Journal Articles - Teaching and Learning

Learning new vocabulary is significant in the acquisition of language. The process begins in infancy and proceeds rapidly throughout childhood. Thus, it is interesting to understand what helps young children achieve vocabulary growth. According to Senechal, LeFevre, Hudson & Lawson (996), direct teaching cannot account for rapid growth in word learning by young children up to six years of age. However, Robbins & Erhi (1994) found that word learning can occur through direct and explicit referencing by adults as well as through incidental encounters like hearing words in conversations, on television and in stories. Thus, it is in the interest of this study to investigate the impact of story listening on children's ability to learn new expressive vocabulary. This study is an extension of the research by Senechal (1997). While Senechal's research included the acquisition of receptive, and expressive vocabulary through single-reading, repeated-reading and questioning-reading conditions, this short study only assesses children's acquisition of expressive vocabulary through related reading and questioning conditions.

This paper addresses firstly, the nature of behaviour difficulties in young children and secondly, the relationship to reading difficulties in school. The first part of the paper describes and discusses the terminology variously used when referring to children who are observed to have behaviour problems. The discussion then turns to the associated complexities involved in the children's learning in general, and to reading in particular.