Preschoolers' Comprehension of Pronouns and Reflexives: The Impact of the Task

Autor/inn/en	Bergmann, Christina; Paulus, Markus; Fikkert, Paula
Titel	Preschoolers' Comprehension of Pronouns and Reflexives: The Impact of the Task
Quelle	In: Journal of Child Language, 39 (2012) 4, S.777-803 (27 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0305-0009
DOI	10.1017/S0305000911000298
Schlagwörter	Comprehension; Child Language; Preschool Children; Eye Movements; Form Classes (Languages); Language Acquisition; Task Analysis; Indo European Languages; Responses; Language Processing + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Verstehen; Verständnis; 'Children''s language'; Kindersprache; Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Augenbewegung; Analytischer Sprachbau; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Aufgabenanalyse; Indoeuropäisch; Sprachverarbeitung
Abstract	Pronouns seem to be acquired in an asymmetrical way, where children confuse the meaning of pronouns with reflexives up to the age of six, but not vice versa. Children's production of the same referential expressions is appropriate at the age of four. However, response-based tasks, the usual means to investigate child language comprehension, are very demanding given children's limited cognitive resources. Therefore, they might affect performance. To assess the impact of the task, we investigated learners of Dutch (three- and four-year-olds) using both eye-tracking, a non-demanding on-line method, and a typical response-based task. Eye-tracking results show an emerging ability to correctly comprehend pronouns at the age of four. A response-based task fails to indicate this ability across age groups, replicating results of earlier studies. Additionally, biases seem to influence the outcome of the response-based task. These results add new evidence to the ongoing debate of the asymmetrical acquisition of pronouns and reflexives and suggest that there is less of an asymmetry than previously assumed. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10