Department of Language Science

This study compared the processing of non-binary morphemes in Spanish (e.g., todxs, todes) with the processing of canonical grammatical gender violations in Spanish pronouns (e.g., Los maestros… todas…). Using self-paced reading, the study examined how individual differences in working memory and gender/sex diversity beliefs affected language processing at three regions of interest (ROI): the pronoun, the pronoun +1, and the pronoun +2. Seventy-eight Spanish-English bilinguals completed two self-paced reading tasks, one with non-binary pronouns and another with grammatical gender violations, as well as a working memory task, a language dominance questionnaire, and a gender/sex diversity beliefs questionnaire. Processing costs were operationalized as longer reaction times (RTs) or inaccurate responses. Results showed overall processing costs for non-binary morphemes at all 3 ROIs, but no processing costs were observed in terms of accuracy or response times to the comprehension question. The results suggest that processing non-binary pronouns results in a small processing cost that does not affect overall sentence comprehension. The small observed processing cost was moderated by gender/sex diversity beliefs, with gender normative beliefs increasing RTs at the pronoun and affirmation of diverse gender identities beliefs reducing the RTs at the second spillover region. In contrast, grammatical gender violations only showed a processing cost at the first spillover region and were not moderated by working memory nor gender/sex diversity beliefs. Taken together, the results suggest that non-binary pronouns are processed differently than grammatical gender violations and that the small processing cost they impose can lead to good enough comprehension.

PURPOSE: A picture naming test is presented that reveals impairment to specific mechanisms involved in the naming process, using accuracy scores on curated item sets. A series of psychometric validation experiments are reported. METHOD: Using a computational model that enables estimation of item difficulty at the lexical and sublexical stages of word retrieval, two complimentary sets of items were constructed that challenge the respective psycholinguistic levels of representation. The difference in accuracy between these item sets yields the relative linguistic impairment (RLI) score. In a cohort of 91 people with chronic left-hemisphere stroke who enrolled in a clinical trial for anomia, we assessed psychometric properties of the RLI score and then used the new scale to make predictions about other language behaviors, lesion distributions, and functional activation during naming. RESULTS: RLI scores had adequate psychometric properties for clinical significance. RLI scores contained predictive information about spontaneous speech fluency, over and above accuracy. A dissociation was observed between performance on the RLI item sets and performance on the subtests of an independent language battery. Sublexical RLI was significantly associated with apraxia of speech and with lesions encompassing perisylvian regions, while lexical RLI was associated with lesions to deep white matter. The RLI construct was reflected in functional brain activity during naming, independent of overall accuracy, with a respective shift of activation between dorsal and ventral networks responsible for different aspects of word retrieval. CONCLUSION: The RLI assessment satisfies the psychometric requirements to serve as a useful clinical measure.

This article provides three major contributions to the literature: we provide granular information on the development of student argumentative writing across secondary school; we replicate the MacArthur et al. model of Natural Language Processing (NLP) writing features that predict quality with a younger group of students; and we are able to examine the differences for students across language status. In our study, we sought to find the average levels of text length, cohesion, connectives, syntactic complexity, and word-level complexity in this sample across Grades 7-12 by sex, by English learner status, and for essays scoring above and below the median holistic score. Mean levels of variables by grade suggest a developmental progression with respect to text length, with the text length increasing with grade level, but the other variables in the model were fairly stable. Sex did not seem to affect the model in meaningful ways beyond the increased fluency of women writers. We saw text length and word level differences between initially designated and redesignated bilingual students compared to their English-only peers. Finally, we see that the model works better with our higher scoring essays and is less effective explaining the lower scoring essays.

Abstract: We investigated spelling errors in English and Spanish essays by Spanish-English dual language learners in Grades 1, 2, and 3 (N = 278; 51% female) enrolled in either English immersion or English-Spanish dual immersion programs. We examined what types of spelling errors students made, whether they made spelling errors that could be due to crosslinguistic influence, and whether errors were associated with instructional program, English learner status, and grade level. Compositions were transcribed and coded using the Systematic Analysis of Language Transcripts (SALT) software. Spelling errors were suggestive of crosslinguistic influence that was mostly unidirectional from one language to the other rather than bidirectional. Spelling errors were related to instructional program such that students in Spanish-English dual immersion made more English spelling errors in English compositions due to Spanish influence, and students in English immersion made more spelling errors in Spanish compositions due to English influence. Students in higher grades also made less English spelling errors in English compositions due to Spanish influence than students in lower grades. These findings suggest that dual language learners acquire spelling patterns in one language influenced by instruction and home language, which transfers to spelling in the other language.

