Clinical Issues: Understanding Word Learning by Preschool Children: Insights From Multiple Tasks, Stimulus Characteristics, and Error Analysis

Abstract

KS 66045-7555, hstorkel@ku.edu, www.ku.edu/~wrdlrng. Preschool Word Learning 2Understanding Word Learning by Preschool Children: Insights from Multiple Tasks, Stimulus Characteristics, and Error Analysis Lexical acquisition occurs rapidly and with relative ease in typically developing children.Children can form an initial representation of a novel word following only a single exposure (e.g., Dollaghan, 1985). The number of root words known increases from approximately 3,500 at the beginning of kindergarten to about 6,000 at the end of second grade (Biemiller, 2001;Biemiller & Slonin, 2001). While there is clear evidence that children learn words rapidly, what remains to be discovered is how children are able to accomplish this complex task so effortlessly. To learn a word, a child must store in memory two types of representations, semantic and word form, as well as the links between them (see Gupta this issue). The semantic representation refers to the meaningful information regarding a referent (e.g., "a toothed strip of rigid material for arranging the hair" for "comb"). A word form representation refers to the combination of sounds as a whole sequence and constitutes the word form (e.g., /koUm/ for "comb;" Vitevitch & Luce, 1999). Moreover, children may capitalize on known phonological representations to support word learning. A phonological representation refers to the individual sounds of the language (e.g., /k/ /oU/ /m/ in "comb"). Gupta (this issue) formalizes these levels of word learning in his functional framework. Here we extend the framework to children, examining groups of typical learners and learners with phonological delays. In addition, we illustrate how using multiple tasks, manipulating the stimulus characteristics of the words to be learned, and analyzing errors can provide a window into the formation of each type of representation. Multiple TasksA series of tasks can be used to examine the formation of phonological, word form, and semantic representations during word learning by preschool children (

The Effect of Semantic Set Size on Word Learning by Preschool Children

“…In the naming task, children were shown one nonobject and had to produce the nonword name. It was hypothesized that this task placed greater demands on the lexical representation because the child must retrieve the word form from memory to successfully name the nonobject (e.g., Hoover & Storkel, 2005; Storkel, 2001). In the referent identification task, children heard one nonword and had to select the corresponding nonobject from a field of choices.…”

“…In the referent identification task, children heard one nonword and had to select the corresponding nonobject from a field of choices. It was hypothesized that this task placed greater demands on the semantic representation because the child must retrieve the word’s referent from memory and match it to one of the choices (e.g., Hoover & Storkel, 2005; Storkel, 2001). If the effect of semantic set size is narrow, then it likely would be detected only in one task, presumably the referent identification task with its heavier demands on the newly formed semantic representation.…”