extend the Dark Side model's scope to include novel word production, and are considered in terms of mechanisms for lexical selection. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Counting ability in Down syndrome: The comprehension of the one-to-one correspondence principle and the role of receptive vocabulary.

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Abreu-Mendoza, Roberto A; Arias-Trejo, Natalia

2017-10-01

The authors investigated whether children with Down's syndrome (DS) who have not started to produce number words understand the one-to-one correspondence principle (Experiment 1), and they looked at the relationship between number word knowledge and receptive vocabulary (Experiment 2). Sixteen children with DS who did not recite the count list participated in Experiment 1, along with 2 comparison groups: 1 of 16 children with DS who recited up to 10, paired by chronological age, and another of 16 typically developing children paired by their ability to recite the list. The understanding of the principle was evaluated by a preferential looking task. Children saw 1 of 2 conditions. In the number condition, they heard number words and in the beep condition they heard computerized beeps. In both conditions, children saw videos depicting counting events that were principle-consistent or principle-inconsistent. Experiment 2 evaluated 25 children with DS using the Give-a-Number task and the Receptive Vocabulary subtest of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence-III. In Experiment 1, children in the number condition preferred principle-consistent videos, independent of their ability to recite the count list. Experiment 2 showed a strong correlation between number word knowledge and receptive vocabulary scores, independent of chronological age. The results suggest that the difficulty of children with DS in acquiring counting ability might not reflect a lack of understanding of the one-to-one correspondence principle, but might instead be related to vocabulary development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Mothers' labeling responses to infants' gestures predict vocabulary outcomes.

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Olson, Janet; Masur, Elise Frank

2015-11-01

Twenty-nine infants aged 1;1 and their mothers were videotaped while interacting with toys for 18 minutes. Six experimental stimuli were presented to elicit infant communicative bids in two communicative intent contexts - proto-declarative and proto-imperative. Mothers' verbal responses to infants' gestural and non-gestural communicative bids were coded for object and action labels. Relations between maternal labeling responses and infants' vocabularies at 1;1 and 1;5 were examined. Mothers' labeling responses to infants' gestural communicative bids were concurrently and predictively related to infants' vocabularies, whereas responses to non-gestural communicative bids were not. Mothers' object labeling following gestures in the proto-declarative context mediated the association from infants' gesturing in the proto-declarative context to concurrent noun lexicons and was the strongest predictor of subsequent noun lexicons. Mothers' action labeling after infants' gestural bids in the proto-imperative context predicted infants' acquisition of action words at 1;5. Findings show that mothers' responsive labeling explain specific relations between infants' gestures and their vocabulary development.

Learning the Language of Locomotion: Do Children Use Biomechanical Structure to Constrain Hypotheses about Word Meaning?

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Malt, Barbara C.; White, Anne; Ameel, Eef; Storms, Gert

2016-01-01

Much has been said about children's strategies for mapping elements of meaning to words in toddlerhood. However, children continue to refine word meanings and patterns of word use into middle childhood and beyond, even for common words appearing in early vocabulary. We address where children past toddlerhood diverge from adults and where they more…

Nora: A Vocabulary Discovery Tool for Concept Extraction.

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Divita, Guy; Carter, Marjorie E; Durgahee, B S Begum; Pettey, Warren E; Redd, Andrew; Samore, Matthew H; Gundlapalli, Adi V

2015-01-01

Coverage of terms in domain-specific terminologies and ontologies is often limited in controlled medical vocabularies. Creating and augmenting such terminologies is resource intensive. We developed Nora as an interactive tool to discover terminology from text corpora; the output can then be employed to refine and enhance natural language processing-based concept extraction tasks. Nora provides a visualization of chains of words foraged from word frequency indexes from a text corpus. Domain experts direct and curate chains that contain relevant terms, which are further curated to identify lexical variants. A test of Nora demonstrated an increase of a domain lexicon in homelessness and related psychosocial factors by 38%, yielding an additional 10% extracted concepts.

The effect of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition

OpenAIRE

Bozkurt, Neval

2007-01-01

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

The pace of vocabulary growth helps predict later vocabulary skill

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

2011-01-01

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

Curriculum Q-Learning for Visual Vocabulary Acquisition

OpenAIRE

Zaidi, Ahmed H.; Moore, Russell; Briscoe, Ted

2017-01-01

The structure of curriculum plays a vital role in our learning process, both as children and adults. Presenting material in ascending order of difficulty that also exploits prior knowledge can have a significant impact on the rate of learning. However, the notion of difficulty and prior knowledge differs from person to person. Motivated by the need for a personalised curriculum, we present a novel method of curriculum learning for vocabulary words in the form of visual prompts. We employ a re...

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

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Yogi Widiawati

2017-11-01

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

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

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Faraj, Avan Kamal Aziz

2015-01-01

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

You know what it is: learning words through listening to hip-hop.

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Chesley, Paula

2011-01-01

Music listeners have difficulty correctly understanding and remembering song lyrics. However, results from the present study support the hypothesis that young adults can learn African-American English (AAE) vocabulary from listening to hip-hop music. Non-African-American participants first gave free-response definitions to AAE vocabulary items, after which they answered demographic questions as well as questions addressing their social networks, their musical preferences, and their knowledge of popular culture. Results from the survey show a positive association between the number of hip-hop artists listened to and AAE comprehension vocabulary scores. Additionally, participants were more likely to know an AAE vocabulary item if the hip-hop artists they listen to use the word in their song lyrics. Together, these results suggest that young adults can acquire vocabulary through exposure to hip-hop music, a finding relevant for research on vocabulary acquisition, the construction of adolescent and adult identities, and the adoption of lexical innovations.

You know what it is: learning words through listening to hip-hop.

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Paula Chesley

Full Text Available Music listeners have difficulty correctly understanding and remembering song lyrics. However, results from the present study support the hypothesis that young adults can learn African-American English (AAE vocabulary from listening to hip-hop music. Non-African-American participants first gave free-response definitions to AAE vocabulary items, after which they answered demographic questions as well as questions addressing their social networks, their musical preferences, and their knowledge of popular culture. Results from the survey show a positive association between the number of hip-hop artists listened to and AAE comprehension vocabulary scores. Additionally, participants were more likely to know an AAE vocabulary item if the hip-hop artists they listen to use the word in their song lyrics. Together, these results suggest that young adults can acquire vocabulary through exposure to hip-hop music, a finding relevant for research on vocabulary acquisition, the construction of adolescent and adult identities, and the adoption of lexical innovations.

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

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Greenwood, Scott

2004-01-01

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

Measuring growth in bilingual and monolingual children's english productive vocabulary development: the utility of combining parent and teacher report.

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Vagh, Shaher Banu; Pan, Barbara Alexander; Mancilla-Martinez, Jeannette

2009-01-01

This longitudinal study examined growth in the English productive vocabularies of bilingual and monolingual children between ages 24 and 36 months and explored the utility and validity of supplementing parent reports with teacher reports to improve the estimation of children's vocabulary. Low-income, English-speaking and English/Spanish-speaking parents and Early Head Start and Head Start program teachers completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory, Words and Sentences for 85 children. Results indicate faster growth rates for monolingual than for bilingual children and larger vocabularies for bilingual children who spoke mostly English than mostly Spanish at home. Parent-teacher composite reports, like parent reports, significantly related to children's directly assessed productive vocabulary at ages 30 and 36 months, but parent reports fit the model better. Implications for vocabulary assessment are discussed.

Sign-Supported English: is it effective at teaching vocabulary to young children with English as an Additional Language?

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Marshall, Chloë R; Hobsbaum, Angela

2015-01-01

Children who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL) may start school with smaller vocabularies than their monolingual peers. Given the links between vocabulary and academic achievement, it is important to evaluate interventions that are designed to support vocabulary learning in this group of children. To evaluate an intervention, namely Sign-Supported English (SSE), which uses conventionalized manual gestures alongside spoken words to support the learning of English vocabulary by children with EAL. Specifically, the paper investigates whether SSE has a positive impact on Reception class children's vocabulary development over and above English-only input, as measured over a 6-month period. A total of 104 children aged 4-5 years were recruited from two neighbouring schools in a borough of Outer London. A subset of 66 had EAL. In one school, the teachers used SSE, and in the other school they did not. Pupils in each school were tested at two time points (the beginning of terms 1 and 3) using three different assessments of vocabulary. Classroom-based observations of the teachers' and pupils' manual communication were also carried out. Results of the vocabulary assessments revealed that using SSE had no effect on how well children with EAL learnt English vocabulary: EAL pupils from the SSE school did not learn more words than EAL pupils at the comparison school. SSE was used in almost half of the teachers' observations in the SSE school, while spontaneous gestures were used with similar frequency by teachers in the comparison school. There are alternative explanations for the results. The first is that the use of signs alongside spoken English does not help EAL children of this age to learn words. Alternatively, SSE does have an effect, but we were unable to detect it because (1) teachers in the comparison school used very rich natural gesture and/or (2) teachers in the SSE school did not know enough BSL and this inhibited their use of spontaneous gesture

Bilinguals' Existing Languages Benefit Vocabulary Learning in a Third Language.

