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Martinez D, Colenbrander D, Inoue T, Falcón A, Rubí R, Parrila R, Georgiou GK. The effects of explicit morphological analysis instruction in early elementary Spanish speakers. J Exp Child Psychol 2024; 246:106004. [PMID: 39003925 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2024.106004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2024] [Revised: 04/22/2024] [Accepted: 05/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024]
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of implicit and explicit morphological analysis instruction in Spanish, a language characterized by high morphological complexity and relatively consistent letter-sound correspondences. For 3 days, 94 Grade 3 Spanish monolingual students (43 girls; Mage = 8.9 years) were trained on target words containing experimenter-designed suffixes consistent in form and meaning (e.g., the suffix -isba refers to a factory in words such as "botisba" [a boot factory] and "cajisba" [a box factory]). Explicit and implicit instruction differed in the attention given to the co-occurrence of the suffixes in the target words. One day (immediate posttest) and 1 week (delayed posttest) after training concluded, participants were tested on their learning of the suffixes' form using a suffix identification task and meaning using a word definition and a multiple-choice task. Results of mixed-effects models showed that explicit instruction yielded better results for the learning of the form of the suffixes. Regarding meaning, across-condition differences were detected only in the word definition task; explicit instruction produced better results for both trained and transfer words. We discuss our findings in the context of the grain-size unit theory and examine the interplay between the language's orthographic and morphological characteristics, considering their impact on classroom instruction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dalia Martinez
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada.
| | - Danielle Colenbrander
- Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, National School of Education, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, New South Wales 2060, Australia
| | - Tomohiro Inoue
- Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Alberto Falcón
- Department of Human Communication, Autonomous University of Morelos State, 62350 Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Rosa Rubí
- Department of Human Communication, Autonomous University of Morelos State, 62350 Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Rauno Parrila
- Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy, National School of Education, Australian Catholic University, North Sydney, New South Wales 2060, Australia
| | - George K Georgiou
- Department of Educational Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2G5, Canada
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Sun X, Marks RA, Eggleston RL, Zhang K, Yu CL, Nickerson N, Caruso V, Chou TL, Hu XS, Tardif T, Booth JR, Beltz AM, Kovelman I. Sources of Heterogeneity in Functional Connectivity During English Word Processing in Bilingual and Monolingual Children. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2023; 4:198-220. [PMID: 37229508 PMCID: PMC10205148 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Diversity and variation in language experiences, such as bilingualism, contribute to heterogeneity in children's neural organization for language and brain development. To uncover sources of such heterogeneity in children's neural language networks, the present study examined the effects of bilingual proficiency on children's neural organization for language function. To do so, we took an innovative person-specific analytical approach to investigate young Chinese-English and Spanish-English bilingual learners of structurally distinct languages. Bilingual and English monolingual children (N = 152, M(SD)age = 7.71(1.32)) completed an English word recognition task during functional near-infrared spectroscopy neuroimaging, along with language and literacy tasks in each of their languages. Two key findings emerged. First, bilinguals' heritage language proficiency (Chinese or Spanish) made a unique contribution to children's language network density. Second, the findings reveal common and unique patterns in children's patterns of task-related functional connectivity. Common across all participants were short-distance neural connections within left hemisphere regions associated with semantic processes (within middle temporal and frontal regions). Unique to more proficient language users were additional long-distance connections between frontal, temporal, and bilateral regions within the broader language network. The study informs neurodevelopmental theories of language by revealing the effects of heterogeneity in language proficiency and experiences on the structure and quality of emerging language neural networks in linguistically diverse learners.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xin Sun
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Rebecca A. Marks
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Kehui Zhang
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Chi-Lin Yu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Nia Nickerson
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Valeria Caruso
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Tai-Li Chou
- Department of Psychology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Xiao-Su Hu
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Twila Tardif
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - James R. Booth
- Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Adriene M. Beltz
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Ioulia Kovelman
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
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