Use of a head camera to examine maternal input and its relation to 10- to 26-month-olds’ acquisition of mental and non-mental state vocabulary

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 1228-1243
Author(s):  
Ted RUFFMAN ◽  
Ben LORIMER ◽  
Sarah VANIER ◽  
Damian SCARF ◽  
Kangning DU ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Maternal Responsiveness ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
Maternal Input

AbstractWe examined the relation between maternal responsiveness and children's acquisition of mental and non-mental state vocabulary in 59 pairs of mothers and children aged 10 to 26 months as they engaged in a free-play episode. Children wore a head camera and responsiveness was defined as maternal talk that commented on the child's actions (e.g., when the child reached for or manipulated an object visible in the head camera). As hypothesized, maternal responsiveness correlated with both mental and non-mental state vocabulary acquisition in younger children (approximately 18 months and younger) but not older children. We posit a diminishing role for maternal responsiveness in language acquisition as children grow older.

Toward Interactive Synchrony: The Gaze Patterns of Mothers and Children in Three Age Groups

1980 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dale C. Farran ◽  
Paul Hirschbiel ◽  
Susan Jay
Keyword(s):  
Age Groups ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Laboratory Setting ◽  
Older Children ◽  
The Gaze ◽  
Gaze Patterns ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
Adult Pattern ◽  
The Difference

The gaze patterns of 81 mother-child dyads (6, 20 and 36 months) were investigated during 20 minutes of free play in a laboratory setting. The results indicated that children at the three ages studied were not different in the total amount of time they looked at their mothers. The groups of mothers were significantly different with the difference primarily resulting from the looking patterns of the mothers of 6 month olds: these mothers looked for a longer total amount of time and longer too for each individual look when compared to mothers of older children. Mutual regard at each age was most often initiated by the mother and terminated by the child though mothers terminated more gazes at the older ages. At the two older ages there were more simultaneous initiations and terminations of mutual regard than at 6 months. Although adult synchrony was not observed in looking interactions of the oldest children, the increase in the simultaneity of mutual looks foreshadows the adult pattern.

scholarly journals Vocabulary acquisition, input, and extensive reading: A conversation

2013 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Acquisition ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Extensive Reading ◽  
Acquisition Process

JALT member Joseph Poulshock recently posted a video entitled “How do humans acquire language?” to the extensive reading (ER) website BeeOasis.com. In it, he describes his ALBUM Theory (acquire language by understanding messages), by which he means that the comprehension of input―for example, through ER―is the best way to acquire a second language. The video prompted an online discussion in which a number of JALT members exchanged ideas about the acquisition of vocabulary, the role of ER in the acquisition of various aspects of word knowledge, and the relative importance of input to the language acquisition process. An abbreviated version of this conversation is presented here.

scholarly journals Understanding the effects of language revitalization workshops using long-format speech environment recordings

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Julia Nee
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Young Children ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Language Revitalization ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Teaching Language ◽  
Methodological Challenges

Long-format speech environment (LFSE) recordings are increasingly used to understand language acquisition among young children (Casillas & Cristia 2019). But in language revitalization, older children are sometimes the largest demographic acquiring a language. In Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico, older children have participated in Zapotec language revitalization workshops since 2017. To better understand how these children use language, and to probe whether the language workshops impact language use, I invited learners to collect LFSE recordings. This study addresses two main questions: (1) what methodological challenges emerge when children ages 6-12 collect LFSE data?; and (2) what do the data suggest about the effects of the Zapotec workshops? I argue that, while creating LFSE recordings with older children presents methodological challenges, the results are useful in highlighting the importance of not only teaching language skills, but of creating spaces where learners are comfortable using the Zapotec language.

Linguistic experience modifies lexical stress perception

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-549 ◽  
Author(s):  
George D. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Stress Pattern ◽  
Lexical Stress ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Stress Perception ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Comparison Groups ◽  
Theory Of Language ◽  
Similar Decrease

ABSTRACTSensitivity to differences in lexical stress pattern was examined in 4- and 5-year-old monolingual French-, German- and Swedish-speaking children. For most stimulus discriminations, the 5-year-olds outperformed their 4-year-old comparison groups. For a discrimination involving a trisyllabic distinction not found in French, however, the French 5-year-olds performed worse than their 4-year-old compatriots, suggesting that the older children had ‘learned’ not to hear the trisyllabic distinction. In follow-up testing of the French 4-year-olds six months later, half of them showed a similar decrease in performance specific to the trisyllabic stimuli. These data support an ‘attunement’ theory of language acquisition, in which potentially relevant abilities that are already partially or fully developed at birth may become attenuated or completely lost if they are inappropriate or irrelevant for the child's language.

scholarly journals Treatment Response in Child Anxiety is Differentially Related to the Form of Maternal Anxiety Disorder

2007 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Cooper ◽  
Catherine Gallop ◽  
Lucy Willetts ◽  
Cathy Creswell
Keyword(s):  
Anxiety Disorder ◽  
Social Phobia ◽  
Mental State ◽  
Child Anxiety ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Maternal Anxiety ◽  
Response To Treatment ◽  
Diagnostic Specificity ◽  
Mothers And Children

