scholarly journals No Evidence of Robust Noun-Referent Associations in German-Learning 6- to 14-Month-Olds

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica N. Steil ◽  
Claudia K. Friedrich ◽  
Ulrike Schild
Keyword(s):  
Recent Work ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Target Picture ◽  
Parental Rating ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Stimulus Pairing

Work with the looking-while-listening (LWL-) paradigm suggested that 6-month-old English-learning infants associated several labels for common nouns with pictures of their referents: While one distractor picture was present, infants systematically fixated the named target picture. However, recent work revealed constraints of infants' noun comprehension. The age at which these abilities can be obtained appears to relate to the infants' familiarity with the talker, the target language, and word frequency differences in target-distractor pairs. Here, we present further data to this newly established field of research. We tested 42 monolingual German-learning infants aged 6–14 months by means of the LWL-paradigm. Infants saw two pictures side-by-side on a screen, whilst an unfamiliar male talker named one of both. Overall, infants did not fixate the target picture more than the distractor picture. In line with previous results, infants' performance on the task was higher when target and distractor differed within their word frequency—as operationalized by the parental rating of word exposure. Together, our results add further evidence for constraints on early word learning. They point to cross-linguistic differences in early word learning and strengthen the view that infants might use extra-linguistic cues within the stimulus pairing, such as frequency imbalance, to disambiguate between two potential referents.

scholarly journals Failure to show robust noun-referent associations in German-learning infants

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Naomi Steil ◽  
Claudia Friedrich ◽  
Ulrike Schuld
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Old English ◽  
Distractor Word ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Target Picture ◽  
Parental Rating ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Stimulus Pairing

Work with the looking-while-listening paradigm suggested that six-month-old English-learning infants associated several common nouns with pictures of their referents. This was evidenced by systematic fixations towards the named target picture (while one distractor picture was present). However, Norwegian-learning infants did not systematically fixate the target pictures until they were 8- to 9-months old, suggesting a cross-linguistic difference in the onset of noun comprehension. Moreover, their success in this task appeared to be modulated by aspects of stimulus pairing, specifically frequency differences between target and distractor: High (resp. low) frequent targets attracted more fixations if they were paired with low (resp. high) frequent distractors. In the present eye-tracking study, we tested 42 monolingual German-learning infants aged six to 14 months by means of a looking-while-listening paradigm. Infants saw two pictures side-by-side on a screen, whilst an unfamiliar male talker named one of both. Overall, infants did not fixate the target picture more than the distractor picture. In line with previous results, infants’ performance on the task was higher when the target and distractor word differed within their word frequency operationalized by the parental rating of word exposure. Therefore, our results further emphasize cross-linguistic differences in early word learning and strengthen the view that infants might use extra-linguistic cues within the stimulus pairing, such as frequency imbalance, to disambiguate between two potential referents.

scholarly journals Word knowledge in six- to nine-month-old Norwegian infants? Not without additional frequency cues

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 180711 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Kartushina ◽  
Julien Mayor
Keyword(s):  
Semantic Knowledge ◽  
Word Knowledge ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Word Comprehension ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Word Use ◽  
New Words ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gaze Patterns ◽  
Linguistic Cues

The past 5 years have witnessed claims that infants as young as six months of age understand the meaning of several words. To reach this conclusion, researchers presented infants with pairs of pictures from distinct semantic domains and observed longer looks at an object upon hearing its name as compared with the name of the other object. However, these gaze patterns might indicate infants' sensibility to the word frequency and/or its contextual relatedness to the object regardless of a firm semantic understanding of this word. The current study attempted, first, to replicate, in Norwegian language, the results of recent studies showing that six- to nine-month-old English-learning infants understand the meaning of many common words. Second, it assessed the robustness of a ‘comprehension’ interpretation by dissociating semantic knowledge from confounded extra-linguistic cues via the manipulation of the contingency between words and objects. Our planned analyses revealed that Norwegian six- to nine-month-old infants did not understand the meaning of the words used in the study. Our exploratory analyses showed evidence of word comprehension at eight to nine months of age—rather than from six to seven months of age for English-learning infants—suggesting that there are cross-linguistic differences in the onset of word comprehension. In addition, our study revealed that eight- to nine-month-old infants cannot rely exclusively on single extra-linguistic cues to disambiguate between two items, thus suggesting the existence of early word-object mappings. However, these mappings are weak, as infants need additional cues (such as an imbalance in frequency of word use) to reveal word recognition. Our results suggest that the very onset of word comprehension is not based on the infants' knowledge of words per se . Rather, infants use a converging set of cues to identify referents, among which frequency is a robust (pre-semantic) cue that infants exploit to guide object disambiguation and, in turn, learn new words.

