Children's printed word database: Continuities and changes over time in children's early reading vocabulary

In this paper we introduce a comprehensive database of the vocabulary in reading materials used by 5 – 9 year old children in the UK. The database is available on‐line http:www.essex.ac.ukpsychologycpwd and allows researchers into early reading development the possibility of rigorous control over critical characteristics of experimental stimuli such as word frequency, regularity and length, frequency of grapheme‐phoneme correspondences, orthographic and phonological neighbourhoods etc. The on‐line database is also a resource that can be used by practitioners with interests in literacy development and literacy instruction. It can be used to obtain characteristics for a user‐generated list of words, or else to generate a list of words according to constraints specified by the user. Here we present an overview of the construction of the database, the materials entered into it, the survey of schools by which we obtained information about the books that were most likely to be used by children in each age group, and the search features available on the database website. We also discuss certain characteristics of the Vocabulary itself and compare these with those reported in an earlier non‐representative database reported in Stuart, Dixon, Masterson and Gray (2003). We then present a detailed analysis of the characteristics of Vocabulary in books used in the Reception year, against the background of recent recommendations for change in the early teaching of reading. Finally, we present data showing that the database is indeed already proving a useful resource for both practitioners and researchers.     

AN EXTENDED BASIC SIGHT VOCABULARY FOR THE PRIMARY GRADES

Extant word lists are typically based on word frequency counts from various types of literature (e.g., basal readers, content textbooks, trade books, adult reading material). The word list described in this study was constructed by determining what words are commonly known (i.e., recognized in their written form) by beginning readers. Almost 7,000 primary grade children were tested for basic sight recognition of 1,800 high frequency words. Using a 90 percent minimum criterion (i.e., 90 percent or more of the students at each grade level recognized each word), a 1,683‐word list was established that consisted of 587 first‐grade words, 861 second‐grade words, and 235 third‐grade words. Implications and uses of the extended basic sight vocabulary are also discussed.     

Exploring the relationship between children's knowledge of text message abbreviations and school literacy outcomes

This paper presents a study of 88 British 10–12‐year‐old children's knowledge of text message (SMS) abbreviations (‘textisms’) and how it relates to their school literacy attainment. As a measure of textism knowledge, the children were asked to compose text messages they might write if they were in each of a set of scenarios. Their text messages were coded for types of text abbreviations (textisms) used, and the ratio of textisms to total words was calculated to indicate density of textism use. The children also completed a short questionnaire about their mobile phone use. The ratio of textisms to total words used was positively associated with word reading, vocabulary, and phonological awareness measures. Moreover, the children's textism use predicted word reading ability after controlling for individual differences in age, short‐term memory, vocabulary, phonological awareness and how long they had owned a mobile phone. The nature of the contribution that textism knowledge makes to children's word reading attainment is discussed in terms of the notion of increased exposure to print, and Crystal's (2006a) notion of ludic language use.     

99 MULTIPLE MEANING WORDS FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS AND WAYS TO TEACH THEM

The cumulative first grade word lists from three widely‐used basal series were combined and alphabetized through the use of a computer program. Of the 255 words common to all three lists, 228 (almost 90%) had multiple meanings. From these a basic list of 99 multiple meaning words was selected by applying three criteria: (a) all or most definitions of the word could be related to primary grade children's experiences; (b) the word was used as more than one part of speech; and (c) the word had four or more different definitions. Activities to develop children's knowledge of the multiple meanings of words are suggested through the use of pictures and objects, picture dictionaires and concept books, semantic mapping, and sentence context.     

