Search

Peer collaboration benefits second language (L2) learning and is a cornerstone of effective classroom instruction. It is, therefore, essential for teachers to consider how tasks work to promote peer collaboration and thus maximize learning. These considerations concern the task type, a task's inherent characteristics, and possible ways of task implementation to achieve peer collaboration. The body of research within the Task-based language teaching (TBLT) framework has shown that task-based instruction provides an optimal environment for second language acquisition. However, with regard to young learners (YLs), children from 5 to 12 years of age, the role of tasks in fostering peer collaboration in FL classrooms is not clear-cut. Grounded in research on task-based peer interaction among YLs, this article outlines how tasks enhance peer collaboration in foreign language (FL) classrooms.

Writing is hard for students who are learning English; they often find it challenging to transform what is on their mind in writing. Therefore, this study examined the relationship between the writing test and assessment writing through argumentative writing. Data was analyzed using the correlation test to determine the close relationship between independent and dependent variables. This study involved 100 students from the Department of English Education at the University of Riau, Indonesia. The results showed that the writing test and assessment writing was closely related, as evidenced by the influence and significance between the writing test and assessment writing, which was tested through argumentative writing. The results revealed that the writing test and assessment writing have similar results. Overall, both variables are equally important and related.

This qualitative study delves into the innovative Bilingual Grammar Curriculum. The curriculum aims to enhance bilingualism and linguistic skills among deaf students by integrating American Sign Language instruction and written language grammatical structures. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 12 experienced educators of the deaf who have implemented the curriculum in their teaching practices. Employing a thematic analysis approach, the researcher sought to uncover the educators' perceptions, experiences, and insights regarding the curriculum's effectiveness and its impact on bilingual language acquisition for deaf learners. Findings revealed a diverse range or perspectives, highlighting both the advantages and challenges of the curriculum's implementation. Themes emerged encompassing the curriculum's alignment with linguistic theories, its adaptability to diverse learning needs, the role of educator training, and the incorporation of cultural nuances within bilingual instruction. The study contributes valuable insights to the field of deaf education, shedding light on the intricate dynamics of bilingual grammar pedagogy and providing recommendations for curriculum refinement and educator professional development. Ultimately, this research underscores the significance of innovative approaches in enhancing the linguistic abilities and educational experiences of deaf and hard-of-hearing students within a bilingual framework.

This study used an intrinsic case study to investigate how interventions from applied behavior analysis impacted language development, academic progress, and the reduction of severe challenging behaviors for an 8-year-old child who is Deaf and autistic. 3 main themes were identified: language acquisition, behavioral change strategies, and academic performance. Additionally, 2 common threads wove in and out of each and connected all 3 themes: language access and qualified providers, including Deaf professionals. This study expands the literature about using behavioral strategies with children who are Deaf and autistic and discusses implications for clinical and educational practice.

This study examined the relationship between parental self-efficacy in parents of young deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children and children's spoken language skills. A retrospective within-subjects study design was used that included 24 mother-child dyads with DHH children. Parental self-efficacy was assessed using the Scale of Parental Involvement and Self-Efficacy--Revised. Children's language abilities were assessed using the Preschool Language Scale--5th edition. Our data revealed no significant associations between global measures of parental self-efficacy and children's auditory comprehension, expressive communication, and total language scores. However, positive correlations were found between child language skills and specific parents' beliefs about their ability to support their child's spoken language development, their ability to use strategies to help their child communicate, and their active involvement in intervention. Findings highlight the importance of examining discrete aspects of parental self-efficacy as it specifically relates to parents supporting their DHH child's spoken language development. Future directions and implications are provided.

Deaf children of hearing parents (DOH) are at risk for early language delays (ELD) due to environmental and etiological factors, compounding the previously reported higher incidence of ELD in deaf children of deaf parents (DOD) compared to the general population. Archival data from the online database of the Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist yielded 147 ratings of DOH 3- to 5-year-old children whose parents reported American sign language (ASL) being used in the home at least equally to spoken language. Research goals included (1) examining the incidence of ELD in this cohort, (2) investigating differences in outcomes based on the scaling method used, (3) exploring patterns among the ratings of DOH children identified with ELD, (4) comparing the DOH outcomes to published DOD data, and (5) investigating differences between ratings and individual children. The DOH outcomes suggested an incidence of ELD twice that of the previous DOD sample, with a higher percentage of more severe delays. Even DOH children not identified with ELD demonstrated less well-developed ASL skills than their DOD peers. This emphasizes the need for ongoing monitoring of early ASL skills to allow for early identification of needs and adjustment of interventions to address ASL development.

There is a great deal of variability in how families read and interact with picture books. To understand why reading practices may (or may not) relate to language outcomes, a necessary step to understand what occurs in the home. The goal of this work is to better understand the frequency and nature of picture book reading at home with children between the ages of 0 and 30 months in the United States. In an online survey, 282 caregivers answered questions about their picture book reading habits. Book reading was overall very common. Over 90% of families reported reading at least weekly to their child and nearly 70% reported reading daily, with caregivers of older children reporting reading slightly more frequently than caregivers of younger children. Caregivers also reported reading picture book text as well as a range of extra-textual activities. These textual and extra-textual behaviors varied across families and varied with child age and language skills. This study provides insight into how much, and what kind of linguistic input children encounter during picture book reading, and how this input may vary with age.

