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Ophthalmology Feb 2023
Topics: Humans; Vocabulary; Papilledema
PubMed: 36681466
DOI: 10.1016/j.ophtha.2022.12.009 -
Annals of Dyslexia Jul 2022Beyond the established difficulties of individuals with dyslexia in word recognition and spelling, it remains unclear how severe their difficulties in comprehension are.... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Beyond the established difficulties of individuals with dyslexia in word recognition and spelling, it remains unclear how severe their difficulties in comprehension are. To examine this, we performed a meta-analytic review. A random-effects model analysis of data from 76 studies revealed a large deficit in reading comprehension in individuals with dyslexia compared to their chronological-age (CA) controls (g = 1.43) and a smaller one compared to their reading-level (RL) matched controls (g = 0.64). Individuals with dyslexia also differed significantly from their CA controls in listening comprehension (g = 0.43). Results further showed significant heterogeneity in the effect sizes that was partly explained by orthographic consistency (the deficits were larger in languages with low orthographic consistency) and vocabulary matching (the deficits were larger in studies in which the groups were not matched on vocabulary). These findings suggest, first, that individuals with dyslexia experience significant difficulties in both reading and listening comprehension, but the effect sizes are smaller than those reported in the literature for word reading and spelling. Second, our findings suggest that the deficits in reading comprehension are likely a combination of deficits in both decoding and oral language skills.
Topics: Comprehension; Dyslexia; Humans; Reading; Students; Vocabulary
PubMed: 34532777
DOI: 10.1007/s11881-021-00244-y -
Journal of Experimental Child Psychology Jun 2020The number of adult words children hear and conversational turns they experience are key aspects of their language environments. The current study examined variability...
The number of adult words children hear and conversational turns they experience are key aspects of their language environments. The current study examined variability in language environments throughout 2 prekindergarten days and variability within and between classrooms for 44 children (M = 4.77 years) in 11 classrooms in the United States. In addition, the study examined to what extent prekindergarten language environments are associated with children's vocabulary skills. Language environments varied considerably throughout the prekindergarten day and between classrooms, although children within the same prekindergarten classrooms had generally similar experiences. Conversational turns were more robustly associated with children's vocabulary skills than were adult words heard even when only examining within-classroom variability. Implications for understanding prekindergarten classroom language experiences and their associations with vocabulary skills are discussed.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Female; Humans; Language Development; Male; United States; Vocabulary
PubMed: 32172943
DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104829 -
Scandinavian Journal of Psychology Oct 2023The aims of the present study are: (1) to examine the contribution that vocabulary makes to reading comprehension in the Simple View of Reading model in French-speaking...
The aims of the present study are: (1) to examine the contribution that vocabulary makes to reading comprehension in the Simple View of Reading model in French-speaking children aged from 7 to 10 years based on the use of an index of efficiency (i.e., speed-accuracy index); and (2) to investigate the extent to which the contribution of vocabulary to reading comprehension might change according to children's school grade level. Measures of vocabulary depth, word reading (i.e., three levels of word representations, namely orthography, phonology, semantics), listening, and reading comprehension were collected using computer-based assessments in children from Grades 2 to 5 (N = 237). We examined the contribution of vocabulary in two contrasted groups: a younger group consisting of children from Grades 2-3 and an older group with children from Grades 4-5. A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that vocabulary is a factor separate from word reading, listening and reading comprehension. Moreover, the results from a structural equation modeling analysis showed that word reading and listening comprehension fully mediated the relation between vocabulary and reading comprehension. Consequently, vocabulary had an indirect effect via word reading on reading comprehension in both groups. Finally, word reading had a greater effect on reading comprehension than listening comprehension in both groups. The results suggest that word reading plays a central role in reading comprehension and is underpinned by the influence of vocabulary. We discuss the results in the light of the lexical quality hypotheses taken together with reading comprehension.
Topics: Humans; Child; Vocabulary; Comprehension; Reading; Semantics
PubMed: 36871195
DOI: 10.1111/sjop.12912 -
CoDAS 2020To characterize the performance of 5th grade students from public and private elementary schools in auditory processing, receptive vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
PURPOSE
To characterize the performance of 5th grade students from public and private elementary schools in auditory processing, receptive vocabulary, and reading comprehension.
