Poster #20 - The Development of Relational Language in Early Childhood: Cardinal, Ordinal, and Spatial Production and Comprehension

• In Event: Poster Session 18

Abstract

Relational language is used to describe relations between items, such as magnitude or spatial relations. We know that relational language improves across early childhood and is related concurrently and longitudinally to math skills (e.g., Chan et al., 2022; Hornburg et al., 2018; Purpura & Logan, 2015; Purpura & Reid, 2016; Toll & Van Luit, 2014). Relational language interventions have been shown to boost math skills (Purpura et al., 2017, 2021). Cardinal labels such as one, two, and three emerge before ordinal labels such as first, second, and third, though both increase across early childhood (Colomé & Noël, 2012; Miller et al., 2015). Similarly, complex spatial language improves from 3 to 5 years and helps with problem solving (Hund et al., 2017; Simms & Gentner, 2019). One recent study compared ordinal and spatial language, finding that 3- and 4-year-old children were significantly less successful at a search task using ordinal labels than using color labels, and their performance with spatial labels was intermediate (Hund et al., 2021). To date, no study has included cardinal, ordinal, and spatial labels in comprehension and production contexts. The goal of this study was to specify the developmental trajectory of cardinal, ordinal, and spatial relational language comprehension and production in early childhood. Thus far, 125 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children have been tested using cardinal (one, three, five), ordinal (first, third, fifth), and spatial (front, middle, back) labels, presented in counterbalanced order. Children viewed a row of toy cars. In the Give Me (comprehension) condition, children were asked to place the appropriate car(s) into a toy garage based on the label provided by the researcher, whereas in the Tell Me (production) condition, children were asked to produce the correct label for the car(s) specified by the researcher. As expected, Analysis of Variance revealed significant developmental improvement from ages 3 to 4 years and 4 to 5 years. Children were significantly more accurate in the Give Me condition than the Tell Me condition suggesting comprehension is easier than production. Children’s performance was quite accurate for cardinal labels regardless of condition, whereas comprehension was much higher than production for spatial and ordinal labels. Overall, children were significantly more accurate on trials involving cardinal labels than those involving spatial labels and significantly more accurate on trials involving spatial labels than those involving ordinal labels. Children’s performance was quite accurate for cardinal labels across age groups, whereas performance improved dramatically from 3 to 4 years for spatial labels and from 4 to 5 years for ordinal labels. These findings reveal interesting developmental and contextual differences that depend on label type, revealing developmental improvements for ordinal and spatial language (see Figure 1). The findings are useful because relational language—including cardinal, ordinal, and spatial labels—is important for academic success, including mathematics. Future research should continue to specify the role of various types of relational language in promoting math skills.

Authors

• Alycia M Hund, Illinois State University
  Presenting Author

• Alexis Colwell, Illinois State University