Investigating profiles of lexical quality in preschool and their contribution to first grade reading

This longitudinal study investigated profiles of lexical quality domains in preschool children and the extent to which profile membership predicted reading comprehension in first grade. A latent profile analysis was conducted to classify 420 preschool children on lexical quality domains, including orthography, phonology, morphosyntax, and vocabulary. Regression analysis was used to determine whether profile membership was associated with first grade outcomes across reading comprehension and its components (i.e., listening comprehension and word recognition). Results revealed five profiles of lexical quality which were predictive of all three outcomes in first grade. Children in low lexical quality profiles performed more poorly on the outcome measures than children in the higher lexical quality profiles. Additionally, profile membership did differentially predict later reading outcomes. These results suggest that lexical quality profiles are associated with reading and therefore may offer a means of early identification of children who are susceptible to future reading difficulties

English and Spanish predictors of grade 3 reading comprehension in bilingual children

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd-grade predictors of reading comprehension in bilingual children. Specifically, we evaluated the role that Spanish and English skills play in predicting English reading comprehension in 3rd grade. Method: As part of a longitudinal study, 248 bilingual children were followed from prekindergarten to 3rd grade. Participants completed Spanish and English measures in the spring of each academic year. We reported results on measures of oral language, memory, and literacy skills that were administered in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade. Results: Analysis under the Structural Equation Modeling framework indicated that English oral language and word reading are the strongest predictors of English reading comprehension in 3rd grade. Further, results supported previous evidence indicating that Spanish language skills make significant direct and indirect contributions to the English oral language and word reading skills that predict reading comprehension. Discussion: This study provides a comprehensive view of the language resources that Spanish-English bilinguals use for reading comprehension. In light of previous evidence, we discuss our findings and offer theoretical and practical implications

The dimensionality of inference making:Are local and global inferences distinguishable?

We investigated the dimensionality of inference making in samples of 4- to 9-year-olds (Ns=416-783) to determine if local and global coherence inferences could be distinguished. In addition, we examined the validity of our experimenter-developed inference measure by comparing with three additional measures of listening comprehension. Multitrait, multimethod modeling determined that the best fitting model included both text and inference factors, but the factor loadings of these final models showed that local and global inference factors could not be measured reliably. The Inference Task as a whole was reliable and showed good validity at all grade levels

The Role of Prekindergarten Spanish in Predicting First-Grade English Word Reading Among Dual-Language Learners

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to examine the role that the first language (L1), Spanish, at Pre-Kindergarten plays in predicting second language (L2), English, word reading in first grade. In addition, it examines the role of conceptual vocabulary in predicting word reading in English. Method As part of a longitudinal study of predictors and models of reading comprehension from Pre-kindergarten to third grade, 248 children attending preschool programs completed Spanish and English measures in the spring of each academic year. In this paper, we report the results of English and Spanish measures of oral language and literacy skills that were administered in Pre-Kindergarten and four measures of English word reading that were administered in first grade. Results Results from structural equation modeling indicated that Spanish oral language made significant direct and indirect contributions to English oral language and word reading. Further, results supported previous evidence indicating that L2 letter knowledge and L2 oral language proficiency are the strongest predictors of L2 word reading in first grade. Discussion Similar to findings with monolingual English-speaking children, results support findings that in the early stages of reading development, oral language in both L1 and L2 make a significant and independent contribution to word reading. This study has important implications for the support of oral language skills in Latino preschool children

Inference making in young children:The concurrent and longitudinal contributions of verbal working memory and vocabulary

Inference making is fundamental to the construction of a coherent mental model of a text. We examined how vocabulary and verbal working memory relate to inference development concurrently and longitudinally in 4- to 9-year-olds. Four hundred and twenty pre-kindergartners completed oral assessments of inference making, vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and verbal working memory each year until grade 3. Concurrently, hierarchical regressions revealed that a greater proportion of total variance in inference making was explained by vocabulary and verbal working memory for younger than older children. Vocabulary breadth was a stronger predictor of inference than verbal working memory but the opposite pattern was found for vocabulary depth and verbal working memory. The longitudinal relations between inference making, vocabulary and verbal working memory were investigated in two separate cross-lagged models: one with vocabulary breadth and a second with vocabulary depth. Both vocabulary breadth and depth explained subsequent inference making and verbal working memory throughout the early grades. Inference making also predicted subsequent vocabulary depth. The results highlight the critical role of vocabulary knowledge in the development of inference ability both within and across time, the importance of vocabulary in supporting the development of verbal working memory, and the changing dynamics between language and memory in early development

Predicting Language Performance from Narrative Language Samples

Purpose: Analysis of narrative language samples is a recommended clinical practice in the assessment of children’s language skills, but we know little about how results from such analyses relate to overall oral language ability across the early school years. We examined the relations between language sample metrics from a short narrative retell, collected in kindergarten, and an oral language factor in grades kindergarten through 3. Our specific questions were to determine the extent to which metrics from narrative language sample analysis are concurrently related to language in kindergarten and predict language through Grade 3. Method: Participants were a sample of 284 children who were administered a narrative retell task in kindergarten and a battery of vocabulary and grammar measures in kindergarten through Grade 3. Language samples were analyzed for number of different words, mean length of utterance, and a relatively new metric, percent grammatical utterances (PGUs). Structural equation models were used to estimate the concurrent and longitudinal relationships. Results: The narrative language sample metrics were consistently correlated with the individual vocabulary and grammar measures as well as the language factor in each grade, and also consistently and uniquely predicted the language factor in each grade. Standardized path estimates in the structural equation models ranged from 0.20 to 0.39. Conclusions: This study found narrative language sample metrics to be predictive, concurrently and longitudinally, of a latent factor of language from kindergarten through Grade 3. These results further validate the importance of collecting and analyzing narrative language samples, to include PGU along with more traditional metrics, and point to directions for future research

