The effects of overhearing on vocabulary learning in ethnic majority and minority preschool children

Autor: Anneleen BODERÉ, Eline ZENNER, Marieke VANBUEL, Noel CLYCQ, Kris VAN DEN BRANDEN
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of child language
ISSN: 0305-0009
Popis: Research shows that infants and preschoolers can learn novel words equally well through addressed speech as through overhearing two adults. However, most of this research draws from samples of ethnic majority children. The current study compares word learning in preschoolers (M age = 5;6) with an ethnic minority and an ethnic majority background (N = 132). An experimenter of the majority group (representative for most teachers in Flemish education) told a story in three different interaction situations: Addressed Speech, Overhearing Classroom and Overhearing Two Adults. Results show that children of both ethnic groups learn novel words in Addressed Speech and in Overhearing Classroom equally well. However, minority children learned significantly fewer words in Overhearing Two Adults. This study suggests important differences in how ethnic majority and minority children learn through indirect speech in educational (monolingual) settings. In addition, the study scrutinizes the potential role of social identification in overhearing mechanisms.
Databáze: OpenAIRE