Questions about early word knowledge pervade the literature on both typical and atypical language trajectories. To determine which words an infant knows, researchers have relied on two types of measures--caregiver-report and eye-gaze behavior. When these measures are compared, however, their results frequently fail to converge, making it difficult…

In this Methods Showcase Article, we illustrate mixed-effects modeling with a multinomial dependent variable as a means of explaining complexities in language. We model data on future-time reference in second language Spanish, which consists of a nominal dependent variable that has three levels, measured over 73 participants. We offer step-by-step…

The present study examined the links between haptic word processing speed, vocabulary, and inhibitory control among bilingual children. Three main hypotheses were tested: faster haptic processing speed, measured by the Computerized Comprehension Task at age 1;11, would be associated with larger concurrent vocabulary and greater longitudinal…

Developmental psychology focuses on how psychological constructs change with age. In cognitive development research, however, the specifics of this emergence is often underspecified. Researchers often provisionally assume linear growth by including chronological age as a predictor in regression models. In this work, we aim to evaluate this…

Purpose: The present study explored the extent to which early prelinguistic communication skills predict expressive language in toddlers with autistic siblings (Sibs-autism), who are known to be at high likelihood for autism and language disorder, and a comparison group of toddlers with non-autistic older siblings (Sibs-NA). Method: Participants…

Children learn language by listening to speech from caregivers around them. However, the type and quantity of speech input that children are exposed to change throughout early childhood in ways that are poorly understood due to the small samples (few participants, limited hours of observation) typically available in developmental psychology. Here…

This study explored the use of sophisticated vocabulary, complex syntax, and decontextualized language (including book information, conceptual information, past/future experiences, and vocabulary information) in teachers' instructional interactions with children during the literacy block in prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. The sample…

The present study complemented the extant second language (L2) Age of Acquisition (AoA) normative database by providing over 3500 English L2 words on objective AoA and over 2600 English L2 words on subjective AoA. The correlation between the objective and subjective L2 AoA confirmed the validity of the present database. The objective L2 AoA was…

The emergence of Positive Psychology in second language acquisition has placed greater emphasis on the vital role of engagement in learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Although previous research has established that EFL learners' engagement is affected by ideal L2 self, boredom, and grit respectively, sporadic studies have attempted to…

Parental input is considered a key predictor of language achievement during the first years of life, yet relatively few studies have assessed its effects on longer-term outcomes. We assess the effects of parental quantity of speech, use of parentese (the acoustically exaggerated, clear, and higher-pitched speech), and turn-taking in infancy, on…

Consonants and vowels differentially contribute to lexical acquisition. From 8 months on, infants' preferential reliance on consonants has been shown to predict their lexical outcome. Here, the predictive value of German-learning infants' (n = 58, 29 girls, 29 boys) trajectories of consonant and vowel perception, indicated by the…

Domain-general Grit has been criticised as being indistinguishable from Conscientiousness and as a weaker predictor than Cognitive Ability. Given the recent rise of L2 Grit literature -- a domain-specific form of Grit in language learning -- we examine whether these criticisms of general Grit are also applicable to L2 Grit. Domain-general Grit, L2…

Internal state language (ISL) research contains knowledge gaps, including dimensionality and predictors of growth, addressed here in a two-aim study. Parent-reported expressive language from N = 6,373 monolingual, English-speaking toddlers (M[subscript age] = 23.5mos, 46% male, 57% white) was collected using cross-sectional and longitudinal data…

Newborns are able to neurally discriminate between speech and nonspeech right after birth. To date it remains unknown whether this early speech discrimination and the underlying neural language network is associated with later language development. Preterm-born children are an interesting cohort to investigate this relationship, as previous…

Phonological awareness and phonological working memory are essential for successful language acquisition and development of literacy. Although this essence is language-universal, its degree varies for different languages, depending, in part, on language transparency. The current study analyzes the adapted versions of the pseudoword repetition test…