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Verbal associations of preschool children to the names of certain colors and feelings – stereotypes and changes

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Višnja Mićić 

University of Belgrade, Teacher Education Faculty, Serbia

visnja.micic@uf.bg.ac.rs

Education for innovation and research

Number of the paper: 94

 

Abstract

This presentation will focus on the specifics of studying preschool children's verbal associations and the challenges that researchers face during both data collection and data processing. It employs a psycholinguistic research method aimed at examining the mental lexicon, which is significant for educators as it provides insights into children's perspectives on the world. The research will involve a sample of 200 preschool-aged children (ages 5-7) exposed to eight stimuli words representing colors and feelings. The collected data will undergo qualitative thematic analysis. Initially, analysis will involve categorizing responses into standardized themes, focusing on both syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships to the stimuli words. At the preschool age, non-systemic reactions are common in children's responses and can be categorized into several themes: associations based on collective non-linguistic experiences, associations based on personal non-linguistic experiences, associations reflecting the child's need to define a term, and responses not linked to the semantic field of the stimulus word. The results will be compared with previous research conducted in the same linguistic region to document changes in conceptualization of the examined terms and identify persistent stereotypes in the most frequent reactions.

Key words

associative method, mental lexicon, reactions, stimulus word, stereotype