Cognitive predictors of language abilities in primary school children: A cascaded developmental view

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Date
2023-03
Author
Acha Morcillo, Joana ORCID
Agirregoikoa López, Ainhize
Barreto Zarza, Florencia Belén ORCID
Arranz Freijó, Enrique Bernardino
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Journal of Child Language 50(2) : 417-436 (2023)
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10810/60470
Abstract
This study investigated the longitudinal relationship between children's domain-general cognitive constraints underlying phonological and sentence processing development in a big sample of typically developing children. 104 children were tested on non-linguistic processing speed, phonological skills (phonological short term memory, phonological knowledge, phonological working memory), and sentence processing abilities (sentence repetition and receptive grammar) in 1(st) grade (aged 6 to 6.5) and one year later. A cross-lagged structural equation model showed that non-linguistic processing speed was a concurrent predictor of phonological skills, and that phonology had a powerful effect on the child's sentence processing abilities concurrently and longitudinally, providing clear evidence for the role of domain-general processes in the developmental pathway of language. These findings support a cascaded cognitive view of language development and pose important challenges for evaluation and intervention strategies in childhood.
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© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press . This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press . This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.