scholarly journals Bilingual parents' modeling of pragmatic language use in multiparty interactions

2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 761-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
MEDHA TARE ◽  
SUSAN A. GELMAN
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Language Socialization ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Metalinguistic Awareness ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Language Differentiation ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Parent Child

ABSTRACTParental input represents an important source of language socialization. Particularly in bilingual contexts, parents may model pragmatic language use and metalinguistic strategies to highlight language differences. The present study examines multiparty interactions involving 28 bilingual English- and Marathi-speaking parent–child pairs in the presence of monolingual bystanders (children's mean ages = 3 years, 2 months and 4 years, 6 months). Their language use was analyzed during three sessions: parent and child alone, parent and child with the English speaker, and parent and child with the Marathi speaker. Parents demonstrated pragmatic differentiation by using relatively more of the bystander's language; however, children did not show this sensitivity. Further, parents used a variety of strategies to discuss language differences, such as providing and requesting translations; children translated most often in response to explicit requests. The results indicate that parents model pragmatic language differentiation as well as metalinguistic talk that may contribute to children's metalinguistic awareness.

scholarly journals Turkish Fathers' Language Use In The Context Of Toy Play

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ozge Cengiz ◽  
Hamide Cakir
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Bloom's Taxonomy ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Cognitive Domain ◽  
Low Ses ◽  
Parent Child Interactions ◽  
Bloom’S Taxonomy ◽  
Toy Play ◽  
Parent Child

Parent-child interactions and the characteristics of child-directed language have been related to children’s linguistic development. Studies on parent-child interactions have generally focused on mothers. There has been very little research on the language used by fathers in interactions with their children. This study addresses this gap by investigating the properties of Turkish paternal language use including their use of question types within the framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Cognitive Domain; that is, we try to explore to what extent fathers' language use differentiates depending on their socioeconomic status in terms of Bloom’s Taxonomy, thus which fathers help their children gain higher thinking skills before entering school. Bloom’s Taxonomy which is a model of classifying thinking according to six cognitive levels of complexity (remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create) is hierarchical; in that, each level is subsumed by the higher levels. In this cross-sectional study, high and low socioeconomic status (SES) fathers were taped in their homes with their preschoolers in the context of toy play. The results showed that both group of fathers produced the most utterances at the remember level. Both groups produced no utterance at the analyze level, and low SES fathers produced no utterance at the apply and create levels. High SES fathers asked open ended question at all levels except the analyze level, while low SES fathers asked open ended questions only at the remember and understand levels.

A Pilot Study on the Effect of Training Parents of Language-Delayed Children in Pragmatic Interaction Strategies

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 295-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cari J. Iven ◽  
Evelyn G. Albritton ◽  
Beth B. Eaton ◽  
James C. Montague
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Reference Model ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Language Training ◽  
Parental Communication ◽  
Interactive Strategies ◽  
Parent Child

This pilot study investigated pragmatic language training on parental expansion of interactive strategies, and a corresponding decrease in using questions and imperatives in parental communication with their language-delayed preschool children. Seven parent-child dyads participated, with the parents receiving training in the acquisition of six pragmatic categories, including reference, model, imitation, description, parallel talk, and expansion. Training results showed a significant increase in the parents' use of parallel talk and a decrease in their use of questions. Apparently in many applied instances parallel talk may incorporate the strategies of referencing, modeling, imitation, description, and expansion. Findings are discussed in terms of parallel talk functioning as a facilitator for language-delayed children.

scholarly journals Understanding Contextual and Social Meaning in Typically Developing Finnish-Speaking Four- To Eight-Year-Old Children

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 408-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soile Loukusa ◽  
Leena Mäkinen ◽  
Ilaria Gabbatore ◽  
Päivi Laukkanen-Nevala ◽  
Eeva Leinonen
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
Developmental Phase ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Mind Reading ◽  
Contextual Processing ◽  
Pragmatic Comprehension

Abstract This study examined the development of social-pragmatic comprehension in 170 Finnish four- to eight-year-old children. The children were asked to respond to socially and contextually demanding questions targeting their social-pragmatic language processing, and to explain their correct answers in order to elicit their awareness of how they had derived the answers from the context. The results showed that the number of correct answers increased especially between the ages of four and seven years. We found that questions demanding contextual processing without mind-reading were the easiest to understand, followed by questions demanding processing of feelings of others and false beliefs. The questions demanding understanding of relevant language use and processing of contextual factors including mental states and intentions were the most challenging for the children. Between four and five years of age there was a remarkable developmental phase in children’s ability to give proper explanations.