Joint Attention (JA) and Supported Joint Engagement (Supported JE) have each been reported to predict later language development in typically developing (TD) children and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In this longitudinal study including 33 TD children (20 months at V1) and 30 children with ASD (33 months at V1), the contributions of JA and Supported JE to later language, assessed via standardized tests and spontaneous speech, were directly compared. Frequency and durations of JA and Supported JE episodes were coded from 30-minute interactions with caregivers; subsequent language skills were assessed two years later. JA duration in the ASD group significantly predicted later standardized and spontaneous language, most strongly in the low-verbal ASD subgroup. Supported JE measures did not positively predict later language in either group. These findings suggest that JA played a larger role with children with ASD with low-verbal abilities, but not with children with ASD with high-verbal abilities nor with the TD children. The current study adds to existing literature by providing further support for studying children with ASD as two subgroups based on their verbal abilities (high vs low), as well as directly comparing the effects of JA and Supported JE on later language development in such groups. Implications for further research are discussed.

By 12 months of age, infants exhibit behavioral sensitivity to sound symbolism (e.g. sound-shape correspondences) when they hear universally sound symbolic pseudowords (e.g. "bouba," "kiki"). Here, we investigated whether infant's sensitivity to sound-shape correspondences is affected when they hear language-specific sound symbolic words. Using the spontaneous preference-looking paradigm, we tested 12-month-old monolingual Spanish (n = 13) and Basque (n = 16) infants matching Spanish-like pseudowords (i.e. "bubano," "raceto") with rounded and spiky shapes. These pseudowords were created by Spanish-Basque bilingual adults, who then rated pseudowords as more Spanish or Basque-like, and more rounded or spikey-like. Infants were presented with eight congruent (e.g. "bubano" presented with a rounded shape) and incongruent (e.g. "bubano" presented with a spiky shape) trials. Both Spanish and Basque-learning infants displayed similar increased sensitivity to incongruent than to congruent trials. We found weak evidence that language background modulates sound-shape correspondence. These results suggest that at 12 months of age, specific language experience (e.g. Spanish vs. Basque) most likely does not alter sound-shape bias when hearing Spanish-like sound combinations. This study was the first to utilize language-specific instead of language nonspecific stimuli. Nonetheless, similar to previous investigations, the sound-shape bias effect was exhibited at 12 months of age in both language groups.

Research on "parentese," the acoustically exaggerated, slower, and higher-pitched speech directed toward infants, has mostly focused on maternal contributions, although it has long been known that fathers also produce parentese. Given recent societal changes in family dynamics, it is necessary to revise these mother-centered models of language input. Using a longitudinal dataset of daylong recordings collected with the same group of USA-born English-speaking infants (N = 21) at 6, 10, 14, 18, and 24 months, we investigate the similarities and differences between maternal and paternal parentese quantity, as well syntactic and lexical characteristics of parentese. We find that mothers are producing "quantitatively" more parentese than fathers at all ages. We find that the syntactic aspects do not differ substantially between mothers and fathers, however lexical differences do emerge. Specifically, we see that mothers may use more question and mental state words than fathers. Furthermore, use of these types of words increase as the child develops. This research highlight the continued need to further study fathers in order to have a full understanding of child language development.

Previous research has established that children's experiences of language during in-person interactions (e.g. individual and cumulative experiences of structural choices) implicitly shape language learning. We investigated whether children also implicitly learn structural choices during online interactions, and whether this is affected by the visual co-presence of a partner. During an online conference call, three- and five-year-olds alternated describing pictures with an experimenter who produced active ("a cat chased the dog") and passive ("the dog was chased by a cat") prime descriptions; half the participants had video+audio calls, and half had audio-only. Children in both age groups produced more passives after passive than active primes, both immediately and with accumulating input across trials; neither effect was influenced by call format (video+audio vs audio-only). These results demonstrate that implicit grammar learning mechanisms, as evidenced by syntactic priming effects, operate during socially contingent online interactions. They also highlight the potential of online methodologies for developmental language production research.

When interacting with young children, adults often self-repeat their own utterances that vary in sequences of adjacent utterances called variation sets (VS) (Küntay and Slobin 1996). These repetitions benefit children's linguistic development because they emphasize form and meaning. This paper analyzes the use of VS during group interaction and from a multimodal point of view. Sixteen teachers were video-recorded during interaction with two-year-old children in Spanish nursery schools. Results show that the use of VS is particularly frequent in these settings and that they are typically combined with gestures. Teachers directed their VS more often to a group of children than to a single child, and those VS directed to the group were more often accompanied by gestures than the VS directed to individuals. The results also show the influence of group size on children's responses. The study thus sheds new light on our understanding of child-directed speech (CDS), as well as the need to adapt the speech to single children during interaction in large groups.

