Toward a “Standard Model” of Early Language Learning

A standard model is a theoretical framework that synthesizes observables into a quantitative consensus. Have researchers made progress toward this kind of synthesis for children’s early language learning? Many computational models of early vocabulary learning assume that individual words are learned through an accumulation of environmental input. This assumption is also implicit in empirical work that emphasizes links between language input and learning outcomes. However, models have typically focused on average performance, whereas empirical work has focused on variability. To model individual variability, we relate the tradition of research on accumulator models to item response theory models from psychometrics. This formal connection reveals that currently available data sets do not allow researchers to test the resulting models fully, illustrating a critical need for theory to contribute to shaping new data collection and creating and testing an eventual standard model.

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Toward a “Standard Model” of Early Language Learning

10.31234/osf.io/yhrb4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

George Kachergis ◽

Virginia A. Marchman ◽

Michael C. Frank

Keyword(s):

Standard Model ◽

Language Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Item Response ◽

Computational Models ◽

Empirical Work ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Early Language ◽

Accumulator Models ◽

Item Response Theory Models

A "standard model" is a theoretical framework that synthesizes observables into a quantitative consensus. Have we made progress towards this kind of synthesis for children’s early language learning? Many computational models of early vocabulary learning assume that individual words are learned through an accumulation of environmental input. This assumption is also implicit in empirical work that emphasizes links between language input and learning outcomes. However, models have typically focused on average performance, while empirical work has focused on variability. To model individual variability, we relate the tradition of research on accumulator models to Item-Response Theory models from psychometrics. This formal connection reveals that currently available datasets cannot allow us to fully test these models, illustrating a critical need for theory in shaping new data collection and in creating and testing an eventual "standard model."

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Interpreting phonological memory performance in bilinguals

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716417000303 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 1333-1336

Author(s):

Margarita Kaushanskaya

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Phonological Memory ◽

Language Experience ◽

Early Language ◽

Central Hypothesis ◽

The Relationship

The central hypothesis in the Pierce, Genesee, Delcenserie, and Morgan article is that phonological memory is key to explaining the relationship between early language experience (more specifically, less and more optimal ends of the language-experience continuum) and language learning outcomes. One piece of evidence offered is that phonological memory skills are enhanced by bilingualism, with bilingualism representing enriched experience. Here, I propose that data from bilingual children may contradict Pierce et al.’s central hypothesis, rather than support it.

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Variations in phonological working memory: Linking early language experiences and language learning outcomes

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s0142716417000236 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 1265-1300 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

LARA J. PIERCE ◽

FRED GENESEE ◽

AUDREY DELCENSERIE ◽

GARY MORGAN

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Language Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Processing ◽

Oral Language ◽

Processing System ◽

Adopted Children ◽

Early Language ◽

Language Input

ABSTRACTIn order to build complex language from perceptual input, children must have access to a powerful information processing system that can analyze, store, and use regularities in the signal to which the child is exposed. In this article, we propose that one of the most important parts of this underlying machinery is the linked set of cognitive and language processing components that comprise the child's developing working memory (WM). To examine this hypothesis, we explore how variations in the timing, quality, and quantity of language input during the earliest stages of development are related to variations in WM, especially phonological WM (PWM), and in turn language learning outcomes. In order to tease apart the relationships between early language experience, WM, and language development, we review research findings from studies of groups of language learners who clearly differ with respect to these aspects of input. Specifically, we consider the development of PWM in children with delayed exposure to language, that is, children born profoundly deaf and exposed to oral language following cochlear implantation and internationally adopted children who have delayed exposed to the adoption language; children who experience impoverished language input, that is, children who experience early bouts of otitis media and signing deaf children born to nonsigning hearing parents; and children with enriched early language input, that is, simultaneous bilinguals and second language learners.

