Ch. 10 - Early School-Age Language Development

Question 1

Decentration

Answer 1

Process of moving from 1 dimensional description of entities / events to coordinated, multi- dimensional

e.g. not just talking about size of something, but size, shape, color etc.

Question 2

Eventcast

Answer 2

A type of narrative that explains some current or anticipated event

Often accompany the play of young children

Question 3

Metalinguistics

Answer 3

Refers to the use of language to talk about language

Question 4

Metaphoric Transparency

Answer 4

The amount of literal - figurative relationships in a narrative

High or Strong relationships often result ins easy interpretation

e.g. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse

Question 5

Morphophonemic

Answer 5

Term that is used to refer to changes in sound production related to meaning changes

e.g. jumped has a “t” sound at end

shared has “d”

both used ed at end

meaning signals past tense, but also sound signals past tense too

Question 6

Story Grammar

Answer 6

Narrative Framework that specifies the underlying relationship of the story components

Question 7

Language Development 5-12 years

Answer 7

• Growth occurs in all areas, but most noticeably Semantics + Pragmatics (vocal + social use of language)
• LD slows during this period + individual variation is very great
• Focus is on mastering new and existing forms of language
• Increase in size/complexity of language
• Linguistic Creativity: rhymes, songs, jokes

Question 8

Cognitive Changes in Early School Years: 4 Major changes between 7-11

Answer 8

Will change dramatically during the first 6 years of school

From concrete problem solving to abstract thought

1. INFERRED REALITY: defined as an inference about a physical problem based on not only perceived appearances but on internal information
2. DECENTRATION: ability to consider several aspects of a physical problem at once
3. TRANSFORMATIONAL THOUGHT: refers to the ability to view a physical problem as existing in time and to anticipate future consequences
4. REVERSIBLE MENTAL OPERATIONS: Enable a child to recognize that change can be undone or reversed

Question 9

Inferred Reality Example

Answer 9

A preschooler often bases his judgment of a container’s volume on height alone

In contrast, a school-aged child will draw conclusions based on all physical characteristics and on personal knowledge of the volume of liquid that was poured into the container

Question 10

Cognition moves from _____ to ______ during adolescence, with elementary skills gradually shifting to help a child process greater amounts of information.

Answer 10

CONCRETE TO ABSTRACT

Question 11

What area in which cognitive maturation is MOST noted is in ?

Answer 11

Vocabulary Development

Question 12

Chunking

Answer 12

Semantically arranging information, most often into categories (Names of animals, items found in a supermarket)

the better the chunking, the better the organization, storage, and retrieval of information

When learning new vocabulary, child will associate it with what he/she already knows

Question 13

When we look at Pragmatics, we consider _____ and ________.

Answer 13

Genetics + Environment

Research has shown that:

Environment is important, but GENETICS is thought to have GREATER contribution in the development of this area.

Question 14

Nonegocentrism

Answer 14

Ability to take another’s perspective

Essential for doing well in school

Question 14

Why is the classroom a great influence on the development of pragmatics?

Answer 14

Because the school environment demands a very different set of pragmatic skills

• diff rules for talking in class
• text-related language becomes important
• required to use precise word meanings in classroom interactions

Question 15

Decentration

Answer 15

The process of moving from very rigid, one-dimensional descriptions of objects and events to coordinated descriptions

As a speaker and a listener, the child realizes that there are many dimensions and perspectives to any given topic

Question 16

Narratives

Answer 16

Organized in predictable, rule-governed ways that may differ due to culture

Reflect a storyteller’s experience

5/6 year old children mostly tell anecdotal narratives of a personal nature (fantasy stories are rare at this age)

Narrative development is largely learned at home

Question 17

4 Narrative Types (ON TEST WRITTEN OUT)

Answer 17

RECOUNT: Tells about past experiences in which a child participated or observed or about which a child read and is usually requested by ADULT

EVENTCAST: An explanation of some current or anticipated event and may be used to direct others in imaginative play sequences

ACCOUNTS: Highly individualized spontaneous narratives in which children share their experiences (You know what?) and thus, are not reporting information that has been requested by adult

STORIES: Fictionalized. Endless content variation. they have known and anticipated pattern or structure in which the main character must overcome some problem or challenge

Question 18

Narrative Development through Ages

Answer 18

2-3 years:

