Multimodal constructions in children

Gesture ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mats Andrén
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Developmental Progression ◽  
Traditional Sense ◽  
Theoretical Question

Swedish children’s use of the headshake from 18 to 30 months shows a developmental progression from rote-learned and formulaic coordination with speech to increasingly more flexible and productive coordination with speech. To deal with these observations, I make use of the concept of multimodal constructions, to extend usage-based approaches to language learning and construction grammar by inclusion of the kinetic domain. These ideas have consequences for the (meta‑)theoretical question of whether gesture can be said to be part of language or not. I suggest that some speech-coordinated gestures, including the headshake, can be considered part of language, also in the traditional sense of language as a conventionalized system.

scholarly journals Raising Collocational Awareness with Humour

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-113
Author(s):  
Tünde Nagy
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Easy Task ◽  
Specific Meaning ◽  
Linguistic Structures

AbstractDespite the increased interest that collocations have received in EFL methodology lately, making language learners aware of these multiword constructions continues to represent a challenge for teachers. While there may be different ways of teaching collocations, finding activities that raise collocational awareness efficiently is no easy task. Collocational awareness can be defined as the ability of language learners (and users) to use and acknowledge word combinations in their entirety. Humour can be useful in this regard as it not only ensures a more relaxed atmosphere in the classroom but can also help students to acknowledge and remember specific linguistic structures (among them, also collocations) more easily. In line with Construction Grammar (Goldberg 1995, 1997, 2006), it is believed that collocations are to be treated as constructions, pairings of form with a specific meaning and varying degrees of predictability – teaching them as such can contribute to a better understanding and acquisition of these constructions. After offering a brief overview of the characteristics of collocations and reflecting on the possible advantages of using humour in class, the paper shows possible ways of teaching collocations with humour. The exercises and activities suggested focus on both the productive and receptive competence of language learners and also incorporate the necessary skills required in the language learning process: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

Beyond the sentence

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Frame Semantics ◽  
Cognitive Perspective ◽  
Pragmatic Markers ◽  
Grammatical Mood ◽  
Spoken Interaction ◽  
Interactive Experience ◽  
Grammatical Structures

Construction grammarians are still quite reluctant to extend their descriptions to units beyond the sentence. However, the theoretical premises of construction grammar and frame semantics are particularly suited to cover spoken interaction from a cognitive perspective. Furthermore, as construction grammar is anchored in the cognitive linguistics paradigm and as such subscribes to meaning being grounded in experience, it needs to consider interaction since grammatical structures may be grounded not only in sensory-motor, but also in social-interactive experience. The example of grounded language learning experiments demonstrates the anchoring of grammatical mood in interaction. Finally, phenomena peculiar to spoken dialogue, such as pragmatic markers, may be best accounted for as constructions, drawing on frame semantics. The two cognitive linguistic notions, frames and constructions, are therefore particularly useful to account for generalisation in spoken interaction.

Responding to Joint Attention and Language Development

2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. F. Delgado ◽  
Peter Mundy ◽  
Mary Crowson ◽  
Jessica Markus ◽  
Marygrace Yale ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Field ◽  
Language Development ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Joint Attention ◽  
Developmental Delays ◽  
Target Location ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Attention Regulation ◽  
Developmental Progression ◽  
Unique Predictor

This study examined the importance of target location (within vs. outside the visual field) on the relation between responding to joint attention and subsequent language development in 47 normally developing infants. The results supported a developmental progression in the infants' ability to locate targets from within to outside the visual field. In addition, individual differences in 15-month-old infants' ability to correctly locate targets outside the visual field was a unique predictor of expressive language at 24 months. Infants' ability to locate targets outside the visual field may demonstrate increasing capacities for attention regulation, representational thinking, and social cognition that may facilitate language learning. The implications of this study are discussed with regard to the usefulness of measures of responding to joint attention for identifying early language and developmental delays.

Enhanced awareness and its translation into action: A case study of one learner’s self-directed language learning experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Satoko Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Essential Element ◽  
Learner Autonomy ◽  
Final Report ◽  
Learning Context ◽  
Traditional Sense ◽  
Assessment Rubric

AbstractThe fostering of learner autonomy has become an essential element of modern pedagogy and an established object of research. There are many difficulties in providing evidence of learners’ development towards autonomy, however, since it is not measurable in a traditional sense. As a learning advisor (LA) at a private language university in Japan, I have worked closely with individual language learners who take our module designed to foster learner autonomy via the practice of self-directed language learning (SDLL). This article uses a case study of one particular learner’s SDLL experience to introduce an approach to documenting the development of learner autonomy that draws on document analysis and narrative inquiry. I first introduce a SDLL assessment rubric that allowed me to classify and analyze three kinds of data: narrative accounts of the learner’s seven-week learning journal, recordings of three advising sessions with an LA, and the learner’s final report. With reference to her achievement of the learning outcomes in the assessment rubric, I then portray the learner’s development of awareness and her response to her enhanced awareness in her particular learning context.

