Study provides new insight into how toddlers learn verbs Verbs pose a challenge for toddlers because they describe actions rather than objects Parents can help toddlers’ language skills by showing them a variety of examples of different actions, according to new research from the University of Liverpool. Previous research has shown that verbs pose particular difficulties to toddlers as they refer to actions rather than objects, and actions are often different each time a child sees them. To find out more about this area of child language, University psychologists asked a group of toddlers to watch one of two short videos. “This is the first study to indicate that showing toddlers similar but, importantly, not identical actions actually helped them understand what a verb refers to, instead of confusing them as you might expect”They then examined whether watching a cartoon star repeat the same action, compared to a character performing three different actions, affected the children’s understanding of verbs. Developmental psychologist, Dr Katherine Twomey, said: “Knowledge of how children start to learn language is important to our understanding of how they progress throughout preschool and school years. “This is the first study to indicate that showing toddlers similar but, importantly, not identical actions actually helped them understand what a verb refers to, instead of confusing them as you might expect.” Dr Jessica Horst from the University of Sussex who collaborated on the research added: “It is a crucial first step in understanding how what children see affects how they learn verbs and action categories, and provides the groundwork for future studies to examine in more detail exactly what kinds of variability affect how children learn words.” The research is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology by The British Psychological Society and Wiley. More£9M to understand how children learn to talk Category Digital University Press Release University home page Tags Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Institute of Psychology Health and Society School of Psychology One thought on “Study provides new insight into how toddlers learn verbs” mfortune April 16, 2014 at 10:00 am This is some very interesting results, it reminds me of a similar reaseach i read a few days ago that comes to same conclusions to this one. Log in to Reply ↓ Leave a comment Cancel replyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
Study provides new insight into how toddlers learn verbs Verbs pose a challenge for toddlers because they describe actions rather than objects Parents can help toddlers’ language skills by showing them a variety of examples of different actions, according to new research from the University of Liverpool. Previous research has shown that verbs pose particular difficulties to toddlers as they refer to actions rather than objects, and actions are often different each time a child sees them. To find out more about this area of child language, University psychologists asked a group of toddlers to watch one of two short videos. “This is the first study to indicate that showing toddlers similar but, importantly, not identical actions actually helped them understand what a verb refers to, instead of confusing them as you might expect”They then examined whether watching a cartoon star repeat the same action, compared to a character performing three different actions, affected the children’s understanding of verbs. Developmental psychologist, Dr Katherine Twomey, said: “Knowledge of how children start to learn language is important to our understanding of how they progress throughout preschool and school years. “This is the first study to indicate that showing toddlers similar but, importantly, not identical actions actually helped them understand what a verb refers to, instead of confusing them as you might expect.” Dr Jessica Horst from the University of Sussex who collaborated on the research added: “It is a crucial first step in understanding how what children see affects how they learn verbs and action categories, and provides the groundwork for future studies to examine in more detail exactly what kinds of variability affect how children learn words.” The research is published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology by The British Psychological Society and Wiley. More£9M to understand how children learn to talk Category Digital University Press Release University home page Tags Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Institute of Psychology Health and Society School of Psychology
mfortune April 16, 2014 at 10:00 am This is some very interesting results, it reminds me of a similar reaseach i read a few days ago that comes to same conclusions to this one. Log in to Reply ↓