Learning Pseudowords Through Shared Storybook Reading And Auditory-Visual Pairing

Abstract

This study aimed at comparing preschool children’s learning of relations between pseudowords and pictures in two teaching conditions: shared storybook reading (implicit learning) and auditory-visual pairing (word pictures) with echoic request (explicit learning). We conducted two studies with children aged 4 to 5 years that were divided into two groups. In the repeated reading condition, we read one non-commercial story twice in a row. In the pairing with echoic condition, the children were exposed to auditory-visual pairing of pseudowords and pictures, and asked to repeat the target word (echoic behavior). Two new word-figure relations were taught in Study 1, and three relations in Study 2. After the presentation of the conditions and 1 week later, exclusion, matching-to-sample, naming, and generalization probes were performed. No differences were found between the two experimental conditions in Study 1. In Study 2, the pairing condition produced better results than the reading condition. We discuss the conditions necessary for learning novel words.