The goal of this study was to examine word learning in preschool children with low socioeconomic status (SES) to inform an understanding of the limited word knowledge of this population. There is evidence to suggest that impoverished linguistic input explains substantial variability in word knowledge of children with low SES. Research has not yet considered the ways that children with low SES make use of linguistic input. Participants, preschool children with low SES, completed a part-term fast-mapping task. Specific cues of a familiar whole object, possessive syntax, and whole-part juxtaposition were provided to children in linguistic input using standard verbal scripts. As a group, participants provided more part-term responses when provided with cues than when no cues were presented. Participants provided the most part-term responses when multiple cues were presented in combination. Thus, children with low SES appear to use word learning strategies to make use of information in the linguistic input, similar to peers with higher SES. Participants with limited word knowledge, as defined by performance on a norm-referenced measure, were less accurate on the part-term task than peers with age-appropriate word knowledge. This finding suggests that children with low SES and limited word knowledge are inefficient word learners.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-08202009-122100 |
| Date | 21 August 2009 |
| Creators | Spencer, Elizabeth J |
| Contributors | Megan Saylor, Dan Ashmead, Stephen Camarata, C. Melanie Schuele, Dale Farran |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu/available/etd-08202009-122100/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
Page generated in 0.0188 seconds