Lecture 11(B) - Language Acquisition pt. 2

Question 1

Prelinguistic communication

Answer 1

• sounds, facial expressions, gestures, imitation
• babbling begins at about 8 mnths
  
  • intentional vocalization
  • lacks meaning
• due to exposure of lang before birth

Question 2

First words

Answer 2

• occur btwn 10-14 mnths
• easy to pronounce, things that are in their environment, reflects things they hear

Question 3

Holophrase

Answer 3

• single word used to express a complex idea
• rely on context and gesture (IE: point to toy aisle and says “ball”, could be asking for parent to buy them a ball)

Question 4

Baby signing

Answer 4

• teaching infants to communicate w/ symbolic gestures
• NOT a language
• no evidence of accelerating language development, decreasing tempertantrums, etc.

Question 5

Vocabulary spurt

Answer 5

• dramatic acceleration of word learning
• occurs at about 18 mnths bc they become capable of mental representation

Question 6

Fast mapping

Answer 6

• disambiguation of meaning of unfamiliar word, often after a single/limited exposure
• begins word learning process

Question 7

Extended mapping

Answer 7

• retention of a new word
• deeper processing (IE: definition, purpose of the word, used in context)

Question 8

Linguistic inaccuracies

Answer 8

• extension errors common in early childhood
• under extension: words used too restrictively (family dog is called “dog”, but word not applied to other dogs, almost like a name)
• over extension: words used too broadly (child calls every man “Daddy”, or every animal is “doggy”)

Question 9

Telegraphic speech

Answer 9

• 18-36 mnths
• two word combos that communicate only the essential words (IE: “want cupcake”)
• follows rule of grammar despite dropping other functional words
• understanding of syntax outweighs production of syntax

Question 10

Overregulation

Answer 10

• grammatical mistakes made when children apply grammatical rules too stringently
• understand grammatical rules, but not the exceptions
• IE: “I have two foots” or “I runned across the field”

Question 11

30 million word catastrophe

Answer 11

• +30 million difference in words heard btwn children in professional households vs low income households
• shows that some children are at a disadvantage before starting school

Question 12

Achievement gap

Answer 12

• persistent disparity on educational outcomes due to SES, race/ethnicity, or gender
• accumulates

Question 13

Summer Learning loss

Answer 13

• children’s language skills improve less during summer than during the school year
• disproportionally affects children in low SES
• accumulates over time

Question 14

Simultaneous

Answer 14

• children hears two languages from birth and acquires them at the same time

Question 15

Sequential

Answer 15

• child hears only one lang for the first few years
• later exposed to another lang

Question 16

Language differentiation

Answer 16

• figuring out that you are hearing two diff languages rather than one combined lang

Question 17

Bilingualism’s Effects on Language Development

Answer 17

• phoneme discrimination and canonical babbling on same schedule
• smaller vocab in each language
• languages w/ similar syntax do not cause any delay, languages w/ very diff syntax may result in a delay

Question 18

Immersion approach/ESL approach

Answer 18

• all instruction occurs in majority approach
• one language becomes more dominant
• tend to fall behind bc they dont have the ability to acquire the knowledge

Question 19

Bilingualism

Answer 19

• instruction initially in native lang
• shifts to second lang as proficiency increases
• reduces likelihood of child falling behind

Question 20

Dual language learning

Answer 20

• two-way immersion
• children are taught and develop skills in two lang
• argued as developing bilingualism

Question 21

Executive functioning of bilingualism

Answer 21

• greater cog flexibility - use of one language activates the other language, which has to be inhibited
• more robust working mem
• stronger selective attention
• likely to do better in school

Question 22

Cognitive reserve of bilingualism

Answer 22

• mind’s resistance to brain deterioration/damage
• prevention of AZ

Question 23

Adult second language acquisition

Answer 23

• earlier age of exposure is better
• poor performance regardless of age of exposure or number of years using language

Question 24

What is the second lang education like in U.S. schools?

Answer 24

• begins after 12 - end of the sensitive period
• avg student spends less than 2 years studying second language