Chapter 2 - Describing Language Flashcards
Acquisition
Development
Generative or nativist approach
Assumes children are born with innate abilities to learn language
“Pre-wired” for language acquisition
LAD - language acquisition device in brain
Nature
Biological bases for language acquisition
e.g. pre-determined structures in the brain
Nurture
Environmental bases for language acquisition
e.g. supportive home environment
Constructionist or Empiricist or Interactionist
Children learn language from the environment
Linguistic Theory
The study of language and language development
Data
Information that is gathered about a person (i.e. test scores, observations)
Sample
The group of people who participate in a research project
Variability
Refers to the variability within the sample
Samples should ideally reflect the diversity of the larger population from which they are drawn
Data collection
The process of actually collecting the data on a sample (test scores, parent reports, check lists, likert-type rating scales)
Data analysis
How the data is analyzed; usually involves both qualitative (taxonomy, description) and quantitative (statistics) methods
The theory of language development must:
- explain why children say what they do
- explain why they eventually speak like adults
Why do we study language acquisition?
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
What might be the number 1 reason to study language development?
Explore the relationship between language development and cognitive development
L.D. is parallel to C.D. and will never exceed Cognition.
Two principle theories of language development are?
Nature - generative/nativist
Nurture - Constructionist/Empiricist/Interactionist
What are the big ideas with Generative/Nativist Approach?
- Children learn language because they are born with innate rules or principles related to structures of human languages
- Language development is an inherent part of being human
- Language is a universal human trait
- The environment’s role in a child’s language learning is limited
The Who of Generative/Nativist Approach
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)
What is wrong with the nativist approach?
While it can explain some child utterances, it fails to address other forms of sentences such as interrogatives or idioms etc.
What are the big ideas of Constructionist/Empiricist/Interactionist Approach?
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
Emergentism
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
Constructionist/Emergentism
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
What are the 4 goals of child language research?
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.
Research Study Designs
- Longitudinal - a few children are studied for an extended period of time
- Case Study - usually descriptive; one or a few children are included in the data collection
- Experimental - children are randomly assigned to groups
Components of Research?
Develop an idea
Determine population
Determine sample size
Determine type of data needed
Determine best method
Collect Data
Analyze Data
Data Collection
Driven by the aspect of language that is being studied - speech perception, comprehension, expression
Expressive Language development data collected in two ways
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
Sample Size + Variability
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
Things to think about when selecting a sample size?
- 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
- 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
- sample should reflect the diversity of larger population - socioeconomic, racial and ethnic, dialectal variations that are found in the total population
Two types of data analysis
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
