Learning words through overhearing.
Recent research indicates that toddlers can monitor others' conversations, raising the possibility that they can acquire vocabulary in this way. Three studies examined 2-year-olds' (N = 88) ability to learn novel words when overhearing these words used by others. Children aged 2,6 were equally good at learning novel words-both object labels and action verbs-when they were overhearers as when they were directly addressed. For younger 2-year-olds (2,1), this was true for object labels, but the results were less clear for verbs. The findings demonstrate that 2-year-olds can acquire novel words from overheard speech, and highlight the active role played by toddlers in vocabulary acquisition.
Akhtar
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Psychology Department, University of California, Santa Cruz 95064, USA. nakhtar@cats.ucsc.edu
Jipson
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J
Callanan
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MA
D000367:Age Factors; D001722:Birth Order; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D002666:Psychology, Child; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary