Sign iconicity and receptive vocabulary testing

Development of valid receptive sign vocabulary tests and the influence of sign iconicity on test performance were investigated. Forty items were taken from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (Lloyd M. Dunn & Leota M. Dunn, 1982). For each target item, three alternative distractor items were developed to draw nonsigning participants away from a perceptual matching strategy. The sample comprised 34 deaf signing undergraduates and 36 hearing nonsigning undergraduates. Deaf students outperformed hearing students on both sets of items. Hearing students' scores on the original items were significantly higher than on the manipulated items, but both exceeded chance level (25%), indicating that many of the items were iconic for this sample. Complete elimination of iconicity is difficult for sophisticated participants. Recommendations for development of tests for signing deaf students include involvement of nonsigning hearing participants to reduce the effects of iconicity in obtaining valid results.     

Parental estimates of children's receptive vocabulary

Samples of 13 mothers and fathers of normal preschool children and 11 mothers of high-risk preschool children estimated their children's vocabulary ability by predicting their child's responses to individual PPVT-R items and by making a global rating of their child's vocabulary ability. Prior to the parental estimations, the children had been administered the PPVT-R. Accuracy of parental estimates, as measured by d', was low, although the mothers' average estimates were significantly higher than zero and higher than fathers' estimates. Accuracy of estimation was similar for mothers of normal preschoolers and for mothers of high-risk preschoolers. Time spent reading to the child, mothers' employment, and children's ability level were not related to parental accuracy. Although correlations between the children's scores and parental estimates all were significant, parents tended to overestimate their children's abilities by approximately 9 to 10 points on the average. Overall, parental estimates of their children's vocabulary ability, using a global rating scale, provide a somewhat useful measure for placing their children in a broad classification range.     

The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance

A group of 21 hard-of-hearing and deaf children attending primary school were trained by their teachers on the production of selected consonants and on the meanings of selected words. Speech production, vocabulary knowledge, reading aloud, and speech perception measures were obtained before and after each type of training. The speech production training produced a small but significant improvement in the percentage of consonants correctly produced in words. The vocabulary training improved knowledge of word meanings substantially. Performance on speech perception and reading aloud were significantly improved by both types of training. These results were in accord with the predictions of a mathematical model put forward to describe the relationships between speech perception, speech production, and language measures in children (Paatsch, Blamey, Sarant, Martin, & Bow, 2004). These training data demonstrate that the relationships between the measures are causal. In other words, improvements in speech production and vocabulary performance produced by training will carry over into predictable improvements in speech perception and reading scores. Furthermore, the model will help educators identify the most effective methods of improving receptive and expressive spoken language for individual children who are deaf or hard of hearing.     

Vocabulary,Sentences and Words: testing for agreement between two recent measures of reading performance and receptive vocabulary

Summary This paper reports a small scale study looking at levels of agreement between two measures of reading and one of receptive vocabulary in a sample of first year junior pupils.     

产出性和接受性词汇知识对阅读理解影响的相关研究

词汇是语言的基本组成要素之一,对语言学习十分重要。鉴于词汇知识对语言学习的重要性,国内外存在较多关于词汇知识和听说读写等语言技能学习之间关系的研究,但研究结果呈现多样化。本研究针对低能力水平英语学习者,从接受性和产出性的词汇知识角度,探讨词汇知识与阅读理解之间的关系。     

Oral language facility,verbal intelligence and performance on tests of psycholinguistic ability

The performance of 152 children in the age range 7 years 5 months to 7 years 11 months on a battery comprising the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA), the English Picture Vocabulary Test 2 (EPVT), a test of auditory discrimination, a sentence repetition test and an orally administered verbal intelligence test was compared with the complexity and fluency of spoken language recorded from each child. Only a moderate correlation was found between the ITPA total score and the length‐complexity index (LCI) from the language samples. Moderate correlations were found between the LCI and several auditory‐vocal channel subtests from the ITPA; however, with the influence of verbal intelligence partialled out most of these were reduced to low or nonsignificant levels. The scores from the Manual Expression subtest in the visual‐motor channel were found to correlate as highly with LCI as did the ITPA total score.

This relationship was maintained to two situations, (i) when the factor of verbal intelligence was controlled statistically, (ii) when a sub‐sample of subjects within a narrow IQ range was selected for separate analysis. The Verbal Expression subtest also showed moderate correlation with LCI in four out of five analyses, thus lending support to the “process” construct in the ITPA model. No connection was found between any of the psycholinguistic subtests and fluency of language production. The validity of the ITPA as a test of oral language performance was questioned.     

