2-148 - Child Talk and Vocabulary Development: Enhancing the Educational Environment of Books and Videos

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The importance of language interactions and vocabulary-learning opportunities for young children is well established (Marulis & Neuman, 2010; Hurtado, Marchman, & Fernald, 2008). Similarly, ample research has found that both traditional books and educational media (e.g. e-books, videos) can be solid platforms for such growth (Takacs, Swart, & Bus, 2015; Huttenlocher et al., 2010). However, much less is known about the specific features within these platforms that are particularly important to the educational nature of the environment. This knowledge is vital since children spend much time reading books and/or watching videos – and the caregivers and educators who determine their exposure are inundated with vast and varied options with little guidance on how to select the strongest material. Much more needs to be learned to successfully make choices that promote language and vocabulary development.

To that end, this symposium connects the findings from three papers investigating mechanisms for supporting the learning experiences of young children interacting with books and videos. Paper 1 discusses the impact of an embedded questioner tool in an e-book on the parent-child language environment. Paper 2 investigates how slowing video pacing and providing additional processing time influences learning of children with diverse language backgrounds. Paper 3 compares three book genres to uncover how genre impacts vocabulary and content learning. In combination, the findings from this symposium suggest that certain specific structural and functional choices might be particularly suited to stimulate strong language and vocabulary learning opportunities for young children interacting with books and video.

Sub Unit

• Language, Communication

Chair

• Preeti Ganesh Samudra, New York University

Discussant

• Susan Neuman, New York University

Individual Presentations

• Say What? Evaluating the Quality of Caregiver-Child Conversations with an eBook - Presenting Author: Zachary Stuckelman, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Gabrielle Strouse, University of South Dakota; Non-Presenting Author: Georgene Troseth, Vanderbilt University; Non-Presenting Author: Israel Flores, Vanderbilt University

• Say it Slowly: Does Slowing the Pacing of Educational Media Promote Vocabulary Learning? - Presenting Author: Preeti Ganesh Samudra, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Kevin M Wong, New York University; Non-Presenting Author: Susan Neuman, New York University

• Familiarity vs. Pedagogy: How Word- and Content-Learning from Books Differs by Genre - Presenting Author: Tanya Kaefer, Lakehead University