Expressive Word Learning Research Articles

성인의 책읽기 전략에 따른 학령전기 언어발달지연 아동과 일반아동의 수용 및 표현 어휘 학습 효과 비교 연구

목적 : 본 연구에서는 성인이 아동에게 책을 읽어줄 때 사용할 수 있는 전략을 세 가지로 구조화하여 제시하고, 성인의 책읽기 전략에 따른 언어발달지연 아동과 일반아동의 수용 및 표현어휘 학습 효과를 검토하여 아동의 어휘 학습에 가장 효과적인 성인의 책읽기 전략이 무엇인지 확인하고자 하였다.<BR>방법 : 본 연구는 3-6세의 언어발달지연 아동 27명과 일반아동 38명, 총 65명의 아동을 대상으로 하였다. 성인의 책읽기 전략은 직접적 질문하기, 간접적 질문하기, 진술하기로 구조화하였으며, 모든 아동들은 세 가지 책읽기 전략 중 하나에 배치되어 총 10회기 동안 연구자와 일대일로 책읽기 활동에 참여하였다. 목표어휘는 총 8개로, 모든 책읽기 전략 조건에서 동일하게 회기 당 3회씩 노출되도록 통제하였으며, 10회기의 책읽기 중재 종료 후 목표 어휘에 대한 수용 및 표현어휘 학습 수행력을 평가하여 분석하였다.<BR>결과 : 이원분산분석 결과, 수용 및 표현어휘에서 모두 집단의 주효과가 유의하였으며, 수용어휘학습 수행력에 대한 책읽기 전략의 주효과가 유의하였다. 이에 대한 사후분석 결과 직접적 질문하기 전략과 진술하기 전략 간 차이가 통계적으로 유의하였다. 표현어휘 학습 수행력의 경우 책읽기 전략의 주효과가 통계적으로 유의하지 않았다.<BR>결론 : 본 연구의 결과 일반아동 집단이 언어발달지연 아동 집단보다 수용 및 표현어휘 학습수행력이 높은 것으로 나타나 장기적 관점에서 어휘력의 차이가 확대될 수 있는 매튜효과를 확인하였으며, 아동들의 언어능력과 무관하게 목표 어휘를 아동들이 산출하게 하는 직접적 질문하기 전략이 진술하기 전략에 비해 책읽기를 통한 3-6세 학령전기 아동들의 수용어휘학습에 효과적임을 확인하였다.

책읽기 중재 시 어휘 노출 빈도 및 학령전기 아동들의 어휘력, 작업기억 능력이 표현어휘 학습에 미치는 영향

본 연구는 책읽기를 통한 어휘 중재 시 어휘의 노출 빈도에 따른 표현어휘 학습 효과를 검토하고, 어휘 능력과 작업기억 능력 가운데 표현어휘 학습 수행력을 유의하게 설명하는 요인이 무엇인지 검토하였다. 본 연구에는 4-6세 아동 25명이 참여하였으며, 아동들의 어휘능력은 수용 · 표현어휘력 검사로, 작업기억 능력은 비단어 따라말하기, 단어 목록 회상하기, 매트릭스 과제로 평가하였다. 책읽기 중재에서 목표어휘를 12회와 24회 노출시켰을 때의 표현어휘 학습 수행력을 대응표본 t-검정을 통해 비교하였으며, 단계적 중다회귀분석을 통해 어휘학습 수행력을 설명하는 요인을 검증하고자 하였다. 본 연구의 결과, 목표어휘를 24회 노출했을 때의 수행력이 12회 노출한 경우보다 표현어휘 학습 수행력이 유의하게 높았다. 목표어휘 12회 노출 시의 표현어휘 학습 수행력을 설명해주는 요인은 단어 목록 회상 및 매트릭스 과제 수행력이었으며, 24회 노출 시의 유의한 설명 요인은 단어 목록 회상 과제 수행력 및 표현어휘력인 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과 어휘의 반복 노출이 표현어휘 학습에 미치는 효과를 확인하였으며, 어휘가 노출되는 빈도에 따라 표현어휘 학습 수행력을 설명하는 요인이 달라짐을 밝혔다.

