ABSTRACT
A key challenge for young children is learning a language, which is difficult as learning language involves tackling five major rule systems (phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics). This chapter will focus on procedures that can be used to study an important part of language learning: how children learn new words (or the lexicon), particularly verbs. The chapter will begin with practical insights on how to structure a team of undergraduate research assistants who can independently collect data from preschool-aged children (2- to 4-year-olds) in local child care centers. The rest of the chapter will describe three major types of procedures that can be used to conduct studies of early verb learning: using live events (including how to code children’s enactments), presenting video stimuli using a monitor or iPad, and utilizing an eye tracker to record a child’s gaze to specific areas of interest (AOIs). The strengths and weaknesses of these procedures will be examined in detail. We will also include discussion of executive functioning tasks that can be included to test children’s cognitive skills, which may influence their language learning. We urge new researchers (such as the reader) to build on our ideas in creative and bold ways so that the study of children’s learning can move forward in new directions.