Although vocabulary size is thought to index children's language abilities, an increasing body of work suggests that regularities in children's vocabulary composition, particularly the proportion of shape-based nouns (e.g., cup), support language development. Here we examine initial vocabulary composition in children with hearing loss following cochlear implantation (n = 163) and age-matched children with normal hearing (n = 87). This comparison constitutes an experiment in nature for understanding how early vocabulary composition shapes subsequent language development in the context of the clinical provision of auditory experience. Children with higher initial proportions of shape-based nouns had larger vocabularies and scored higher on tests of receptive and expressive language abilities at 1, 2, and 3 years follow-up, than children whose vocabularies had lower proportions of shape-based nouns. These effects were strongest for cochlear implant users, especially 2-3 years postimplantation. The results suggest that knowing shape-based nouns facilitates language development and may ameliorate delayed language development trajectories.

Researchers have demonstrated the important contribution of mothers' sensitive parenting to children's developing cognition over the first 5 years of life, yet studies examining sensitivity beyond the early years, controlling for earlier effects, are limited. In this exploratory study, we examined the developmental pathways through which mothers' early and later sensitive parenting transacted with children's language, executive function, academics, and self-reliance to predict child outcomes from infancy to adolescence. To a national longitudinal dataset (n = 1364; 52% male; 80% white), we applied random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling to examine between-person and within-person associations for maternal sensitivity and child outcomes. Our findings show that over the first 15 years of life relations between maternal sensitivity and these child outcomes are best characterized by stable, trait-like associations that persist over time with limited state-like time-varying associations. Importantly, we found that maternal sensitivity at both early and later developmental stages is associated with these between-person differences. Given the nature of these associations over four developmental stages, we extend prior research by demonstrating that mothers' sensitivity is "enduring" because of its "consistency" both early and later in development.

When infants hear sentences containing unfamiliar words, are some language-world links (such as noun-object) more readily formed than others (verb-predicate)? We examined English learning 14-15-month-olds' capacity for linking referents in scenes with bisyllabic nonce utterances. Each of the two syllables referred either to the object's identity, or the object's motion. Infants heard the syllables in either a Verb-Subject (VS) or Subject-Verb (SV) order. Learning was tested using preferential looking. The results showed that infants learned the nouns and verbs equally well. In addition, in both the VS- and SV-consistent conditions, infants learned the meaning of the utterance-final syllable, but not the utterance-initial one. A follow-up experiment that manipulated the prosodic cues of the test phrases confirmed that infants had decomposed the bisyllabic phrases into two distinct word-units. Thus, any biases potentially favoring noun or verb learning played a smaller role than utterance position did when noun and verb learning were equally supported by context.

Little is known about language development after late-to-moderate premature birth, the most significant part of prematurity worldwide. We examined minimal-pair word-learning skills in 18 eighteen-month-old healthy full-term (mean gestational age [GA] at birth = 39.6 weeks; 7 males; 100% Caucasian) and 18 healthy late-to-moderate preterm infants (mean GA at birth 33.7 weeks; 11 males; 100% Caucasian). Data were collected in the local urban area of Barcelona city from May 2015 to August 2016. Toddlers first associated two pseudo-words, forming a minimal pair based on a voice onset time distinction of the initial consonant, with two unfamiliar objects during a habituation phase. A visual choice test assessed their recognition of the two novel word-object associations and some familiar word-object pairs. While full-terms successfully mapped the similar sounding pair of novel words (d = 1.57), preterms could not (d = 0.17). These results suggest that late to moderate preterm birth can hinder basic associative learning mechanisms relying on fine temporal speech features.

This study examined the influence of linguistic input on the development of productive and receptive skills across three fundamental language domains: lexico-semantics, syntax, and phonology. Seventy-one (35 female) Basque-Spanish bilingual children were assessed at three time points (Fall 2018, Summer 2019, Winter 2021), between 4 and 6 years of age, by specifically examining language knowledge and spontaneous language use in each language. A direct impact of the amount of linguistic exposure on the longitudinal growth of lexico-semantic and syntactic abilities was observed in both languages. While phonological skills were not directly influenced by exposure, they were more proficient in the more exposed language. The use of lexically diverse and syntactically rich utterances developed relatively later than language knowledge, both supported by the amount of linguistic exposure.

How does one assess developmental change when the measures themselves change with development? Most developmental studies of word learning use either looking (infants) or pointing (preschoolers and older). With little empirical evidence of the relationship between the two measures, developmental change is difficult to assess. This paper analyzes 914 pointing, looking children (451 female, varied ethnicities, 2.5-6.5 years, dates: 2009-2019) in 36 word- or sound-learning experiments with two-alternative test trials. Looking proportions and pointing accuracy correlated strongly (r = 0.7). Counter to the "looks first" hypothesis, looks were not sensitive to incipient knowledge that pointing missed: when pointing is at chance, looking proportions are also. Results suggest one possible path forward for assessing continuous developmental change. Methodological best practices are discussed.

