Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education Advance Access published online on May 20, 2008
The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, doi:10.1093/deafed/enn021
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Word-Learning Abilities in Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Preschoolers: Effect of Lexicon Size and Language Modality
Georgia State University
Gallaudet University
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Abstract |
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Deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) children's ability to rapidly learn novel words through direct reference and through novel mapping (i.e., inferring that a novel word refers to a novel object) was examined. Ninety-eight DHH children, ranging from 27 to 82 months old, drawn from 12 schools in five states participated. In two tasks that differed in how reference was established, word-learning abilities were measured by children's ability to learn novel words after only three exposures. Three levels of word-learning abilities were identified. Twelve children did not rapidly learn novel words. Thirty-six children learned novel words rapidly but only in the direct reference task. Forty-nine children learned novel words rapidly in both direct reference and novel mapping tasks. These levels of word-learning abilities were evident in children who were in oral-only and in signing environments, in children with cochlear implants, and in deaf children of deaf parents. Children's word-learning abilities were more strongly correlated to lexicon size than age, and this relation was similar for children in these different language-learning environments. Acquisition of these word-learning abilities seems based on linguistic mechanisms that are available to children in a wide range of linguistic environments. In addition, the word-learning tasks offer a promising dynamic assessment tool.
Correspondence should be sent to Amy R. Lederberg, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, Georgia State University, Box 3999, Atlanta, GA 30303 (e-mail: alederberg{at}gsu.edu).
Received December 27, 2007; revised April 12, 2008; accepted April 21, 2008