The unique role of verbal memory, vocabulary, concentration and self-efficacy in children’s listening comprehension in upper elementary grades

Abstract

Listening comprehension is important for daily communication and at school, yet relatively little is known about the variables contributing to listening comprehension, especially in the upper elementary years. The aim of this study was to explore whether vocabulary, verbal memory, but also self-efficacy and self-reported concentration contribute to listening comprehension. The authors assessed oral text comprehension, as well as the concurrent contributors vocabulary, verbal short- and long-term memory, self-efficacy and concentration in a sample of 442 upper elementary school children (9- to 12-year-olds). Structural equation models were used to test for direct and indirect associations. The best-fitting model was an indirect model in which verbal short-term memory and self-efficacy were positively associated with children’s vocabulary. Vocabulary, in turn, was positively associated with children’s listening comprehension. Using bias-corrected bootstrap procedures, however, vocabulary appeared to mediate the association between academic self-efficacy and listening comprehension. The indirect association between verbal short-term memory and listening comprehension through vocabulary just missed significance. The findings relate to models of listening comprehension that state a dominant role for vocabulary, also in the upper elementary years. They imply that the models could extend to evaluating broader student-related resources, such as academic self-efficacy. Furthermore, the findings on general cognitive resources fit the pattern of mixed findings in previous research. Together, the results motivate further research into contributors to listening comprehension throughout the elementary years.

Longitudinal Predictors of Listening Comprehension in Bilingual Primary School‐Aged Children

“…Vocabulary breadth, defined as the number of entries in the mental lexicon, has been the focus of research in both reading (Eason, Goldberg, Young, Geist, & Cutting, 2012; Muter, Hulme, Snowling, & Stevenson, 2004) and listening comprehension (Silva & Cain, 2015). More recent research has suggested that vocabulary depth, namely the extent of word‐related knowledge and the density of a speaker's semantic network (i.e., the number of links between words), plays a crucial role in comprehension (de Bree & Zee, 2020; Lepola et al. 2012).…”

“…In the light of the literature on listening comprehension in monolingual children and the relative paucity of research on bilingual children, we investigated the following questions: How do foundational cognitive and language skills predict listening comprehension in bilingual children over time? On the basis of previous research (Kim, 2016) our hypothesis was that grammar (either syntactic and/or morphological knowledge) and inferential skills would have a direct effect on listening comprehension, over and above other cognitive and language skills. We also expected possible direct effects of vocabulary (either breadth or depth; de Bree & Zee, 2020; Silva & Cain, 2015) and memory (Kim, 2016). Is the growth of comprehension of literal information and of local and global inferences differentially affected by foundational cognitive and language skills? Our hypothesis was that different aspects of listening comprehension might grow differently over time and that different predictors might explain different comprehension abilities.…”

“…It could be, for instance, that children with better working memory might be better word learners, with better vocabulary skills, and that better vocabulary skills will positively affect their listening comprehension. Our initial choice of a simpler model that did not consider this direction of influence was motivated by the relatively lower number of participants in our study compared to studies that have considered these relationships (de Bree & Zee, 2020; Kim, 2016). We believe our model is of value in highlighting the specific importance of vocabulary and morphological skills in predicting listening comprehension, however we cannot rule out the possible (mediated) effects of other cognitive skills.…”

“…A growing body of research has investigated how monolingual children use different language and cognitive skills in listening comprehension (Alonzo, Yeomans‐Maldonado, Murphy, Bevens, & Language and Reading Research Consortium [LARRC], 2016; Currie & Cain, 2015; de Bree & Zee, 2020; Florit, Roch, & Levorato, 2011, 2013; Kim, 2016; Lepola, Lynch, Laakkonen, Silvén, & Niemi, 2012; Strasser & Del Rio, 2014). However, research has not yet established how linguistic and cognitive skills predict listening comprehension concurrently and longitudinally in children who speak more than one language.…”

The Role of Morphological Awareness in Listening Comprehension of Chinese Blind Children: The Mediation of Vocabulary Knowledge

“…Listening comprehension is the first kind of speech activity a child acquires and is critical for language interactions and literacy acquisition, and it is significant for daily communication. 2,3,10,28 With the prevalence of PCs and smartphones and the growing use of apps, audiobooks have been advancing rapidly and are used increasingly commonly in blind children, which allows them to more easily obtain information by listening than Braille reading. For blind children, yet relatively little is known about the variables contributing to listening comprehension in primary school.…”