Background: Children's language abilities set the stage for their education, psychosocial development and life chances across the life course. Aims: To compare the efficacy of two preschool language interventions delivered with low dosages in early years settings (EYS): Building Early Sentences Therapy (BEST) and an Adapted Derbyshire Language…

This study followed the development of Hong Kong Sign Language (HKSL) proficiency in 31 deaf bimodal bilingual children (kindergarten through Primary 6) over two years. The Hong Kong Sign Language Elicitation Tool (HKSL-ET) was used at three time points to elicit the production of agreement, classifier, modal, negation, and wh-question structures.…

Background: There is empirical evidence that a developmental language disorder (DLD) in early childhood leads to behaviour problems. However, it is still not clear how changes in language proficiency in these children influence the presence of behaviour problems. Aims: The aim of this study is to examine if changes in language proficiency are…

This study explores how preschool educators could assess dual language learners' (DLLs) English language abilities using formative instruments in school settings. It specifically examines (1) DLLs' receptive and expressive language proficiencies measured using the instruments and (2) educators' perceived usefulness of them for informing…

The primary purpose of the present study was to test language and cognitive predictors of lexical selection in the storytelling of monolingual and bilingual children. Measures of language proficiency and cognitive ability were assessed with both English- and Mandarin-speaking monolinguals and Mandarin-English bilinguals aged 4 to 6 years old. To…

A body of studies, which are mostly based on parental reports, have documented gender differences in early language proficiency, and girls tend to outperform boys in both language production and language comprehension. In this study, staff in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care institutions observed language comprehension, word…

The population of Spanish-speaking preschoolers in the United States continues to increase and there is a significant need to develop psychometrically sound early language and literacy screening measures to accurately capture children's ability in Spanish. In this paper, we describe the innovative design and calibration process of the new…

Purpose: The author followed 56 internationally adopted children during the first 3 years after adoption to determine how and when they reached age-expected language proficiency in Standard American English. The influence of age of adoption was measured, along with the relationship between early and later language and speech outcomes. Method:…

This longitudinal randomized-control trial investigated the effectiveness of scientifically based reading instruction for students with IQs ranging from 40 to 80, including students with intellectual disability (ID). Students were randomly assigned into treatment (n = 76) and contrast (n = 65) groups. Students in the treatment group received…

Academic language is a vital part of content-area instruction and is one of the most pressing needs faced by English Language Learners (ELLs). The fundamental challenge ELLs in all-English instruction face is learning academic content while simultaneously becoming proficient in English. Because of this challenge, the authors, as educators, do not…

Direct instruction is often necessary to develop language or expand language use in individuals with language delays. Previous research has begun to identify certain training conditions that result in more efficient use of instructional time devoted to language development. Specifically, incorporating mands into the instructional arrangement,…

This article explores 46 deaf college students' knowledge of English wh-question formation in the context of government-binding theory and an associated learnability theory. Results of two learnability tasks revealed that, despite years of exposure to English language input, many deaf learners had not internalized the positive evidence required to…

This study examined the relationship among language proficiency, behavior problems, and other areas of development in 36 children (ages 36 to 40 months). A strong association was found between deficiencies in both expressive and receptive language and behavioral difficulties. Specifically, deficits in expressive language at age 2 were more…

Two studies explored bilingual language-development outcomes of low-income, Spanish-speaking, Mexican-American children who did or did not attend a bilingual preschool. Found that children who attended bilingual preschools, compared to those remaining at home, showed significant and parallel gains in Spanish-language development and in…

The purpose of this study is to compare the English syntactic structures produced in spontaneous oral language and the receptive English syntactic and vocabulary skills of bilingual Spanish and Indian children and monolingual Anglo-Americans, all of whom qualify for Title I elementary schools (Grades 1-6). People in Action, the Northwestern Syntax…