Vulnerability in Acquisition, Language Impairments in Dutch: Creating a VALID Data Archive

Vulnerability in Acquisition, Language Impairments in Dutch: Creating a VALID Data Archive Klatter, J.; van Hout, R.; van den Heuvel, H.; Fikkert, P.; Baker, A.E.; de Jong, J.; Wijnen, F.; Sanders, E.; Trilsbeek, P. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. Abstract The VALID Data Archive is an open multimedia data archive (under construction) with data from speakers suffering from language impairments. We report on a pilot project in the CLARIN-NL framework in which five data resources were curated. For all data sets concerned, written informed consent from the participants or their caretakers has been obtained. All materials were anonymized. The audio files were converted into wav (linear PCM) files and the transcriptions into CHAT or ELAN format. Research data that consisted of test, SPSS and Excel files were documented and converted into CSV files. All data sets obtained appropriate CMDI metadata files. A new CMDI metadata profile for this type of data resources was established and care was taken that ISOcat metadata categories were used to optimize interoperability. After curation all data are deposited at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics Nijmegen where persistent identifiers are linked to all resources. The content of the transcriptions in CHAT and plain text format can be searched with the TROVA search engine

Effects of repeated retrieval on keyword mediator use: shifting to direct retrieval predicts better learning outcomes

Keyword mediators are an effective memory technique to encode novel vocabulary: learners link a novel word form to its meaning with a mental image that includes a keyword that resembles the word form (e.g., nyanya = tomato; keyword mnemonic: the ninja chops the tomato in half). Prior research suggests that such mediated form-meaning associations become less dependent on keywords after retrieval practice. The present study investigated if retrieval-induced decreases in mediator use predict word retention. Thirty participants learned novel vocabulary using experimenter-provided keywords and repeatedly retrieved the words from memory while thinking aloud. As expected, keyword use decreased with practice: learners stopped mentioning keywords for 21.6% of the words (on average after 8.27 retrievals). Shifting to direct, unmediated retrieval predicted higher form and meaning recall on a retention test after 6–8 days. Continuing retrieval practice until a shift has occurred to direct retrieval thus seems beneficial for retention

A Longitudinal Comparison of Literacy Abilities of Bidialectal and Monolingual Dutch Speaking Children: Bidialectal Children Score Higher in Grade 2 on Spelling and Reading Comprehension

Research has shown that bidialectal children may reveal patterns of language acquisition that differ from monolingual children. In this chapter, we discuss this research and report on a new study addressing the question as to how bidialectal acquisition affects the acquisition of literacy, in particular, spelling and reading comprehension. In order to address this question, this study compared the same monolingual and bidialectal children in the Netherlands in their test results of spelling and reading comprehension in Dutch at two time points during primary school (grades 2 and 6), as well as their growth rates between these time points. The results showed that the bidialectal children in grade 2 scored significantly higher on tests in spelling and reading comprehension compared to the monolingual children. Yet, this head start is no longer evident in grade 6. For reading comprehension bidialectal children show lower growth rates in test scores from grade 2 to grade 6 compared to the monolinguals. We argue that the high phonological correspondences between Dutch and dialect lead to higher phonological awareness for bidialectal children to distinguish between concepts of sound and print needed for early, but not later, literacy acquisition in Dutch

Effects of repeated retrieval on keyword mediator use: shifting to direct retrieval predicts better learning outcomes

Keyword mediators are an effective memory technique to encode novel vocabulary: learners link a novel word form to its meaning with a mental image that includes a keyword that resembles the word form (e.g., nyanya = tomato; keyword mnemonic: the ninja chops the tomato in half). Prior research suggests that such mediated form-meaning associations become less dependent on keywords after retrieval practice. The present study investigated if retrieval-induced decreases in mediator use predict word retention. Thirty participants learned novel vocabulary using experimenter-provided keywords and repeatedly retrieved the words from memory while thinking aloud. As expected, keyword use decreased with practice: learners stopped mentioning keywords for 21.6% of the words (on average after 8.27 retrievals). Shifting to direct, unmediated retrieval predicted higher form and meaning recall on a retention test after 6–8 days. Continuing retrieval practice until a shift has occurred to direct retrieval thus seems beneficial for retention

Data curation for a VALID Archive of Dutch Language Impairment Data

The VALID Data Archive is an open multimedia data archive in which data from children and adults with language and/or communication problems are brought together. A pilot project, funded by CLARIN-NL, was carried out in which five existing data sets were curated. This pilot enabled us to build up experience in conserving different kinds of pathological language data in a searchable and persistent manner. These data sets reflect current research in language pathology rather well, both in the range of designs and the variety in pathological problems, such as Specific Language Impairment, deafness, dyslexia, and ADHD. In this paper, we present the VALID initiative, explain the curation process and discuss the materials of the data sets