Two may be better than one: Promoting incidental word learning through multiple media

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 ◽  
pp. 101252
Author(s):  
Susan B. Neuman ◽  
Preeti Samudra ◽  
Kevin M. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Multiple Media ◽  
Incidental Word Learning ◽  
Better Than

scholarly journals Does narrator variability facilitate incidental word learning in the classroom?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Luis Tapia ◽  
Eva Rosa ◽  
Francisco Rocabado ◽  
Marta Vergara-Martínez ◽  
Manuel Perea
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Incidental Learning ◽  
Semantic Integration ◽  
Contextual Diversity ◽  
New Words ◽  
Low Diversity ◽  
Adults And Children ◽  
Incidental Word Learning ◽  
High Diversity ◽  
Better Than

AbstractRecent studies have revealed that presenting novel words across various contexts (i.e., contextual diversity) helps to consolidate the meaning of these words both in adults and children. This effect has been typically explained in terms of semantic distinctiveness (e.g., Semantic Distinctiveness Model, Jones et al., Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66(2), 115, 2012). However, the relative influence of other, non-semantic, elements of the context is still unclear. In this study, we examined whether incidental learning of new words in children was facilitated when the words were uttered by several individuals rather than when they were uttered by the same individual. In the learning phase, the to-be-learned words were presented through audible fables recorded either by the same voice (low diversity) or by different voices (high diversity). Subsequently, word learning was assessed through two orthographic and semantic integration tasks. Results showed that words uttered by different voices were learned better than those uttered by the same voice. Thus, the benefits of contextual diversity in word learning extend beyond semantic differences among contexts; they also benefit from perceptual differences among contexts.

scholarly journals Better to Be Alone than in Bad Company: Cognate Synonyms Impair Word Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 123
Author(s):  
Eneko Antón ◽  
Jon Andoni Duñabeitia
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Word Association ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Matching Task ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
New Words ◽  
L2 Word Learning ◽  
Concrete Concepts ◽  
Better Than

The effects of cognate synonymy in L2 word learning are explored. Participants learned the names of well-known concrete concepts in a new fictional language following a picture-word association paradigm. Half of the concepts (set A) had two possible translations in the new language (i.e., both words were synonyms): one was a cognate in participants’ L1 and the other one was not. The other half of the concepts (set B) had only one possible translation in the new language, a non-cognate word. After learning the new words, participants’ memory was tested in a picture-word matching task and a translation recognition task. In line with previous findings, our results clearly indicate that cognates are much easier to learn, as we found that the cognate translation was remembered much better than both its non-cognate synonym and the non-cognate from set B. Our results also seem to suggest that non-cognates without cognate synonyms (set B) are better learned than non-cognates with cognate synonyms (set A). This suggests that, at early stages of L2 acquisition, learning a cognate would produce a poorer acquisition of its non-cognate synonym, as compared to a solely learned non-cognate. These results are discussed in the light of different theories and models of bilingual mental lexicon.

Beginners remember orthography when they learn to read words: The case of doubled letters

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
DONNA-MARIE WRIGHT ◽  
LINNEA C. EHRI
Keyword(s):  
Learning And Memory ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
First Graders ◽  
Beginning Readers ◽  
Phase Theory ◽  
Sight Word ◽  
Word Structure ◽  
Written Word ◽  
Sight Word Learning ◽  
Better Than

Sight word learning and memory were studied to clarify how early during development readers process visual letter patterns that are not dictated by phonology, and whether their word learning is influenced by the legality of letter patterns. Forty kindergartners and first graders were taught to read 12 words containing either single consonants (e.g., FAN) or doubled consonants in initial illegal or final legal positions (e.g., RRUG or JETT). Children required fewer trials to learn to read legally spelled words with single or doubled consonants than illegally spelled words containing initial doublets. On a spelling posttest, children recalled single consonants somewhat better than final doublets, and final doublets much better than initial illegal doublets. More advanced beginning readers tended to regularize illegal initial doublets by doubling the final rather than initial consonants when they wrote these words. Poorer learning and memory for initial doublets occurred despite the salience of their position in words. Findings indicate that beginning readers use orthographic patterns to read and remember words earlier than predicted by phase theory, but their memory is constrained by their knowledge of written word structure.

scholarly journals Can young children learn words from a robot?

