Contextual information and temporal terms.

P Gorrell; S Crain; J D Fodor

doi:10.1017/s0305000900010758

Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 2808577

Contextual information and temporal terms.

P Gorrell·S Crain·J D Fodor

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We report an experiment designed to identify how contextual information can influence children's performance on an experimental task involving temporal terms. Crain (1982) reported improved performance on a comprehension task when subjects were provided with contextual information, and he suggested that the improvement was due to satisfaction of presuppositions. However, this contextual information might have served to simplify task demands by providing prior information concerning an important aspect of the task. The present study distinguishes these factors by incorporating contextual information into the subordinate clause of the test sentences in a comprehension experiment (to satisfy presupposions) or into the main clause (to provide comparable prior information without satisfying presuppositions). We conclude that contextual information results in a significant improvement only when such information can be used to satisfy presuppositions.

Explore related subjects

Child Language Child, Preschool Cues Humans Language Development Linguistics Random Allocation Research Design Semantics Journal Article Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

P Gorrell, S Crain, J D Fodor. 1989. Contextual information and temporal terms.. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900010758

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1992

Preschoolers' production of tag questions and adherence to the polarity-contrast principle.

In this study children's ability to repeat either positive- or negative-polarity tag questions was examined. An elicited imitation task (Brown, Fraser, & Bellugi, 1963; Slobin & Welsh, 1973) was used to determine whether the patterns of repetition by children with lower-level language skills differ from the patterns of repetition by children with normal language skills. It was also asked whether children always adhere to the polarity-contrast principle in their production of tag questions, as suggested by Berninger and Garvey (1982). Adherence to the polarity-contrast principle was greater for the higher-level children than the lower-level children, but very few qualitative differences in the children's responses were found. Both sets of children violated the polarity-contrast principles at times and frequently repeated contrasting tag questions as matching tag questions. This finding clearly counters Berninger and Garvey's claim that preschool children always adhere to the polarity-contrast principle and corresponds to the spontaneous speech data of Richards (1988) and Todd (1982). Preschool children, it appears, have more than has been assumed to learn about the structure and function of English tag questions.

Child Language↗

PubMed1992

Treatment of elective mute behavior in two developmentally delayed children using modeling and contingency management.

Most classification schemes differentiate elective mutism from language problems seen in the developmentally delayed population. Two preschool developmentally delayed children were treated for speech reluctance using modeling and contingency management. Employing a multiple baseline across therapists, it was found that these treatment components were effective in increasing frequency of labeling behavior in both children. Results were maintained at follow-up. Generalization to new words and to spontaneous speech were also noted, and suggest that characteristics of elective mutism in this population may be similar to what is found in the general population.

Child Language↗

PubMed1992

Academic success of integrated hearing-impaired pupils who had enrolled in the early written-oral language program.

Data on academic success were analyzed for 37 hearing-impaired pupils who had been trained by the Written-Oral Language Method before school age. Seventy-one percent of pupils whose average hearing level was less than 89 dB and 77% of pupils whose hearing was 90 to 120 dB succeeded academically. Degree of hearing impairment, speech intelligibility, and gender were not important to their success. Linguistic competence evaluated just before enrollment in a normal educational setting at 6 years of age was the only factor significant to their academic success. However, we propose that the investigation of other factors, IQ and age at the start of preschool training program, must be analyzed in more detail in the future.

Child Language↗