From the University of East Anglia press release:<\/p>\n
\nChildren may learn new words better when they learn them in the context of other words they are just learning<\/strong> — according to new research from the University of East Anglia.<\/p>\n
\nResearchers investigated how 18-24-month-olds learn new words — in the context of words they already know well and those they don’t.<\/p>\n
The findings help explain how children learn new words and suggest a new way that parents and carers could help boost language development<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Dr Larissa Samuelson, from UEA’s School of Psychology, said: “We wanted to find out more about children’s ability to learn and remember new words.<\/p>\n
“Previous work suggests that when children hear a word they do not know and an object they have never seen in the context of some objects that they can already name, such as a toy or a ball, they guess the new word refers to the new thing.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to know if the strength of a child’s knowledge of familiar things, how well they know what ‘cars’ or ‘balls’ are, mattered for learning new words and remembering them.<\/p>\n
82 children took part in the study. In two experiments the team taught them some new words for things they couldn’t name — such as honey-dippers and strainers.<\/p>\n
Dr Samuelson said: “We practiced these new words until they knew the honey-dipper was called a ‘zeb’ and the strainer was a ‘yok’.<\/p>\n
We then showed them a new thing — a bird toy — in the context of either the objects they knew well — a ball and a car — or things they had only just learned to name — the ‘zeb’ honey-dipper and ‘yok’ strainer.<\/p>\n
“When we asked them to get the ‘blick’, they were good at linking this new word to the bird-toy when it was presented with the familiar things, and with the just learned things.”<\/p>\n
But, after a five minute colouring break, the children were not so good at remembering what a ‘blick’ was when they had learned it in the context of objects they already knew.<\/p>\n
“It was really surprising that when we asked them to get the ‘blick’ after a short break, they did better when they had initially leaned the word in the context of the less well-known things — the ‘zeb’ honey dipper and the ‘yok’ strainer.<\/p>\n
“We had expected that a stronger knowledge of familiar words would be better for learning new words, but we found the opposite was true<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“This tells us new things about how children use the words they know to learn new words.<\/p>\n
“Our previous research has shown that even though two-year-old children are very good at making new word-object links, they don’t always remember them. But if we let them play with the new objects for just a bit — as little as a minute — before they make the link, it helps.<\/p>\n
“Also, when they are just a bit older at 30 months, they can remember the links better.<\/p>\n
“This new work suggests another way we might be able to help boost children’s ability to remember new word-object links<\/strong> — by teaching them in the context of other things that they are just learning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
“It seems counterintuitive, but it is perhaps because the less well-known items don’t compete with the new words as much. If they learn new words in the context of playing with well-known items such as a ball, book or car, they don’t process the new word as much.”<\/p>\n
The research was carried out in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oklahoma and the University of Iowa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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