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Bartolotti, James; Marian, Viorica

2017-03-01

Learning a new language involves substantial vocabulary acquisition. Learners can accelerate this process by relying on words with native-language overlap, such as cognates. For bilingual third language learners, it is necessary to determine how their two existing languages interact during novel language learning. A scaffolding account predicts transfer from either language for individual words, whereas an accumulation account predicts cumulative transfer from both languages. To compare these accounts, twenty English-German bilingual adults were taught an artificial language containing 48 novel written words that varied orthogonally in English and German wordlikeness (neighborhood size and orthotactic probability). Wordlikeness in each language improved word production accuracy, and similarity to one language provided the same benefit as dual-language overlap. In addition, participants' memory for novel words was affected by the statistical distributions of letters in the novel language. Results indicate that bilinguals utilize both languages during third language acquisition, supporting a scaffolding learning model.

The Role of Consulting a Dictionary in Reading and Vocabulary Learning

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Carol A. Fraser

1999-12-01

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

Napping facilitates word learning in early lexical development.

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Horváth, Klára; Myers, Kyle; Foster, Russell; Plunkett, Kim

2015-10-01

Little is known about the role that night-time sleep and daytime naps play in early cognitive development. Our aim was to investigate how napping affects word learning in 16-month-olds. Thirty-four typically developing infants were assigned randomly to nap and wake groups. After teaching two novel object-word pairs to infants, we tested their initial performance with an intermodal preferential looking task in which infants are expected to increase their target looking time compared to a distracter after hearing its auditory label. A second test session followed after approximately a 2-h delay. The delay contained sleep for the nap group or no sleep for the wake group. Looking behaviour was measured with an automatic eye-tracker. Vocabulary size was assessed using the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory. A significant interaction between group and session was found in preferential looking towards the target picture. The performance of the nap group increased after the nap, whereas that of the wake group did not change. The gain in performance correlated positively with the expressive vocabulary size in the nap group. These results indicate that daytime napping helps consolidate word learning in infancy. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Expressive vocabulary and auditory processing in children with deviant speech acquisition.

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Quintas, Victor Gandra; Mezzomo, Carolina Lisbôa; Keske-Soares, Márcia; Dias, Roberta Freitas

2010-01-01

expressive vocabulary and auditory processing in children with phonological disorder. to compare the performance of children with phonological disorder in a vocabulary test with the parameters indicated by the same test and to verify a possible relationship between this performance and auditory processing deficits. participants were 12 children diagnosed with phonological disorders, with ages ranging from 5 to 7 years, of both genders. Vocabulary was assessed using the ABFW language test and the simplified auditory processing evaluation (sorting), Alternate Dichotic Dissyllable - Staggered Spondaic Word (SSW), Pitch Pattern Sequence (PPS) and the Binaural Fusion Test (BF). considering performance in the vocabulary test, all children obtained results with no significant statistical. As for the auditory processing assessment, all children presented better results than expected; the only exception was on the sorting process testing, where the mean accuracy score was of 8.25. Regarding the performance in the other auditory processing tests, the mean accuracy averages were 6.50 in the SSW, 10.74 in the PPS and 7.10 in the BF. When correlating the performance obtained in both assessments, considering p>0.05, the results indicated that, despite the normality, the lower the value obtained in the auditory processing assessment, the lower the accuracy presented in the vocabulary test. A trend was observed for the semantic fields of "means of transportation and professions". Considering the classification categories of the vocabulary test, the SP (substitution processes) were the categories that presented the higher significant increase in all semantic fields. there is a correlation between the auditory processing and the lexicon, where vocabulary can be influenced in children with deviant speech acquisition.

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

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

2015-12-01

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

PLACE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF LATINISMS IN THE SLOVAK VOCABULARY

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Katarína Karabová

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary of any language undergoes a natural evolution. In many cases this centuries-long process is related to several factors, including the penetration of new words into the language lexis. Similarly, the historical development of the Slovak language and its enhancement can be observed by examining the adoption of words from other languages. At a time when Latin was the only official language as well as the language of scholars and religious institutions in the Hungarian Kingdom, the penetration of Latinisms into the lexis of the old Slovak was significant. This trend was still evident in the 18th and 19th centuries marked by the beginning revivalist efforts. Domestication of adopted words - that initially stood at the edge of the language standard - was significantly influenced by innovative trends and technologies. The study does not primarily examine penetration of foreign words from modern languages, but it aims to analyse the process of naturalisation of Latinisms in Slovak and their use at different language levels.

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

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Pellicer-Sanchez, Ana; Schmitt, Norbert

2010-01-01

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

The acquisition of productive vocabulary in Spanish children with Down syndrome.

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Galeote, Miguel; Soto, Pilar; Checa, Elena; Gómez, Aurora; Lamela, Elena

2008-12-01

It is generally assumed that children with Down syndrome (DS) present a deficit in lexical production relative to their cognitive abilities. However, the literature on this topic has recently shown several contradictory results. In addition, most studies only consider vocabulary production in its vocal modality. However it is also necessary to take into account gesture production, since this is a strength in children with DS. Our main purpose in this study, therefore, was to investigate the relationship between cognitive development and vocabulary size in both its vocal and gestural modalities in a broad sample of Spanish children with DS. Participants in the study were 66 children with DS and 66 children with typical development (TD), with a mental age (MA) of 14-28 months (divided into five groups with a MA of 14-16, 17-19, 20-22, 23-25 and 26-28 months). Children were matched on the basis of their gender and MA. Productive vocabularies were collected using an adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates CDI for children with DS. In vocal modality, the number of words produced by children with DS and children with TD is similar. As in previous studies, our data confirmed that gestural communication is superior in children with DS. However, when words and gestures are combined, the performance of both groups of children is practically equal. Our results do not support a specific dissociation between cognitive and lexical development in children with DS.

Novel word retention in sequential bilingual children.

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Kan, Pui Fong

2014-03-01

Children's ability to learn and retain new words is fundamental to their vocabulary development. This study examined word retention in children learning a home language (L1) from birth and a second language (L2) in preschool settings. Participants were presented with sixteen novel words in L1 and in L2 and were tested for retention after either a 2-month or a 4-month delay. Results showed that children retained more words in L1 than in L2 for both of the retention interval conditions. In addition, children's word retention was associated with their existing language knowledge and their fast-mapping performance within and across language. The patterns of association, however, were different between L1 and L2. These findings suggest that children's word retention might be related to the interactions of various components that are operating within a dynamic system.

The Role of E-Vocabularies in the Description and Retrieval of Digital Educational Resources

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Ana M. Fernández-Pampillón

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Vocabularies are linguistic resources that make it possible to access knowledge through words. They can constitute a mechanism to identify, describe, explore, and access all the digital resources with informational content pertaining to a specific knowledge domain. In this regard, they play a key role as systems for the representation and organization of knowledge in environments in which content is created and used in a collaborative and free manner, as is the case of social wikis and blogs on the Internet or educational content in e-learning environments. In e-learning environments, electronic vocabularies (e-vocabularies constitute a mechanism for conceptual representation of digital educational resources. They enable human and software agents either to locate and interpret resource content in large digital repositories, including the web, or to use them (vocabularies as an educational resource by itself to learn a discipline terminology. This review article describes what e-vocabularies are, what they are like, how they are used, how they work, and what they contribute to the retrieval of digital educational resources. The goal is to contribute to a clearer view of the concepts which we regard as crucial to understand e-vocabularies and their use in the field of e-learning to describe and retrieve digital educational resources.

The Effect of Mnemonic and Mapping Techniques on L2 Vocabulary Learning

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Abbas Ali Zarei

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The present study investigated the effects of selected presentation techniques including the keyword method, the peg word method, the loci method, argument mapping, concept mapping and mind mapping on L2 vocabulary comprehension and production. To this end, a sample of 151 Iranian female students from a public pre-university school in Islam Shahr was selected. They were assigned to six groups. Each group was randomly assigned to one of the afore-mentioned treatment conditions. After the experimental period, two post-tests in multiple choice and fill-in-the-blanks formats were administered to assess the participants’ vocabulary comprehension and production. Two independent One-Way ANOVA procedures were used to analyze the obtained data. The results showed that the differences among the effects of the above-mentioned techniques were statistically significant in both vocabulary comprehension and production. These findings can have implications for learners, teachers, and materials’ developers.

