Gathercole, S. E. (2006). Nonword repetition and word learning: The nature of the relationship.
Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(04), 513-543.
This paper reviews a wide scope of
literature on the relationship between nonword repetition abilities and
vocabulary acquisition in children. In a
nonword repetition task, one is required to repeat a novel phonological form,
such as fiemoychee, and repetition
accuracy is judged. During the process
of vocabulary acquisition, all new words encountered in the environment are
seen as nonwords, as they are previously unencountered phonological forms. It
follows from this assumption that nonword repetition abilities would be linked
to the ability to acquire vocabulary. Experimental findings are reported to
help support this relationship. A key finding comes from a longitudinal study
that demonstrated a strong, positive correlation between nonword repetition
abilities in 4-year-old children, and vocabulary size at ages 4-8 (Gathercole
& Baddeley, 1989; Gathercole et al., 1992). This relationship existed
independently of general cognitive ability and age, showing that nonword
repetition abilities have an important predictive link to later vocabulary
development.
The cognitive mechanism linking nonword
repetition and vocabulary acquisition may be an individual’s phonological
storage capacity. Phonological storage refers to the ability to briefly retain
verbal information within the current focus of attention (Baddeley, 1986). When
you initially encounter a new word a phonological representation is
automatically generated in your short-term phonological store. Word learning
occurs over repeated exposures to this phonological form, wherein one
eventually develops a stable representation of a new word. Consistent with
this, children with an unexplained developmental language impairment known as
specific language impairment (SLI) are poor at nonword repetition (Gathercole
& Baddeley, 1990) – so much so that poor nonword repetition abilities are
considered a clinical marker for the disorder (Bishop et al., 1996).
The phonological storage account of the
link between nonword repetition and vocabulary is by no means universally held.
Both in the paper and in the commentaries that follow it, several alternate
views are considered including phonological processing, and motor speech
production.
Blogger:
Nicolette Noonan
Nicolette
is a second year Master’s student in the Speech and Language Sciences program
studying language learning
