Chapter 4 Flashcards
What is a theory?
A descriptive statement or principle used to explain a group of facts or phenomena
Basic/theoretical research
Generating and refining an existing knowledge base
Applied research
Used to address specific issues in society and informs practices relevant to language development
What is use-inspired basic research?
Basic research that addresses the useful applications of research findings
What do speech perception studies do?
They help explain how children use speech perception to learn language (using auditory stimuli, heart rate/kicking, head turn, sucking)
What do language production studies do?
Examine children’s ability to use language expressively
What is normative research?
When experts compile data from multiple people on a certain aspect of language and then create a chart showing what time children generally meet a certain milestone
In observational studies…?
Researchers examine children’s language use in naturalistic or semiconstructed contexts
In experimental studies…?
Researchers actively manipulate the variables of interest
What are pseudowords?
Nonsense words used to assess children’s morphological or vocabulary skills
What do language comprehension studies do?
They examine what children understand about language
What are the questions that language theories should answer?
- What do infants bring to the task of language learning?
- What mechanisms drive language acquisition?
- What types of input support the language-learning system?
Attempt to explain how children learn their native language
Language development theories
Nurture-inspired theories
Argue that knowledge is gained through experience
Nature-inspired theories
Argue that knowledge is innate and genetically transmitted
Behaviorist theory (Skinner)
Learning is the result of operant conditioning - behaviors that are reinforced are strengthened, and behaviors that are punished become suppressed
Universal Grammar (Chomsky)
Describes the system of grammatical rules and constraints that are consistent in all world languages; language acquisition device
What is a language acquisition device?
A language-learning module
What is linguistic competence?
The implicit knowledge that children have about language
What is linguistic performance?
The actual comprehension and production of language in specific situations
Modularity theory (Fodor)
Emphasizes the organization of cognition within the brain in a series of highly specified modules
Syntactic bootstrapping
Children use syntactic frams surrounding unknown verbs to successfully constrain or limit the possible meanings of the verbs
Semantic bootstrapping
Children deduce grammatical structures by using word meanings they acquire through observation
Prosodic bootstrapping
Infants use sensitivity to prosody (the acoustic properties of speech such as pitch, rhythm, pauses, stress) to make inferences about language
Interactionist theories
State that language is developed through both nature and nurture-related factors
Social-interactionist theory (Vygotsky)
Children learn language through social interactions
What is the zone of proximal development?
The difference between a child’s actual developmental level and their potential level of development
Cognitive theory (Piaget)
States that there are stages of development, and one stage must be achieved before a child can move on to the next stage
Intentionality model
Abilities in language, emotional expression, cognition, social interaction, and play develop in tandem, and children must be intentional to acquire language
What is intention reading?
A child’s ability to recognize the intentions and mental states of others
Usage-based theory
Emphasizes the social nature of language for language development
What are cognitive principles?
The ideas governing language processing and automaticity and the role of rewards the speaker gains through language use
What are affective principles?
The individual’s confidence with language learning and propensity to take risks with language
What are linguistic principles?
The role of a native language facilitating or interfering with second language acquisition
What is the audiolingual method?
A method of teaching English as a second language that emphasizes imitation, repetition, and memorization to create automatic and habitual language responses
What is the silent way?
A method of teaching English as a second language that emphasizes the importance of allowing students to generate hypotheses about language rules, to apply the rules, and discover errors
What is prevention?
To inhibit language difficulties from emerging
What is enrichment?
The process through which teachers, clinicians, and other adults provide children, adolescents, and adults with an enhanced language-learning environment (anything one can do to enhance their language learning)
What do brain imaging studies allow?
MRIs allow researchers to conduct direct, real-time investigations of speech perception by identifying the exact areas of the brain where speech perception occurs
What is evidence-based practice?
Practice that involves integrating theoretical knowledge with scientific inquiry to inform decision-making (using scientific evidence)
What does fast-mapping measure?
How fast children learn words
What is the critical period?
Birth to five years old