Effects of Lexical Modification on Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition of Iranian EFL Students

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Negari, Giti Mousapour; Rouhi, Mahdieh

2012-01-01

The present article reports on the results of a study designed to investigate the effects of two types of lexical modification i.e., lexical simplification and elaboration, on incidental vocabulary acquisition of Iranian EFL learners.To this end, four versions of experimental texts containing 20 target words were created: baseline and simplified…

Current trends in small vocabulary speech recognition for equipment control

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Doukas, Nikolaos; Bardis, Nikolaos G.

2017-09-01

Speech recognition systems allow human - machine communication to acquire an intuitive nature that approaches the simplicity of inter - human communication. Small vocabulary speech recognition is a subset of the overall speech recognition problem, where only a small number of words need to be recognized. Speaker independent small vocabulary recognition can find significant applications in field equipment used by military personnel. Such equipment may typically be controlled by a small number of commands that need to be given quickly and accurately, under conditions where delicate manual operations are difficult to achieve. This type of application could hence significantly benefit by the use of robust voice operated control components, as they would facilitate the interaction with their users and render it much more reliable in times of crisis. This paper presents current challenges involved in attaining efficient and robust small vocabulary speech recognition. These challenges concern feature selection, classification techniques, speaker diversity and noise effects. A state machine approach is presented that facilitates the voice guidance of different equipment in a variety of situations.

Quantity and structure of word knowledge across adulthood.

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Salthouse, Timothy A

2014-09-01

Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from moderately large samples of healthy adults confirmed prior findings of age-related declines in measures of the quantity of word knowledge beginning around age 65. Additional analyses were carried out to investigate the interrelations of different types of vocabulary knowledge at various periods in adulthood. Although the organizational structures were similar in adults of different ages, scores on tests with different formats had weaker relations to a higher-order vocabulary construct beginning when adults were in their 60's. The within-person dispersion among different vocabulary test scores was also greater after about 65 years of age. The discovery of quantitative decreases in amount of knowledge occurring at about the same age as qualitative shifts in the structure of knowledge raises the possibility that the two types of changes may be causally linked.

The problem of polysemy in the first thousand words of the General Service List: A corpus study of secondary chemistry texts

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Clemmons, Karina

Vocabulary in a second language is an indispensable building block of all comprehension (Folse, 2006; Nation, 2006). Teachers in content area classes such as science, math, and social studies frequently teach content specific vocabulary, but are not aware of the obstacles that can occur when students do not know the basic words. Word lists such as the General Service List (GSL) were created to assist students and teachers (West, 1953). The GSL does not adequately take into account the high level of polysemy of many common English words, nor has it been updated by genre to reflect specific content domains encountered by secondary science students in today's high stakes classes such as chemistry. This study examines how many words of the first 1000 words of the GSL occurred in the secondary chemistry textbooks sampled, how often the first 1000 words of the GSL were polysemous, and specifically which multiple meanings occurred. A discussion of results includes word tables that list multiple meanings present, example phrases that illustrate the context surrounding the target words, suggestions for a GSL that is genre specific to secondary chemistry textbooks and that is ranked by meaning as well as type, and implications for both vocabulary materials and classroom instruction for ELLs in secondary chemistry classes. Findings are essential to second language (L2) researchers, materials developers, publishers, and teachers.

Effects of Presentation Modes on Mobile-Assisted Vocabulary Learning and Cognitive Load

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Lin, Chih-Cheng; Yu, Ya-Chuan

2017-01-01

Previous studies of multimedia presentations have determined the effects of the combination of text and pictures on vocabulary learning, but not those of the sound of new words. This study was intended to confirm those previous findings from the integration of mobile technologies and the approach of cognitive load. It adopted a within-subjects…

A Comparative Study of Paper-based and Computer-based Contextualization in Vocabulary Learning of EFL Students

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Mousa Ahmadian

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Vocabulary acquisition is one of the largest and most important tasks in language classes. New technologies, such as computers, have helped a lot in this way. The importance of the issue led the researchers to do the present study which concerns the comparison of contextualized vocabulary learning on paper and through Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL. To this end, 52 Pre-university EFL learners were randomly assigned in two groups: a paper-based group (PB and a computer-based (CB group each with 26 learners. The PB group received PB contextualization of vocabulary items, while the CB group received CB contextualization of the vocabulary items thorough PowerPoint (PP software. One pretest, posttest, along with an immediate and a delayed posttest were given to the learners. Paired samples t-test of pretest and posttest and independent samples t-test of the delayed and immediate posttest were executed by SPSS software. The results revealed that computer-based contextualization had more effects on vocabulary learning of Iranian EFL learners than paper-based contextualization of the words. Keywords: Computer-based contextualization, Paper-based contextualization, Vocabulary learning, CALL

Helping Children Learn Vocabulary during Computer-Assisted Oral Reading

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Gregory Aist

2002-04-01

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

Vocabulary used by ethno-linguistically diverse South African toddlers: a parent report using the language development survey.

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Gonasillan, A; Bornman, J; Harty, M

2013-12-01

The primary aim of this study was to ascertain the relevance of the vocabulary of the Language Development Survey (LDS) for typically developing South African toddlers who attend ethno-linguistically diverse early childhood development centres. The need for exploration of the expressive vocabulary of this population stems from the diverse linguistic contexts to which toddlers are exposed on a day-to-day basis in South Africa. Many parents prefer English as the language of learning and teaching for their child. As a result, toddlers interact with ethno-linguistically diverse peers from a young age, usually within their early childhood development centres. An adapted version of the LDS was presented to 40 middle-class parents in Mpumalanga. Vocabulary commonly used by toddlers was determined and a comparison of parent responses made between the present study and the original American-based survey. Results revealed that nouns were used most often by toddlers, in keeping with research on vocabulary acquisition. Significant correlations between the two groups were evident in 12 of the 14 categories. Parents reported that nouns, verbs, adjectives and words from other word classes were used similarly by toddlers, despite differences in their linguistic exposure. These findings suggest that the LDS is a valuable clinical screening tool for speech-language therapists who deliver services to toddlers within the South African context.

Effect of Test-Expectancy and Word Bank Availability on Test Performance

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Glass, Laura A.; Clause, Christopher B.; Kreiner, David S.

2007-01-01

We examined test-expectancy as it applies to fill-in-the-blank tests. We randomly assigned 60 college students to take a fill-in-the-blank vocabulary test in one of three conditions. Two groups took the test with a word bank available; we told one group but not the other that they would have a word bank. The third group took the test with no word…

Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition at age 2 in children born between 23 and 28 weeks' gestation.

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Marston, Louise; Peacock, Janet L; Calvert, Sandra A; Greenough, Anne; Marlow, Neil

2007-08-01

Language development is often slower in preterm children compared with their term peers. We investigated factors associated with vocabulary acquisition at 2 years in a cohort of children born at 28 weeks' gestation or less. For children entered into the United Kingdom Oscillation Study, language development was evaluated by using the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories score, completed by parents as part of a developmental questionnaire. The effect of demographic, neonatal, socioeconomic factors, growth, and disability were investigated using multifactorial random effects modelling. Questionnaires were returned by 288 participants (148 males, 140 females). The mean number of words vocalized was 42 (SD 29). Multifactorial analysis showed only four factors were significantly associated with vocabulary acquisition. These were: (1) level of disability (mean words: no disability, 45; other disability, 38; severe disability, 30 [severe disability is defined as at least one extreme response in one of the following clinical domains: neuromotor, vision, hearing, communication, or other physical disabilities]; 95% confidence interval [CI] for the difference between no and severe disability 7- 23); (2) sex (39 males, 44 females; 95% CI 0.4-11); (3) length of hospital stay (lower quartile, 47; upper quartile, 38; 95% CI -12 to -4); and (4) weight SD score at 12 months (lower quartile, 39; upper quartile, 44; 95% CI 1-9). There was no significant association between gestational age and vocabulary after multifactorial analysis. There was no significant effect of any socioeconomic factor on vocabulary acquisition. We conclude that clinical factors, particularly indicators of severe morbidity, dominate the correlates of vocabulary acquisition at age 2 in children born very preterm.

Parasitism as the main factor shaping peptide vocabularies in current organisms.

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Zemková, Michaela; Zahradník, Daniel; Mokrejš, Martin; Flegr, Jaroslav

2017-06-01

Self/non-self-discrimination by vertebrate immune systems is based on the recognition of the presence of peptides in proteins of a parasite that are not contained in the proteins of a host. Therefore, a reduction of the number of 'words' in its own peptide vocabulary could be an efficient evolutionary strategy of parasites for escaping recognition. Here, we compared peptide vocabularies of 30 endoparasitic and 17 free-living unicellular organisms and also eight multicellular parasitic and 16 multicellular free-living organisms. We found that both unicellular and multicellular parasites used a significantly lower number of different pentapeptides than free-living controls. Impoverished pentapeptide vocabularies in parasites were observed across all five clades that contain both the parasitic and free-living species. The effect of parasitism on a number of peptides used in an organism's proteins is larger than effects of all other studied factors, including the size of a proteome, the number of encoded proteins, etc. This decrease of pentapeptide diversity was partly compensated for by an increased number of hexapeptides. Our results support the hypothesis of parasitism-associated reduction of peptide vocabulary and suggest that T-cell receptors mostly recognize the five amino acids-long part of peptides that are presented in the groove of major histocompatibility complex molecules.