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Moriguchi ◽  
Takayuki Kanda ◽  
Hiroshi Ishiguro ◽  
Yoko Shimada ◽  
Shoji Itakura
Keyword(s):  
Social Cognition ◽  
Preschool Children ◽  
Cognitive Development ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Chance Level ◽  
Developmental Difference ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
Better Than

Young children generally learn words from other people. Recent research has shown that children can learn new actions and skills from nonhuman agents. This study examines whether young children could learn words from a robot. Preschool children were shown a video in which either a woman (human condition) or a mechanical robot (robot condition) labeled novel objects. Then the children were asked to select the objects according to the names used in the video. The results revealed that children in the human condition were more likely to select the correct objects than those in the robot condition. Nevertheless, the five-year-old children in the robot condition performed significantly better than chance level, while the four-year olds did not. Thus there is a developmental difference in children’s potential to learn words from a robot. The results contribute to our understanding of how children interact with non-human agents. Keywords: developmental cybernetics; word learning; social cognition; cognitive development

scholarly journals Differences in word learning: bilingualism or linguistic experience?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Borragan ◽  
Angela de Bruin ◽  
Viktoria Havas ◽  
Ruth de Diego-Balaguer ◽  
Mila Dimitrova Vulchanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Recall Task ◽  
Linguistic Competence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Learning Performance ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Similar Performance ◽  
Better Than

AbstractBilinguals may be better than monolinguals at word learning due to their increased experience with language learning. In addition, bilinguals that have languages that are orthotactically different could be more used to dissimilar orthotactic patterns. The current study examines how bilinguals with languages that are orthotactically similar and dissimilar and monolinguals learn novel words that violate or respect the orthotactic legality of the languages they know and how this learning may be affected by the similarity between the bilinguals’ two languages. In Experiment 1, three groups of children were tested: monolinguals, Spanish-Basque bilinguals (dissimilar orthotactic languages), and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals (similar orthotactic languages). After an initial word learning phase, they were tested in a recall task and a recognition task. Results showed that Spanish-Basque bilingual children performed differently than the other two groups. While Spanish monolinguals and Spanish-Catalan bilinguals recognized illegal words worse than legal words, Spanish-Basque bilinguals showed equal performance in learning illegal and legal patterns. A replication study conducted with two new groups of Spanish-Basque children (one group with high Basque proficiency and one group with a lower proficiency) indicated that the effects were not driven by the proficiency in the second language since a similar performance on legal and illegal patterns was observed in both groups. In Experiment 2, two groups of adults, monolinguals and Spanish-Basque bilinguals, were tested with the same task used in Experiment 1. The effect seen in children seems to be absent in adults. Spanish-Basque bilingual adults showed better overall learning performance than monolinguals, irrespective of the illegality of the items. Differences between groups could be due to the effect of having acquired literacy and linguistic competence.

Word Learning and Story Comprehension From Digital Storybooks

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth S. Kelley ◽  
Kara Kinney
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Story Comprehension ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
New Words ◽  
Incidental Exposure ◽  
Learning Instruction ◽  
Incidental Word Learning

An emerging body of research examines language learning of young children from experiences with digital storybooks, but little is known about the ways in which specific components of digital storybooks, including interactive elements, may influence language learning. The purpose of the study was to examine the incidental word learning and story comprehension of preschool children after interactions with interactive and noninteractive versions of a digital storybook. Thirty preschool children were randomly assigned to one of two experimental conditions: interactive in which the story text was presented aloud and interactive features were present and not interactive in which the story text was presented aloud with no interactive features. After three sessions with the digital storybook, no group differences were observed between conditions on measures of word learning or story comprehension. Children in both groups demonstrated some learning of new words; however, gains were minimal, approximately one new word per child. This study contributes preliminary data to indicate that interactive components of digital storybooks may not be sufficient to facilitate language learning. Instruction, rather than incidental exposure, is likely necessary for meaningful language learning from digital storybooks.

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