Does the Use of Complex Sentences Differentiate Between Bilinguals With and Without DLD? Evidence From Conversation and Narrative Tasks

Over-identification of language disorder among bilingual children with typical development (TD) is a risk factor in assessment. One strategy for improving assessment accuracy with bilingual children is to determine which linguistic sub-domains differentiate bilingual children with TD from bilingual children with developmental language disorder (DLD). To date, little research on sequential bilinguals with TD and DLD has focussed on complex (multi-clausal) sentences in naturalistic production, even though this is a noted domain of weakness for school-age monolinguals with DLD. Accordingly, we sought to determine if there were differences in the use of complex sentences in conversational and narrative tasks between school-age sequential bilinguals with TD and with DLD at the early stages of L2 acquisition. We administered a conversation and a narrative task to 63 English L2 children with TD and DLD, aged 5–7 years with 2 years of exposure to the L2. Children had diverse first language backgrounds. The L2-TD and L2-DLD groups were matched for age, length of L2 exposure and general L2 proficiency (receptive vocabulary size). Language samples from both tasks were coded and analyzed for the use of complex versus simple sentences, for the distribution of complex sentence types, for clausal density and mean length of utterance (MLU). Complex sentences included coordinated clauses, sentential complement clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses. Using regression modelling and PERMANOVA, we found that the L2-TD group produced more complex sentences than the L2-DLD group, with coordinated clauses, adverbial clauses and relative clauses differing the most between the groups. Furthermore, the two groups differed for mean clausal density, but not for MLU, indicating that clausal density and MLU did not estimate identical morphosyntactic abilities. Individual variation in complex sentence production for L2-TD was predicted by longer L2 exposure and task; by contrast, for L2-DLD, it was predicted by older age. This study indicates that complex sentence production is an area of weakness for bilingual children with DLD, as it is for monolinguals with DLD. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed.

Validated tests for language research with university students: Tests of vocabulary, general knowledge, author recognition, reading comprehension, reading frequency, attention check

We present five studies aimed at developing a new vocabulary test for university students. Such a test isuseful as an indication of crystallized intelligence and because vocabulary size correlates well withreading comprehension. In the first study, a list of 100 words based on Nation’s Vocabulary Size Test waspresented to 195 participants and compared to other tests of crystallized intelligence. Analysis suggestedthe presence of two distinct factors, which we interpreted as evidence for the possible existence of twotypes of difficult words: Unfamiliar words for general knowledge and unfamiliar words for specializedknowledge. In the subsequent studies we tried to develop vocabulary tests for each type of words, at thesame time trying out various reading comprehension tests to use as validation criterion. However, in thefinal study a high correlation (r =.82) was found between our two vocabulary tests, indicating that theymeasure the same latent factor, contrary to our initial assumption. Both tests have high reliability (r >.85) and correlate well (r > .4) with general knowledge, author recognition, and reading comprehension.As part of our research efforts, a collection of new and existing tests was used and (often) improved toverify the validity of the vocabulary tests. An exploratory factor analysis on all tests established 3 factors(text comprehension, crystallized intelligence, and reading rate), with the vocabulary tests loading on thefactor of crystallized intelligence, which in turn correlated with reading comprehension. Structuralequation modeling corroborated the interpretation. We end by providing an overview of the differenttests that were developed or improved throughout the studies. They are freely available for researchpurposes at https://osf.io/ef3s4/.

The teaching and learning of listening and vocabulary in EFL classes at a Chinese university

