Age 3 follow-up data are presented for sample of 34 toddlers diagnosed between ages of 24 and 31 months with expressive specific language impairment. Late talkers made more rapid progress in lexical development and in descriptive, explanatory, and definitive use of language than in syntactic and morphological language. Toddlers who'd been more…

Examined mothers' accuracy in predicting the responses their children gave and the scores they achieved on two standardized vocabulary tests. Findings indicate that the overall estimates by mothers of language-impaired children were more accurate than those by mothers of language-normal children. (28 references) (Author/CK)

Examined relationships between early vocabulary composition, early language use, and properties of mothers' child-directed speech at 10 words. Found that, when the effects of the child on the mother at 10 words was controlled, there was a negative correlation between mothers' production of speech illustrating word boundaries and the percentage of…

Errors in naming pictures were studied for 12 children followed from age 15 months to 22 months and for 60 children of similar ages at three different levels of vocabulary development. An increase in naming errors was found with sudden increases in productive vocabulary, suggesting interference from previously retrieved words. (SLD)

The purpose of this study was to shed light on the issue of strategy training in second language learning. Investigated the effect of metacognitive strategy training through the use of explicit strategy instruction on the development of lexical knowledge of English-as-a-Foreign-Language students. (Author/VWL)

Two cohorts of same-sex twin pairs were assessed on grammar and vocabulary. Findings indicated that vocabulary and grammar correlated strongly at 2 and 3 years in both cohorts, with a consistently high genetic correlation between vocabulary and grammar at both ages. Findings suggest that the same genetic influences operate for vocabulary and…

Presents a study of the acquisition of English-as-a-Foreign-Language vocabulary through academic listening. Explored the effects of EFL proficiency and lecture comprehension on vocabulary acquisition as well as the relationship between vocabulary gain and the following factors: frequency of occurrence, types of word, type of word elaboration, and…

Presents vocabulary building strategies to assist young adolescents in better understanding the mathematical concepts being presented to them. Specifically describes: (1) a verbal and visual word association strategy; (2) concept circles strategy; and (3) use of the strategies. Notes that the modified vocabulary strategies have positive results…

Compared outcomes of traditional direct instruction and pictorial worksheets with that of a hands-on approach using objects, word cards, and definition cards to teach vocabulary words with multiple meanings to public school third graders. Found that the hands-on students made significantly greater vocabulary progress than direct instruction…

Examined the role of phonological memory and phonological awareness in foreign language word learning. Measures of phonological memory and phonological awareness were administered to 58 Chinese-speaking 4-year-olds four times over 2 years. Results suggest phonological memory may support foreign language word learning but phonological awareness may…

The teacher of a preschool class for deaf and hearing impaired children describes a project that used videotape recordings to increase parental involvement. Videotapes containing the sign vocabulary of upcoming teaching units as well as videoclips of various portions of the children's day in school were produced in the classroom and sent home to…

Outlines three principles that can guide teachers in planning for explicit vocabulary instruction. Describes a vocabulary immersion approach--Word Wall--which provides teachers with a versatile mechanism for promoting vocabulary growth in their classrooms. Gives an account of the adaptations made to the original approach to meet the needs of…

Examined relation of social-pragmatic and data- providing features of input to productive vocabulary of 63 two-year-olds. Found benefits of data provided in mother- child conversation, but no effects of social aspects of those conversations. Properties that benefited lexical development were quantity, lexical richness, and syntactic complexity.…

Reports an experimental study of the differential effects of premodified input, internationally modified input, and modified output on the comprehension of directions in a listen-and-do task and the acquisition of new words embedded in the directions. (Author/VWL)

Investigates college students' beliefs about vocabulary knowledge and acquisition. Explains the study and how the findings have modified how the authors teach vocabulary to their students. Provides some concrete ways to help students learn new words and to use them in meaningful ways in order to improve reading comprehension and fluency. (SG)