TY - JOUR
T1 - Rate and phonological variation in preschool children
T2 - Effects of modeling and directed influence
AU - Eaton, Catherine Torrington
AU - Ratner, Nan Bernstein
PY - 2013/12/1
Y1 - 2013/12/1
N2 - Purpose: To explore the effect of modeling and explicit elicitation of slow and accurately produced speech in typically developing preschool children. Optional phonological reductions (e.g., deleted final stops) and changes in speech rate were examined in response to an adult conversational speaker's speech style. Method: Forty 3- and 4-year-olds (20 each) were tested in 3 tasks: (a) immediate repetition of a model, (b) spontaneous speech, and (c) directed speech style (cueing to correct "sloppy" speech). In Task 1, half of each group heard fast and hypoarticulated versus slow and hyperarticulated speech for a between-group response-to-model comparison. Tasks 2 and 3 were compared within subjects. Results: Task 1 demonstrated that both age groups aligned with the speaker's rate and phonological variants usage when repeating a model. Tasks 2 and 3 revealed that 4-year-olds varied phonological reduction patterns according to the task demands, whereas 3-year-olds maintained consistent patterns of usage. In addition, neither group successfully realigned with the rapid speech rate in Task 3. Conclusions: These results contribute to an evidence base supporting the practice of modeling slow and clear speech to children with various production disorders. Further research is needed to explore the cognitive-linguistic processes underlying alignment before findings are applied to clinical populations.
AB - Purpose: To explore the effect of modeling and explicit elicitation of slow and accurately produced speech in typically developing preschool children. Optional phonological reductions (e.g., deleted final stops) and changes in speech rate were examined in response to an adult conversational speaker's speech style. Method: Forty 3- and 4-year-olds (20 each) were tested in 3 tasks: (a) immediate repetition of a model, (b) spontaneous speech, and (c) directed speech style (cueing to correct "sloppy" speech). In Task 1, half of each group heard fast and hypoarticulated versus slow and hyperarticulated speech for a between-group response-to-model comparison. Tasks 2 and 3 were compared within subjects. Results: Task 1 demonstrated that both age groups aligned with the speaker's rate and phonological variants usage when repeating a model. Tasks 2 and 3 revealed that 4-year-olds varied phonological reduction patterns according to the task demands, whereas 3-year-olds maintained consistent patterns of usage. In addition, neither group successfully realigned with the rapid speech rate in Task 3. Conclusions: These results contribute to an evidence base supporting the practice of modeling slow and clear speech to children with various production disorders. Further research is needed to explore the cognitive-linguistic processes underlying alignment before findings are applied to clinical populations.
KW - Children
KW - Intervention
KW - Speech production
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84891552926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84891552926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0171)
DO - 10.1044/1092-4388(2013/12-0171)
M3 - Article
C2 - 23882009
AN - SCOPUS:84891552926
SN - 1092-4388
VL - 56
SP - 1751
EP - 1763
JO - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
JF - Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
IS - 6
ER -