<p><b>Listening is an important skill for second language learners of any language. To develop listening skills effectively, research suggests using a more process-oriented than product-oriented approach to teaching listening. That is, placing greater emphasis on developing learner awareness and strategic competence than on answering listening comprehension questions. The present study investigates how listening is taught by two teachers in the context of Chinese tertiary English foreign language (EFL) classes, where listening tends to be taught as a discreet skill. Another focus of the research is how the relationship between vocabulary and listening is understood and addressed in this context. While it is well known that vocabulary knowledge is needed for and can be learnt through listening, less is known about how the vocabulary support is provided and vocabulary knowledge is gained in such listening classes.</b></p> <p>This research involved three main areas of investigation. The first area investigated the teaching of listening. It involved a content analysis of listening materials in the textbook (e.g., listening texts and listening activities), followed by classroom observations of listening instruction practices, and post-lesson interviews with the teachers and their learners about their beliefs about teaching and learning listening. Findings showed that a product-oriented approach dominated the textbook materials, the classroom practices and the beliefs of the teachers and learners.</p> <p>The second area concerns the vocabulary demands of these listening classes. This involved a corpus-based analysis of the frequency and kinds of vocabulary in the textbook, followed by measurement of the learners’ vocabulary size (i.e., the Vocabulary Size Test by Nation & Beglar, 2007) and knowledge (i.e., a recognition task in the Yes/No format). The corpus analyses results showed that: (1) vocabulary knowledge of 3000-word families was required to comprehend the textbook; (2) high frequency vocabulary made up the majority of the words in the textbook. The VST results showed that, on average, the learners’ written receptive size ranged from 5000 to 7000-word families. The pre-lesson Yes/No task results showed that the students had difficulty recognizing a substantial number of the words they met in the textbook.</p> <p>The third area investigated the nature of vocabulary support and vocabulary learning in the listening class. Firstly, an analysis of the teachers’ classroom practices from observation data relating to vocabulary was carried out. Secondly, interview data from the teachers was examined for evidence of their beliefs about vocabulary and listening. Thirdly, post-lesson interview data with learners and data from a post-test repeat of the vocabulary recognition task were examined to find out more about the learners’ perceptions of vocabulary in listening class and the vocabulary learning gains they made in these classes. Findings revealed that the learners relied on the glossaries to prepare for listening classes. They also expected vocabulary instruction from the teachers, so long as it did not distract from listening activity completion. Both teachers primarily used translation to provide vocabulary support, but differed markedly in the amount of vocabulary support they provided. In both classes, significant vocabulary gains were found in a comparison of the pre-and-post lesson Yes/No task results. The vocabulary-related episodes in the listening classes were a notable influence on these learning gains.</p> <p>This research has pedagogical implications for the EFL listening classroom. The findings highlight the mutually reinforcing influences of textbook design and teacher beliefs on how listening is taught. These influences, in turn, shape how learners perceive the process of developing their L2 listening skills. With respect to vocabulary and listening, the findings also suggest that even where the lexical demands of listening appear to be well within the vocabulary level of the learners, there is considerable potential for vocabulary learning from listening classes. Teachers and learners alike are likely to benefit from systematically building on this potential. Future research could further investigate L2 learners’ behaviors and perceptions in the listening class, and examine their vocabulary knowledge in the spoken form.</p>

The teaching and learning of listening and vocabulary in EFL classes at a Chinese university

<p><b>Listening is an important skill for second language learners of any language. To develop listening skills effectively, research suggests using a more process-oriented than product-oriented approach to teaching listening. That is, placing greater emphasis on developing learner awareness and strategic competence than on answering listening comprehension questions. The present study investigates how listening is taught by two teachers in the context of Chinese tertiary English foreign language (EFL) classes, where listening tends to be taught as a discreet skill. Another focus of the research is how the relationship between vocabulary and listening is understood and addressed in this context. While it is well known that vocabulary knowledge is needed for and can be learnt through listening, less is known about how the vocabulary support is provided and vocabulary knowledge is gained in such listening classes.</b></p> <p>This research involved three main areas of investigation. The first area investigated the teaching of listening. It involved a content analysis of listening materials in the textbook (e.g., listening texts and listening activities), followed by classroom observations of listening instruction practices, and post-lesson interviews with the teachers and their learners about their beliefs about teaching and learning listening. Findings showed that a product-oriented approach dominated the textbook materials, the classroom practices and the beliefs of the teachers and learners.</p> <p>The second area concerns the vocabulary demands of these listening classes. This involved a corpus-based analysis of the frequency and kinds of vocabulary in the textbook, followed by measurement of the learners’ vocabulary size (i.e., the Vocabulary Size Test by Nation & Beglar, 2007) and knowledge (i.e., a recognition task in the Yes/No format). The corpus analyses results showed that: (1) vocabulary knowledge of 3000-word families was required to comprehend the textbook; (2) high frequency vocabulary made up the majority of the words in the textbook. The VST results showed that, on average, the learners’ written receptive size ranged from 5000 to 7000-word families. The pre-lesson Yes/No task results showed that the students had difficulty recognizing a substantial number of the words they met in the textbook.</p> <p>The third area investigated the nature of vocabulary support and vocabulary learning in the listening class. Firstly, an analysis of the teachers’ classroom practices from observation data relating to vocabulary was carried out. Secondly, interview data from the teachers was examined for evidence of their beliefs about vocabulary and listening. Thirdly, post-lesson interview data with learners and data from a post-test repeat of the vocabulary recognition task were examined to find out more about the learners’ perceptions of vocabulary in listening class and the vocabulary learning gains they made in these classes. Findings revealed that the learners relied on the glossaries to prepare for listening classes. They also expected vocabulary instruction from the teachers, so long as it did not distract from listening activity completion. Both teachers primarily used translation to provide vocabulary support, but differed markedly in the amount of vocabulary support they provided. In both classes, significant vocabulary gains were found in a comparison of the pre-and-post lesson Yes/No task results. The vocabulary-related episodes in the listening classes were a notable influence on these learning gains.</p> <p>This research has pedagogical implications for the EFL listening classroom. The findings highlight the mutually reinforcing influences of textbook design and teacher beliefs on how listening is taught. These influences, in turn, shape how learners perceive the process of developing their L2 listening skills. With respect to vocabulary and listening, the findings also suggest that even where the lexical demands of listening appear to be well within the vocabulary level of the learners, there is considerable potential for vocabulary learning from listening classes. Teachers and learners alike are likely to benefit from systematically building on this potential. Future research could further investigate L2 learners’ behaviors and perceptions in the listening class, and examine their vocabulary knowledge in the spoken form.</p>

