FAST MAPPING AND THE EXTENSION OF NEWLY LEARNED WORDS IN YOUNG CHIDREN
Open Access
Author:
Pollock, Jennifer Mary
Area of Honors:
Communication Sciences and Disorders
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Krista M Wilkinson, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Krista M Wilkinson, Thesis Supervisor Dr. Carol Anne Miller, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
fast mapping word learning category learning
Abstract:
Research has established that typically developing children rapidly acquire new words at very young ages. Fast mapping is one potential explanation for this rapid word learning. Fast mapping refers to the idea that children are able to understand, whether completely or partially, the meaning of a new word through only brief exposure to that word. This study sought to determine how complete children’s understandings are following initial word learning instances. We examined whether children of different ages comprehended that a new word learned through fast mapping is not simply a single exemplar, but is a part of a larger category of items. The participants were all preschool children, ranging in age from 2 to 5-years-old. The children were taught two novel target words. Following this, children participated in 4 probe sessions in order to test the extent of their knowledge. The children demonstrated their learning during fast mapping, and extended the knowledge to new variants of the initial exemplars. Older children performed better on all sessions and extended the novel words’ meanings with much greater accuracy than the younger children did.
