Phonological memory and vocabulary development during the early school years: A longitudinal study.

Gathercole, Susan E., Willis, Catherine S., Emslie, Hazel, Baddeley, Alan D.·1992·Developmental Psychology
DOI 10.1037//0012-1649.28.5.887

Abstract

The nature of the developmental association between phonological memory and vocabulary knowledge was explored in a longitudinal study. At each of 4 waves (at ages 4, 5, 6, and 8 yrs), measures of vocabulary, phonological memory, nonverbal intelligence, and reading were taken from 80 children. Comparisons of cross-lagged partial correlations revealed a significant shift in the causal underpinnings of the relationship between phonological memory and vocabulary development before and after 5 yrs of age. Between 4 and 5 yrs, phonological memory skills appeared to exert a direct causal influence on vocabulary acquisition. Subsequently, though, vocabulary knowledge became the major pacemaker in the developmental relationship, with the earlier influence of phonological memory on vocabulary development subsiding to a nonsignificant level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved)

Cites (2)

  1. The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills
    Wagner, Richard K., Torgesen, Joseph K. · 1987 · Psychological Bulletin
  2. Tracking the unique effects of print exposure in children: Associations with vocabulary, general knowledge, and spelling.
    Cunningham, Anne E., Stanovich, Keith E. · 1991 · Journal of Educational Psychology

Show all 2 references

Cited by (24)

  1. The phonological loop as a language learning device.
    Baddeley, Alan, Gathercole, Susan, Papagno, Costanza · 1998 · Psychological Review
  2. Working memory deficits in children with low achievements in the national curriculum at 7 years of age
    Gathercole, Susan E., Pickering, Susan J. · 2000 · British Journal of Educational Psychology
  3. Nonword Repetition as a Behavioural Marker for Inherited Language Impairment: Evidence From a Twin Study
    Bishop, D. V. M., North, T., Donlan, C. · 1996 · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
  4. Young children's phonological awareness and nonword repetition as a function of vocabulary development.
    Metsala, Jamie L. · 1999 · Journal of Educational Psychology
  5. Short‐term and working memory in specific language impairment
    Archibald, Lisa M. D., Gathercole, Susan E. · 2006 · International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders

See all 722

How to cite

Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.

This page
CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Phonological memory and vocabulary development during the early school years: A longitudinal study. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1037//0012-1649.28.5.887
The paper
Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C. S., Emslie, H., & Baddeley, A. D. (1992). Phonological memory and vocabulary development during the early school years: A longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037//0012-1649.28.5.887

Data sources

Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.

Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.