Video Game Vocabulary : The effect of video games on Swedish learners‟ word comprehension

OpenAIRE

Laveborn, Joel

2009-01-01

Video games are very popular among children in the Western world. This study was done in order to investigate if video games had an effect on 49 Swedish students‟ comprehension of English words (grades 7-8). The investigation was based on questionnaire and word test data. The questionnaire aimed to measure with which frequency students were playing video games, and the word test aimed to measure their word comprehension in general. In addition, data from the word test were used to investigate...

Mutual Exclusivity Develops as a Consequence of Abstract Rather than Particular Vocabulary Knowledge

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Kalashnikova, Marina; Mattock, Karen; Monaghan, Padraic

2016-01-01

Mutual exclusivity (ME) refers to the assumption that there are one-to-one relations between linguistic forms and their meanings. It is used as a word-learning strategy whereby children tend to map novel labels to unfamiliar rather than familiar referents. Previous research has indicated a relation between ME and vocabulary development, which…

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

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Gholam-reza Abbasian

2009-10-01

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

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

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Karen Thompson

2012-10-01

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

Fine motor skills enhance lexical processing of embodied vocabulary: A test of the nimble-hands, nimble-minds hypothesis.

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Suggate, Sebastian; Stoeger, Heidrun

2017-10-01

Research suggests that fine motor skills (FMS) are linked to aspects of cognitive development in children. Additionally, lexical processing advantages exist for words implying a high body-object interaction (BOI), with initial findings indicating that such words in turn link to children's FMS-for which we propose and evaluate four competing hypotheses. First, a maturational account argues that any links between FMS and lexical processing should not exist once developmental variables are controlled for. Second, functionalism posits that any link between FMS and lexical processing arises due to environmental interactions. Third, the semantic richness hypothesis argues that sensorimotor input improves lexical processing, but predicts no links between FMS and lexical processing. A fourth account, the nimble-hands, nimble minds (NHNM) hypothesis, proposes that having greater FMS improves lexical processing for high-BOI words. In two experiments, the response latencies of preschool children (n = 90, n = 76, ages = 5;1) to 45 lexical items encompassing high-BOI, low-BOI, and less imageable words were measured, alongside measures of FMS, reasoning, and general receptive/expressive vocabulary. High-BOI words appeared to show unique links to FMS, which remained after accounting for low-BOI and less imageable words, general vocabulary, reasoning, and chronological age. Although further work is needed, the findings provide initial support for the NHNM hypothesis.

Cross-situational statistical word learning in young children.

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Suanda, Sumarga H; Mugwanya, Nassali; Namy, Laura L

2014-10-01

Recent empirical work has highlighted the potential role of cross-situational statistical word learning in children's early vocabulary development. In the current study, we tested 5- to 7-year-old children's cross-situational learning by presenting children with a series of ambiguous naming events containing multiple words and multiple referents. Children rapidly learned word-to-object mappings by attending to the co-occurrence regularities across these ambiguous naming events. The current study begins to address the mechanisms underlying children's learning by demonstrating that the diversity of learning contexts affects performance. The implications of the current findings for the role of cross-situational word learning at different points in development are discussed along with the methodological implications of employing school-aged children to test hypotheses regarding the mechanisms supporting early word learning. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

German Vocabulary.

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Coombs, Virginia M.

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

Word learning in deaf children with cochlear implants: effects of early auditory experience.

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Houston, Derek M; Stewart, Jessica; Moberly, Aaron; Hollich, George; Miyamoto, Richard T

2012-05-01

Word-learning skills were tested in normal-hearing 12- to 40-month-olds and in deaf 22- to 40-month-olds 12 to 18 months after cochlear implantation. Using the Intermodal Preferential Looking Paradigm (IPLP), children were tested for their ability to learn two novel-word/novel-object pairings. Normal-hearing children demonstrated learning on this task at approximately 18 months of age and older. For deaf children, performance on this task was significantly correlated with early auditory experience: Children whose cochlear implants were switched on by 14 months of age or who had relatively more hearing before implantation demonstrated learning in this task, but later implanted profoundly deaf children did not. Performance on this task also correlated with later measures of vocabulary size. Taken together, these findings suggest that early auditory experience facilitates word learning and that the IPLP may be useful for identifying children who may be at high risk for poor vocabulary development. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

More is More: The Relationship between Vocabulary Size and Word Extension

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Thom, Emily E.; Sandhofer, Catherine M.

2009-01-01

This study experimentally tested the relationship between children's lexicon size and their ability to learn new words within the domain of color. We manipulated the size of 25 20-month-olds' color lexicons by training them with two, four, or six different color words over the course of eight training sessions. We subsequently tested children's…

The long past and short history of the vocabulary of Anglophone psychology.

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Benjafield, John G

2012-02-01

How do particular words come to be part of the vocabulary of Anglophone psychology? The present study sampled 600 words with psychological senses from the Oxford English Dictionary, which not only gives the number of senses for each word but also the date and author for the earliest known occurrence of each sense. Analogous information for the same words was taken from PsycINFO. One can distinguish between words for which their psychological sense is the first to occur in the history of the written language (primary psychological words) and words for which their psychological sense only emerges after one or more other senses have become established in the written language (secondary psychological words). To use a distinction made famous by Ebbinghaus, secondary psychological words have both a past and a history in psychology, while primary psychological words only have a history. Secondary psychological words have more connections to other words and occur more frequently in PsycINFO than do primary psychological words. For secondary psychological words, it is possible to trace a process of metaphoric polysemy that provides a basis for the eventual occurrence of the psychological sense of a word. Some primary psychological words are now developing secondary, nonpsychological senses, showing that they are subject to the same metaphoric process as are any other words.

Replication Studies: Vocabulary Knowledge in Relation to Memory and Analysis--An Approximate Replication of Milton's (2007) Study on Lexical Profiles and Learning Style

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Booth, Paul

2013-01-01

This paper presents an approximate replication of Milton's (2007) study on lexical profiles and learning style. Milton investigated the assumption that more frequent words are acquired before less frequent ones. Using a vocabulary recognition test ("X-Lex") to measure vocabulary size, Milton found that L2 English group profiles show…

Powerful versus Popular: Definition and Distinction of Social Vocabulary in the Middle School

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Burwell, Julie; Stone, Robert

2012-01-01

Two middle school teachers consider the function of the word popular in middle school life and illustrate that the lesser used term powerful is often more applicable. They offer an alternative vocabulary for social standing and examine the factors that can influence that standing. By discussing the manifold ways that the social life of students…

The effect of the integration of talking toys on preschoolers’ vocabulary learning in English

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Burcu Güngör

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Appropriate conditions and suitable materials can inspire young children to learn a new language effortlessly. The present study attempted to investigate the effects of English talking toys as teaching materials on vocabulary learning of very young learners (VYL based on their gender. The study was conducted at one of the public preschools in Yenimahalle/Ankara with 48 five-year old children from two classes. The first group of students was the experimental group and they were instructed using English talking toys as a teaching material. On the other hand, the other class was the control group and was instructed using flashcards. The target vocabulary for this study, which was incorporated into a Vocabulary Checklist Test, was developed after a close scrutiny of the relevant literature (i.e. vocabulary learning in young learners and examination of the theme-related curriculum employed in the chosen preschool. To assess preschoolers' learning of target words in English, a new Vocabulary Checklist Test was developed by the researcher. The results of a series of t-tests showed that the class instructed with English talking toys performed better on both receptive and expressive/productive vocabulary. The results also indicated that there was not any significant difference between males and females in terms of the effect of English talking toys on preschool children's vocabulary learning. The findings suggest that English talking toys are not only used for entertainment and recreational purposes, they can also be used as teaching material particularly when it comes to teaching basic English vocabulary. The current study contributed to areas such as early childhood education, foreign/second language learning, foreign language testing and evaluation.

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

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Zhang, Xian; Lu, Xiaofei

2015-01-01

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

A database for semantic, grammatical, and frequency properties of the first words acquired by Italian children.

