Chapter 2 - Describing Language

Question 1

Acquisition

Answer 1

Development

Question 2

Generative or nativist approach

Answer 2

Assumes children are born with innate abilities to learn language

“Pre-wired” for language acquisition

LAD - language acquisition device in brain

Question 3

Nature

Answer 3

Biological bases for language acquisition

e.g. pre-determined structures in the brain

Question 4

Nurture

Answer 4

Environmental bases for language acquisition

e.g. supportive home environment

Question 5

Constructionist or Empiricist or Interactionist

Answer 5

Children learn language from the environment

Question 6

Linguistic Theory

Answer 6

The study of language and language development

Question 7

Data

Answer 7

Information that is gathered about a person (i.e. test scores, observations)

Question 8

Sample

Answer 8

The group of people who participate in a research project

Question 9

Variability

Answer 9

Refers to the variability within the sample

Samples should ideally reflect the diversity of the larger population from which they are drawn

Question 10

Data collection

Answer 10

The process of actually collecting the data on a sample (test scores, parent reports, check lists, likert-type rating scales)

Question 11

Data analysis

Answer 11

How the data is analyzed; usually involves both qualitative (taxonomy, description) and quantitative (statistics) methods

Question 12

The theory of language development must:

Answer 12

1. explain why children say what they do
2. explain why they eventually speak like adults

Question 13

Why do we study language acquisition?

Answer 13

Concern for human development

Facilitate child behavior change/learning

Increase insight into normal and other than normal language processes

Help us to understand our own behavior

Question 14

What might be the number 1 reason to study language development?

Answer 14

Explore the relationship between language development and cognitive development

L.D. is parallel to C.D. and will never exceed Cognition.

Question 15

Two principle theories of language development are?

Answer 15

Nature - generative/nativist
Nurture - Constructionist/Empiricist/Interactionist

Question 16

What are the big ideas with Generative/Nativist Approach?

Answer 16

1. Children learn language because they are born with innate rules or principles related to structures of human languages
2. Language development is an inherent part of being human
3. Language is a universal human trait
4. The environment’s role in a child’s language learning is limited

Question 17

The Who of Generative/Nativist Approach

Answer 17

Chomsky - Researcher who believed in universal syntactic rules that applied to all human languages + present in all humans at birth

LAD - language acquisition device - proposed these rules are housed theoretically in the brain and children use the rules to figure out the rules of the language to which they are exposed

Semantic Syntactic Relations: instead of the subjects + verbs used by adults to produce sentences, children use meaning units (agents, actions, objects)

Question 18

What is wrong with the nativist approach?

Answer 18

While it can explain some child utterances, it fails to address other forms of sentences such as interrogatives or idioms etc.

Question 19

What are the big ideas of Constructionist/Empiricist/Interactionist Approach?

Answer 19

B.F. Skinner - behaviorist -believed parents model language, children imitate

The child is considered to be a contributing member in the language learning process

The child will cue the parent to provide the appropriate language that the child needs in order to learn the language

Child directed speech or motherese refers to parent’s adapted way of speaking to children; it varies greatly in speech and in adults

The environment plays a critical role in language development

Children learn language from the environmental input to which they are exposed

Children interact with their environment (parents, caregivers, friends, objects) to learn

Child relies upon cognitive mechanisms - the learning of language is accomplished by general brain processes, as opposed to special center in the brain that houses all language function

Question 20

Emergentism

Answer 20

Closely related to both nativism + constructionist theories

Language development occurs due to interacting patterns in the human brain

There is something in the brain that makes language learning innately possible

The brain depends upon incoming information from the environment in order to seek out patterns

The child finds the patterns in the language input they receive

Question 21

Constructionist/Emergentism

Answer 21

Focuses on a usage based approach

Language structure emerges from language use

it sees language as composed of symbols units that combine form and meaning via the use of morphemes, words, idioms, and sentence frames

a child will begin to realize patterns in the input from the parent, and in turn, beings to use some word-specific combinations

Question 22

What are the 4 goals of child language research?

Answer 22

To confirm general L.D. principles

To discover new principles/information about L.D.

To clarify/expand the relationship between L.D. and other areas, most notably cognition

To provide theoretical description of L.D.

Question 23

Research Study Designs

Answer 23

1. Longitudinal - a few children are studied for an extended period of time
2. Case Study - usually descriptive; one or a few children are included in the data collection
3. Experimental - children are randomly assigned to groups

Question 24

Components of Research?

Answer 24

Develop an idea
Determine population
Determine sample size
Determine type of data needed
Determine best method
Collect Data
Analyze Data

Question 25

Data Collection

Answer 25

Driven by the aspect of language that is being studied - speech perception, comprehension, expression

Question 26

Expressive Language development data collected in two ways

Answer 26

Conversational (spontaneous) - usually a wider variety of language forms will emerge in conversational sampling

Structured Testing - more advanced use of language forms will be seen in structured testing

Question 27

Sample Size + Variability

Answer 27

Two Concerns:
1. The sample or group of children from whom the data is collected
2. The sample of L. data from each child

Sample size: if too small hard to generalize to larger population; if too large, difficult to manage data variants, limiting generalization to population

Question 28

Things to think about when selecting a sample size?

Answer 28

1. Should be large enough to allow for conclusions to be drawn and for generalizations to be made about the greater population from whom the sample was drawn
2. sample size is related to the power of your study - number of participants you need in order for it to be able to generalize to similar children
3. sample should reflect the diversity of larger population - socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, dialectal variations that are found in the total population

Question 29

Two types of data analysis

Answer 29

Quantitative - count - using stats to examine correlations or associations between data

Qualitative - more observational in nature - looking for behaviors, usually within a natural context or setting