A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Word Frequency and Rime-Neighborhood Size on Beginning Readers' Rime Reading Accuracy in Words and Nonwords

2002 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Anne Calhoon ◽  
Lauren Leslie
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Beginning Readers ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Neighborhood Size ◽  
Reading Accuracy ◽  
High Frequency Words

Beginning readers' rime reading accuracy was assessed over three years to examine the influence of word frequency and rime-neighborhood size (the number of single syllable words with the same rime) on words presented in lists and stories. Twenty-seven 1st- and 2nd- grade students read 54 words and 27 nonwords containing rimes from different size neighborhoods. In Year 1, children showed effects of neighborhood size in high frequency words read in stories and in low frequency words read in lists and stories. In Year 2, rimes from large neighborhoods were read more accurately than rimes from medium and small neighborhoods in high- and low-frequency words. In Year 3, no effects of rime-neighborhood size were found for high-frequency words, but effects on low-frequency words continued. These results support Leslie and Calhoon's (1995) developmental model of the effects of rime-neighborhood size and word frequency as a function of higher levels of word learning.

scholarly journals The growth of children’s semantic and phonological networks: insight from 10 languages

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdellah Fourtassi ◽  
Yuan Bian ◽  
Michael C. Frank
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environment ◽  
Statistical Learning ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Network Growth ◽  
Learning Abilities ◽  
Developmental Mechanism ◽  
Internal Lexicon ◽  
External Learning

Children tend to produce words earlier when they are connected to a variety of other words along the phonological and semantic dimensions. Though these semantic and phonological connectivity effects have been extensively documented, little is known about their underlying developmental mechanism. One possibility is that learning is driven by lexical network growth where highly connected words in the child's early lexicon enable learning of similar words. Another possibility is that learning is driven by highly connected words in the external learning environment, instead of highly connected words in the early internal lexicon. The present study tests both scenarios systematically in both the phonological and semantic domains across 10 languages. We show that phonological and semantic connectivity in the learning environment drives growth in both production- and comprehension-based vocabularies, even controlling for word frequency and length. This pattern of findings suggests a word learning process where children harness their statistical learning abilities to detect and learn highly connected words in the learning environment.

Teaching and assessing L2 pragmatics: What can we expect from learners?

2008 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew D. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Data Collection ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
L2 Pragmatics ◽  
Role Of Teachers ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Is Value

This paper starts by giving a rationale for why there is value in explicitly teaching second-language (L2) learners pragmatics in the target language. The importance of a research basis for choosing pragmatic materials to teach is underscored, and the focus is put on sources for materials on pragmatics and the means of data collection. Issues in the teaching of pragmatics are considered, including determining which material to teach, how to prepare teachers to teach it, and the role of teachers in facilitating the learning of pragmatics. Next, L2 pragmatics is viewed from the learners' perspective, in terms of the learning and performance of pragmatics, as well as approaches to assessing what it is that learners are able to do in a pragmatically appropriate way. Finally, consideration is given to the role of technology in making pragmatics accessible to learners, with reference to a website for teachers and curriculum writers and to websites designed for learners of specific languages such as Japanese and Spanish. Recent work on virtual environments for practicing Spanish pragmatics is discussed and preliminary findings from a small-scale study of this effort are reported.

Multimodal infant-directed communication: how caregivers combine tactile and linguistic cues

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 1088-1116 ◽  
Author(s):  
RANA ABU-ZHAYA ◽  
AMANDA SEIDL ◽  
ALEJANDRINA CRISTIA
Keyword(s):  
Word Learning ◽  
Infant Development ◽  
Word Segmentation ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Linguistic Cues ◽  
Speech Cues ◽  
Tactile Cues

AbstractBoth touch and speech independently have been shown to play an important role in infant development. However, little is known about how they may be combined in the input to the child. We examined the use of touch and speech together by having mothers read their 5-month-olds books about body parts and animals. Results suggest that speech+touch multimodal events are characterized by more exaggerated touch and speech cues. Further, our results suggest that maternal touches are aligned with speech and that mothers tend to touch their infants in locations that are congruent with names of body parts. Thus, our results suggest that tactile cues could potentially aid both infant word segmentation and word learning.

scholarly journals ENGLISH LEARNING MOTIVATION AND SPEAKING ABILITY

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Sebastianus Menggo
Keyword(s):  
Communicative Language Teaching ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Learning Motivation ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Science Program ◽  
The Social ◽  
Single Form ◽  
English Learning Motivation ◽  
Correlation Design

