How does language proficiency affect children’s iconic gesture use?

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 555-583
Author(s):  
MEGHAN ZVAIGZNE ◽  
YURIKO OSHIMA-TAKANE ◽  
MAKIKO HIRAKAWA
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Old French ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Iconic Gesture ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Quadratic Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

ABSTRACTPrevious research investigating the relationship between language proficiency and iconic gesture use has produced inconsistent findings. This study investigated whether a linear relationship was assumed although it is a quadratic relationship. Iconic co-speech gesture use by 4- to 6-year-old French–Japanese bilinguals with two levels of French proficiency (intermediate and low) but similar levels of Japanese proficiency was compared with that of high-proficiency French monolinguals (Study 1) and Japanese monolinguals with similar proficiency to the bilinguals (Study 2). To control the information participants communicated, a dynamic referential communication task was used; a difference between two cartoons had to be communicated to an experimenter. Study 1 showed a significant quadratic relationship between proficiency and iconic gesture use in French; the intermediate-proficiency bilinguals gestured least among the three proficiency groups. The monolingual and bilingual groups with similar Japanese proficiency in Study 2 gestured at similar rates. It is suggested that children gestured for different reasons depending on their language proficiency and the cognitive resources available for the task.

scholarly journals Individual differences in the production of referential expressions: The effect of language proficiency, language exposure and executive function in bilingual and monolingual children

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 371-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovica Serratrice ◽  
Cécile De Cat
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Visual Presence ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Referential Expressions

AbstractOne hundred and seventy-two English-speaking 5- to 7-year-olds participated in a referential communication task where we manipulated the linguistic mention and the visual presence of a competitor alongside a target referent. Eighty-seven of the children were additionally exposed to a language other than English (bilinguals). We measured children's language proficiency, verbal working memory (WM), cognitive control skills, family SES, and relative amount of cumulative exposure and use of the home language for the bilinguals. Children's use of full Noun Phrases (NPs) to identify a target referent was predicted by the visual presence of a competitor more than by its linguistic mention. Verbal WM and proficiency predicted NP use, while cognitive control skills predicted both the ability to use expressions signalling discourse integration and sensitivity to the presence of a discourse competitor, but not of a visual competitor. Bilingual children were as informative as monolingual children once proficiency was controlled for.

The Relationship between How Much is Said and the Quality of the Utterance: Can Young Children Tell the Difference?

1982 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-242
Author(s):  
Susan Sonnenschein
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Preliminary Investigation ◽  
Color Pattern ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Geometric Shapes ◽  
Message Length ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Relationship

This research was a preliminary investigation into why young children give certain types of communications. Previous research had indicated that 5-year-olds are more likely to imitate the length rather than the quality of a speaker model's utterances. Experiment I replicated that finding. Experiment 2 explored whether this was due to young children confounding length with quality and therefore judging any long communication to be adequate. In both studies, 5-year-olds participated in a referential communication task. The stimuli were pictures of geometric shapes differing on color, pattern and size. The results for experiment 2 indicated that message length was not a factor in judging the adequacy of a communication. Discussion focused on other explanations for why young communicators imitate length rather than quality.

scholarly journals Individual differences in the production of referential expressions: The effect of language proficiency, language exposure and executive function in bilingual and monolingual children

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ludovica Serratrice ◽  
Cecile De Cat
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Cumulative Exposure ◽  
Visual Presence ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Referential Expressions

One hundred and seventy-two English-speaking 5- to 7-year-olds participated in a referential communication task where we manipulated the linguistic mention and the visual presence of a competitor alongside a target referent. Eighty-seven of the children were additionally exposed to a language other than English (bilinguals). We measured children’s language proficiency, verbal working memory (WM), cognitivecontrol skills, family SES, and relative amount of cumulative exposure and use of the home language for the bilinguals. Children’s use of full Noun Phrases (NPs) to identify a target referent was predicted by the visual presence of a competitor more than by its linguistic mention. Verbal WM and proficiency predicted NP use, while cognitive control skills predicted both the ability to use expressions signallingdiscourse integration and sensitivity to the presence of a discourse competitor, but not of a visual competitor. Bilingual children were as informative as monolingual children once proficiency was controlled for.

Hearing Aid Amplification Reduces Communication Effort of People With Hearing Impairment and Their Conversation Partners

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 1299-1311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Beechey ◽  
Jörg M. Buchholz ◽  
Gitte Keidser
Keyword(s):  
Hearing Impairment ◽  
Hearing Aid ◽  
Normal Hearing ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Directional Hearing ◽  
Acoustic Environment ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Acoustic Environments ◽  
The Impact

