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The Influence of Child-Directed Speech on Word Learning and Comprehension

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Abstract

This paper describes an investigation into the function of child-directed speech (CDS) across development. In the first experiment, 10–21-month-olds were presented with familiar words in CDS and trained on novel words in CDS or adult-directed speech (ADS). All children preferred the matching display for familiar words. However, only older toddlers in the CDS condition preferred the matching display for novel words. In Experiment 2, children 3–6 years of age were presented with a sentence comprehension task in CDS or ADS. Older children performed better overall than younger children with 5- and 6-year-olds performing above chance regardless of speech condition, while 3- and 4-year-olds only performed above chance when the sentences were presented in CDS. These findings provide support for the theory that CDS is most effective at the beginning of acquisition for particular constructions (e.g. vocabulary acquisition, syntactic comprehension) rather than at a particular age or for a particular task.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by a Mount Royal University Internal Research Grant.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Mount Royal University, 4825 Mount Royal Gate SW, Calgary, AB, T3E 6K6, Canada

    Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson

  2. University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada

    Taylor Schembri

  3. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    Elena Nicoladis

  4. Yorkville University, Fredericton, Canada

    Cody Eriksen

Authors
  1. Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson
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  2. Taylor Schembri
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  3. Elena Nicoladis
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  4. Cody Eriksen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cassandra Foursha-Stevenson.

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Kalty

figure a

Dakar

figure b

Blicket

figure c

Bimpko

figure d

Appendix 2

Intransitive

figure e

Transitive

figure f

Appendix 3

Familiarization test script

Screen A

Verbal Stimulus

Screen B

Monkey tickles bunny and vice versa

“See tickling? Can you find where the Monkey is tickling the bunny?”

Monkey tickles self, bunny tickles self

Monkey makes bunny nod and vice versa

“Ohh look nods! Can you find where the monkey nods? Can you find where the bunny nods?”

Monkey nods, Bunny nods

Monkey jumps, Bunny jumps

“Ohh wow jumping! Can you find where the Bunny is jumping over the monkey?”

Bunny jumps over Monkey and vice versa

Bunny tickles self, Monkey tickles self

“Ohh look tickles! Can you find where the Bunny tickles herself? Can you find where the Monkey tickles himself?”

Bunny tickles Monkey

Bunny nods, Monkey nods

“See nodding! Can you find where the Monkey is making the Bunny nod?”

Bunny makes the Monkey nod and vice versa

Monkey jumps, Bunny jumps

“Ohh wow jumps! Can you find where the monkey jumps? Can you find where the bunny jumps?”

Bunny jumps over Monkey and vice versa

  1. Bold indicates the correct answer

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Foursha-Stevenson, C., Schembri, T., Nicoladis, E. et al. The Influence of Child-Directed Speech on Word Learning and Comprehension. J Psycholinguist Res 46, 329–343 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-016-9441-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-016-9441-3

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