Chapter 1

Notes

L1 acquisition

• FLA is universal
• Similarities b/w FLA across world languages
• Children have basic syntactic patterns of L1 b/f school

pp 6 - “One important finding is that it is not enough for babies to hear language sounds from electronic devices. In order to learn–or retain–the ability to distinguish between sounds, they need to interact with a human speaker” (Conboy & Kuhl, 2011)

Early infancy

• Babies can recognize language spoken around their mothers b/f birth
• Tiny babies exhibit auditory discrimination
• Infants stop making distinctions b/w sounds that are not phonemic in the language spoken in their surroundings

Age	Description of language development
Birth to 1 month	Cries due to discomfort, discriminate among similar language sounds (for example, pa and ba)
1-3 months	make cooing sounds
3-6 months	makes some consonant-vowel sounds
6-9 months	babbles repetitive consonant-vowel strings (for example, ba ba ba)
9-12 months	understands some frequently heard words
12-18 months	produces first word
18-24 months	can use (say) about 50 different words, combines words to make telegraphic sentences (words order matters)
24-36 months	begins to use grammatical morphemes and functions words

Grammatical morphemes

• Present progressive (Mommy running)
• Plural -s (Two books)
• Irregular past forms (Baby went)
• Possessive‘s (Daddy’s hat)
• Copula (Annie is happy)
• Articles the and a
• Regular past -ed (She walked)
• Third person singular simple present -s (She runs)
• Auxiliary be (He is coming)

Negation

1. ‘No’ alone or first word in sentence
2. Negative word before verb
3. Other negative forms added (for example, don’t or can’t)
4. Negative elemattached to correct form of aux. verb (for example, do and be), have difficulty with some other features related to negatives (for example, * I don’t have no more candies)

Questions

• Adults ask questions about immediate environment (What? Who? Where?) before abstract questions (When? How?)
• Children use questions words in in order that reflects what they are asked and their own cognitive development
• Children use ‘why’ after discovering how it engages adults in conversation

1. Single words or simple two- or three-word sentences with rising intonation
2. Declarative word order and rising intonation
3. Children notice structure difference of questions (fronting) and put verb or question word at start of declarative sentence
4. Subject-auxiliary inversion in for yes/no questions
5. Subject-auxiliary inversion in wh-questions
6. Negative and complex embedded questions

Pre-school years

• Use language in broader social environment, adapt to situations and interlocutors
• Beginning of metalinguistic awareness
• Exposure to more than 20 000 hours of language by school start

School years

• Learning to read increases metalinguistic awareness
• Reading reinforces understanding that a ‘word’ is separate from the thing it represents
• Growth of vocabulary
• Different words learned from different text types
• Encounter different registers (regional variety vs standard variety)

Acquisition theories

1. Behaviourist perspective
2. Innatist perspective
3. Interactionist/development perspectives

Behaviourist perspective

• language learning is the result of imitation, practice, feedback on success, and habit formation
• child is rewarded for correct imitation and receives corrective feedback when errors are made

pp 16 - “children appear to imitate selectively. The choice of what to imitate seems to be based on something new that they have just begun to understand and use, not simply on what is available in the environment”

pp 19 - “Behaviourism seems to offer a reasonable way of understanding how children learn soem of the regular routine aspects of language especially at the earliest stages… behaviourism goes some way to explaining the sorts of overgeneralization that children make, it is not a satisfactory explanation for the acquisition of the more complex grammar that children acquire.”

Innatist perspective

• related to Chomsky’s hypothesis that all human languages are based on some innate universal principles
• input is limited and can be misleading, it contains false starts, incomplete sentences yet children still learn to distinguish b/w grammatical and ungrammatical sentences
• input only needed to trigger language acquisition
• fundamental properties (Universal Grammar) of human language are hard-wired in the infant brain
• properties specific to individual languages need to be learned

pp 21 - “Children achieve different levels… but virtually all achieve the ability to use the patterns of the language… spoken to them.”

Critical period hypothesis

• animals are genetically programmed to acquire certain kinds of knowledge and skills at specific times in life
• evidence from Victor and Genie
• support of CPH is the difference between native signer of ASL (exposed to ASL at birth) and signers who began using ASL later

Interactionist/developmental perspectives

• emphasizes development rather than end state of learner’s linguistic knowledge (performance vs competence)
• language learning is based on the same cognitive processes as learning any other knowledge or skill
• language development is result of interaction b/w internal characteristics of the child and external environment
• language development ties to cognitive development (Piaget 1951) and social interaction (Vgotsky 1978)

Cross cultural research

• child-rearing patterns highlighted child-directed speech in middle-class North American homes.
  • slower rate of delivery
  • higher pitch
  • more varied intonation
  • shorter, simpler sentence patterns
  • stress of key words
  • frequent repetition and paraphrasing
  • topic of conversation emphasize immediate environment
• some cultures expect children to learn by listening and observing (for example, Kaluli in Papua New Guinea and Inuit societies)
• amount of language addressed to children in early years is associated with vocabulary knowledge at school (Gilkerson et al. 2017; Hart & Risley 1995)
• Jim (hearing child of deaf parents) showed that impersonal language sources such as TV and radio of not sufficient, interaction with another speaker is crucial

pp 28 - “Once children have acquired some language, however, television can be a source of language and cultural information.”

