"How in the world are we supposed to apply the Common Core writing standards to teaching English language learners?" The authors propose a tentative answer to a question that has been troubling educators of late. Educators, they suggest, need to keep in mind three crucial elements: Students should (1) begin by reading more informational…

Purpose: The purposes of the present study were to (a) explore the relationship between parent and teacher reports of children's bilingual (Spanish-English) productive vocabulary and (b) examine similarities and differences among parent-teacher reports. Word categories were examined to determine the nature of similarities and differences.…

With the rising incidence of television consumption in children, the aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of such habits on vocabulary skills in young children. Very little research has targeted a key cognitive skill--vocabulary--during the toddler years, which represent a critical developmental period. We recruited toddlers,…

This paper reports on a one year, mixed-methods longitudinal case study investigating the neglected area of the perceived reasons why participants forget vocabulary knowledge. The participants were 43 fourth year male Saudi EFL majors at King Abdulaziz University KAU, Saudi Arabia. Quantitative and qualitative data including self-reported…

The present study uses a mixture Rasch model to examine latent differential item functioning in English as a foreign language listening tests. Participants (n = 250) took a listening and lexico-grammatical test and completed the metacognitive awareness listening questionnaire comprising problem solving (PS), planning and evaluation (PE), mental…

This dissertation examines Spanish Direct Object clitic pronouns in Argentine spoken Spanish of adults and children (ages 4;0-7;0). It concentrates on (Finite verb + Nonfinite verb) constructions that allow both pre-verbal (Proclisis) and a postverbal (Enclisis) clitic placement. Previous corpus studies have shown that lexical (finite verb),…

A fairly recent definition of reading disability (RD) is that in the form of a hybrid model. The model views RD as a latent construct that is manifested through various observable unexpected impairments in reading-related skills and through inadequate response to intervention. The current report evaluated this new conceptualization of RD from an…

The present study addressed the role of speed as a factor in tests of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, presupposing that speed of performance is important in actual language use. Research questions were: (a) Do learners with a larger vocabulary size answer faster on an L2 vocabulary breadth test than smaller vocabulary sized learners?;…

Millions of adults in the United States lack the necessary literacy skills for most living wage jobs. For students from adult learning classes, we used a lexical decision task to measure their knowledge of words and we used a decision-making model (Ratcliff's, 1978, diffusion model) to abstract the mechanisms underlying their performance from…

Chemistry departments have felt pressure in recent years to produce quality data on student achievement of learning outcomes. External (e.g., accreditation agencies) and internal (e.g., academic deans) entities are demanding regular review of student achievement. It is thus necessary for the chemistry community to develop valid and reliable…

This study examined relations between children's attention span-persistence in preschool and later school achievement and college completion. Children were drawn from the Colorado Adoption Project using adopted and non-adopted children (N = 430). Results of structural equation modeling indicated that children's age 4 attention span-persistence…

With an increased interest in the revitalization of Indigenous languages and cultural practices worldwide, there is also an increased need to develop tools to support Indigenous language learners and instructors. The purpose of this article is to presents such a tool called ANA 'OLELO, designed specifically to assess Hawaiian language proficiency.…

This paper investigates using data-driven learning (DDL) as a means of stimulating greater lexicogrammatical knowledge and reading speed among lower proficiency learners in an extensive reading program. For 16 weekly 90-minute sessions, an experimental group (12 students) used DDL materials created from a corpus developed from the Oxford Bookworms…

In an attempt to enhance learners' autonomy and create awareness of their own learning process, keeping a vocabulary notebook can be regarded as one of the most commonly used cognitive strategies. A jargon book, a kind of vocabulary notebook, consists of specialized terms that are used for conveying hidden meanings accepted and understood in a…

Via naturalistic observations, parent interview, and direct assessments, we examined language proficiency, language use, and differentiation of a 3-year, 4-month-old bilingual child exposed to Mandarin and English via the "one parent-one language" principle. Although noun versus verb dominance has been explored across verb-based…