词汇飞跃: 早期语言发展的里程碑──来自五名汉语儿童的跟踪报告

本文通过对五名汉语儿童的长期跟踪调查,旨在从词汇增长、句法出现和语义发展三方面发掘词汇飞跃时期儿童的语言特征。结果显示：儿童在18个月左右词汇迅猛增长,出现词汇飞跃现象;标志句法出现的词语组合和词汇飞跃在时间上紧密相连;词汇飞跃期儿童语义发展显著,体现为过度延伸词的逐渐减少及下位层次词的逐渐增加。词汇飞跃是汉语儿童早期语言发展的里程碑,表明其在词汇、句法和语义多个语言层面的飞跃。     

Parents’ early book reading to children: Relation to children's later language and literacy outcomes controlling for other parent language input

It is widely believed that reading to preschool children promotes their language and literacy skills. Yet, whether early parent–child book reading is an index of generally rich linguistic input or a unique predictor of later outcomes remains unclear. To address this question, we asked whether naturally occurring parent–child book reading interactions between 1 and 2.5 years‐of‐age predict elementary school language and literacy outcomes, controlling for the quantity of other talk parents provide their children, family socioeconomic status, and children's own early language skill. We find that the quantity of parent–child book reading interactions predicts children's later receptive vocabulary, reading comprehension, and internal motivation to read (but not decoding, external motivation to read, or math skill), controlling for these other factors. Importantly, we also find that parent language that occurs during book reading interactions is more sophisticated than parent language outside book reading interactions in terms of vocabulary diversity and syntactic complexity.     

COMPUTER ASSESSMENT OF READING VOCABULARY: A PRELIMINARY STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE,WORD FREQUENCY,AND RESPONSE TIME

The assessment of vocabulary knowledge has posed a number of problems which have resulted in widely differing estimates of children's vocabulary growth. Such estimates assume importance when school texts are controlled for vocabulary diversity, and in pedagogical debates concerning the value of vocabulary instruction. In this paper we outline a computer‐based methodology which obtains simple timed responses to sets of words and word‐like nonsense items. We present pilot data depicting estimated vocabulary knowledge, and relating it to word frequency and decision response time, and we speculate about the question of total vocabulary size.     

Eye movements,word familiarity,and vocabulary acquisition

Two experiments examined the effects of word familiarity on word recognition and text comprehension during silent reading. Readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences containing words that varied in familiarity as assessed by printed estimates of word frequency, subjective ratings of familiarity, and a multiple‐choice test of meaning knowledge. Effects of word frequency were unaffected by differences in subjective familiarity rating for high frequency words. Differential effects of familiarity rating were observed in low frequency conditions. In addition, processing time on high and low frequency words did not differ when familiarity was held constant for moderately familiar words. Readers spent more initial processing time on novel words than familiar words. Performance on a vocabulary test administered after the reading session demonstrated that readers successfully acquired and retained new word meanings. Finally, reanalysis of word processing time as a function of vocabulary test performance demonstrated a systematic relationship between online processing patterns and memory for novel word meaning.     

汉语儿童读词者的认知特征及其影响因素

读词者是指能够流畅地进行字词识别和解码, 却难以很好地理解文本内容的学生。以840名小学一到六年级学生为研究对象, 对其进行阅读速度、阅读理解、语素意识(包括同音语素意识、同形语素意识和复合语素意识)、汉字识别、口语词汇、工作记忆、一般智力等测查, 通过现状描述和多分类logistic回归分析, 结果发现：(1)一年级汉语儿童读词者的检出率为0.7%, 二年级之后的检出率在6.5%~10.1%之间; (2)在语言特异性认知因素上, 控制了年龄和智力后, 与其他学生相比, 读词者在汉字识别任务上表现较好, 在语素意识各个任务及口语词汇上表现较差; (3)年龄和智力是造成读词者比率增加的一般因素; (4)同音语素意识和口语词汇是造成读词者比率增加的语言特异性认知因素。     

Closing the Vocabulary Gap?: A Review of Research on Early Childhood Vocabulary Practices

Our qualitative literature review of 31 published studies found that (a) three major approaches are used in early childhood classrooms to support children's vocabulary learning—exposing children to advanced words, providing direct word-meaning instruction, and employing mixed-method interventions; (b) these practices support children's learning of targeted vocabulary words and/or general vocabulary knowledge gains, but various methods have differential impacts on children's depth of word knowledge; and (c) theme-based multimethod interventions are the most likely approach to close the gap. Based on these findings, we suggest future research directions and discuss implications for classroom practice.     

