Affect Word Learning Research Articles

The effect of classroom acoustics and noise on preschool children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing: A scoping review

Preschool is an important time for children to grow in their experiences, abilities, and knowledge before entering formal school. Therefore, it is vital that the classroom acoustic environment supports children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing. The aim of this scoping review was to determine what is known from the literature about the effect of classroom acoustics and noise on preschool children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing, and what the knowledge gaps are. The scoping review followed the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. Seven papers met the criteria to be included in the review. The findings suggest that poor classroom acoustic conditions and particularly high noise levels, can have a negative effect on preschool school children’s listening and wellbeing, but may not affect word learning at the SNRs investigated. Nevertheless, it would be beneficial to install acoustic solutions and manage noise in preschool classrooms to enhance children’s listening, learning, and wellbeing. Future research avenues are discussed.

Caregivers as experimenters: Reducing unfamiliarity helps shy children learn words.

Previous work has found that shy children show chance-level disambiguation and retention of novel word meanings in a typical lab-based word learning task. This effect could be explained in terms of shy children's aversion to unfamiliarity disrupting the requisite attentional processes, because the task is marked by a high degree of unfamiliarity. To test this argument, we examined whether increasing the familiarity of the task facilitates shy children's ability to form and retain word meanings. Two-year-old children (N=23) took part in a word learning task in which their caregiver acted as the experimenter. On referent selection trials, children were presented with sets of three objects, one novel and two familiar, and were asked for either a familiar object using its known label, or a novel object using a novel word. Children were then tested on their retention of the previously formed novel word-object mappings. In this context of increased familiarity, shyness was unrelated to performance on referent selection trials. However, shyness was positively related to children's retention of the word-object mappings, meaning that shyer children outperformed less-shy children on this measure of word learning. These findings show that context-based familiarity interacts with intrinsic individual differences to affect word learning performance.

Co-learning companionship benefits word learning in a new language: Evidence from a dual-brain EEG examination.

Companionship refers to one's being in the presence of another individual. For adults, acquiring a new language is a highly social activity that often involves learning in the context of companionship. However, the effects of companionship on new language learning have gone relatively underexplored, particularly with respect to word learning. Using a within-subject design, the current study employs electroencephalography to examine how two types of companionship (monitored and co-learning) affect word learning (semantic and lexical) in a new language. Dyads of Chinese speakers of English as a second language participated in a pseudo-word-learning task during which they were placed in monitored and co-learning companionship contexts. The results showed that exposure to co-learning companionship affected the early attention stage of word learning. Moreover, in this early stage, evidence of a higher representation similarity between co-learners showed additional support that co-learning companionship influenced attention. Observed increases in delta and theta interbrain synchronization further revealed that co-learning companionship facilitated semantic access. In all, the similar neural representations and interbrain synchronization between co-learners suggest that co-learning companionship offers important benefits for learning words in a new language.

Looking beyond literacy and phonology: word learning and phonological cue use in children with and without dyslexia

IntroductionThis study investigated whether children with and without dyslexia differ in word learning and whether phonological cues to word class play a role. If children with dyslexia have difficulties with implicit learning, they might be less sensitive to such cues.MethodsA group of 89 Dutch primary school children from Grades 3 to 6 participated in a word learning experiment, consisting of children with dyslexia (n = 44) and typically developing children (n = 45). Test items were four monosyllabic ‘verb-like' nonwords (e.g., voek) and four bisyllabic ‘noun-like' nonwords (e.g., banijn). They were presented as novel verbs or nouns in a two word sentence frame (e.g., “I voek” or “a voek”), paired with pictures of unfamiliar actions or objects. Nonwords were either consistent (e.g., “I voek,” “a banijn”) or inconsistent (e.g., “I banijn,” “a voek”) with word class. The word learning experiment consisted of a repetition, identification, and naming phase.ResultsChildren with dyslexia showed lower word learning outcomes in the naming phase. However, phonological cues did not affect word learning in either group. Regression analyses indicated that phoneme awareness, receptive vocabulary, and nonword reading were predictors of word learning for all children.DiscussionThese findings indicate that Dutch children with dyslexia have more difficulty in recalling novel words, fitting in with their phonological difficulties. Phonological cues to word class did not contribute to word learning in either group.

