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Łuniewska M, Krysztofiak M, Haman E. Parental report of vocabulary in 3- to 6-year-old Polish children: Reliable but not valid. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE & COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2024. [PMID: 39123303 DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.13101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Accepted: 07/26/2024] [Indexed: 08/12/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND For over 30 years, parental reports have been used to study the vocabulary of children under 4 years of age. Research exploring parental checklists as a measure of vocabulary in older children is very limited. Typically, authors of parental checklists report the reliability of the developed tools but do not explore validity in terms of the agreement between parental assessments and the children's actual word knowledge. AIMS We aimed to explore the reliability and validity of a parental checklist for assessing vocabulary in children aged between 3 and 6 years. Furthermore, we aimed to evaluate the agreement between indirect (parental checklist) and direct (picture naming and picture recognition tasks) assessments of children's vocabulary. METHODS AND PROCEDURES A group of 94 typically developing monolingual Polish-speaking children aged between 3 and 6 years were first directly tested onsite with picture naming and picture recognition tasks (Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks). Subsequently, the participants' parents completed an online checklist containing the same set of 128 items and marked all the words that they had ever heard in their child's spontaneous speech. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS The parental checklist demonstrated very high internal consistency. The scores of the parental checklist and vocabulary tasks were moderately correlated. We compared the total number of words marked by parents and the number of items correctly identified by children in the picture naming and picture recognition tasks. In picture naming, we found no difference between the children's scores and the number of words selected by parents. However, parents selected significantly fewer words than children correctly recognised in the picture recognition task. When data were analysed at the level of individual items (i.e., whether parents selected exactly the same items that children answered correctly), we found that the level of agreement was low. The level of agreement correlated negatively with the children's vocabulary; that is, the more words a child knew, the lower the agreement between the direct measure and the parental checklist. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Parental checklists should be used with caution in children aged between 3 and 6 years, especially if the assessed children have a large vocabulary and if item analysis is planned. Such checklists may be of more use in younger children or in children with limited vocabulary. WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS What is already known on the subject Parental checklists are commonly used to assess the vocabulary of children younger than 4 years of age. Previous research has indicated that parental checklists are reliable in terms of internal consistency and valid in terms of predictive and convergent validity. What this paper adds to the existing knowledge This study introduces a parental checklist designed for assessing the vocabulary of monolingual Polish-speaking children aged between 3 and 6 years. Statistical analyses reveal that while the parental checklist exhibits high reliability, and the scores on the checklist correlate with direct measures of vocabulary, the agreement between parental reports and direct vocabulary measures (i.e., validity) is notably low, particularly when examining individual test items. What are the clinical implications of this work? These findings underscore the importance of exercising caution when using parental vocabulary checklists with children aged between 3 and 6 years. These checklists can serve as a replacement for direct vocabulary tests only when the general/overall score is needed. However, when specific words are the subject of interest, parental reports may not be a valid measure.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ewa Haman
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland
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Bohn M, Prein J, Koch T, Bee RM, Delikaya B, Haun D, Gagarina N. oREV: An item response theory-based open receptive vocabulary task for 3- to 8-year-old children. Behav Res Methods 2024; 56:2595-2605. [PMID: 37407786 PMCID: PMC10991070 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-023-02169-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/14/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023]
Abstract
Individual differences in early language abilities are an important predictor of later life outcomes. High-quality, easy-access measures of language abilities are rare, especially in the preschool and primary school years. The present study describes the construction of a new receptive vocabulary task for children between 3 and 8 years of age. The task was implemented as a browser-based web application, allowing for both in-person and remote data collection via the internet. Based on data from N = 581 German-speaking children, we estimated the psychometric properties of each item in a larger initial item pool via item response modeling. We then applied an automated item selection procedure to select an optimal subset of items based on item difficulty and discrimination. The so-constructed task has 22 items and shows excellent psychometric properties with respect to reliability, stability, and convergent and discriminant validity. The construction, implementation, and item selection process described here makes it easy to extend the task or adapt it to different languages. All materials and code are freely accessible to interested researchers. The task can be used via the following website: https://ccp-odc.eva.mpg.de/orev-demo .
