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The role of memory and language ability in children’s production of two-clause sentences containing before and after

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The role of memory and language ability in children’s production of two-clause sentences containing before and after. / Blything, Liam; Cain, Kate.
In: Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Vol. 182, 01.06.2019, p. 61-85.

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Blything L, Cain K. The role of memory and language ability in children’s production of two-clause sentences containing before and after. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2019 Jun 1;182:61-85. Epub 2019 Feb 23. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.011

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@article{73489362aadc4f5f9d44c4574774756e,
title = "The role of memory and language ability in children{\textquoteright}s production of two-clause sentences containing before and after",
abstract = "We assessed 3- to 6-year-olds{\textquoteright} production of two-clause sentences linked by before or after. In two experiments, children viewed an animated sequence of two actions, and were asked to describe the order of events in specific target sentence structures. We manipulated whether the target sentence structure matched the chronological order of events, for example: {\textquoteleft}He finished his homework, before he played in the garden{\textquoteright} (chronological order) or not, for example: {\textquoteleft}Before he played in the garden, he finished his homework{\textquoteright} (reverse order). Children produced fewer accurate target sentences when the presentation order of the two clauses did not match the chronological order of events, specifically for target sentences linked by after. Independent measures of vocabulary and memory were both related to performance, but vocabulary was the stronger predictor. We conclude that developmental improvements in children{\textquoteright}s ability to produce two-clause sentences linked by a sequential temporal connective is driven primarily by language ability, rather than memory capacity per se. The work also highlights the advantages of using both sentence repetition (Experiment 1) and blocked elicited production (Experiment 2) paradigms to elicit sentence production in young children. ",
keywords = "Temporal connectives, language production, sentence repetition, memory, language acquisition, Elicited Production",
author = "Liam Blything and Kate Cain",
year = "2019",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.011",
language = "English",
volume = "182",
pages = "61--85",
journal = "Journal of Experimental Child Psychology",
issn = "0022-0965",
publisher = "ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS INC",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The role of memory and language ability in children’s production of two-clause sentences containing before and after

AU - Blything, Liam

AU - Cain, Kate

PY - 2019/6/1

Y1 - 2019/6/1

N2 - We assessed 3- to 6-year-olds’ production of two-clause sentences linked by before or after. In two experiments, children viewed an animated sequence of two actions, and were asked to describe the order of events in specific target sentence structures. We manipulated whether the target sentence structure matched the chronological order of events, for example: ‘He finished his homework, before he played in the garden’ (chronological order) or not, for example: ‘Before he played in the garden, he finished his homework’ (reverse order). Children produced fewer accurate target sentences when the presentation order of the two clauses did not match the chronological order of events, specifically for target sentences linked by after. Independent measures of vocabulary and memory were both related to performance, but vocabulary was the stronger predictor. We conclude that developmental improvements in children’s ability to produce two-clause sentences linked by a sequential temporal connective is driven primarily by language ability, rather than memory capacity per se. The work also highlights the advantages of using both sentence repetition (Experiment 1) and blocked elicited production (Experiment 2) paradigms to elicit sentence production in young children.

AB - We assessed 3- to 6-year-olds’ production of two-clause sentences linked by before or after. In two experiments, children viewed an animated sequence of two actions, and were asked to describe the order of events in specific target sentence structures. We manipulated whether the target sentence structure matched the chronological order of events, for example: ‘He finished his homework, before he played in the garden’ (chronological order) or not, for example: ‘Before he played in the garden, he finished his homework’ (reverse order). Children produced fewer accurate target sentences when the presentation order of the two clauses did not match the chronological order of events, specifically for target sentences linked by after. Independent measures of vocabulary and memory were both related to performance, but vocabulary was the stronger predictor. We conclude that developmental improvements in children’s ability to produce two-clause sentences linked by a sequential temporal connective is driven primarily by language ability, rather than memory capacity per se. The work also highlights the advantages of using both sentence repetition (Experiment 1) and blocked elicited production (Experiment 2) paradigms to elicit sentence production in young children.

KW - Temporal connectives

KW - language production

KW - sentence repetition

KW - memory

KW - language acquisition

KW - Elicited Production

U2 - 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.011

DO - 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.01.011

M3 - Journal article

VL - 182

SP - 61

EP - 85

JO - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

JF - Journal of Experimental Child Psychology

SN - 0022-0965

ER -