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While neonates have no sophisticated language skills, the neural basis for acquiring this function is assumed to already be present at birth. Receptive language is measurable by 6 months of age and meaningful speech production by 10-18 months of age. Fiber tracts supporting language processing include the corpus callosum (CC), which plays a key role in the hemispheric lateralization of language; the left arcuate fasciculus (AF), which is associated with syntactic processing; and the right AF, which plays a role in prosody and semantics. We examined if neonatal maturation of these fiber tracts is associated with receptive language development at 12 months of age. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed in 86 infants at 26.6 ± 12.2 days post-birth. Receptive language was assessed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory at 12 months of age. Tract-based fractional anisotropy (FA) was determined using the NA-MIC atlas-based fiber analysis toolkit. Associations between neonatal regional FA, adjusted for gestational age at birth and age at scan, and language development at 12 months of age were tested using ANOVA models. After multiple comparisons correction, higher neonatal FA was positively associated with receptive language at 12 months of age within the genu ( < 0.001), rostrum ( < 0.001), and tapetum ( < 0.001) of the CC and the left fronto-parietal AF ( = 0.008). No significant clusters were found in the right AF. Microstructural development of the CC and the AF in the newborn is associated with receptive language at 12 months of age, demonstrating that interindividual variation in white matter microstructure is relevant for later language development, and indicating that the neural foundation for language processing is laid well ahead of the majority of language acquisition. This suggests that some origins of impaired language development may lie in the intrauterine and potentially neonatal period of life. Understanding how interindividual differences in neonatal brain maturity relate to the acquisition of function, particularly during early development when the brain is in an unparalleled window of plasticity, is key to identifying opportunities for harnessing neuroplasticity in health and disease.

The effect associated with the presence of seizures in 2 to 5-year-old autistic children was investigated in the largest and the longest observational study to-date. Parents assessed the development of 8461 children quarterly for three years on five orthogonal subscales: combinatorial receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health. Seizures were reported in 958 children (11%). In order to investigate the effect of seizures, children with seizures were matched to those with no seizures using propensity score based on age, gender, expressive language, receptive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health at the 1 st evaluation. The number of matched participants was 955 in each group. Children with no seizures developed faster compared to matched children with seizures in all subscales. On an annualized basis, participants with no seizures improved their receptive language 1.5-times faster than those with seizures; expressive language: 1.3-times faster; sociability: 2.3-times faster; sensory awareness: 6.2-times faster; and health: 20.0-times faster. This study confirms a high prevalence of seizures in ASD children and informs on the effect of seizures on children’s longitudinal developmental trajectories.

Focusing on 84 Chinese–English dual language learners (DLLs) in U.S. preschool programs serving children from low-income backgrounds, this study investigated which aspects of the home language and literacy environment and which parenting styles may be related to these DLLs’ oral receptive and expressive language abilities in Chinese and English. Key findings were: (1) the frequency of parental book reading was associated with better expressive English in DLLs; (2) parental book reading (whether in English or in a combination of English and Chinese) was linked to better expressive English in DLLs; (3) DLLs whose parents read to them in Chinese (Chinese-dominant) and those whose parents read to them in both Chinese and English (bilingual language-dominant) achieved better receptive Chinese than those whose parents did not read to them at all; (4) DLLs whose parents used both English and Chinese (bilingual language-dominant) when conversing with them achieved better expressive English than those whose parents used exclusively Chinese (Chinese-dominant); and (5) authoritative parenting was associated with better receptive Chinese in DLLs. Interpretations of the findings were discussed in the context of bilingualism.

The current study aims to examine the way in which teachers’ and children’s perceptions about their relationships influence children’s emergent literacy skills. Participants were 913 children and 114 kindergarten teachers within 72 preschool centers from Greece. The measures used were the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), the Child Appraisal of the Relationship with the Teacher Scale (CARTS), and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R). Results of multiple regression analyses showed that teacher–child closeness and children’s age were positively associated with children’s receptive language skills, whereas teacher–child dependency was negatively associated with children’s receptive language skills. Collectively, findings highlight the importance of supportive teacher–child relationships and their impact on child’s language development.

Neural mechanisms that underlie language disability in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have been associated with reduced excitatory processes observed as positive blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses. However, negative BOLD responses (NBR) associated with language and inhibitory processes have been less studied in ASD. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that the NBR in ASD participants was reduced during passive listening to spoken narratives compared to control participants. Further, functional connectivity between the superior temporal gyrus and regions that exhibited a NBR during receptive language in control participants was increased in ASD participants. These findings extend models for receptive language disability in ASD to include anomalous neural deactivations and connectivity consistent with reduced or poorly modulated inhibitory processes.

