Measures of phonological short-term memory and their relationship to vocabulary development

Abstract

Vocabulary scores, word span, nonword repetition, rhyme detection, and articulation rate measures were obtained for a group of 30 preschool children with a mean age of 4;11. After allowing for age and intelligence, it was found that the best predictors of vocabulary were memory span, rhyme detection, and nonword repetition, accounting for 19%. 15%, and 13% of the variance, respectively. Of these children, 28 were tested again on the same measures 13 months later. At the later stage, memory span and rhyme scores again predicted vocabulary to a significant extent, but nonword repetition score did not. Of the measures taken initially, memory span and rhyme detection significantly predicted later vocabulary scores, whereas nonword repetition just failed to reach significance. Cross-lagged correlations showed (hat memory span and rhyme detection on the first test predicted later vocabulary after partialing out initial vocabulary scores. However, initial vocabulary scores did not predict later memory span (or rhyme detection) after partialing out the initial span (or rhyming) scores. Articulation rate was not significantly related to vocabulary at either age. The results are interpreted as indicating that the phonological store of working memory (required by word span, rhyme detection, and nonword repetition, but independent of articulation rates) contributes to vocabulary development.

The Role of Executive Functions in Language Comprehension in Preschool Children

“…Studies that investigate the relationship between executive functions and language have focused mostly on the relationship between language abilities and verbal working memory (Avons et al, 1998). Other executive functions have been examined sparsely and specifically in some populations, e.g., inhibitory…”

“…In most of the relevant research on pre-school children, verbal working memory is operationalised as nonsense-word repetition. Most studies confirm the positive relationship between working memory and language learning in pre-school children (Avons, Wragg, Cupples, & Lovegrove, 1998;Gathercole & Baddeley, 1989). Additionally, working memory is presumed to have an important role in the development of language comprehension (Cain, Oakhill, & Bryant, 2004), grammar and morphology acquisition (Plunkett & Marchman, 1993;Speidel, 1993), and reading (Engle de Abreu, Gathercole, & Martin, 2011).…”

“…Working memory has also been shown to be an important predictor of language development in toddlers (Stokes & Klee, 2009) and a relevant factor involved in language acquisition (Avons et al, 1998;Gathercole & Baddeley, 1989) and reading (Goff, Pratt, & Ong, 2005). In the preschool period, working memory is involved in the comprehension of longer utterances and structurally and semantically complex sentences.…”

Short-term memory for serial order supports vocabulary development: New evidence from a novel word learning paradigm

“…A number of studies have explored the link between verbal STM capacity and vocabulary development, showing a consistent association between estimates of verbal STM, as measured by nonword repetition tasks, and vocabulary knowledge, especially in younger children (e.g., Avons, Wragg, Cupples, & Lovegrove, 1998;Gathercole, Willis, Baddeley, & Emslie, 1994;Gathercole, Willis, Emslie, & Baddeley, 1992;Service, 1992). The difficulty, however, is to clearly understand the factors that drive this association.…”

Imitation of Nonwords by Deaf Children after Cochlear Implantation: Preliminary Findings

“…2,3,6 Many studies of special populations known to experience problems with language or other cognitive processing skills have subsequently been carried out with this procedure. 7 As a result of reviewing this research, we became interested in the nature of the nonword repetition task and its relationship to spoken language development.…”