scholarly journals Children’s ability to use speaker certainty in learning novel words

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myrthe Bergstra ◽  
Hannah de Mulder ◽  
Peter Coopmans
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Dutch Children ◽  
Novel Words

One of the cues that children might use in learning words is the level of certainty that speakers demonstrate in their naming of a novel object. This study presented 52 4–5 year old Dutch children with a word-learning task in which two puppets each used the same label for a different novel object. In three conditions, puppets expressed their level of speaker certainty lexically (e.g. ‘I know this is a mit’ vs. ‘I think this is a mit’), they used discourse means to convey certainty (e.g. ‘I play with this a lot. Yes, a mit’, vs. ‘I’ve never played with this. Well, a mit’) or they combined the two. In all conditions, children were more likely to pick the object referred to by the more certain puppet as the referent of the new word, demonstrating that speaker certainty is a relevant cue in the word learning process.

Attention and word learning in toddlers who are late talkers

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 1020-1037 ◽  
Author(s):  
MICHELLE MACROY-HIGGINS ◽  
ELIZABETH A. MONTEMARANO
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Attention Allocation ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Late Talkers ◽  
Novel Words

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to examine attention allocation in toddlers who were late talkers and toddlers with typical language development while they were engaged in a word-learning task in order to determine if differences exist. Two-year-olds who were late talkers (11) and typically developing toddlers (11) were taught twelve novel pseudo-words for unfamiliar objects over ten training sessions. The toddlers' attention allocation during the word-learning sessions was measured as well as their comprehension of the newly learned words. Late talkers showed reduced attention allocation to objects during word-training sessions, and also comprehended fewer of the novel words than toddlers with typical language development. Attention allocation was found to be a stronger predictor of word learning as compared to cognition and auditory comprehension. Reduced attention allocation may contribute to the early lexical delay characteristic in late talkers.

Minimal-pair word learning by bilingual toddlers: the Catalan /e/-/ɛ/ contrast revisited

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 649-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARTA RAMON-CASAS ◽  
CHRISTOPHER T. FENNELL ◽  
LAURA BOSCH
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Minimal Pair ◽  
Accented Speech ◽  
Phonetic Categories ◽  
Pair Word ◽  
Novel Words

Twelve-month-old bilingual and monolingual infants show comparable phonetic discrimination skills for vowels belonging to their native language/s. However, Catalan–Spanish bilingual toddlers, but not Catalan monolinguals, appear insensitive to a vowel mispronunciation in familiar words involving the Catalan–Specific /e/-/ɛ/ contrast. Here bilingual and monolingual toddlers were tested in a challenging minimal-pair word learning task involving that contrast (i.e., [bepi]-[bɛpi]). Both groups succeeded, suggesting that bilinguals can successfully use their phonetic categories to phonologically encode novel words. It is argued that bilinguals’ impoverished vowel representations in familiar words might be the result of experiential input factors (e.g., cognate words and mispronunciations due to accented speech).

Infants' acceptance of phonotactically illegal word forms as object labels

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 1400-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
ENA VUKATANA ◽  
SUZANNE CURTIN ◽  
SUSAN A. GRAHAM
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Training Phase ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Sound System ◽  
Word Forms ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
Novel Words

AbstractWe investigated 16- and 20-month-olds' flexibility in mapping phonotactically illegal words to objects. Using an associative word-learning task, infants were presented with a training phase that either highlighted or did not highlight the referential status of a novel label. Infants were then habituated to two novel objects, each paired with a phonotactically illegal Czech word. When referential cues were provided, 16-, but not 20-month-olds, formed word–object mappings. In the absence of referential cues, infants of both ages failed to map the novel words. These findings illustrate the complex interplay between infants' developing sound system and their word learning abilities.

scholarly journals Word Learning Processes in Children With Cochlear Implants

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Walker ◽  
Karla K. McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Retention Interval ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Fast Mapping ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
Hearing Children

Purpose To determine whether 3 aspects of the word learning process—fast mapping, retention, and extension—are problematic for children with cochlear implants (CIs). Method The authors compared responses of 24 children with CIs, 24 age-matched hearing children, and 23 vocabulary-matched hearing children to a novel object noun training episode. Comprehension and production were measured immediately following training (fast mapping) as well as 1 day later (retention). Extension was measured in terms of the ability of the participants to identify new (untrained) exemplars. Results Compared with their hearing age-mates, children with CIs performed marginally more poorly on fast mapping as measured by the comprehension probe and more poorly on retention as measured by comprehension and production probes. The age-mates improved over the retention interval, but the children with CIs did not. Most of the children with CIs performed similarly to their age-mates on extension, but 2 children underextended, and 5 children failed to understand the task. Compared with younger vocabulary-matched peers, children with CIs did not differ at fast mapping, retention, or extension. Conclusions Children with CIs demonstrated deficits in word learning, with retention being especially problematic. Their learning did not differ from that of younger children with similarly sized vocabularies.

scholarly journals The Role of Sleep in Retention of New Words in Habitually and Non-Habitually Napping Children

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1320
Author(s):  
Katherine Esterline ◽  
Rebecca L. Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Mixed Effects ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Retention Performance ◽  
Novel Object ◽  
New Words ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

