Merle Mahon

Performance of typically-developing school-age children with English as an additional language on the British Picture Vocabulary Scales II

This study provides preliminary indications of the performance of typically developing children with English as an additional language (EAL) on the British Picture Vocabulary Scales II [BPVS II]. One-hundred and sixty-five children aged four to nine years took part in the study, 69 monolingual English speakers and 96 with EAL. The results indicate an effect of both age and language status, with the EAL children scoring proportionally lower at younger ages. There was a narrowing gap between the scores of EAL and monolingual English children with increasing age. These findings differ somewhat from the suggested BPVS EAL norms, but must be treated cautiously because of the limited sampling frame. Nevertheless, some potentially useful suggestions are made for practitioners.

Triadic Dialogue in Oral Communication Tasks: What are the Implications for Language Learning?

Asymmetry in classroom discourse, typified by teachers’ frequent use of inauthentic initiating question turns, does not afford the best opportunities for the learning of language skills. More favourable conditions would appear to be associated with collaborative discourse patterns that display genuine interest in the child’s contribution and build on, and respond to, the child’s turn. Video-recordings were made of consecutive episodes of ‘story-writing’, ‘speaking-book’ and ‘circle-time’ activities to explore the sequential implications of the teachers’ initiations across each task. During speaking-book the teacher initiates with topic initial elicitors which invite news, ideas or opinions from the child. In story-writing the teacher employs invitations, which call for the children to generate ideas or suggestions. Analysis of teacher follow-up turns demonstrates ways in which they recast and reformulate the children’s response turns and elicit further material related to the pupils’ agendas. By contrast, there is limited evidence of negotiation in the circle-time activity. The study demonstrates the potentially facilitative role played by triadic dialogue in language learning and therefore has professional significance for all those involved in the development of oral language skills in classrooms.

How do teachers manage topic and repair

A case study is presented of a 10-year-old child described as having comprehension difficulties, in conversation with a specialist teacher, a mainstream teacher and a peer. Tape recordings of social talk between the child and the adults and peer were made in the school setting. The data are subjected to detailed sequential analysis, drawing on some of the insights gained into the management of topic and repair by researchers working in the tradition of conversation analysis. We find that both our subject’s specialist teacher and the mainstream peer use some helpful devices to extend the topical material produced by the child and to repair ‘troubles’ in the conversation. We consider the language learning potential of these turns and the implications for classroom teachers working with children with language needs.

The impact of universal newborn hearing screening on long-term literacy outcomes: a prospective cohort study

Objective To determine whether the benefits of universal newborn hearing screening (UNHS) seen at age 8 years persist through the second decade. Design Prospective cohort study of a population sample of children with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) followed up for 17 years since birth in periods with (or without) UNHS. Setting Birth cohort of 100 000 in southern England. Participants 114 teenagers aged 13–19 years, 76 with PCHI and 38 with normal hearing. All had previously their reading assessed aged 6–10 years. Interventions Birth in periods with and without UNHS; confirmation of PCHI before and after age 9 months. Main outcome measure Reading comprehension ability. Regression modelling took account of severity of hearing loss, non-verbal ability, maternal education and main language. Results Confirmation of PCHI by age 9 months was associated with significantly higher mean z-scores for reading comprehension (adjusted mean difference 1.17, 95% CI 0.36 to 1.97) although birth during periods with UNHS was not (adjusted mean difference 0.15, 95% CI −0.75 to 1.06). The gap between the reading comprehension z-scores of teenagers with early compared with late confirmed PCHI had widened at an adjusted mean rate of 0.06 per year (95% CI −0.02 to 0.13) during the 9.2-year mean interval since the previous assessment. Conclusions The benefit to reading comprehension of confirmation of PCHI by age 9 months increases during the teenage years. This strengthens the case for UNHS programmes that lead to early confirmation of permanent hearing loss. Trial registration number ISRCTN03307358.

Narrative skills following early confirmation of permanent childhood hearing impairment

Aim  The aim of this study was to compare spoken language production in children with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) whose PCHI was confirmed either early or late.

Selective benefit to narrative skills in spoken language of children with permanent childhood hearing impairment following early confirmation in infancy

Aim  The aim of this study was to compare spoken language production in children with permanent childhood hearing impairment (PCHI) whose PCHI was confirmed either early or late.

Acquiring a second language in an immigrant community: The production of Sylheti and English stops and vowels by London-Bengali speakers

Abstract This study investigated the production of the heritage language (L1) and the host language (L2) in an immigrant community. Specifically, the study focused on the production of Sylheti (L1) and English (L2) stops and vowels by speakers from the London-Bengali community. Speakers had been resident in the UK for similar lengths of time, but had arrived in the host country at different ages. Speakers were recorded producing Sylheti and English bilabial, alveolar and velar stops in word-initial stressed position and Sylheti and English monophthongal vowels. Acoustic analyses of stop consonants (VOT) and monophthongal vowels (formants and duration) are reported. The results demonstrated that the Late arrivals produced Sylheti stops and vowels in a native-like way, but that their English categories reflected their Sylheti productions. In contrast, the Early arrivals and speakers who were born in the UK (second-generation) used native-like categories for Sylheti vowels but not for Sylheti stops. For English their production was similar to that of the Standard Southern British English speakers. These findings provide an insight into the phonetic organization of speakers from immigrant communities such as the London-Bengali community.

