ERIC Number: EJ1054459
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013-Aug
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0663
EISSN: N/A
Vocabulary Acquisition without Adult Explanations in Repeated Shared Book Reading: An Eye Movement Study
Evans, Mary Ann; Saint-Aubin, Jean
Journal of Educational Psychology, v105 n3 p596-608 Aug 2013
When preschoolers listen to storybooks, are their eye movements related to their vocabulary acquisition in this context? This study addressed this question with 36 four-year-old French-speaking participants by assessing their general receptive vocabulary knowledge and knowledge of low-frequency words in 3 storybooks. These books were read verbatim to them 7 times over a 2-week interval. At the first and seventh reading, children's eye movements were tracked. Results revealed considerable stability in eye movements, with children spending the vast majority of their viewing time on the illustrations at both time points. Children made modest vocabulary gains on the words in the books, and as expected, these gains were related to their general receptive vocabulary. Most importantly, viewing time during the first reading on depictions of corresponding nouns in the story partially mediated the advantage that overall receptive vocabulary held. As such, this study points to active matching of picture with text during shared book reading and children's processing style when listening to stories as a mechanism for vocabulary acquisition.
Descriptors: Eye Movements, Vocabulary Development, Receptive Language, Preschool Children, Young Children, Story Reading, Nouns, Illustrations, French, Native Language, Word Frequency, Language Processing, Correlation, Statistical Analysis, Foreign Countries
American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A