METHODS
The study sample was composed of 34 Elementary School (5th grade) students: 16 from public school (PubG) and 18 from private school (PrivG), whose parents and teachers responded to questionnaires on their language development, socioeconomic level, and academic performance. The auditory skills of figure-ground, association between auditory and visual stimuli, figure-ground for linguistic sounds, binaural integration, temporal ordering, and temporal resolution were assessed using the following auditory behavioral instruments: Pediatric Speech Intelligibility (PSI) test, Dichotic Digits Test (DDT), Auditec® Frequency Pattern Test (FPT), and Gaps-in-Noise (GIN) test. Receptive vocabulary and reading comprehension were evaluated using the TVF-usp and PROLEC tests, respectively.
RESULTS
Statistically significant differences were observed between the socioeconomic level of students in both schools. Although the results obtained in the applied tests were within the reference values in both groups, there was a tendency to higher scores in the PrivG. Differences between the groups were also verified in the DDT and FPT. Values similar to normality were obtained in the temporal resolution and reading comprehension assessments. On the vocabulary test, most school children in the PrivG were concentrated in the 'high' and 'middle' categories, whereas those in the PubG were in the 'middle' and 'low' categories.
CONCLUSION
There are differences in performance between students from private and public schools. Public school children presented right ear advantage in the dichotic task, whereas private school children showed more efficient mechanisms and strategies regarding auditory stimuli for the tasks of binaural integration, temporal ordering, and interhemispheric transfer. Temporal resolution reached values expected for the adult population in both groups. Better vocabulary performance was observed in the most economically favored children. Elementary School (5th grade) students from both school networks present developed reading.
Topics: Child; Comprehension; Humans; Reading; Schools; Students; Vocabulary
PubMed: 33237189
DOI: 10.1590/2317-1782/20202019193 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2022Meta-learning frameworks have been proposed to generalize machine learning models for domain adaptation without sufficient label data in computer vision. However, text...
Meta-learning frameworks have been proposed to generalize machine learning models for domain adaptation without sufficient label data in computer vision. However, text classification with meta-learning is less investigated. In this paper, we propose SumFS to find global top-ranked sentences by extractive summary and improve the local vocabulary category features. The SumFS consists of three modules: (1) an unsupervised text summarizer that removes redundant information; (2) a weighting generator that associates feature words with attention scores to weight the lexical representations of words; (3) a regular meta-learning framework that trains with limited labeled data using a ridge regression classifier. In addition, a marine news dataset was established with limited label data. The performance of the algorithm was tested on THUCnews, Fudan, and marine news datasets. Experiments show that the SumFS can maintain or even improve accuracy while reducing input features. Moreover, the training time of each epoch is reduced by more than 50%.
Topics: Algorithms; Machine Learning; Vocabulary
PubMed: 35746202
DOI: 10.3390/s22124420 -
The Journal of Genetic Psychology 2021Understanding emotions is an important predictor of children's mental health and school adjustment. However, interventions to improve this skill are not always...
Understanding emotions is an important predictor of children's mental health and school adjustment. However, interventions to improve this skill are not always accessible to all children. In 2019, Roy, Dénommée, and Quenneville developed stories with content specifically designed to 'teach' about emotions. Because it is a literacy-oriented intervention, it is possible that vocabulary may play a role in learning. This project explored the role of vocabulary in understanding emotion in preschool children and its learning. Forty-three preschoolers (19 control and 24 experimental) were evaluated on vocabulary skills and emotion comprehension. For multiple components, results showed an effect of time of measure, regardless of group. However, the addition of receptive vocabulary as a covariate made this effect non-significant. Results revealed that the stories were an effective strategy in promoting emotion comprehension for Components and two skills that are in the process of development in this age group. Furthermore, vocabulary skills did not impact the interaction for for post-test gains and, for , while emotional vocabulary skills impacted the interaction at post-test, receptive vocabulary did not.
Topics: Child, Preschool; Comprehension; Emotions; Humans; Learning; Reading; Vocabulary
PubMed: 34455920
DOI: 10.1080/00221325.2021.1969884 -
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and... Nov 2022Learning vocabulary in a primary or secondary language is enhanced when we encounter words in context. This context can be afforded by the place or activity we are...