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Bohn
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
- Institut für Psychologie, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany.
| | - Julia Prein
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Tobias Koch
- Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - R Maximilian Bee
- Institut für Psychologie, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Büsra Delikaya
- Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
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Wolna A, Łuniewska M, Haman E, Wodniecka Z. Polish norms for a set of colored drawings of 168 objects and 146 actions with predictors of naming performance. Behav Res Methods 2023; 55:2706-2732. [PMID: 35915359 PMCID: PMC10439080 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-01923-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
In this study, we present the first database of pictures and their corresponding psycholinguistic norms for Polish: the CLT database. In this norming study, we used the pictures from Cross-Linguistic Lexical Tasks (CLT): a set of colored drawings of 168 object and 146 actions. The CLT pictures were carefully created to provide a valid tool for multicultural comparisons. The pictures are accompanied by norms for Naming latencies, Name agreement, Goodness of depiction, Image agreement, Concept familiarity, Age of acquisition, Imageability, Lexical frequency, and Word complexity. We also report analyses of predictors of Naming latencies for pictures of objects and actions. Our results show that Name agreement, Concept familiarity, and Lexical frequency are significant predictors of Naming latencies for pictures of both objects and actions. Additionally, Age of acquisition significantly predicts Naming latencies of pictures of objects. The CLT database is freely available at osf.io/gp9qd. The full set of CLT pictures, including additional variants of pictures, is available on request at osf.io/y2cwr.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agata Wolna
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
| | | | - Ewa Haman
- Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Zofia Wodniecka
- Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland.
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Eikerling MR, Bloder TS, Lorusso ML. A Nonword Repetition Task Discriminates Typically Developing Italian-German Bilingual Children From Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: The Role of Language-Specific and Language-Non-specific Nonwords. Front Psychol 2022; 13:826540. [PMID: 35719570 PMCID: PMC9201770 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.826540] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
In bi- and monolingual children, nonword repetition tasks (NWRTs) differentiate between typically developing (TD) and children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). Language specificity is a crucial factor in nonword construction especially for multilingual children. While language-specific nonwords seem less artificial than non-specific nonwords, the application of language-specific phonemes may be less suitable for bilingual children who are exposed to the target language less than monolingual peers. This study evaluates the concurrent and predictive value of a novel, computerized NWRT implemented in the MuLiMi web-platform and its potential in the discrimination of bilingual children with and without DLD, investigating the role of nonwords' language specificity. Thirty-seven children (of whom 17 had an objective risk of phonological disorders) with at least one Italian-speaking parent, living and attending kindergartens in Germany were tested with the MuLiMi NWRT and German standardized language tests. Caregivers and kindergarten teachers filled in questionnaires. Fourteen of the children were re-tested after 8-12 months. The results suggest that the new test's concurrent and discriminative validity are good. Analysis of variance revealed highly significant differences between children with and without (an objective risk of) phonological disorders and a significant interaction between nonword specificity and risk group. Significant correlations of initial scores with follow-up scores collected after 8-12 months were also found, as well as correlations with improvements in language abilities. In conclusion, although both language-specific and language-non-specific nonword repetition can support DLD risk identification in bilingual children, language-specific stimuli appear to be particularly sensitive indicators. This is interpreted as confirming DLD children's reduced sensitivity to frequent, familiar characteristics of the linguistic stimuli. The test's discriminative and concurrent validity showed to be robust to various potentially influencing factors like patterns of language exposure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maren Rebecca Eikerling
- Unit of Neuropsychology of Developmental Disorders, Department of Child Psychopathology, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy.,Department of Psychology, University Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
| | - Theresa Sophie Bloder
- Faculty of Languages and Literatures, Catholic University Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Eichstätt, Germany
| | - Maria Luisa Lorusso
- Unit of Neuropsychology of Developmental Disorders, Department of Child Psychopathology, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