Referential Communication Abilities of Learning-Disabled, Language-Learning-Disabled, and Normal School-Age Children

1988 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Marie May Watson ◽  
Bonita Renée Greenberg
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Learning Disabled ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Receptive Vocabulary ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Normally Achieving ◽  
Developmental Progression ◽  
The Disabled ◽  
Picture Stimuli

Past research in referential communication has indicated normally developing children show developmental progression in ability to communicate a specific referent to a listener. In one paradigm subjects were given lists of word-pairs in which one member of each pair was designated as the referent. It was shown that communicating about referents found in word-pairs associated in some way was more difficult than communicating about referents in dissimilar word-pairs. The present study extended this methodology to learning-disabled children. Learning-disabled, language-learning-disabled, and normally achieving children were asked to communicate about 30 pictured referents on three different tasks. On Tasks 1 and 2 each subject was asked to give a clue for the referent that would distinguish it from the other picture. Stimuli for Task 1 were 30 pairs of pictures that were related in some way and the stimuli for Task 2 were 30 pairs of unrelated pictures. Task 3 required the subjects to evaluate the adequacy of the examiner's clues for Task 1 stimuli. The disabled subjects were matched to the normally achieving subjects on the basis of receptive vocabulary age. Few differences were noted among the groups' performances on these referential communication tasks. Implications include the importance of vocabulary and concept development to referential communication.

scholarly journals Fatal attraction: inheritance and collostruction in the ihjel-construction

1970 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim Ebensgaard Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Fatal Attraction ◽  
Language Description

The purpose of this paper is two-fold. Firstly, it presents an argument for usage-based inheritance models over complete inheritance models in construction grammar. It is argued that, with the principle of inductive language learning as their foundation, usage-based inheritance models allow for redundancies and incongruities in construction networks which enables linguists to take into account details of language use, which would otherwise not be facilitated in complete inheritance models. Secondly, making use of the method of collostructional analysis, the article offers a corpus-based description of the use of the Danish ihjel-construction which accounts for patterns of attraction of construction-verb attraction, patterns of productivity, and various types of subconstructions, including item- and item-class-based ones and metaphorical extensions. The description of the ihjel-construction should also illustrate the superiority of usage-based inheritance models over complete inheritance models in construction grammar-based language description.

On English modals, modal meaning and argument structure

English Today ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Sergio Torres–Martínez
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Argument Structure ◽  
Construction Grammar ◽  
Interesting Paper ◽  
Cognitive Construction Grammar

In an interesting paper, Fong (2020) raises objections to my approach to English modals (and modality in general) which he views as too general and not fully compliant with the postulates of Construction Grammar. In this response paper, I intend to explain in some depth the benefits of my approach, as well as the reasons why Construction Grammar, in particular Cognitive Construction Grammar (Goldberg, 1995, 2006, 2019), needs to be interrogated and adapted as a conceptual framework to explain language learning and processing.

Systematic Modification of Parental Input to Train Language Symbols

1981 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Culatta ◽  
Donna Horn
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Meaningful Use ◽  
Hearing Impaired ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Language Exposure ◽  
Therapy Sessions ◽  
Impaired Children ◽  
Hearing Impaired Children ◽  
At Home

This study attempted to maximize environmental language learning for four hearing-impaired children. The children's mothers were systematically trained to present specific language symbols to their children at home. An increase in meaningful use of these words was observed during therapy sessions. In addition, as the mothers began to generalize the language exposure strategies, an increase was observed in the children's use of words not specifically identified by the clinician as targets.

Analyzing the Potential Benefit of Microcomputer Use for Teaching Figurative Language

1992 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn A. Nippold ◽  
Ilsa E. Schwarz ◽  
Molly Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Figurative Language ◽  
Language Intervention ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Educational Materials ◽  
Language Learning Disabilities ◽  
Promising Application ◽  
Experience Difficulty

Microcomputers offer the potential for increasing the effectiveness of language intervention for school-age children and adolescents who have language-learning disabilities. One promising application is in the treatment of students who experience difficulty comprehending figurative expressions, an aspect of language that occurs frequently in both spoken and written contexts. Although software is available to teach figurative language to children and adolescents, it is our feeling that improvements are needed in the existing programs. Software should be reviewed carefully before it is used with students, just as standardized tests and other clinical and educational materials are routinely scrutinized before use. In this article, four microcomputer programs are described and evaluated. Suggestions are then offered for the development of new types of software to teach figurative language.

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