The present study examines the mechanisms of lexical case acquisition in Russian by two-to-five-year-old Russian monolingual (n = 54) and Russian-English bilingual children (n = 38). Participants performed a picture-based sentence completion task. Sentences were constructed to elicit production of real Russian words (n = 24) and nonce words (n = 24) in different non-nominative cases (e.g., 'The boy is holding a . . . beetle-ACC/meetle-ACC'). We wanted to know if there are qualitative and/or quantitative differences in case assignment on complements of prepositions between monolingual and bilingual children, whether they can generalize case assignment rules to novel input, and whether monolingual and bilingual children show different developmental trajectories in terms of case acquisition at different ages. The results indicate that bilingual children make more errors with case forms than their monolingual peers in all tested age groups and inflectional paradigms, in both real word and nonce word productions. However, despite robust quantitative differences, bilinguals and monolinguals show strikingly similar patterns of case acquisition in that they make similar types of errors and struggle with the same case forms. Furthermore, we did not find significant differences in the accuracy of produced case forms for real versus nonce words, suggesting that both monolingual and bilingual children learn to generalize morphological rules to novel input early in language development. Finally, chronological age was a significant predictor of case form accuracy but did not interact with other variables. This means that both monolingual and bilingual children improved their case performance gradually over time with similar learning gains for real and nonce words.

Relative clauses (RCs) are complex syntactic structures because they consist of multiple clauses and involve syntactic movement. RCs are known as a reliable clinical marker of syntactic impairment across many different languages and populations. Children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) struggle with the comprehension and production of RCs, and it remains unclear whether these difficulties stem from a pragmatic or a syntactic origin. The aim of the current study is to obtain evidence about the nature of the RC production difficulties of Hebrew-speaking children with ASD. To do so, we attempted to isolate the mechanism(s) that may be disrupting RC production by using a novel in-depth error analysis scheme. The current study tested 101 Hebrew-speaking children--37 children with ASD (M[subscript age] = 11.4, SD = 2.2) and 64 Typically Developing (TD) children; 25 children aged 8-9 years (M[subscript age] = 8.8, SD = 0.3) and 39 TD children aged 10-11 (M[subscript age] = 10.7, SD = 0.39) on an RC elicitation definition task. Responses were coded for correct RC production, and an error analysis scheme was built based on the productions seen among the ASD participants. TD children produced more RCs than children with ASD, and a significant difference was found between the two TD groups (older children produced more RCs). Children with ASD produced mainly pronoun errors and produced single words instead of sentences, patterns not seen among the TD group and sometimes characteristic of Hebrew-speaking children at younger ages. The current study contributes to the discussion regarding syntactic differences seen in the production of some children with ASD and whether such differences are a specific form of language deficit, or merely a delay in language acquisition.

Children learn language by listening to speech from caregivers around them. However, the type and quantity of speech input that children are exposed to change throughout early childhood in ways that are poorly understood due to the small samples (few participants, limited hours of observation) typically available in developmental psychology. Here we used child-centered audio recorders to unobtrusively measure speech input in the home to 292 children (aged 2-7 years), acquiring English in the United States, over 555 distinct days (approximately 8600 total hours of observation, or 29.62 h/child). These large timescales allowed us to compare how different dimensions of child-directed speech input (quantity, burstiness) varied throughout early childhood. We then evaluated the relationship between each dimension of input and children's concurrent receptive vocabulary size. We found that the burstiness of speech input (spikes of words) was a stronger correlate with age than the quantity of speech input. Input burstiness was also a stronger predictor than input quantity for children's vocabulary size: children who heard spiky, more intense bouts of input had larger vocabularies. Overall, these results reaffirm the importance of speech input in the home for children's language development and support exposure--consolidation models of early language development.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role that technology plays in the education of students with hearing impairments. The paper delves into ambitious topics like assistive technologies and languages, access and inclusion, teacher education and practice, and the challenges encountered. The research employed a quantitative approach, selecting 172 teachers from Punjab's special education department as a study sample using a simple random technique. Primary data was collected using a self-developed questionnaire. The collected data was, therefore, analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Overall, the findings presented a positive outlook, demonstrating how technology enhances the learning experience, communication, and academic performance. The study clearly highlights several challenges, including insufficient specialized tools, inadequate teacher training, financial constraints, and more. The study highlights the significance of precision, aggregative processes, and teamwork in addressing the challenges of limited resources, teachers' preparedness, and accessibility. recommendations include incorporating specialized digital tools, focusing on continuous teacher professional learning, requesting funding, and creating awareness and/or cultural shifts. Such findings provide an understanding of the possible pros and cons of technology integration, which will help educators create an inclusive learning environment for students with hearing impairments.

Chinese immersion programs have been increasingly popular in US schools. However, we have insufficient data on young English-speaking children's acquisition of Chinese as a second language in these programs, and specifically on social contextual variables systematically promoting or hindering Chinese language use. Taking a variationist sociolinguistic approach, this mixed-methods case study identifies interlocutor and task as central social variables that most significantly condition the use, and therefore the acquisition, of Chinese by second graders attending an early total one-way Chinese immersion program in the United States. The idiosyncratic social roles learners played with different interlocutors in carrying out classroom tasks and activities help account for their use of Chinese or English, with implications for future research on second language acquisition and pedagogy in one-way language immersion education.

