Caregivers Use Gesture Contingently to Support Word Learning

Autor/inn/en	Cheung, Rachael W.; Hartley, Calum; Monaghan, Padraic
Titel	Caregivers Use Gesture Contingently to Support Word Learning
Quelle	In: Developmental Science, 24 (2021) 4, (16 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Cheung, Rachael W.) ORCID (Hartley, Calum) ORCID (Monaghan, Padraic)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1467-7687
DOI	10.1111/desc.13098
Schlagwörter	Language Acquisition; Vocabulary Development; Cues; Caregiver Role; Nonverbal Communication; Environmental Influences; Preschool Children; Toddlers + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Wortschatzarbeit; Stichwort; Non-verbal communication; Nonverbale Kommunikation; Environmental influence; Umwelteinfluss; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Infant; Infants; Toddler; Kleinkind
Abstract	Children learn words in environments where there is considerable variability, both in terms of the number of possible referents for novel words, and the availability of cues to support word-referent mappings. How caregivers adapt their gestural cues to referential uncertainty has not yet been explored. We tested a computational model of cross-situational word learning that examined the value of a variable gesture cue during training across conditions of varying referential uncertainty. We found that gesture had a greater benefit for referential uncertainty, but unexpectedly also found that learning was best when there was variability in both the environment (number of referents) and gestural cue use. We demonstrated that these results are reflected behaviourally in an experimental word-learning study involving children aged 18-24-month-olds and their caregivers. Under similar conditions to the computational model, caregivers not only used gesture more when there were more potential referents for novel words, but children also learned best when there was some referential ambiguity for words. Thus, caregivers are sensitive to referential uncertainty in the environment and adapt their gestures accordingly, and children are able to respond to environmental variability to learn more robustly. These results imply that training under variable circumstances may actually benefit learning, rather than hinder it. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01