Shovels and swords: how realistic and fantastical themes affect children's word learning

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dc.citation.epage14en_US
dc.citation.spage1en_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber35en_US
dc.contributor.authorWeisberg, D. S.en_US
dc.contributor.authorIlgaz, H.en_US
dc.contributor.authorHirsh-Pasek, K.en_US
dc.contributor.authorGolinkoff, R. M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorNicolopoulou, A.en_US
dc.contributor.authorDickinson, D. K.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2015-07-28T12:01:44Z
dc.date.available2015-07-28T12:01:44Z
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_US
dc.description.abstractResearch has shown that storybooks and play sessions help preschool children learn vocabulary, thereby benefiting their language and school readiness skills. But the kind of content that leads to optimal vocabulary learning – realistic or fantastical – remains largely unexplored. We investigate this issue as part of a large-scale study of vocabulary learning in low-income classrooms. Preschoolers (N = 154) learned 20 new words over the course of a two-week intervention. These words were taught using either realistic (e.g., farms) or fantastical (e.g., dragons) storybooks and toys. Children learned the new words in both conditions, and their comprehension knowledge did not differ across conditions. However, children who engaged in stories and play with a fantastical theme showed significantly greater gains in their production knowledge. Reasons for and implications of this result are discussed.en_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.11.001en_US
dc.identifier.eissn1879-226X
dc.identifier.issn0885-2014
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11693/12501
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2014.11.001en_US
dc.source.titleCognitive Developmenten_US
dc.subjectWord learningen_US
dc.subjectFantasyen_US
dc.subjectBookreadingen_US
dc.subjectGuided playen_US
dc.subjectLow-income preschoolsen_US
dc.titleShovels and swords: how realistic and fantastical themes affect children's word learningen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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