Book Review: Anita Wong, Understanding development and disorder in Cantonese using language sample analysis

Abstract

reduced or absent priming effects. Instead, deficits in processing, mainly mediated through cognitive skills (e.g. memory) mean that priming effects will be observed but may decline rapidly over time. For PWA, Garraffa and Smith claim that priming effects may last longer in these individuals than in healthy adults, which they attribute to perseverance difficulties. The last chapter in this book focuses on children with DLD exclusively. In Chapter 10, Leonard discusses priming not as a research paradigm but as an intervention. This is argued on the basis of several similarities between priming and intervention (e.g. frequent explicit presentation, repetition, implicit learning, the possible impact on both production and comprehension, the targeting of clause-level structures). Leonard considers practical implications in implementing this intervention, including the level of the child’s knowledge of the structures targeted. In all, this book covers diverse content comprehensively and is accessible to an academic audience including final-year undergraduate students with an understanding of methods in experimental psychology. Core concepts are repeated enabling one to read selectively. Ideas are interesting and justified. Proposals for future research echo the zeitgeist for more inclusive and representative research. For an experimental method with such a strong grounding in cognitive psychology, proposed avenues going forward are well motivated by linguistics, reflecting the background and expertise of the authors.