Maximizing Constructivist Learning from Multimedia Communications by Minimizing Cognitive Load

Mayer, E.R., Moreno, R., Boire, M., & Vagge, S. (1999). Maximizing constructivist learning from multimedia communications by minimizing cognitive load. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(4), 638-643.

The purpose of the current study was to examine theory-based design principles for promoting learning in multimedia environments. According to Mayer’s theory of multimedia learning, three components are at play during multimedia learning: (a) dual coding, which is the processing of verbal and visual materials by different systems, (b) limited capacity, in which each system is limited in the amount of information that can be simultaneously stored or processed and (c) generative learning, in which meaningful learning occurs when coherent connections are made by selecting relevant information. Guided by this model, the authors hypothesize that working memory (WM) load is the major impediment to learning.

Mayer et al presented information to 3 groups of adult participants in one of 3 ways: (1) concurrent, in which the animation and the narration were presented at the same time, (2) successive large bites, in which the entire animation was presented followed by the entire narration, or vice versa, and (3) successive small bites, in which short, equal length segments of animation were presented followed by the corresponding ‘bite’ of narration, or vice versa. Results revealed significantly better performance on all outcome measures for the concurrent group compared to the successive large bites group. However, the successive small bites group showed no statistical difference from the concurrent group and did significantly better than the successive large bites group on several measures.

Mayer et. al’s research may provide useful information for the development of learning strategies when the learning occurs within multimedia environments. The results show that while the concurrent presentation of coupled verbal and visual information is an effective strategy for learning, the segments don’t necessarily need to be presented concurrently, as long as the corresponding successive segments are small enough that the learner can maintain both in WM at the same time.

Blogger: Jackson Wilson is a research assistant in the Language and Working Memory Lab, and is about to begin a Masters of Clinical Science in Speech Language Pathology. But research also beckons…..

Identification of Adults With Developmental Language Impairments

Fidler, L.J., Plante, E., & Vance, R. (2011). Identification of adults with developmental language impairments. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 20, 2-13.

Literature concerning developmental language impairment in adults is rare compared to that of children. Fidler et al.’s study focused on identifying a test battery for identifying this population.

Six groups were formed from 192 participants: (1) adults with a learning disability, (2) adults who have a history of speech and/or language services, (3) parents of children who are diagnosed with specific language impairment, and three control groups matched on age and sex. A battery of measures were administered to all groups targeting various domains: phonology (nonword repetition and written spelling tasks), morphology (grammatical judgment and phrase completion tasks), syntax (sentence generation task and Modified Token Test), semantics (word definition and picture-pointing tasks), and narrative (speaking rate task).

Results indicated that three of the battery’s measures were significant in identifying language impairment in the three non-control groups of adults (the Modified Token Test, the 15-word spelling task, and the CELF-4-WD word definition task). Additionally, it was found that when used together as a battery, these three measures maximally idenitified clinical group members as having impaired language (sensitivity) and control group members as having typical language (specificity).

Fidler et. al’s research is important as it establishes tasks that identify this phenomenon in adults, which should be of particular interest to both researchers and clinicians.

Blogger: John Berger. John recently finished his undergraduate Psychology and English Literature degrees, and works as a research assistant in the LWM lab with Dr. Archibald.

A Clinical Rationale for Assessing Rapid Automatized Naming in Children with Language Disorders

Wiig, E.H., Zureich, P., & Chan, H-N.H. (2000). A clinical rationale for assessing rapid automatized naming children with language disorders.

Word finding difficulties characterize many children with language difficulties. One challenge in assessing these difficulties is determining whether the difficulty is related to poor word knowledge or difficulty retrieving known word knowledge. This study examines the utility of rapid automatized naming (RAN) to distinguish these difficulties.

RAN tasks involve the rapid retrieval of known words. The items to be named are typically familiar words so the focus of the task is on retrieval. A task may involve the naming of items from a single domain (e.g., letters, colours), or more than one domain (e.g., alternating letters and numbers; naming colour and shape). The integration of more than one feature requires accessing and inhibiting responses, and reflects interference effects. Greater interference effects may indicate greater difficulty in successfully retrieving words.

RAN difficulties for letters, numbers, and alternating letters and numbers have been demonstrated for children with dyslexia (e.g., Wolf, 1991, Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 123-141). Wolf has proposed a double deficit hypothesis (see our blogpost for October 31, 2010) suggesting that phonological processing and naming speed deficits constitute two core and separable deficits in dyslexia.

The present study employed the RAN tasks of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-3 (Semel et al., 1995) involving rapid naming of (1) colours, (2) shapes, and (3) colours and shapes to compare groups of children with language impairment and typical development. The groups were reliably distinguished on the 3^rd task requiring the rapid naming of both shape and colour only.