This study examines the potential of virtual reality (VR) technology in language learning, specifically for the Maltese language. Despite the popularity and advancement of VR, its use in teaching minor languages like Maltese has not been extensively explored. The concern is that the lack of technological resources may lead to the extinction of the Maltese language in the digital world. The study utilizes a primarily qualitative research methodology, with a minor quantitative component, to collect data from twenty-five teachers regarding the use of VR in Maltese language learning contexts. The findings reveal both the potential benefits and challenges of using VR in teaching Maltese as a second language (ML2). Although the participants have not used VR for teaching Maltese due to the absence of Maltese VR apps, they have experience with VR in English. They praise VR for its ability to create an immersive and engaging learning environment with entertaining features. However, the study also highlights several challenges associated with VR, including high costs, the bulkiness of headsets, and technical issues. It underscores the pressing need for additional research and development in this field to ensure the preservation of the Maltese language in the digital era.

Empirical work exploring additional language (L+) learning emotions has both proliferated and expanded its focus over the past 15 years. The current article explores one possibility for responding to the challenge of capturing and describing emotions in order to furnish a more contextualized, multidimensional picture of emotions in L+ learning: the small-lens approach. From the perspective of the author as a practitioner-researcher, this article draws on data from an L+ discussion activity. Via the activity, the practitioner-researcher identified an emotional outcome of interest and examined the historical buildup to this phenomenon. A narrative of the research process applied aims to illustrate the ways in which multimodal analysis and interrogation of psychological timescales might illuminate intersections between the social and individual. Rather than delineating a complete description of the research, the article strives to intimate possibilities and stimulate more nuanced, situated, and dynamic empirical work into the emergence of emotions in instructed L+ learning. While not the primary focus, some of the teleological (functional) aspects of emotions and emotional expression are also unearthed.

Framed by family language policy (FLP), in conjunction with the Douglas Fir Group's ecological transdisciplinary framework for second language acquisition, this multiple case study investigates the FLPs of two Hmong-American families in relation to a Hmong-English dual-language program (DLP) where their children are enrolled. Interviews, artifacts, and family-recorded interactions were utilized to get a full understanding of what factors at the different levels of interaction shaped their FLP. The findings reveal that both sets of parents perceived the relationship between the home and school as a partnership for their children's heritage language development, with the school taking on the onus for Hmong literacy. This resulted in both families' more secondary role and, thus, home language practices that merely supplement the school content. Importantly, while both sets of parents held similar beliefs regarding the role of the DLP in heritage language maintenance, it was their beliefs in the value of Hmong that led to the different FLPs between the families. The article concludes with limitations and implications for schools interested in wanting to better serve their heritage language learners and families.

Natural language processing (NLP) has captivated the attention of educational researchers over the past three decades. In this study, a total of 2,480 studies were retrieved through a comprehensive literature search. We used neural topic modeling and pre-trained language modeling to explore the research topics pertaining to the application of NLP in education. Furthermore, we used linear regression to analyze the changes in the hotness of each topic. The results of topic modeling in different periods were visualized as topic word co-occurrence networks. This study revealed that the application of NLP in education can be broadly categorized into: (1) Technology innovations in language learning, (2) Mining and analysis (Practices, trends, factors, and challenges), (3) Student learning, (4) Interact and evaluation, and (5) Models and algorithms. Moreover, the field followed evolutionary trajectories in language learning, interaction and assessment, educational research and analysis, and learning technologies. Additional examination of the topic word co-occurrence, we found that research topics in this field have transitioned from being primarily technology-oriented to adopting a problem-oriented approach, reflecting a growing trend of diversification.

Tailored support is crucial for deaf and hearing-impaired children to overcome learning difficulties, particularly during primary education. The absence of listening profoundly hinders the progression of the learning journey, as it plays a pivotal role in language acquisition. Employing assistive technology is one approach to address this issue in the field of education. This paper introduces RSA, an interactive system designed for the recognition and simulation of letters in Arabic Sign Language. Our system's objective is to enrich language learning in an engaging manner. RSA utilizes artificial intelligence to identify and recognize the gestures corresponding to Arabic letters in real-time. Additionally, the system has the capability to replicate these letters through the utilization of a robotic arm. Thanks to its simplicity, the system holds promise in enhancing the acquisition of Arabic sign language skills for deaf children.

During their early years, children with autism may not meet the same communication and language milestones as their peers (Wodka et al., 2013). Many children with autism experience language delays and may rely on one-word or phrase speech, rather than using grammatically fluent speech (Anderson et al., 2007; Wodka et al., 2013) that is often present in typical language development. In addition, 20% to 30% of children with autism may continue to be minimally vocal and may require the use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) systems (Anderson et al., 2007; Wodka et al., 2013). Recent intervention protocols, such as naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBIs), have begun aligning communication intervention practices for those with autism with the typical trajectory of language development. NDBIs refer to evidence-based interventions for young children with autism and other developmental disabilities that combine developmental and behavioral sciences to enact a natural approach to early intervention, resulting in increases in early communication and language skills (Bruinsma et al., 2020; Dubin & Lieberman-Betz, 2020; Sandbank et al., 2020; Schreibman et al., 2015). This article discusses how NDBI strategies can be used before and after the child communicates to expand the communicative repertoire of those with autism by first creating communication opportunities, next prompting or encouraging child communication (if needed), and finally responding to child communication.

