HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal My Folders Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Storkel, H. L. Articles by Adlof, S. M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Storkel, H. L. Articles by Adlof, S. M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Effect of Semantic Set Size on Word Learning by Preschool Children

Contact author: Holly Storkel, Department of Speech-Language-Hearing: Sciences and Disorders, University of Kansas, 3001 Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045-7555. E-mail: hstorkel{at}ku.edu.

Purpose: The purpose was to determine whether semantic set size, a measure of the number of semantic neighbors, influenced word learning, and whether the influence of semantic set size was broad, showing effects on multiple measures both during and after learning.

Method: Thirty-six preschool children were exposed to 10 nonobjects, varying in semantic set size, paired with 10 nonwords, controlling phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. Nonobject–nonword pairs were presented in a game format. Learning was measured in naming and referent identification tasks administered before, during, and 1 week after training.

Results: Results showed no differences in naming or identifying the referents of the nonobject–nonword pairs with small versus large semantic set sizes before and during training. However, 1 week after training, children named and identified the referents of nonobject–nonword pairs with small set sizes more accurately than those with large set sizes.

Conclusions: Similarity to known representations appears to influence word learning, regardless of whether the similarity involves lexical or semantic representations. However, the direction of the effect of similarity to known representations on word learning varies depending on the specific type of representation involved. Specifically, lexical similarity speeds learning, whereas semantic similarity slows learning.

KEY WORDS: word learning, vocabulary, semantic set size

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?