The aim of this feasibility study was to extend the current evidence base on intransitive verb learning by evaluating and comparing three strategies (syntactic cues, semantic cues, combined cues) for teaching novel verbs to expand the vocabularies of children with and without language impairment. Twenty-three children with typical development, seven children with developmental language disorder, and eight children with Down syndrome participated in Studies 1, 2, and 3, respectively. They were taught novel, intransitive verbs using syntactic, semantic, and combined cues and then asked to receptively identify and expressively label the novel verbs. Across all conditions, participants learned novel verbs receptively with large effect sizes and participants with typical development and Down syndrome also learned the verbs expressively with large effect sizes. There were no significant differences between conditions. This study extends word-learning research by evaluating not only receptive but also expressive intransitive verb learning to expand one's vocabulary. The results provide positive evidence for three effective strategies for teaching intransitive verbs to children with and without language impairment.

This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Education Preparation of Leadership Personnel grant (H325D140087) and in part by Vanderbilt CTSA Award no. UL1TR000445 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and a Baylor University Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Achievement Research Grant. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Education or the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03441685).

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Article published online:
27 September 2023

© 2023. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Thieme Medical Publishers, Inc.
333 Seventh Avenue, 18th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA