Children’s Use of Spatial Prepositions in Two- and Three-Dimensional Tasks

Abstract

This study evaluates children’s performance on selected spatial prepositions and determines the age levels these prepositions are acquired in both receptive and expressive language, as revealed in tasks involving both two- and three-dimensional objects. Subjects were 80 children (40 males and 40 females), ranging in age from three years to four years and eleven months. All were native English speakers with no speech, hearing, or neurological disorders, and with normal intelligence. Results indicated a significant difference in test scores according to age (older children perform better than younger), task (comprehension scores higher than production scores), referent (three-dimensional tasks showing higher scores than two-dimensional tasks), and preposition. Children’s use of selected spatial prepositions is dependent on the semantic complexity of the preposition. Prepositions whose meanings can be described in terms of simple topological notions are understood and used with greater facility than those involving dimensional or Euclidean spatial notions. When the prepositional variable interacts with age, dimension, task, age + dimension, age + task, dimension + task, and age + dimension + task, overall differential responses are likely to occur.

An investigation of the effect of using varying stimuli to assess normal children's comprehension of five locative prepositions

“…These results differ with researchers (Harris and Strommen, 1972;Kuczaj and Maratsos, 1975) who found that children, ranging in age from 2.6 to 7.5, performed better on tasks that used their bodies as referents than tasks using objects as referents. However, research supports the finding of significantly better performance on object manipulation tasks as compared to picture tasks (Washington and Naremore, 1978).…”

“…These researchers have investigated assessment variables such as context (picture, object, no context) and response (self actions, manipulating, pointing) in assessing normal children's understanding and use of prepositions (Harris and Strommen, 1972;Kuczaj and Maratsos, 1975;Wilcox and Palermo, 1975;Silliman, 1979;Levine and Carey, 1982). Most have considered these variables separately, but a few have contrasted a limited number of variables with significant results for some age groups (Ault, Cromer and Mitchel, 1977;Washington and Naremore, 1978). Contrasting a number of these assessment variables across a wider age range could give more information about how normal children understand locative prepositions, and how to best assess this knowledge.…”

“…Assessment variables of context, task, and response mode have also been examined to determine how they affect children's expression and comprehension of different prepositions, according to their age (Harris and Strommen, 1972;Wilcox and Palermo, 1975;Kuczaj and Maratsos, 1975;Ault, Cromer and Mitchel, 1977;Washington and Naremore, 1978;Johnston and Slobin, 1979;Silliman, 1979;Levine and Carey, 1982;Johnston, 1984). Significant differences in children's performances on tasks assessing comprehension and use of prepositions have resulted from using varied contexts, tasks and response modes.…”

A comparative analysis of the expressive acquisition of locative and directional prepositions between severely-to-profoundly hearing impaired children utilizing total communication and the oral/aural approach

“…Prepositions are especially important for understanding the cognitive and linguistic abilities of both the normal hearing and hearing impaired as they are a means of relating the syntactical and semantic components of language (Washington & Naremore, 1978).…”

“…Prominent among function words are prepositions. Prepositions integrate the cognitive functions of semantic and syntactic relations associated with the concepts of place and time (Washington & Naremore, 1978).…”