This article describes the derivation of a taxonomy of personality‐descriptive verbs. In the introduction the verb domain is delineated relative to other domains of the language of personality. It is argued that verbs are theoretically useful in bridging the gap between trait language and act language. The aim is to provide a representative and effective instrument for registering judgements on personality. In a first study the steps are described that were followed to arrive at a list of personality‐descriptive verbs. Both the present authors and layjudges (n=22) took part in this. Five hundred and forty‐three verbs resulted from this study. Study 2 (n=200) describes the determination of the internal structure of the domain of verbs through factor analysis of both self‐ and partner‐ratings. By applying a method of rotation to perfectly congruent weights the verb‐structure turned out to be invariant under the self‐ and partner‐conditions. The last part of the study investigates the relationship between personality‐descriptive verbs and adjectives. Regressions of verb‐ratings on the adjective‐ratings and of adjective‐ratings on the verb‐ratings were calculated and factor analyses were performed on the residual matrices. The results show the existence of additional verb‐dimensions above those already established in the adjective domain.

The purpose of this study was to describe the role played by the ability to estimate caries depth in successfully deciding to treat dentin caries when making use of bitewing radiographs as a diagnostic test. A 10% random sample (n = 444) of Dutch dental practitioners was sent a two-wave questionnaire concerning radiographic caries diagnosis and restorative treatment decision making. The second wave consisted of simulated bitewing radiographs of 105 tooth surfaces with and without dentin caries according to two measuring standards: (a) a micro-radiographic "gold" standard and (b) a norm of expert observers. The dentists were asked to diagnose caries at 4 depths of penetration using a 5-point certainty scoring system to measure diagnostic ability; and to make a treatment decision for each surface. The overall response was 61% (273). A regression analysis was carried out using the chance per dentist of correctly deciding to treat dentin caries as the dependent variable. The degree of agreement with the experts' diagnosis of radiographic caries depth was used to create variables measuring diagnostic ability. Five significant (P less than 0.05) variables explained 60% (R2 = 0.60) of the variation in decision making. The best diagnostic ability variable explained 47% of the variation while the treatment criterion reportedly used explained 3%. We conclude that the ability of practitioners to interpret radiographs plays a major role in treatment decision making and that their reported treatment decision making criteria should not be taken at face value.

We assessed the relationship between word-to-text-integration (WTI) and reading comprehension in 7th grade students (n = 441) learning English as a second language (L2). The students performed a self-paced WTI reading task in Fall (T1) and Spring (T2), consisting of three text manipulation types (anaphora resolution, argument overlap, anomaly detection), divided in simple and complex passages. The passages contained proximate versus distant anaphora, explicit repetitions versus implicit inferences, and no anomalies versus anomalies. We first examined how WTI complexity was related to reading times on target, target plus one, and target plus two, controlling for word frequency, decoding fluency, gender, and age. Mixed-effects models showed shorter reading times on T2 than on T1 and for simple compared to complex passages, indicating improvement of L2 reading speed. Complexity affected WTI for our L2 learners, as was reflected by longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages. We then assessed whether reading comprehension could be predicted by WTI. Longer reading times on complex compared to simple argument overlap and anomaly detection passages predicted offline reading comprehension. These WTI-measures of complexity are thus indicators of WTI proficiency for novice L2 learners.

The opaque English orthography complicates learning to read, as irregular words, such as the word pint, cannot be Addread accurately by decoding. Studies with first language (L1) English children show that vocabulary facilitates word reading, especially in the case of irregular words. It is unclear whether this influence of vocabulary extends to children learning to read English as a foreign language (EFL). When learning EFL, words are often encountered in print first, potentially making orthographic knowledge especially important. Orthographic knowledge might partially account for the effect of vocabulary on irregular word reading. In this study, 455 Dutch students in their first year of formal English education (11–13 years, Grade 7) were followed. Their English vocabulary, orthographic knowledge, and irregular, regular and pseudoword reading skills were assessed in fall and spring. Commonality analyses showed that vocabulary contributed more to irregular than to regular or pseudoword reading, even when controlling for orthographic knowledge. Additionally, orthographic knowledge was related to irregular word reading concurrently, independent of vocabulary. Longitudinal analyses showed that vocabulary and orthographic knowledge also had independent effects on the development of irregular word reading, but not on regular or pseudoword reading. Overall, the predictors for EFL word reading were in line with previous L1 findings. Both EFL and L1 learners use vocabulary and orthographic knowledge to read irregular words. This suggests that the relationship between vocabulary and word reading is related to aspects of the English orthography itself. To enable EFL learners to read irregular words, it is important to teach the other constituents of word knowledge, that is, vocabulary and orthography.

We examined to what extent the variation in vocabulary learning outcomes (vocabulary knowledge, learning gain, and rate of forgetting) in English as a second language (L2) in context can be predicted from semantic contextual support, word characteristics (cognate status, Levenshtein distance, word frequency, and word length), and student characteristics (prior vocabulary knowledge, reading ability, and exposure to English) in 197 Dutch adolescents. Students were taught cognates, false friends, and control words through judging sentences with varying degrees of semantic contextual support using a pretest/posttest between subjects design. Participants were presented with an English target word and its Dutch translation, followed by an English sentence. They were instructed to judge the plausibility of the sentence. Mixed-efffects models indicated that learning gains were higher for sentences with more semantic contextual support and in students with stronger reading comprehension skills. We were the first to show that Levenshtein distance is an important predictor for L2 vocabulary learning outcomes. Furthermore, more accurate as well as faster learning task performance lead to higher learning outcomes. It can thus be concluded that L2 study materials containing semantically supportive contexts and that focus on words with little L1-L2 overlap are most effective for L2 vocabulary learning.

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Secondary school students are increasingly exposed to texts containing morphologically complex words. Morphological knowledge may help with understanding those words. Appropriate educational materials to teach morphological awareness (MA) are scarce. A design-based approach was used to develop an MA-intervention for Dutch secondary school students. We (1) analysed the aforementioned problem through semi-structured discussions with teachers and a review of previous MA-intervention research; (2) developed a prototype of an MA-intervention in collaboration with teachers; (3) evaluated materials from Step 2 quantitatively through a pilot study with seventh grade students (N = 60) and qualitatively through a semi-structured discussion with teacher educators (N = 4); and (4) reflected on the proposed design principles. Insights obtained from teachers and the literature were implemented in our MA-intervention. Students' performance was related to a measure of general language proficiency. Finally, teachers, students, and teacher educators pointed out several strengths and weaknesses of the intervention. The present study highlights the importance of the following design principles: focus on the patterns in morphology in order for students to explicate their morphological knowledge, suitability of the intervention for students with varying levels of language proficiency, and availability of training and background information about MA for teachers. Collaborating with teachers provided indispensable insights into students' needs, knowledge of MA, how MA-interventions can be implemented and matched to teachers' pedagogical expertise and experience.