AbstractAn examination was made of the extent to which maternal anxiety predicted response to treatment of children presenting with an anxiety disorder. In a sample of 55 children referred to a local NHS CAMH service for treatment of an anxiety disorder, systematic mental state interview assessment was made of both mothers and children, and both completed self-report questionnaires to assess aspects of anxiety, both immediately before the children received treatment and following treatment. Children of mothers with anxiety disorder overall responded less well to treatment than children of mothers with no anxiety disorder. There was some diagnostic specificity in this in that children of mothers with GAD did as well in treatment as children whose mothers had no anxiety, whereas children of mothers with social phobia did poorly. The outcome for children with anxiety appears to be related to the presence and nature of maternal anxiety. It would seem prudent that treatment of children with anxiety involves assessment of maternal anxiety. It is important to establish in systematic investigation whether treatment of maternal anxiety improves the outcome for child anxiety.

scholarly journals A Natural History of Repetition

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-44
Author(s):  
Anne E. Jones ◽  
S.P. Henzi ◽  
Louise Barrett
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Multilevel Model ◽  
Repetitive Behavior ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Maria Montessori ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
History Of

The purpose of this study was to understand typically developing children’s repetitive behavior in a free-play, daycare setting. By studying repetition in a non-Montessori setting, we tested the assumption that repetition is a characteristic behavior of all young children and not limited to the Montessori environment. Although Maria Montessori identified repetition during her observations, there is little empirical evidence to support her claim: most research has considered repetition in terms of psychopathology. We collected naturalistic observational data on 31 3- to 6-year-old children for a total of 101 hours to investigate the frequency, contexts, and structure of repetitive bouts. Multilevel model results suggest the ubiquity of repetition, as all children in the study engaged in motor repetition. Furthermore, repetition occurred throughout all free-play activities (construction, animation, fantasy play, rough-and-tumble play, and undirected activity), although repetition was not equally distributed across activities. Motor repetition was not equal across ages either; younger children engaged in more motor repetition than did older children. To understand the structure of repetition, our study also looked at the length of repetition bouts, which ranged from 2 to 19 repetitions and averaged 2.86 repetitions per bout. This natural history of repetition is an influential starting point for understanding the role of repetition in development and is informative to both Montessori and non-Montessori early childhood educators.

Language acquisition research and the language teacher

1981 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara J. Gadalla
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Teaching Sequence ◽  
Empirical Basis ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Order Constraint ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Classroom Presentation ◽  
Order Of Presentation

Selected language acquisition research findings are examined in light of the language teacher's daily needs. Research results are reported that provide an empirical basis for selecting and grading materials, determining skills to be taught and their order of presentation, deciding on classroom presentation and procedures, and formulating evaluation instruments. Acquisition ordering relationships are shown to have a bearing on teaching sequence; that such a sequence should provide for a number of grammatical, semantic, and length constraints and a skills order constraint. In addition, the research provides support for a developmental model of learning, stressing the need for a variety of approaches and supporting a cognitively-based orientation for older children and adults. Other age-related variables are considered and their pedagogical consequences are reviewed.

Developmental Aspects of Sustained Attention among 2- to 6-year-old Children

1997 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Sarid ◽  
Zvia Breznitz
Keyword(s):  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Linear Trend ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Older Children ◽  
Significant Linear Trend ◽  
Sensitive Measure ◽  
Structured Test

This study examined sustained attention in children aged 2-6 years in two settings; during free play and during a structured test. Subjects were 48 nursery schoolchildren and 47 kindergarteners. In the free play setting, linear and quadratic relations with age were found for ability to sustain attention as measured by duration of play time and number of attended activities. Linear and quadratic relations were also found for distractibility as measured by the number of pauses in play. Older children tended to return to a previously attended activity following a break, whereas younger children did not. The ability to sustain attention increased until the age of 4 years, after which a plateau in development appeared. Results from the structured test showed no significant differences between age groups on the time spent attending to pictures, but revealed a significant linear trend for the ability to recall items from pictures. It is suggested that free play may be a sensitive measure of preschool-aged children’s ability to sustain attention.

Fathers' and mothers' speech in early language development

1980 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Rondal
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Only Children ◽  
Early Language Development ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Mothers And Children ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Maternal Speech

ABSTRACTFive French-speaking middle-class couples and their male only-children were tape-recorded separately at home while interacting verbally in a free-play, a story-telling, and in a family meal situation. The children's ages ranged from 1; 6 to 3; 0. The speech of the fathers, mothers, and children was transcribed and analysed for its semantic, syntactic, and language-teaching aspects. The results indicate that paternal speech displays the same simplification processes usually found in maternal speech to young children. Paternal speech, however, also contains some linguistic patterns at variance with those found in maternal speech. It is hypothesised that maternal and paternal speech may be complementary in their influence on language development in the children.

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