Department of Applied Clinical and Educational Sciences, Indiana State University, USA.
Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, University of Missouri, USA.
J Child Lang. 2020 Sep;47(5):1006-1029. doi: 10.1017/S0305000919000989. Epub 2020 Apr 7.
Purpose: Although school-age children learn most new word meanings from surrounding context, the joint roles of language ability and executive function (EF) in the word learning process remain unclear. This study examined children's acquisition of word meanings from context in relation to oral language ability and three EF skills (working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility). Method: Typically developing school-age children completed measures of language and EF, then read and listened to short stories containing unfamiliar target words. A multiple-choice pretest-posttest measure assessed children's target word knowledge gains. Results: Regression analyses showed that language and cognitive flexibility were both related to word knowledge gains; each skill assumed greater importance among children with relative weakness in the other skill. Conclusion: Language ability and cognitive flexibility may each play a direct role in contextual word learning among school-age children, with children naturally relying on one skill if the other is weaker.
尽管学龄儿童主要通过周围环境来学习新单词的含义，但语言能力和执行功能（EF）在单词学习过程中的共同作用仍不清楚。本研究考察了儿童在口头语言能力和三种 EF 技能（工作记忆、抑制控制和认知灵活性）方面从语境中获取单词含义的情况。
典型的学龄儿童完成语言和 EF 测试，然后阅读和听包含不熟悉目标单词的简短故事。多项选择题前测后测衡量了儿童对目标单词知识的掌握程度。
回归分析表明，语言和认知灵活性都与词汇知识的获取有关；在其他技能相对较弱的儿童中，每个技能都更为重要。
语言能力和认知灵活性都可能在学龄儿童的语境中直接影响单词学习，而如果另一个技能较弱，儿童自然会依赖一个技能。
