Children's Word Learning Using Three Modes of Instruction

1996 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 779-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra L. Terrell ◽  
Raymond Daniloff
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Word Recognition ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Picture Book ◽  
Affective State ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Video Display ◽  
Sound Track ◽  
Adult Reading ◽  
Novel Words

This study compared the effectiveness of computer video display tube, videotape, and live adult reading modes of instruction in teaching children vocabulary. The same pictured story was implemented in three modes, computer VDT display of still story pictures in color with an accompanying sound track, videotape presentation of the fully animated story, and a picture book whose pictures and narrative matched those of the VDT-computer mode. 78 normal preschool children were presented the story in one of three modes of instruction. The novel words to be learned were embedded in the story as nouns, verbs, and affective state adjectives. Postexposure tests of word recognition showed a small but significant advantage for live voice reading for two of three recognition tests. The VDT and videotape modes did not differ from each other in effectiveness.

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.

scholarly journals Non-native phonemes in adult word learning: evidence from the N400m

2009 ◽  
Vol 364 (1536) ◽  
pp. 3697-3709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Dobel ◽  
Lothar Lagemann ◽  
Pienie Zwitserlood
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Native Language ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Learning Paradigm ◽  
Minimal Pairs ◽  
Lexical Activation ◽  
Semantic Access ◽  
Novel Words

Newborns are equipped with a large phonemic inventory that becomes tuned to one's native language early in life. We review and add new data about how learning of a non-native phoneme can be accomplished in adults and how the efficiency of word learning can be assessed by neurophysiological measures. For this purpose, we studied the acquisition of the voiceless, bilabial fricative /Φ/ via a statistical-learning paradigm. Phonemes were embedded in minimal pairs of pseudowords, differing only with respect to the fricative (/aΦo/ versus /afo/). During learning, pseudowords were combined with pictures of objects with some combinations of pseudowords and pictures occurring more frequently than others. Behavioural data and the N400m component, as an index of lexical activation/semantic access, showed that participants had learned to associate the pseudowords with the pictures. However, they could not discriminate within the minimal pairs. Importantly, before learning, the novel words with the sound /Φ/ showed smaller N400 amplitudes than those with native phonemes, evidencing their non-word status. Learning abolished this difference indicating that /Φ/ had become integrated into the native category /f/, instead of establishing a novel category. Our data and review demonstrate that native phonemic categories are powerful attractors hampering the mastery of non-native contrasts.

The Type, but Not the Amount, of Information Available Influences Toddlers' Fast Mapping and Retention of New Words

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 120-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn W. Brady ◽  
Judith C. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Fast Mapping ◽  
New Words ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Significant Rate ◽  
Mapping Task ◽  
Novel Words

Purpose The authors of this study examined whether the type and number of word-learning cues affect how children infer and retain word-meaning mappings and whether the use of these cues changes with age. Method Forty-eight 18- to 36-month-old children with typical language participated in a fast-mapping task in which 6 novel words were presented with 3 types of cues to the words' referents, either singly or in pairs. One day later, children were tested for retention of the novel words. Results By 24 months of age, children correctly inferred the referents of the novel words at a significant level. Children retained the meanings of words at a significant rate by 30 months of age. Children retained the first 3 of the 6 word-meaning mappings by 24 months of age. For both fast mapping and retention, the efficacy of different cue types changed with development, but children were equally successful whether the novel words were presented with 1 or 2 cues. Conclusion The type of information available to children at fast mapping affects their ability to both form and retain word-meaning associations. Providing children with more information in the form of paired cues had no effect on either fast mapping or retention.

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.

Learning and Retention of Novel Words in Musicians and Nonmusicians

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Elizabeth C. Stewart ◽  
Andrea L. Pittman
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Word Recall ◽  
Auditory Information ◽  
Musical Representations ◽  
Word Detection ◽  
Novel Words

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine whether long-term musical training enhances the ability to perceive and learn new auditory information. Listeners with extensive musical experience were expected to detect, learn, and retain novel words more effectively than participants without musical training. Advantages of musical training were expected to be greater for words learned in multitalker babble compared to quiet. Method Participants consisted of 20 young adult musicians and 20 age-matched nonmusicians, all with normal hearing. In addition to completing word recognition and nonword detection tasks, each participant learned 10 novel words in a rapid word-learning paradigm. All tasks were completed in quiet and in multitalker babble. Next-day retention of the learned words was examined in isolation (recall) and in the context of continuous discourse (detection). Performance was compared across groups and listening conditions. Results Performance was significantly poorer in babble than in quiet on word recognition and nonword detection, but not on word learning, learned-word recall, or learned-word detection. No differences were observed between groups (musicians vs. nonmusicians) on any of the tasks. Conclusions For young normal-hearing adults, auditory experience resulting from long-term music training did not enhance their learning of new auditory information in either favorable (quiet) or unfavorable (babble) listening conditions. This suggests that the formation of semantic and musical representations in memory may be supported by the same underlying auditory processes, such that musical training is simply an extension of an auditory expertise that both musicians and nonmusicians possess.

