This dissertation introduces and evaluates a new methodology for studying aspects of human language processing and the factors to which it is sensitive. It makes use of the phoneme restoration illusion (Warren, 1970). A small portion of a spoken sentence is replaced by a burst of noise. Listeners typically mentally restore the missing phoneme(s),…

The report is the first systematic evaluation of the sentence equivalence item type introduced by the "GRE"® revised General Test. We adopt a validity framework to guide our investigation based on Kane's approach to validation whereby a hierarchy of inferences that should be documented to support score meaning and interpretation is…

Associating a content word to its rational semantic relations is regarded as a language learning strategy which explicitly contributes to mental lexicon. Semantic mapping herein seems to constitute an efficacious pattern for its practice in language instruction. Conversely, it appears to be among the least frequently used vocabulary learning…

If known words can be defined psycholinguistically as "form-meaning mappings", the present article investigates whether prompting learners to evaluate whether the form of a new second language (L2) word fits its meaning generates "mapping elaborations" that aid recall. Thirty Dutch-speaking upper-intermediate learners of…

Creativity is commonly assessed using divergent thinking tasks, which measure the fluency, flexibility, originality, and elaboration of participant output on a variety of different tasks. This study assesses the degree to which creativity can be identified based on linguistic features of participants' language while completing collaborative…

The Connor Davidson Resilience Scale was developed to measure resiliency, an individual's ability to positively adapt to stressful or adverse situations. Resilient individuals have close and secure relationships, have a strong sense of purpose, know when to turn to others for help, and find humor in situations. The focus of this study was on the…

A noun can be potentially ambiguous as to whether it is a head on its own, or is a modifier of a Noun + Noun compound waiting for its head. This study investigates whether young children can exploit the prosodic information on a modifier constituent preceding the head to facilitate resolution of such ambiguity in Japanese. Evidence from English…

There is increasing realization that mathematics-related self-efficacy expectations are a strong predictor of an array of significant mathematics outcomes. It is also evident that the curricular practice in schools largely neglects development of a student understanding in the unique language of mathematics. Consequently, this study probes how…

Mathematics is a language that is characterized by words and symbols that have precise definitions. Many opportunities exist for miscommunication in mathematics if the words and symbols are interpreted incorrectly or used in imprecise ways. In fact, it is found that imprecision is a common source of mathematical disagreements and misunderstandings…

The main aim of this study was to find out which type of vocabulary cluster--semantic, thematic and unrelated--very young learners benefit from the most while learning foreign language vocabulary. The study also aimed at shedding light on the effects of these three vocabulary clusters on the immediate and delayed recall of foreign language…

This study investigated whether vocabulary delays in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) can be explained by a cognitive style that prioritizes processing of detailed, local features of input over global contextual integration--as claimed by the weak central coherence (WCC) theory. Thirty toddlers with ASD and 30 younger,…

The study investigated the sociocultural differences in translating Euphemistic expressions from English into Arabic. Particularly, the study took the novel "A Grain of Wheat" to show the differences of these expressions usage by two translators from different cultures. The study adapts a qualitative approach applied in Leppihalme's…

Despite a well-documented history of immigration in the United States of America and rise in population of students that speak a language other than English, academic achievement gaps between English Language Learners and their native English language speaking counterparts from Grades Pre-Kindergarten through the college/university level still…

Recent research has demonstrated that L2 learners and heritage speakers might have two different profiles in terms of their syntactic, morpho-syntactic, and lexical-semantic knowledge of a target language (Montrul, 2004, 2006, 2010; Montrul, Foote, & Perpinan, 2008). However, the most influential of the major studies have been limited to…

We applied techniques from systemic functional linguistics to examine how a student and a tutor construed meaning related to linear functions during a 1-1 tutoring session. The student and tutor varied in how they discussed rates of change. This difference highlights that there are multiple correct ways to use this term in algebra, although small…