Usage-based learning

• also known as cognitive linguistics
• language acquisition is the result of exposure to language used in the environment and then the child’s ability to create networks of associations
• input frequency is a powerful predictor of what will be learned
• language acquisition is based on the same cognitive mechanisms that allow the child to learn many other things

Language disorders and delays

• first word spoken between 12 months and three years
• child who doesn’t speak but understands and responds to language is in the normal range of development
• some children learn to read easily others need instruction that includes systematic attention to sound/letter correspondences
• children who start school w/o knowledge of the school language usually need more time to develop their oral language skills before they can success in L2 reading

pp 30 - “learning to read depends very much on the development of good oral vocabulary”

Childhood bilingualism

• simultaneous bilingualism - acquisition of more than one language virtually from birth
• sequential bilingualism - learning L2 after acquiring L1
  • Basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS) after 2 years or less
  • Cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP) after 5-7 years
• additive bilingualism - maintaining L1 while L2 is being learned
  • continued concept development through L1, maintains connections with extended family
• subtractive bilingualism - losing L1 as L2 is acquired
  • interruption in concept learning through L1 can lead to academic as well as social-emotional problems
• code switching - switching b/w languages is not an indication of confusion of inability to distinguish between languages, but a natural way for bilinguals to make use of their linguistic resources
• translanguaging - multilingual individuals and communities do not draw on their languages as separate systems but rather draw on elements of unified underlying communicative repertoire when they seek to understand or make themselves understood in different contexts

Sparknotes

• nearly all children acquire one or more languages during first 5 years of life
• there are stages to language acquisition
• young children make errors but are rarely corrected
• by age 6, children know the basic patterns of the language(s) in their environment
• acquisition of literacy leads to growth of vocabulary and metalinguistic awareness
• learning multiple languages in childhood can confer lifelong social and cognitive advantages

Vocabulary

Term	Definition
language learning*	conscious process that occurs when the learner’s objective is to learn about the language itself, rather than to understand messages conveyed through the language
language acquisition*	unconscious internalization of language knowledge, which takes place when attention is focused on meaning rather than language form
developmental sequence	those aspects of a language which, according to Manfred Pienemann and his colleagues, develop in a particular sequence, regardless of input variation, learner motivation, or instructional intervention
auditory discrimination	the ability to distinguish language sounds
phonemic	small differences in language sounds that can change meaning within a particular language
function words	words that are mainly used as linking or supporting words for noun, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs
grammatical morphemes	morphemes are the smallest unit of language that carry meaning. A simple word is a morpheme (for example, ‘book’), but when we talk about ‘grammatical morphemes’ we are usually referring to smaller units that are added to words to alter their meaning (for example, the -s in ‘books’ indicated plural) or function words (for example, the) which are ordinarily attached to another word
longitudinal study	a study in which the same learners are studied over a period of time
bilingual	ability to use more than one language (does not specify the degree of proficiency in either language)
order of acquisition	see developmental sequences
cross-sectional study	research in which participants at different ages and/or stages of development are compared
hypothesis	a statement of possible fact that can be tested through research
generalization	extending a pattern learned in one context to another one
chunk	a unit of language that is often perceived or used as a single unit (for example, Thank you or What’s that?)
formulaic	expressions or phrases that are often perceived and learned as unanalysed wholes (for example, hearing what’s that as a single unit of language rather than as three units: what is that)
performance	the way we use language in listening, speaking, reading, and writing
overgeneralize	an error that results from trying to use a rule or pattern in a context where it does not belong (for example: adding -ed ending to an irregular verb such as ‘buyed’ instead of ‘bought’)
metalinguistic awarenes	the ability to treat languages as an object, for example; being able to define a word or to say what sounds make up that word
register	a style or way of using language that is typical of or appropriate for a particular setting
variety	a way of speaking and using language that is typical of a particular regional, socioeconomic, or ethnic group, the term ‘dialect’ is sometimes used
standard variety	variety of a given language that is typically used in formal writing and formal speaking
behaviorisim	a psychological theory that all learning, whether verbal or non-verbal, takes place through the establishment of habits
innatist	in language acquisition research, this is the theoretical perspective based on the hypothesis that human beings are born with mental structures that are designed specifically for the acquisition of language
universal grammar	(UG) innate linguistic knowledge which, it is hypotesized, consists of principles common to all languages
input	the language that the learner is exposed to (either written or spoken) in the environment
critical period hypothesis	(CPH) the proposal that for reasons of biological maturation, language acquisition becomes more difficult and/or less complete after a certain age
American sign language	(ASL) the gestural language used by many North Americans who are deaf or who interact with other who are deaf
competence	the knowledge that underlies our ability to use language
native speaker	a person who has learned a language from an early age and who is deemed to be fully proficient in that language
zone of proximal development	(ZPD) metaphorical place in which a learner is capable of a higher level performance because there is support from interaction with an interlocutor.
scaffolding	the language that an interlocutor used to support the communicative success of another speaker
interlocutor	a participant in a conversation
child-directed speech	the language that caretakers address to children
recast	to repeat a learner’s incorrect utterance, making changes that convert it to a correct phrase or sentence
usage-based learning	a perspective that all learning is based on experience. Through their encounters with input, learners discover how linguistics elements go together to express meaning. Language learning is, seen as like other kinds of learning, not enabled or constrained by innate, specifically linguistics, abilities.
connectionism	theory of knowledge (including language) as a complex system of units that become interconnected in the mind as they are encountered together
subtractive bilingualism	partially or completely losing the first language as a second language is acquired
code switching	the use of words or phrases from more than one language within a conversation
additive bilingualism	learning a second language without losing the first
translanguaging	multilingual individuals’ use of all their linguistic resources

