Transcript Language & Communication

Language Development &
Communication
Basic Components of Language:
1. Phonology –
2. Semantics –
3. Syntax –
4. Pragmatics –
Language Development &
Communication
Basic Components of Language:
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
1. Learning Perspective
• Imitation and reinforcement
• Evaluation of perspective
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
2. Nativist Perspective
• Noam Chomsky
• Language Acquisition Device
(LAD)
• Language-Making Capacity
(LMC)
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
Support for Nativist perspective
a. Broca’s & Wernicke’s
areas
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
Support for Nativist perspective
a. Broca’s & Wernicke’s
areas
b. Infant phonetic
discrimination
c. Sensitive period
d. Invention of language
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
Problems with Nativist perspective
a. Plasticity retained
b. Rhesus monkeys can
discriminate sounds
much like human infants
c. Do invented languages
occur without adult
intervention?
d. LAD not very helpful
concept
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
3. Interactionist Perspective
• Biology + Environment
Environmental Support for Language
Development
a. Joint activities (zone of
proximal development)
Language Development &
Communication
Theories of Language Development
3. Interactionist Perspective
• Biology + Environment
Environmental Support for Language
Development
a. Joint activities (zone of
proximal development)
b. Motherese / Child Directed
Speech
c. Expansions/recasts
d. Conversation is critical
Language Development &
Communication
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Prelinguistic Period (until 10 to 13 mos)
A. Making sounds
1. Cooing
2. Babbling
3. Vocables
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Prelinguistic Period (until 10 to 13 mos)
A. Making sounds
B. Learning the rules
1. Taking turns
2. Gestures & non-verbal
communication
3. Receptive vs. productive
language
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Holophrastic Period
(from 10-13 mos to 18-24 mos)
Holophrastic period –
Holophrase –
Naming explosion -
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Holophrastic Period
(from 10-13 mos to 18-24 mos)
Referential style –
Expressive style –
Cultural and birth order effects….
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Holophrastic Period
(from 10-13 mos to 18-24 mos)
Overextension – use relatively specific
words to refer to a broader set of
objects, actions, or events than
adults do.
Underextension – use general words
to refer to a smaller set of objects,
actions or events than adults do.
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Telegraphic Period
(from 18-24 mos to about 30 mos)
Early sentences (two words or
more) consist solely of content
words and omit the less
meaningful parts of speech.
For example: More candy
See kitty
We go
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Universal Milestones in Language Devel.
Milestone
Approx. Age
Cooing
2-3 mos.
Babbling
5 mos.
First Words
10-14 mos.
Ten Words
12 mos.
Two-word
sentence
21-24 mos.
Two-hundred
words
24 mos.
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Preschool Period
(from 2 ½ to 5 years)
• Grammatical development
• Overregularization –
overgeneralize grammatical
rules to irregular cases (see
cartoon).
• Semantics
• Pragmatics &
Communication Skills
SEQUENCE OF LANGUAGE
DEVELOPMENT
Middle Childhood & Adolescent Period
(6-14 years)
• Use larger words
• Produce longer & more complex
sentences
• Think about language and
manipulate it in new ways
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
The Importance of Reading to Children
(Whitehurst et al. 1988)
• Toddlers
• Control group –
•Experimental group –
•After one month, the children in the
experimental group had a larger gain
in vocabulary
• Replicated in Mexico (ValdezMenchaca & Whitehurst, 1992)
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
American Sign Language
Sign constructed from a limited set
of gestural components (same way
that the spoken word is constructed
from a finite number of distinctive
sounds or phonemes).
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
American Sign Language
Sign constructed from a
limited set of gestural
components (same way that
the spoken word is
constructed from a finite
number of distinctive sounds
or phonemes).
Components of ASL:
1. Position of hands
2. Configuration of
hands/fingers
3. Motions of
hands/fingers
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
American Sign Language
Deaf children acquire ASL much
like hearing children acquire their
oral language.
1. Babbling –
2. Holophrastic phrases (action
words, naming objects,
modifiers).
3. Telegraphic statements
4. Same stages
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
American Sign Language
Deaf children acquire ASL much
like hearing children acquire their
oral language.
When deaf children are raised
with deaf parents:
Babbling – 7-11 mos.
Pointing – 8-9 mos.
Word/Sign – 12 mos.
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bilingualism
Two Critical Issues:
1. Expose to both? Best way
to do this?
2. What is the best way to
acquire a second language
for school?
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bilingualism
Exposing child to two languages at the
same time:
• Slower at first, catch up
• Don’t mix up
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bilingualism
Bilingual Education:
• What’s most effective when child
does not speak language of
school?
• Not Immersion
• Not ESL Programs
• Some basic instruction in native
language in first year or two
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Bilingualism
Advantages:
• Increased language proficiency
• Increased concept formation
• Increased nonverbal intelligence
• Increased metalinguistic awareness
Note: These positive effects result
from bilingual immersion and also
foster an appreciation for diversity!
Two-way bilingual education?
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Critical Period for Language Acquisition?
Critical Period Hypothesis: Notion that
human beings are most proficient at
learning language before puberty.
• Prepubescent children
• Brain damage
Summary
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Critical Period for Language Acquisition?
Wild Children
• Number of cases recorded
• Number of cases that acquired
language
• Number that did not learn any
language (Reich, 1986)
• Most famous case