This study investigated whether seeing iconic gestures depicting verb referents promotes two types of generalization. We taught 3- to 4-year-olds novel locomotion verbs. Children who saw iconic manner gestures during training generalized more verbs to novel events ("first-order generalization") than children who saw interactive gestures…

Children acquire language embedded within the rich social context of interaction. This paper reports on a longitudinal study investigating the developmental relationship between conversational turn-taking and vocabulary growth in English-acquiring children (N = 122) followed between 9 and 24 months. Daylong audio recordings obtained every 3 months…

Investigates vocabulary acquisition in the context of joint picture-book reading in mother-infant dyads. Infants aged 17 to 22 months and their mothers, 20 middle-class and 20 lower-class dyads, were observed. In both groups interaction foucused on the eliciting or the provision of information. Results indicate several social class differences in…