Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) often present with difficulties in learning new words compared to age-matched children with typical language development. These difficulties may affect the acquisition, storage, or retrieval of new words. Word-learning deficits impact on children’s vocabulary development and impede their language and literacy development. Findings from a wide range of studies investigating word-learning in children with SLI demonstrated that semantic and phonological knowledge are crucial to the word-learning process. However, intervention studies designed to improve the word-learning abilities in children with SLI are sparse. The experiments described in this thesis addressed this need to understand the effects of interventions on word-learning abilities. Further, the thesis describes the first investigation of word-learning abilities of New Zealand school-aged children with SLI. Specifically, the following three broad questions are asked: 1. What are the word-learning skills of New Zealand school-aged children with SLI compared to children with typical language development and which underlying language skills influence word-learning? 2. What are the immediate and longer term effects of phonological awareness and semantic intervention on word-learning and language skills in children with SLI? 3. What are the error patterns of children with SLI compared to children with typical language development when learning to produce new words and do these patterns change following phonological awareness and semantic intervention? The first experiment compared the word-learning abilities of 19 school-aged children with SLI (aged 6;2 to 8;3) to age-matched children with typical language development and revealed that children with SLI presented with significant difficulties to produce and to comprehend new words. After repeated exposure, children with SLI caught up to the performances of children with typical language development in learning to comprehend new words, but not on production of new words. Correlation analyses demonstrated that there were no correlations between the word-learning skills and other language measures for children with SLI, whereas the word-learning abilities of children with typical language development were correlated to their phonological awareness, semantic, and general language skills. In the second experiment, it was investigated whether there were also qualitative differences during word-learning between children with and without SLI additionally to the quantitative differences as revealed in the first experiment. Children’s erroneous responses during the word-learning tasks were categorised into phonological, semantic, substitution or random errors. A comparison of the children’s error patterns revealed that children with SLI presented with a different error pattern and made significantly more random errors than children with typical language development. However, after repeated exposure, children with SLI demonstrated a similar error pattern as children without SLI. Furthermore, it was examined whether a specific combination of phonological and semantic cues facilitated children’s learning of new words or whether there were word-specific features that facilitated children’s word-learning. No facilitative word-specific features could be identified. Analysis revealed that there were no significant effects of cueing on learning new words, but specific patterns could be derived for children with SLI. Children with SLI learned to comprehend more words that were presented with two semantic cues or one phonological and one semantic cue and learned to produce more words that were presented with two phonological cues. In the third experiment, the effectiveness of a combined phonological awareness and semantic intervention to advance children’s word-learning abilities was examined. Nineteen children with SLI (same participants as in experiment 1) participated in this intervention study that implemented an alternating treatment group design with random assignment of the participants. Children in group A received phonological awareness intervention followed by semantic intervention, whereas children in group B received the same interventions in the reverse order. Children’s word-learning abilities were assessed at pre-test, prior to the intervention, at mid-test after intervention phase 1, and at post-test, immediately following the completion of the second intervention phase. Each intervention itself was effective in significantly improving children’s fast mapping skills, however, gains in children’s word-learning abilities were only found for children in group A for production of new words. Extending the findings of the intervention effectiveness of phonological awareness and semantic intervention on word-learning as reported in experiment 3, it was investigated in experiment 4, whether the implemented intervention additionally influenced the error patterns of children with SLI. The erroneous responses of children with SLI on all word-learning probes at pre-, mid-, and post-test were categorised into the same error groups as described in the second experiment (semantic, phonological, substitution, and random errors). The error analyses revealed that children’s error profiles changed during the course of intervention and treatment specific effects on children’s erroneous responses were found. Post-intervention, children who received phonological awareness followed by semantic intervention displayed the same error patterns as children with typical language development, whereas children who received the same interventions in the reverse order maintained the same error pattern as displayed at pre-test. The final experiment examined the longer-term effects of the combined phonological awareness and semantic intervention reported in experiment 3 on the language and literacy development of children with SLI. Eighteen of the 19 children with SLI, who received the intervention reported in experiment 3, were available for re-assessment 6 months after the completion of the intervention. The children (aged 7;1 to 9;2 years) were re-assessed on a range of standardised and experimental measures. Data analysis revealed that 6 months post-intervention, all children were able to maintain their gains in phonological awareness, semantic, and decoding skills as displayed immediately after the intervention. Children’s general language and reading skills significantly improved following the intervention; however, children who received phonological awareness intervention followed by semantic intervention displayed significantly better reading outcomes than the children who received the same interventions in the reverse order. This thesis revealed that a combination of phonological awareness and semantic intervention can enhance the word-learning abilities of children with SLI. The combined intervention approach was also effective in additionally improving children’s general language skills and the reading of single non-words and real words, as well as connected text. The immediate and longer-term intervention effects provide evidence that advancing the semantic and phonological awareness skills is an effective intervention approach to support children with SLI in their word-learning and to furthermore promote their language and literacy development. However, the order of the implemented interventions played a significant role: Children in the current study profited most when they received phonological awareness intervention first, followed by semantic intervention.

Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) often present with difficulties in learning new words compared to age-matched children with typical language development. These difficulties may affect the acquisition, storage, or retrieval of new words. Word-learning deficits impact on children’s vocabulary development and impede their language and literacy development. Findings from a wide range of studies investigating word-learning in children with SLI demonstrated that semantic and phonological knowledge are crucial to the word-learning process. However, intervention studies designed to improve the word-learning abilities in children with SLI are sparse. The experiments described in this thesis addressed this need to understand the effects of interventions on word-learning abilities. Further, the thesis describes the first investigation of word-learning abilities of New Zealand school-aged children with SLI. Specifically, the following three broad questions are asked: 1. What are the word-learning skills of New Zealand school-aged children with SLI compared to children with typical language development and which underlying language skills influence word-learning? 2. What are the immediate and longer term effects of phonological awareness and semantic intervention on word-learning and language skills in children with SLI? 3. What are the error patterns of children with SLI compared to children with typical language development when learning to produce new words and do these patterns change following phonological awareness and semantic intervention? The first experiment compared the word-learning abilities of 19 school-aged children with SLI (aged 6;2 to 8;3) to age-matched children with typical language development and revealed that children with SLI presented with significant difficulties to produce and to comprehend new words. After repeated exposure, children with SLI caught up to the performances of children with typical language development in learning to comprehend new words, but not on production of new words. Correlation analyses demonstrated that there were no correlations between the word-learning skills and other language measures for children with SLI, whereas the word-learning abilities of children with typical language development were correlated to their phonological awareness, semantic, and general language skills. In the second experiment, it was investigated whether there were also qualitative differences during word-learning between children with and without SLI additionally to the quantitative differences as revealed in the first experiment. Children’s erroneous responses during the word-learning tasks were categorised into phonological, semantic, substitution or random errors. A comparison of the children’s error patterns revealed that children with SLI presented with a different error pattern and made significantly more random errors than children with typical language development. However, after repeated exposure, children with SLI demonstrated a similar error pattern as children without SLI. Furthermore, it was examined whether a specific combination of phonological and semantic cues facilitated children’s learning of new words or whether there were word-specific features that facilitated children’s word-learning. No facilitative word-specific features could be identified. Analysis revealed that there were no significant effects of cueing on learning new words, but specific patterns could be derived for children with SLI. Children with SLI learned to comprehend more words that were presented with two semantic cues or one phonological and one semantic cue and learned to produce more words that were presented with two phonological cues. In the third experiment, the effectiveness of a combined phonological awareness and semantic intervention to advance children’s word-learning abilities was examined. Nineteen children with SLI (same participants as in experiment 1) participated in this intervention study that implemented an alternating treatment group design with random assignment of the participants. Children in group A received phonological awareness intervention followed by semantic intervention, whereas children in group B received the same interventions in the reverse order. Children’s word-learning abilities were assessed at pre-test, prior to the intervention, at mid-test after intervention phase 1, and at post-test, immediately following the completion of the second intervention phase. Each intervention itself was effective in significantly improving children’s fast mapping skills, however, gains in children’s word-learning abilities were only found for children in group A for production of new words. Extending the findings of the intervention effectiveness of phonological awareness and semantic intervention on word-learning as reported in experiment 3, it was investigated in experiment 4, whether the implemented intervention additionally influenced the error patterns of children with SLI. The erroneous responses of children with SLI on all word-learning probes at pre-, mid-, and post-test were categorised into the same error groups as described in the second experiment (semantic, phonological, substitution, and random errors). The error analyses revealed that children’s error profiles changed during the course of intervention and treatment specific effects on children’s erroneous responses were found. Post-intervention, children who received phonological awareness followed by semantic intervention displayed the same error patterns as children with typical language development, whereas children who received the same interventions in the reverse order maintained the same error pattern as displayed at pre-test. The final experiment examined the longer-term effects of the combined phonological awareness and semantic intervention reported in experiment 3 on the language and literacy development of children with SLI. Eighteen of the 19 children with SLI, who received the intervention reported in experiment 3, were available for re-assessment 6 months after the completion of the intervention. The children (aged 7;1 to 9;2 years) were re-assessed on a range of standardised and experimental measures. Data analysis revealed that 6 months post-intervention, all children were able to maintain their gains in phonological awareness, semantic, and decoding skills as displayed immediately after the intervention. Children’s general language and reading skills significantly improved following the intervention; however, children who received phonological awareness intervention followed by semantic intervention displayed significantly better reading outcomes than the children who received the same interventions in the reverse order. This thesis revealed that a combination of phonological awareness and semantic intervention can enhance the word-learning abilities of children with SLI. The combined intervention approach was also effective in additionally improving children’s general language skills and the reading of single non-words and real words, as well as connected text. The immediate and longer-term intervention effects provide evidence that advancing the semantic and phonological awareness skills is an effective intervention approach to support children with SLI in their word-learning and to furthermore promote their language and literacy development. However, the order of the implemented interventions played a significant role: Children in the current study profited most when they received phonological awareness intervention first, followed by semantic intervention.

