Specific aspects of young children's language skills differentially relate to their executive functioning

Carrasco, K. D. (Kelly)¹, Smith-Bonahue, T. (Tina)^2
1Children's Research Center, Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology Graduate University, 7542 Onna, 9040411, Onna-son, Okinawa, Japan
²College of Education, University of Florida, 1419 Norman Hall, 32611, Gainesville, Florida, USA

 

Submission type

Oral only

Scheduled

Room 117, 12-07-2019, 09:00 - 10:30

Keywords

Early childhood, executive functioning, language, phonological awareness, syntax, morphology

Summary

Children make rapid developmental gains across all domains during the first six years of life.  A number of recent studies have investigated young children’s developing executive functioning (EF) due to its purported relationship with later academic achievement, and how EF relates to other skills, including language abilities.  Many studies examining the association between EF and language in the preschool years focused primarily on children’s overall verbal ability or their receptive vocabulary specifically.  Little is known about how particular aspects of children’s language abilities, such as phonology, syntax, and morphology, differentially relate to their EF.  The present study examined the extent to which young children’s phonological awareness and expressive morphosyntactic language skills predict their EF using standardized language measures and a computerized EF battery.  Results suggest that preschoolers’ phonological awareness skills are significantly predictive of their EF after controlling for age and IQ.  Additionally, children’s phonological awareness ability mediates the relationship between children’s expressive morphosyntactic skills and EF.  These results are discussed in relation to current research on language and EF in early childhood.  Limitations of the current study and implications for future research are also explored.

Auteurs