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Casado A, Szewczyk J, Wolna A, Wodniecka Z. The relative balance between languages predicts the degree of engagement of global language control. Cognition 2022; 226:105169. [PMID: 35709626 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2022.105169] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/26/2021] [Revised: 04/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
After naming pictures in their second language (L2), bilinguals experience difficulty in naming pictures in their native language (L1). This phenomenon, the "L2 after-effect", is a lingering consequence of language control mechanisms regulating the activation of L1 and L2 to facilitate L2 production. Building on the Inhibitory Control model proposed by Green (1998), we propose that how much language control is applied depends on the relative balance between the current activation of L1 and L2. In two experiments, Polish-English bilinguals immersed in their L1 performed a blocked picture-naming task. This paradigm provided a continuous measure of the relative balance between the two languages and made it possible to index engagement of control by measuring the L2 after-effect. The results indicate that the higher the activation level of L1 and the lower the activation level of L2, the bigger the L2 after-effect. The results also revealed an enduring down-regulation of L1 activation level in more language-balanced speakers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alba Casado
- Psychology of Language and Bilingualism Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
| | - Jakub Szewczyk
- Psychology of Language and Bilingualism Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA; Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Agata Wolna
- Psychology of Language and Bilingualism Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
| | - Zofia Wodniecka
- Psychology of Language and Bilingualism Lab, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland.
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VAN Wonderen E, Unsworth S. Testing the validity of the Cross-Linguistic Lexical Task as a measure of language proficiency in bilingual children. JOURNAL OF CHILD LANGUAGE 2021; 48:1101-1125. [PMID: 33200721 DOI: 10.1017/s030500092000063x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The Cross-linguistic Lexical Task (CLT; Haman, Łuniewska & Pomiechowska, 2015) is a vocabulary task designed to enable cross-linguistic comparisons both across and within (bilingual) children. In this paper we assessed the validity of the CLT as a measure of language proficiency in bilingual children, by determining the extent to which (i) age-matched, monolingual Spanish-speaking and Dutch-speaking children obtained similar scores, (ii) the CLT correlated with other measures of language proficiency in monolingual and bilingual children, and (iii) whether the factors underlying the CLT's construction, i.e., target words' estimated Age of Acquisition and Complexity Index, were predictive of children's scores. Our results showed that, while the CLT correlated with other measures and is therefore a valid means of tapping into language proficiency, caution is required when using it to compare children's language proficiency cross-linguistically, as scores for Dutch-speaking and Spanish-speaking monolinguals sometimes differed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sharon Unsworth
- Centre for Language Studies, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Smolík F, Bytešníková I. Validity of the SDDS: A 40-item vocabulary screening tool for 18- to 42-month olds in Czech. JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS 2021; 93:106146. [PMID: 34399132 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Revised: 06/25/2021] [Accepted: 07/27/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Children with early language delays are at increased risk of persistent language impairment. Early identification and intervention are desirable. Parent-report inventories are useful screening tools, but the screening context places limits at their length. Validity of parent-report screening tools in languages other than English has been rarely reported in detail. AIMS The aim was to establish the concurrent validity of an existing 40-item parent-report vocabulary screening tool in Czech, using a picture-based examiner-administered comprehension and production task as a concurrent measure of vocabulary. METHODS & PROCEDURES Parents of 200 children aged 1;3 to 3;6 were given the screening inventory, in which they were asked if their child says or comprehends each of 40 words. At the same time, children were administered a picture-based comprehension and production task. Concurrent validity of the inventory was examined using correlations, partial correlations, and regression analyses controlling for age. OUTCOMES & RESULTS The partial Spearman correlation (controlling for age) between production scores from parent-report and production scores from the examiner-administered task was 0.53; for comprehension, the correlation between parent report and test scores was 0.36. These values are similar to those reported for short and full versions of MacArthur-Bates CDI for 2-year-olds. CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS A 40-item tool shows clear concurrent relations with an examiner-administered picture comprehension and production task. The study demonstrates that short parent-report tools may be useful in early identification of language impairments, and they may be a good option particularly in languages that have limited repertoire of assessment instruments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filip Smolík
- Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Hybernská 8, CZ-110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic.
