The presence of phonological neighbours facilitates word-form learning, suggesting that prior phonological knowledge supports vocabulary acquisition. We tested whether prior semantic knowledge similarly benefits word learning by teaching …
Children and adults benefit from a new word’s phonological neighbors during explicit vocabulary instruction, suggesting that related prior knowledge can support new learning. This study examined the influence of lexical neighborhood structure during …
Within education, the *Matthew effect* describes how the “rich get richer” in literacy skills. We focused on this effect in vocabulary, and asked how existing vocabulary knowledge might support memory for new words.
A book at bedtime provides opportunities for language learning. Our recent study suggests that learning new words before sleep might help us to remember them.
Why do some children excel at vocabulary learning while others get left behind? We’ve been thinking about how new word learning builds upon vocabulary we already have.
For different stories, vocabulary enhanced consolidation of explicit knowledge. For repetitive stories, vocabulary had no positive impact on explicit learning.