Online environments not a barrier to preschoolers questions about unknown words
Guicherit, Isabelle
Saylor, Megan
Janakiefski, Laura
:
2022
Abstract
When preschoolers encounter a new word and word meaning, they can quickly link the two
items to learn a new word. When not provided with the necessary items to learn a word,
preschoolers will drive their own word learning. Previous research revealed that 5-year-olds
asked more questions about unknown words than known words, highlighting their active word
learning (Janakiefksi et al., 2022). However, it is unclear whether 5-year-olds' active word
learning extends to online environments— a crucial question given the growing role of online
environments in young children's daily lives. To investigate 5-year-olds’ online active word
learning, the current study replicated the procedure in Janakiefski et al. (2022) via Zoom. We
instructed participants to move their toys according to 9 known and 9 unknown target action
words and recorded participants' questions about word meanings. Online participants (n = 19)
asked more questions about unknown words than known words. Across online and in-person
environments, we found no differences in 5-year-olds' (n = 38) pattern of question-asking about
word meanings. We did find some differences in the types of questions about word meanings that
5-year-olds produced across environments. In-person participants asked more “What” questions
(e.g. “What does transpose mean?”). Online participants asked more “Guess” questions (e.g.
“Like this?”). Online environments are not a barrier to preschoolers' active word learning, but
they could influence the types of requests for word meanings produced by preschoolers.
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