Poster #74 - The power of words: Children’s and adults’ metavocabulary

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Introduction. Word learning is one of the most important language skills in developing children. Robust vocabulary knowledge has been linked to enhanced reading proficiency (Nation & Snowling, 2004), memory performance (Gathercole, 2006), academic achievement (Bleses et al., 2016), and social functioning (Arnold et al., 2012). While there is widespread agreement in the literature that learning vocabulary skills is important, relatively little is known about what children and adults understand about their own vocabulary. Specifically, are children and adults aware that vocabulary size is related to a variety of academic, health, and life outcomes? The current study addressed this gap in the literature by assessing what children and adults know about the factors that influence word learning and the affordances of possessing a large vocabulary (Experiment 1). In a follow-up experiment (Experiment 2), we collected data from a younger group of children to elucidate the developmental timeline for ontology of this knowledge.

Methods. In Experiment 1, participants were 132 5-9-year-old children and 21 adults. We chose children of this age because it has been proposed that metacognitive skills emerge during this period of development (Bryce & Whitebread, 2012). Children were presented with a variety of scenarios regarding two animated characters (Figure 1). In the first task, participants were presented experiences that could contribute to learning words, such as reading books, talking with family members, and playing with other children (Figure 1A). In the second task, participants were presented with scenarios in which they were asked about whether vocabulary size was related to a life outcome (Figure 1B).

Results. The results of Experiment 1 revealed that participants had a strong understanding of the factors that lead to stronger vocabulary knowledge (Figure 1A task); children were above 90% correct on all items in this task. Participants also were aware of the proximal and distal outcomes associated with this knowledge (Figure 1B task, Figure 2). The more proximal the outcomes, the more children and adults were aware of the association. There was no difference in this knowledge between the youngest and oldest children in this sample, or between children and adults. In Experiment 2 we are replicating the study with 3-4-year-old children to elucidate the developmental timeline for ontology of this knowledge. We currently have 4 participants and expect to have a full sample by SRCD 2023.

Discussion. This work suggests that children and adults are aware of the experiences that promote word learning, and that their vocabulary size is related to developmental and life outcomes. Indeed, this knowledge may be acquired before general metacognitive skills typically emerge, sometime after the fourth year of life; the 5-year-olds in this study had similar knowledge as adults. Experiment 2, with preschool aged-children, will shed light onto the developmental timeline for the acquisition of this knowledge.

Authors

• Kaitlynn Ellis, University of Wisconsin - Madison
  Presenting Author

• Benjamin Barmore, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Christina Schonberg, University of Wisconsin - Madison

• Haley A Vlach, University of Wisconsin - Madison