COGNITION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING RESEARCH GROUP
@ DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY
Cultural Familiarity
The Effect of Cultural Familiarity on Word Learning
We are excited to invite your child(ren) between the ages of 4 and 6 years old to participate in an in-person study looking at how cultural familiarity influences children's word learning. This study is open to families who reside in Canada. To thank you for your participation and support, each participating family will receive a $10 CAD Amazon Gift Card.
Who are the researchers working on this project?
Dr. Drew Weatherhead
Assistant professor, Dalhousie University
Interested in participating?
If you're interesting in participating, please complete the contact form. Once you have completed it, a researcher will reach out to you with a link to schedule an appointment using our online booking calendar. If you would prefer to schedule an appointment through email or if you have any questions please contact the Research Coordinator at GCLL@dal.ca
Want to know more?
More information about the study and what you and your child will be asked to do can be found below in our FAQ section below.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the study or need assistance with scheduling an appointment, please email us at KDSGCLL@dal.ca and a member of the team will get back to you as soon as possible.
If you have any ethical comments, questions, or concerns, please reach out to the lead researcher at Drew.Weatherhead@dal.ca
FAQ
What is the purpose of our study?
Reading is central to children’s academic and life outcomes; even in elementary school, teachers expect children to be able to learn from what they read. We are investigating whether children in pre-primary and primary can learn the spellings and meanings of new words during shared book reading. We are also investigating how these abilities are related to the cultural familiarity of the words and character associated with the words. This knowledge will help us understand how cultural variables affect children’s word learning.
Who can take part?
This study is aimed at children who are between the ages of 4 and 6 years old. Children who are enrolled in school must be receiving instruction in English. Children enrolled in French Immersion, French first, or other school programs in which the primary language of instruction is not English are not able to take part, as the focus of this study is on learning to read in English.
What will you be asked to do?
Your child will be asked to complete a variety of language and reading activities designed to be fun and age-appropriate. Children will engage in shared book reading with our research assistants as well as complete several language-based activities – for example, they would be asked to name some letters of the alphabet and attempt to read some simple words. Some activities are audio-recorded. In total, these activities will take 30 to 45minutes.
We make it clear to the children that we are interested in how they do these these activities rather than whether they get things right. Based on our experience, children find these activities fun and engaging, and they enjoy working one-on-one. We thank children for their participation with prizes, such as colourful pencils, erasers, and stickers, as well as a certificate.
Who will work with your child, where, and when?
Trained researchers from the Cognition and Language Learning Research Group (GCLL) will conduct the study in the GCLL at Dalhousie University. All research assistants have cleared Criminal Record, Vulnerable Sector, and Child Abuse Registry checks and have years of experience working with children. We will arrange a time that is coinvent for you.
What will we do with the information?
Once collected, data will not be linked directly to participant names or birth dates, except through an ID number on a separate, encrypted and password-protected spreadsheets, to which only the primary researchers will have access. Findings from the study will be shared as the results of all participants combined and will be published in scientific journals, educational conferences, and on our labs social media. Additionally, you have the choice of receiving a letter with a summary of our findings for the group as a whole. ​
For more detailed information about the study, feel free to download and view our consent form by clicking the red pdf icon.