Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology

Previous studies have shown that visual information is a crucial input in early language learning. In the present study we examine what type of visual input helps preschoolers in acquiring nonnative phonological contrasts. Catalan/Spanish-speaking children (4–5 years, N = 47) participated in a task...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Esteve-Gibert, Núria, Muñoz , Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/150778
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10609/150778
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:children
visual speech
second language acquisition
phonology
contingency
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repository_id_str
spelling Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonologyEsteve-Gibert, NúriaMuñoz , Carmenchildrenvisual speechsecond language acquisitionphonologycontingencyPrevious studies have shown that visual information is a crucial input in early language learning. In the present study we examine what type of visual input helps preschoolers in acquiring nonnative phonological contrasts. Catalan/Spanish-speaking children (4–5 years, N = 47) participated in a task to assess their phonological discrimination abilities before and after a training. Three training conditions were presented: one with clear oral/visual speech information, one with an ostensive object-sound mapping, and one with a rich social interaction. Children’s looking patterns were tracked to examine their focus of interest while being trained. Results revealed that preschoolers’ discrimination abilities increase in all trained conditions, but the condition where the speaker created an ostensive object–sound mapping led to higher long-term gains (especially for younger children). Eye-tracking results further showed that children looked to the object of reference while being exposed to the novel phonological input, which may explain the higher learning gains in this condition. Our results indicate that preschoolers’ learning of nonnative phonological contrasts is particularly boosted when the speech input is accompanied by an object of reference that is signaled ostensively and contingently in the visual space, compared to when the visual space only contains clear oral/visual speech information or social interactivity cues.Cambridge University Press202420242021info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10609/150778https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600reponame:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOCinstname:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)InglésApplied Psycholinguistics, 2021, 42(1)https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600CC BY-NC-NDhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/1507782026-05-28T12:42:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
title Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
spellingShingle Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
Esteve-Gibert, Núria
children
visual speech
second language acquisition
phonology
contingency
title_short Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
title_full Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
title_fullStr Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
title_full_unstemmed Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
title_sort Preschoolers benefit from a clear sound-referent mapping to acquire nonnative phonology
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Esteve-Gibert, Núria
Muñoz , Carmen
author Esteve-Gibert, Núria
author_facet Esteve-Gibert, Núria
Muñoz , Carmen
author_role author
author2 Muñoz , Carmen
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv children
visual speech
second language acquisition
phonology
contingency
topic children
visual speech
second language acquisition
phonology
contingency
description Previous studies have shown that visual information is a crucial input in early language learning. In the present study we examine what type of visual input helps preschoolers in acquiring nonnative phonological contrasts. Catalan/Spanish-speaking children (4–5 years, N = 47) participated in a task to assess their phonological discrimination abilities before and after a training. Three training conditions were presented: one with clear oral/visual speech information, one with an ostensive object-sound mapping, and one with a rich social interaction. Children’s looking patterns were tracked to examine their focus of interest while being trained. Results revealed that preschoolers’ discrimination abilities increase in all trained conditions, but the condition where the speaker created an ostensive object–sound mapping led to higher long-term gains (especially for younger children). Eye-tracking results further showed that children looked to the object of reference while being exposed to the novel phonological input, which may explain the higher learning gains in this condition. Our results indicate that preschoolers’ learning of nonnative phonological contrasts is particularly boosted when the speech input is accompanied by an object of reference that is signaled ostensively and contingently in the visual space, compared to when the visual space only contains clear oral/visual speech information or social interactivity cues.
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2024
2024
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
format article
status_str acceptedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10609/150778
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600
url http://hdl.handle.net/10609/150778
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Applied Psycholinguistics, 2021, 42(1)
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716420000600
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv CC BY-NC-ND
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/es/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv CC BY-NC-ND
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Cambridge University Press
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
instname:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
instname_str Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
reponame_str O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
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