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Fostering retention of word learning: The number of training sessions children retrieve words positively relates to post-training retention

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2024

Katherine R. GORDON Open the ORCID record for Katherine R. GORDON [Opens in a new window]  and
Stephanie L. LOWRY
Katherine R. GORDON*
Affiliation:
Boys Town National Research Hospital, USA
Stephanie L. LOWRY
Affiliation:
Boys Town National Research Hospital, USA
*
Corresponding author: Katherine R. Gordon; Email: Katherine.Gordon@boystown.org
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Abstract

During vocabulary instruction, it is important to teach words until their representations are robust enough to be retained. For adults, the number of training sessions a target item is successfully retrieved during training predicts the likelihood of post-training retention. To assess this relationship in children, we reanalyzed data from Gordon et al. (2021b, 2022). Four- to six-year-old children completed six training days with word form-object pairs and were tested one month later. Results indicate that the number of training sessions that a word form was retrieved was positively related to post-training retention. We discuss implications for vocabulary instruction and interventions.

Keywords

word learningmemoryretentionretrieval practicepreschoolkindergarten
Type
Brief Research Report
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 2024 , pp. 710 - 719
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

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