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Rinaldi, Pasquale; Barca, Laura; Burani, Cristina

2004-08-01

The CFVlexvar.xls database includes imageability, frequency, and grammatical properties of the first words acquired by Italian children. For each of 519 words that are known by children 18-30 months of age (taken from Caselli & Casadio's, 1995, Italian version of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory), new values of imageability are provided and values for age of acquisition, child written frequency, and adult written and spoken frequency are included. In this article, correlations among the variables are discussed and the words are grouped into grammatical categories. The results show that words acquired early have imageable referents, are frequently used in the texts read and written by elementary school children, and are frequent in adult written and spoken language. Nouns are acquired earlier and are more imageable than both verbs and adjectives. The composition in grammatical categories of the child's first vocabulary reflects the composition of adult vocabulary. The full set of these norms can be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive/.

Intelligent Agent for Acquisition of the Mother Tongue Vocabulary

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Grigor Moldovan

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the following: firstly, the basic ideas of a system that simulate how we consider that a child acquires the mother tongue vocabulary and makes the correspondences between objects, words and senses; secondly: the mechanism for a system that can learn the mother tongue vocabulary using observations and, thirdly, how to make an intelligent agent that can behave like a little child, in the process of mother tongue acquisition.

Visual word learning in adults with dyslexia

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Rosa Kit Wan Kwok

2014-05-01

Full Text Available We investigated word learning in university and college students with a diagnosis of dyslexia and in typically-reading controls. Participants read aloud short (4-letter and longer (7-letter nonwords as quickly as possible. The nonwords were repeated across 10 blocks, using a different random order in each block. Participants returned 7 days later and repeated the experiment. Accuracy was high in both groups. The dyslexics were substantially slower than the controls at reading the nonwords throughout the experiment. They also showed a larger length effect, indicating less effective decoding skills. Learning was demonstrated by faster reading of the nonwords across repeated presentations and by a reduction in the difference in reading speeds between shorter and longer nonwords. The dyslexics required more presentations of the nonwords before the length effect became non-significant, only showing convergence in reaction times between shorter and longer items in the second testing session where controls achieved convergence part-way through the first session. Participants also completed a psychological test battery assessing reading and spelling, vocabulary, phonological awareness, working memory, nonverbal ability and motor speed. The dyslexics performed at a similar level to the controls on nonverbal ability but significantly less well on all the other measures. Regression analyses found that decoding ability, measured as the speed of reading aloud nonwords when they were presented for the first time, was predicted by a composite of word reading and spelling scores (‘literacy’. Word learning was assessed in terms of the improvement in naming speeds over 10 blocks of training. Learning was predicted by vocabulary and working memory scores, but not by literacy, phonological awareness, nonverbal ability or motor speed. The results show that young dyslexic adults have problems both in pronouncing novel words and in learning new written words.

Vocabularies in the VO

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

2009-09-01

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

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

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

2013-01-01

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

Comparative Effect of Memory and Cognitive Strategies Training on EFL Intermediate Learners' Vocabulary Learning

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Banisaeid, Maryam

2013-01-01

The present study was conducted to compare the effect of memory and cognitive strategies training on vocabulary learning of intermediate proficiency group of Iranian learners of English as a foreign language. It is to check how memory and cognitive strategies training affect word learning of EFL intermediate learners (N = 60) who were homogenized…

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

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Tayebeh Danesh

2016-09-01

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

Effects of Video Caption Modes on English Listening Comprehension and Vocabulary Acquisition Using Handheld Devices

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Hsu, Ching-Kun; Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Chang, Yu-Tzu; Chang, Chih-Kai

2013-01-01

This study investigates the effects of different display modes of video captions on mobile devices, including non-caption, full-caption, and target-word modes, on the English comprehension and vocabulary acquisition of fifth graders. During the one-month experiment, the status of the students' English listening comprehension and vocabulary…

Novel-word learning deficits in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with specific language impairments.

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Chen, Yuchun; Liu, Huei-Mei

2014-01-01

Children with SLI exhibit overall deficits in novel word learning compared to their age-matched peers. However, the manifestation of the word learning difficulty in SLI was not consistent across tasks and the factors affecting the learning performance were not yet determined. Our aim is to examine the extent of word learning difficulties in Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI, and to explore the potent influence of existing lexical knowledge on to the word learning process. Preschool children with SLI (n=37) and typical language development (n=33) were exposed to novel words for unfamiliar objects embedded in stories. Word learning tasks including the initial mapping and short-term repetitive learning were designed. Results revealed that Mandarin-speaking preschool children with SLI performed as well as their age-peers in the initial form-meaning mapping task. Their word learning difficulty was only evidently shown in the short-term repetitive learning task under a production demand, and their learning speed was slower than the control group. Children with SLI learned the novel words with a semantic head better in both the initial mapping and repetitive learning tasks. Moderate correlations between stand word learning performances and scores on standardized vocabulary were found after controlling for children's age and nonverbal IQ. The results suggested that the word learning difficulty in children with SLI occurred in the process of establishing a robust phonological representation at the beginning stage of word learning. Also, implicit compound knowledge is applied to aid word learning process for children with and without SLI. We also provide the empirical data to validate the relationship between preschool children's word learning performance and their existing receptive vocabulary ability. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Difficulty in Learning Similar-Sounding Words: A Developmental Stage or a General Property of Learning?

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Pajak, Bozena; Creel, Sarah C.; Levy, Roger

2016-01-01

How are languages learned, and to what extent are learning mechanisms similar in infant native-language (L1) and adult second-language (L2) acquisition? In terms of vocabulary acquisition, we know from the infant literature that the ability to discriminate similar-sounding words at a particular age does not guarantee successful word-meaning…

Word learning emerges from the interaction of online referent selection and slow associative learning

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McMurray, Bob; Horst, Jessica S.; Samuelson, Larissa K.

2013-01-01

Classic approaches to word learning emphasize the problem of referential ambiguity: in any naming situation the referent of a novel word must be selected from many possible objects, properties, actions, etc. To solve this problem, researchers have posited numerous constraints, and inference strategies, but assume that determining the referent of a novel word is isomorphic to learning. We present an alternative model in which referent selection is an online process that is independent of long-term learning. This two timescale approach creates significant power in the developing system. We illustrate this with a dynamic associative model in which referent selection is simulated as dynamic competition between competing referents, and learning is simulated using associative (Hebbian) learning. This model can account for a range of findings including the delay in expressive vocabulary relative to receptive vocabulary, learning under high degrees of referential ambiguity using cross-situational statistics, accelerating (vocabulary explosion) and decelerating (power-law) learning rates, fast-mapping by mutual exclusivity (and differences in bilinguals), improvements in familiar word recognition with development, and correlations between individual differences in speed of processing and learning. Five theoretical points are illustrated. 1) Word learning does not require specialized processes – general association learning buttressed by dynamic competition can account for much of the literature. 2) The processes of recognizing familiar words are not different than those that support novel words (e.g., fast-mapping). 3) Online competition may allow the network (or child) to leverage information available in the task to augment performance or behavior despite what might be relatively slow learning or poor representations. 4) Even associative learning is more complex than previously thought – a major contributor to performance is the pruning of incorrect associations

Once upon a Time, There Was a Pulchritudinous Princess . . .: The Role of Word Definitions and Multiple Story Contexts in Children's Learning of Difficult Vocabulary

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Wilkinson, Kathryn S.; Houston-Price, Carmel

2013-01-01

The close relationship between children's vocabulary size and their later academic success has led researchers to explore how vocabulary development might be promoted during the early school years. We describe a study that explored the effectiveness of naturalistic classroom storytelling as an instrument for teaching new vocabulary to 6- to…

Quality of early parent input predicts child vocabulary 3 years later.

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Cartmill, Erica A; Armstrong, Benjamin F; Gleitman, Lila R; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Medina, Tamara N; Trueswell, John C

2013-07-09

Children vary greatly in the number of words they know when they enter school, a major factor influencing subsequent school and workplace success. This variability is partially explained by the differential quantity of parental speech to preschoolers. However, the contexts in which young learners hear new words are also likely to vary in referential transparency; that is, in how clearly word meaning can be inferred from the immediate extralinguistic context, an aspect of input quality. To examine this aspect, we asked 218 adult participants to guess 50 parents' words from (muted) videos of their interactions with their 14- to 18-mo-old children. We found systematic differences in how easily individual parents' words could be identified purely from this socio-visual context. Differences in this kind of input quality correlated with the size of the children's vocabulary 3 y later, even after controlling for differences in input quantity. Although input quantity differed as a function of socioeconomic status, input quality (as here measured) did not, suggesting that the quality of nonverbal cues to word meaning that parents offer to their children is an individual matter, widely distributed across the population of parents.

Verbal short-term memory and vocabulary learning in polyglots.