Introduction

ABSTRACT

Subjects for the study were 65 children whose ages ranged from 5.6 to 9.5 years. Tasks from the Downing‐Oliver (1973‐1974) study were used to explore children's knowledge of spoken words and the relationship between this knowledge and reading achievement. Five examples from each of eight classes of auditory stimuli were presented to the child who indicated whether or not each example heard was a spoken word. Results from the investigation led the researcher to the following conclusions: (1) the average child's knowledge of a spoken word improves with age; and (2) significant relationships exist between children's knowledge of spoken words and reading achievement.

     

Joint Book Reading and Receptive Vocabulary: A Parallel Process Model

The purpose of the present study was to understand the reciprocal, bidirectional longitudinal relation between joint book reading and English receptive vocabulary. To address the research goals, a nationally representative sample of Head Start children, the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (2003 cohort), was used for analysis. The children were aged 3–4 years at programme entry. The mothers' average age at programme entry was 39 years old. A parallel process model was utilized to examine the growth factors of joint book reading and receptive vocabulary in parallel. Three significant findings emerged: (1) initial levels of English receptive vocabulary and joint book reading positively covaried; (2) English receptive vocabulary and joint book reading were positively and reciprocally related to each other; and (3) slopes for joint book reading and English receptive vocabulary negatively covaried. Results suggest that joint book reading can support and scaffold Head Start children's English receptive vocabulary. Reciprocally, Head Start children's English receptive vocabulary appears to predict the extent to which they engage in joint book reading at home. Moreover, the frequency of joint book reading decreases as the children demonstrate higher levels of English receptive vocabulary. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

WORD FREQUENCY AND WORD DIFFICULTY:

Abstract— This article compares word counts made using four different collections of text, including one based on collections of electronic text For each of the collections, standard word frequency indices were computed and compared with a carefully developed list of words ranked in order of difficulty as determined by vocabulary tests Correlations between the word frequency indices and word difficulty ranks show that word frequencies for all four corpora are highly correlated with word difficulty Despite these high correlations, the results show also that the difficulty of some words is not estimated accurately by word frequency The reasons for disparities between word frequency and word difficulty are not clear The high correlations obtained for the corpus based on electronic text suggest that this method of text sampling has potential but that caution is advisable in conducting such collections.     

Does input influence uptake? Links between maternal talk,processing speed and vocabulary size in Spanish‐learning children

It is well established that variation in caregivers’ speech is associated with language outcomes, yet little is known about the learning principles that mediate these effects. This longitudinal study (n = 27) explores whether Spanish‐learning children's early experiences with language predict efficiency in real‐time comprehension and vocabulary learning. Measures of mothers’ speech at 18 months were examined in relation to children's speech processing efficiency and reported vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. Children of mothers who provided more input at 18 months knew more words and were faster in word recognition at 24 months. Moreover, multiple regression analyses indicated that the influences of caregiver speech on speed of word recognition and vocabulary were largely overlapping. This study provides the first evidence that input shapes children's lexical processing efficiency and that vocabulary growth and increasing facility in spoken word comprehension work together to support the uptake of the information that rich input affords the young language learner.     

The effects of an early history of otitis media on children's language and literacy skill development

Background. Otitis media (OM) or middle ear infection is a common childhood illness and is most frequent during the crucial first 3 years of life when speech and language categories are being established, which could potentially have a long‐term effect on language and literacy skill development. Aims. The purpose of the current study was to ascertain the effects of a history of OM in early childhood on later language and literacy skill development. Sample. Forty‐three children from Grade 1 and Grade 2, between 6 and 8 years old with an early history of OM and 43 control children, matched for chronological age, gender and socio‐economic status, participated in this study. Methods. Children were tested on multiple measures of phonological awareness, semantic knowledge, narration and reading ability. The performance of children with and without a history of OM was compared on the different measures. Results. There was a general tendency for children with a history of OM to achieve lower scores on phonological awareness skills of alliteration, rhyme and non‐word reading, semantic skills of expressive vocabulary and word definitions and reading than non‐OM children. Conclusion. These findings highlight the potential problems an early history of middle ear infection can have on school‐aged children's later language and literacy development.     

