linguistic masterminds: children’s early language trajectory laura justice
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Linguistic Masterminds: Children’s Early Language Trajectory Laura Justice The Ohio State University. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Linguistic Masterminds: Children’s Early Language Trajectory
Laura Justice
The Ohio State University
Language development represents one of the most exciting and mysterious aspects of young children’s development. Children who cannot yet count to ten can produce sentence structures as
sophisticated as most adults. This webinar discusses language… what it is, what it is not, and how to make sense of the things
children are saying. Additionally, this webinar explores what to do when children are ‘late talkers’ and how to facilitate the language
growth of children with whom we might be concerned.
TOPICS TO BE EXPLORED
Language: What Is It?
Language: What It Is Not
How to Make Sense of the Things Children Say
What To Do When Children are Late to Talk
How To Facilitate All Children’s Language Growth
What Is It?
Language is a “system of conventional spoken or written symbols used by people in a shared culture to
communicate with one another.”
Pence Turnbull & Justice, Language Development From Theory to Practice, 2/e
System Conventional Spoken Written Symbols Communicate
Group of interrelated elements
that form a complex
whole
In accordance with general agreement
Expressed orally
Expressed in writing
Something that
represents something
else
To convey information
“Statue Momma”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ZwNF26snA&feature=player_detailpage#t=5s
Language: More Than Just Words
It is a multi-dimensional symbol system
FORMCONTENT
USE
Domains of Language
FORM:rules governing the structure of sentences and words (e.g., inflections)
CONTENT:rules governing the structure of meanings and concepts
PRAGMATICS:rules governing the structure of delivery and use of language
FORMCONTENT
USE
SemanticsSyntaxMorphologyPhonology
Pragmatics
Addie, 2 years:
“I’m almost here!!!”
Addie, 2 years: “I’m almost here!!!”
Form: simple sentence, contracted copular verb (am), subjective pronoun, adverbial phrase (almost here), consonants and vowels
Content: locational reference (here), adverb of manner (almost), highly contextualized (need context to understand meaning!)
Use: function/intent = inform/explain, clear recipient in range, appropriate paralinguistic cues (eye contact, proximity, etc.)
Important Features of Language
• Rule-governed• Sensitive period• Innate-learned
Rule-Governed
NOUN PHRASE
ARTICLE ADJECTIVE NOUN
How many noun phrases can a child make who knows this rule???
+ +
Rule-Governed
SIMPLE SENTENCE
SUBJECT VERB OBJECT
How many sentences can a child make who knows this rule???
+ +
Rule-Governed
SIMPLE SENTENCE
him got karate
How many sentences can a child make who knows this rule???
+ +
Sensitive Period• In the first years of life, children’s brain matter
is rapidly developing• Synaptogenesis• Activity dependence• Synaptic pruning
• Interconnections are being made that
organize and stabilize language skills
• No future period will allow such remarkable gains in language to occur
Innate-Learned: Experience Dependent
INPUT
How do these develop?
From: Relationship between preschool teachers’ complex syntax use and children’s
Syntactic comprehension. From Huttonlocher, J., Vasilyeva, M., Cymerman, E.,
& Levine, S. (2002).
Why Language?
• Language is the “what” of effective communication …Communication is the mechanism
• Language is very malleable…. It reflects time and experience
• Children show variability in their language skills: and this variability is important for many areas of academics, including reading and content-area skills
Why Language?
Head Start Outcomes Framework (2010)
What Is It NOT?
•It is NOT how well children articulate
•It is NOT speaking ‘correctly’
•It is NOT simply the size of a child’s vocabulary
•It is NOT equated to IQ
What Is It NOT?
•It is NOT how well
children articulate
Up here is my brain!
What Is It NOT?
•It is NOT how well
children articulate
I dot a daw a diddle biwdie!
What Is It NOT?
•It is NOT
speaking ‘correctly’
Harvard Dialect Survey: been
RED: as in "sit" (64.82%)BLUE: as in "see" (3.59%)
GREEN as in "set" (28.60%)PURPLE: other (2.99%)
What Is It NOT?
