Do children still pick and choose? The relationship between phonological knowledge and lexical acquisition beyond 50 words

Abstract

Previous studies document an influence of phonological knowledge on word learning that differs across development. Specifically, children with expressive lexicons of fewer than 50 words learn words composed of IN sounds more rapidly than those composed of OUT sounds (Leonard, Schwartz, Morris, and Chapman, 1981; Schwartz and Leonard, 1982). In contrast, preschool children with larger expressive lexicons show the reverse effect (Storkel, in press). The goal of the current study was to provide a re-analysis of existing data to determine if this discrepancy across studies may be related to how phonological knowledge has been defined. This study defines knowledge on a continuum from most to more to less. Results showed a continuous inverse relationship between phonological knowledge and word learning by preschool children. Specifically, most phonological knowledge was associated with poorest word learning, more knowledge with intermediate word learning, and less knowledge with best word learning. Theoretical implications are discussed.