Selective word learning in monolingual and bilingual children
A retention study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 24239783 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ishanti Gangopadhyay (0000-0001-5481-8295, Indiana University), Gabrielle Lane (Indiana University), Shalini Banerjee (Indiana University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Publication date | 2026-10-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Frontiers in Language Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2813-4605 • E-ISSN: 2813-4605 |
| Publisher | Frontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH) |
| DOI | 10.3389/flang.2026.1917744 |
| OpenAlex | W7223126008 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Speaker accuracy, defined as a speaker's history of correctly or incorrectly labeling familiar objects, is a well established cue in children's word learning. Yet how speaker accuracy shapes word retention across multiple time points, and whether retention patterns differ for bilingual children, remains largely unknown. The present pilot study examined novel word retention in 21 monolingual and 18 bilingual 4–6-year-old children at three time points: immediately after teaching, after a 5-min delay, and after 24 h, using an online multi-session paradigm. A related goal of the study was to assess the feasibility of a multi-session online design with both monolingual and bilingual preschoolers. Within-group analyses were used to characterize retention patterns for each group separately. Monolingual children showed above-chance retention from both speaker types at immediate testing, with retention from the accurate speaker persisting at 5 min but not at 24 h, while retention from the inaccurate speaker re-emerged at 24 h. Bilingual children showed above-chance performance for the inaccurate speaker at immediate and 5-min testing only, with no systematic condition or time effects in the regression. These findings suggest that speaker accuracy shapes word retention in time-dependent ways that may differ across monolingual and bilingual children.
Categorization, perception, and language · Child and Animal Learning Development · Language Development and Disorders
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Choosing your informant
Adults Don't Always Know Best
Preschoolers Mistrust Ignorant and Inaccurate Speakers
The Exposure Advantage
Role of bilingual experience in children's context-sensitive selective trust strategies
Two-year-olds consolidate verb meanings during a nap
Do children go for the nice guys? The influence of speaker benevolence and certainty on selective word learning
Bilingual children’s repairs of breakdowns in communication
Infants' ability to consult the speaker for clues to word reference
Fast Mapping but Poor Retention by 24‐Month‐Old Infants
Sensitivity of 24-month-olds to the prior inaccuracy of the source
| Highly cited | No |
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