Parents’ hyper-pitch and vowel category compactness in infant-directed speech are associated with 18-month-old toddlers’ expressive vocabulary

The present study examines the acoustic properties of infant-directed speech (IDS) as compared to adult-directed speech (ADS) in Norwegian parents of 18-month-old toddlers, and whether these properties relate to toddlers’ expressive vocabulary size. Twenty-one parent- toddler dyads from Tromsø, Northern Norway participated in the study. Parents (16 mothers, 5 fathers), speaking a Northern Norwegian dialect, were recorded in the lab reading a storybook to their toddler (IDS register), and to an experimenter (ADS register). The storybook was designed for the purpose of the study, ensuring identical linguistic contexts across speakers and registers, and multiple representations of each of the nine Norwegian long vowels. We examined both traditionally reported measures of IDS: pitch, pitch range, vowel duration and vowel space expansion, but also novel measures: vowel category compactness and vowel category distinctiveness. Our results showed that Norwegian IDS, as compared to ADS, had similar characteristics as in other languages: higher pitch, wider pitch range, longer vowel duration, and expanded vowel space area; in addition, it had less compact vowel categories. Further, parents’ hyper-pitch, that is, the within-parent increase in pitch in IDS as compared to ADS, and vowel category compactness in IDS itself, were positively related to toddlers' vocabulary. Our results point towards potentially facilitating roles of parents’ increase in pitch when talking to their toddler and of consistency in vowel production in early word learning.

Measuring context dependency in birdsong using artificial neural networks

Context dependency is a key feature in sequential structures of human language, which requires reference between words far apart in the produced sequence. Assessing how long the past context has an effect on the current status provides crucial information to understand the mechanism for complex sequential behaviors. Birdsongs serve as a representative model for studying the context dependency in sequential signals produced by non-human animals, while previous reports were upper-bounded by methodological limitations. Here, we newly estimated the context dependency in birdsongs in a more scalable way using a modern neural-network-based language model whose accessible context length is sufficiently long. The detected context dependency was beyond the order of traditional Markovian models of birdsong, but was consistent with previous experimental investigations. We also studied the relation between the assumed/auto-detected vocabulary size of birdsong (i.e., fine- vs. coarse-grained syllable classifications) and the context dependency. It turned out that the larger vocabulary (or the more fine-grained classification) is assumed, the shorter context dependency is detected.

Anbar: Collection and analysis of a large scale Urdu language Twitter corpus

The confluence of high performance computing algorithms and large scale high-quality data has led to the availability of cutting edge tools in computational linguistics. However, these state-of-the-art tools are available only for the major languages of the world. The preparation of large scale high-quality corpora for low resource language such as Urdu is a challenging task as it requires huge computational and human resources. In this paper, we build and analyze a large scale Urdu language Twitter corpus Anbar. For this purpose, we collect 106.9 million Urdu tweets posted by 1.69 million users during one year (September 2018-August 2019). Our corpus consists of tweets with a rich vocabulary of 3.8 million unique tokens along with 58K hashtags and 62K URLs. Moreover, it contains 75.9 million (71.0%) retweets and 847K geotagged tweets. Furthermore, we examine Anbar using a variety of metrics like temporal frequency of tweets, vocabulary size, geo-location, user characteristics, and entities distribution. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest repository of Urdu language tweets for the NLP research community which can be used for Natural Language Understanding (NLU), social analytics, and fake news detection.

A PROPOSAL FOR RECALIBRATION OF A VOCABULARY LEVELS TEST AS DIAGNOSIS OF LATE BILINGUALS’ L2 PROFICIENCY

his study explores the recalibration and adequacy of a measure of vocabulary size – the Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT) – as a predictor of Brazilian Portuguese-English speakers’ ability to access grammatical representations through their non-dominant language. Such endeavor concerns a specific part of the test (composed majorly by cognates) which has been blurring the results when participants are natives in Latin-derived languages, such as Brazilian Portuguese. A new test (nVLT) was designed, with a novel version of this problematic part (level 4) present in the older test that, now, avoids the proliferation of cognates. Both versions were applied to a number of Brazilian participants and the results were correlated with another proficiency measure, taken from an acceptability judgment task designed according to the model reported in Souza et al (2015). When the low-proficiency participants took the VLT, there were a decreasing pattern in their scores from the first level of the exam all the way to level 3 (because each level is harder than the preceding). But, when they got to level 4, which is “harder” than level 3, their scores increased surprisingly, and then decreased again in level 5. When they performed the nVLT, which has a level 4 recalibrated (without latin cognates), the decreasing pattern was maintained evenly through the whole test. These results from nVLT show an internal coherence of the test due to the recalibration.