Word‐Learning Skills of Deaf Preschoolers: The Development of Novel Mapping and Rapid Word‐Learning Strategies

Abstract

Word-learning skills of 19 deaf/hard-of-hearing preschoolers were assessed by observing their ability to learn new words in two contexts. The first context required the use of a novel mapping strategy (i.e., making the inference that a novel word refers to a novel object) to learn the new words. The second context assessed the ability to learn new words after minimal exposure when reference was explicitly established. The children displayed three levels of word-learning skills. Eleven children learned words in both contexts. Five were able to learn new words rapidly only when reference was explicitly established. Two children did not learn new words rapidly in either context. The latter seven children were followed longitudinally. All children eventually acquired the ability to learn new words in both contexts. The deaf children's word-learning abilities were related to the size of their vocabularies. The present study suggests that word-learning strategies are acquired even when children are severely delayed in their language development and they learn language in an atypical environment.

Rapid Word-Learning in Normal-Hearing and Hearing-Impaired Children: Effects of Age, Receptive Vocabulary, and High-Frequency Amplification

“…The child's performance reflects his or her ability to learn new words under the conditions imposed in the experiment. Lederberg et al (2000) distinguishes two types of word-learning: rapid word-learning (i.e., fast mapping) and novel mapping (i.e., quick incidental learning). In rapid wordlearning, the child is given an explicit reference, whereas in novel mapping, the child is expected to make the connection between the new word and the unfamiliar object.…”

“…Word-learning may be reduced due to the degree and configuration of hearing loss, nonoptimal hearing aid characteristics, environmental noise, reverberation, and distance from the speaker. Several studies have been conducted to determine the effect of hearing loss on word-learning in children (Gilbertson & Kamhi, 1995;Lederberg, Prezbindowski, & Spencer, 2000;. Gilbertson & Kamhi (1995), for example, investigated the production and perception of nonsense words in 5-to 9-year-old children with normal hearing and in 7-to 10-yearold children with hearing loss.…”

“…Additional analyses revealed a significant correlation with receptive vocabulary for the hearing-impaired children. Lederberg et al (2000) studied both rapid word-learning and novel mapping in 3-to 6-year-old children with moderate to profound hearing losses. Although they hypothesized that rapid word-learning would precede novel mapping in these children, their results suggest that for some children, the reverse was true.…”

A prelingvális siketek nyelvelsajátítása – kitekintés

“…33 Studies on word-learning abilities in deaf and hard of hearing preschool children indicate that word-learning abilities were related to the size of the children's expressive vocabulary but not their chronological age. 34,35 Regardless of the communication modality and the hearing status of the parents, performance was strongly related to the number of vocabulary words the children had in their lexicon. That is, it is the size of the vocabulary that makes indirect word learning relatively easy.…”

Vocabulary developing strategies applied to individuals with hearing impairments

“…It was determined that students gained more benefits from studies carried out with formal education than from the studies carried out on the internet. In the education carried out on the internet, although many possible precautions were taken, limited reading comprehension skills, and not having face-to-face interactions were thought to negatively affect the performances of the students in the summer studies (Black et al, 1983;Glynn et al, 2005;Lederberg et al, 2000).…”