This article promotes literacy as a a powerful tool for learning new language. Although learners frequently think of comprehensible input as language that is heard, comprehensible input from print can also be accessed. Research has shown that reading has a powerful impact on language learning: much of the vocabulary that educated adults know has…

This Teaching Tip is based on a vocabulary study conducted at Thetford Elementary in Thetford, Vermont. It explores the positive effects of utilizing paired conversational response and teaching of associative connections within read aloud. Teachers who scaffold student understanding during read aloud using the Four C's: compare and contrast…

Purpose: Pronouncing a novel word for the first time requires the transformation of a newly encoded speech signal into a series of coordinated, exquisitely timed oromotor movements. Individual differences in children's ability to repeat novel nonwords are associated with vocabulary development and later literacy. Nonword repetition (NWR) is…

How can we supplement the limited time available for vocabulary instruction while motivating students to attend to the words they are learning? As a part of an academic word vocabulary intervention, we challenged sixth-grade students to find their words in the world around them. This activity, In the Media, garnered responses from 51 of the 61…

Many studies suggest that preschoolers rely on individuals' histories of generating accurate lexical information when learning novel lexical information from them. The present study examined whether children used a speaker's accuracy about one kind of linguistic knowledge to make inferences about another kind of linguistic knowledge, focusing…

This article offers a critical examination of the current practices and beliefs about vocabulary teaching and learning in typical communicative-approach German classrooms. While research on vocabulary acquisition is scarce, frequency dictionaries reveal that current practice is based heavily on the use of concrete, referential lexemes that may be…

In the world, the manners and paths of motion events take place together, but in language, these features are expressed separately. How do infants learn to process motion events in linguistically appropriate ways? Forty-six English-learning 7- to 9-month-olds were habituated to a motion event in which a character performed both a manner and a…

In 2 main experiments, the mediated priming effect was used to determine whether retrieval continues to be mediated after repeated testing. In each experiment, participants used the keyword method to learn French vocabulary, then completed a modified lexical decision task in which they first translated a French word, and then made a lexical…

The present study used individual growth modeling to examine the role of specific forms (i.e., receptive, expressive, and definitional vocabulary and grammatical skill) and levels of oral vocabulary skill (i.e., 25th, 50th, or 75th percentile) in phonological awareness growth during the preschool and kindergarten years. Sixty-one,…

Vocabulary is central to English language teaching. Without sufficient vocabulary, students cannot understand others or express their own ideas. Teachers who find the task of teaching English vocabulary a little daunting are not alone! This book presents important issues from recent vocabulary research and theory so that teachers may approach…

The internet is the largest communications network in the world. It has become the virtual backbone of all communication. Therefore, it seems natural to leverage it as a major tool in any education involving communication skills, especially language skills. This chapter outlines a practitioner's experience on how this can be done in a foreign…

Acquiring useful language by age 5 has been identified as a strong predictor of positive outcomes in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study examined the relationship between age of language acquisition and later functioning in children with ASD (n = 119). First word acquisition at a range of ages was probed for its…

This paper aims to be an introduction to the General Service List (GSL) that brings together descriptive data with material otherwise dispersed throughout the literature. The discussion first provides an historical overview of the work that scholars, researchers, and educators used as foundations for the manufacturing of the GSL. Following, a…

Previously, one of the vital tasks of English learning is to find new methods and resources to make the EFL students more stimulating and productive. Recently, the usage of movies (in DVD format) in courses became popular or supplementary resources to learn English among EFL learners. Many researchers stated that authentic video is an advantage…

This paper aims at investigating the effect of Arabization of Romanic Alphabets on the development of 9th Grade English as a Foreign Language students' composition writing skills at secondary school level. This experimental study includes 25 secondary school students in their 9th Grade in which English is taught as a foreign language at…