scholarly journals Living in several languages: Language, gender and identities

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 361-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Burck
Keyword(s):  
Family Relationships ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
First Language ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Discursive Analysis ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Research Interviews

Living in several languages encompasses experiencing and constructing oneself differently in each language. The research study on which this article is based takes an intersectional approach to explore insider accounts of the place of language speaking in individuals’ constructions of self, family relationships and the wider context. Twenty-four research interviews and five published autobiographies were analysed using grounded theory, narrative and discursive analysis. A major finding was that learning a new language inducted individuals into somewhat ‘stereotyped’ gendered discourses and power relations within the new language, while also enabling them to view themselves differently in the context of their first language. This embodied process could be challenging and often required reflection and discursive work to negotiate the dissimilarities, discontinuities and contradictions between languages and cultures. However, the participants generally claimed that their linguistic multiplicity generated creativity. Women and men used their language differences differently to ‘perform their gender’. This was particularly evident in language use within families, which involved gendered differences in the choice of language for parenting – despite the fact that both men and women experience their first languages as conveying intimacy in their relationships with their children. The article argues that the notion of ‘mother tongue’ (rather than ‘first language’) is unhelpful in this process as well as in considering the implications of living in several languages for systemic therapy.

Relationships between parental input frequencies and children's language acquisition: a reanalysis of Brown's data

1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst L. Moerk
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Significant Variable ◽  
Input Frequency ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Parent Child Interactions ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Short Term Effects ◽  
Parent Child

ABSTRACTTo evaluate Brown's assertion that frequency of input is not a significant variable in language acquisition, some of Brown's data were reanalysed. The data pertaining to Adam, Eve, Sarah and their parents were predominantly obtained from Brown's (1973) book and were supplemented from the transcripts. Parental input frequency and the children's age at mastery were highly related for each of the three triads. Then Sarah's input and rate of language acquisition were compared with that of the other two children. The correlation between Sarah's relative input deprivation and her relative linguistic delay was 0·66. Finally, an analysis of Eve's acquisition of specific prepositional phrases involving the preposition in were made. Again it was found that frequency of input was highly related to frequency of production. Detailed analyses of parent-child interactions provided evidence also for short-term effects of input frequency.

scholarly journals Osallisena yhteisessä arjessa

2020 ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
Minna Intke Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Socialization ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Local Language ◽  
Linguistic Support ◽  
Nexus Analysis ◽  
Central Tool

This paper studies what migrant mothers in Finland say about their social relationships, language use and sense of belonging. The main focus of my study is on the mothers’ stories and the factors that they consider relevant for their socialization into the local language and sense of belonging. This longitudinal ethnographic study (2012–2018) explores the case of eleven migrant mothers. The data is analyzed applying nexus analysis (Scollon & Scollon 2004). The study focuses on language socialization and languaging. In everyday contexts, language is understood as a target and it is also used as a central tool in action. The results indicate that multilingual contexts in everyday life are relevant for constructing the sense of belonging since they offer possibility to give and receive social and linguistic support.

scholarly journals Parent-Child Conversations About Biological Kinds as a Potential Contributor to the Variability in Biological Knowledge

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 238-276
Author(s):  
Andrzej Tarłowski
Keyword(s):  
Original Data ◽  
Biological Knowledge ◽  
Ontological Commitments ◽  
Living Things ◽  
Parent Child Interactions ◽  
Direct Exposure ◽  
Potential Contributor ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Parent Child

Abstract There is a growing body of research on variability in the early development of biological knowledge. Most of the studies focus on the variability related to culture and direct exposure to nature, however, there is also data suggesting that parental input plays an important role. In children’s first years of life, parents play a key role in scaffolding development. It is therefore very important to provide a detailed account of how parents contribute to children’s understanding of living things, and how they convey biological knowledge through everyday conversations. The present article provides a review of the literature on variability in biological knowledge and parent-child conversations about biological kinds. It also presents original data from parent-child interactions while viewing picture books. Eighteen parent-child dyads who differed in the level of parental expertise within biology, talked while viewing books containing 24 photographs of animals and plants. The speech analysis specified labeling, perceptual and conceptual descriptions, relational, and mentalistic talk. Parents also completed a questionnaire on the child’s interests. The results showed that biology expert families produced more content overall, and a higher proportion of relational content than lay families. The findings help elucidate the specific role parents have in shaping children’s early biological understanding. In particular, I discuss the role of relational language in shaping children’s ontological commitments.

