Repetition across successive sentences facilitates young children's word learning

Jessica F. Schwab, Casey Lew-Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

74 Scopus citations

Abstract

Young children who hear more child-directed speech (CDS) tend to have larger vocabularies later in childhood, but the specific characteristics of CDS underlying this link are currently underspecified. The present study sought to elucidate how the structure of language input boosts learning by investigating whether repetition of object labels in successive sentences-a common feature of natural CDS-promotes young children's efficiency in learning new words. Using a looking-while-listening paradigm, 2-year-old children were taught the names of novel objects, with exposures either repeated across successive sentences or distributed throughout labeling episodes. Results showed successful learning only when label-object pairs had been repeated in blocks of successive sentences, suggesting that immediate opportunities to detect recurring structure facilitate young children's learning. These findings offer insight into how the information flow within CDS might influence vocabulary development, and we consider the findings alongside research showing the benefits of distributing information across time.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)879-886
Number of pages8
JournalDevelopmental Psychology
Volume52
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2016

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Demography
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Life-span and Life-course Studies

Keywords

  • Child-directed speech
  • Language development
  • Repetition
  • Word learning

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