The Primacy of Priming in Grammatical Learning and Intervention: a Tutorial

Overview

Journal J Speech Lang Hear Res

Date 2010 Aug 20

PMID 20719866

Citations 10

Authors

Laurence B Leonard

Affiliations

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Abstract

Purpose: The author presents a tutorial on structural priming and its relevance to the study of grammatical development and language intervention.

Method: The findings from structural priming studies are examined from the standpoint of the types of changes that occur in participants' language use, the contexts in which these changes occur, and the effects of these changes on participants' language knowledge. Details of children's grammatical development and language intervention are then considered in light of these findings.

Results: Evidence from the structural priming literature provides insight into the transition from early conservative grammatical use to broader abstract grammatical use in young children, and suggests ways in which language intervention activities can be modified to promote greater grammatical change in children with language impairments.

Conclusions: Structural priming is not divorced from everyday language use. Evidence from priming research can be put to use in the study of children's grammatical development and in shaping the methods that are used to facilitate children's grammatical abilities.

Citing Articles

Enhancing Syntactic Knowledge in School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder: The Promise of Syntactic Priming.

Montgomery J, Gillam R, Plante E Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2023; 33(2):580-597.

PMID: 37678208 PMC: 11001167. DOI: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00079.

Sentences Are Key: Helping School-Age Children and Adolescents Build Sentence Skills Needed for Real Language.

Balthazar C, Scott C Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2023; 33(2):564-579.

PMID: 37643470 PMC: 11001191. DOI: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00038.

Five Additional Evidence-Based Principles to Facilitate Grammar Development for Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Finestack L, Ancel E, Lee H, Kuchler K, Kornelis M Am J Speech Lang Pathol. 2023; 33(2):552-563.

PMID: 37541316 PMC: 11001164. DOI: 10.1044/2023_AJSLP-23-00049.

The Role of Spontaneous Repetitions During Treatment of Morphosyntactic Forms for Children With Developmental Language Disorder.

Nicholas K, Plante E, Gomez R, Vance R J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2021; 64(10):3995-4003.

PMID: 34533999 PMC: 9132045. DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-20-00367.

A New Memory Perspective on the Sentence Comprehension Deficits of School-Age Children With Developmental Language Disorder: Implications for Theory, Assessment, and Intervention.

Montgomery J, Gillam R, Evans J Lang Speech Hear Serv Sch. 2021; 52(2):449-466.

PMID: 33826402 PMC: 8711711. DOI: 10.1044/2021_LSHSS-20-00128.

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