* The text uses the two terms interchangeably, difference is based on Krashen.

Gleason - Parent-Child Interaction and Lexical Acquisition in Two Domains: Color Words and Animal Names

1. Topic and topic area of the reading:
   (first/second language acquisition or bilingualism?, language learning theories/frameworks, individual differences, etc.?)

   First language acquisition ➔ development sequences of color names.

2. Research questions or aims:
   (what are researchers trying to find out? what questions do they ask?)

   Examination of parent-child interaction in their acquisition of vocabulary in two lexical domains: color terms and animal names

3. Important concepts and terminology:
   (how are they defined? are they provided in the glossary of the textbook? why are they important?)

   • Biophilia - “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life”
   • Color terms used where adults wouldn’t
   • CDI - communicative development inventories

4. Central arguments and hypotheses:
   (what schools of thought do exist? what are the generally accepted ideas?)

   • Children have cognitive limitations which limits ability to discuss abstract entities
   • Language is acquired through interaction with others
   • Color terms hierarchy with 11 basic color terms - Berlin & Kay
   • 6 landmark colors with 5 secondary - Miller & Johnson-Laird
   • More than 1/3 of things parents “look at…” are animals

5. Methodology / kinds of study:
   (argumentational, empirical, experimental, etc.?)
   • Empirical study - “evidence that is the result of objective observation, measurement, and experimentation” (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2013, p. 16) ¹
   • Color terms was only cross sectional
   • Animal study was longitudinal and cross sectional

6. Specific methods used:
   (what/who/how/when?)

   Corpus studies from CHILDES. Colors terms were analyzed by frequency while animal names were analyzed via CLAN programs. Based on two studies; Gleason corpus in CHILDES with 12 boys and 12 girls of ranging ages where results showed that parents emphasized only the same 10 basic colors, CLAN programs identified animals names in corpora from a variety of families in CHILDES with 44 children studied results showed preschoolers using rare animal names and many different names.

7. Reported results and presented evidence:
   (what do the findings say to date? what evidence are they based on?)

   The lexicons that children acquire are a product of both children’s proclivities (tendency to choose or do something regularly, inclination or predisposition towards a particular thing) and those of the adults around them.

8. Critical discussion: problematic issues/observations and limitations:
   (does the reading mention limitations? what limitations can you identify yourself?)

   • Lack of longitudinal study for color names
   • Small sample population in both studies
   • Color terms used in observations were limited to those identified by Berlin & Kay
   • Animal name study only used Russian and American children

9. Contextualisation of the readings in the field:
   (how does the reading fit into what we have discussed so far? where does it ‘sit’ in the field of language learning and acquisition?)

   Moot for now.

10. Connections between readings:
    (what connections can you identify within and beyond the respective session’s topic? what do they tell?)

    Moot for now.

Study group questions

1. Describe the three main theoretical positions that explain language development: behaviourist, innatist, and interactional/developmental perspectives. Which one do you think best explains your own experience?

   Behaviourist perspective (Skinner 1957) focuses on language learning as a result of imitation, practice, feedback on success, and habit formation. In this perspective children learn through correction also where they are rewarded for correct imitations and when they make errors they receive corrective feedback. Problems with this theory are that language is based on a set of rules and structures that could not be learned solely through imitation, aka this leads to overgeneralization. The innatist perspective focuses on there being a capacity for language present from birth (innate, through Chomsky’s impoverished language input) with a special-purpose language acquisition device (Universal Grammar). It suggests that input only triggers language acquisition (exposure to forms such as “worked”, “played” allow children to develop theory that “-ed” is past tense form) and that properties specific to individual languages need to be learned. Problem with this theory is exemplified by Jim (son of deaf parents) whose only received sound input from TV and radio but no interaction, sounds was not enough to “trigger” language acquisition. Contrastingly, the interactionist/developmental perspective emphasizes development and believes that language learning is based on the same cognitive process as learning any other language or skill. It also argues that language development is a result of interaction between internal characteristics of the child and the external environment. Proponents of the perspective also argue that it is tied to cognitive development (Piaget) and social interaction (Vgotsky).

2. Do you agree that bilinguals can’t speak either language really well? Do bilingual children know as many words as do monolingual children? What’s your reaction to code-switching?

   No, bilinguals can speak both languages at native speaker proficiency. They can know more words than monolinguals in one or both languages. Guilty of code-switching.

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