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Papagno, C; Vallar, G

1995-02-01

Polyglot and non-polyglot Italian subjects were given tests assessing verbal (phonological) and visuo-spatial short-term and long-term memory, general intelligence, and vocabulary knowledge in their native language. Polyglots had a superior level of performance in verbal short-term memory tasks (auditory digit span and nonword repetition) and in a paired-associate learning test, which assessed the subjects' ability to acquire new (Russian) words. By contrast, the two groups had comparable performance levels in tasks assessing general intelligence, visuo-spatial short-term memory and learning, and paired-associate learning of Italian words. These findings, which are in line with neuropsychological and developmental evidence, as well as with data from normal subjects, suggest a close relationship between the capacity of phonological memory and the acquisition of foreign languages.

The relationship between prelinguistic vocalization and later expressive vocabulary in young children with developmental delay.

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McCathren, R B; Yoder, P J; Warren, S F

1999-08-01

This study tested the relationship between prelinguistic vocalization and expressive vocabulary 1 year later in young children with mild to moderate developmental delays. Three vocalization variables were tested: rate of all vocalization, rate of vocalizations with consonants, and rate of vocalizations used interactively. The 58 toddlers in the study were 17-34 months old, not sensory impaired, and had Bayley Mental Development Indices (Bayley, 1969; Bayley, 1993) from 35-85. In addition, the children had fewer than 3 words in their expressive vocabularies and during classroom observation each showed at least one instance of intentional prelinguistic communication before testing. Selected sections of the Communication and Symbolic Behavior Scales procedures (CSBS; Wetherby & Prizant, 1993) were administered at the beginning and at the end of the study. The vocal measures were obtained in the initial CSBS session. One measure of expressive vocabulary was obtained in the CSBS session at the end of the study. In addition, expressive vocabulary was measured in a nonstructured play session at the end of the study. We predicted that rate of vocalization, rate of vocalizations with consonants, and rate of vocalizations used interactively would all be positively related to later expressive vocabulary. The results confirmed the predictions.

Socioeconomic status, parental education, vocabulary and language skills of children who stutter.

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Richels, Corrin G; Johnson, Kia N; Walden, Tedra A; Conture, Edward G

2013-01-01

The purpose of this project was to investigate the possible relation between standardized measures of vocabulary/language, mother and father education, and a composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES) for children who do not stutter (CWNS) and children who stutter (CWS). Participants were 138 CWNS and 159 CWS between the ages of 2;6 and 6;3 and their families. The Hollingshead Four Factor Index of Social Position (i.e., Family SES) was used to calculate SES based on a composite score consisting of weighted values for paternal and maternal education and occupation. Statistical regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relation between parental education and language and vocabulary scores for both the CWNS and CWS. Correlations were calculated between parent education, Family SES, and stuttering severity (e.g., SSI-3 score, % words stuttered). Results indicated that maternal education contributed the greatest amount of variance in vocabulary and language scores for the CWNS and for participants from both groups whose Family SES was in the lowest quartile of the distribution. However, paternal education generally contributed the greatest amount of variance in vocabulary and language scores for the CWS. Higher levels of maternal education were associated with more severe stuttering in the CWS. Results are generally consistent with existing literature on normal language development that indicates maternal education is a robust predictor of the vocabulary and language skills of preschool children. Thus, both father and mothers' education may impact the association between vocabulary/language skills and childhood stuttering, leading investigators who empirically study this association to possibly re-assess their participant selection (e.g., a priori control of parental education) and/or data analyses (e.g., post hoc covariation of parental education). The reader will be able to: (a) describe the influence of socioeconomic status on the development of

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

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Bardakçi, Mehmet

2016-01-01

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

Words in Sheep’s Clothing

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Dušan Gabrovšek

2006-06-01

Full Text Available The paper focuses on various types of dictionary words, i.e. infrequent and rather uncommon words often listed in comprehensive monolingual English dictionaries but virtually nonexistent in actual usage. These are typically learned derivatives of Greek or Latin origin that are given as unlabeled synonyms of everyday vocabulary items. Their inclusion seems to stem from the application of two different bits of lexicographic philosophy: great respect for matters classical and the principle of comprehensiveness. Seen from this perspective, descriptive corpus-based lexicography is still too weak. While in large native-speaker-oriented dictionaries of English such entries do not seem to cause any harm, they can be positively dangerous in EFL/ESL environments, because using them can easily lead to strange or downright incomprehensible lexical items. Learners are advised to be careful and check the status of such “dubious” items also in English monolingual learners’ dictionaries, in which dictionary words are virtually nonexistent.

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

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Yune Andryani Pinem

2017-04-01

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

Morphological awareness and early and advanced word recognition and spelling in Dutch

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Rispens, J.E.; McBride-Chang, C.; Reitsma, P.

2008-01-01

This study investigated the relations of three aspects of morphological awareness to word recognition and spelling skills of Dutch speaking children. Tasks of inflectional and derivational morphology and lexical compounding, as well as measures of phonological awareness, vocabulary and mathematics

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

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Seyed Javad Es-hagi Sardroud

2013-05-01

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

Fricatives at 18 months as a measure for predicting vocabulary and grammar at 24 and 30 months.

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Sotto, Carolyn D; Redle, Erin; Bandaranayake, Dakshika; Neils-Strunjas, Jean; Creaghead, Nancy A

2014-01-01

Language develops at variable rates in young children, yet markers for different developmental trajectories, have not been identified. Production of fricatives in words may be one marker because they are later developing sounds and contribute to syntactic production. We examined whether children who produced fricatives in words by 18 months had better vocabulary and grammar scores at 18, 24, and 30 months than children who did not. The expressive language skills of 37 toddlers who did and did not produce fricatives in words by 18 months of age were compared at 18, 24 and 30 months of age. Expressive vocabulary scores and the use of grammatical markers were significantly better for children who produced fricatives by 18 months than for those who did not. This effect was consistent across scores at 18, 24, and 30 months. The total number of consonants and total number of fricatives produced at 18 months did not significantly predict expressive vocabulary scores. Because the children who produced fricatives by 18 months demonstrated better expressive language skills than their peers who did not produce fricatives by 18 months, the early production of fricatives by toddlers may be a marker of a faster expressive language developmental trajectory. Readers will: (1) describe the relationship between early phonological development and early expressive lexical development, (2) describe the role of perceptual and motor development in speech sound the acquisition, and (3) describe the potential relationship between the production of fricatives and expressive language development. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

How to sound really clever 600 words you need to know

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van den Bergh, Hubert

2013-01-01

How to Sound Really Clever explains and illustrates over 600 words that can outfox us, such as 'condign', 'Zelig-like' and 'agitprop'. This is the sequel to the successful How to Sound Clever (2010) which taught you 600 words you really ought to know but haven't had the time to look up in the dictionary. Each entry features an etymological description as well as useful example phrases so that readers can quickly see the correct context for each word. Anecdotes and witty illustrations appear throughout to make this an entertaining book that will help readers to boost their vocabulary.

Effective Ways to Promote Word Power with Students

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Miller, Harry B.

2012-01-01

Most of us recall with pain the unpleasant experiences associated with the teacher's announcement that we would once again initiate a unit of learning designed to both widen and deepen our knowledge of the words of our language. This was said to establish the foundation for all of our future academic pursuits. A strong vocabulary was said to be a…

Vocabulary Control for Information Retrieval.

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Lancaster, F. W.

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

Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition: The Effects of Task Type, Word Occurrence and Their Combination

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Laufer, Batia; Rozovski-Roitblat, Bella

2011-01-01

We investigated how long-term retention of new words was affected by task type, number of word occurrences in the teaching materials and the combination of the two factors. The tasks were: reading a text with occasional Focus on Form when learners used dictionaries (T+F), or reading a text with Focus on Forms, i.e. word focused exercises (T+Fs).…

Augmented Reality for Teaching Science Vocabulary to Postsecondary Education Students with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism

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McMahon, Don D.; Cihak, David F.; Wright, Rachel E.; Bell, Sherry Mee

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of an emerging technology called augmented reality to teach science vocabulary words to college students with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorders. One student with autism and three students with an intellectual disability participated in a multiple probe across behaviors (i.e.,…

Revisiting the'Duality of Meaning of some English Words: What's on ...

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The objective was to determine whether the students knew both the technical or scientific/engineering meanings and the normal meanings of the words, namely: elevation, surveying, function, sign, model, ... Thus, the majority of the students did not know both meanings, which pointed to students' vocabulary challenges.