The aim of communicative language teaching is enable learners to communicate in the target language. A learner is sued to perform the micro and macro components in each utterance produced. Consequently, students need to know the linguistics forms, meanings and functions of that target language. They need to know that many different forms can be used to perform a function and also that single form can often serve a variety of functions. Students must be able to choose from among these the most appropriate form, given the social context and manage the process of negotiating meaning with their interlocutors. However, knowing learner’s English learning motivation is an urgent variable to be considered in creating conducive atmosphere classroom which will raise the learners to do more toward speaking achievement. The aim of this study is to know and describe the English learning motivation affecting students’ speaking ability of 48 students of XI grade of science program at catholic senior of Saint Ignasius Loyola Labuan Bajo, West Flores, Indonesia. Correlation design with purposive procedure applied in this research. Data were collected through questionnaire, interview, and students’ speaking document. Result shows that motivation is significantly affecting students’ speaking ability.

scholarly journals Peran Perpustakaan dalam Pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris Secara Mandiri di Perguruan Tinggi

Edulib ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nadia Hanoum
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Independent Learning ◽  
English Learning ◽  
Motivation To Learn ◽  
Large Class Size ◽  
Interest And Motivation ◽  
Learning English

AbstrakTujuan akhir dan utama dari pembelajaran bahasa adalah kemampuan pembelajar bahasa untuk menggunakan bahasa yang dipelajari. Namun sayangnya lembaga pendidikan formal selama ini terpaku pada pendekatan-pendekatan tradisional yang lebih banyak memberikan penekanan pada struktur bahasa dan bukan pada bagaimana menggunakan bahasa untuk berkomunikasi. Selain karena faktor ukuran kelas yang besar yang tidak ideal untuk pembelajaran bahasa, hal ini juga dipicu oleh terbatasnya waktu tatap muka di kelas yang tidak memungkinkan terjadinya suatu proses pembelajaran bahasa yang efektif. Di tingkat perguruan tinggi dimana seorang peserta didik dituntut untuk lebih mandiri, permasalahan ini seharusnya dapat diatasi dengan meningkatkan peran dan layanan perpustakaan yang mendukung terlaksananya proses pembelajaran bahasa Inggris secara mandiri. Perpustakaan yang dapat menjalankan fungsinya dengan baik akan mampu menciptakan suasana pembelajaran mandiri yang dapat menunjang pembelajaran tatap muka di kelas. Selain itu, keberadaan sebuah Self Access Center (SAC), yaitu sebuah sarana belajar bahasa mandiri yang menungkinkan pengguna untuk belajar sesuai dengan kebutuhan dan kemampuannya akan mampu secara signifikan meningkatkan minat dan motivasi mahasiswa untuk belajar secara mandiri sehingga tujuan pembelajaran bahasa Inggris dapat tercapai. Kata Kunci: perpustakaan, pembelajaran bahasa Inggris, belajar mandiri, Self Access Center AbstractThe ultimate goal of learning English is the ability to use the target language. Unfortunately, formal education tends to use tradisional approach which focuses more on the language form instead of language use. This is triggered not only by the large class size but also by the limited time allocated for learning process in the class. In tertiary level where students are expected to be more independent in their learning, this problem should have been able to be solved by increasing the role and service of university library which supports self-directed independent learning. Library which can fulfill its functions well will be able to create the athmosphere of independent learning that assist learning process in the class. In addition, the establishment of a Self Access Center (SAC) in the library which enable students to learn according to their own needs and abilities will significantly increase students’ interest and motivation to learn independently so that the goal of learning English can be accomplished. Keywords: library, English learning, self-directed independent learning, Self Access Center  

scholarly journals Technology-Assisted Self-Regulated English Language Learning: Associations With English Language Self-Efficacy, English Enjoyment, and Learning Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhujun An ◽  
Chuang Wang ◽  
Siying Li ◽  
Zhengdong Gan ◽  
Hong Li
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Target Language ◽  
English Learning

This study investigated Chinese university students’ technology-assisted self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies and whether the technology-based SRL strategies mediated the associations between English language self-efficacy, English enjoyment, and learning outcomes. Data were collected from 525 undergraduate students in mainland China through three self-report questionnaires and the performance on an English language proficiency test. While students reported an overall moderate level of SRL strategies, they reported a high level of technology-based vocabulary learning strategies. A statistically significant positive relationship was noted between the use of technology-based SRL strategies and students’ English learning outcomes. English language self-efficacy and English language enjoyment were both related to technology-based SRL strategies. Furthermore, SRL strategies fully mediated the relationship between English enjoyment and English learning outcomes, but the association between English enjoyment and SRL strategies was only partially mediated by English language self-efficacy. Pedagogically, findings of this study suggest that training and instruction aimed at promotion of modern educational technology among students need to give attention to developing their strategic awareness of motivation regulation in optimizing effectiveness of their technology use in learning the target language.

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