Learning vocabulary in a primary or secondary language is enhanced when we encounter words in context. This context can be afforded by the place or activity we are engaged with. Existing learning environments include formal learning, mnemonics, flashcards, use of a dictionary or thesaurus, all leading to practice with new words in context. In this work, we propose an enhancement to the language learning process by providing the user with words and learning tools in context, with VocabulARy. VocabulARy visually annotates objects in AR, in the user's surroundings, with the corresponding English (first language) and Japanese (second language) words to enhance the language learning process. In addition to the written and audio description of each word, we also present the user with a keyword and its visualisation to enhance memory retention. We evaluate our prototype by comparing it to an alternate AR system that does not show an additional visualisation of the keyword, and, also, we compare it to two non-AR systems on a tablet, one with and one without visualising the keyword. Our results indicate that AR outperforms the tablet system regarding immediate recall, mental effort and task-completion time. Additionally, the visualisation approach scored significantly higher than showing only the written keyword with respect to immediate and delayed recall and learning efficiency, mental effort and task-completion time.
Topics: Vocabulary; Verbal Learning; Computer Graphics; Learning; Language
PubMed: 36044496
DOI: 10.1109/TVCG.2022.3203116 -
International Journal of Language &... 2024Vocabulary scores increase until approximately age 65 years and then remain stable or decrease slightly, unlike scores on tests of other cognitive abilities that decline...
BACKGROUND
Vocabulary scores increase until approximately age 65 years and then remain stable or decrease slightly, unlike scores on tests of other cognitive abilities that decline significantly with age.
AIMS
To review the findings on ageing-related changes in vocabulary, and to discuss four methodological issues: research design; test type; measurement; and vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence.
MAIN CONTRIBUTION
A discussion of cross-sectional and longitudinal research designs shows that cohort membership accounts for some but not all ageing-related changes in vocabulary, and that drop-out and test-retest effects do not alter conclusions regarding these changes. Test type affects age trends in vocabulary, and if researchers use only one test, they should choose a multiple-choice synonym test. While some authors suggest that vocabulary tests do not measure the same underlying ability in younger and older adults, more research of this suggestion is needed. A brief examination of the use of vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence in healthy ageing and for premorbid abilities in dementia indicates that such practice is often questionable.
CONCLUSIONS
Vocabulary knowledge increases through the mid-60s regardless of measurement method. However, there is little information on how word knowledge serves other verbal skills in old age, how and when adults learn new words, or how much exposure is necessary for meanings to remain in storage for a lifetime. Research of these issues may require new methodologies, as well as novel theoretical accounts of ageing-related effects on vocabulary.
WHAT THIS PAPER ADDS
What is already known on this subject Unlike many cognitive abilities that decline with ageing, vocabulary knowledge continues to increase until approximately age 65, and then remains stable or decreases slightly. These findings have been replicated in different research designs and across languages. What this paper adds to existing knowledge The article presents a summary of findings on changes in vocabulary across adulthood, and a discussion of four key methodological issues: research design, test type, measurement, and the use of vocabulary ability as a proxy for general intelligence. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? To better understand changes in vocabulary knowledge across adulthood, clinicians must be aware of methodological considerations that affect the field. Such considerations have direct clinical implications regarding the choice of vocabulary tests and their use as a proxy for other abilities in both healthy older adults and in individuals with dementia.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Vocabulary; Cross-Sectional Studies; Language; Cognition; Dementia
PubMed: 36415955
DOI: 10.1111/1460-6984.12820 -
Child Development May 2021By age 2, children are developing foundational language processing skills, such as quickly recognizing words and predicting words before they occur. How do these skills...
By age 2, children are developing foundational language processing skills, such as quickly recognizing words and predicting words before they occur. How do these skills relate to children's structural knowledge of vocabulary? Multiple aspects of language processing were simultaneously measured in a sample of 2-to-5-year-olds (N = 215): While older children were more fluent at recognizing words, at predicting words in a graded fashion, and at revising incorrect predictions, only revision was associated with concurrent vocabulary knowledge once age was accounted for. However, an exploratory longitudinal follow-up (N = 55) then found that word recognition and prediction skills were associated with rate of subsequent vocabulary development, but revision skills were not. We argue that prediction skills may facilitate language learning through enhancing processing speed.
Topics: Adolescent; Child; Child, Preschool; Humans; Language; Language Development; Language Tests; Vocabulary
PubMed: 32865231
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13465