1,720,962 research outputs found
Linguistic interactions at nursery school as a protective factor for promoting language development of toddlers from low-income families
No full textToddlers from low-income and language-minority immigrant families are at risk for difficulties in the acquisition of the majority or societal language due to early disparities in the quality of communicative and linguistic interactions in the home environment (Hoff, 2013; Leung et al., 2020). However, little is known about the linguistic interactions of these toddlers in the school environment. The present longitudinal study extends previous research by investigating communicative modalities and functions used by nursery teachers with monolingual and bilingual toddlers from low-income families (Aim 1), and their effectiveness in promoting toddlers’ linguistic production (Aim 2) and vocabulary development (Aim 3) between 18 and 30 months. Participants were equivalent low-income monolingual (n = 20) and bilingual (n = 22) toddlers and their nursery teachers (n = 20). Linguistic interactions between teachers and small groups of toddlers at 18, 24, and 30 months at nursery school were videotaped and coded for communicative modalities and functions in CHILDES. Children’s vocabulary in the majority language was assessed at 30 months by nursery teachers, using the Italian version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI. Data were analyzed through linear mixed models (Aims 1 and 3) and sequential analyses (Aim 2) Main results showed that teachers used bimodal utterances (gesture + speech) to a higher extent with bilinguals and language scaffolding strategies to a higher extent with monolinguals from 18 to 30 months (p < .01; Aim 1). Bimodal utterances and language scaffolding strategies used by teachers promoted toddlers’ initiatives at all ages and in both groups (p =. 01; Aim 2) and vocabulary development from 18 to 30 months (p < .01; Aim 3). Linguistic interactions in the school environment act as protective proximal environmental factor for stimulating and favoring the acquisition and development of the majority language by toddlers from low-income and language minority families
The effects of a music training program on rhythmic skills, executive functions, and linguistic abilities in preschoolers
No full textIntroduction: Literature has explored the relationship between music/rhythmic activities and developmental domains such as cognition and language. However, few studies have considered the impact of structured music training programs on cognitive and language development in preschoolers. This study aims to investigate the role of music training in developing rhythmic abilities, executive functions, and lexical skills.
Method: Participants were 55 children (25 girls) aged between 46 and 58 months (Mage = 53.0) at the baseline and between 50 and 66 months (Mage = 57.1) at the re-test. Using a randomized pre-post-test control trial, 32 children (14 girls, training group, TG) participated in an 8-week music training program while 23 children (11 girls) acted as a comparison group (control group, CG). All the children were tested twice (pre- and post-training) using the “Rhythmic Imitation Test” (Stamback, 1980) for rhythmic skills, the “Stroop Day/Night” task (Usai et al., 2017) for inhibitory control, the “Keep in Mind” task (Usai et al., 2017) for working memory, the “Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test” (PPVT; Stella et al., 2000) for receptive vocabulary, and the “Oral Comprehension Test” (TOR; Levorato & Roch, 2007) for listening text comprehension.
Results: Repeated measures mixed ANCOVA, with parents’ education as a covariate, were run on the variables considered to assess the impact of the music training program. Data analysis revealed a significant main effect of “time” on receptive vocabulary score [F(1,41) = 13.580, p = <.001, η2 = 0.021]; a significant interaction between “time” and “group” for rhythmic abilities [F(1,36) = 4.215, p = 0.047, η2 = 0.024], for inhibitory control [F(1,40) = 9.500, p = 0.004, η2 = 0.032] and working memory [F(1,42) = 5.050, p = 0.030, η2 = 0.024]. Furthermore, partial correlations revealed that receptive vocabulary significantly correlates with rhythmic abilities (r(48) = 0.336; p = 0.032) and inhibitory control (r(49) = 0.552; p = <.001); and morphosyntax abilities with inhibitory control (r(49) = 0.379; p = 0.013) at the baseline.