Assessing school-aged children’s inference making:the effect of test story format in listening comprehension

Background. Comprehension is critical for classroom learning and educational success. Inferences are integral to good comprehension: Successful comprehension requires the listener to generate local coherence inferences, which involve integrating information between clauses, and global coherence inferences, which involve integrating textual information with background knowledge to infer motivations, themes, etc. A central priority for the diagnosis of comprehension difficulties and our understanding of why these difficulties arise is the development of valid assessment instruments.Aims. We explored typically developing children’s ability to make local and global coherence inferences using a novel assessment of listening comprehension. Our aims were to determine whether children were more likely to make the target inferences when these were asked during story presentation vs. after presentation of the story, and whether there were any age differences between conditions.Methods & Procedures. Children in Years 3 (n=29) and 5 (n=31) listened to short stories presented either in a segmented format, in which questions to assess local and global coherence inferences were asked at specific points during story presentation, or in a whole format, when all of the questions were asked after the story had been presented.Outcomes & Results. There was developmental progression between age groups for both types of inference question. Children also scored higher on the global coherence inference questions than the local coherence inference questions. There was a benefit of the segmented format for younger children, particularly for the local inference questions. Conclusions & Implications. The results suggest that children are more likely to make target inferences if prompted during presentation of the story, and that this format is particularly facilitative for younger children and for local coherence inferences. This has implications for the design of comprehension assessments as well as for supporting children with comprehension difficulties in the classroom

Improving the language skills of Pre-Kindergarten students:Preliminary impacts of the Let’s Know! experimental curriculum.

Background Improving children’s oral language skills is an important focus of educational research and practice; however, relatively few interventions have demonstrated impacts on these skills. This work makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the effects of language-focused interventions in pre-kindergarten settings by examining impacts on both lower- and higher-level language skills as well as overall language comprehension. Objective The goal is to assess the impacts of business-as-usual pre-kindergarten with implementation of two versions of an experimental curriculum supplement, Let’s Know!, designed to enhance three component language skills (vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and text-structure knowledge) and overall language comprehension in pre-kindergarteners. Methods Eleven pre-kindergarten teachers and 49 low socioeconomic-status students participated. Teachers were randomly assigned to either business-as-usual, Let’s Know! Broad, or Let’s Know! Deep, unless they participated in a previous pilot study, in which case they were randomly assigned to either Let’s Know! Broad or Deep. The Broad version included five different lesson types, whereas the Deep version included three lesson types with additional practice. Children’s gains were assessed proximally with measures of vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and text-structure knowledge and distally with a measure of language comprehension. Results Children in both experimental versions significantly improved their vocabulary skills relative to children who received business-as-usual instruction. For comprehension monitoring, children who received the Deep and Broad versions improved their scores relative to BAU children for Units 1 and 3, respectively. Improvement in language comprehension was only found for children who received Let’s Know! Deep compared with business-as-usual. Conclusion This study provides initial evidence that the Let’s Know! curricula may serve to foster young children’s vocabulary, comprehension monitoring, and language comprehension skills

The association of the home literacy environment and parental reading beliefs with oral language growth trajectories of Spanish-English bilingual children.

Purpose This study examines the extent to which the Home Literacy Environment (HLE) as measured by reading habits and resources, library use, and subscriptions or materials, as well as parental reading beliefs predict both language skills (i.e., vocabulary) at kindergarten and students’ trajectories of growth from kindergarten (K) to grade 3 (G3). Method The sample included 259 Spanish-English bilingual children and their parents living in Arizona. We measured HLE and parental reading beliefs with a questionnaire administered to parents during the kindergarten year. Children completed measures of English and bilingual Spanish-English vocabulary in grades K to G3. Results Findings indicated that library use and reading habits and resources predicted skills at kindergarten, but not growth. Across all language outcomes, library use was the consistent factor associated with skills in kindergarten. Conclusion Given that HLE was associated with variability in children's vocabulary skills at kindergarten but not with vocabulary growth, this suggests that timely HLE supports are essential. Supports around library use show promise, given their significant associations with vocabulary skills in Spanish-English bilingual children

Inference making in young children:The concurrent and longitudinal contributions of verbal working memory and vocabulary

Inference making is fundamental to the construction of a coherent mental model of a text. We examined how vocabulary and verbal working memory relate to inference development concurrently and longitudinally in 4- to 9-year-olds. Four hundred and twenty pre-kindergartners completed oral assessments of inference making, vocabulary breadth, vocabulary depth, and verbal working memory each year until grade 3. Concurrently, hierarchical regressions revealed that a greater proportion of total variance in inference making was explained by vocabulary and verbal working memory for younger than older children. Vocabulary breadth was a stronger predictor of inference than verbal working memory but the opposite pattern was found for vocabulary depth and verbal working memory. The longitudinal relations between inference making, vocabulary and verbal working memory were investigated in two separate cross-lagged models: one with vocabulary breadth and a second with vocabulary depth. Both vocabulary breadth and depth explained subsequent inference making and verbal working memory throughout the early grades. Inference making also predicted subsequent vocabulary depth. The results highlight the critical role of vocabulary knowledge in the development of inference ability both within and across time, the importance of vocabulary in supporting the development of verbal working memory, and the changing dynamics between language and memory in early development