| | - Ilona Bytešníková
- Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of Special and Inclusive Education, Poříčí 9, CZ-603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
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Sansavini A, Favilla ME, Guasti MT, Marini A, Millepiedi S, Di Martino MV, Vecchi S, Battajon N, Bertolo L, Capirci O, Carretti B, Colatei MP, Frioni C, Marotta L, Massa S, Michelazzo L, Pecini C, Piazzalunga S, Pieretti M, Rinaldi P, Salvadorini R, Termine C, Zuccarini M, D’Amico S, De Cagno AG, Levorato MC, Rossetto T, Lorusso ML. Developmental Language Disorder: Early Predictors, Age for the Diagnosis, and Diagnostic Tools. A Scoping Review. Brain Sci 2021; 11:654. [PMID: 34067874 PMCID: PMC8156743 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci11050654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2021] [Revised: 05/09/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is frequent in childhood and may have long-term sequelae. By employing an evidence-based approach, this scoping review aims at identifying (a) early predictors of DLD; (b) the optimal age range for the use of screening and diagnostic tools; (c) effective diagnostic tools in preschool children. METHODS We considered systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and primary observational studies with control groups on predictive, sensitivity and specificity values of screening and diagnostic tools and psycholinguistic measures for the assessment of DLD in preschool children. We identified 37 studies, consisting of 10 systematic reviews and 27 primary studies. RESULTS Delay in gesture production, receptive and/or expressive vocabulary, syntactic comprehension, or word combination up to 30 months emerged as early predictors of DLD, a family history of DLD appeared to be a major risk factor, and low socioeconomic status and environmental input were reported as risk factors with lower predictive power. Optimal time for screening is suggested between age 2 and 3, for diagnosis around age 4. Because of the high variability of sensitivity and specificity values, joint use of standardized and psycholinguistic measures is suggested to increase diagnostic accuracy. CONCLUSIONS Monitoring risk situations and employing caregivers' reports, clinical assessment and multiple linguistic measures are fundamental for an early identification of DLD and timely interventions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Sansavini
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy;
- CLASTA—Communication & Language Acquisition Studies in Typical & Atypical Population, Piazza Epiro 12D, 00183 Roma, Italy; (S.D.); (M.C.L.)
| | - Maria Elena Favilla
- Department of Education and Human Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Viale Allegri 9, 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy;
| | - Maria Teresa Guasti
- Department of Psychology, University Milano-Bicocca, Piazza Ateneo Nuovo 1, 20121 Milano, Italy;
| | - Andrea Marini
- Department of Language and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, Università di Udine, Via Margreth, 3, 33100 Udine, Italy;
- Scientific Institute IRCCS “Eugenio Medea”, San Vito al Tagliamento, 33078 Pordenone, Italy
| | | | - Maria Valeria Di Martino
- Health Professions Integrated Service, Azienda Ospedaliera dei Colli di Napoli, 80131 Napoli, Italy;
| | - Simona Vecchi
- Department of Epidemiology, Lazio Regional Health Service, Via Cristoforo Colombo, 112, 00154 Rome, Italy;
| | - Nadia Battajon
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Mother and Child Department, Ca’ Foncello Hospital, Via Sant’Ambrogio di Fiera, 37, 31100 Treviso, Italy;
| | - Laura Bertolo
- AIRIPA Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca e l’Intervento nella Psicopatologia dell’Apprendimento, Via Astichello, 10, 35135, Padova, Galleria G. Berchet, 3, 35131 Padova, Italy;
| | - Olga Capirci
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Via Nomentana 56, 00161 Rome, Italy; (O.C.); (P.R.)