The role of translation equivalents in bilingual word learning.

Bilingual environments present an important context for word learning. One feature of bilingual environments is the existence of translation equivalents (TEs)-words in different languages that share similar meanings. Documenting TE learning over development may give us insight into the mechanisms underlying word learning in young bilingual children. Prior studies of TE learning have often been confounded by the fact that increases in overall vocabulary size with age lead to greater opportunities for learning TEs. To address this confound, we employed an item-level analysis, which controls for the age trajectory of each item independently. We used Communicative Development Inventory data from four bilingual datasets (two English-Spanish and two English-French; total N=419) for modeling. Results indicated that knowing a word's TE increased the likelihood of knowing that word for younger children and for TEs that are more similar phonologically. These effects were consistent across datasets, but varied across lexical categories. Thus, TEs may allow bilingual children to bootstrap their early word learning in one language using their knowledge of the other language. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: Bilingual children must learn words that share a common meaning across both languages, that is, translation equivalents, like dog in English and perro in Spanish. Item-level models explored how translation equivalents affect word learning, in addition to child-level (e.g., exposure) and item-level (e.g., phonological similarity) factors. Knowing a word increased the probability of knowing its corresponding translation equivalent, particularly for younger children and for more phonologically-similar translation equivalents. These findings suggest that young bilingual children use their word knowledge in one language to bootstrap their learning of words in the other language.

The effect of masks on infants' ability to fast-map and generalize new words.

Young children today are exposed to masks on a regular basis. However, there is limited empirical evidence on how masks may affect word learning. The study explored the effect of masks on infants' abilities to fast-map and generalize new words. Seventy-two Chinese infants (43 males, Mage = 18.26 months) were taught two novel word-object pairs by a speaker with or without a mask. They then heard the words and had to visually identify the correct objects and also generalize words to a different speaker and objects from the same category. Eye-tracking results indicate that infants looked longer at the target regardless of whether a speaker wore a mask. They also looked longer at the speaker's eyes than at the mouth only when words were taught through a mask. Thus, fast-mapping and generalization occur in both masked and not masked conditions as infants can flexibly access different visual cues during word-learning.

Paired-associate versus cross-situational: How do verbal working memory and word familiarity affect word learning?

Word learning is one of the first steps into language, and vocabulary knowledge predicts reading, speaking, and writing ability. There are several pathways to word learning and little is known about how they differ. Previous research has investigated paired-associate (PAL) and cross-situational word learning (CSWL) separately, limiting the understanding of how the learning process compares across the two. In PAL, the roles of word familiarity and working memory have been thoroughly examined, but these same factors have received very little attention in CSWL. We randomly assigned 126 monolingual adults to PAL or CSWL. In each task, names of 12 novel objects were learned (six familiar words, six unfamiliar words). Logistic mixed-effects models examined whether word-learning paradigm, word type and working memory (measured with a backward digit-span task) predicted learning. Results suggest better learning performance in PAL and on familiar words. Working memory predicted word learning across paradigms, but no interactions were found between any of the predictors. This suggests that PAL is easier than CSWL, likely because of reduced ambiguity between the word and the referent, but that learning across both paradigms is equally enhanced by word familiarity, and similarly supported by working memory.

Using Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines to Predict Lexical Characteristics' Influence on Word Learning in First Through Third Graders.

