PHONOLOGICAL WORKING-MEMORY AND SPEECH PRODUCTION IN PRESCHOOL-CHILDREN

This study investigates whether phonological working memory is associa ted with spoken language development in preschool children. Assessment s were made of speech corpora taken from 3-year old children grouped i n terms of their phonological memory abilities. Both quantitative and qualitative indices of the children's spontaneous speech output were t aken in a structured play session. Significant differences were found, with children of good phonological memory abilities producing languag e that was more grammatically complex, contained a richer array of wor ds, and included longer utterances than children of poor phonological memory abilities. The possible mechanisms by which phonological workin g memory skills are linked to the production of speech are considered.