Bente E. Hagtvet

Sentence repetition is a measure of children's language skills rather than working memory limitations

Sentence repetition tasks are widely used in the diagnosis and assessment of children with language difficulties. This paper seeks to clarify the nature of sentence repetition tasks and their relationship to other language skills. We present the results from a 2-year longitudinal study of 216 children. Children were assessed on measures of sentence repetition, vocabulary knowledge and grammatical skills three times at approximately yearly intervals starting at age 4. Sentence repetition was not a unique longitudinal predictor of the growth of language skills. A unidimensional language latent factor (defined by sentence repetition, vocabulary knowledge and grammatical skills) provided an excellent fit to the data, and language abilities showed a high degree of longitudinal stability. Sentence repetition is best seen as a reflection of an underlying language ability factor rather than as a measure of a separate construct with a specific role in language processing. Sentence repetition appears to be a valuable tool for language assessment because it draws upon a wide range of language processing skills.

Nonword-Repetition Ability Does Not Appear to Be a Causal Influence on Children’s Vocabulary Development

In the study reported here, we assessed the theory that vocabulary learning in children depends critically on the capacity of a “phonological loop” that is indexed by nonword-repetition ability. A 3-year longitudinal study of 219 children assessed nonword-repetition ability and vocabulary knowledge at yearly intervals between the ages of 4 and 7 years. There was a considerable degree of longitudinal stability in children’s vocabulary and nonword-repetition skills, but there was no evidence of any influence of nonword-repetition ability on later vocabulary knowledge. These results seriously call into question the claim that vocabulary learning in children is constrained by nonword-repetition ability, and they cast doubt on the broader theory that the phonological loop functions as a language-learning device.

Phonological and linguistic–cognitive precursors of reading abilities

This paper reports a longitudinal study of the oral and written language development of a randomly selected sample of 74 children who were followed from age 4 to 9 years. The focus of this report is the oral language precursors of reading difficulties. The relative contribution of semantic/syntactic and phonological precursors was assessed. Regression analyses indicated that phonological awareness at age 6 was the strongest predictor of reading abilities, though syntax and semantics also had an impact. The results are related to ‘the phonological deficit hypothesis’ of dyslexia and also to the problems involved in prediction of the outcome for individual children.

The Dimensionality of Language Ability in Four-Year-Olds: Construct Validation of a Language Screening Tool

The Norwegian government recommends a systematic language assessment of all four-year-olds as part of the general health surveillance program for the purpose of identifying children at risk of language delay. This study aimed to investigate the construct validity of the recommended language screening tool called LANGUAGE4 [SPRÅK4] by first examining the dimensionality of the underlying construct of the tool, after which the concurrent convergent validity was established by regressing an external language factor, defined by four standardized language tests, on a single higher-order factor. The findings provide support for a higher-order model with one general language factor, suggesting that a large amount of the variance in LANGUAGE4 is attributable to a single common factor at the second-order level. Furthermore, this single factor explained a considerable amount of the variance in the external language factor. Our findings are interpreted as support for satisfactory construct validity of LANGUAGE4.

Developing literacy in families with histories of reading problems: preliminary results from a longitudinal study of young children of dyslexic parents

ABSTRACT This paper reports on an ongoing longitudinal study, including 149 children in families with a family history of dyslexia and 300 control children from unaffected families, who were studied cross‐sectionally. The aim of the study is to explore the developmental links between early linguistic, cognitive and emotional factors and later problems with written language. Preliminary findings on prevalence, early precursors of reading problems and the potential influence of parental attitudes on the literacy development of the children are discussed.

The Discriminant Predictive Validity of the Reynell Developmental Language Scales.

Abstract The Reynell Developmental Language Scales (RDLS) have been used extensively as an instrument in clinical settings. However, little is known about its construct validity. Essential for its use both as a clinical and a scientific instrument is its discriminant validity as the scales involve separate assessment of language comprehension’ and ‘expressive language’. Two studies were carried out to investigate its discriminant validity within a longitudinal design, the first an ordinary least‐squares path analysis. The second applied a data‐analytic strategy consisting of a two‐step procedure. First, a measurement model based on four prespecified linguistic dimensions derived from the facet structure of the well‐known Illinois Tests of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) was tested as a specific case of a general covariance structural model. Second, three of the four originally hypothesized dimensions were inserted as latent dependent variables in a multivariate multiple regression analysis. Both studies...

The Conceptual Nature of Gain in Vocabulary Research: An Analysis of Vocabulary Data from Schoolchildren.

Two ways of measuring change are presented and compared: A conventional “change score”, defined as the difference between scores before and after an interim period, and a process-oriented approach focusing on detailed analysis of conceptually defined response patterns. The validity of the two approaches was investigated. Vocabulary knowledge was assessed by means of equivalent multiple-choice tests administered before and after an intervention, and four characteristic responses were observed: Words consistently not understood; words inconsistently understood; learned words; and words consistently understood. The results showed that inclusion of the category “words consistently not understood” offered a “truer” gain score than did the conventional change score. It captured more variance from age and cognitive constraints and appeared educationally more reliable from an assessment-for-teaching-perspective.

Literacy Teaching in Norway

Historically, the driving forces behind literacy education in Norway have been the church and the state. Compulsory literacy education was introduced indirectly in 1736 as part of the preparation for the Confirmation ceremony. Widespread literacy was not achieved, however, until the beginning of the twentieth century. The major teaching tools throughout this period were alphabet books, in conjunction with phonologically-based methods. More recently other approaches, such as language experience and emergent writing, have been gaining ground.

The effects of transfer in teaching vocabulary to school children: An analysis of the dependencies between lists of trained and non-trained words

ABSTRACT In the present study, 81 Norwegian students were taught the meaning of words by the Word Generation (WG) method and 51 Norwegian students were taught by an approach inspired by the Thinking Schools (TS) concept. Two sets of words were used: a set of words to be trained and a set of non-trained control words. The two teaching methods yielded no significant differences for the trained words, but the WG participants performed better than the TS participants on the non-trained words. An analysis of the dependencies between the trained words and non-trained words suggested that the participants of the WG program, in contrast to the TS students, profited from a transfer effect that resulted in augmented scores on the non-trained words.

Screening for Language Delay: Growth Trajectories of Language Ability in Low- and High-Performing Children

Purpose This study investigated the stability and growth of preschool language skills and explores latent class analysis as an approach for identifying children at risk of language impairment. Method The authors present data from a large-scale 2-year longitudinal study, in which 600 children were assessed with a language-screening tool (LANGUAGE4) at age 4 years. A subsample (n = 206) was assessed on measures of sentence repetition, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge at ages 4, 5, and 6 years. Results A global latent language factor showed a high degree of longitudinal stability in children between the ages of 4 to 6 years. A low-performing group showing a language deficit compared to their age peers at age 4 was identified on the basis of the LANGUAGE4. The growth-rates during this 2-year time period were parallel for the low-performing and 3 higher performing groups of children. Conclusions There is strong stability in childrens language skills between the ages of 4 and 6 years. The results demonstrate that a simple language screening measure can successfully identify a low-performing group of children who show persistent language weaknesses between the ages of 4 and 6 years.