Main Content
Project B3 - Modifying representations by manipulations of the learning environment (a)
PI and Ko-PI: Prof. Dr. Christina Kauschke, Prof. Dr. Kathrin Siebold, Prof. Dr. Ulrike Domahs and Dr. Anna Rosenkranz
Ph.D.-student: Anne Jasmin Heinzmann
Research Context
The overall aim of Project B3 is to investigate how linguistic representations can be modified. Can persistent non-target or challenging structures - arising in the context of typical or atypical learning - be altered through adjustments of the learning environment or by applying specific didactic methods, as commonly used in language interventions and second language teaching? One possible approach is to increase the intensity and quality of language input (e.g., input enhancement in speech and language therapy, input floods or other forms of input adaptation in second language teaching; see Kauschke 2022, Madlener-Charpentier 2022). These implicit methods use optimally structured input, enabling learners to better perceive and process relevant target structures and, ultimately, to reorganize their linguistic representations. Explicit metalinguistic techniques, on the other hand, require a conscious engagement with linguistic regularities. For classroom or treatment settings, a combination of implicit and explicit methods is often recommended (Frizelle et al. 2021, Siebold 2023).
To address these questions across different learning conditions, acquisition types, and populations, Project B3 includes two subprojects from the second cohort onward: B3a focusing on typical and disordered language acquisition in children, and B3b focusing on second and foreign language acquisition.
Current Doctoral Project
Working Title: Word Form Processing in Children with Speech Sound Disorders: Effects of Intervention on the Precision of Phonological Representations
Aim
The project aims to provide insights into word form processing in children with speech sound disorders and to investigate how speech perception and production in these children can be improved.
Research questions include how preschool children with speech sound disorders respond to word form manipulations compared to children with typical language development and how these forms are processed in the brain. Furthermore, the project examines the effectiveness of input enhancement to determine whether targeted input leads to more precise phonological representations.
The project intends to enhance our understanding of the underlying processes involved in speech sound disorders and to provide optimal support for affected children.
Methods
Behavioral and neurolinguistic experiments (lexical decision tasks, picture-word-matching, EEG) will be used to examine how preschool children with and without speech sound disorders react to manipulations of word forms (e.g., substituting a final schwa with a full vowel: “Biene” /ˈbiːnə/ → *Biena /ˈbiːna/). In a two-phase intervention study, the effects of intervention on experimental word form processing performance and on the productive symptoms of the speech sound disorder will be investigated. In the first phase, preschool children with phonological speech sound disorders and German as their first language receive a purely input-based intervention during which they listen to stories presenting specific phonological features with high frequency. For this, the children will be divided into two groups that differ in terms of the presented phonological target structure.
The second intervention phase evaluates the effectiveness of an intervention approach from a clinical linguistics background (“Patholinguistischer Ansatz”, Kauschke & Siegmüller, 2019), combining implicit and explicit methods.
Research Status and Preliminary Work
Previous studies suggest that speech sound disorders are associated with reduced perceptual precision (Hearnshaw et al. 2019), and that altered processing can also be observed using EEG (Gerwin et al. 2021; Archibald et al. 2012). For example, children with speech sound disorders have particular difficulties with the production and perception of words containing final reduced vowels (Domahs & Kauschke 2025). These word structures are central to the prosodic patterns of German and thus play a key role in children's language acquisition (Kauschke 2018), warranting special attention in doctoral project B3a.
Input enhancement used in this project is an established method in speech and language therapy (DGPP 2022) and a component of the PLAN approach. While studies on the effectiveness of input enhancement already exist for other linguistic domains (e.g., Kauschke 2022 on plural and grammatical gender in German), there is still a lack of evidence regarding its efficacy in the area of speech sound disorders.
The picture-word-matching task, to be conducted as a behavioral experiment with concurrent EEG recording, has already been piloted in the RTG 2700. It builds on previous work from the former doctoral project B1 (Cohort I), and on a pilot study conducted during a preparatory scholarship by Anne Heinzmann.
Relations to Other Projects
There are thematic overlaps with project B2 (Cohort II), which also investigates child language acquisition. Additionally, there are thematic and methodological links to project B3(b) (Cohort II), as this project also addresses intervention approaches. Furthermore, overlaps and collaboration in the area of neurolinguistic data collection exist with projects B1 and A1 (Cohort II).
References
Archibald, Lisa M. D.; Joanisse, Marc F. (2012): Atypical neural responses to phonological detail in children with developmental language impairments. In: Developmental cognitive neuroscience 2 (1), S. 139–151. DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2011.07.003.
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Phoniatrie und Pädaudiologie (DGPP) (Hg.) (2022): S3-Leitlinie Sprachentwicklungsstörungen. AWMF online.
Domahs, U.; Kauschke, C. (2025): Reduktionssilben in der typischen und gestörten Sprachentwicklung – Einsichten in die Repräsentation prosodischer Muster. In: T. Hoffmeister, C. Kauschke, & M. Scharinger (Hg.): Repräsentationen aus linguistischer und interdisziplinärer Perspektive. Themenband Germanistische Linguistik. Nomos.
Gerwin, Katelyn L.; Brosseau-Lapré, Françoise; Weber, Christine (2021): Event-Related Potentials Elicited by Phonetic Errors Differentiate Children With Speech Sound Disorder and Typically Developing Peers. In: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR 64 (12), S. 4614–4630. DOI: 10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00203.
Hearnshaw, Stephanie; Baker, Elise; Munro, Natalie (2019): Speech Perception Skills of Children With Speech Sound Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. In: Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR 62 (10), S. 3771–3789. DOI: 10.1044/2019_JSLHR-S-18-0519.
Kauschke, Christina; Siegmüller, Julia (2019): Materialien zur Therapie nach dem Patholinguistischen Ansatz PLAN – Phonologie. Urban & Fischer.
Kauschke, Christina (2018): Wortbetonung als Einstieg in die Therapie von Sprachentwicklungsstörungen. In: logopädieschweiz (3), S. 4–11.
Kauschke, Christina (2022): Inputspezifizierung und Bewusstmachung als Methoden sprachtherapeutischer Intervention. In: Madlener-Charpentier, K. & Pagonis, G (Hg.): Aufmerksamkeitslenkung und Bewusstmachung in der Sprachvermittlung. Kognitive und didaktische Perspektiven auf Deutsch als Erst-, Zweit- und Fremdsprache. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, S. 101–127.