ERIC Number: EJ1139170
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017-Apr
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0142-7237
EISSN: N/A
Understanding the Semantic Functions of "but" in Middle Childhood: The Role of Text- and Sentence-Level Comprehension Abilities
Florit, Elena; Cain, Kate; Levorato, Maria Chiara
First Language, v37 n2 p109-129 Apr 2017
This study examined Italian 7- to 9-year-olds' understanding of the connective "but" when used to relate two events in sentences embedded in short stories. Performance was largely accounted for by the cognitive complexity of the sentence that included the connective and the salience of its meaning (confirmed in a second study with adults). Additional influences on children's performance were the category of the story in which the critical sentence was embedded and the child's text comprehension abilities. Further, by 9 years of age, performance resembled that of adults. These findings make an advance in explaining the role of information presented in a text at different levels and an individual's linguistic abilities in children's understanding of the connective but in stories and its development.
Descriptors: Semantics, Language Usage, Native Language, Language Acquisition, Italian, Form Classes (Languages), Foreign Countries, Language Processing, Role, Reading Comprehension, Difficulty Level, Sentences, Story Grammar, Elementary School Students, Cloze Procedure, Reading Fluency, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Statistical Analysis, Comparative Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Italy
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A