Haptics in learning to read with children from low socio‐economic status families

This study assessed the effects of multi‐sensory training on the understanding of the alphabetic principle in kindergarten children from low socio‐economic status families. Two interventions were compared, called HVAM (visual and haptic exploration of letters) and VAM (visual exploration of letters). The interventions were conducted by either researchers or teachers. Results showed that performance in the letter recognition task and in the initial phoneme identification task were higher after HVAM training than after VAM training in kindergarten. Moreover, pseudo‐word decoding scores improved more after HVAM training than after VAM training in first grade. This delayed effect on decoding was explained by the children's poor performance on some language skills necessary for reading acquisition. Visuo‐haptic exploration enables the children first to increase performance on letter knowledge and initial phoneme awareness and then allowed better decoding skills. No differences were found between the interventions conducted by researchers and those conducted by teachers.     

Learning to read in Chinese: Evidence for reciprocal relationships between word reading and oral language skills

This study investigates the longitudinal predictors of the development of Chinese word reading skills and potential bidirectional relationships between Chinese word reading and oral language skills. We examine, in a 2‐year longitudinal study, a wide range of theoretically important predictors (phonological awareness, tone awareness, morphological awareness, visual skills, rapid automatized naming, Pinyin knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge) of reading in 143 primary‐school children living in mainland China. Initial levels of reading were predicted by vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, and visual discrimination skills. Only initial reading levels predicted growth in reading. Initial reading also predicted growth in vocabulary knowledge and morphological construction. This pattern demonstrates that the early stages of learning to read in Chinese places demands on semantic (vocabulary) and visual skills in addition to phonological skills. Furthermore, early levels of word reading predict the growth of vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness suggesting that the development of these oral language skills is facilitated by learning to read.     

Children's Use of Generics in Inductive Inferences

Online comprehension of naturally spoken and perceptually degraded words was assessed in 95 children ages 12 to 31 months. The time course of word recognition was measured by monitoring eye movements as children looked at pictures while listening to familiar target words presented in unaltered, time-compressed, and low-pass-filtered forms. Success in word recognition varied with age and level of vocabulary development, and with the perceptual integrity of the word. Recognition was best overall for unaltered words, lower for time-compressed words, and significantly lower in low-pass-filtered words. Reaction times were fastest in compressed, followed by unaltered and filtered words. Results showed that children were able to recognize familiar words in challenging conditions and that productive vocabulary size was more sensitive than chronological age as a predictor of children's accuracy and speed in word recognition.     

Spoken word frequency counts based on 1.6 million words in American English

Written word frequency (e.g., Francis & Ku6era, 1982; Kucera & Francis, 1967) constitutes apopular measure of word familiarity, which is highly predictive of word recognition. Far less often, researchers employ spoken frequency counts in their studies. This discrepancy can be attributed most readily to the conspicuous absence of a sizeable spoken frequency count for American English. The present article reports the construction of a 1.6-million-word spoken frequency database derived from the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English (Simpson, Swales, & Briggs, 2002). We generated spoken frequency counts for 34,922 words and extracted speaker attributes from the source material to generate relative frequencies of words spoken by each speaker category. We assessthe predictive validity of these counts, and discuss some possible applications outside of word recognition studies.     

Children reading spoken words: interactions between vocabulary and orthographic expectancy

There is an established association between children's oral vocabulary and their word reading but its basis is not well understood. Here, we present evidence from eye movements for a novel mechanism underlying this association. Two groups of 18 Grade 4 children received oral vocabulary training on one set of 16 novel words (e.g., ‘nesh’, ‘coib’), but no training on another set. The words were assigned spellings that were either predictable from phonology (e.g., nesh) or unpredictable (e.g., koyb). These were subsequently shown in print, embedded in sentences. Reading times were shorter for orally familiar than unfamiliar items, and for words with predictable than unpredictable spellings but, importantly, there was an interaction between the two: children demonstrated a larger benefit of oral familiarity for predictable than for unpredictable items. These findings indicate that children form initial orthographic expectations about spoken words before first seeing them in print. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/jvpJwpKMM3E .