Identifying appropriate targets for vocabulary instruction and determining the optimal sequence for instruction continue to be a challenge. The purpose of this study is to investigate how previously studied lexical characteristics collectively influence children's word learning. A secondary data analysis was conducted using the word learning results of 350 first-, second-, and third-grade students who participated in an investigation examining the effects of a supplemental vocabulary intervention. We investigated the influence of the following lexical characteristics on the learning of 377 words: word frequency, level of concreteness, phonotactic probabilities, neighborhood density, and age of acquisition using multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). MARS modeled the influence lexical characteristics had on word learning and determined the relative importance of each variable for each grade-level model. Results revealed age of acquisition was the most important factor related to word learning in all grades, but contributions of other lexical characteristics and their level of importance differed across models. All respective models fit well, with root-mean-square error values ranging from 0.11 to 0.15 and generalized cross validation scores of 0.01 and 0.03. Nuanced information from the MARS analysis provides insights into how lexical characteristics affect word learning differently for children in different grade levels. This information is key to understanding the vocabulary acquisition of school-aged children. The findings from this research have the potential to inform the development of a word selection framework that will organize vocabulary targets into an appropriate sequence based on relevant predictors. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.21899529.

Spot It and Learn It! Word Learning in Virtual Peer‐Group Interactions Using a Novel Paradigm for School‐Aged Children

AbstractWe use a novel paradigm to examine the effect of language exposure and variable input on the acquisition of words in primary school–aged children. Children growing up with different languages and foreign or regional accents in their input might benefit from their experience with variability when learning new words from peers with unfamiliar accents. We ask to what extent language and accent experience helps monolingual and bilingual children learn new words in the context of accent variability. Children (aged 7–11 years) played a computerized card game with virtual peers that resembles natural advanced lexical acquisition, during which new words are learned from child speakers and are produced actively in peer‐group interactions. Successful word learning was predicted by the amount of input in regional and foreign accents but not by exposure to other languages (i.e., bilingualism). We discuss how accent experience affects word learning under variable input conditions.

Background context affects word-object mapping.

Children encounter new words across variable and noisy contexts. This variability may affect word learning, but the literature includes discrepant findings. The current experiment investigated one source of these discrepant findings: whether contexts with familiar, nameable objects are associated with less robust label learning. Two year olds were exposed to word-object pairings on variable contexts that either included nameable objects or did not. Target selection was more robust when exposure occurred without other nameable objects. The difference was present immediately, but not after a delay. This study provides the evidence that context effects are context-bound.

Effects of emotional cues on novel word learning in typically developing children in relation to broader autism traits

Emotion can influence various cognitive processes. Communication with children often involves exaggerated emotional expressions and emotive language. Children with autism spectrum disorder often show a reduced tendency to attend to emotional information. Typically developing children aged 7 to 9 years who varied in their level of autism-like traits learned the nonsense word names of nine novel toys, which were presented with either happy, fearful, or neutral emotional cues. Emotional cues had no influence on word recognition or recall performance. Eye-tracking data showed differences in visual attention depending on the type of emotional cues and level of autism-like traits. The findings suggest that the influence of emotion on attention during word learning differs according to whether the children have lower or higher levels of autism-like traits, but this influence does not affect word learning outcomes.

Teaching Turkish‐Dutch kindergartners Dutch vocabulary with a social robot: Does the robot's use of Turkish translations benefit children's Dutch vocabulary learning?

AbstractProviding first language (L1) translations in L2 vocabulary interventions may be beneficial for L2 vocabulary learning. However, in linguistically diverse L2 classrooms, teachers cannot provide L1 translations to all children. Social robots do offer such opportunities, as they can be programmed to speak any combination of languages. This study investigates whether providing L1 translations in a robot‐assisted L2 vocabulary training facilitates children's learning. Participants were Turkish‐Dutch kindergartners (n = 67) who were taught six Dutch (L2) words for which they knew the L1 (Turkish), but not the L2 Dutch form. Half of these words were taught by a Turkish‐Dutch bilingual robot, alongside their Turkish translations; the other half by a monolingual Dutch robot. Children also completed Dutch and Turkish receptive vocabulary tests. Results of generalized linear regression models indicated better performance in the Dutch‐only condition than in the Turkish‐Dutch condition. Children with well‐developed Turkish and Dutch vocabulary knowledge outperformed children with less well‐developed vocabulary knowledge. The majority of children preferred working with the bilingual robot, but children's preference did not affect word learning. Thus, contrary to our prediction, we found no evidence for a facilitating effect of providing L1 translations through a robot on bilingual children's L2 word learning.