The authors suggest that the RAN tasks may identify whether a naming-speed deficit and interference with fluency in language production is problematic. Slower naming on all 3 tasks may suggest pervasive slowing in language production while slower naming on the 3^rd task only may reflect slower naming speed and interference impairments that effect fluency in language production. Normative data for the RAN tasks are provided in the paper.

Blogger: Lisa Archibald

The Relation Between Teacher Input and Lexical Growth of Preschoolers

Bowers, E.P., & Vasilyeva, M. (2011). The relation between teacher input and lexical growth of preschoolers. Applied Psycholinguistics, 32, 221-241.

This study examined the relationship between teacher speech and vocabulary (lexical) growth in 29 English language learners (ELL) of varying native languages, and 75 monolingual English preschoolers over the course of one academic year. Children’s lexical or word knowledge was assessed at the beginning and end of the same academic year using a well-accepted standardized vocabulary test, the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test – Third Edition (PPVT-IIIB). In the middle of the school year, samples of teacher input were recorded from 10 classrooms over a 1.5 hour period that included circle time (group instruction), and snack time. Teacher speech was measured by input quantity (total number of words), lexical diversity (number of different words), and structural complexity (average number of words per utterance).

Results indicated that while the lexical growth of monolingual English speakers was significantly and positively related to the lexical diversity of teacher input with a relatively small effect size. In contrast, the lexical growth of ELLs was significantly and positively related to the quantity of teacher input but significantly and negatively related to the complexity of teacher input.

A possible explanation for this finding is that monolingual English preschoolers have already mastered the basics of English, and are therefore not thrown off by the lexical diversity. Instead, these children’s lexical growth is dependent on exposure to new words. In comparison, the ELL children have not yet mastered the basics of English and can be thrown off by the cognitive demand of complex utterances. These children benefit more from repetition of English words in simple sentences.

The main limitations of this study are the small sample size, particularly with respect to the ELL group, the single sample of teacher speech, and the lack of information provided about the teaching context (experience, class size, etc.). The strengths of this study include the novelty of comparing teacher speech to lexical growth of preschoolers (as it is typically parental speech that has been studied), and the promising suggestive results and effect size despite the small sample size.

Although the data is suggestive, it offers a promising path for future research in the area of language development and teacher input particularly highlighting the need to repetition in simple sentences to promote growth of word knowledge in children learning English whose first language is not English.

Blogger: Laura Vanderlaan

Grammatical Morphology in Children Learning English as a Second Language: Implication of Similarities With Specific Language Impairment

Paradis, J. (2005). Grammatical Morphology in Children Learning English as a Second Language: Implication of Similarities With Specific Language Impairment. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 3603-0172.

This study examines similarities between the expressive language characteristics of typically developing children in the early stages of learning English as a second language (TD ESL) and monolingual children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). This study focuses on grammatical ability in both groups, since grammatical morphology is an area of noted difficulty for both monolingual children with SLI and TD ESL. Also, this study examines if the overlap between these two groups might cause erroneous assessment of TD ESL (Missed identity & Mistaken identity).

The grammatical ability of 24 school age children within their first year and a half of learning English as a second language was compared with monolingual children with SLI. Children with engaged in two tasks: (1) Spontaneous Speech, and (2) Elicited Speech using the Test of Early Grammatical Impairment (TEGI; M. Rice & K. Waxler, 2001). Error types were examined in two grammatical composites: (1) non-tense group (progressive aspect –ing; preposition in & on; plural –s; articles the & a; copula and auxiliary BE), and (2) Tense group (third person singular –s; past tense –ed; irregular past tense; copula and auxiliary BE). Results revealed the same error patterns for both groups: a) tense morphology was less accurate than nontense morphology. b) errors of ommission with grammatical morphemes were more common than errors of commission. c) these patterns were the same for spontaneous and elicited data.

The study findings suggest that using ‘translated’ English standardized test with bilingual children may lead to erroneous assessment. The authors agree with the recommendations of the TEGI test that the TEGI is not recommended for nonnative English speakers.

The studies suggest that an important focus for future research is to compare ESL children with and without SLI, because any finding will have a significant effect on the process of assessment with this population of children.

Blogger: Areej Balilah.

Communication, Listening, Cognitive and Speech Perception Skills in Children With Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) or Specific Language Impairment

Article: Ferguson, M. & Hall, R. (2011). Communication, Listening, Cognitive and Speech Perception Skills in Children With Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) or Specific Language Impairment (SLI), 54, 211-227.

