Children with epilepsy are at increased risk for language and reading difficulties. Phonological processing and language underlie reading success, yet their association with reading achievement in children with epilepsy is unknown. We assessed phonological processing, oral language, and reading in children (ages 6 to 12) with epilepsy (EP; n = 6),…

All communication systems rely on sets of rules that must generally be followed for successful communication to be possible; in the case of human language, these rules are given by the grammar. However, despite these rules, there is considerable variation that has been noted across the grammar. In this dissertation, I explore one understudied…

Aiming to verify the predictive value of oral narrative structure on reading acquisition, we followed 253 children (first and second graders) during an entire school year, assessing oral narratives and reading performances in five sessions. Transcriptions of oral narratives were represented as word-recurrence graphs to measure connectedness…

The current study examined to what extent face and speech processing interact with each other and whether they enhance or impair the processing of the other in 5-year-olds (n = 51) and adults (n = 34). Using a computer-based speeded sorting task allowed to directly test the influence of auditory speech on face processing and the influence of face…

There is good evidence that high-quality instruction targeting reading-related skills in the classroom leads to gains in reading. However, considerably less is known about the possible efficacy of "remote" instruction. This study evaluated the efficacy of an interactive evidence-based language-rich literacy programme. 184 children were…

Background: Word retrieval skills change across the lifespan. Permanent alterations in the form of decreased accuracy or increased response time can be a consequence of both normal ageing processes or the presence of acquired and neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., aphasia and dementia). Despite the extensive literature exploring the…

A number of assessment methods are used to improve teaching which accelerates students' achievement. This study investigates the effect of two assessment methods (Think - Pair - Share and Choral Response) on academic achievement of prospective science teachers in a public sector university in Lahore, Pakistan. It employed a quasi-experimental…

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) is a multifaceted disorder. Recently, interest has grown in prosodic aspects of DLD, but most investigations of possible prosodic causes focus on speech perception tasks. Here, we focus on speech production from a speech amplitude envelope (AE) perspective. Perceptual studies have indicated a role for…

Early literacy and writing development are inter-related, yet predictors of beginning writing are less well studied than beginning reading. This study investigated contributions of school-entry name-writing to writing skills after 1 and 2 years of school in New Zealand above and beyond school-entry oral language and early literacy skills.…

Background: Although most prevalent in childhood, the acquisition of new words in oral vocabulary takes place right across the lifespan. Of the many factors that influence oral vocabulary learning, one extrinsic factor is the listening environment. The current study aimed to examine whether the presence of noise impacts oral vocabulary learning in…

This study examined high-leverage teaching practices (HLTPs) in foreign language instruction. Specifically, this study sought to identify teaching practices that Arabic as a foreign language (AFL) learners and instructors think could enhance learners' oral communicative competence. It attempted to answer the following questions: (1) What are the…

Children can only develop spoken language through consistent exposure to the acoustic cues that comprise speech and language. Until recently, hearing levels from the clinical audiogram were the primary measure used to define typical hearing and the presence or degree of a child's hearing loss. While the clinical audiogram remains an important…

The current study evaluated the use of the self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instructional approach to teach the TRAP mnemonic (Think before reading, Read a paragraph, Ask what is the main idea/important details, Paraphrase the paragraph) and its impact on youth reading comprehension performance. The TRAP mnemonic was taught to an…

Background: Oral language has long been acknowledged as a prominent influence on children's reading development. Here, we examine the intersecting contribution of two prominent aspects of oral language - phonology and morphology. We explore this interface by examining contributions from the two dimensions of phonology - phonemic and prosodic - of…

The nationally funded Prevention and Early Intervention (PEI) programme aimed to design, deliver and evaluate interventions to improve a range of outcomes for children growing up in areas of low socio-economic status (SES). A key focus for many PEI programmes was to improve the oral language abilities of children, recognising its important link to…