Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:13:47.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Success in learning similar-sounding words predicts vocabulary depth above and beyond vocabulary breadth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 September 2018

Merel M. VAN GOCH ,
Ludo VERHOEVEN  and
James M. MCQUEEN
Merel M. VAN GOCH*
Affiliation:
Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Utrecht University, Institute for Cultural Inquiry, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Ludo VERHOEVEN
Affiliation:
Radboud University, Behavioural Science Institute, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
James M. MCQUEEN
Affiliation:
Radboud University, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen, the Netherlands Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author: Merel M. van Goch is now working at Liberal Arts and Sciences, Utrecht University. Merel M. van Goch, Utrecht University, Janskerkhof 13, 3512 BL Utrecht, the Netherlands; E-mail: [email protected]; phone: 0031302538308
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In lexical development, the specificity of phonological representations is important. The ability to build phonologically specific lexical representations predicts the number of words a child knows (vocabulary breadth), but it is not clear if it also fosters how well words are known (vocabulary depth). Sixty-six children were studied in kindergarten (age 5;7) and first grade (age 6;8). The predictive value of the ability to learn phonologically similar new words, phoneme discrimination ability, and phonological awareness on vocabulary breadth and depth were assessed using hierarchical regression. Word learning explained unique variance in kindergarten and first-grade vocabulary depth, over the other phonological factors. It did not explain unique variance in vocabulary breadth. Furthermore, even after controlling for kindergarten vocabulary breadth, kindergarten word learning still explained unique variance in first-grade vocabulary depth. Skill in learning phonologically similar words appears to predict knowledge children have about what words mean.