Children with an Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) have difficulty interpreting the sounds around them, while those with a Specific Language Impairment (SLI) have difficulty learning language. In many ways, however, the difficulties of children with APD and SLI overlap making differentiating between them complex. It is possible that specialists from different areas may give varying diagnoses to a child (APD, SLI, Dyslexia, etc.), based upon their specialty. There is a great need for clear diagnostic measures to distinguish between children with APD, SLI and other language disorders. This would allow for adequate identification and provisions to be made as early as possible.

Ferguson and Hall's study (2011) focuses on finding measures to differentiate between children with APD and SLI. The children were divided into 3 groups: an APD group (n=19), an SLI group (n=22) and an unselected control group comprised of children in Mainstream School (MS) group (n=47). The children were tested with a widespread set of diagnostic tools including measures of speech intelligibility (clarity), intelligence, phonological (speech sound) processing, memory, and others. Parents completed questionnaires related to their child's communication, listening behaviour, and attention. The APD group was found to have more difficulty listening at varying levels of distractor noise (by parental report) than either the SLI or MS groups. Interestingly, the researchers found no significant difference between the APD and SLI groups on the other measures. Overall, the results suggest that children with APD and SLI may be difficult to distinguish on standard measures of achievement.

This was an excellent foundational study. From this it is evident that in the future, more specific tests should be used to find differences between the APD and SLI groups. In addition, more careful matching of the control group to the affected groups may prove useful.

Blogger: Michaela Holmes is a student in the Graduate Neuroscience program at Western completing a Masters degree under the supervision of Drs. David Purcell and Lisa Archibald. Her work is examining auditory feedback in children with SLI and those with typical development. She hails from Vancouver, B.C., and is the oldest of 5 red-headed sisters!

Responsiveness-to-Intervention: Definitions, Evidence, and Implications for the Learning Disabilities Construct

Fuchs, D., Mock, D., Morgan, P.L., & Young, C.L. (2003). Responsiveness-to-intervention: Definitions, evidence, and implications for the learning disabilities construct. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 18, 157-171.

In the United States the method used to identify children with learning disabilities has been under discussion for a number of years. One of the most frequently discussed alternatives to the IQ achievement discrepancy model is responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI). RTI is a multi-tiered approach that incorporates early identification and increasing levels of support for students with learning and behavioural needs. Initially all children are provided high-quality instruction and screening within the general education classroom. For those students identified as struggling learners research-based instructional interventions at increasing levels of intensity are provided by the classroom teacher, special educators, and specialists. Progress is continuously monitored and interventions differentiated to meet individual student needs. Students who do not respond to the interventions provided are deemed to be in need of special education.

The authors of the present article review the effectiveness and feasibility of two different versions of RTI – the “problem-solving” model and the “standard-protocol” approach. A problem-solving model uses a variety of differentiated interventions that have been developed through a school team consensus process. The standard protocol approach employs the use of the same empirically validated treatment for all children presenting with similar difficulties. Fuchs and his colleagues evaluated the problem solving model by examining four programs considered to be exemplary by a number of educators. They found inconsistencies among the four programs in terms of team support, levels of treatment, and movement into special education. Additionally, they were unable to find sufficient evidence of the effectiveness of the RTI approach in any of these programs. Any studies that were carried out by the problem solving models involved small or undefined samples, with limited information regarding the type, accuracy, or effectiveness of the interventions. Fuchs, et al. then evaluated the standard protocol approach by reviewing the research of Vellutino, et al. (1996). Although they felt this study provided a strong model of evidence-based intervention they also questioned whether the use of a standard treatment protocol is appropriate for all struggling students since it deprives them of individually tailored or differentiated instruction. Overall they felt the standard protocol approach appeared more likely in principle to facilitate greater quality control while the problem solving model was more sensitive to individual student differences. A number of recommendations were made with regard to future RTI implementation.

This paper provided a good description of two versions of RTI while documenting the inconsistencies and lack of evidence based practice used in the implementation of these models. It also emphasized the need for further research.

Blogger: Rosine Salazer. Rosine is a Speech-Language Pathologist and Vice Principal currently on leave from the Thames Valley District School Board. She is interested in studying the impact of students’ narrative language abilities on student performance and provincial assessments.

Statistical Learning in Children With Specific Language Impairment

Evans, J.L., Saffran, J.R., & Robe-Torres, K. (2009). Statistical learning in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 52, 321-335.

This study examines statistical learning in children with specific language impairment (SLI), a difficulty acquiring language despite otherwise typical development generally. Statistical learning is a time of implicit learning – learning without awareness – that involves tracking patterns of regularities over input (such as strings of syllables).

