Learning to speak requires both basic and sophisticated abilities, working jointly for building formal and semantic components. The aim of the present study was to investigate lexical development in preschoolers (age range: 3- to 6 years), in a cross-age research design. In particular, we explored the relationship between two different levels of lexical ability: naming and defining the meaning of words. In order to identify the variables and the processes underlying these lexical compe- tencies, we evaluated the specific role of cognitive factors, as measured by Fluid Intelligence and Clas- sification tasks; metacognitive factors, as measured by an Explicitation task; mnemonic factors, as measured by Digit span and Phonological Memory tasks and of linguistic factors, as measured by a Receptive vocabulary task. In general, the results showed an increase in both cognitive and linguistic competencies in relation with age; naming and defining abilities revealed a partially different pattern of association with the other variables considered.
Cognitive and Linguistic components in lexical ability development of preschoolers: an explorative study
BELACCHI, CARMEN;PANTALEONE, SILVIA;
2013
Abstract
Learning to speak requires both basic and sophisticated abilities, working jointly for building formal and semantic components. The aim of the present study was to investigate lexical development in preschoolers (age range: 3- to 6 years), in a cross-age research design. In particular, we explored the relationship between two different levels of lexical ability: naming and defining the meaning of words. In order to identify the variables and the processes underlying these lexical compe- tencies, we evaluated the specific role of cognitive factors, as measured by Fluid Intelligence and Clas- sification tasks; metacognitive factors, as measured by an Explicitation task; mnemonic factors, as measured by Digit span and Phonological Memory tasks and of linguistic factors, as measured by a Receptive vocabulary task. In general, the results showed an increase in both cognitive and linguistic competencies in relation with age; naming and defining abilities revealed a partially different pattern of association with the other variables considered.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