Objectives This study investigates the hypothesis that hearing aid amplification reduces effort within conversation for both hearing aid wearers and their communication partners. Levels of effort, in the form of speech production modifications, required to maintain successful spoken communication in a range of acoustic environments are compared to earlier reported results measured in unaided conversation conditions. Design Fifteen young adult normal-hearing participants and 15 older adult hearing-impaired participants were tested in pairs. Each pair consisted of one young normal-hearing participant and one older hearing-impaired participant. Hearing-impaired participants received directional hearing aid amplification, according to their audiogram, via a master hearing aid with gain provided according to the NAL-NL2 fitting formula. Pairs of participants were required to take part in naturalistic conversations through the use of a referential communication task. Each pair took part in five conversations, each of 5-min duration. During each conversation, participants were exposed to one of five different realistic acoustic environments presented through highly open headphones. The ordering of acoustic environments across experimental blocks was pseudorandomized. Resulting recordings of conversational speech were analyzed to determine the magnitude of speech modifications, in terms of vocal level and spectrum, produced by normal-hearing talkers as a function of both acoustic environment and the degree of high-frequency average hearing impairment of their conversation partner. Results The magnitude of spectral modifications of speech produced by normal-hearing talkers during conversations with aided hearing-impaired interlocutors was smaller than the speech modifications observed during conversations between the same pairs of participants in the absence of hearing aid amplification. Conclusions The provision of hearing aid amplification reduces the effort required to maintain communication in adverse conditions. This reduction in effort provides benefit to hearing-impaired individuals and also to the conversation partners of hearing-impaired individuals. By considering the impact of amplification on both sides of dyadic conversations, this approach contributes to an increased understanding of the likely impact of hearing impairment on everyday communication.

Partner-Specific Communication Deficits in Individuals With Alzheimer's Disease

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Eun Jin Paek ◽  
Si On Yoon
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Audience Design ◽  
Healthy Older Adults ◽  
Communication Task ◽  
Design Skills ◽  
Referential Expressions

Purpose Speakers adjust referential expressions to the listeners' knowledge while communicating, a phenomenon called “audience design.” While individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) show difficulties in discourse production, it is unclear whether they exhibit preserved partner-specific audience design. The current study examined if individuals with AD demonstrate partner-specific audience design skills. Method Ten adults with mild-to-moderate AD and 12 healthy older adults performed a referential communication task with two experimenters (E1 and E2). At first, E1 and participants completed an image-sorting task, allowing them to establish shared labels. Then, during testing, both experimenters were present in the room, and participants described images to either E1 or E2 (randomly alternating). Analyses focused on the number of words participants used to describe each image and whether they reused shared labels. Results During testing, participants in both groups produced shorter descriptions when describing familiar images versus new images, demonstrating their ability to learn novel knowledge. When they described familiar images, healthy older adults modified their expressions depending on the current partner's knowledge, producing shorter expressions and more established labels for the knowledgeable partner (E1) versus the naïve partner (E2), but individuals with AD were less likely to do so. Conclusions The current study revealed that both individuals with AD and the control participants were able to acquire novel knowledge, but individuals with AD tended not to flexibly adjust expressions depending on the partner's knowledge state. Conversational inefficiency and difficulties observed in AD may, in part, stem from disrupted audience design skills.

scholarly journals The effect of language on performance: do gendered languages fail women in maths?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamar Kricheli-Katz ◽  
Tali Regev
Keyword(s):  
Language Proficiency ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Adult Population ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
Hebrew Language ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Large Representative ◽  
And Task

AbstractResearch suggests that gendered languages are associated with gender inequality. However, as languages are embedded in cultures, evidence for causal effects are harder to provide. We contribute to this ongoing debate by exploring the relationship between gendered languages and the gender gap in mathematics achievements. We provide evidence for causality by exploiting the prominent (but not exclusive) practice in gendered languages of using masculine generics to address women. In an experiment on a large representative sample of the Hebrew-speaking adult population in Israel, we show that addressing women in the feminine, compared to addressing them in the masculine, reduces the gender gap in mathematics achievements by a third. These effects are stronger among participants who acquired the Hebrew language early in childhood rather than later in life, suggesting that it is the extent of language proficiency that generates one’s sensitivity to being addressed in the masculine or in the feminine. Moreover, when women are addressed in the masculine, their efforts (in terms of time spent on the maths test) decrease and they report feeling that “science is for men” more than when addressed in the feminine. We supplement the analysis with two experiments that explore the roles of general and task-specific stereotypes in generating these effects.

The Structural Stability of the Concentration-Performance Relationship in Food Manufacturing

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-49
Author(s):  
Stephen E. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Organization ◽  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Structural Stability ◽  
Market Performance ◽  
Continuous Linear ◽  
Food Manufacturing ◽  
The Relationship

The literature of industrial organization is replete with analyses of the relationship between seller concentration and market performance. Most researchers have hypothesized a continuous linear relationship between profitability and concentration and have estimated that relationship accordingly.

Measuring Strains for Hematite Phase in Sinter Ore by Electron Backscattering Diffraction Method

2006 ◽  
Vol 326-328 ◽  
pp. 237-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasushi Sasaki ◽  
Manabu Iguchi ◽  
Mitsutaka Hino
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Strain Gauge ◽  
Diffraction Method ◽  
Local Strain ◽  
Electron Backscattering ◽  
Hematite Phase ◽  
Compression Strain ◽  
Electron Backscattering Diffraction ◽  
Ebsd Technique ◽  
The Relationship

Based on the relationship between quantified blurring degree of Kikuchi bands obtained by an electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) technique and macroscopic strains measured by a strain gauge, the local compression strain SEBSD in sinter ore has been evaluated under various conditions. There is a good linear relationship between the SEBSD and the strains measured by a strain gauge. The local strain SEBSD evaluated by EBSD patterns can be used as an index of local strains.

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