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Different phonological mechanisms facilitate vocabulary learning at early and late stages of language acquisition: Evidence from Polish 9-year-olds learning English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2017

MARTA MARECKA ,
JAKUB SZEWCZYK Open the ORCID record for JAKUB SZEWCZYK [Opens in a new window] ,
ANNA JELEC ,
DONATA JANISZEWSKA ,
KAROLINA RATAJ  and
KATARZYNA DZIUBALSKA-KOŁACZYK
MARTA MARECKA*
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Kraków, and Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
JAKUB SZEWCZYK
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Kraków
ANNA JELEC
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
DONATA JANISZEWSKA
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
KAROLINA RATAJ
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
KATARZYNA DZIUBALSKA-KOŁACZYK
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Marta Marecka, Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Ingardena 6, 30-060 Kraków, Poland. E-mail: marta.t.marecka@gmail.com
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Abstract

To acquire a new word, learners need to create its representation in phonological short-term memory (STM) and then encode it in their long-term memory. Two strategies can enable word representation in STM: universal segmentation and phonological mapping. Universal segmentation is language universal and thus should predict word learning in any language, while phonological mapping is language specific. This study investigates the mechanisms of vocabulary learning through a comparison of vocabulary learning task results in multiple languages. We tested 44 Polish third graders learning English on phonological STM, phonological awareness in Polish and in English, and on three tasks, which involved learning novel word forms in Polish (first language), in English (second language), and in a language that did not resemble any language known to participants (an unknown language). Participants’ English proficiency was controlled through a vocabulary task. The results suggest that word learning engages different mechanisms for familiar and unfamiliar languages. Phonological awareness in English predicted learning second language and unknown language words, and phonological STM predicted learning words of the unknown language. We propose that universal segmentation facilitates word learning only in an unfamiliar language, while in familiar languages speakers use phonological mapping in order to learn new words.

Keywords

phonological representationsphonological short-term memorysecond language acquisitionsegmentationvocabulary and word learning

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Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 39 , Issue 1 , January 2018 , pp. 1 - 35
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2017 

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