Scaffolding attention and partial word learning through interactive coviewing of educational media: An eye-tracking study with low-income preschoolers.

This study was designed to examine the effects of coviewing on low-income children’s attention to and understanding of novel words in educational media. In addition, we sought to understand coviewing’s contribution to children’s receptive and expressive word learning when some target words were repeated more or less frequently. Using a within-subjects design, 83 preschoolers viewed 2 educational media stories, 1 with an adult coviewer, and the other without, in a counterbalanced approach. Eye-tracking technology recorded children’s attention throughout viewing; pre- and posttests examined children’s gains in receptive and expressive word identification. Results indicated that children’s attention to target words was greater in the coviewing condition but appeared to contribute to expressive word learning only of lower repetition words. Attention mediated the relationship between coviewing and low-repetition word learning for expressive, but not receptive, vocabulary. Regardless of condition, children learned more words when they were repeated more frequently. This study provides further evidence that low-income children can pick up at least partial word knowledge on their own, particularly when words are repeated frequently. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved)

The Structure of Word Learning in Young School-Age Children.

Purpose We investigated four theoretically based latent variable models of word learning in young school-age children. Method One hundred sixty-seven English-speaking second graders with typical development from three U.S. states participated. They completed five different tasks designed to assess children's creation, storage, retrieval, and production of the phonological and semantic representations of novel words and their ability to link those representations. The tasks encompassed the triggering and configuration stages of word learning. Results Results showed that a latent variable model with separate phonological and semantic factors and linking indicators constrained to load on the phonological factor best fit the data. Discussion The structure of word learning during triggering and configuration reflects separate but related phonological and semantic factors. We did not find evidence for a unidimensional latent variable model of word learning or for separate receptive and expressive word learning factors. In future studies, it will be interesting to determine whether the structure of word learning differs during the engagement stage of word learning when phonological and semantic representations, as well as the links between them, are sufficiently strong to affect other words in the lexicon.

Can e-books support low SES parental mediation to enrich children’s vocabulary?

This study examines whether an e-book with a dictionary could support parents’ mediation of new words during shared book reading, more than the child’s independent reading of an e-book with and without a dictionary. The participants included 128 kindergartners and 64 mothers who were randomly divided into four groups: independent reading of the e-book with a dictionary; joint mother–child reading of the e-book without a dictionary; joint mother–child reading of the e-book with a dictionary, and independent reading of the e-book without a dictionary (control). For each target word, the dictionary presented (1) word meaning, (2) word meaning within the story context, and (3) a combined meaning. Pre- and posttests included receptive and expressive understanding of the dictionary words. E-books were read four times. Reading the e-book with a dictionary and maternal mediation was the most effective for receptive and expressive word learning, followed by independent reading with the dictionary. Mothers who read the e-book with a dictionary mediated at a higher level than mothers who read without a dictionary. The intervention contributed to advancement in learning new words beyond children’s initial vocabulary level. The research implications are presented in the discussion.

Quantifying expressive word learning in the presence of background speech

Children acquire novel word-object pairs rapidly and with few exposures via fast-mapping (Carey & Bartlett, 1978). However, everyday environments contain background noise that interferes with children’s formation of phonological representations of words. Existing research has not consistently shown disruption of receptive word learning by background noise when implementing a closed-set, forced-choice paradigm. In contrast, Riley & McGregor (2012) found that background noise disrupted expressive word form representation. The present study extends this prior work by investigating the effects of background speech on expressive word learning in preschool-aged children. Three-to-four-year-old children performed a fast-mapping task in quiet and in the presence of two-talker speech presented at a + 2 dB signal-to-noise ratio. Children viewed short animations whereby novel objects were verbally labeled. Children were then tested on each novel label-object pair with a tiered expressive recall task (Gordon & McGregor, 2014). For each object, children were asked to verbally produce its novel label. If children were unable to name the object, they were prompted with the label-initial sound (e.g., cueing) or given a closed-set of potential labels from which to choose the correct one. This presentation will discuss how depth of expressive word learning can vary in quiet and noisy environments.

