Investigated the hierarchical organization of the semantic system in preschoolers with and without word-finding deficits. Children named a series of objects at multiple levels of the noun hierarchy in response to contrast questions. Children with word-finding deficits had similar abilities to the other children but did not have enough stored…

Compared expressive vocabulary data from a systematic diary study of one child's early language development with data from longitudinal administration of the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventories spoken vocabulary checklist (CDI). The CDI underestimated the number of words in the diary study. Logistic curves were the best-fitting model…

Examined effects of two types of storybook reading experiences on acquisition of vocabulary of 36 preschoolers behind chronological age in expressive vocabulary. Found that children in the dialogic-reading condition made significantly larger gains in vocabulary introduced in the books, as well as gains on a standardized expressive vocabulary test,…

The following article discusses cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies and the use of them particularly among bilingual students. It distinguishes between the two types of strategies. Strategy use among monolingual and bilingual students are described and compared. The article focuses on the need for strategy instruction, particularly…

A study determined if there would be any significant difference in comprehension from expository text between students instructed to use context clues and prior knowledge and those students not instructed in their use. It was hypothesized that students who only used a dictionary to understand words, not exploring context or prior knowledge, will…

A comparison of four college-level elementary German textbooks reveals significant differences in the numbers of vocabulary entries in each textbook. Further comparison of three of the textbooks with the basic German vocabulary lists provided in "Kontaktschwelle Deutsch als Fremdsprache" and in "Das Zertificat Deutsch als Fremdsprache" reveal in…

Reports on a study designed to determine the effects of preteaching vocabulary of differing levels of importance to a text using two different methods of instruction on children's comprehension of basal stories. Concludes that, in general, the results supported the growing evidence for the "direct effect" of instruction on children's text…

Compares the effectiveness of two types of classroom vocabulary instruction with a noninstruction type homework assignment. (FL)

Evaluated effects of perceived choice upon comprehension and memory of prose reading passages. Compared choice and no choice conditions with young and elderly adults and only elderly groups. Results indicated both age- and vocabulary-related deficits. However, perceived choice conditions did not produce any consistent improvement in performance.…

The speech and language developmental progress of children with hearing loss educated using an Auditory-Verbal approach was compared to that of a control group of children with normal hearing. The experimental group consisted of 29 children ages 2-6 years with a mean pure tone average in the better ear of 76.17 dB HL at 0.5, 1 and 2 kHz. The 29…

The influence of five programs of the Mt. Druitt Early Childhood Project on the development of preschool children's vocabulary and syntactical skills was assessed in a pretest/posttest design. Programs differed in the amount of structure they imposed on the language experiences of the children and in the content they specified. Different measures…

Significant differences were found in the mathematics test scores and word knowledge scores of Swedish junior high school students from one-parent versus two-parent families. Similar lower achievement patterns for students from one-parent families emerged with high school seniors. Results are discussed in terms of family configuration theories.…

Compares the lexical proficiency of 69 grade 6 immersion students with that of 22 native French-speaking peers, based on verb use and in 5 written compositions. Measures of lexical error, variety, specificity, and sophistication show clear differences between the two groups. (33 references) (Author/VWL)

Compares the effectiveness of a traditional vocabulary instruction unit with an alternative unit which applied the concepts of procedural and conditional knowledge to secondary students' word learning. Discusses key characteristics that made the alternative unit successful. (SR)