| Reference : Working Memory and Learning A 3-Year Longitudinal Study of Children Growing Up In a M... |
| Dissertations and theses : Doctoral thesis | |||
| Social & behavioral sciences, psychology : Theoretical & cognitive psychology | |||
| http://hdl.handle.net/10993/1999 | |||
| Working Memory and Learning A 3-Year Longitudinal Study of Children Growing Up In a Multilingual Environment | |
| English | |
Engel de Abreu, Pascale  [University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Educational Measurement and Applied Cognitive Science (EMACS)] | |
| 1-May-2009 | |
| University of York, York, UK | |
| PhD in Psychology | |
| 327 | |
| Gathercole, S | |
| Jarrold, C | |
| Gaskell, G | |
| [en] working memory ; development ; children ; learning ; longitudinal | |
| [en] This thesis presents the findings of a 3-wave, latent variable longitudinal study,
exploring variations and the development of working memory in young children and its contributions to learning in the key domains of language, literacy, and mathematics. A sample of 119 Luxembourgish children, learning German and French as secondary languages, were followed from kindergarten to second grade and completed multiple assessments of working memory, short-term memory, phonological awareness, fluid intelligence, vocabulary, language comprehension, foreign language knowledge, reading, spelling, and mathematics. Results indicate that relations between the measures were best characterized by a model consisting of two related but separable constructs - corresponding to shortterm storage and a central executive - that were highly stable across the years. Whereas verbal short-term memory was more specifically linked to early language development and vocabulary in particular, the central executive appeared to support learning in a wide range of domains, including language comprehension, literacy, and mathematics. The findings reinforce previous evidence indicating that verbal short-term memory is one of the main contributors to vocabulary development by supporting the formation of stable phonological representations of new words in long-term memory. Furthermore, the findings fit well with the position that the central executive makes general rather then specific contributions to learning - possibly in terms of an attentional control system that actively maintains crucial information and regulates controlling processes during complex cognitive activities. In conclusion, the findings indicate that different components of the working memory system can be reliably assessed in children as young as 5; that individual differences in these abilities are highly stable over time; and that working memory assessments are predictive of future learning in key academic domains. This reinforces the value of early screening of working memory abilities to identify children who are at a present and future educational risk. | |
| ESRC and FNR | |
| Researchers | |
| http://hdl.handle.net/10993/1999 |
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