Quantifying the effects of background babble on preschool children’s novel word learning in a multi-session paradigm

Common daily environments often contain background noise, such as background talkers, that may impose challenges on auditory based learning, including the learning of new words. Extant data on the effects of background noise on novel word learning, however, have shown mixed results. One possible reason for this observation is that most studies assess the effect of background noise in a single session. The present study aimed to add to this body of work by employing a multi-session paradigm to explore the effects of background babble, presented at 0 dB signal-to-noise ratio, on novel word learning in 3-year-old children (n = 8). Children were exposed to two stories presented digitally, each story containing four novel CVC words. Children were exposed to both stories, one in quiet and one in the presence of four-talker babble. After each story, receptive word learning was quantified with a four-alternative-forced-choice task, and expressive word learning was quantified by the number of novel labels correctly produced when their corresponding objects were shown to the children. Results suggested that children’s receptive and expressive word learning improved by session; however, greater improvement was observed for the words exposed in quiet. The results and their implications will be further discussed.

Repeated E-book Reading and Its Contribution to Learning New Words among Kindergartners

The contribution of repeated e-book reading with and without word explanation support and its effect on receptive and expressive word learning among preschoolers was examined. Seventy-eight kindergartners were randomly divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received two individual reading sessions of an e-book with a dictionary that provided word explanations. The children clicked on hotspots which provided the explanation two more times. The children thus heard the meaning of the word three times in each session, with a total of six times. Not all difficult words received a dictionary explanation. The control group received the regular kindergarten program. The children's receptive word learning, word explanation and production of focal words were tested pre and post intervention. An improvement in all dependent measures was found post-intervention, compared to the control group. The dictionary in the e-book supported not only receptive word learning, but also word explanation. Words that received a dictionary explanation supported word learning better than words which were not included in the dictionary. Furthermore, receiving support six times was more effective than three times. Educational implications are discussed.

Expressive and receptive vocabulary learning in children with diverse disability typologies

A combined storybook and play vocabulary intervention was implemented as a single-subject study of 23 children of diverse typologies, including 10 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), three with developmental disability (DD), five with Down Syndrome, and five with specific language impairment (SLI), who were currently receiving speech-language services and had an individual education plan (IEP) goal targeting language. Participants' ages ranged from 3 years-1 month to 7 years-4 months. A parallel treatment design was used to identify changes at (a) word level, (b) child level, and (c) in children of similar typological and developmental profiles. All children learned vocabulary words to criterion in both expressive and receptive modalities. Children of different etiological origin did not vary in the trajectory of their receptive or expressive word learning. These results suggest that the trajectory of word learning may be remarkably consistent across disability typologies. The theoretical and clinical ramifications of these findings are discussed.

The role of pictures and gestures as a support mechanism for novel word learning: A training study with 2-year-old children

A training study examined novel word learning in 2-year-old children and assessed two nonverbal mechanisms, pictures and gestures, which are commonly used as communication support. The aim was to (1) compare these two support mechanisms and measure their effects on expressive word learning and (2) to investigate these effects on word production over an extended time period. At baseline, the children’s performance was assessed on vocabulary and grammatical skills, and the groups were matched on these key variables. Eighteen participants were taught novel words either accompanied by a gesture or by a picture. The training consisted of four 20-minute sessions per week over a period of four weeks. Following training, the children were assessed on their ability to produce novel words at three time points: immediately after training, at a 2-week follow-up and at a 6-week follow-up. Gesture training supported word learning significantly better than picture training across all three testing points. Children in both groups showed the best production immediately after training, with a small but nonsignificant decline at 2-week follow-up. There was a significant decline in time 3 compared to time 1, but the children were still able to produce 6.8 out of 10 novel words, suggesting long-term learning. Our findings suggest that gesture may be used to support word learning and could benefit children with late emerging language. The importance of these findings for language development and language intervention are discussed.

