Elaine Weitzman

The Relationship Between Maternal Language Measures and Language Development in Toddlers With Expressive Vocabulary Delays

This study examined the relationship between variation in maternal language and variation in language development in a group of 12 children with expressive vocabulary delays. Mothers and their chil...

Mother-child interactions in Canada and Italy: Linguistic responsiveness to late-talking toddlers

The aim was to examine cross-cultural variation in linguistic responsiveness to young children in 10 English-speaking mother-child dyads and 10 Italian-speaking mother-child dyads. All 20 children were late talkers who possessed delays in expressive vocabulary development but age-appropriate cognitive and receptive language skills. Dyads were filmed in 15-minute free play contexts, which were transcribed and coded for measures of maternal linguistic input (e.g. rate, MLU, labels, expansions) and child language productivity (e.g. utterances, different words used). The results revealed that the Italian mothers used more utterances, spoke more quickly and used a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian mothers. The Italian children mirrored their mothers and also used more utterances and a more diverse vocabulary than the Canadian children. Mothers in both groups used similar percentages of responsive labels and expansions. However, Italian mothers responded to fewer of their childrens vocalizations, using a smaller percentage of imitations and interpretations than the Canadian mothers. Correlations between maternal input and childrens language productivity revealed that contingent language measures (e.g. imitations, interpretations, expansions) were related to high levels of productivity in children in both cultural groups. The results support the use of language interventions based on increasing maternal responsiveness for these children at the one-word stage of language development. They also point to differences that may be culturally based. For example, Italian mothers use faster rates of interaction and appear to have higher expectations for their childrens verbal participation in interaction. This is reflected in higher rates of language production from their children, even though children in both cultural groups have similar vocabulary sizes.

The Effects of Focused Stimulation for Promoting Vocabulary in Young Children with Delays A Pilot Study

The interactive model of language intervention optimizes parent-child interaction patterns by training parents to increase their responsiveness to the childs focus and interests, and provide language models appropriate to the childs level and plan-of-the-moment. We explored the effects of a focused stimulation version of this intervention approach, in which parents used interactive intervention techniques, but targeted specific vocabulary. In this pilot study, 16 mothers and their preschool-aged children with language delays were randomly assigned to treatment and delayed-treatment (control)groups. Vocabulary targets were individually selected for each child based on the childs phonetic repertoire and parent report of vocabulary development. In accord with program objectives, children in the treatment group used more target words and acquired more symbolic play gestures than children in the control group. No significant differences were found between the two groups at posttest for control words, or for a general measure of vocabulary development. Finally, mothers of children in the experimental group reported a reduction in aggressive/destructive behaviors in their children after intervention.

Enhancing preschool educators’ ability to facilitate conversations during shared book reading:

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether professional development enhanced educators’ use of conversational strategies during shared book reading with small groups of preschoolers. Twenty preschool educators and small groups of children from each of their classrooms were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group. The 10 educators in the experimental group received instruction in shared book reading strategies as well as individual classroom coaching sessions. Each educator was video-recorded reading two storybooks to a small group of preschoolers at pretest and posttest. The video-recordings were transcribed and coded to yield the measures of the book-related talk. The findings revealed that the educators in the experimental group used a greater number of open questions, responsive statements and different words compared to the control group. The educators and children in the experimental group also maintained longer book-related conversations and had more conversations that were five or more turns in length compared to the control group. These findings suggest that professional development that includes group instruction and individual coaching can enhance educators’ ability to facilitate book-related conversations with preschool-age children.

Narrative abilities in subgroups of English language learners and monolingual peers

Aims and objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the narrative ability of two subgroups of English Language Learners (ELLs) relative to a group of English monolingual (EL1) peers. Specifically, we investigated whether the three groups of children differed on measures of narrative macrostructure and microstructure. Methodology: Two groups of ELLs were identified on the basis of parent report of the language most often heard and spoken at home (ELL English language users, ELL minority language users). A group of monolingual English children served as a comparison group (n = 25 per language group). The children averaged 56 months of age. All children completed a narrative retell task. Data and analysis: The retell task was scored in relation to macrostructure (narrative information) and microstructure (number of utterances, mean length of utterance, number of different words, grammaticality). ANCOVAs, partialling out age and memory, revealed distinct performance profiles for the two ELL groups. Findings: There were no group differences on the number of utterances or story grammar. However, the performance of the ELL minority language group was significantly different from that of the EL1 and the ELL English language group on all microstructure measures (number of different words, sentence length, and grammaticality). Overall, the performance of the ELL English language users was indistinguishable from the EL1 group. Originality: The study highlights the heterogeneity in an ELL kindergarten sample with respect to English narrative ability, based on the extent to which English was heard and spoken at home. Implications: The findings highlight the need to gather detailed linguistic information about the home language environments of ELL children when involving them in language- or literacy-related tasks. An important implication of this information is the potential to lead to more nuanced expectations or teaching methods for subgroups of ELL children.

