Matthew E Foster

• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of South Florida

In research, augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) interventions have primarily focused on teaching children to make requests; however, AAC intervention should not stop there. There is a dearth of AAC intervention research targeting other communicative functions, despite there being a significant need to enhance children's communication...

The purpose of this three-arm randomized controlled trial was to explore the impact of multi-tiered explicit and systematic narrative language instruction on the language students are expected to understand and produce in the school setting (e.g., reading and writing). A sample of 210 kindergarten students were assigned to three conditions: treatme...

Narratives skills are associated with long-term academic and social benefits. While students with disabilities often struggle to produce complete and complex narratives, it remains unclear which aspects of narrative language are most indicative of disability. In this study, we examined the association between a variety of narrative contents and for...

Purpose Language sampling is a critical component of language assessments. However, there are many ways to elicit language samples that likely impact the results. The purpose of this study was to examine how different discourse types and elicitation tasks affect various language sampling outcomes. Method A diverse group of K–3 students (N = 1,037)...

Emerging research suggests English and Spanish proficiencies of young Latine dual language learners (DLLs) are heterogeneous, including subgroups characterized by varying levels of English and Spanish dominance and proficiencies. However, there is limited understanding of contextual factors associated with the formation of DLL profiles. This study...

Research points to negative associations between educational success, socioemotional functioning, and the severity of symptoms in some speech-language disorders (SLDs). Nonetheless, the majority of studies examining SLDs in children have focused on monolinguals. More research is needed to determine whether the scant findings among multilinguals are...

Despite the surge in efficacy studies, the relative effectiveness of any two math interventions is largely unknown and replications are rare. To ensure that students benefit from high-quality learning experiences, the current conceptual replication of Wang and Woodworth, a randomized control trial, evaluated the relative impacts of two computer pro...

To ensure that students benefit from high-quality learning experiences, the current conceptual replication of Wang and Woodworth (2011), a randomized control trial, evaluated the relative impacts of two computer programs used in a school district as supplements to students’ regular education math instruction, DreamBox Learning and Zearn Math. For 1...

This study examined preschool teachers' fidelity in implementing a vocabulary intervention. The purpose of the study is to inform the scaling up of vocabulary interventions, identifying strategies that are both feasible for teachers and effective for vocabulary learning. We analyzed data from a vocabulary intervention in which teachers (n = 10) tau...

A growing body of research has reported associations between weaker Executive Functions (EF), the set capacities that are needed to manage and allocate one’s cognitive resources during cognitively challenging activities and various neurodevelopmental conditions, including stuttering. The majority of this research has been based on variable-centered...

this study is the first to examine the extent to which science achievement is distinct from math and reading in kindergarten, first, and second grade; and the utility of kindergarten language proficiency and executive functioning (EF) for predicting science achievement among multilingual (n = 1022) and English monolingual (n = 12,343) children at e...

To date, there has not been a systematic review of peer-reviewed empirical research focused on understanding math achievement among dual language learners (DLLs) in the U.S. The present review fills that gap by analyzing 30 years of empirical study. Moving beyond rigorously consolidating and summarizing information, we identify significant elements...

Purpose The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of a multitiered system of language support (MTSLS) on kindergarteners' narrative retelling, personal stories, writing, and expository language. Method Participants were 686 kindergarten students from four school districts in the United States. Twenty-eight classroo...

Multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) is a model of preventative and differentiated instruction that is designed to meet the needs of all learners (Burns et al., 2016). However, early childhood education has remained in the periphery of many MTSS initiatives. Although there is much potential for MTSS in early childhood settings, it has yet to be r...

Emerging research shows there is substantial heterogeneity in the English and Spanish language and literacy proficiencies of dual language learners (DLLs) in U.S. preschools. This work is extended in this paper by examining within-group variability in 320 Spanish-English speaking DLLs' cognitive, linguistic, literacy, and mathematics skills at the...

There have been increasing calls within the field for greater replication. The current study extends prior work by unifying motivational selves, attributions of learning, and perceptions of suppressed self-authenticity, a topic not previously explored in China. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM), we examined E...

Purpose The purpose of this pilot study was to determine whether parallel measures of narrative-based listening comprehension and reading comprehension reflected the same construct and yielded comparable scores from a diverse sample of second- and third-grade students. One hundred ten students participated in this study. Method Three listening and...

Some evidence suggests that the home numeracy environment (HNE) is related to children’s numeracy. Socioeconomic status (SES) and language minority status can also influence children’s HNE and numeracy. Limited HNE research focuses on dual language learners (DLLs). Using a sample of preschool-aged children ( n = 98) from low socioeconomic status (S...

Given the importance of math in today’s society, it is critical that children who are at risk for math difficulty are identified early. We developed and validated a prekindergarten math subtest (i.e., CIRCLE Progress Monitoring [CPM] Math Subtest). This teacher-completed measure evaluates domains considered important for later math development. Eva...

Four subgroups of Spanish-English dual language learners (DLL) and two subgroups of monolingual English speakers were identified based on growth trajectories for kindergarten vocabulary and end-of-year math achievement. The results suggest that simultaneous development of Spanish and English vocabulary does not put DLL at a disadvantageous for achi...

Purpose Educators often use results from static norm-referenced vocabulary assessments to aid in the diagnosis of school-age children with a language disorder. However, research has indicated that many of these vocabulary assessments yield inaccurate, biased results, especially with culturally and linguistically diverse children. This study examine...

This study examined whether a multi-tiered system of support focused on oral narrative language would improve the oral and written academic language of kindergarten students. Over 650 students were randomly assigned to treatment or control conditions. Results indicated that the intervention significantly improved proximal (narrative retelling) and...

Advances in Early Language and Literacy Assessment: School Readiness Curriculum Based Measurement English and Spanish

This study with dual language learners builds on research within monolingual samples that explore important cross-domain links between mathematics and cognitive and linguistic skills. We use a series of univari-ate multiple regression models to examine the prediction of end-of-year kindergarten numeracy and applied problem solving from autoregressi...

This study evaluated the impact of the Spanish version of the Building Blocks software program and vocabulary on kindergarten mathematics outcomes. Participants included 270 Hispanic dual language learners from low-income communities. Relative to children in the computer assisted instruction (CAI) literacy control group, those in the Building Block...

This study evaluated the effects of a mathematics software program, the Building Blocks software suite, on young children's mathematics performance. Participants included 247 Kindergartners from 37 classrooms in 9 schools located in low-income communities. Children within classrooms were randomly assigned to receive 21 weeks of computer-assisted in...

Background / Context: Description of prior research and its intellectual context. Children from low-income and ethnic minority backgrounds have demonstrated substantially lower levels of mathematics achievement than their middle class majority peers for decades (National Assessment of Educational Progress, 2013). Additionally, despite the importa...

This study examined how well nonverbal IQ (or fluid intelligence), vocabulary, phonological awareness (PA), rapid autonomized naming (RAN), and phonological short-term memory (STM) predicted mathematics outcomes. The 208 participating kindergartners were administered tests of fluid intelligence, vocabulary, PA, RAN, STM, and numeracy in the fall of...

Many English letters make multiple sounds. We evaluated which ones should be scored correct on an early letter sound assessment. We used nominal response models to model incorrect, and all possible correct answer choices. Findings indicate: 1. ’instructed’ letter sounds are the best indicators of letter sound knowledge. 2. Vowel names weakly index...

Objective: Both phonological awareness (PA) and naming speed have been identified as two skills related to the development of mathematics skills for children with and without learning disabilities. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationships between PA and colour naming speed for 265 elementary school students with mild i...