Can sequence forward, but can’t go backwards

Mostly involves actions

Can’t tell a coherent, casual narrative

4 -5 years:
contain many elements - such as plans and scripts

still, unable to weave a coherent narrative

5-7 years:

plot emerges, woven into a series of problems and solutions

Age 8:

Sense of plot becomes more clear

Manipulate audience + text to maintain attention - if losing interest, they may embellish

Question 19

Story Grammar: 6 Narrative Features

Answer 19

Includes components and rules that form a narrative framework or internal structure of story

Intro
Character
Setting
Challenge
Attempts to meet challenge
Response to Outcome

Question 20

Narrative Development Features

Answer 20

Fewer unresolved problems and unprepared resolutions

Less extraneous detail

More overt marking of changes in time and place

More introduction, including setting and character info

More complex episode structure

Closer adherence to the story grammar model

Question 21

African American Narrative Characteristics

Answer 21

FOCUS: lengthy, personal experiences

RESOLUTION: may or may not be resolved

ORGANIZATION: experiences usually related by a theme

Question 22

Spanish Speaking/Mexican American Narratives

Answer 22

FOCUS: frequent mention of family members

EVENTS: resolution may be present, not as important as in European, American narratives

ORGANIZATION: emphasis on relationships

Question 23

European/American

Answer 23

FOCUS: single experience

EVENTS: chronological sequence

ORGANIZATION: topic centered, related to present conversation

Question 24

Semantic Development

Answer 24

Vocal continues to grow into adulthood

adding new words continues, but greater development in semantic sophistication or depth of understanding

Interrelated semantic concepts: semantic classes, synonyms, homonyms, and antonyms

Question 25

Interrelated Semantic Concepts Animals Example

Answer 25

Human Use

Ones that live in Africa

ones that live on a farm

in a zoo

Question 26

Synonyms example

Answer 26

Target word: walk

synonyms: words that mean walk

Question 27

Semantic Development is strongly influenced by

Answer 27

Educational Level
SES - socioeconomic status
Gender
Age
Cultural Background

Question 28

2 types of increases in word meanings that occur during the school years and adulthood

Answer 28

1. A child will add features to the definition that are common to the adult definition.
2. child will bring together all the definition that can fit a single word

Basically expansion on the initial concrete meaning of words they learned in the beginning

Question 29

Ages and Semantic/pragmatic development

Answer 29

Age 5 - direct requests, repeats for repair

6 - repeats using elaboration for repair

7 - uses and understands deictic terms (this, that these those). Narratives have beg, end, problem, resolution

also uses left/right, back/front, shifts from single word def to multi word (semantics)

8 - sustains concrete topics, starts to consider others intentions (Theory of Mind)

9 - sustains topics through several terms. produces all elements of the story grammar

begins to interpret psychological states described using physical terms (cold, blue) but may misinterpret (semantics)

11 - sustains abstract topics

creates abstract definitions. understand psychological states described with physical terms (semantic)

12 - uses the terms otherwise, therefore however anyway

Question 30

Figurative Language - aspect of semantic development

Answer 30

Defined as the use of non-literal forms of languages - metaphors, idioms, sarcasms, metaphors

These skills begin to develop at about age 9

Classroom teaching and reading tend to rely heavily on the use of figurative expressions

Question 31

Metaphoric Transparency

Answer 31

Amount of literal-figurative relationship that is present, the higher the amount, the easier the interpret ion

e.g. hold your tongue - has high literal/metaphoric transparency

kick the bucket does not

Question 32

Metalinguistics Abilities

Answer 32

defined as one’s ability to think about language independently of comprehension and production abilities

A child focuses on and reflects on language as a decontextualized object

Question 33

Metalinguistic skill is closely related to what?

Answer 33

Pragmatic skills

Example: knowing how to adjust your language when speaking to a child versus an adult

Question 34

Metalinguistics for Age 2

Answer 34

Are able to adjust their speaking for different listeners:

loud versus soft, demanding versus requesting, simple versus complex

Question 35

Metalinguistics School-Age

Answer 35

Able to predict the consequences of using particular forms (inflections, word choices) with listeners

Able to judge utterances as appropriate for specific listener setting

Can provide word definitions, construct puns/riddles/ other forms of humor

Can judge overall correctness of an utterance