Relationship among complex sentence production, implicit learning, and working memory based on structural priming method in children with specific language impairment

Objectives: This study investigated a potential intervention strategy for children with specific language impairment (SLI) using structural priming based on syntactic characteristics and the relationship among complex sentence production, working memory and implicit learning. Methods: A total of 85 children in two different groups participated in this research-38 SLI children and 47 normal language (NL) children in the same age range. Following the researcher's instruction, they were to complete producing complex sentences, nonword repetition and the auditory statistical learning task. Complex sentence production task was divided into three conditions based on structural priming methods: normal priming condition, repetitive priming condition in which the same vocabularies are used and repetitive priming condition in which the different vocabularies are manipulated. Results: The results were as follows: the two groups showed higher performance in the repetitive priming conditions, but showed different patterns. The SLI group showed better performance on repetitive priming condition which used the same vocaulary, whereas NL group showed higher performance on repetitive priming condition that used the different vocabulary. Correlational analysis among complex sentence production, implicit learning and working memory showed that there was a significant different tendancies across groups. Conclusion: The result of the current study suggests language presentation strategy needs to be applied differently in each group. Additionally, examining the correlation among complex sentence production depending on priming methods, implicit learning and working memory shows the differences between the groups and methods.