Predictors of novel inflection learning by preschool-aged boys

Abstract

Twenty normally developing boys between the ages of 4:4 (years:months) and 5:7 were presented with stories designed to teach novel vocabulary and morphological inflections. A multiple regression analysis assessed the extent to which selected verbal and nonverbal skills contributed to the prediction of their performance on the inflection stories (INFL). Current inflection skills, as measured by the Grammatic Closure subtest of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, accounted for nearly half of the INFL variance. In addition, performance on a posttest of vocabulary learning significantly (p .05) contributed to the prediction of INFL performance. None of the three nonverbal measures was a significant contributor, although closer analysis of these findings indicates that the relationship between nonverbal rule learning and inflection learning warrants further investigation. The results suggest that inflection learning is a language-specific phenomenon more tied to vocabulary skills than to nonverbal cognitive skills.