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Word learning from context in school-age children: relations with language ability and executive function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2020

Margaret S. HILL  and
Stacy A. WAGOVICH
Margaret S. HILL*
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences, Indiana State University, USA
Stacy A. WAGOVICH
Affiliation:
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, USA
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences, Indiana State University, 401 North 7th Street, Terre Haute, IN47809, USA. E-mail: Margaret.Hill@indstate.edu
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Abstract

Purpose: Although school-age children learn most new word meanings from surrounding context, the joint roles of language ability and executive function (EF) in the word learning process remain unclear. This study examined children's acquisition of word meanings from context in relation to oral language ability and three EF skills (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Method: Typically developing school-age children completed measures of language and EF, then read and listened to short stories containing unfamiliar target words. A multiple-choice pretest–posttest measure assessed children's target word knowledge gains. Results: Regression analyses showed that language and cognitive flexibility were both related to word knowledge gains; each skill assumed greater importance among children with relative weakness in the other skill. Conclusion: Language ability and cognitive flexibility may each play a direct role in contextual word learning among school-age children, with children naturally relying on one skill if the other is weaker.

Keywords

word learninglanguage abilityexecutive functioncognitive flexibility
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 5 , September 2020 , pp. 1006 - 1029
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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