The current best evidence meta-analysis reanalyzed the data from a meta-analysis by Graham et al. (J Educ Psychol 115:1004–1027, 2023). This meta-analysis and the prior one examined if teaching writing improved the writing of students in Grades 6 to 12, examining effects from writing intervention studies employing experimental and quasi-experimental designs (with pretests). In contrast to the prior meta-analysis, we eliminated all N of 1 treatment/control comparisons, studies with an attrition rate over 20%, studies that did not control for teacher effects, and studies that did not contain at least one reliable writing measure (0.70 or greater). Any writing outcome that was not reliable was also eliminated. Across 148 independent treatment/control comparisons, yielding 1,076 writing effect sizes (ESs) involving 22,838 students, teaching writing resulted in a positive and statistically detectable impact on students’ writing (ES = 0.38). Further, six of the 10 writing treatments tested in four or more independent comparisons improved students’ performance. This included the process approach to writing (0.75), strategy instruction (0.59), transcription instruction (0.54), feedback (0.30), pre-writing activities (0.32), and peer assistance (0.59). In addition, the Self-Regulated Strategy Development model for teaching writing strategies yielded a statistically significant ES of 0.84, whereas other approaches to teaching writing strategies resulted in a statistically significant ES of 0.51. The findings from this meta-analysis and the Graham et al. (2023) review which included studies that were methodologically weaker were compared. Implications for practice, research, and theory are presented.

The study examined how childrens self-regulation skills measured by the strengths and weaknesses of ADHD symptoms and normal behavior rating are associated with story comprehension and how verbal engagement and e-book discussion prompts moderate this relation. Children aged 3-7 (N = 111, 50% female, Chinese as first language) read an interactive Chinese-English bilingual story e-book with or without discussion prompts twice with their parents (2020-2021). Results demonstrated that the lower childrens self-regulation skills, the more they struggled with story comprehension. Critically, our data suggest that embedding e-book discussion prompts and more verbalization in English can mitigate this negative association for children with inattention/hyperactivity. These findings have critical implications for future e-book design, interventions, and home reading practice for children with inattention/hyperactivity and those at risk for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

We examined the relations of language skills (vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral retell), transcription skills (spelling and handwriting fluency), and domain-general cognitions/executive functions (working memory and attentional control) to writing quality for English-Spanish emergent bilingual children in Grade 1. Data were from a convenience sample of 211 children (57% girls; 82% Hispanic, 9.5% White, 4% Asian American children) who were assessed on written composition, vocabulary, listening comprehension, oral retell, and spelling in English and Spanish; handwriting fluency and working memory in English; and attentional control rated by their teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed that writing quality in English and Spanish in narrative and opinion genres was best described as a unidimensional skill. Structural equation model results showed that English oral language, English spelling, and Spanish spelling skills, but not Spanish oral language skill, were independently related to writing quality, after controlling for gender, English learner status, Hispanic status, and enrollment in dual immersion program. The relations of working memory and attentional control to writing quality were indirect, mediated by oral language and transcription skills. These results are discussed in light of theory and in the context of emergent bilingual children in primary grades.

Fostering equity in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs can be accomplished by incorporating learner-centered pedagogies, resulting in the closing of opportunity gaps (defined here as the difference in grades earned by minoritized and non-minoritized students). We assessed STEM courses that exhibit small and large opportunity gaps at a minority-serving, research-intensive university, and evaluated the degree to which their syllabi are learner-centered, according to a previously validated rubric. We specifically chose syllabi as they are often the first interaction students have with a course, establish expectations for course policies and practices, and serve as a proxy for the course environment. We found STEM courses with more learner-centered syllabi had smaller opportunity gaps. The syllabus rubric factor that most correlated with smaller gaps was Power and Control, which reflects Students Role, Outside Resources, and Syllabus Focus. This work highlights the importance of course syllabi as a tool for instructors to create more inclusive classroom environments.