The increasing number of students with German as a second language (GL2) poses a great challenge for schools. Previous studies showed that especially young learners with a migration background are lagging behind in the acquisition of second language (L2) literacy. Experiencing problem behaviors (PB) in addition, might pose even greater challenges.…

Recent studies highlight the important contribution of phonological working memory (PM) in the early stages of both native and foreign language development. However, research on the effects of PM training on language development is very limited. This study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of a PM training educational intervention as a means of…

Purpose: The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the linguistic characterization of dyslexia by investigating vocabulary acquisition. In a previous study, vocabulary at 17 months of age appeared to be related to familial risk (FR) of dyslexia. The aim of this study was to investigate how the differences in lexical composition further…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the impact of a literacy-infused, inquiry-based science curriculum on English learners' (ELs') English oral language expressive skills as measured by the Woodcock Munoz Survey-Revised subtests: Picture Vocabulary and Verbal Analogies (Woodcock-Munoz-Sandoval, Ruef, & Alvarado, 2005). In…

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…

Children with a rich home literacy environment generally show better reading comprehension. For children in the higher grades of primary school, this relation is thought to be indirect. We propose a model in which this relation ran via children's higher order language and cognitive skills (i.e., expressive verbal ability and mentalizing ability)…

Lexicon Pirate was originally developed as a strategy intervention programme to treat lexical disorders of pre-school children. To evaluate the therapy's effectiveness for school-age students, a randomized controlled trial (RCT, N = 157) was conducted. Based on a pre--post-test design, the programme's impacts were compared with a control group…

The Working Memory Rating Scale (WMRS) was designed as a behavioral rating tool to assist teachers in identifying students at risk of working memory difficulties. The instrument was originally normed on 417 monolingual English-speaking children from the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the WMRS…

The longitudinal intervention study reported here is the first to investigate the efficiency of computer learning software specifically designed for dyslexic Swiss German learners of Standard German as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3). A total of 40 subjects (20 of them dyslexics and 20 of them nondyslexics; 10 students…

The present study examines the expressive writing abilities of children described by their teachers as having Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms and of matched controls and the effects of two types of facilitation. A group of 35 ADHD children and matched controls are given the task of composing a letter either under standard…