Conclusions: These results suggest that short music training enhances rhythmic skills, executive functions, and, indirectly, language development in preschoolers. These findings can have an impact on the educational practices of preschoolers
La conversazione durante la lettura congiunta con bambini con DSL e sviluppo tipico: l’effetto del genere del libro sulla produzione linguistica
No full textIntroduzione: Nella letteratura sulla lettura congiunta come contesto privilegiato di acquisizione del linguaggio, pochi studi hanno esplorato l’impatto di fattori situazionali, quali il genere del libro che costituisce il focus d’attenzione. Al riguardo, l’evidenza che il libro descrittivo, rispetto al libro narrativo, sollecita più interazione e produzione di enunciati extra-testuali e strategie supportive (Anderson et al., 2004; Hammett Price et al., 2009), appare oggi controversa (Nyhout & O'Neill, 2013). Inoltre, le evidenze empiriche dell’impatto sul linguaggio del bambino durante l’interazione sono scarse e limitate a b. con sviluppo tipico (ST). Il nostro studio ha esaminato la produzione linguistica di madri e bambini con DSL e ST durante la lettura congiunta di un libro descrittivo e di un libro narrativo, in relazione a: quantità di enunciati prodotti, funzioni e strategie di supporto all’apprendimento linguistico, varietà lessicale e complessità morfosintattica. Metodo: 45 diadi madre-bambino d’età prescolare ‒15 b. con DSL espressivo e 15+15 b. con ST appaiati per età cronologica(CRO) e linguistica(LIN)‒ sono state videoregistrate in 2 sessioni di lettura congiunta di un libro di immagini descrittivo vs. narrativo. Gli enunciati prodotti da madri e bambini sono stati analizzati per funzioni comunicative, strategie di supporto materno e caratteristiche linguistiche (n. types, tokens, LME, proporz. categ. grammaticali). ANCOVAs a disegno misto 2(genere libro) x 3(gruppo) sono state condotte controllando anni scolarizz. materna. Risultati: La lettura congiunta del libro descrittivo, rispetto a quella del libro narrativo, ha sollecitato conversazioni più lunghe nei gruppi DSL e CRO (p=.001, ηp2=.31), più enunciati prodotti da madri (p=.004) e b. (p=.033) con ST, e più Riparazioni materne (p=.047) e Risposte Minime Adeguate dei b. (p=.031) nel gruppo DSL. Diversamente, la lettura del libro narrativo ha sollecitato più Espansioni materne degli enunciati dei b. (p=.008), e maggiore complessità morfosintattica del linguaggio di madri e b.: maggiore LME materna nei gruppi con ST (p<.001, ηp2=.46) e maggiori proporz. di verbi prodotti dalle madri (p<.001), e verbi e funtori prodotti dai b. in tutti i gruppi (p=.023 e p=.003). Conclusioni: Questi risultati indicano che i due generi di libri considerati tendono a promuovere comportamenti e abilità linguistiche diverse, e suggeriscono un utilizzo complementare di libri descrittivi e narrativi con b. con DSL
Lexical Trajectories in Italian of Toddlers from Low-income Bilingual Immigrant and Monolingual Families
No full textIntroduction. Children from low-income families show a gap in vocabulary development due to early socio-cultural and economic (SES) inequities. Even within low SES strata, there is wide variability in children’s vocabulary development. This variability is related to multiple interacting environmental factors, one of the most relevant ones being exposure to only the societal language or also to a minority language. In Italy, the growth in the incidence of absolute poverty is mainly detected in families with minors and immigrant families. However, evidence concerning the vocabulary developmental trajectories of young children from disadvantaged families in Italy and their association with environmental factors is limited. The present longitudinal study extends previous research to toddlers from low-income families in Italy by (1) comparing expressive vocabulary trajectories in Italian (the societal language) to normative data and (2) investigating environmental factors related to expressive vocabulary development from 18 to 36 months.
Method. Participants were 83 toddlers (41 girls) from low-income monolingual (n = 28) and bilingual immigrant (n = 55) families. Using the Italian CDI, nursery teachers assessed vocabulary at 18-, 24-, 30-, and 36-months. Parents reported information about environmental factors: being raised in monolingual or bilingual environments, maternal education, frequency of home language activities in Italian (HLA), and daily hours at nursery school.
Results. (1) At each assessment time, the median vocabulary scores of toddlers from low-income families were lower than normative data from the CDI; (2) mixed models showed that children’s vocabulary increased from 18- to 36- months. Bilinguals showed lower vocabulary than monolinguals from 18 to 30 months, but not at 36 months because bilinguals’ rate of development was higher than that of monolinguals. Maternal education and HLA predicted vocabulary from 18- to 36- months over and above being raised in monolingual or bilingual environments.