Infants' characteristics, including temperament and cognitive ability, contribute to individual differences in language development. However, the process through which such traits influence language learning remains unclear. One possibility is that temperament and cognitive capacities affect the way in which infants learn words by influencing their ability to successfully use contextual referential cues. Social cues, such as eyegaze, pointing and gesturing, and emotional expressions, are one important type of referential cue. The present study explored the role of such social cues in the relation between infant characteristics and vocabulary in 71 18-month-olds. It was hypothesized that infants' characteristics would be associated with both their vocabulary and their use of such social cues, and that social cue use would be related to overall vocabulary. Further, it was predicted that infants' ability to use social cues effectively would mediate the relation between infants' temperament and cognitive ability, and their vocabulary. Participants watched six word-learning videos on a Tobii 1760 Eyetracker. In each video, a speaker labeled a novel object using one social referential cue. Infants' ability to use that cue to learn the object label was assessed by tracking the time spent looking toward the target object. Infants' cognitive and language abilities were assessed using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition. Both parents and observers provided ratings of child temperament, and parents also completed the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences form. Both correlation and bias-corrected bootstrap mediation analyses were conducted. Temperament did not make a unique contribution to infants' vocabulary, but both cognitive ability and social cue use did. Mediation analyses indicated that social cue use did mediate the relation between early cognitive ability and vocabulary, but only for infants with lower than average cognitive ability. These results indicate that social cues may be especially important for language development in infants and young children with low IQ, possibly because they provide additional supports for word learning. This has important implications for both typically developing infants as well as young children with language disorders.

A learning disability (LD) is any disability resulting from a primary impairment in comprehending or expressing language. Many studies have looked at atypical language processes in children - particularly those with Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia - but few have considered to how language demands, and therefore the impact of LD, change as children or adolescents transition into the postsecondary setting where auditory language abilities are often a necessary component for success. In this study we posited that students with LD would have a more difficult time learning information from a typical lecture format, and that contributors such as extant vocabulary, short-term verbal memory, and attention would all predict outcomes for post-lecture test performance. Participants were 34 individuals with LD and 34 individuals who were typically developing (ND). Each participant watched a 30-minute lecture. Before the lecture, a baseline-test of general topic knowledge was given. Afterwards a post-test was given regarding specific information from the lecture. Additionally, multiple standardized tests and ratings were given to each participant to look at individual differences that contributed to outcomes on the post-test. We found that LD students learned less information from the lecture than did the ND students, as measured in both recall and recognition formats. Post-test performance for all students was predicted based on vocabulary and attention. Verbal memory was an additional predictor for LD participants.

This study was an investigation of the association between executive functioning (EF) ability and language development in the latter half of the second year. Fifty-five typically developing 18- month-olds were brought into the lab. The elicited imitation with inappropriate object substitution (EIIOS) task was used as a developmentally sensitive measure of EF. Language acquisition was assessed using a real-time word learning task as well as a parent report measure of vocabulary size (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences Version). Contrary to expectations, very few statistically significant associations were found between the EF measure and either language measure. Despite these findings there is still a need for research to identify an appropriate measure of EF in the latter half of the second year.