Spelling and grammar are a priority in first language (L1) classrooms. Digital learning has increased significantly around the world, particularly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the range of online learning for spelling and grammar is very large, there is still no systematic review of the effectiveness of different features and platform characteristics in this area. This systematic literature review summarizes research on online learning platforms for L1 spelling and grammar instruction. We aim to synthesize what is known about online L1 learning environments and to infer the effectiveness and quality of a platform from its design, pedagogical approaches, or technologies used. Special attention is paid to the different features that can be implemented in such platforms. 49 relevant publications were included after a two-step screening process and application of inclusion and exclusion criteria. We found that digital L1 learning platforms are often described rather than evaluated in an experimental study. However, immediate feedback, repetition of tasks, and varying levels of difficulty were described as particularly effective for learning success. While digital learning platforms are widely used, adaptive or machine learning based methods were rarely found. The review suggests future work in adaptive learning environments for L1 learners and the integration of experimental studies.

Social justice language education (SJLE) explores the ways in which language classrooms can be transformed to disrupt the existing oppressive policies and practices in schools and the society at large (Ortaçtepe Hart & Martel, 2020; Ortaçtepe Hart, 2023; Ortega, 2021). As an approach within SJLE, dramatizing children's literature can raise the awareness of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) of social injustices across the world, help them voice their own experiences in the class, and contribute to their language development (Caldas, 2018; García-Mateus, 2021; Gualdron & Castillo, 2018; Koss & Daniel, 2018). Focusing on the intersections of drama, children's literature, and SJLE, this qualitative case study explored a) a preservice EFL teacher's trajectory as a social justice educator, and b) the affordances of dramatizing children's literature on developing young learners' English language skills and awareness of social justice issues. Three picture storybooks, "Paper Bag Princess," "William's Doll," and "Amazing Grace," were chosen and scripted for drama. Data were elicited through preservice teachers' observation notes and reflections as well as through semi-structured interviews with students. The results showed that dramatizing children's literature helped EFL young learners challenge their stereotypical beliefs regarding gender roles, gender inequalities, and racism. It also fostered their language development, especially in pronunciation (e.g., producing sounds), speaking (e.g., pitch and melody), and vocabulary by creating an entertaining and safe environment in which they could engage in contextualized language use. The study provides pedagogical implications in relation to how dramatizing children's literature can help disrupt social and educational injustices, transform students' stereotypical beliefs and biases, and promote empathy and critical awareness at large.

This article explores the role of the reportative BIN in Yucatec Maya language acquisition and socialization among children aged 4 years and above, focusing on their interactions during pretend play. Building upon prior research on caregivers' strategic use of BIN, the study aims to elucidate the nuanced meanings and functions of the reportative in children's language. Through a theoretical framework rooted in the theory of engagement, the article posits that BIN serves not only as a linguistic form but also as an interactive device conveying contextual and imaginative speech. Divided into six sections, the article progresses from theoretical underpinnings to interpreting children's language in pretend play. By analyzing spontaneous speech data, the study uncovers novel insights into the dynamic nature of reportatives, emphasizing the creative ways children employ BIN to engage in games. The findings contribute to a broader understanding of reportatives and underscore the dynamic nature of children's language usage and development.

The Mayan language Mam uses complex predicates to express events. Complex predicates map multiple semantic elements onto a single word, and consequently have a blend of lexical and phrasal features. The chameleon-like nature of complex predicates provides a window on children's ability to express phrasal combinations at the one-word stage of language development. The ubiquity of complex predicates in the adult language insures that children will produce complex predicates as some of their first words. The verb complex in Mam has obligatory inflections for aspect, person, and to a degree direction. The inflections vary in degree of attachment between syllable segments, affixes, and clitics. Inflections with vowels are phonologically free, while inflections without vowels attach as either syllable segments or affixes. The Mam verb complex requires the addition of a phrasal layer to prosodic models of lexical acquisition. The paper used this extended version of prosodic theory to make five predictions for the acquisition of the verb complex. The paper analyzes production data for three children between 2;0 and 2;8 acquiring the northern variety of Mam spoken in San Ildefonso Ixtahuacán, Guatemala. The children's production data for both the intransitive and transitive verb complexes support all five predictions to some degree. The children produced prefixes more frequently on vowel-initial stems than on consonant-initial stems, and they produced imperative suffixes more frequently than prefixes on consonant-initial stems. The children exhibited developmental differences and produced phrasal contractions that the prosodic theory did not predict. The results underline the need to integrate prosody into models of morphosyntactic development, and highlight the significance of complex predicates for theories of language acquisition.