The Impact of Gloss Types on Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary Gain and Vocabulary Retention: A Comparative Study

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Atefeh Elekaei

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The significance and impact of vocabulary learning in reading comprehension and L2 language learning are apparent to teachers, researchers and language learners. Moreover, glosses are found as one of the most effective strategies regarding vocabulary retention. Therefore, the present study attempted to investigate the effect of different types of glosses on reading comprehension, vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. To this end, 140 Iranian EFL learners learning English were selected and were divided into four groups (footnote gloss group, interlinear gloss group, marginal gloss group, and glossary group. They were required to read a text and answer four reading comprehension questions. In addition, one immediate vocabulary post-test and one delayed vocabulary post-test were taken in order to investigate learners' vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. In order to analyze the data, one one-way ANOVA and one MANOVA were run. The results of one-way ANOVA revealed that participants who received interlinear glosses significantly outperformed the other groups regarding comprehending the text. Moreover, the immediate vocabulary post-test was conducted immediately after reading test and the delayed post-test was administered after four weeks. The results of MANOVA indicated that the group which received interlinear glosses outperformed the other groups in both vocabulary gain and vocabulary retention. The present study has implications for teachers and learners. Teachers can find better methods to teach new reading passages as well as vocabulary items. Also, glosses help learners to have a better comprehension of difficult passages and they facilitate learning. Moreover, learners can enhance their vocabulary knowledge with the help of glosses.

SUGGESTIONS FOR DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT WORD ATTACK IN READING, FOR USE IN BASIC INSTITUTE MEETINGS, GRADES THREE AND FOUR.

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REECE, THOMAS E.; AND OTHERS

A GUIDE FOR PLANNING SPECIFIC INSTRUCTION FOR DEVELOPING INDEPENDENT WORD ATTACK PRESENTS THE SKILLS NECESSARY FOR MASTERING SIGHT VOCABULARY, WORD RECOGNITION, AND THE USE OF THE DICTIONARY. SPECIFIC DEFINITIONS OF TERMS AND EXAMPLES OF TEACHING TECHNIQUES WITH THE SEQUENCE OF INSTRUCTION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHONETIC AND STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS…

The Effectiveness of Using Contextual Clues, Dictionary Strategy and Computer Assisted Language Learning (Call In Learning Vocabulary

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Zuraina Ali

2013-07-01

Full Text Available This study investigates the effectiveness of three vocabulary learning methods that are Contextual Clues, Dictionary Strategy, and Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL in learning vocabulary among ESL learners. First, it aims at finding which of the vocabulary learning methods namely Dictionary Strategy, Contextual Clues, and CALL that may result in the highest number of words learnt in the immediate and delayed recall tests. Second, it compares the results of the Pre-test and the Delayed Recall Post-test to determine the differences of learning vocabulary using the methods. A quasi-experiment that tested the effectiveness of learning vocabulary using Dictionary Strategy, Contextual clues, and CALL involved 123 first year university students. Qualitative procedures included the collection of data from interviews which were conducted to triangulate the data obtain from the quantitative inquiries. Findings from the study using ANOVA revealed that there were significant differences when students were exposed to Dictionary Strategy, Contextual Clues and CALL in the immediate recall tests but not in the Delayed Recall Post-test. Also, there were significant differences when t test was used to compare the scores between the Pre-test and the Delayed Recall Post-test in using the three methods of vocabulary learning. Although many researchers have advocated the relative effectiveness of Dictionary Strategy, Contextual Clues, and CALL in learning vocabulary, the study however, is still paramount since there is no study has ever empirically investigated the relative efficacy of these three methods in a single study.

A Comparative Study of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Used by Marine Engineering Students and Iranian EFL Learners

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Davood Mashhadi Heidar

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The present study explored the vocabulary learning strategies used by Iranian EFL learners and Marine Engineering (ME students by using the categorization of vocabulary learning strategies proposed by Schmitt (1997. A vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire was administered to 30 EFL learners and 43 ME students. Then, the strategies used by each group were determined and the two groups were compared with each other. It was found that both groups used determination strategies more frequently than social strategies for discovering a new word’s meaning. The most frequently used discovery strategy by both groups was found to be “bilingual dictionary”. The second and third most frequently used strategy for discovery by EFL learners and ME students was found to be “monolingual dictionary” and “guess from textual context”, respectively. It was also revealed that EFL learners used memory strategies more frequently than other strategies for consolidating the meaning of new words and ME students used cognitive strategies the most frequently. Both groups were found to use “verbal repetition” more frequently than all other consolidation strategies. The second most frequently used strategy by EFL learners was “use Englishlanguage media” whilst for ME students they were “written repetition” and “word lists”. The comparison of the strategy use by the participants in the two groups showed no significant difference.

Tell Me What You Hear: Vocabulary Acquisition and Application in the General Music Middle School Classroom

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Walby, Nathan

2011-01-01

Teaching musical vocabulary in a middle school general music class can often be challenging to the performance-based teacher. This article provides several teaching strategies for approaching words from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint. Based on a dialectical "this-with-that" approach by Estelle Jorgensen, this article argues that…

Visual Word Recognition Across the Adult Lifespan

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Cohen-Shikora, Emily R.; Balota, David A.

2016-01-01

The current study examines visual word recognition in a large sample (N = 148) across the adult lifespan and across a large set of stimuli (N = 1187) in three different lexical processing tasks (pronunciation, lexical decision, and animacy judgments). Although the focus of the present study is on the influence of word frequency, a diverse set of other variables are examined as the system ages and acquires more experience with language. Computational models and conceptual theories of visual word recognition and aging make differing predictions for age-related changes in the system. However, these have been difficult to assess because prior studies have produced inconsistent results, possibly due to sample differences, analytic procedures, and/or task-specific processes. The current study confronts these potential differences by using three different tasks, treating age and word variables as continuous, and exploring the influence of individual differences such as vocabulary, vision, and working memory. The primary finding is remarkable stability in the influence of a diverse set of variables on visual word recognition across the adult age spectrum. This pattern is discussed in reference to previous inconsistent findings in the literature and implications for current models of visual word recognition. PMID:27336629

An analysis of topics and vocabulary in Chinese oral narratives by normal speakers and speakers with fluent aphasia.

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Law, Sam-Po; Kong, Anthony Pak-Hin; Lai, Christy

2018-01-01

This study analysed the topic and vocabulary of Chinese speakers based on language samples of personal recounts in a large spoken Chinese database recently made available in the public domain, i.e. Cantonese AphasiaBank ( http://www.speech.hku.hk/caphbank/search/ ). The goal of the analysis is to offer clinicians a rich source for selecting ecologically valid training materials for rehabilitating Chinese-speaking people with aphasia (PWA) in the design and planning of culturally and linguistically appropriate treatments. Discourse production of 65 Chinese-speaking PWA of fluent types (henceforth, PWFA) and their non-aphasic controls narrating an important event in their life were extracted from Cantonese AphasiaBank. Analyses of topics and vocabularies in terms of part-of-speech, word frequency, lexical semantics, and diversity were conducted. There was significant overlap in topics between the two groups. While the vocabulary was larger for controls than that of PWFA as expected, they were similar in distribution across parts-of-speech, frequency of occurrence, and the ratio of concrete to abstract items in major open word classes. Moreover, proportionately more different verbs than nouns were employed at the individual level for both speaker groups. The findings provide important implications for guiding directions of aphasia rehabilitation not only of fluent but also non-fluent Chinese aphasic speakers.

How new words (don't) become memories : Lexicalization in advanced L1 Dutch learners of L2 English

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Keijzer, Merel

It is an undisputed fact that learning – and remembering – new words is key in successful second language acquisition. And yet researching how vocabulary acquisition takes place is one of the most difficult endeavors in second language acquisition. We can test how many L2 words a learner knows, but

How Does the Keyword Method Affect Vocabulary Comprehension and Usage? Report from the project on Studies in Language: Reading and Communication. Working Paper No. 278.

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Pressley, Michael; And Others

Four experiments were conducted to determine how the keyword method of vocabulary instruction affects both subjects' comprehension of words encountered in sentences (experiments 1 and 2), and their ability to use words in appropriate sentences (experiments 3 and 4). In the first two experiments, college students were presented sentences containing…

Borrowing and Loan Words: The Lemmatizing of Newly Acquired Lexical Items in Sesotho sa Leboa

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V.M. Mojela

2011-10-01

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ABSTRACT: The influence of foreign languages in Sesotho sa Leboa, or Northern Sotho, results in borrowing, which ultimately leads to an increase in the vocabulary of Sesotho sa Leboa. The languages influencing developments in the vocabulary of Sesotho sa Leboa include, inter alia, English, Afrikaans, Xitsonga, Tshivend√a and the Nguni languages. This article aims to give a critical analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of the adoption of foreign lexical items in the lemmatization of vocabulary in Sesotho sa Leboa dictionaries. Most puristic inclined academics and intellectuals are reluctant to adopt loan words as a means of developing the Sesotho sa Leboa vocabulary. When confronted with borrowing, the purists usually prefer coinage, using indigenous lexical items to name foreign concepts. This is disadvantageous to the development of the vocabulary of the language because (1 there is no increase in the number of the lexical items in the language since only the meanings of the foreign lexical item are added to existing indigenous lexical items, and (2 in most cases, previously adopted loan words are mistaken for indigenous lexical items and given preference to newly acquired lexical items which have direct and accurate bearing on the meaning of the newly discovered or designed concepts or objects.

