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ERIC Number: EJ917822
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jan
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0305-0009
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Object Movement in Preschool Children's Word Learning
Scofield, Jason; Miller, Andrea; Hartin, Travis
Journal of Child Language, v38 n1 p181-200 Jan 2011
Two studies examined whether preschool children preferred to select a moving object over stationary objects when determining the referent of a novel word. In both studies three- and four-year-olds observed three novel objects, one moving object and two stationary objects. In Study 1, children (n=44) were asked to select the object that best matched a novel word. In Study 2, children (n=45) were asked to select the object that best matched a novel fact. Results across the two studies indicated that three- and four-year-olds showed a preference for selecting the moving object and that this preference was similar for both words and facts. These results suggest that preschool children are able to use movement to determine the referent of a novel word, especially when other cues are unavailable or unhelpful, but that movement may not be uniquely helpful for word learning.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A