This article evaluates the acquisition of directionals in Q'anjob'al, a Western Mayan language of Guatemala. The data come from a longitudinal study of two Q'anjob'al monolingual children of Santa Eulalia, Huehuetenango, Guatemala: Xhuw (1;9-2;5) and Xhim (2;3-3;5). The results show how these children acquire the morphological distribution of motion verbs and directionals in Q'anjob'al. They produce directionals parallel to motion verbs. Xhuw produced more motion verbs than directionals, while Xhim produced more directionals than motion verbs. Despite the omission of tense/aspect and agreement in the verb complex, these children produce two types of suffixes that distinguish motion verbs from directionals. The children acquired three groups of directionals in the following order: DIR3 (teq 'toward X', toq 'away from X') > DIR2 (el 'out' aj 'up' ok 'enter, in' ek' 'pass' ay 'down') > DIR1 (kan 'stay').

Children's acquisition of directional verbs in sign languages has received a lot of attention, but less is known about the sociocultural process of using these verbs, especially in the context of emerging sign languages in diverse language ecologies. Directional verbs are a common grammatical phenomenon of many sign languages in which some verbs such as 'to give' and 'to take' can move in the direction of one or more of its arguments for indicating grammatical relations between agents and patients or recipients. I discuss the case study of one signing family who uses 'making hands', an emic term for the signing practices of deaf Chatino people and their families in the San Juan Quiahije municipality in Oaxaca, Mexico. The family in question consists of a first-generation adult signer and two second-generation child signers, aged 4;6 and 5;3. This article describes their usage of directional verbs for making explicit requests, asking questions, and talking about hypothetical events, including presenting or withholding gifts as part of the cultural understandings and practices of the allocations of goods. Ethnographic data reveals that the children's production of verbs may be facilitated by directed input in the form of directives from a deaf adult signer, extensive peer play, and visual access to signed adult interactions. This case study offers insight about input and socialization for the children's usage of directional verbs in an emerging sign language in a local Mesoamerican ecology.

Both expressive and receptive language difficulties in autism emerge early and significantly have an impact on social functioning and quality of life. Despite their wide heterogeneity, autistic language abilities can be stratified into three distinct profiles. Language unimpaired exhibit near-typical verbal performance, language impaired show significant alterations in language structure, and minimally verbal display limited verbal abilities. However, little is known about the early trajectories and moderators specific to each profile. Here, we used a longitudinal sample of 286 preschoolers with autism and 85 typically developing (aged 1.5-5.7 years old), yielding 1164 visits. Our cluster analysis replicated the three well-established autistic language profiles (language unimpaired, n = 86; language impaired, n = 85; minimally verbal, n = 44) and revealed their specific early trajectories in expressive vocabulary, syntax, and pragmatics. At age 2.4, non-verbal cognition moderated the participants' attribution to each language profile. Moreover, early stereotyped language specifically moderated the later verbal performance of language unimpaired participants, while the language outcome of language impaired participants was moderated by early intensive behavioral intervention. In conclusion, we provided a fine-grained description of language acquisition trajectories and moderators of autistic language profiles in a longitudinal sample exposed to French language, paving the way toward personalized medicine to autistic language difficulties.

This study examines whether children acquiring Tseltal (Mayan) demonstrate a noun bias -- an overrepresentation of nouns in their early vocabularies. Nouns, specifically concrete and animate nouns, are argued to universally predominate in children's early vocabularies because their referents are naturally available as bounded concepts to which linguistic labels can be mapped. This early advantage for noun learning has been documented using multiple methods and across a diverse collection of language populations. However, past evidence bearing on a noun bias in Tseltal learners has been mixed. Tseltal grammatical features and child--caregiver interactional patterns dampen the salience of nouns and heighten the salience of verbs, leading to the prediction of a diminished noun bias and perhaps even an early predominance of verbs. We here analyze the use of noun and verb stems in children's spontaneous speech from egocentric daylong recordings of 29 Tseltal learners between 0;9 and 4;4. We find weak to no evidence for a noun bias using two separate analytical approaches on the same data; one analysis yields a preliminary suggestion of a flipped outcome (i.e. a verb bias). We discuss the implications of these findings for broader theories of learning bias in early lexical development.

Visual activity schedules (VASs) are an effective, efficient intervention designed to promote positive language and behavioral development for elementary students with and at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). However, VAS design and implementation varies widely in the extant research, prohibiting the ease of implementation in classrooms. The purpose of this article is to provide systematic guidance for educators to design, plan, implement, and progress monitor VAS effectiveness for students with or at risk for EBD.

Prediction error plays a pivotal role in theories of learning, including theories of language acquisition and use. Researchers have investigated whether and under which conditions children, like adults, use prediction to facilitate language comprehension at different levels of linguistic representation. However, many aspects of the reciprocal relation between prediction error and the development of language learning remain unclear. In this article, we review studies in language development that can inform us about the role of prediction error in updating, learning, and retrieving linguistic information. We argue that the study of individual differences in linguistic and cognitive skills will help the field understand more thoroughly whether, when, and why prediction aids language learning, and whether prediction error necessarily results in language learning and retrieval from memory. We close with a discussion of the needs and challenges for researchers to answer these questions.

