Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-fqc5m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T22:01:44.737Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Commentary on Keynote

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 September 2006

Shelley Gray
Affiliation:
Arizona State University

Extract

Our understanding the relationship between verbal short-term memory as indexed by nonword repetition and word learning must now incorporate myriad factors that were not as apparent 17 years ago when Gathercole and Baddeley (1989) proposed that “the phonological memory skills tapped by nonword repetition play a causal role in vocabulary development” (p. 211). In particular, successful nonword repetition involves more than the phonological loop, word learning happens by degrees, and is influenced by many factors other than phonology, and children with specific language impairment (SLI), who have served as test cases by virtue of consistently demonstrating phonological memory deficits, often exhibit other deficits with the potential to negatively impact word learning. Gathercole (2006) still makes the case for temporary phonological storage playing an important role in word learning, but with several caveats. I would like to add two.

Type
Commentaries
Copyright
© 2006 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bankson N. W., & Bernthal J. E. 1990. Bankson–Bernthal Test of Phonology. Chicago: Riverside.
Conti-Ramsden G., Crutchley A., & Botting N. 1997. Subgroups of children with SLI. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40, 765777.Google Scholar
Dollaghan C., Biber M., & Campbell T. 1995. Lexical influences on nonword repetition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 16, 211222.Google Scholar
Dollaghan C., & Campbell T. F. 1998. Nonword repetition and child language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 41, 11361146.Google Scholar
Edwards J., & Lahey M. 1998. Nonword repetition of children with specific language impairment: Exploration of some explanations for their inaccuracies. Applied Psycholinguistics, 19, 279309.Google Scholar
Ellis Weismer S., Plante E., Jones M., & Tomblin J. B. 2005. A functional magnetic resonance imaging investigation of verbal working memory in adolescents with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 48, 405425.Google Scholar
Gathercole S. E. 2006. Nonword repetition and word learning: The nature of the relationship [Keynote]. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 513543.Google Scholar
Gathercole S. E., & Baddeley A. D. 1990. The role of phonological memory in vocabulary acquisition: A study of young children learning new names. British Journal of Psychology, 81, 439454.Google Scholar
Gray S. 2003. Diagnostic accuracy and test–retest reliability of nonword repetition and digit span tasks administered to preschool children with specific language impairment. Journal of Communication Disorders, 36, 129151.Google Scholar
Gray S. 2004. Word learning by preschoolers with specific language impairment: Predictors and poor learners. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 11171132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gray S. (in press). The relationship between phonological memory, receptive vocabulary, and fast mapping in young children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
Gauger L. M., Lombardina L. J., & Leonard C. M. 1997. Brain morphology in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 40, 12721284.Google Scholar
Uwer R., Albrecht R., & von Suchodeletz W. 2002. Automatic processing of tones and speech stimuli in children with specific language impairment. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 44, 527532.Google Scholar
Webster R. I., & Shevell M. I. 2005. Neurobiology of specific language impairment. Journal of Child Neurology, 19, 471481.Google Scholar