Word-learning abilities in deaf and hard-of-hearing preschoolers: effect of lexicon size and language modality.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's ability to rapidly learn novel words through direct reference and through novel mapping (i.e., inferring that a novel word refers to a novel object) was examined. Ninety-eight DHH children, ranging from 27 to 82 months old, drawn from 12 schools in five states participated. In two tasks that differed in how reference was established, word-learning abilities were measured by children's ability to learn novel words after only three exposures. Three levels of word-learning abilities were identified. Twelve children did not rapidly learn novel words. Thirty-six children learned novel words rapidly but only in the direct reference task. Forty-nine children learned novel words rapidly in both direct reference and novel mapping tasks. These levels of word-learning abilities were evident in children who were in oral-only and in signing environments, in children with cochlear implants, and in deaf children of deaf parents. Children's word-learning abilities were more strongly correlated to lexicon size than age, and this relation was similar for children in these different language-learning environments. Acquisition of these word-learning abilities seems based on linguistic mechanisms that are available to children in a wide range of linguistic environments. In addition, the word-learning tasks offer a promising dynamic assessment tool.
Lederberg
Amy R
AR
Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Georgia State University, Box 3999, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA. alederberg@gsu.edu
Spencer
Patricia E
PE
D001076:Aptitude; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D003638:Deafness / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D008297:Male; D019986:Persons with Hearing Disabilities / Q000523:psychology*; D012813:Sign Language; D013060:Speech; D014706:Verbal Learning; D014825:Vocabulary