ERIC Number: EJ1303766
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-May
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1092-4388
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning with and without Feedback in Children with Developmental Language Disorder
Arbel, Yael; Fitzpatrick, Isabel; He, Xinyi
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, v64 n5 p1696-1711 May 2021
Purpose: Intervention provided to school-age children with developmental language disorder often relies on the provision of performance feedback, yet it is unclear whether children with this disorder benefit from feedback-based learning. The study evaluates the effect of performance feedback on learning in children with developmental language disorder. Method: Thirteen 8- to 12-year-old children with developmental language disorder and 14 age- and gender-matched children with typical language development completed two learning tasks whose objective was to pair nonword novel names with novel objects. The two tasks differed in the presence of performance feedback to guide learning. Learning outcomes on immediate and follow-up tests were compared between the feedback-based and feedback-free tasks. Additionally, an electrophysiological marker of feedback processing was compared between children with and without developmental language disorder. Results: Children with developmental language disorder demonstrated poorer learning outcomes on both tasks when compared with their peers, but both groups achieved better accuracy on the "feedback-free" task when compared with the "feedback-based" task. Within the feedback-based task, children were more likely to repeat a correct response than to change it after positive feedback but were as likely to repeat an error as they were to correct it after receiving negative feedback. While children with typical language elicited a feedback-related negativity with greater amplitude to negative feedback, this event-related potential had no amplitude differences between positive and negative feedback in children with developmental language disorder. Conclusions: Findings indicate that 8- to 12-year-old children benefit more from a feedback-free learning environment and that negative feedback is not as effective as positive feedback in facilitating learning in children. The behavioral and electrophysiological data provide evidence that feedback processing is impaired in children with developmental language disorders. Future research should evaluate feedback-based learning in children with this disorder using other learning paradigms.
Descriptors: Elementary School Students, Developmental Disabilities, Language Impairments, Students with Disabilities, Feedback (Response), Intervention, Task Analysis, Learning Processes, Outcomes of Education, Error Correction, Negative Reinforcement, Positive Reinforcement, Retention (Psychology), Brain
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2200 Research Blvd #250, Rockville, MD 20850. Tel: 301-296-5700; Fax: 301-296-8580; e-mail: slhr@asha.org; Web site: http://jslhr.pubs.asha.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) (NIH)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: R15DC01643801A1
Author Affiliations: N/A