This thesis examines the influence of morphological and identity priming to understand how repetition influences word recognition and novel word learning in first (L1) and second (L2) language adults. The following questions are addressed: How does morphological relatedness between repeated words influence (i) word recognition in natural reading and (ii) novel word learning? (iii) What interactions exist between word repetition and selective attention in novel word learning? Chapter 2 addresses question (i), finding little evidence of morphological priming effects (i.e., faster recognition of a word following a morphologically related word) in L2 reading, and none in L1. The effects of identity priming were ubiquitous in both groups. Chapter 3 examines question (ii) for L1 readers. Low-frequency base words (e.g., caltrop) and novel complex forms (e.g., caltroper) of those bases were primed by two repetitions of identical forms or alternate forms. Learning performance was consistently as good or better after identity priming than after morphological priming. However, orthographic and semantic learning for base forms was stronger in the morphological priming condition. Chapter 4 examines question (iii). Attention was manipulated by delivering attention-inducing instructions, while the control group received no instructions. Exposure was manipulated by embedding novel words either 2, 4, or 8 times. The presence of instruction led to a short-lived speed-up in eye-movements and faster recognition of novel words. Critically, L1 learners reached optimal performance in the post-tests earlier (after 4 exposures), while L2 learners’ performance continued to improve through more exposures. Overall, this thesis shows that morphological priming facilitated L2 visual word recognition and L1 novel word learning when a complex form is a prime, and the base form is a target. We discuss reasons for this asymmetric effect and these results in the framework of the theories of word learning and morphological processing. / Dissertation / Candidate in Philosophy

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In linguistics, prosody encompasses the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech, and this plays an important role in the language-learning process. This study seeks to understand this phenomenon further, providing novel language learning data with nursery rhymes as a vehicle to teach adults foreign words. Building on models of Dynamic Attending Theory and Phonological Short-Term Memory, it was theorized that the accuracy of foreign word learning is predicted by the prosodic cues present in the word’s learning context. This experiment included 3 tasks to explore this theory. Task 1 tested how accurately the participant processed the beat of a musical sequence. In Task 2, participants learned foreign words in a nursery rhyme context. Finally, in Task 3, participants were asked to identify which words they recognized from a large list of foreign words. Results showed a significant effect for prosodic cues’ influence on word memory. Specifically, temporal and rhythmic cues hierarchically facilitate phonological short-term memory, as represented in this paper’s proposed theoretical model. A potential link was also found between individual rhythmic ability and memory of foreign words. Overall, the present thesis offers a theoretical understanding of the use of nursery rhymes during adult foreign language learning / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In linguistics, prosody encompasses the rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech, which plays an important role in the language-learning process. When adults don't have the meaning of words to rely on, they often use these rhythmic cues to remember them better. This research involved three tasks: processing the beat of music, learning foreign words through nursery rhymes, and then recognizing those words from a list. The results showed that rhythmic and timing cues are helpful for remembering words. Also, individuals with better rhythmic skills may demonstrate better word memory. This study suggests that using nursery rhymes could be an effective tool for teaching adults new languages.

The Chinese language has become an increasingly important Asian language for American students and more and more of them have a desire to learn it. The problems and the difficulties that Chinese foreign language (CFL) learners have when they try to use their knowledge of new vocabulary in reading comprehension are apparent. Previous studies have described some aspects that may influence reading comprehension and have indicated that Chinese is a relatively difficult language for native speakers of American English, but there are few studies that have focused on improving CFL learners' Chinese reading comprehension. This study investigates the effect of pre-learning vocabulary and contextualized word learning strategies on Chinese reading comprehension. The purpose of this study is to examine whether pre-learning vocabulary and contextualized word learning positively affect CFL learners' reading comprehension. The results show that pre-learning vocabulary does not have a positive effect on Chinese reading comprehension and that although contextualized word learning positively affects CFL learners' reading comprehension the effect is not significant. This study also gives relative analysis.

Purpose: This study examines potential cross-linguistic effects on accuracy of codas in newly learned English-like nonwords produced by bilingual Spanish-English-speaking children. Methods: Forty-two bilingual Spanish-English-speaking second-graders (age 7-9) were matched individually with monolingual peers on age (+/- 6 months), sex, and percentile score on the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation (GFTA-2; Goldman & Fristoe, 2000), and matched for group on mother's level of education. Participants named various sea monsters as part of computerized word-learning games. Sixteen syllable-final coda consonants were analyzed for accuracy. These were drawn from thirteen nonwords distributed across five word-learning tasks. Results: Bilingual children were less accurate than monolingual children in production of both shared and unshared codas, though the gap was greater for unshared codas. Both bilingual and monolingual children were more accurate in production of shared codas than unshared codas. Conclusion: The results suggest that native language phonotactics influence accuracy of coda production in bilingual Spanish-English-speaking school-age children during word learning. Influences of native phonology on word learning could potentially impact academic achievement through vocabulary learning in the classroom.