二语词汇习得的一项实验研究

词汇是构成语言的建筑材料,词汇知识是语言能力的重要组成部分,因此词汇习得已成为许多专家学者和外语教师关注的焦点.文章通过一项实验研究重点探讨以阅读为主要手段习得词汇的可行性.     

语言性别差异和语言性别歧视

男性和女性在语言使用方面是有差异的,本文以支配论、差异论为理论依据,探讨了男女在语言使用上的性别差异特征,并指出不能夸大这些差异,极端地将其统统与语言性别歧视对等起来。     

语境与第二语言词汇学习

语境条件与无语境条件是第二语言词汇学习中最为常见的两种学习条件。二者孰更适于词汇学习一直是研究者争论的焦点。本文拟对近年来该领域主要的研究结果做简要的梳理,并对需要深入的问题做初步的探讨。     

现代维吾尔语词汇演变概况

文章通过对维吾尔语词汇演变,词汇发展演变的外部动因,词汇系统的内部调整,词汇的聚合演变等几方面的叙述,阐述了突厥语族现代维吾尔语词汇演变概况。     

语言学习策略对大学英语词汇教学的启示

介绍了英语词汇的概况及重要性并利用六大语言学习策略具体分析和总结了大学生的英语词汇学习策略。学生应根据兴趣法则、反复循环法则、理解法则、情愿法则、先期预习法则、联想生成法则、有序法则、分解法则记忆英语单词以便在短时间内完成最新颁布的《大学英语大纲》词汇掌握的要求。最后提出了如何结合现行教材《21世纪大学英语》讲解词汇。     

First and second language vocabulary affect early second language reading comprehension development

The aim of this study was to examine variation in early reading comprehension development for second language (L2) readers compared with first language (L1) readers and to investigate the impact of vocabulary knowledge in their first and second language. Participants were 75 Dutch monolingual children (L1 readers) and 71 Turkish–Dutch bilingual children (L2 readers), aged between 6 and 8 years old at the start of the study. In a longitudinal design, three waves of data were collected across second and third grades. The L2 readers had lower reading comprehension scores than the L1 readers on average, but this performance gap narrowed over time. To further investigate variation among the L2 readers, four categorical subgroups of L2 readers were identified with varying levels of L1 (Turkish) and L2 (Dutch) vocabulary knowledge by means of cluster analysis. Group membership was related to reading comprehension and showed an interaction with time, indicating that reading comprehension performance of the two L2 subgroups with high L1 vocabulary increased more over time compared with L1 readers. The L2 subgroup with high vocabulary in both languages even caught up with their monolingual peers in third grade. These findings demonstrate how individual differences in L1 and L2 vocabulary knowledge explain variation in early L2 reading comprehension development and highlight the importance of considering L2 readers' first language in research and education.     

国外二语词汇深度测量工具综述

本文对两种二语词汇深度测量工具（VKS和WAT）进行了回顾和总结,并对二语词表、二语词汇知识做了简单描述。文章指出,VKS和WAT在研究和测量二语词汇知识方面有各自的特点和不足,因此,研究者应结合研究目的,正确选择和利用这两种工具。     

新时代网络语言对汉语词汇的影响

近年来,随着科技信息的不断发展,互联网迎来了更深层次的发展。如今各种机遇信息时代的媒介形式,引导着网络文化的发展,网络的语言形式对于汉语词汇的影响也越来越明显。网络语言的快速发展,也推动了现代汉语词汇的拓展。然而,在这样的过程中,我们必须清醒的认识到网络语言对汉语词汇带来的积极影响和消极作用。本文笔者就当前网络语言的特征及其产生的,结合汉语词汇的发展,剖析现代网络语言与汉语词汇发展的相互关系,希望对汉语词汇的健康、稳定发展提供一些的参考和帮助。     

Comparison of Hualapai school children to national norms on measures of receptive vocabulary and verbal ability

Performance differences on receptive vocabulary and general verbal reasoning ability of Hualapai Indians as compared to national norms were investigated. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test Revised and the Verbal portion of the Cognitive Abilities Test, Form 4 were administered to 206 Hualapai Indian children ranging in age from 5 years, 3 months to 15 years, 7 months. Their performance was compared at each grade level to the national norms for these measures. Results indicated that Hualapai children score significantly lower on both measures of verbal ability when compared to national samples. Results provide a long-needed archival record of the English language proficiency of the Hualapai, and support the notion of homogeneity of English language facility across American Indian tribes. Contributing factors to Hualapai and other Native American populations' weaker performance on measures of verbal ability are discussed.