Keywords

word learningvocabulary depthvocabulary breadthphonological developmentlexical development
Type
Brief Research Reports
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 46 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 184 - 197
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, R. C., & Freebody, P. (1981). Vocabulary knowledge. In Guthrie, J. T. (Ed.), Comprehension and teaching: research reviews (pp. 77–117). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.Google Scholar
Beck, I., McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: robust vocabulary development. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Beckman, M. E., Munson, B., & Edwards, J. (2007). Vocabulary growth and the developmental expansion of types of phonological knowledge. Laboratory Phonology 9, 241–64.Google Scholar
Biemiller, A. (2006). Vocabulary development and instruction: a prerequisite for school learning. In Dickinson, D. K. & Neuman, S. B. (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research, vol. 2 (pp. 41–51). New York/London: Guilford.Google Scholar
Biemiller, A., & Slonim, N. (2001). Estimating root word vocabulary growth in normative and advantaged populations: evidence for a common sequence of vocabulary acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology 93(3), 498–520.Google Scholar
Bowey, J. A., & Patel, R. K. (1988). Metalinguistic ability and early reading achievement. Applied Psycholinguistics 9(4), 367–83.Google Scholar
Chaney, C. (1992). Language development, metalinguistic skills, and print awareness in 3-year-old children. Applied Psycholinguistics 13, 485–514.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C. (2005). Learning to read words: theory, findings, and issues. Scientific Studies of Reading 9(2), 167–88.Google Scholar
Elbro, C., Borstrøm, I., & Petersen, D. K. (1998). Predicting dyslexia from kindergarten: the importance of distinctness of phonological representations of lexical items. Reading Research Quarterly 33(1), 36–60.Google Scholar
Elbro, C., Nielsen, I., & Petersen, D. K. (1994). Dyslexia in adults: evidence for deficits in non-word reading and in the phonological representation of lexical items. Annals of Dyslexia 44(1), 203–26.Google Scholar
Graves, M. F. (1987). The roles of instruction in fostering vocabulary. In McKeown, M. G. & Curtis, M. E. (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition (pp. 165–84). New York/London: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.Google Scholar
Hulme, C., & Snowling, M. J. (2009). Developmental disorders of language learning and cognition. Chichester/Malden, MA: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Janssen, C., Segers, E., McQueen, J. M., & Verhoeven, L. (2015). Lexical specificity training effects in second language learners. Language Learning 65(2), 358–89.Google Scholar
Junge, C., & Cutler, A. (2014). Early word recognition and later language skills. Brain Sciences 4, 532–59.Google Scholar
Kooijman, V., Junge, C., Johnson, E. K., Hagoort, P., & Cutler, A. (2013). Predictive brain signals of linguistic development. Frontiers in Psychology 4, 1–13.Google Scholar
Lonigan, C. J., Burgess, S. R., & Anthony, J. L. (2000). Development of emergent literacy and early reading skills in preschool children: evidence from a latent-variable longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology 36(5), 596–613.Google Scholar
Metsala, J. L. (1999). Young children's phonological awareness and nonword repetition as a function of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology 91(1), 3–19.Google Scholar
Metsala, J. L., & Walley, A. C. (1998). Spoken vocabulary growth and the segmental restructuring of lexical representations: precursors to phonemic awareness and early reading ability. In Metsala, J. L. & Ehri, L. C. (Eds.), Word recognition in beginning literacy (pp. 89–120). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mulder, F., Timman, Y., & Verhallen, S. (2009). Handreiking bij de Basiswoordenlijst Amsterdamse Kleuters (BAK). ITTA.Google Scholar
Munson, B., Edwards, J., & Beckman, M. E. (2011). Phonological representations in language acquisition: climbing the ladder of abstraction. In Cohn, A. C., Fougeron, C., & Huffman, M. K. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of laboratory phonology (pp. 288–309). Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nagy, W. E., & Scott, J. A. (2000). Vocabulary processes. In Kamil, M. L., Mosenbach, P. B., Pearson, P. D., & Barr, R. (Eds.), Handbook of reading research, vol. III (pp. 269–84). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Newman, R., Ratner, N. B., Jusczyk, A. M., Jusczyk, P. W., & Dow, K. A. (2006). Infants’ early ability to segment the conversational speech signal predicts later language development: a retrospective analysis. Developmental Psychology 42(4), 643–55.Google Scholar
Ouellette, G. P. (2006). What's meaning got to do with it: the role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology 98(3), 554–66.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C., & Hart, L. (2002). The lexical quality hypothesis. In Verhoeven, L., Elbro, C., & Reitsma, P. (Eds.), Precursors of functional literacy (pp. 189–213). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Read, J. (2004). Plumbing the depths: How should the construct of vocabulary knowledge be defined? In Bogaards, P. & Laufer, B. (Eds.), Vocabulary in a second language: selection, acquisition, and testing (pp. 209–27). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Scarborough, H. (2005). Developmental relationships between language and reading: reconciling a beautiful hypothesis with some ugly facts. In Catts, H. W. & Kamhi, A. G. (Eds.), The connections between language and reading disabilities (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schmitt, N. (2014). Size and depth of vocabulary knowledge: what the research shows. Language Learning 64(4), 913–51.Google Scholar
Schwanenflugel, P. J., Stahl, S. A., & McFalls, E. L. (1997). Partial word knowledge and vocabulary growth during reading comprehension. Journal of Literacy Research 29(4), 531–53.Google Scholar
Serniclaes, W., Van Heghe, S., Mousty, P., Carré, R., & Sprenger-Charolles, L. (2004). Allophonic mode of speech perception in dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 87(4), 336–61.Google Scholar
Stoel-Gammon, C. (2011). Relationships between lexical and phonological development in young children. Journal of Child Language 38(1), 1–34.Google Scholar
Storch, S. A., & Whitehurst, G. J. (2002). Oral language and code-related precursors to reading: evidence from a longitudinal structural model. Developmental Psychology 38(6), 934–47.Google Scholar
Swan, D., & Goswami, U. (1997). Phonological awareness deficits in developmental dyslexia and the Phonological Representations Hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 66, 18–41.Google Scholar
van Goch, M. M., McQueen, J. M., & Verhoeven, L. (2014). Learning phonologically specific new words fosters rhyme awareness in Dutch preliterate children. Scientific Studies of Reading 18(3), 155–72.Google Scholar
van Goch, M. M., Verhoeven, L., & McQueen, J. M. (2017). Trainability in lexical specificity mediates between short-term memory and both vocabulary and rhyme awareness. Learning and Individual Differences 57, 163–9.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L. (2005). Screeningstest voor Taal- en Leesproblemen [Diagnostic Test for Language and Literacy Problems]. Arnhem: Cito.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L., Reitsma, P., & Siegel, L. S. (2011). Cognitive and linguistic factors in reading acquisition. Reading and Writing 24(4), 387–94.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L., Van Leeuwe, J., & Vermeer, A. (2011). Vocabulary growth and reading development across the elementary school years. Scientific Studies of Reading 15(1), 8–25.Google Scholar
Verhoeven, L., & Vermeer, A. (2006). Taaltoets Alle Kinderen. Handleiding [Language test for children]. Arnhem: Cito.Google Scholar
Vermeer, A. (2001). Breadth and depth of vocabulary in relation to L1/L2 acquisition and frequency of input. Applied Psycholinguistics 22(2), 217–34.Google Scholar
Vloedgraven, J. M. T., Keuning, J., & Verhoeven, L. (2009). Screeningsinstrument Beginnende Geletterdheid [Diagnostic instrument for emerging literacy]. Arnhem: Cito.Google Scholar
Wagner, R. K., Torgesen, J. K., & Rashotte, C. A. (1994). Development of reading-related phonological processing abilities: new evidence of bidirectional causality from a latent variable longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology 30(1), 73–87.Google Scholar