Chapter 7: Language Learning Processes

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Chapter 7 Language Learning Processes

• Overview
• Relation among comprehension, production
  cognition
• Universal lang. Learning principles
• Parental Expansion, extension, etc
• Child imitation (selective)
• Play

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Cognitive Dev learning words

• Strong link between Play and word use
• Child uses knowledge of events (routines) to
  learn words used within those events (event
  knowledge)
• Words are first used learned in the context of
  everyday events
• Use of grammar also reflects cognitive
  attainments
• Later, children will be able to put words in
  categories taxonomic knowledge

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Comprehension Production

• Relationship between the two isnt clear
• Early in development, single word comprehension
  tends to precedes production
• The child doesnt fully comprehend words before
  they produce them
• Context greatly enhances understanding
• May misinterpret contextual understanding vs.
  true word comprehension

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Comprehension Strategies

• Example Child hears comb babys hair and may
  respond by
• 1. doing what you usually do with the object
  and put it in their mouth, or comb own hair, etc
• OR
• 2. act on the object in the way mentioned and
  combs the babys hair

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Comprehension Strategies (contd)

• Older children may hear longer sentences but may
  respond to them using a word-order strategy
  Example
• The car bumps the truck
• The car was bumped by the truck.
• (Why would young children have a difficult time
  with the 2nd sentence? )

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Toddler Language-Learning Strategies (p. 204)
Similarities in how children acquire language

• 1. Receptive Strategies
• Toddlers must have a way to map words they hear
  to the appropriate referent the toddler must
  realize that
• a. words are used to refer to entities,
• b. Words are extendablee.g., a word can refer to
  more than one referent
• c. A word refers to the whole and not a part of
  the whole
• what can caregivers do to assist this word
  learning process?

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Toddler Language Learning Strategies

• 2. Expressive Strategies
• a. Evocative statements (e.g, child labels an
  object the adult gives feedback)
• b. Hypothesis testing labeling objects using
  rising intonation as if asking, am I using the
  right name?
• c. Interrogatives asking what or wassat?

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Expressive Strategies contd

• d. Selective imitation
• Controversial strategy
• Great deal of variability across children
• May be more important for vocab. growth at single
  word level
• End of adult utterances are often imitated

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Preschool Strategies (p. 208)

• Semantic Bootstrapping use of semantic knowledge
  to learn syntax
• baby sleep baby eat
• Thus people things are nouns, action words are
  verbs etc.
• Syntactic Bootstrapping use of syntax to learn
  the meaning of words.
• Im slicing carrots
• I like arugula in my salad.

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Cross-linguistic perspective of language learning

• Across languages syntax morphological
  development progresses in stages
• for example, in stage one children produce words
  without morphological markers
• Across languages certain meaning aspects are
  learned before others (e.g, in/on before behind)
• Produce what where question types first

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Slobins language learning principles
(Cross-linguistic)

• Pay attention to ends of words bound morphemes
  at ends of words develop before child uses
  prefixes also final morphemes are learned before
  auxiliary verbs
• Phonological forms can be systematically
  modified. The child learns to vary the
  pronunciation of words to reflect meaning changes
  these changes are consistent across many words
  (e.g., past tense ending pronounced as /t/)

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Slobins language learning principles
(Cross-linguistic)

• 3. Importance of word order early the child
  produces and understands noun plus verb plus
  noun,
• 4. Do not rearrange linguistic units child will
  produce what you are doing before what are you
  doing? Why?
• 5. Clearly mark your meaning wented

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Slobins language learning principles
(Cross-linguistic)

• 6. Avoid exceptions (irregular forms are usually
  learned later-(falled for fell)
• 7. The use of grammar markers should make sense
  e.g, the child only puts ed endings on verbs,
  the child may confuse the vs. a, but wont
  confuse the with a preposition such as in

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Adult speech to toddlers

• Review motherese characteristics, p. 215
• Adults seem to be reacting to the feedback they
  get from the child will continue or discontinue
  their verbal interaction
• Types of toys influence adult speech to children

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Importance of Motherese

• May aid childrens language development
• Gives children a better chance at processing
  language
• Increases the mothers chance of getting a
  correct response from their child

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Adult conversation (contd)

• Prompting
• Any adult behavior that requires the child to
  respond, e.g,
• fill in The doggy says _____
• Requests the child to imitate
• Ask the child a question

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Consequating behaviors (p. 223)

• Child says doggie run
• The adult expands that utterance- The doggie
  is running
• The adult extends that utterance by including
  related comments - The doggie is running in the
  road

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Additional adult behaviors

• Parallel talk- adult talks about what the child
  is doing, feeling, etc (you are stacking the
  blocks
• Self talk adult talks about what him or
  herself is doing, feeling, etc (Im folding the
  laundry)

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Adult behaviors

• Turnabouts the adult responds to the childs
  previous utterances and then says something to
  get the child to respond again
• Useful for getting clarification from the child,
  getting the child to answer a question, getting
  the child to continue a topic, etc

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Play (again)

• Once again the book discusses the importance of
  play with an adult for the child to learn
  language both require symbolization.
• Early symbolic play reflects the routines of
  daily living (familiar context for learning
  language)
• Play often requires language

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Cultural Social differences

• In some cultures motherese following childs
  lead doesnt happen, instead the child is told
  what to say
• ASL has its own way to convey motherese
• Motherese affected by number of children and
  gender of the children
• Single-parent homes

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Cultural Social differences

• Children in U.S. learn more nouns whereas in
  Japan discussion of feelings is emphasized early

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Conclusion

• We dont know the exact strategies used by
  children or the importance of each
• If a child is not learning language normally,
  where might the breakdown be occurring?
• In your future career, how might the info from
  this chapter be applied?