| | - Barbara Carretti
- Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy;
| | - Maria Paola Colatei
- Department of Clinical Medicine, Public Health, Life and Environmental Sciences, University of L’Aquila, Palazzo Camponeschi, Piazza Santa Margherita 2, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy;
| | - Cristina Frioni
- Studio di Psicoterapia e Riabilitazione dell’età evolutiva, Via Annone 1, 00199 Roma, Italy;
| | - Luigi Marotta
- Department of Intensive and Robotic Neurorehabilitation, IRCCS Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital, Lungomare Marconi 36, 00058 S. Marinella, Roma, Italy;
| | - Sara Massa
- Azienda Usl Toscana Centro, Piazza Santa Maria Nuova 1, 50121 Firenze, Italy;
| | - Letizia Michelazzo
- Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, Via Daniello Bartoli, 00152 Roma, Italy; (L.M.); (M.P.); (A.G.D.C.); (T.R.)
| | - Chiara Pecini
- Department of Education, Languages, Intercultures, Literatures and Psychology, University of Florence, Complesso di San Salvi, Padiglione 26, Via di San Salvi 12, 50135 Firenze, Italy;
| | - Silvia Piazzalunga
- Department of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences “L. Sacco”, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G.B.Grassi, 74, 20157 Milano, Italy;
| | - Manuela Pieretti
- Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, Via Daniello Bartoli, 00152 Roma, Italy; (L.M.); (M.P.); (A.G.D.C.); (T.R.)
| | - Pasquale Rinaldi
- Institute of Cognitive Sciences and Technologies, National Research Council, Via Nomentana 56, 00161 Rome, Italy; (O.C.); (P.R.)
| | - Renata Salvadorini
- UO Neurology and Neurorehabilitation, IRCCS Stella Maris Foundation, Viale del Tirreno 331, 56128 Calambrone, Italy;
| | - Cristiano Termine
- Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Insubria, Via Ravasi 2, 21100 Varese, Italy;
| | - Mariagrazia Zuccarini
- Department of Psychology “Renzo Canestrari”, University of Bologna, Viale Berti Pichat 5, 40127 Bologna, Italy;
| | - Simonetta D’Amico
- CLASTA—Communication & Language Acquisition Studies in Typical & Atypical Population, Piazza Epiro 12D, 00183 Roma, Italy; (S.D.); (M.C.L.)
- Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, P.le S. Tommasi, 1, 67100 Coppito, Italy
| | - Anna Giulia De Cagno
- Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, Via Daniello Bartoli, 00152 Roma, Italy; (L.M.); (M.P.); (A.G.D.C.); (T.R.)
| | - Maria Chiara Levorato
- CLASTA—Communication & Language Acquisition Studies in Typical & Atypical Population, Piazza Epiro 12D, 00183 Roma, Italy; (S.D.); (M.C.L.)
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Via Venezia 8, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - Tiziana Rossetto
- Federazione Logopedisti Italiani, Via Daniello Bartoli, 00152 Roma, Italy; (L.M.); (M.P.); (A.G.D.C.); (T.R.)
