A case is made for basing vocabulary teaching to English for special purposes economics students on lexis that reflects important underlying metaphors of the subject. These are identified with reference to high frequency lexis in "The Economist" magazine, and an explanation is offered of their metaphorical basis. (Author/VWL)

Describes two activities (the use of a newspaper and consultation with a dictionary) that English-as-a-second language (ESL) college students can use to independently learn new vocabulary. Finds that dictionary work was laborious but necessary, and that ESL students need to be taught prudent use of the dictionary. (SR)

First-, fourth-, and ninth-grade hearing students (n=30) were administered Carolina Picture Vocabulary Test items to determine if signs used in the test are iconic and can convey meaning at the moment of testing. The signs were sufficiently iconic to enable students unfamiliar with signs to identify a test picture. (Author/CR)

Offers a clear-cut definition of context within vocabulary acquisition based on the differentiation between verbal and nonverbal context. To prove the feasibility of this definition, it is applied to examples taken from German teaching material within the university environment. (Author/VWL)

Used data from sibling pairs from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to examine how parental education moderated the genetic and environmental contributions to variation in verbal IQ. Found that the variance estimate for heritability was greater than that for shared environment for the whole sample. Both estimates were moderated…

Examined effects of two types of storybook reading experiences on acquisition of vocabulary of 36 preschoolers behind chronological age in expressive vocabulary. Found that children in the dialogic-reading condition made significantly larger gains in vocabulary introduced in the books, as well as gains on a standardized expressive vocabulary test,…

The effects of a book reading technique called interactive book reading on the language and literacy development of 4-year-olds from low-income families were evaluated. Teachers read books to children and reinforced vocabulary in the books by presenting objects that represented the words and providing opportunities to use the words. (BF)

Presents a case study of vocabulary learning in Japanese for five students under different instructional conditions. Examines whether output activities facilitated the retention of words more effectively than input-dominant activities, which require students to comprehend questions involving target words but do not encourage them to use the words…

Examined role of isolated words in early vocabulary development. Found that isolated words are a reliable feature of speech to infants; that they include a variety of word types; and that a substantial fraction of words infants produce are words that mothers speak in isolation. Frequency of hearing words in isolation better predicts learning than…

This study examined the relationship between the teaching method, oral or total communication, used at children's schools and children's consonant-production accuracy and vocabulary development over time. The children (N=147) had used cochlear implants for between 6 months and 10 years. Results indicated a complex relationship among children's…

Late talkers with specific language impairment and developmental delay make up a large portion of our early childhood caseloads; therefore, an understanding of best clinical practices for these populations is essential. Early lexical learning was examined in 2 interactive treatment approaches with 29 late-talking preschoolers with language and…

Background: A previous study (Stuart, 1999) showed that early phoneme awareness and phonics teaching improved reading and spelling ability in inner-city schoolchildren in Key Stage 1, most of whom were learning English as a second language. Aims: The present study, a follow-up of these children at the end of Key Stage 1, addresses four main…

Mental state language during conversations about the past was assessed in a short-term longitudinal study. Twenty-one mother-child dyads discussed several previously experienced events when the children were 30 and 42 months old. Over time, children's mental term use--although quite low--did increase, and both mothers and children talked more…

Our research reflects the current trend to relate individual differences in second language learning to underlying cognitive processes e.g., Robinson, 2002. We believe that such investigations, apart from being of practical importance, can also shed light on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the language learning process. Here we focus on the…

Development of children's vocabularies for gender-typed words and communicative actions was investigated longitudinally from 13 to 36 months and in a group of 9.5-month-olds. Vocabularies of gendered words were assessed using lists of adult-rated gender-typed words from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories (CDI; L. Fenson et…