An individual differences perspective on pragmatic abilities in the preschool years
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In: Developmental Science, Vol. 26, No. 6, e13401, 11.2023.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - An individual differences perspective on pragmatic abilities in the preschool years
AU - Bohn, Manuel
AU - Tessler, Michael Henry
AU - Kordt, Clara
AU - Hausmann, Tom
AU - Frank, Michael C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Developmental Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2023/11
Y1 - 2023/11
N2 - Pragmatic abilities are fundamental to successful language use and learning. Individual differences studies contribute to understanding the psychological processes involved in pragmatic reasoning. Small sample sizes, insufficient measurement tools, and a lack of theoretical precision have hindered progress, however. Three studies addressed these challenges in three- to 5-year-old German-speaking children (N = 228, 121 female). Studies 1 and 2 assessed the psychometric properties of six pragmatics tasks. Study 3 investigated relations among pragmatics tasks and between pragmatics and other cognitive abilities. The tasks were found to measure stable variation between individuals. Via a computational cognitive model, individual differences were traced back to a latent pragmatics construct. This presents the basis for understanding the relations between pragmatics and other cognitive abilities. Research Highlights: Individual differences in pragmatic abilities are important to understanding variation in language development. Research in this domain lacks a precise theoretical framework and psychometrically high-quality measures. We present six tasks capturing a wide range of pragmatic abilities with excellent re-test reliability. We use a computational cognitive model to provide a substantive theory of individual differences in pragmatic abilities.
AB - Pragmatic abilities are fundamental to successful language use and learning. Individual differences studies contribute to understanding the psychological processes involved in pragmatic reasoning. Small sample sizes, insufficient measurement tools, and a lack of theoretical precision have hindered progress, however. Three studies addressed these challenges in three- to 5-year-old German-speaking children (N = 228, 121 female). Studies 1 and 2 assessed the psychometric properties of six pragmatics tasks. Study 3 investigated relations among pragmatics tasks and between pragmatics and other cognitive abilities. The tasks were found to measure stable variation between individuals. Via a computational cognitive model, individual differences were traced back to a latent pragmatics construct. This presents the basis for understanding the relations between pragmatics and other cognitive abilities. Research Highlights: Individual differences in pragmatic abilities are important to understanding variation in language development. Research in this domain lacks a precise theoretical framework and psychometrically high-quality measures. We present six tasks capturing a wide range of pragmatic abilities with excellent re-test reliability. We use a computational cognitive model to provide a substantive theory of individual differences in pragmatic abilities.
KW - cognitive modeling
KW - individual differences
KW - language development
KW - pragmatics
KW - Psychology
KW - Educational science
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153708011&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.mendeley.com/catalogue/a203254e-65ea-3f3e-af36-ed8cc2bcf671/
U2 - 10.1111/desc.13401
DO - 10.1111/desc.13401
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 37089076
AN - SCOPUS:85153708011
VL - 26
JO - Developmental Science
JF - Developmental Science
SN - 1363-755X
IS - 6
M1 - e13401
ER -