Concrete L2 words are learned better than abstract words overall, but this concreteness advantage appears only in 14-year-olds¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causal r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? A main effect of word type (χ2 = 44.45, v = 0.77) and a grade × word type interaction driven by eighth graders' significant concreteness advantage (d = 2.71) absent in sixth graders. → Brian Mathias 2022

Evidence¶

Brian Mathias 2022¶

Brian Mathias, Christian Andrä, Anika Schwager, Manuela Macedonia, Katharina von Kriegstein. (2022). Twelve- and Fourteen-Year-Old School Children Differentially Benefit from Sensorimotor- and Multisensory-Enriched Vocabulary Training. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-021-09648-z

q3 · i? · causal · r2

Mixed effects modeling of composite scores in the 75-child intervention; the word type main effect was χ2 (1, N = 75) = 44.45, p < 0.001, v = 0.77. The authors note this was expected based on prior reports of children's greater performance for concrete than abstract nouns.

"The grade × word type interaction was driven by significantly greater performance for concrete words compared to abstract words for the eighth graders (β = 2.51, t = 11.32, p < 0.001, d = 2.71), which was not the case for the sixth graders (β = 0.37, t = 1.75, p = 0.30, d = 0.40)"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Children's L2 translation and free recall scores were higher for concrete than abstract nouns across experiments — a broader claim this one bears on
• Gesture enrichment specifically aided translation of abstract words in Experiment 1, but this word-type specificity did not replicate in Experiment 2 — related
• Both gesture and picture enrichment enhanced children's test performance compared with non-enriched learning, with benefits persisting up to 6 months for concrete and abstract words — related
• Picture and gesture enrichment benefit children's learning of both concrete and abstract L2 words — related
• Children's age did not moderate gesture enrichment benefits on vocabulary test performance in Experiment 1 — related
• Eighth graders show significant vocabulary decline from 3 days to 2 months post-learning, which sixth graders do not — related