The effect of speaker reliability on word learning in monolingual and bilingual children.

Abstract

The present study examined the effect of speaker reliability on novel word learning in 4- and 5-year-old English-speaking monolingual (N=25) and Spanish-English bilingual (N=25) children, using an eye-tracking paradigm. Results revealed that children retained novel labels taught by both the reliable and the unreliable speaker. Yet, time-course analyses revealed that children showed faster word recognition in the reliable condition but demonstrated more persistent looks to target in the unreliable condition. This suggests that speaker reliability impacts the time-course of retrieval, but not the ultimate retention of novel words. No group differences were observed in children's overall accuracy of novel word learning, although monolingual and bilingual children did demonstrate subtle differences in the time-course of novel word recognition. Together, the findings suggest that while speaker cues shape the process by which children recognize newly-learned words, language experience has minimal influence on this process.