Daytime napping contributes to retention of new word learning in children. Importantly, children transition out of regular napping between ages 3–5 years, and the impact of this transition on memory is unclear. Here, we examined the performance of both non-habitually napping children (nap 0–3 days per week, n = 28) and habitually napping children (nap 4–7 days per week, n = 30) on a word learning task after a delay including either sleep or wakefulness. Children ages 3.5–4.5 years old experienced a brief exposure to two novel labels and their referents during training, a scenario that replicates learning experiences children encounter every day. After a 4-h delay, children were tested on the object-label associations. Using mixed effects logistic regression, we compared retention performance. Non-habitual nappers and habitual nappers displayed a different pattern of retention such that non-habitually napping children did equally well on a test of retention regardless of whether they napped or stayed awake during the delay. In contrast, habitually napping children needed a nap after learning to retain the novel object-label associations 4 h later. As a group, habitual nappers who remained awake after learning performed no better than chance on the retention test. As children transition out of naps, they may be less susceptible to interference and are better able to retain newly learned words across a delay including wakefulness.

scholarly journals The temporal structure of naming events differentially affects children’s and adults’ cross-situational word learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viridiana L. Benitez ◽  
Martin Zettersten ◽  
Erica H Wojcik
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Training Conditions ◽  
Novel Words

To acquire novel words, learners often have to integrate information about word meanings across ambiguous learning events distributed in time. How does the temporal structure of those word learning events affect what learners encode? How do the effects of temporal structure differ in children and adults? In the present studies, we asked how 4- to 7-year-old children’s (N=110) and adult’s (N=90) performance on a cross-situational word learning task is influenced by the temporal distribution of learning events. We tested participants in three training conditions, manipulating the number of trials that separated naming events for specific objects. In the Unstructured condition, the temporal distribution was varied; in the Massed condition, naming events occurred with few interleaved trials; and in the Interleaved condition, naming events occurred with many interleaved trials. Adults showed substantially larger benefits from the Massed condition than children, while children were equally successful at learning in the Massed and Interleaved conditions. These results provide evidence that adults differ from children in how they exploit temporal structure during cross-situational word learning.

Could we please lose the mapping metaphor, please?

2001 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 1119-1120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tomasello
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Cultural Learning ◽  
Mind Reading ◽  
Linguistic Communication ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
One Year

Although Bloom gives more credit to social cognition (mind reading) than do most other theorists of word learning, he does not go far enough. He still relies fundamentally on a learning process of association (or mapping), neglecting the joint attentional and cultural learning skills from which linguistic communication emerges at one year of age.

The effects of emotional context and exposure frequency on L2 contextual word learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110165
Author(s):  
Sijia Hao ◽  
Lijuan Liang ◽  
Jue Wang ◽  
Huanhuan Liu ◽  
Baoguo Chen
Keyword(s):  
Recognition Test ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Recall Test ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Neutral Context ◽  
Emotional Context ◽  
Exposure Frequency ◽  
Form Recognition

Objectives: An experiment was conducted to explore how emotional valence of contexts and exposure frequency of novel words affect second language (L2) contextual word learning. Methodology: Chinese native speakers who learned English in a formal classroom setting were asked to read English paragraphs with different emotional valence (positive, negative or neutral) across five different days. These paragraphs were embedded with pseudowords. During this learning process, form recognition test and meaning recall test were carried out for these pseudowords. Data and analysis: Data were analyzed using mixed-model ANOVA. Accuracy for each task was compared among the three kinds of emotional contexts. Findings/Conclusions: In the form recognition test, the accuracy in the negative context was higher than in the positive and neutral contexts, and the pseudowords were acquired much earlier. In the meaning recall test, the accuracy in the positive and negative contexts was higher than that in the neutral context. Accuracy increased gradually with the increase of exposure frequency of the pseudowords. More importantly, we found that less exposure times were needed for emotional context relative to neutral context in contextual word learning. Originality: This may be the first study to explore the influence of emotional valence and exposure frequency on L2 contextual word learning. Significance/Implications: This study underlined the importance of emotional information in L2 contextual word learning and contributed to the understanding of how emotional information and exposure frequency functions in this learning process.

More evidence on competing cognitive systems

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha W. Felix
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Problem Solving ◽  
General Problem ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Native Speaker ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Competition Model ◽  
Cognitive Systems ◽  
Specific System

This paper deals with the question of why adults, as a rule, fail to achieve native-speaker competence in a second language, whereas children appear to be generally able to acquire full command of either a first or second language. The Competition Model proposed in this paper accounts for this difference in terms of different cognitive systems or modules operating in child and adult language acquisition. It is argued that the child's learning process is guided by a language-specific module, roughly equivalent to Universal Grammar (cf. Chomsky, 1980), while adults tend to approach the learning task by utilizing a general problem-solving module which enters into competition with the language-specific system. The crucial evidence in support of the Competition Model comes from a) the availability of formal operations in different modules and b) from differences in the types of utterances produced by children and adults.

Morphological Knowledge as an Aid to Word Learning: A Cross-Situational Word Learning Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Finley
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Learning Task ◽  
Artificial Language ◽  
Initial Training ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Morphological Knowledge ◽  
Semantic Categories ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Morphological Cues

The present study explores morphological bootstrapping in cross-situational word learning. Adult, English-speaking participants were exposed to novel words from an artificial language from three different semantic categories: fruit, animals, and vehicles. In the Experimental conditions, the final CV syllable was consistent across categories (e.g., /-ke/ for fruits), while in the Control condition, the endings were the same, but were assigned to words randomly. After initial training on the morphology under various degrees of referential uncertainty, participants were given a cross-situational word learning task with high referential uncertainty. With poor statistical cues to learn the words across trials, participants were forced to rely on the morphological cues to word meaning. In Experiments 1-3, participants in the Experimental conditions repeatedly outperformed participants in the Control conditions. In Experiment 4, when referential uncertainty was high in both parts of the experiment, there was no evidence of learning or making use of the morphological cues. These results suggest that learners apply morphological cues to word meaning only once they are reliably available.

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