The primary focus of this piece is the fundamental need to read to children to set the scene for their literacy development. It is asserted, reading to all children should happen daily for the first three years of their schooling. The reasons for this assertion are explored and explained: a vast vocabulary is gleaned, learned and used; the simple…

This experiment used the masked priming lexical decision task to address previous contradictory evidence about the relative strength of priming for (i) transparent pairs (e.g., "worker" "WORK") which are morphologically and semantically related; (ii) opaque pairs (e.g., "corner" "CORN") which appear to be morphological relatives but are not…

This study investigated fast mapping in late-talking (LT) toddlers and toddlers with normal language (NL) development matched on age, nonverbal cognition, and maternal education. The fast-mapping task included novel object labels and familiar words. The LT group scored significantly lower than the NL group on novel word comprehension and…

The interpretation of size terms involves constructing contextually-relevant reference points by combining visual cues with knowledge of typical object sizes. This study aims to establish at what age children learn to integrate these two sources of information in the interpretation process and tests comprehension of the Dutch adjectives "groot"…

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which commonly used core reading curricular materials supported research-based pedagogical features for oral vocabulary instruction in kindergarten. A document analysis was completed for 12 weeks of instructional materials from the teacher's editions of the 4 most widely used curricula.…

This article describes how researchers take a multidisciplinary approach to investigating how middle grades students learn science vocabulary. The authors investigated teaching strategies for increasing retention of science vocabulary with seventh graders and stumbled upon an interesting finding that was not even a target for their study, yet it…

This article positions research on the acquisition of pragmatics as an inquiry in the greater field of second language acquisition research. Viewing pragmatics from this intersection, I consider five areas of research that are of interest in both fields and have the potential to make significant contributions to second language pragmatics…

This paper presents an approximate replication of Milton's (2007) study on lexical profiles and learning style. Milton investigated the assumption that more frequent words are acquired before less frequent ones. Using a vocabulary recognition test ("X-Lex") to measure vocabulary size, Milton found that L2 English group profiles show…

This study examined the vocabulary development of Spanish-English bilingual adolescents (n=98) from the end of 6th through the end of 7th grade in a dual language setting by looking at the patterns of growth in English and Spanish vocabulary post intervention and adding to the body of research on vocabulary development. Data were analyzed using…

Initiated in response to informal reports of vocabulary gains from gamers at universities in New Zealand and the Netherlands, this qualitative study explored how English language learners autonomously learn vocabulary while playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Using research processes inherent in Grounded Theory, data…

The purposes of this study was to know how (1) Controlled composition teaching techniques implemented by the English teacher at SDN 027 Samarinda to improve vocabulary mastery, and (2) Controlled composition teaching techniques improves vocabulary mastery of the sixth grade students of SDN 027 Samarinda. This research used a Classroom Action…

Speaking is an important skill that needs to be mastered as it is the best way to communicate with other people in order to deliver opinions and express ideas, but the fact is that secondary school students' ability in speaking English is low in Malaysia. It is caused by several factors such as lack of vocabulary, poor pronunciation, weak grammar…

English-Spanish cognates are words that possess identical or nearly identical spellings and meanings in both English and Spanish as a result of being derived mainly from Latin and Greek. Of major importance is the fact that many of the more than 20,000 cognates in English are academic vocabulary words, terms essential for comprehending school…

This investigation examined the influence of varying levels of Spanish receptive vocabulary and phonemic awareness ability on beginning English vocabulary, phonemic awareness, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension development across kindergarten through second grade. The 80 respondents were Spanish speaking children with no English…

When both members of a phonemic contrast in L2 (second language) are perceptually mapped to a single phoneme in one's L1 (first language), L2 words containing a member of that contrast can spuriously activate L2 words in spoken-word recognition. For example, upon hearing cattle, Dutch speakers of English are reported to experience activation…