| | - Maria Luisa Lorusso
- Department of Child Psychopathology, Scientific Institute IRCCS E. Medea, Via Don Luigi Monza 20, 23842 Bosisio Parini, Italy;
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Engel de Abreu PMJ, Fricke S, Wealer C. Effects of an Early Literacy Intervention for Linguistically Diverse Children: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Front Psychol 2020; 11:569854. [PMID: 33132978 PMCID: PMC7550413 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.569854] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2020] [Accepted: 08/28/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge underpin children’s early literacy acquisition. Promoting these foundational skills in kindergarten should therefore lead to a better response to formal literacy instruction once started. The present study evaluated a 12-week early literacy intervention for linguistically diverse children who are learning to read in German. The study was set in Luxembourg where kindergarten education is in Luxembourgish and children learn to read in German in Grade 1 of primary school. One hundred and eighty-nine children (mean age = 5;8 years) were assigned to an early literacy intervention in Luxembourgish or to a business as usual control group. Trained teachers delivered the intervention to entire classes, four times a week, during the last year of kindergarten. The early literacy program included direct instruction in phonological awareness and letter-knowledge, while promoting print and book awareness and literacy engagement. Children were assessed pre-intervention, immediately post-intervention and at a 9 months delayed follow-up using measures in Luxembourgish and in German. At the end of the intervention, children in the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group on phonological awareness and letter-knowledge measures in Luxembourgish and the gains in phonological awareness were maintained at 9 months follow-up. The effects generalized to measures of phonological awareness, word-level reading comprehension and spelling in German (effect sizes d > 0.25), but not to German single word/pseudoword reading, at delayed follow-up. Intervention programs designed to support foundational literacy skills can be successfully implemented by regular teachers in a play-based kindergarten context. The findings suggest that early literacy intervention before school entry can produce educationally meaningful effects in linguistically diverse learners.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Silke Fricke
- Division of Human Communication Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
| | - Cyril Wealer
- Institute for Research on Multilingualism, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.,Division of Human Communication Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom
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False friends or real friends? False cognates show advantage in word form learning. Cognition 2020; 206:104477. [PMID: 33129052 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104477] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Revised: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
We explored the acquisition of three types of second language (L2) words in a paired-associates learning task. Seventy-six Polish participants were presented with 24 nonwords paired with pictures; they completed 8 interleaving test blocks of form production and meaning recognition, both followed by feedback. The nonwords included "cognates" (nonwords resembling the Polish word for the object depicted in a given picture), "false cognates" (resembling a different Polish word than depicted), and "non-cognates" (nonwords different from Polish words). We measured the learning trajectories for all word types across the blocks. Cognates were fastest to learn in the recognition blocks as well as in the production blocks. Compared to non-cognates, false cognates were learned equally fast in the recognition blocks, but faster in the production blocks. This suggests the learning of false cognates benefits from the overlap in L1-L2 form and is not harmed by L1 interference, while the learning of cognates benefits from both form overlap and conceptual overlap. The study is unique as it examines how learners acquire both the form of new words, and the link between the L2 forms and their meanings. It also explores the dynamics of the learning process.
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Korecky-Kröll K, Dobek N, Blaschitz V, Sommer-Lolei S, Boniecki M, Uzunkaya-Sharma K, Dressler WU. Vocabulary as a Central Link between Phonological Working Memory and Narrative Competence: Evidence from Monolingual and Bilingual Four-Year-Olds from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds. LANGUAGE AND SPEECH 2019; 62:546-569. [PMID: 30223701 DOI: 10.1177/0023830918796691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Phonological working memory capacity, vocabulary size, and narrative competence are important skills in children's L1 and L2 acquisition, which may vary as a function of their language background and socioeconomic status (SES). We investigated test data of 56 typically developing 4-year-old kindergarten children from two SES and two language backgrounds: 29 children (15 higher SES, 14 lower SES) were monolingual German-speaking, and 27 children (14 higher SES, 13 lower SES) were successive Turkish-German bilinguals. The tests comprised a non-word repetition task testing phonological working memory, receptive vocabulary tests (in L1 and L2), and a narrative task. We investigated the effects of SES and language background on children's test performance. Results indicate that SES was a highly significant factor for phonological working memory and vocabulary in the monolingual children, but not in the bilingual children. Although the items of the non-word repetition task followed German phonotactic structure, lower SES (LSES) L2 children did not differ significantly from their monolingual LSES peers, demonstrating that there was no bilingual working memory disadvantage in the LSES group. A significant effect of language background was found for German vocabulary and for all categories of narrative competence, but only two slight SES effects on narrative competence. Significant correlations were found between phonological working memory and vocabulary as well as between vocabulary and narrative competence, but not between phonological working memory and narrative competence. Results suggest that phonological working memory and narrative competence are different domains of language awareness, and that vocabulary may act as the central variable mediating between them.
