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Non-word repetition assesses phonological memory and is related to vocabulary development in 20- to 24-month-olds*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2008

ERIKA HOFF*
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
CYNTHIA CORE
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
KELLY BRIDGES
Affiliation:
Florida Atlantic University
*
Address for correspondence: Erika Hoff, Department of Psychology, Florida Atlantic University, 2912 College Avenue, Davie, FL 33314, USA. tel: (954) 236-1142; e-mail: ehoff@fau.edu

Abstract

Two studies test the hypotheses that individual differences in phonological memory among children younger than two years can be assessed using a non-word repetition task (NWR) and that these differences are related to the children's rates of vocabulary development. NWR accuracy, real word repetition accuracy and productive vocabulary were assessed in 15 children between 1 ; 9 and 2 ; 0 in Study 1 and in 21 children between 1 ; 8 and 2 ; 0 in Study 2. In both studies, NWR accuracy was significantly related to vocabulary percentile and, furthermore, uniquely accounted for a substantial portion of the variance in vocabulary when real word repetition accuracy was held constant. The findings establish NWR as a valid measure of phonological memory in very young children, and they open the door for further studies of the role of phonological memory in early word learning.

Type
Brief Research Report
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

[*]

This research was supported by a Presidential Research Development Award from Florida Atlantic University.

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