# Increasing Word Learning Efficiency in Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing through Retrieval Practice

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE · 2022 · $32,574

## Abstract

Project Summary
Despite decades of attempts to “close the gap” between spoken language skills of children who are deaf and
hard of hearing (DHH) and their hearing peers, this goal remains elusive. Reduced audibility and delays in
identification and amplification hamper spoken language development of children who are DHH. To “catch up,”
their language learning rate must outpace that of typical development. However, they often exhibit slower, not
faster, language acquisition rates and require more exposures to learn words than their hearing peers. Thus,
children who are DHH need effective and efficient interventions to achieve the trajectory required to reach age
expected language skills and improve their long-term educational and vocational outcomes.
Retrieval practice, which is prominent in cognitive psychology but less dependably applied to education and
even less so to special education, is an empirically validated approach that could improve the language
learning of children who are DHH. Retrieval practice is hypothesized to improve learning by enhancing the
value of word presentations and countering the need for extra word exposures relative to hearing peers. To
advance the promising yet underutilized research on retrieval practice, we complete the next logical step of
evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of two key retrieval practice features: feedback (Aim 1) and spacing
(Aim 2). Feedback is predicted to result in more efficient learning because it focuses attention on unmastered
material, prevents the illusion of success, and reduces repeated errors. Spacing trials are predicted to result in
more efficient learning than massed trials because they require more effort with fewer cues provided. Study
innovations include the critical evaluation of retention and use of a multi-session intervention context.
We will accomplish these aims through four single case adapted alternating treatments design studies with
sixteen 5-8 year old children who are DHH. Four children complete each contrast of conditions to isolate the
effects of feedback and spacing. Results via visual analysis and effect sizes will reveal the degree to which
retrieval practice is expected to support word learning for children who are DHH and whether learning is
enhanced by the inclusion of feedback and spaced teaching trials. This knowledge could have broad
implications for maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of word learning interventions in the short-term and
more comprehensive language interventions in the long-term for children who are DHH. Next steps will
address (a) evaluating the effects and possible mechanisms of retrieval practice that combines the most
effective intervention features and (b) identifying child characteristics that mediate and moderate intervention
effects in a randomized control trial. Future studies will expand retrieval practice to other language areas and
the modality of sign language. This work would advance the field, which exhibits...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10360706
- **Project number:** 1R21DC020017-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS LAWRENCE
- **Principal Investigator:** Jena C McDaniel
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $32,574
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-12-09 → 2022-07-01

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10360706

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10360706, Increasing Word Learning Efficiency in Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing through Retrieval Practice (1R21DC020017-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10360706. Licensed CC0.

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