Oefice of Education

MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 *Form Classes (Languages) ; *Nominals; *Paired Associate Learning; *Recall (Psychological); Sentence structure; Structural Analysis; *Structural Grammar Second and sixth graders were asked to learn noun pairs linked by various types of verbal connectives: Verbs, unmarked and marked comparative adjectives, polar antonym adjective pairs, and Conjunctions. Results indicated that all contexts produced better learning than conjunctions, that comparative adjective effects were superior to the polar-pair condition which consisted of conjoined noun phrases. Also, in all conditions, firstand final-position nouns were found to prompt equivalent recall. It was concluded that results provide compelling evidence for the operation of adjective structures as mnemonic organizers in younger as well as older children and that they ctallenge imagistic accounts of the.verb facilitation effect. Tables and a bibliography are included. (AW) C=i Antonym Adjective Contexts and the Facilitation of Noun Pair Learning in Children1 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OEFICE OF EDUCATION Linnea C. Ehri and Dana Richardson University of California, Davis Davis, California 95616 THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE Abstract PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REKESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. Second and sixth graders were asked to learn noun pairs linked by various types of verbal connectives: verbs, unmarked and marked comparative adjectives, polar antonym adjective pairs, and conjunctions. Results indicated that all contexts produced better learning than conjunctions, that comparative adjective effects were comparable to verb effects, and that both of these sentence contexts were superior to the polar-pair condition which consisted of conjoined noun phrases. Also, in all conditions, firstand final-position nouns were found to prompt equivalent recall. Results provide compelling evidence for the operation of adjective structures as mnemonic organizers in younger as well as older children, and they Challenge imagistic accounts of the verb facilitation effect.