Language development plays a pivotal role in a child's cognitive and overall growth, progressing through identifiable stages that ultimately lead to adult communication. It serves as a significant indicator of a child's intellectual and overall development. This study aims to explore the impact of daily technology use on children's language development. A quantitative retrospective approach was adopted, utilizing data from children aged 18 months to 5 years. The study analyzed the relationship between technology use and language development delays, focusing on both phonological and general language delays. The findings indicate a modest association between using technology for over two hours daily and language development delays in children. Specifically, the study concludes that constant use of technology for more than two hours a day by children aged 18 months to 5 years has a negative influence on their development, including language delays. In conclusion, these results highlight the importance of monitoring and regulating children's technology use to promote healthy language development and communication skills in early childhood.

It is widely accepted that written corrective feedback (WCF) is an effective tool for helping learners develop their L2 knowledge. Yet, it remains inconclusive as to which type of WCF can best facilitate L2 learning. In recent years, many second language acquisition (SLA) researchers agree that "direct" and "focused" WCF may be more effective in aiding learners' L2 development when compared to "indirect" and "unfocused" WCF. Other SLA scholars argue that the type of WCF might not matter as all types have been shown to be effective to some extent. Instead, the focus should be on selecting the appropriate type of WCF that is tailored to the needs of target learners. Recent research has suggested that practitioners consider learners' proficiency levels and beliefs towards the use of feedback before selecting the type of WCF to be used in class as these factors can significantly determine the success of WCF. To guide practitioners' practical decision-making on this topic, this article aims to provide a comprehensive review of studies on WCF and offer recommendations on how to best implement it in specific teaching contexts based on current literature. [Note: The page range (17-25) shown on the PDF is incorrect. The correct page range is 12-25.]

This study examines associations between the literacy environment of early childhood classrooms and children's engagement. Children's language development relies on quality educational practices in preschool and kindergarten. The literacy environment includes a physical dimension (e.g., books, writing materials, environmental prints) and an interactive dimension (teacher-child and child-child interactions). Engagement refers to the quality of children's individual experiences, including teacher interactions, peer interactions, task orientation, and conflict interactions. Observations were conducted in 30 classrooms using the "Early Language and Literacy Classroom Observation Pre-K" (ELLCO Pre-K) to assess the literacy environment, along with the "Individualized Classroom Assessment Scoring System" (inCLASS) to assess 150 children's engagement. Findings show that the literacy environment was at a basic quality level, while children's engagement remained in the low range for teacher, peer, and conflict interactions, and in the medium range for task orientation. No significant associations were found between the literacy environment variables and children's engagement, but socioeconomic status, child age, and group size were associated with children's engagement. Results are discussed in light of early literacy teaching practices, supporting children's engagement, as well as how these findings can be incorporated in teacher training.

While extensive research has explored Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition (SLVA) acquisition, there has been a lack of comprehensive bibliometric analysis on this topic. This study addresses this gap by investigating research trends and collaboration networks in SLVA over the past 24 years. Publications on SLVA were retrieved and analysed using data extracted from the Web of Science, a widely-used research database. Using CiteSpace software, we analysed bibliographic details, including countries, institutions, authors, and keywords, and created interactive visualizations. A total of 3905 publications were identified as of April 2, 2024. The United States led in productivity with 1079 publications, while Radboud University Nijmegen was the most prolific institution with 55 publications. Stuart Webb emerged as the most active author, contributing 29 publications. 'Vocabulary' was the most frequent keyword, appearing 1033 times, highlighting its centrality in research developments. The analysis of scientific network maps and keywords revealed significant changes and emerging trends in SLVA research. These results provide meaningful insights and highlight several promising avenues for future exploration in SLVA research.

Reterritorialization is an imperial process that creates settler colonial nations, like Canada, and funds intergenerational settler policies to assert intergenerational control over unceded territory, like English-only and French-only teacher education programs. This results in pedagogies designed to discourage learners from exploring other languages, instead focusing on the learning of low-variable, standardized materials (e.g., from mass media), which privilege social speech markers indexed to white native speakers. Such invariability is neither sociocognitively advantageous to learners nor linked to robust language learning, predicting miscommunication. To address this lack of variation in the imperial language curriculum, we developed "Parlure Games," a computer-assisted language-learning tool that promotes exposure to and interaction with highly variable audiovisual social speech markers (via high-variability phonetic training: HVPT, a technique that enhances learning through varied input), while also scaffolding land-sensitizing activities critical of imperial sprawl using online mapping. In this paper, we report on the development of "Parlure Games," explore its pedagogical affordances, and assess its acceptance as a de/colonizing audiovisual learning tool by teacher candidates enrolled in a TESL program in Quebec. By providing opportunities to interact with diverse social speech markers, "Parlure Games" provides a means to pluralize the imperial classroom while sensitizing instructors to its reterritorializing processes.