Language and Cognition Seminar - How Preschool Children Learn Words From Storybooks
Speaker: Dr Jessica S. Horst, University of Sussex
Vocabulary acquisition is an important aspect of early cognitive development. One way in which young children learn words is from shared storybook reading (when an adult reads to them). Although much is known about the various ways that adult reading behaviour can influence word learning from shared storybook reading (e.g., asking questions, providing definitions), less is known about the underlying cognitive mechanisms that support children in forming associations between the objects they see in the illustrations and the words that they hear as stories are read. This talk will review several empirical studies demonstrating the importance of repetition within and between stories and features of the visual story context (i.e., illustrations) that influence the strength of children’s memory representations of new name-object associations. Results will be considered in terms of associative learning. Practical implications arising from this research will also be discussed.
Time: Wednesday 16 November, 1-2pm
Venue: Room G15, Chandler House, 2 Wakefield St, London WC1N