•It is NOT the size of
a child’s vocabulary
Colorless Green Ideas Sleep Furiously….(Noam Chomsky)
What Is It NOT?
• It is NOT equated to IQ
Language Intelligence
The Special Case of Specific Language
Impairment
General Trajectory
Birth: hard-wired for language; no receptive or expressive use; vocal play and reflexive sounds
3 months: coo and goo; engage in back-n-forth routines; orient to others
6 months: Understands approximately 2 words; babbling (mamama dadada)
8-10 months: Becomes an intentional communicator (gesture, persistence, eye contact)!
12 months: understands 10 words, produces first word
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/chart.htm
18 months: understands 150 words; expressive vocabulary of 50 words; produces simple sentences (two-word combinations); understands simple sentences
24 months: understands 300+ words; expressive vocabulary of 100 words; produces some three-word combinations, including negative sentences!
36 months: ask questions using different forms; uses four-word combinations frequently; understands many wh-questions; makes simple inferences; understands some ‘hard’ words
60 months: language system more or less complete – looks adult-like in terms of grammar, although lexicon and social competence will continue to refine (e.g., ability to enter conversations).
General Trajectory
Late Talkers
Late Talkers• Children who are meeting most/all other milestones
typically (walking, eating, playing)… except talking!
• Identified between 2 and 3 years of age due to expressive concerns:
• small vocabulary (< 50 words used)• not yet combining words to create two-word
sentences
• Language understanding is typical (but be sure validly assessed!)
Late Talkers: Words Spoken
Rescorla et al (2000)
Late Talkers
• Affects more than 1 in 10 children (Zubrick et al., 2010)
• Tends to run in families• Tends to affect more boys than girls• Tends to affect more preterms• Tends to occur with increases in externalizing and internalizing
behavioral concerns
• Although many children will outgrow these problems, some children will not – which argues against the wait and see approach
Language Screening
• Ages and Stages Questionnaire – 3
• Language Development Survey
• MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories
Indirect or Direct
Treatment Options (often
by Speech-Language
Pathologist/SLP)
Facilitating Language Growth for ALL Children
Children “feast” on the language scraps in the world around them…they learn what
they hear
learn what they hear… and what they OVERHEAR
As children feast, what really matters?
ADULT INPUTTO CHILD
CHILD’SLANGUAGE
SKILL
QUALITY OF
INPUT
ADULT INPUTTO CHILD
CHILD’SLANGUAGE
SKILL
QUALITY OF
INPUT
FREQUENCY OF EXPOSURES
INFORMATIVENESS OF EXPOSURES
2-year-old learning the word VENT
Exposure 1 – establishes a
shallow representation
of meaning and
phonological form
Exposure 2 –solidifies
phonological form (vent –not
went) and refines meaning
Exposure 3 –Increasing
mapping and differentiation
in lexicon
overgeneralization
Frequency of Exposures:
Use of known words to “cement” a base• Meets one’s basic communication needs
Use of unknown words to “extend” the base• Provides precision and clarity
Frequencies of Exposures:
Children’s exposure to specific forms and functions occurs repeatedly
Children’s exposures build cumulatively over time to become more precise
INFORMATIVENESS OF EXPOSURES
Adult language features diverse content, form, and use
Content: many words, ideas, and concepts
Form: many different syntactic structures and word inflections
Uses: many different purposes
Changing Developmental Trajectories
Zone of Proximal Development
What the child already knows
Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child
Learning Potential
Adult Input
Zone of Proximal Development
What the child already knows
Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child
HUGE STEER
Adult InputCOW
Zone of Proximal Development
What the child already knows
Knowledge that is beyond the grasp of the child
That is a big dog, you are right!
Adult InputThat’s a dog.
Well-Tuned?
Child Language Ability
Stimulates LanguageDoes Not Stimulate Language
Providing information about objects, information,
or events not present
Attitudes, points of view, mental states, motives
Similarities and differences betweenpeople, objects, and events
Causes of events(prediction)
Meanings of words
Connections between text and world
van Kleeck et al (2006)
THANKS FOR GIVING CHILDREN THE GIFT OF LANGUAGE!