Children with either SLI or typical development engaged in a drawing task while strings of syllables were played either for 21 or 42 minutes. The syllable strings contained predictable sequences of syllables (“words”) but were otherwise word boundaries were no otherwise marked by prosodic pattern or pauses. After 21 minutes, the typically developing children showed significant learning while the SLI group performed at chance levels. After 42 minutes, the performance of the two groups did not differ reflecting learning on the parts of both groups. Analysis of response errors revealed that the children with SLI often chose a foil phonologically related to the target. It was suggested that the children with SLI may not have retained enough phonological detail to differentiate the target and foil items at test.

This paper was a pleasure to read. The study was well designed, and the paper well written. The results emphasize the protracted learning and need for repeated exposures by children with SLI.

Blogger: Lisa Archibald

The Etiology of Diverse Receptive Language Skills at 12 Years

Dale, P.S., Harlaar, N., Hayiou-Thomas, M., & Plomin, R. (2010). The Etiology of Diverse Receptive Language Skills at 12 Years. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 53, 982-992.

Substantial research has been conducted on earlier but not later stages of language development. Early child language research is not transferable, nor can it be applied to adolescents because of the large increase of qualitative and quantitative language skills that are developed, and continue to develop. Along with linguistic changes (e.g., lexicon, verbal reasoning, syntax, pragmatics, figurative language and literacy), there are consequential changes in cognition, academia and social experiences.

To study the etiology of language skills at 12 years of age, Dale et al. (2010) conducted a twin study (n = 4,892) comparing performance of twins with identical genetic complements (monozygotic) and those with differing genetic complements (dizygotic). Greater relationships between measures for the monozygotic vs. dizygotic twins reflect genetic contributions. The researchers measured vocabulary, listening grammar, figurative language, and making inferences using online measures.

A factor analysis revealed that all four language measures loaded on the same factor, a single language factor. Not surprisingly, genetics and shared environment both influenced these factors. As well, there were no significant differences between boys and girls that underlie the etiology of language development. These findings are also consistent with the generalist genes hypothesis.

This study employed a well-accepted research paradigm (twin study) with a large sample. The findings that genetics and environment contribute to language are consistent with current clinical and research views. The results of one language factor incorporating vocabulary, receptive grammar, figurative language, and making inferences suggests that improvements in one of these areas should lead to improvements in the other areas.

Blogger: Sarah Cloutier. Sarah is completing her Masters degree in Child and Youth Health, Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Western Ontario. She is studying behavioural measures of parent abilities, and familial and environmental factors that influence a broad spectrum of children and their language abilities. Sarah had also been a research assistant in the Language and Working Memory Lab with Dr. Lisa Archibald.

Sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment: The role of phonological working memory

Article: Montgomery, J. (1995). Sentence comprehension in children with specific language impairment: The role of phonological working memory. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 38. 187-199.

This study sought to determine the answers to three main research questions and, in doing so aimed to link phonological short-term memory deficiencies to particular language deficiencies in children with specific language impairment (SLI):

1) Do SLI and language matched children differ with respect to their phonological memory capacity as measured by nonword repetition?

2) Do children with SLI show greater difficulty processing longer, linguistically redundant sentences than shorter, nonredundant sentences relative to language-matched children?

3) Is there a relationship between phonological working memory (now referred to as phonological short-term memory) capacity and sentence comprehension?

The results showed that children with SLI repeated longer nonwords less accurately than the language-matched, typically developing control group. As well, children with SLI comprehended fewer longer and redundant sentences (e.g., The big black dog jumped very high.) but did not differ in performance on shorter and nonredundant sentence comprehension (e.g., The dog jumped) than the control group. Finally, Montgomery found a positive correlation between nonword repetition scores (as a measure of phonological short-term memory) and the sentence comprehension measure. That is, subjects with lower scores on nonword repetition also had lower scores on the sentence comprehension task.

This study was one of the first to directly link memory deficiencies in children with SLI to specific linguistic deficits. Strengths of the article include the use of younger language-matched control children. SLI deficits in comparison to this group point to unexpected linguistic deficiencies in the SLI group. The use of redundant and nonredundant sentences (published in the appendix of this article) attempted to isolate the increased memory capacity load of longer sentences, however some of the longer sentences may have added syntactic processing demands. An example of a short sentence was “The girl crying is pushing the boy smiling”, while a long sentence was “The girl who is crying is pushing the boy who is smiling.” Although dated, this article holds well with current literature of SLI and working memory impairments.

Blogger: Laura Vanderlaan is a former Queen’s varsity soccer player and a certified Ontario teacher. She is a research student completing a Masters degree in the LWM lab. Her work is investigating classroom strategies for teaching children with working memory impairments.