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The Emergence of an Abstract Grammatical Category in Children’s Early Speech

Psychological Science ◽

10.1177/0956797616677753 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 181-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Stephan C. Meylan ◽

Michael C. Frank ◽

Brandon C. Roy ◽

Roger Levy

Keyword(s):

Statistical Model ◽

Language Learning ◽

Data Sets ◽

Grammatical Category ◽

Early Language ◽

Grammatical Knowledge ◽

Data Set ◽

Early Use ◽

Heated Debate ◽

Constructivist Approaches

How do children begin to use language to say things they have never heard before? The origins of linguistic productivity have been a subject of heated debate: Whereas generativist accounts posit that children’s early language reflects the presence of syntactic abstractions, constructivist approaches instead emphasize gradual generalization derived from frequently heard forms. In the present research, we developed a Bayesian statistical model that measures the degree of abstraction implicit in children’s early use of the determiners “a” and “the.” Our work revealed that many previously used corpora are too small to allow researchers to judge between these theoretical positions. However, several data sets, including the Speechome corpus—a new ultra-dense data set for one child—showed evidence of low initial levels of productivity and higher levels later in development. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that children lack rich grammatical knowledge at the outset of language learning but rapidly begin to generalize on the basis of structural regularities in their input.

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App-titude: Top Apps for Tots

ASHA Leader ◽

10.1044/leader.app.18022013.32 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (2) ◽

pp. 32-32

Author(s):

Heidi Hanks

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Early Language ◽

At Home

Leave your flashcards at home and try these five apps for early language learning.

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The Analyses of Learning Strategies in English as a Second Language: Theoretical Classification and Measurement Test

Voices of English Language Education Society ◽

10.29408/veles.v4i2.2199 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 118-129

Author(s):

Asti Gumartifa ◽

◽

Indah Windra Dwie Agustiani

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Learning Strategies ◽

Learning Process ◽

English Learners ◽

English Language ◽

Point Of View ◽

Effective Learning ◽

The Impact

Gaining English language learning effectively has been discussed all years long. Similarly, Learners have various troubles outcomes in the learning process. Creating a joyful and comfortable situation must be considered by learners. Thus, the implementation of effective learning strategies is certainly necessary for English learners. This descriptive study has two purposes: first, to introduce the classification and characterization of learning strategies such as; memory, cognitive, metacognitive, compensation, social, and affective strategies that are used by learners in the classroom and second, it provides some questionnaires item based on Strategy of Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) version 5.0 that can be used to examine the frequency of students’ learning strategies in the learning process. The summary of this study explains and discusses the researchers’ point of view on the impact of learning outcomes by learning strategies used. Finally, utilizing appropriate learning strategies are certainly beneficial for both teachers and learners to achieve the learning target effectively.

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Early Language Learning

10.21832/9781783098323 ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Language Learning ◽

Early Language

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Early Language Learning and Teacher Education

10.21832/9781788922661 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Language Learning ◽

Early Language

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GLOBALIZATION AND INFLATION: NEW PANEL EVIDENCE

Macroeconomic Dynamics ◽

10.1017/s1365100514000510 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 1-26 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Dong-Hyeon Kim ◽

Shu-Chin Lin ◽

Yi-Chen Wu

Keyword(s):

Cross Section ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Empirical Work ◽

Panel Cointegration ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Data Sets ◽

Legal Traditions ◽

Heterogeneous Panel ◽

Positive Effect

Recent empirical work on globalization and inflation analyzes multicountry data sets in panel and/or cross-section frameworks and reaches inconclusive results. This paper highlights their shortcomings and reexamines the issue utilizing heterogeneous panel cointegration techniques that allow for cross-section heterogeneity and dependence. It finds that in a sample of developing countries globalization of both trade and finance, on the average, exerts a significant and positive effect on inflation, whereas in a sample of developed countries there is, on the average, no significant impact of openness. Neither type of openness disciplines inflationary policy. Despite this, there are large variations in the effect across countries, due possibly to differences in the quality of political institutions, central bank independence, the exchange-rate regimes, financial development, and/or legal traditions.

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