Chapter 8- Bilingualism Flashcards
Matthew Effect
reference used by sociologists describing the phenomenon of the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer”
example of the matthew effect
good readers will enjoy reading and therefore read more and become better
phonemic awareness
knowledge that words consist of separable sounds
- sound does not give you cue as to where divide concepts
what is orthography
systtem for converting letters into sounds is irregular
what is the number one predictor of reading ability
phonemic awareness
dyslexia
reading disability
- reading ability is significantly worse than what would be predicted based on intellectual ability
who tends to score higher on reading tests
girls
who is more affected by dyslexia
boys
how is boys interest different than girls
more affected by interest
what is the significance of the sex difference in reading
it is statistically significant but the absolute difference is minor
what is the general rule for learning a second language
best if aquired before puberty
what happens in our brains when switching languages early
same part of brain lights up
- when later, different area lights up
critical period
specific experience is necessary during developmental period for a behaviour to develop
two experiments used for critical period
- imprinting with geese following mothers
- hubel and wiesel experiment for cats and vision
examples of critical period in first language
- wild boy of averyon living alone in woods and never learned to communicate
- genie prohibited from interacting with others and never mastered language
critical period for deaf children
better mastery of sign language if taught earlier
what is sensitive period
flexible time window in which experience has optimal effect on behaviour
- behaviour can still be modified outside window
bilingual benefits
- attention control
- concept formation
- analytic reasoning
- inhibition
- cog. flexibility, complexity, monitoring
myth about bilingual children
believed that exposing children to multiple languages would harm development
- no evidence that bilingual children have language or cognitive deficits later as adults
what do studies show about children speaking mulitple languages
start speaking a few months after monolingual children
most effective way to teach a new english student
using students’ native language and english is more successful than just english
- children learn best by being understood
behaviourist perspective
skills are aquired through classical and operant conditioning
- children rewarded for behaviour to help accomplish goals
behaviour perspective limitations
- cannot explain novel word combos
- cannot explain under and over extension
- parents do not correct grammar
nativist perspective
noam chomsky
- humans are born with neural circuits that allow for grammer (LAD)
- innate knowledge about the word allows for language acquisition
semantic bootstrapping theory
brain is ready to categorize the world into nouns and verbs
universal grammar
every language has subject, verb and object
- system allows infants to aquire grammar with minimal guidance
support for universal grammar
- specific brain regions for processing language including grammar
- only humans learn grammar readily
- children develop language with little/no formal input
- critical period for learning
- development of grammar is tied to dev of vocab
broca’s aphasia
difficulty with speech production
wernicke’s aphasia
difficulty with meaningful speech or fluent aphasia
- words are flowing but without meaning
how does a healthy brain work in unison to produce meaningful speech
broca and wernicke work tg
vervetmoneky communication
different alarm calls to signal approach of leopards, eagles and snakes
apes and sign language
smartes ape kanzi learned hundreds of lexicons and could understand and produce english words
is language unique to humans
yes, no animals have shown mastery of syntax
what was the level of kanzi’s mastery
3 year old
how do babies with deaf parents learn sign language
same as hearing with a spoken language
how does utterance begin
babbling (waving hands and fingers)
1 word signs
2 and 3 word utterances
how do blind infants learn
same as sighted kids without sighted cues
- will raise up hands when told to look up
word position
kids learn position of words in grammar of a language
- ex is you do it, not do it you
cognitive perspective of language
allows children to extract statistical regularities from perceptual environment
- manifestation of powerful cognitive abilities
limitation of cognitive perspective
cannot explain williams syndrome
- high verbal ability and low intelligence
social perspective of language
children master language in social contexts