Quick, incidental word learning in educational media: all contexts are not equal

Classic studies of educational media have demonstrated that children can engage in quick, incidental word learning on the basis of a single exposure of a program. Since most words are learned from context, a lingering question has been whether the kind of contextual support affects word learning. Using a within-subjects design this study examined 102 low-income preschoolers’ word learning of digital episodes in three contextual settings: participatory, expository, and narrative contexts. Across three rounds, children’s word knowledge was assessed through researcher-developed measures. Results indicated that target word learning occurred most frequently in the participatory followed by the expository context, with narrative being the most challenging for children. In all cases, however, children with lower receptive language scores acquired fewer words than their higher language peers, suggesting that without additional supports, educational media might exacerbate rather than close the word gap.

Initial Accuracy of Word-Referent Mappings Affects Word Learning


 It was previously assumed that a correct, or accurate, initial association between a word and its referent allows optimal language learning, since fewer cognitive resources are required. However, some studies have found that initially incorrect, or inaccurate, associations can cause adults to learn word-referent mappings significantly better, compared to initially accurate ones. The opposite effect was found in children, who typically learn better when a word-referent association is consistently accurate.Our research project further explores these findings. The study involves a cross-situational word-learning paradigm examining whether the correction of inaccurate initial word-referent associations benefits word learning. Eye fixation and pupil dilation data are used to determine initial mappings and cognitive load, respectively. In the familiarisation phase of the study, participants are presented with associations between made-up words and the images to which the words refer; initial accuracy is manipulated such that only half of the presented associations are correct. Then, in the learning phase, each word is presented with its correct referent. Finally, the accuracy of the learned word-referent mappings is tested.Our initial findings confirm that word learning benefits when adults are presented with initially inaccurate associations and subsequent corrections. We will discuss the theories behind these findings, as well as the implications for language learning. In the most recent phase of the project, we are determining whether pupil dilation is a good measure for increased cognitive load associated with word-referent inaccuracy.

Does sound structure affect word learning? An eye-tracking study of Danish learning toddlers

Previous research has shown that Danish-learning children lag behind in early lexical acquisition compared with children learning a number of other languages. This delay has been ascribed to the opaque phonetic structure of Danish, which appears to have fewer reliable segmentation cues than other closely related languages. In support of this hypothesis, recent work has shown that the phonetic properties of Danish negatively affect online language processing in young Danish children. In this study, we used eye-tracking to investigate whether the challenges associated with processing Danish also affect how Danish-learning children between 24 and 35 months of age establish and learn novel label–object mappings. The children were presented with a series of novel mappings, either ostensively (one novel object presented alone on the screen) or ambiguously (one novel object presented together with a familiar one), through carrier phrases with different phonetic structures (more vs less opaque). Our results showed two main trends. First, Danish-learning children performed poorly on the task of mapping novel labels onto novel objects. Second, when learning did occur, accuracy was affected by the phonetic opacity of the speech stimuli. We suggest that this finding results from the interplay of a perceptually challenging speech input and a slower onset of early vocabulary experience, which in turn may delay the onset of word learning skills in Danish-learning children.

Vocabulary learning through viewing video: the effect of two enhancement techniques

ABSTRACTWhile most studies on L2 vocabulary learning through input have addressed learners’ vocabulary uptake from written text, this study focuses on audio-visual input. In particular, we investigate the effects of enhancing video by (1) adding different types of L2 subtitling (i.e. no captioning, full captioning, keyword captioning, and glossed keyword captioning which provides access to meaning) and (2) informing vs. not informing students that viewing would be followed immediately by a test of vocabulary from the video (Test Announcement). The study adopted a 2 (+/- Test Announcement) x 4 (Type of Captioning) between-subject design, resulting in 8 experimental groups. 227 Dutch-speaking university students watched three French (= L2) videos in one of eight conditions. Results revealed that students in the glossed keyword captions group (with access to meaning) scored best on the form recognition and meaning recall tests. Analyses of the look-up behaviour of students in the glossed keyword captioning group revealed that looking up a given word was positively related to the learning of that word. Test Announcement did not affect word learning or look-up behaviour. Participants’ vocabulary size was directly related to their learning gains as well as to their look-up behaviour in the glossed keyword condition.