Relationships between Preschoolers' Oral Language and Phonological Awareness.

This study examines the relationship between complex oral language and phonological awareness in the preschool years. Specifically, the authors investigate the relationship between concurrent measures of oral narrative structure (based on measures of both story retell and generation), and measures of blending and elision in a sample of 89 children between 4 and 6 years of age. A hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine whether oral narrative structure explained unique variance in skill in blending and elision over and above that explained by vocabulary and after controlling for a number of factors known to contribute to phonological awareness outcomes (age, nonverbal reasoning ability, phonological memory, letter knowledge, word reading). The results of the study support the authors’ hypothesis of an association between narrative structure and phonological awareness, and between vocabulary and phonological awareness. The findings are interpreted within a theoretical framework that posits that common structural and processing demands underlie oral narrative discourse and phonological awareness.

Oral narratives in monolingual and bilingual preschoolers with SLI.

BACKGROUND The body of literature on narratives of bilingual children with and without specific language impairment (SLI) is growing. However, little is known about the narrative abilities of bilingual preschool children with SLI and their patterns of growth. AIMS To determine the similarities and differences in narrative abilities between preschoolers with and without SLI who are either monolingual or bilingual at two time points. METHODS & PROCEDURES Forty children completed a narrative retell task in English at two test points. The mean ages were 52 and 58 months at Times 1 and 2, respectively. We examined performance on measures of narrative macrostructure (narrative information) and microstructure (sentence length, number of different words, verb accuracy, first mentions) in monolingual and bilingual children with and without SLI. The bilingual children were from diverse first-language backgrounds and all spoke English most of the time. OUTCOMES & RESULTS A series of repeated-measures analyses of variance was used with language ability (typical development or SLI) and bilingual status (monolingual versus bilingual) as the between-subjects factors and time (Times 1 or 2) as the within-subjects factor. Results indicated a significant main effect of time for four measures (i.e., Information Score, lexical diversity, sentence length and verb accuracy). The between-subjects analyses indicated a significant difference between the typically developing children and the children with SLI in all measures and a significant difference between monolingual and bilingual children for verb accuracy only. CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS This study showed that all four groups of children showed growth over a 6-month period and that bilingual children exposed predominantly to English in the home performed similarly to their monolingual peers in measures of narrative information, sentence length, number of different words and first mentions.

Effects of coaching on educators’ vocabulary-teaching strategies during shared reading

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether an emergent literacy professional development program enhanced educators’ use of vocabulary-teaching strategies during shared reading with small groups of pre-schoolers. Method: Thirty-two pre-school educators and small groups of pre-schoolers from their classrooms were randomly assigned to experimental or comparison groups. The 15 educators in the experimental group received four in-service workshops as well as five individualized classroom coaching sessions. The comparison group received only the workshops. Each educator was video-recorded reading a storybook to a small group of pre-schoolers at pre-test and post-test. The videos were transcribed and coded to yield measures of the vocabulary-teaching strategies and childrens vocabulary-related talk. Result: The findings revealed that the children in the experimental group engaged in significantly more vocabulary-related talk relative to the comparison group. A non-significant trend in the data indicated that educators in the experimental group used more vocabulary-teaching strategies at post-test. The educators’ familiarity with childrens authors and book titles at pre-test was a significant predictor of their outcomes. Conclusion: These findings suggest that an emergent literacy professional development program that includes coaching can enhance childrens participation in vocabulary-related conversations with their educators.

Cognitive, Linguistic and Print-Related Predictors of Preschool Children's Word Spelling and Name Writing.

Preschool children begin to represent spoken language in print long before receiving formal instruction in spelling and writing. The current study sought to identify the component skills that contribute to preschool children’s ability to begin to spell words and write their name. Ninety-five preschool children (mean age = 57 months) completed a battery of cognitive, linguistic, as well as print-related measures, including spelling/writing tasks (i.e. letters, words and name). All writing samples were scored using scoring matrices and inter-rater reliability was 90% and above. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted for word spelling, indicating that after controlling for age and IQ, the model of best fit included expressive vocabulary, working memory, blending, letter naming and letter writing ability. Logistic regression was conducted for name writing, indicating that the model that included age, expressive vocabulary, letter naming and letter writing identified preschool children who wrote their name conventionally and those who could not. Letter writing explained unique variance in both word spelling and name writing, and phonological awareness explained unique variance in word spelling only. These findings suggest that different processes underlie word spelling and name writing, supporting the consideration of a dual-route model of children’s early spelling and writing ability.