SRCLD Presentation Details
  Title  
       
    Charting the development of lexical quality in children’s reading and language development  
Author(s)
Kate Nation - University of Oxford

SRCLD Info
SRCLD Year: 2019
Presentation Type: Invited Speaker
Presentation Time: (na)
Abstract
Words vary in lexical quality: we all know some words well, others less so. Where does this variability come from and how does it relate to people’s lexical processing? In current work we are investigating the hypothesis that that variations in lexical quality are a product of language experience, especially reading experience. I will describe two experimental approaches designed to test this hypothesis in complementary ways. First, large scale corpus analyses that capture the content and nature of children’s reading experience (with particular reference to semantic diversity) and relate this to children’s lexical processing in a range of tasks tapping word reading, semantic judgment and reading comprehension. Second, small scale and tightly controlled laboratory training experiments that directly manipulate features of the learning environment and measure how this influences lexical learning and lexical processing. I will conclude by framing lexical quality as the dynamic and on-going product of encounters with language, starting in childhood but continuing throughout life.
Funding source: Economic and Social Research Council, Leverhulme Trust, Nuffield Foundation
Author Biosketch(es)