Learning on hold: Cell phones sidetrack parent-child interactions.

Although research suggests that responsive interactions are imperative for language development, the advent of mobile technology means that parent-child exchanges are often fraught with unpredictable interruptions. Less clear is how these momentary breaks in responsiveness affect word learning. In this within-subjects design, 38 mothers taught their 2-year-olds (M = 27.15 months) 2 novel words, 1 at a time. One teaching period was interrupted by a cell phone call. Children learned the word when the teaching was not interrupted, but not when it was interrupted. Critically, the number of times each target word was spoken did not differ by condition. This finding supports the literature on responsiveness, offering experimental evidence that interruptions in social interactions can affect learning outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Incidental vocabulary learning in a natural reading context: an eye-tracking study

This study responds to the call for more ecologically valid psycholinguistic research (Spivey & Cardon, 2015) by examining how readers incidentally acquire multifaceted vocabulary knowledge while reading a long, authentic text. Using eye tracking, we explore how the processing of unfamiliar words changes with repeated exposure and how the repeated exposure and processing affect word learning. In two sessions, native and non-native English speakers read five chapters of an authentic English novel containing Dari words. After reading, participants received a comprehension test and three surprise vocabulary tests. Growth curve modeling revealed a non-linear decrease in reading times that followed an S shaped curve. Number of exposures was the strongest predictor of vocabulary learning (form and meaning), while total reading time independently contributed to the learning of word meaning. Thus, both quantity and quality of lexical processing aid incremental vocabulary development and may reveal themselves differently in readers’ eye movement records.

Learning to Read Words on Flashcards: Effects of Sentence Contexts and Word Class in Native and Nonnative English-Speaking Kindergartners

This study investigated three questions: 1) Does clarifying the meanings of words during flashcard reading better support word learning over not providing meanings? 2) Does grammatical word class affect word learning? 3) Do these manipulations affect word learning differently in native and nonnative speakers of English? Native (n=40) and nonnative (n=41) English-speaking kindergartners practiced learning to read nouns and function words on flashcards in a repeated measures, counterbalanced design with random assignment. In one condition words were taught in meaningful sentences. In the other condition words were taught in isolation. Results of ANOVAs revealed that both native and nonnative speakers of English were better able to read words when they were taught in isolation than in sentences, and native speakers were better able to spell the words as well. However, both groups showed better ability to express their meanings when words were read in semantically rich sentences than when read in isolation. Children learned to read, spell, and produce sentences for content words more easily than for function words. Results indicate that the way children practice reading words and the type of words being read influence what they learn about the words.

Napping facilitates word learning in early lexical development.

Little is known about the role that night-time sleep and daytime naps play in early cognitive development. Our aim was to investigate how napping affects word learning in 16-month-olds. Thirty-four typically developing infants were assigned randomly to nap and wake groups. After teaching two novel object-word pairs to infants, we tested their initial performance with an intermodal preferential looking task in which infants are expected to increase their target looking time compared to a distracter after hearing its auditory label. A second test session followed after approximately a 2-h delay. The delay contained sleep for the nap group or no sleep for the wake group. Looking behaviour was measured with an automatic eye-tracker. Vocabulary size was assessed using the Oxford Communicative Development Inventory. A significant interaction between group and session was found in preferential looking towards the target picture. The performance of the nap group increased after the nap, whereas that of the wake group did not change. The gain in performance correlated positively with the expressive vocabulary size in the nap group. These results indicate that daytime napping helps consolidate word learning in infancy.