Vibeke Grøver Aukrust

Vocabulary knowledge is a critical determinant of the difference in reading comprehension growth between first and second language learners

BACKGROUND This study examines the role of decoding and vocabulary skills as longitudinal predictors of reading comprehension in young first (L1) and second (L2) language learners. METHODS Two-group latent growth models were used to assess differences in growth and predictions of growth between the 198 L1 and 90 L2 language learners. RESULTS L1 learners had better initial reading comprehension skills and faster growth in these skills over time. Individual differences in decoding and vocabulary predicted initial reading comprehension skills, but only vocabulary predicted the subsequent growth of reading comprehension skills. Vocabulary seemed to be a stronger predictor of growth in reading comprehension among the L2 learners than among the L1 learners. CONCLUSIONS Vocabulary appears to be a critical predictor of the early development of reading comprehension skills in both L1 and L2 learners. The limitations in vocabulary skills in the L2 learners seemed sufficient to explain their lag in developing reading comprehension skills, and this suggests that oral vocabulary training should be given a high priority in this group.

Young Children Acquiring Second Language Vocabulary in Preschool Group-Time: Does Amount, Diversity, and Discourse Complexity of Teacher Talk Matter?

Abstract This study investigated relationships between teacher talk exposure in preschool and school and childrens second language vocabulary acquisition. Teacher talk exposure and vocabulary acquisition in Turkish-speaking children learning Norwegian and attending various classrooms were assessed yearly from when the children were in their next-to-last year of preschool attendance until 1st grade. Teacher talk lexical input was identified as amount (density of word tokens), diversity (density of word types), and complexity (density of word types appearing within explanatory talk) of input, based on videotaped teacher-student interactions. Childrens vocabulary skills in Turkish and Norwegian were assessed using translated versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test and the Word Definition Subscale of Reynell Developmental Language Scale. Only a few relationships were found between the amount, diversity, and complexity of teacher talk and the target childrens immediate second language vocabulary skills. The amount, diversity, and complexity of teacher talk in preschool did, however, predict subsequent second language vocabulary skills in 1st grade. Controlling for maternal education and age of preschool entrance, teacher talk lexical input in preschool predicted variance in both 1st-grade receptive vocabulary and word definition skills.

Explanatory Discourse in Young Second Language Learners’ Peer Play:

This article investigates young second language learners’ participation in explanatory discourse during peer play in preschools. Twenty-seven 5-year-old Turkish-speaking children in Norwegian preschools were studied in peer play. Characteristics of conversational moves and of various explanatory types (Immediate-activity Explanations, Principle-based, Frame-based and Extended Explanations), as well as how such types were related to children’s academic language skills (receptive vocabulary and word definition skills) in Turkish and Norwegian were examined. Children, both native and non-native speakers of Norwegian, mostly produced explanations spontaneously, while requests for explanations occurred only occasionally. Second language learners who attended play groups with much explanatory peer talk had higher academic language skills. In particular, we discuss whether second language learners with more Principle-based Explanations had higher academic language skills in Norwegian. The contribution of peer play explanatory talk to second language learners’ academically mediated language skills is discussed.

How word decoding, vocabulary and prior topic knowledge predict reading comprehension. A study of language-minority students in Norwegian fifth grade classrooms

This study examined the contribution of word decoding, first-language (L1) and second-language (L2) vocabulary and prior topic knowledge to L2 reading comprehension. For measuring reading comprehension we employed two different reading tasks: Woodcock Passage Comprehension and a researcher-developed content-area reading assignment (the Global Warming Test) consisting of multiple lengthy texts. The sample included 67 language-minority students (native Urdu or native Turkish speakers) from 21 different fifth grade classrooms in Norway. Multiple regression analyses revealed that word decoding and different facets of L2 vocabulary explained most of the variance in Woodcock Passage Comprehension, but a smaller proportion of variance in the Global Warming Test. For the Global Warming Test, prior topic knowledge was the most influential predictor. Furthermore, L2 vocabulary depth appeared to moderate the contribution of prior topic knowledge to the Global Warming Test in this sample of language minority students.

Talk about talk with young children: pragmatic socialization in two communities in Norway and the US

Recent studies have suggested that cultures vary in subtle ways in the talk about talk that children hear and learn to produce. Twenty-two three-year-old children and their families in respectively Oslo, Norway and Cambridge, Massachusetts were observed during mealtime with the aim of identifying talk-focused talk. The analysis distinguished talk about (a) language per se, (b) discourse management, and (c) former conversations and use of reported speech. No category of talk-focused talk appeared exclusively in either community, and the frequency of such talk was similar across these. The Oslo families talked more often about language per se and their talk-focused conversations typically had a question-answer form. Talk about talk appeared more often within narratives in Oslo and within explanations in Cambridge. A second analysis compared talk-focused talk at home with such talk at school, suggesting that talk about language per se appeared more often at school across the two communities.

Talk-focused talk in preschools - culturally formed socialization for talk?

The purpose of the study is to discuss culturally moulded socialization for talk by examining the characteristics of the talk about talk in which three-year-old children participate in pre schools in two communities in Norway and the USA. Focus is on the types and subtypes of talk-focused talk that are culturally favoured, as well as on teacher-child interaction within such talk. Fifteen Norwegian and 15 American children were tape-recorded in preschool. Data generation captured three types of talk-focused talk: talk about language per se, discourse management and reported speech. The American school conversations included more talk about discourse management, and Norwegian conversations more reported speech. Teacher-child interaction appeared more asymmetric within talk-focused talk in Cambridge, USA, than in Oslo.

Young children's close relationships outside the family: Parental ethnotheories in four communities in Norway, United States, Turkey, and Korea

Parents, preschools, and schools in different cultures vary greatly in the extent to which children are encouraged to develop long-term relationships with people outside the family circle—peers and teachers. In contemporary societies, parents face complex choices as they bridge children’s transitions to a wider world. This exploratory cross-cultural study used a newly developed questionnaire, Parental Concerns for Preschool Children Survey, to assess parental beliefs, values, and judgments. The sample included 521 parents from four cities: Oslo, Norway; Lincoln (Nebraska), United States; Ankara, Turkey; Seoul, Korea. Strong cultural community differences were found in parental descriptions of their own child’s friendships and beliefs about the needs of young children in general for close and continuing relationships in preschool and primary. The findings suggest the following conclusions, for example: Oslo parents favoured the value of long-term continuity with peers and teachers; Lincoln parents had a more academic than relational focus to school and wanted their children to deal successfully with (new) teachers in different settings; Ankara parents (an upwardly mobile sample) were low in reporting their child’s friendships at preschool but valued parent–teacher and child–child relationships there; Seoul parents (oriented to education as a means to economic success) favoured their children having quality learning experiences and close peer relationships in preschool.

Agency and Appropriation of Voice – Cultural Differences in Parental Ideas about Young Children’s Talk

The problem of how children develop culturally molded individuality through talk is approached through a discussion of the concept of appropriation of voice, developed within Bakhtinian dialogical theory. The concept turns attention to otherness and ownness as processes that are simultaneously present in speaking. The problem is discussed through a study of parental ideas about otherness and ownness in talk, asking whether parents living in two different countries view their children’s talk as a process of children making others’ utterances their own or rather as a process of creating their own new utterances. The empirical examples are used to explore further the conceptual distinction between otherness and ownness in appropriation of voice, suggesting that culturally molded conceptions of agency may be at work in the construction of individuality through talk.