ESL 970G Verb Identification Exercise
Babies Raised
In Bilingual Homes Learn New Words Differently Than Infants Learning One
Language
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070928092050.htm
Source: Society for
Research in Child Development
Date:
September 30, 2007
Directions:
1. Print the article and skim it for
general meaning.
2. Read the article closely. Underline
all
words that function as verbs in the sentences in this article.
3. For each verb, identify the tense
(simple present, present progressive, present perfect, simple past, future,
present modal, etc.), transitive or intransitive (VT, VI) and voice (active,
passive).
4. Click the link to the Answer Key at
the end and check your answers.
Research on the learning process for acquiring two
languages from birth found differences in how bilingual babies learned words
compared to monolingual babies. The research suggests that bilingual babies
follow a slightly different pattern when using detailed sound information to
learn differences between words.
Infants who are raised in bilingual homes learned two
similar-sounding words in a laboratory task at a later age than babies who are
raised in homes where only one language is spoken.
This difference, which is thought to be advantageous
for bilingual infants, appears to be due to the fact that bilingual babies need
to devote their attention to the general associations between words and objects
(often a word in each language) for a longer period, rather than focusing on
detailed sound information. This finding suggests an important difference in
the mechanics of how monolingual and bilingual babies learn language.
These findings are from new research conducted at the
University of British Columbia and Ottawa.
Immigration, official language policies, and changing
cultural norms mean that many infants are being raised bilingually. Because
nearly all experimental work in infant language
development has focused on children who are monolingual, relatively little is
known about the learning processes involved in acquiring two languages from
birth.
The researchers sought to determine whether the
demands of acquiring more sounds and words lead to differences in language
development. An important part of language development is the ability to pay
attention to native speech sounds to guide word learning. For example, English
learners expect that the nonsense words "bih"
and "dih" refer to different concepts
because "b" and "d" are different consonant categories in
English. By 17 months of age, monolingual English infants use native-language
speech-sound differences to guide them as they learn words. Do bilingual
infants show a similar developmental pattern?
The study revealed that bilingual infants follow a
slightly different pattern. Researchers tested bilingual children ages 14, 17,
and 20 months on their ability to associate two words that differed in a single
consonant sound with two different objects. Experiment 1 included a
heterogeneous sample of bilingual babies (i.e., those exposed to English and
another language).
Experiment 2 tested two homogeneous groups of
bilingual infants (English-French and English-Chinese). In both experiments,
infants were repeatedly presented with a crown-shaped object that was called
"bih" and a molecule-shaped object called
"dih." They were then tested on their
ability to notice a switch in an object's name (for example, the
molecule-shaped object being called "bih"
instead of "dih"). In all of the groups,
the bilingual infants failed to notice the minimal change in the object's name
until 20 months of age, whereas monolingual infants noticed the change at 17
months.
This later use of relevant language sounds (such as
consonants) to direct word learning is due to the increased demands of learning
two languages, the researchers suggest. Ignoring the consonant detail in a new
word may be an adaptive tool used by bilingual infants in learning new words.
Outside the laboratory, there is little cost to overlooking some of the
consonant detail in new words, as there are few similar-sounding words in
infants' early vocabularies. By paying less attention to the detailed sound
information in the word, bilingual infants can devote more cognitive resources
to making the links between words and objects.
Extending this approach to word learning for a few
months longer than monolinguals may help bilinguals "keep up" with
their peers. Indeed, previous research has shown that bilinguals and
monolinguals achieve language-learning milestones (such as speaking their first
word) at similar ages and have vocabularies of similar sizes when words from
both languages are taken into account.
"Through studies with bilingual infants, we can
gain a deeper understanding of language development in all infants," according
to Christopher T. Fennell, assistant professor of psychology at the University
of Ottawa and the lead author of the study. "In addition, the findings
emerging from such studies will have practical implications for parents who are
raising their children in a bilingual environment by revealing how young
bilinguals acquire language."
Summarized from Child Development, Vol. 78, Issue 5,
Using Speech Sounds to Guide Word Learning: The Case of Bilingual Infants by
Fennell, CT (University of Ottawa), Byers-Heinlein, K, and Werker,
JF (University of British Columbia).
Note: This story has been
adapted from material provided by Society for Research in Child Development.
Answer Key (Please attempt the exercise before you check the key!)