Discussion. Poverty affects early vocabulary development in Italian. A bilingual immigrant environment contributes to variability in vocabulary within a homogeneous low-income group, but it is not an additional risk factor at 36 months. Maternal education and HLA are protective factors of early vocabulary acquisition in disadvantaged contexts
Linguistic interactions at nursery school and language acquisition of toddlers from low-income bilingual immigrant families and monolingual families
No full textToddlers from low-income and language-minority immigrant families are at risk for language difficulties due to early disparities in the quality of their home language environment. The present longitudinal study extends previous research by investigating nursery teachers' communicative modalities and functions, and their relations with the conversational responsiveness and vocabulary of 42 (50% F) equivalent low-income monolingual and bilingual toddlers. Communicative modalities and functions were coded from videotaped interactions between teachers and small groups of toddlers at 18, 24, and 30 months at nursery school. Vocabulary in the majority or societal language (Italian) was assessed at 30 months using teachers' reports. The results showed that teachers used bimodal utterances (gesture + speech) more with bilinguals than monolinguals from 18 to 30 months while the reverse was true for unimodal spoken utterances. Bimodal utterances and language scaffolding strategies promoted toddlers' communicative initiatives in both groups and were longitudinally associated with children's vocabulary at 30 months. These results show that the school context may act as a protective proximal environment for stimulating and favoring majority language acquisition from the earliest stages of development in children from low-income and language-minority families
Interazioni linguistiche al nido e sviluppo del vocabolario in bambini in condizioni svantaggiate
No full textIntroduzione: Bambini provenienti da famiglie svantaggiate a livello socio-economico e madrelingua in una lingua minoritaria sono a rischio di difficoltà nell’acquisizione del vocabolario nella lingua maggioritaria (LM; Hoff, 2013). Questa vulnerabilità è relata alla qualità delle interazioni comunicativo-linguistiche nel contesto familiare (Leung et al., 2020). Le interazioni linguistiche di questi bambini in contesti educativi, peraltro rilevanti per la presenza di adulti madrelingua nella LM, sono ancora poco indagate. Questo studio estende le ricerche precedenti analizzando modalità e funzioni comunicative usate dalle educatrici (EDU) di nido con bambini di famiglie svantaggiate, monolingui (MO) e bilingui (BIL) (OB.1), e l’efficacia delle stesse nel promuovere produzione linguistica dei bambini in tempo reale (OB.2) e sviluppo del vocabolario nella LM (OB.3), tra i 18 e i 30 mesi. Metodo: I dati finora analizzati riguardano 35 bambini, 16 MO e 19 BIL (45% e 50% F) con equivalente svantaggio socio-economico e l’italiano come LM, e 18 EDU. Le interazioni EDU-bambino sono state videoregistrate a 18, 24 e 30 mesi, e codificate per modalità e funzioni comunicative in CHILDES. Il vocabolario nella LM è stato valutato con il Primo Vocabolario del Bambino a 30 mesi, compilato dalle EDU. I dati sono stati analizzati mediante modelli lineari misti (OB.1 e 3) e analisi sequenziali (OB.2). Risultati: OB.1. Le ANOVA con fattori Gruppo (MO/BIL), Età (18, 24, 30 mesi) e GruppoXEtà mostrano che le EDU usano più enunciati bimodali (parola+gesto) con i bambini BIL che con i MO a tutte le età (p<.01), e più strategie di scaffolding linguistico con l’incremento dell’età dei bambini da 18 a 30 mesi (p<.01). OB.2. Le analisi sequenziali mostrano che in entrambi i gruppi le iniziative comunicative dei bambini seguono in modo significativo enunciati bimodali dell’EDU nell’interazione a 18 mesi (MO p=.02, BIL p<.01) e strategie di scaffolding linguistico nelle interazioni a tutte le età (p<.01). OB.3. Le analisi di regressione mostrano che sia per i bambini MO che BIL il vocabolario a 30 mesi è predetto dall’uso di enunciati bimodali e di strategie di scaffolding linguistico nell’interazione EDU-bambino a 18 mesi, al netto degli enunciati vocali dei bambini a 18 mesi (p<.01). Conclusioni: I risultati suggeriscono che la qualità delle interazioni linguistiche nel contesto educativo del nido promuove lo sviluppo comunicativo-linguistico di bambini in condizioni svantaggiate
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
L’intervento con i genitori di bambini con disturbo specifico del linguaggio: sperimentazione e valutazione.
No full textVariations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