Using Personal Response Systems to Assess Speech Perception Within the Classroom: An Approach to Determine the Efficacy of Sound Field Amplification in Primary School Classrooms.

Objectives: The assessment of the combined effect of classroom acoustics and sound field amplification (SFA) on children’s speech perception within the “live” classroom poses a challenge to researchers. The goals of this study were to determine: (1) Whether personal response system (PRS) hand-held voting cards, together with a closed-set speech perception test (Chear Auditory Perception Test [CAPT]), provide an appropriate method for evaluating speech perception in the classroom; (2) Whether SFA provides better access to the teacher’s speech than without SFA for children, taking into account vocabulary age, middle ear dysfunction or ear-canal wax, and home language. Design: Forty-four children from two school-year groups, year 2 (aged 6 years 11 months to 7 years 10 months) and year 3 (aged 7 years 11 months to 8 years 10 months) were tested in two classrooms, using a shortened version of the four-alternative consonant discrimination section of the CAPT. All children used a PRS to register their chosen response, which they selected from four options displayed on the interactive whiteboard. The classrooms were located in a 19th-century school in central London, United Kingdom. Each child sat at their usual position in the room while target speech stimuli were presented either in quiet or in noise. The target speech was presented from the front of the classroom at 65 dBA (calibrated at 1 m) and the presented noise level was 46 dBA measured at the center of the classroom. The older children had an additional noise condition with a noise level of 52 dBA. All conditions were presented twice, once with SFA and once without SFA and the order of testing was randomized. White noise from the teacher’s right-hand side of the classroom and International Speech Test Signal from the teacher’s left-hand side were used, and the noises were matched at the center point of the classroom (10sec averaging [A-weighted]). Each child’s expressive vocabulary age and middle ear status were measured individually and each child’s home language and any special educational needs were recorded. Results: All children were able to use the PRS handsets, and the CAPT speech perception test was sufficiently sensitive to highlight differences in perception in the different listening conditions. Scores were higher in quiet than in any noise condition. Results showed that group performance was significantly better with SFA than without it. The main demographic predictor of performance was expressive vocabulary age. SFA gave more benefit to the poorer performers in the group. There were no significant effects on performance relating to middle ear status or home language; however, the size of the population was too small to be able to fully explore these aspects in greater detail. Conclusion: PRS together with the CAPT provides a sensitive measure for in situ speech perception testing within the classroom. Vocabulary age has a large effect on a child’s ability to perceive the speech signal. SFA leads to improved speech perception, when the speech signal has been degraded because of poor acoustics or background noise and has a particularly large effect for children with lower vocabulary ages.

Interactions between a deaf child for whom English is an additional language and his specialist teacher in the first year at school: Combining words and gestures

This paper provides a description of the interactions between a nursery‐aged prelingually deaf child and his specialist teacher recorded at four consecutive time points during the first year at school. The child comes from a hearing, Somali‐speaking family where English is an additional language (EAL). Using Conversation Analysis procedures, findings show how, with the teachers support, the deaf child accomplishes ‘multi‐element’ turns (that is, turns in which semantic referents are combined using words and gestures—‘elements’) within and across time points. Gestures remain an essential feature of the childs communication at all times. The teachers prior and next turns create and support language learning opportunities for the child, and this support is continually adjusted in response to the childs turns. It is suggested that these sequences of talk are an important mechanism driving the childs learning of spoken English.

Evaluation of the E2L toy test as a screening procedure in clinical practice.

Early identification of hearing loss in young children is essential in order to avoid the potentially disabling effects of deafness. This necessitates effective screening measures with proven positive predictive value (McCormick 1977, 1988; Mahon et al., 1993). Previous studies (Marcuson et al., 1988; Bellman and Marcuson, 1991) have indicated that the E2L Toy Test, designed as a word discrimination test for evaluating the hearing of children who have English as a second language (E2L), could be such a measure. The results of diagnostic audiological testing, including the E2L test, are reported in 264 children. Comparison of E2L results with audiometric testing shows the E2L test to have a sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 90% in identifying children with an average hearing threshold of greater than 25 dB HL (and 78% sensitivity: 94% specificity where the average hearing threshold level is above 20 dB HL). This is the case for both E2L children and for children whose first language is English, suggesting that the E2L Toy Test would be useful in hearing screening test batteries throughout the UK. The results of screening hearing using the E2L Toy Test in 500 children aged 2-7 years from a wide geographical area in the UK are also presented.