The National Institutes of Health has deemed illiteracy a national health crisis based on reading proficiency rates among American children. In 2002, the National Early Literacy Panel identified six pre-reading skills that are most crucial precursors to reading mastery and predict future reading outcomes. Of those skills, phonological awareness, and in particular phonemic awareness, is the strongest independent predictor of early reading outcomes. However, limited research has addressed the development of these component skills due in part to the fact that many of the measures used to assess sub-skills such as phonemic awareness are oral production measures that cannot easily be administered with children under the age of five, and are not designed to detect implicit or emerging knowledge. To address this limitation, we developed and administered two receptive measures of phonemic awareness to 2.5- and 3.5-year-old children. We found evidence for the emergence of this component skill earlier in ontogeny than is currently acknowledged in the literature. Overall, children performed at above chance rates on measures of receptive phonemic awareness at the level of the individual phoneme as early as 2.5-years-old. Results are discussed in terms of the need for a paradigm shift in prevailing models of how phonological awareness develops, as well as the potential to identify children at-risk for reading failure at an earlier point in ontogeny than is currently feasible.

Dil ediniminde alıcı dil, çevreden gelen dilsel girdileri kavrama ve anlamaya yönelik olan dilsel bir süreçtir. Bireyin doğduğu andan itibaren dilin en canlı ve güncel hâline maruz kaldığı bu edinim sürecinde sözcüklerin anlamları ve kavram alanları örtük olarak edinilir. Özellikle bebeklik döneminden itibaren alıcı dil hızla gelişir. Alıcı dil becerilerinin gelişimine paralel olarak dilin daha karmaşık süreçlerine dair edinim ve öğrenme hayat boyu devam eder. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkçe öğrenen yabancı öğrencilerin alıcı dil becerileri öz yeterlilik algılarının cinsiyet, yaş, dil düzeyi, katılımcıların geldikleri coğrafya ve öğrencilerin Türkiye’de bulunma süresi değişkenleri açısından incelemektir. Bu çalışmada Türkçeyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenenlerin alıcı dil becerilerine ilişkin öz yeterlilik algılarının mevcut durumu çeşitli değişkenler açısından betimlenmeye çalışıldığından araştırma, nicel araştırma desenlerinden biri olan taramaya uygun bir şekilde desenlenmiştir. Çalışma grubunu 2022 yılı güz döneminde Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa ve Atatürk üniversitelerinin TÖMER’lerinde öğrenim gören 303 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın verileri iki bölümden oluşan bir ölçme aracı yardımıyla elde edilmiştir. Bu ölçme aracının ilk bölümünü katılımcıların araştırmaya etki edebileceği düşünülen demografik özellikleri oluştururken ikinci bölümünü Varışoğlu & Sevim (2022) tarafından hazırlanan Türkçeyi Yabancı Dil Olarak Öğrenenler İçin Alıcı Dil Becerisi Öz Yeterlilik Algısı Ölçeği oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmadan elde edilen veriler SPSS programına aktarılarak analizler bu program üzerinden gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmada verilerin güvenirliğinin test edilmesinde Cronbach alfa (α) yöntemine başvurulmuştur. Araştırmanın sonunda Türkçe öğrenen yabancı öğrencilerin cinsiyet değişkenine göre alıcı dil becerileri öz yeterlilik algıları arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir farklılık olmadığı; yaş, dil seviyesi, gelinen coğrafya ve Türkiye’de bulunma süreleri açısından ise anlamlı bir farklılık olduğu anlaşılmıştır.

This study examines the Hebrew language proficiency of Muslim Arab Bedouin students in Israeli higher education, focusing on the four language skills—reading, writing, listening, and speaking—and self-efficacy levels. Using quantitative methods, including standardized language tests and self-efficacy questionnaires, data were collected from thirty-seven students. Results indicate no statistically significant differences in proficiency across the four skills, though female students outperformed males in writing. Writing also showed the strongest correlation with overall language proficiency. Notably, strong correlations were found between reading and speaking, whereas listening exhibited weaker associations with other skills. Self-efficacy levels were higher for productive skills (speaking and writing) than for receptive skills (listening and reading), with reading showing the lowest self-efficacy. 

In this study we examined the level of English proficiency children can obtain through out-of-school exposure in informal contexts prior to English classroom instruction. The second aim was to determine the input types that fuel children's informal language acquisition. Language learning was investigated in 780 Dutch-speaking children (aged 10–12), who were tested on their English receptive vocabulary knowledge, listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Information about learner characteristics and out-of-school English exposure was gathered using questionnaires. The results show large language gains for a substantial number of children but also considerable individual differences. The most beneficial types of input were gaming, use of social media and speaking. These input types are interactive and multimodal and they involve language production. We also found that the various language tests largely measure the same proficiency component.

The purpose of the current study was to examine whether oral language skills moderate the effect of Korean phonological awareness (PA) on English PA for Korean preschoolers in the initial stage of learning English as a second language. The study participants comprised 81 five- to six-year-old Korean preschoolers attending Korean-medium preschools in South Korea. The findings demonstrated that Korean PA was significantly associated with English PA. In addition, Korean receptive and expressive language skills had moderating effects on the relationship between Korean PA and English PA, respectively. This study is discussed not only in terms of cross-language PA transfer in processing two phonologically and orthographically different languages but also in light of the importance of native language skills interacting with native PA in the second-language PA development of preschool children in the initial stage of learning a second language.