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Łuniewska M, Wodniecka Z, Miller CA, Smolík F, Butcher M, Chondrogianni V, Hreich EK, Messarra C, A. Razak R, Treffers-Daller J, Yap NT, Abboud L, Talebi A, Gureghian M, Tuller L, Haman E. Age of acquisition of 299 words in seven languages: American English, Czech, Gaelic, Lebanese Arabic, Malay, Persian and Western Armenian. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0220611. [PMID: 31393919 PMCID: PMC6687123 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220611] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2019] [Accepted: 07/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a new set of subjective Age of Acquisition (AoA) ratings for 299 words (158 nouns, 141 verbs) in seven languages from various language families and cultural settings: American English, Czech, Scottish Gaelic, Lebanese Arabic, Malaysian Malay, Persian, and Western Armenian. The ratings were collected from a total of 173 participants and were highly reliable in each language. We applied the same method of data collection as used in a previous study on 25 languages which allowed us to create a database of fully comparable AoA ratings of 299 words in 32 languages. We found that in the seven languages not included in the previous study, the words are estimated to be acquired at roughly the same age as in the previously reported languages, i.e. mostly between the ages of 1 and 7 years. We also found that the order of word acquisition is moderately to highly correlated across all 32 languages, which extends our previous conclusion that early words are acquired in similar order across a wide range of languages and cultures.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zofia Wodniecka
- Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Krakow, Poland
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Carol A. Miller
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Filip Smolík
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Morna Butcher
- University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | - Vasiliki Chondrogianni
- University of Edinburgh, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
| | | | - Camille Messarra
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, High Institute of Speech and Language Therapy, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Rogayah A. Razak
- Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Faculty of Health Science, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
| | - Jeanine Treffers-Daller
- University of Reading, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, Reading, United Kingdom
| | - Ngee Thai Yap
- Universiti Putra Malaysia, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communication, Serdang, Malaysia
| | - Layal Abboud
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Ali Talebi
- Allameh Tabatabai University, Department of Linguistics and Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages, Teheran, Iran
| | - Maribel Gureghian
- Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Faculty of Medicine, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | - Ewa Haman
- University of Warsaw, Faculty of Psychology, Warsaw, Poland
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Jones EJH, Mason L, Begum Ali J, van den Boomen C, Braukmann R, Cauvet E, Demurie E, Hessels RS, Ward EK, Hunnius S, Bolte S, Tomalski P, Kemner C, Warreyn P, Roeyers H, Buitelaar J, Falck-Ytter T, Charman T, Johnson MH. Eurosibs: Towards robust measurement of infant neurocognitive predictors of autism across Europe. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 57:101316. [PMID: 31128517 PMCID: PMC6891238 DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.03.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2018] [Revised: 02/04/2019] [Accepted: 03/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The Eurosibs consortium is a nine-site European neurocognitive study of infants with an older sibling with ASD. Data quality assessments show that that neurocognitive measures hold promise for cross-site consistency in diverse populations. We present robust data analysis pipelines and highlight challenges and opportunities for future multisite research efforts.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects social communication skills and flexible behaviour. Developing new treatment approaches for ASD requires early identification of the factors that influence later behavioural outcomes. One fruitful research paradigm has been the prospective study of infants with a first degree relative with ASD, who have around a 20% likelihood of developing ASD themselves. Early findings have identified a range of candidate neurocognitive markers for later ASD such as delayed attention shifting or neural responses to faces, but given the early stage of the field most sample sizes are small and replication attempts remain rare. The Eurosibs consortium is a European multisite neurocognitive study of infants with an older sibling with ASD conducted across nine sites in five European countries. In this manuscript, we describe the selection and standardization of our common neurocognitive testing protocol. We report data quality assessments across sites, showing that neurocognitive measures hold great promise for cross-site consistency in diverse populations. We discuss our approach to ensuring robust data analysis pipelines and boosting future reproducibility. Finally, we summarise challenges and opportunities for future multi-site research efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- E J H Jones
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK.