scholarly journals DEBUNKING THE MYTHS OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER TEACHERS: AN INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR MASAKI

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 126
Author(s):  
Flora Debora Floris
Keyword(s):  
Language Use ◽  
Applied Linguistics ◽  
Vice President ◽  
English Speaker ◽  
Lingua Franca ◽  
Native English Speaker ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Georgetown University ◽  
And Training ◽  
Phd Program

Masaki Oda is a Professor of Applied Linguistics at Tamagawa University in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in Sociopolitical Aspects of Language Use. Prof. Oda got his PhD program from Georgetown University, where he also taught Japanese for several years. He returned to Japan in 1990 and began teaching EFL and training EFL teachers at Tamagawa University. He was the 2003 – 2004 Chair of the NNEST Caucus and is now the Director of Center for English as a Lingua Franca (CELF) at Tamagawa University and the AsiaTEFL Vice President. This interview highlights Professor Oda’s experiences and opinions regarding NEST (Native English Speaker Teacher) and NNEST (Non-Native English Speaker Teacher). He attempts to raise awareness among the professionals that there should be no divide between NEST and NNEST in the ELT profession. 

Game Theory in Pragmatics: Evolution, Rationality, and Reasoning

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Franke
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Probabilistic Reasoning ◽  
Pragmatic Language ◽  
Rational Solutions ◽  
Listener Behavior ◽  
Rational Decision Making ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Game Theoretic Pragmatics

Game theory provides formal means of representing and explaining action choices in social decision situations where the choices of one participant depend on the choices of another. Game theoretic pragmatics approaches language production and interpretation as a game in this sense. Patterns in language use are explained as optimal, rational, or at least nearly optimal or rational solutions to a communication problem. Three intimately related perspectives on game theoretic pragmatics are sketched here: (i) the evolutionary perspective explains language use as the outcome of some optimization process, (ii) the rationalistic perspective pictures language use as a form of rational decision-making, and (iii) the probabilistic reasoning perspective considers specifically speakers’ and listeners’ beliefs about each other. There are clear commonalities behind these three perspectives, and they may in practice blend into each other. At the heart of game theoretic pragmatics lies the idea that speaker and listener behavior, when it comes to using a language with a given semantic meaning, are attuned to each other. By focusing on the evolutionary or rationalistic perspective, we can then give a functional account of general patterns in our pragmatic language use. The probabilistic reasoning perspective invites modeling actual speaker and listener behavior, for example, as it shows in quantitative aspects of experimental data.

Metalinguistic contribution to reading comprehension: A comparison of Primary 3 students from China and Singapore

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 657-684
Author(s):  
Sun Baoqi ◽  
Guangwei Hu ◽  
Xiao Lan Curdt-Christiansen
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Phonological Awareness ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Morphological Awareness ◽  
Home Language ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Metalinguistic Awareness ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Syntactic Awareness

AbstractThis study examined the within- and cross-language metalinguistic contribution of three components of metalinguistic awareness (i.e., phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and syntactic awareness) to reading comprehension in monolingual Chinese-speaking children from Mainland China (n = 190) and English–Chinese bilingual children from Singapore (n = 390). Moreover, the effect of home language use on the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and reading performance was investigated. For monolingual children, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that after partialing out the effects of age, nonverbal intelligence, and oral vocabulary, syntactic awareness uniquely predicted 7%–13% of the variance in reading comprehension measures, whereas this relationship was not observed between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. For the bilingual children, within-language regression analyses revealed that English/Chinese morphological awareness and syntactic awareness both contributed significantly to English/Chinese reading measures over and above vocabulary and phonological awareness. Cross-linguistically, structure equation modeling results demonstrated that the bilingual children’s English and Chinese metalinguistic awareness were closely related and jointly supported reading comprehension in both languages, thus lending support to Koda’s transfer facilitation model. Furthermore, home language use was found to contribute to the bilingual children’s reading proficiency via its impact on metalinguistic awareness. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy and pedagogical implications that can be drawn from these findings.

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