scholarly journals Modelling vocabulary development among multilingual children prior to and following the transition to school entry

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea A. N. MacLeod ◽  
Natalie Castellanos-Ryan ◽  
Sophie Parent ◽  
Sophie Jacques ◽  
Jean R. Séguin
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Transition To School

scholarly journals Children's Transition to School: Relationships Between Preschool Attendance, Cortisol Patterns, and Effortful Control

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Hall ◽  
Ariel Lindorff
Keyword(s):  
School Readiness ◽  
Effortful Control ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
School Entry ◽  
After School ◽  
Transition To School ◽  
Child Gender ◽  
Diurnal Cortisol ◽  
Preschool Attendance

Aims: To determine whether distinct trends can exist in children's diurnal cortisol slopes as they transition to school, and the extent to which these trends relate to preschool attendance and/or exerted effortful control. Method: A secondary analysis of the anonymised data gathered for the UK Transition to School Study was carried out. 105 children were studied over a 12-month period during transition to school at mean age 55 months. Children's diurnal cortisol slopes were measured as the difference between average salivary cortisol concentrations (SCC) sampled at waking and early evening over two days at each of three measurement time points: 4 months before, 2 weeks after, and 6 months after school entry. Children's effortful control was measured at 2 weeks after school entry using the parent-administered Child Behavior Questionnaire. Parental questionnaires recorded the duration children spent in preschool (months; days per week; hours per week), and four background characteristics: child gender, parental cohabitation, responding parent's age, and responding parent's level of education. Findings: Latent class growth analysis suggested two distinct trends in diurnal cortisol slopes during children's transition to school: 39% of children demonstrated flatter diurnal cortisol slopes. These children were likely to have spent fewer hours per week in preschool, and were likely to exert less effortful control 2 weeks after transitioning to school. These associations underscore the importance of continuity in children's daily routines as they transition to school. Implications are discussed concerning school readiness and the effectiveness of early interventions.

School readiness: interventions in action

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-48
Author(s):  
Neil Henty
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
School Readiness ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Early Years ◽  
School Entry ◽  
Public Health Nurses ◽  
Transition To School

The transition to school from the home or early years setting is a crucial time in a child's life. Public health nurses and early years professionals have a crucial role to play in ensuring that children are ready for school entry. In this second part of a two-part series, Neil Henty looks at local strategies and interventions implemented in practice to improve school readiness.

scholarly journals Do Bilinguals Acquire Similar Words to Monolinguals? An Examination of Word Acquisition and the Similarity Effect in Japanese–English Bilinguals’ Vocabularies

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 168-182
Author(s):  
Aya Kutsuki
Keyword(s):  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Word Category ◽  
Word Acquisition ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Similarity Effect ◽  
Japanese English

Previous research has paid much attention to the overall acquisition of vocabularies among bilingual children in comparison to their monolingual counterparts. Much less attention has been paid to the type of words acquired and the possible transfer or cross-linguistic effects of the other language on vocabulary development. Thus, this study aims to explore similarities and dissimilarities in the vocabularies of simultaneous bilinguals and Japanese monolinguals and considers the possible cross-linguistic similarity effect on word acquisition. Six simultaneous Japanese–English bilingual children (mean age = 34.75 months (2.56)) were language–age-matched with six Japanese monolinguals; their productive vocabularies were compared regarding size and categories. Additionally, characteristic acquired words were compared using correspondence analyses. Results showed that, although delayed due to the reduced inputs, young bilinguals have a similar set of vocabularies in terms of word category as monolinguals. However, bilingual children’s vocabularies reflect their unevenly distributed experience with the language. Fewer interactive experiences with language speakers may result in a lower acquisition of interactive words. Furthermore, there is a cross-linguistic effect on acquisition, likely caused by form similarity between Japanese katakana words and English words. Even between languages with great dissimilarities, resources and cues are sought and used to facilitate bilingual vocabulary acquisition.

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