| | - L Mason
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - J Begum Ali
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - C van den Boomen
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - R Braukmann
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - E Cauvet
- Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - R S Hessels
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | - E K Ward
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - S Hunnius
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - S Bolte
- Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - C Kemner
- Department of Psychiatry, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, University Medical Center Utrecht, Universiteitsweg 100, 3584 CG Utrecht, the Netherlands
| | | | | | - J Buitelaar
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Kapittelweg 29, 6525 EN Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - T Falck-Ytter
- Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND), Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - T Charman
- Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK
| | - M H Johnson
- Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
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Faroqi-Shah Y, Sebastian R, Woude AV. Neural representation of word categories is distinct in the temporal lobe: An activation likelihood analysis. Hum Brain Mapp 2018; 39:4925-4938. [PMID: 30120847 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.24334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2018] [Revised: 07/05/2018] [Accepted: 07/16/2018] [Indexed: 10/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The distinction between nouns and verbs is a language universal. Yet, functional neuroimaging studies comparing noun and verb processing have yielded inconsistent findings, ranging from a complete frontal(verb)-temporal(noun) dichotomy to a complete overlap in activation patterns. The current study addressed the debate about neural distinctions between nouns and verbs by conducting an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis of probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. Two levels of analysis were conducted: simple effects (Verbs vs. Baseline, Nouns vs. Baseline), and direct comparisons (Verbs vs. Nouns, Nouns vs. Verbs). Nouns were uniquely associated with a left medial temporal cluster (BA37). Activation foci for verbs included extensive inferior frontal (BA44-47) and mid-temporal (BA22, 21) regions in the left hemisphere. These findings confirm that the two grammatical classes have distinct neural architecture in supra-modal brain regions. Further, nouns and verbs overlapped in a small left lateral inferior temporal activation cluster (BA37), which is a region for modality-independent, grammatical class-independent lexical representations. These findings are most consistent with the view that as one acquires language, linguistic representations for a lexical category shift from the modality specific cortices which represent prototypical members of that category (e.g., motion for verbs) to abstract amodal representations in close proximity to modality specific cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasmeen Faroqi-Shah
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
| | - Rajani Sebastian
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
| | - Ashlyn Vander Woude
- Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
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Altman C, Goldstein T, Armon-Lotem S. Quantitative and qualitative differences in the lexical knowledge of monolingual and bilingual children on the LITMUS-CLT task. CLINICAL LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS 2017; 31:931-954. [PMID: 28481641 DOI: 10.1080/02699206.2017.1312533] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
While bilingual children follow the same milestones of language acquisition as monolingual children do in learning the syntactic patterns of their second language (L2), their vocabulary size in L2 often lags behind compared to monolinguals. The present study explores the comprehension and production of nouns and verbs in Hebrew, by two groups of 5- to 6-year olds with typical language development: monolingual Hebrew speakers (N = 26), and Russian-Hebrew bilinguals (N = 27). Analyses not only show quantitative gaps between comprehension and production and between nouns and verbs, with a bilingual effect in both, but also a qualitative difference between monolinguals and bilinguals in their production errors: monolinguals' errors reveal knowledge of the language rules despite temporary access difficulties, while bilinguals' errors reflect gaps in their knowledge of Hebrew (L2). The nature of Hebrew as a Semitic language allows one to explore this qualitative difference in the semantic and morphological level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carmit Altman
- a School of Education, Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel
| | | | - Sharon Armon-Lotem
- b Department of English Literature and Linguistic and the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center , Bar Ilan University , Ramat Gan , Israel
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