Children who rapidly recognize and interpret familiar words typically have accelerated lexical growth, providing indirect evidence that lexical processing efficiency (LPE) is related to word-learning ability. Here we directly tested whether children with better LPE are better able to learn novel words. In Experiment 1, 17- and 30-month-olds were…

In this teacher-research study I examine factors influencing willingness to communicate (WTC) on 39 students, grades 1-6, enrolled in after-school English as a foreign language (EFL) classes in Korea. Quantitative data from student surveys, was analyzed to identify student perceptions of their comfort when engaged in various types of communicative…

There is robust evidence that reading aloud with young children can help them learn new vocabulary. Building upon prior research, this study tested the effects of "both" book text features "and" readers' spontaneous extra-textual word-highlighting strategies on 3- to 4-year-olds' vocabulary retention from repeated read alouds…

Background: Attitudes of classmates has been considered as one of the major problems in inclusive education, negatively influencing the participation of students with disability in school contexts. The goal of this study was to examine Italian typically developing children's attitudes towards their peers with disabilities. Method: In a sample of…

Research has investigated how lexical-semantic and participant factors impact word learning in young children and adults. However, limited information pertaining to expressive vocabulary development exists for school-aged bilinguals--particularly those with developmental language disorder (DLD). Cross-linguistic differences in the semantic…

The field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) has observed how interest-driven extramural English (EE), an outside-of-classroom engagement with English (Sundqvist, 2009), can facilitate language development. Research supports the potential EE has when brought into formal English language teaching (ELT) settings; However,…

In the United States, political polarization has increased markedly since 2000, with consequences for local governments and state-level policymaking. Redistricting, and the role of social media as the dominant source of information for many in the U.S. has contributed to state and national legislatures that reflect more extreme political views. A…

Counterfactuals describe imagined alternatives to reality that people know to be false. Successful counterfactual comprehension therefore requires people to keep in mind both an imagined hypothetical world and the presupposed real world. "Counterfactual transparency," that is, the degree to which a context makes it easy to determine…

This article presents the results of a research project carried out in 2017 at the Agricultural High School of Universidad Autónoma Chapingo in Texcoco, Mexico, with the aim of determining which vocabulary strategies students used, as well as the frequency of their use. A Likert-scale questionnaire with 5 points, adapted from Easterbrook (2013),…

This study aims to determine the effects of training through interaction activities on the social acceptance levels of typically developing eighth-grade students towards students with special needs. The study was carried out with a sample of 100 eighth-grade students attending middle school in a province in Turkey. The study used an experimental…

Negatives attitudes toward children with autism are an important barrier to school inclusion. Despite the increasing amount of research, no psychometrically sound scale reliably measures these attitudes in young students. Our aim was to develop and validate a tool (Children's Attitudes Toward Autism Questionnaire) to evaluate attitudes (three…

Prior research demonstrates that primary and secondary school teachers often find teaching young learners to write in a second language a slow and effortful process. Moreover, students in this age range lack the motivation to write. Therefore, it is important to explore the EFL writing pedagogy suitable for young learners. The present study…

Inclusion starts at the top, and when the deep commitment of school and districts leaders is absent, individual teachers' efforts to create and sustain inclusive learning environments where students with disabilities can soar risk being little more than exercises in frustration. With this premise in mind, this brief shares the voices of…

Research shows that when semantic context makes it feel easier for people to bring related thoughts and images to mind, people can misinterpret that feeling of ease as evidence that information is positive. But research also shows that semantic context does more than help people bring known concepts to mind--it also teaches people new concepts. In…

A number of theories exist to explain why people gesture when speaking, when they produce gesture, and the origin of their gestures. This dissertation focuses on four individual variables that can influence gesture: (i) familiarity, (ii) imageability, (iii) codability, and (iv) motor experience. Four experiments were designed to determine how each…