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Parents saying 'Um' and 'Uh' aid learning

The study shows that using verbal pauses is all right and the 'uhs' and 'ums' help in the learning process in children.

Parents saying Um and Uh aid learning

Parents who say "um" and "uh" when speaking to their toddlers are not setting a bad example; they are actually helping the children learn language more efficiently.

The ability to conclude the referential intentions of speakers is a crucial part of learning a language. Previous research has disclosed various contextual and social cues that children may use to do this. However, no study had looked into the importance filling pauses like 'uh' and 'um' for growing children. To study this aspect, researchers studied children aged between 18 to 30 months.

It was found that older children paid more attention to an image of an unfamiliar item when a voice explaining the item stumbled and said, "Look at the, uh...". When a parent fumbles for the correct word, it signals to a child that he or she is about to learn something new and should pay close attention, speculated the researchers.

This effect was only significant in children older than 24 months - likely because younger children have not yet learned that stumbles and hesitations in speech (called disfluencies) tend to precede new or unknown words.

The study shows that using verbal pauses is all right and the 'uhs' and 'ums' help in the learning process in children.
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