OPSOMMING: Ontlening en leenwoorde: Die lemmatisering van nuutverworwe leksikale items in Sesotho sa Leboa. Die invloed van vreemde tale op Sesotho sa Leboa, of Noord-Sotho, het ontlening tot gevolg, wat uiteindelik lei tot 'n toename in die woordeskat van Sesotho sa Leboa. Die tale wat ontwikkelinge in die woordeskat van Sesotho sa Leboa beïnvloed, sluit onder andere Engels, Afrikaans, Xitsonga, Tsivend√a en die Ngunitale in. Die doel van hierdie artikel is om 'n kritiese ontleding van die voordele en nadele van die oorneem van vreemde leksikale items by die lemmatisering van die woordeskat in woordeboeke van Sesotho sa Leboa te

The vocabulary profile of Slovak children with primary language impairment compared to typically developing Slovak children measured by LITMUS-CLT.

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Kapalková, Svetlana; Slančová, Daniela

2017-01-01

This study compared a sample of children with primary language impairment (PLI) and typically developing age-matched children using the crosslinguistic lexical tasks (CLT-SK). We also compared the PLI children with typically developing language-matched younger children who were matched on the basis of receptive vocabulary. Overall, statistical testing showed that the vocabulary of the PLI children was significantly different from the vocabulary of the age-matched children, but not statistically different from the younger children who were matched on the basis of their receptive vocabulary size. Qualitative analysis of the correct answers revealed that the PLI children showed higher rigidity compared to the younger language-matched children who are able to use more synonyms or derivations across word class in naming tasks. Similarly, an examination of the children's naming errors indicated that the language-matched children exhibited more semantic errors, whereas PLI children showed more associative errors.

Common variation near ROBO2 is associated with expressive vocabulary in infancy.

Science.gov (United States)

St Pourcain, Beate; Cents, Rolieke A M; Whitehouse, Andrew J O; Haworth, Claire M A; Davis, Oliver S P; O'Reilly, Paul F; Roulstone, Susan; Wren, Yvonne; Ang, Qi W; Velders, Fleur P; Evans, David M; Kemp, John P; Warrington, Nicole M; Miller, Laura; Timpson, Nicholas J; Ring, Susan M; Verhulst, Frank C; Hofman, Albert; Rivadeneira, Fernando; Meaburn, Emma L; Price, Thomas S; Dale, Philip S; Pillas, Demetris; Yliherva, Anneli; Rodriguez, Alina; Golding, Jean; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Jarvelin, Marjo-Riitta; Plomin, Robert; Pennell, Craig E; Tiemeier, Henning; Davey Smith, George

2014-09-16

Twin studies suggest that expressive vocabulary at ~24 months is modestly heritable. However, the genes influencing this early linguistic phenotype are unknown. Here we conduct a genome-wide screen and follow-up study of expressive vocabulary in toddlers of European descent from up to four studies of the EArly Genetics and Lifecourse Epidemiology consortium, analysing an early (15-18 months, 'one-word stage', N(Total) = 8,889) and a later (24-30 months, 'two-word stage', N(Total)=10,819) phase of language acquisition. For the early phase, one single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs7642482) at 3p12.3 near ROBO2, encoding a conserved axon-binding receptor, reaches the genome-wide significance level (P=1.3 × 10(-8)) in the combined sample. This association links language-related common genetic variation in the general population to a potential autism susceptibility locus and a linkage region for dyslexia, speech-sound disorder and reading. The contribution of common genetic influences is, although modest, supported by genome-wide complex trait analysis (meta-GCTA h(2)(15-18-months) = 0.13, meta-GCTA h(2)(24-30-months) = 0.14) and in concordance with additional twin analysis (5,733 pairs of European descent, h(2)(24-months) = 0.20).

Dynamic assessment of word learning skills of pre-school children with primary language impairment.

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Camilleri, Bernard; Law, James

2014-10-01

Dynamic assessment has been shown to have considerable theoretical and clinical significance in the assessment of socially disadvantaged and culturally and linguistically diverse children. In this study it is used to enhance assessment of pre-school children with primary language impairment. The purpose of the study was to determine whether a dynamic assessment (DA) has the potential to enhance the predictive capacity of a static measure of receptive vocabulary in pre-school children. Forty pre-school children were assessed using the static British Picture Vocabulary Scale (BPVS), a DA of word learning potential and an assessment of non-verbal cognitive ability. Thirty-seven children were followed up 6 months later and re-assessed using the BPVS. Although the predictive capacity of the static measure was found to be substantial, the DA increased this significantly especially for children with static scores below the 25th centile. The DA of children's word learning has the potential to add value to the static assessment of the child with low language skills, to predict subsequent receptive vocabulary skills and to increase the chance of correctly identifying children in need of ongoing support.

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

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Greif, Ivo P.

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

Food and Feed Commodity Vocabulary

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

An analysis of initial acquisition and maintenance of sight words following picture matching and copy cover, and compare teaching methods.

OpenAIRE

Conley, Colleen M; Derby, K Mark; Roberts-Gwinn, Michelle; Weber, Kimberly P; McLaughlin, T E

2004-01-01

This study compared the copy, cover, and compare method to a picture-word matching method for teaching sight word recognition. Participants were 5 kindergarten students with less than preprimer sight word vocabularies who were enrolled in a public school in the Pacific Northwest. A multielement design was used to evaluate the effects of the two interventions. Outcomes suggested that sight words taught using the copy, cover, and compare method resulted in better maintenance of word recognition...

Linking open vocabularies

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Greifender, Elke; Seadle, Michael

2013-01-01

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

Visual word recognition across the adult lifespan.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen-Shikora, Emily R; Balota, David A

2016-08-01

The current study examines visual word recognition in a large sample (N = 148) across the adult life span and across a large set of stimuli (N = 1,187) in three different lexical processing tasks (pronunciation, lexical decision, and animacy judgment). Although the focus of the present study is on the influence of word frequency, a diverse set of other variables are examined as the word recognition system ages and acquires more experience with language. Computational models and conceptual theories of visual word recognition and aging make differing predictions for age-related changes in the system. However, these have been difficult to assess because prior studies have produced inconsistent results, possibly because of sample differences, analytic procedures, and/or task-specific processes. The current study confronts these potential differences by using 3 different tasks, treating age and word variables as continuous, and exploring the influence of individual differences such as vocabulary, vision, and working memory. The primary finding is remarkable stability in the influence of a diverse set of variables on visual word recognition across the adult age spectrum. This pattern is discussed in reference to previous inconsistent findings in the literature and implications for current models of visual word recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

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

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Kim, Young-Suk Grace

2015-01-01

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

Affective significance enhances covert attention: roles of anxiety and word familiarity.

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Calvo, Manuel G; Eysenck, Michael W

2008-11-01

To investigate the processing of emotional words by covert attention, threat-related, positive, and neutral word primes were presented parafoveally (2.2 degrees away from fixation) for 150 ms, under gaze-contingent foveal masking, to prevent eye fixations. The primes were followed by a probe word in a lexical-decision task. In Experiment 1, results showed a parafoveal threat-anxiety superiority: Parafoveal prime threat words facilitated responses to probe threat words for high-anxiety individuals, in comparison with neutral and positive words, and relative to low-anxiety individuals. This reveals an advantage in threat processing by covert attention, without differences in overt attention. However, anxiety was also associated with greater familiarity with threat words, and the parafoveal priming effects were significantly reduced when familiarity was covaried out. To further examine the role of word knowledge, in Experiment 2, vocabulary and word familiarity were equated for low- and high-anxiety groups. In these conditions, the parafoveal threat-anxiety advantage disappeared. This suggests that the enhanced covert-attention effect depends on familiarity with words.

Improving Vocabulary of English Language Learners through Direct Vocabulary Instruction

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Hunt, Meghan; Feng, Jay

2016-01-01

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

Learning second language vocabulary: neural dissociation of situation-based learning and text-based learning.

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Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Sugiura, Motoaki; Sassa, Yuko; Wakusawa, Keisuke; Horie, Kaoru; Sato, Shigeru; Kawashima, Ryuta

2010-04-01

Second language (L2) acquisition necessitates learning and retrieving new words in different modes. In this study, we attempted to investigate the cortical representation of an L2 vocabulary acquired in different learning modes and in cross-modal transfer between learning and retrieval. Healthy participants learned new L2 words either by written translations (text-based learning) or in real-life situations (situation-based learning). Brain activity was then measured during subsequent retrieval of these words. The right supramarginal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus were involved in situation-based learning and text-based learning, respectively, whereas the left inferior frontal gyrus was activated when learners used L2 knowledge in a mode different from the learning mode. Our findings indicate that the brain regions that mediate L2 memory differ according to how L2 words are learned and used. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.