Pairing New Words With Unfamiliar Objects: Comparing Children With and Without Cochlear Implants

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2325-2336
Author(s):  
Emily Lund
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Cochlear Implants ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
New Words ◽  
Initial Stage ◽  
Novel Words

PurposeThis study investigates differences between preschool children with cochlear implants and age-matched children with normal hearing during an initial stage in word learning to evaluate whether they (a) match novel words to unfamiliar objects and (b) solicit information about unfamiliar objects during play.MethodTwelve preschool children with cochlear implants and 12 children with normal hearing matched for age completed 2 experimental tasks. In the 1st task, children were asked to point to a picture that matched either a known word or a novel word. In the 2nd task, children were presented with unfamiliar objects during play and were given the opportunity to ask questions about those objects.ResultsIn Task 1, children with cochlear implants paired novel words with unfamiliar pictures in fewer trials than children with normal hearing. In Task 2, children with cochlear implants were less likely to solicit information about new objects than children with normal hearing. Performance on the 1st task, but not the 2nd, significantly correlated with expressive vocabulary standard scores of children with cochlear implants.ConclusionThis study provides preliminary evidence that children with cochlear implants approach mapping novel words to and soliciting information about unfamiliar objects differently than children with normal hearing.

Discourse coherence as a cue to reference in word learning: Evidence for discourse bootstrapping

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jess Sullivan ◽  
Juliana Boucher ◽  
Reina Kiefer ◽  
Katherine Williams ◽  
David Barner
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Meaning ◽  
Temporal Relations ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Linguistic Context ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Discourse Coherence ◽  
Coherence Relations ◽  
Meaningful Relationships ◽  
Novel Words

Word learning depends critically on the use of linguistic context to constrain the likely meanings of words. However, the mechanisms by which children infer word meaning from linguistic context are still poorly understood. In the present study, we asked whether adults (n = 58) and 2- to 6-year-old children (n = 180) use discourse coherence relations (i.e., the meaningful relationships between elements within a discourse) to constrain their interpretation of novel words. Specifically, we showed participants videos of novel animals exchanging objects. These videos were accompanied by a linguistic description of the events in which we manipulated a single word within a sentence (and vs. because) in order to alter the causal and temporal relations between the events in the discourse (e.g., “One animal handed the baby to the other animal [and/because] the baby started crying in the talfa’s arms”). We then asked participants which animal (the giver or the receiver) was the referent of the novel word. Across two experiments, we found evidence that young children used the causal and temporal relations in each discourse to constrain their interpretations of novel words.

scholarly journals Abstraction-based Efficiency in the Lexicon

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Word Recognition ◽  
Past Experience ◽  
Word Boundary ◽  
New Words ◽  
Prosodic Word ◽  
Abstract Knowledge ◽  
Spoken Words ◽  
Listening Experience ◽  
Candidate Set ◽  
Novel Words

AbstractListeners learn from their past experience of listening to spoken words, and use this learning to maximise the efficiency of future word recognition. This paper summarises evidence that the facilitatory effects of drawing on past experience are mediated by abstraction, enabling learning to be generalised across new words and new listening situations. Phoneme category retuning, which allows adaptation to speaker-specific articulatory characteristics, is generalised on the basis of relatively brief experience to words previously unheard from that speaker. Abstract knowledge of prosodic regularities is applied to recognition even of novel words for which these regularities were violated. Prosodic word-boundary regularities drive segmentation of speech into words independently of the membership of the lexical candidate set resulting from the segmentation operation. Each of these different cases illustrates how abstraction from past listening experience has contributed to the efficiency of lexical recognition.

Two-year-olds differentially disambiguate novel words and facts

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 875-889 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASON SCOFIELD ◽  
DOUGLAS A. BEHREND
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Condition ◽  
Pragmatic Account ◽  
Learning Principles ◽  
Unfamiliar Object ◽  
Novel Words

ABSTRACTWhen presented with a pair of objects, one familiar and one unfamiliar, and asked to select the referent of a novel word, children reliably demonstrate the disambiguation effect and select the unfamiliar object. The current study investigated two competing word learning accounts of this effect: a pragmatic account and a word learning principles account. Two-, three- and four-year-olds were presented with four disambiguation conditions, a word/word, a word/fact, a fact/word and a fact/fact condition. A pragmatic account predicted disambiguation in all four conditions while a word learning principles account predicted disambiguation in the word/word and fact/word conditions. Results indicated that children disambiguated in word/word and fact/word conditions and two-year-olds disambiguated at above chance levels in the word/word condition but at below chance levels in the fact/fact condition. Because disambiguation varied both as a function of age and condition these findings are presented as challenges to a pragmatic account of the disambiguation effect.

Do word learners ignore ignorant speakers?

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 905-924 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARK A. SABBAGH ◽  
SYLWIA D. WDOWIAK ◽  
JENNIFER M. OTTAWAY
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Base Line ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Knowledge States ◽  
Children First ◽  
Line Condition

Thirty-six three- to four-year-old children were tested to assess whether hearing a word-referent link from an ignorant speaker affected children's abilities to subsequently link the same word with an alternative referent offered by another speaker. In the principal experimental conditions, children first heard either an ignorant or a knowledgeable speaker link a novel word with one of three toys. The first speaker's labelling episode was followed by a second in which a different speaker used the same novel label but for a different toy. There was also a Base-line condition which was the same as the experimental condition involving the ignorant speaker except that she did not associate the novel label with a referent. When tested for comprehension of the novel label, children selected the FIRST speaker's toy at high levels when the first speaker was knowledgeable, but selected the SECOND speaker's toy when the first speaker was ignorant. These findings suggest that children's experience with the ignorant speaker did not affect their abilities to learn a subsequently presented alternative word-referent link. These findings are discussed in terms of understanding the mechanisms by which children adapt their word-learning in line with speakers' knowledge states.

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