This study takes a mixed-methods approach to explore the influence of emotion-laden (positive vs. negative vs. neutral) texts and words on vocabulary learning for Spanish heritage and foreign language learners. Participants (N = 121) were tasked with learning emotion-laden pseudowords embedded in three emotion-laden texts centered around themes of…

Infants build knowledge by acting on the world. We conducted an ecologically grounded test of an embodied learning hypothesis: that infants' active engagement with objects in the home environment elicits caregiver naming and cascades to learning object names. Our home-based study extends laboratory-based theories to identify real-world processes…

The current study examined the effects of a shared reading instructional package on the receptive identification of English sight vocabulary in multilingual learner students with extensive support needs. Two participants received the intervention, one in a face-to-face format and one in a videoconferencing format (due to the COVID-19 pandemic). To…

Few studies have examined the effects of extensive reading (ER) on foreign language learners' acquisition of sight vocabulary, especially for partially known high-frequency words and reading fluency development. This study compared groups of non-English-major Japanese university-level students engaged in ER with intensive reading (IR) for two…

This article gives examples of mobile vocabulary apps (MVAs) that can be downloaded from the Google Play or Apple App Stores and used as extension activities or a supplement to in-class vocabulary instruction in EFL such as English word study, advanced English vocabulary, test your English vocabulary, English vocabulary level I, II & III, 1000…

A cluster randomized design was used to investigate effects of the Story Friends vocabulary curriculum on learning of 84 preschoolers in 24 classrooms who were at risk for language difficulties. Children in the treatment condition received explicit vocabulary instruction of 36 words during small-group storybook listening centers with extended…

This project explores how children disambiguate and retain novel object-label mappings in the face of semantic similarity. Burgeoning evidence suggests that semantic structure in the developing lexicon promotes word learning in ostensive contexts, whereas other findings indicate that semantic similarity interferes with and temporarily slows…

The authors examined the influence of context meaning consistency on incidental vocabulary acquisition during reading. "Context meaning consistency" refers to informational context that reflected the same meaning (i.e., consistent) or different meanings (i.e., inconsistent) across two self-paced reading sessions for a given item (both…

Language skills depend on the meaning of words and the knowledge of the subject/context. The meanings of words that shape the true understanding of contexts are needed to experience language as a real-life activity. College students in Saudi Arabia struggle to develop desired proficiency in the English language that is required to further advance…

Text comprehension comprises processes that work interactively to create a situation model of a text. Three hundred and one students from 12 Estonian schools were assessed to examine the relations between vocabulary and different text comprehension levels and to detect students' individual profiles in these skills. Both variable- and…

Aims: Although IDS is typically described as slower than adult-directed speech (ADS), potential impacts of slower speech on language development have not been examined. We explored whether IDS speech rates in 42 mother-infant dyads at four time periods predicted children's language outcomes at two years. Method: We correlated IDS speech rate with…

The debate over the science of reading has focused primarily on decoding (i.e., connecting letters and sounds to read words) and whether to use phonics to teach it. However, research on reading has included much more than decoding. Language comprehension, which allows readers to derive meaning from text, is an equally critical component of…

We examined the size, content, and use of evaluative lexis by 26 English monolingual and 20 Spanish-English bilingual 30-month-old children in interaction with their mothers. We extracted the evaluative words, defined as words referring to cognition, volition, or emotion. Controlling for overall vocabulary skills as measured by the MacArthur-Bates…

Background: This study examined predictive relationships between two indices of language--receptive vocabulary and morphological comprehension--and inhibition in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and typically developing (TD) children. Methods: Participants included 30 children with SLI and 41 TD age-matched peers (8-12 years). At…

The purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of vocabulary. We believe that not only is vocabulary multidimensional, but depth of vocabulary knowledge should also be assessed with multiple measures since it too, is composed of multiple aspects. Furthermore, to explore the predictive validity of the different aspects of vocabulary…