Word Learning During Reading: Effects of Language Ability in School-Age Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 270-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret S. Hill ◽  
Stacy A. Wagovich ◽  
Louis Manfra
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age

Word learning from context in school-age children: relations with language ability and executive function

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (5) ◽  
pp. 1006-1029
Author(s):  
Margaret S. HILL ◽  
Stacy A. WAGOVICH
Keyword(s):  
Executive Function ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
The Other ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
School Age ◽  
Word Meanings ◽  
Knowledge Gains

AbstractPurpose: Although school-age children learn most new word meanings from surrounding context, the joint roles of language ability and executive function (EF) in the word learning process remain unclear. This study examined children's acquisition of word meanings from context in relation to oral language ability and three EF skills (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Method: Typically developing school-age children completed measures of language and EF, then read and listened to short stories containing unfamiliar target words. A multiple-choice pretest–posttest measure assessed children's target word knowledge gains. Results: Regression analyses showed that language and cognitive flexibility were both related to word knowledge gains; each skill assumed greater importance among children with relative weakness in the other skill. Conclusion: Language ability and cognitive flexibility may each play a direct role in contextual word learning among school-age children, with children naturally relying on one skill if the other is weaker.

Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL) of Words by School-Age Children With and Without SLI

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-445 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janna B. Oetting ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
Linda K. Swank
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
General Pattern ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Learning Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Semantic Classes

This study examined Quick Incidental Learning (QUIL) of novel vocabulary by two groups of school-age children, those who were developing language normally and those who demonstrated a specific language impairment (SLI). The experimental items consisted of 20 words that referred to one of four semantic classes: object, attribute, action, and affective state. Videotaped stories were used to introduce the novel words, and word learning was measured by a picture-pointing task. For the normally developing children, the results documented a robust ability to learn words in the early school years. Comprehension gains were observed for all four word types, with the greatest gain made on the object labels. The children with SLI also demonstrated some word-learning ability, but their gain was significantly less than that of their normally developing peers. Although the general pattern of word effects was similar across the two groups, the children with SLI demonstrated a particularly low gain on words from the action class.

scholarly journals The Development of Language-Specific and Language-Independent Talker Processing

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 913-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susannah V. Levi ◽  
Richard G. Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
Auditory Processing ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Impairments ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Development Of Language ◽  
Perceptual Abilities

Purpose In this study, the authors aimed to investigate how differences in language ability relate to differences in processing talker information in the native language and an unfamiliar language by comparing performance for different ages and for groups with impaired language. Method Three groups of native English listeners with typical language development (TLD; ages 7–9, ages 10–12, adults) and 2 groups with specific language impairment (SLI; ages 7–9, ages 10–12) participated in the study. Listeners heard pairs of words in both English and German (unfamiliar language) and were asked to determine whether the words were produced by the same or different talkers. Results In English, talker discrimination improved with age. In German, performance improved with age for the school-age children but was worse for adult listeners. No differences were found between TLD and SLI children. Conclusion These results show that as listeners' language skills develop, there is a trade-off between more general perceptual abilities useful for processing talker information in any language and those that are relevant to their everyday language experiences and, thus, tied to the phonology. The lack of differences between the children with and without language impairments suggests that general auditory processing may be intact in at least some children with SLI.

Children with SLI exhibit delays resolving ambiguous reference

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
JULIE M. ESTIS ◽  
BRENDA L. BEVERLY
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Language Impairment ◽  
Specific Language Impairment ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
School Age ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Typically Developing Children ◽  
Distinct Word ◽  
Phonological Activation ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTFast mapping weaknesses in children with specific language impairment (SLI) may be explained by differences in disambiguation, mapping an unknown word to an unnamed object. The impact of language ability and linguistic stimulus on disambiguation was investigated. Sixteen children with SLI (8 preschool, 8 school-age) and sixteen typically developing age-matched children selected referents given familiar and unfamiliar object pairs in three ambiguous conditions: phonologically distinct word (PD), phonologically similar word (PS), no word (NW). Preschoolers with SLI did not disambiguate, unlike typically developing age-matched participants, who consistently selected unfamiliar objects given PD. School-age children with SLI disambiguated given PD. Delays in disambiguation for young children with SLI suggest limitations in processes that facilitate word learning for typically developing children. School-age children with SLI consistently selected familiar objects for PS, unlike typically developing children, suggesting differences in phonological activation for word learning.

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