Dynamic Versus Static Dictionary With and Without Printed Focal Words in E‐Book Reading as Facilitator for Word Learning

AbstractWe investigated the extent to which a dictionary embedded in an e‐book with static or dynamic visuals with and without printed focal words affects word learning. A pretest–posttest design was used to measure gains of expressive words' meaning and their spelling. The participants included 250 Hebrew‐speaking second graders from low‐socioeconomic status families who were randomly assigned to five equal groups. Four groups read the e‐book with a dictionary with (1) static visuals (SVs) without the printed focal words, (2) dynamic visuals (DVs) without the printed focal words, (3) SVs with the printed focal words, or (4) DVs with the printed focal words. The fifth group read the e‐book without a dictionary (control). The results show that word explanations and word use progressed the most after reading the e‐book with DVs and printed focal words. Less progress was observed when reading with SVs with printed focal words and DVs without printed focal words. Even less progress was observed when reading with SVs without printed focal words. The lowest support was in the control group, who read the e‐book without a dictionary. Word spelling progressed significantly in all groups. This study contributes to our knowledge on the potential benefits of multimedia for supporting the language and literacy of preschoolers. More specifically, it shows the contribution of a dynamic dictionary together with printed focal words for expressive word learning, along with the benefit of highlighted text in an e‐book for supporting word spelling.

Noise Hampers Children’s Expressive Word Learning

Noise Hampers Children’s Expressive Word Learning

From the Journals: Noise Hampers Children's Expressive Word Learning

From the Journals: Noise Hampers Children's Expressive Word Learning

Noise hampers children's expressive word learning.

To determine the effects of noise and speech style on word learning in typically developing school-age children. Thirty-one participants ages 9;0 (years;months) to 10;11 attempted to learn 2 sets of 8 novel words and their referents. They heard all of the words 13 times each within meaningful narrative discourse. Signal-to-noise ratio (noise vs. quiet) and speech style (plain vs. clear) were manipulated such that half of the children heard the new words in broadband white noise and half heard them in quiet; within those conditions, each child heard one set of words produced in a plain speech style and another set in a clear speech style. Children who were trained in quiet learned to produce the word forms more accurately than those who were trained in noise. Clear speech resulted in more accurate word form productions than plain speech, whether the children had learned in noise or quiet. Learning from clear speech in noise and plain speech in quiet produced comparable results. Noise limits expressive vocabulary growth in children, reducing the quality of word form representation in the lexicon. Clear speech input can aid expressive vocabulary growth in children, even in noisy environments.

Is overt repetition critical to expressive word learning? The role of overt repetition in word learning with and without semantics

ABSTRACTFive experiments examined whether overt repetition (i.e., saying a word aloud) during exposure is critical to the expressive learning of new words. When participants did not engage in overt repetition during exposure, they nevertheless exhibited clear expressive learning, both with and without an accompanying semantics, indicating that overt repetition is not critical to expressive word learning. In addition, learning without overt repetition did not differ from learning with overt repetition, suggesting that overt repetition confers no benefit for learning in this situation. These results are discussed in relation to previous studies, and it is suggested that benefits of repetition may accrue primarily in second language rather than in first language word learning.

Complexities of Expressive Word Learning Over Time

The purpose of this study was to examine semantic and lexical aspects of word learning over time. Thirty-four 8-year-olds participated in vocabulary lessons for 2 weeks. Frequency of exposure and informativeness of semantic context were manipulated. A definition task assessed semantic learning and a naming task assessed lexical learning. Semantic and lexical knowledge accrued over time and were maintained after a 1-month interval. Higher frequency of exposure had an immediate effect on semantic learning and a more gradual effect on lexical learning. Frequency of exposure coupled with informative context promoted semantic learning. Speech-language pathologists should be mindful of the richness of the learning context and the redundancy of massed and distributed exposures. Learning at the semantic and lexical levels can dissociate so both should be addressed.

WORD EXPOSURE CONDITIONS AND PRESCHOOLERS' NOVEL WORD LEARNING DURING SHARED STORYBOOK READING

In this experiment, 23 preschool children participated in two adult-child shared storybook reading sessions over a 1-week period. The objective was to characterize the influence of various conditions of word exposure upon children's receptive and expressive learning of novel words occurring within storybook reading interactions. Specifically, the effects of two contrasting conditions were examined: (a) adults' questioning versus labeling of novel words, and (b) adults' use of perceptual versus conceptual questions about novel words. Results suggested that adults' labeling of novel words facilitated children's receptive word learning more so than questioning; however, this effect was not observed for expressive word learning. Results also suggested no difference in receptive or expressive word learning as a result of conceptual versus perceptual questions. Implications of these findings are discussed.