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What is it about?
We examined two factors that predicted children's ability to learn new words: their existing vocabulary knowledge and their ability to repeat made up words. We found that both factors predicted new word learning, but their relative importance depended on how new word learning was assessed.
Why is it important?
Theories of word learning have implicated both nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge as important foundations for new word learning. This study demonstrated the utility of using multiple assessments of word learning to measure the quality of learned word forms (spoken word representations) and meanings. The results indicate that the relative contributions of nonword repetition skill and existing vocabulary knowledge vary across different assessments of word learning.