Optimising word learning in post-secondary students with Developmental Language Disorder: The roles of retrieval difficulty and retrieval success during training.

Purpose: Learning words to the level that they can be readily retrieved and produced can be challenging. The primary aim of the current study is to determine how retrieval difficulty, based on the level of cuing provided, and retrieval success during training relate to the phonological precision with which words are produced after a delay.

Method: We performed additional analyses on data from McGregor, Gordon, Eden, Arbisi-Kelm, & Oleson, (Encoding deficits impede word learning and memory in adults with Developmental Language Disorders. 2891-2905) in which post-secondary students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD,  = 23) and typical development ( = 25) were trained on words via free and cued recall practice and tested 24-h later.

Results: Training via free recall led to more precise productions after the delay than training via cued recall for both groups. Additionally, the number of successful retrievals during training positively predicted retrieval after the delay. Furthermore, the precision of participants' last production and worst production of each word were the best predictors of production precision after the delay.

Conclusion: To optimally support encoding and delayed retrieval, students with and without DLD should utilise free recall practice. Additionally, words should be studied until they are successfully retrieved multiple times at a high level of phonological precision to support delayed retrieval.