Chapter 7: Communicative Development Learning to Use Language

Question 1

Linguistic Competence

Answer 1

-ability and produce and understand sentences

Question 2

Communicative Competence

Answer 2

-the ability to use those sentences appropriately in communicative interaction

Question 3

Pragmatics

Answer 3

-concerns the purpose to which language is put (request, command, etc)

Question 4

Discourse

Answer 4

-language units larger than a sentence
-ability to manage such longer stretches of talk (conversations, narratives)

Question 5

Sociolinguistics

Answer 5

-concerns how language use varies as a function of sociological variables such as status, culture, and gender

Question 6

Speech Act Theory

Answer 6

-J.L. Austin and John Searle
-doing things with words
-each sentence a speaker utters is a speech act

Question 7

Speech Act Components

Answer 7

-intended function
-linguistic form
-effect of listener

Question 8

Intentionality

Answer 8

-the intentions that underlie communication are the most difficult to specify
-in the development of communicative competence we are asking whether the child is communicating
-insufficient that a behavior be interpretable for it to be true communication
-not just to meet a goal but to meet another mind

Question 9

Form Function Mappings and Role of Context

Answer 9

-the intended function of an utterance may be different from its form and literal meaning
-speakers use a variety of forms for the same function
-when and how do children learn that multiple forms can express the same function
-when and how do children learn which form to use for certain contexts

Question 10

Connected Discourse

Answer 10

-longer stretches of speech

Question 11

Conversations

Answer 11

-longer stretches of speech involving two or more people talking

Question 12

Extended Monologues/Narratives

Answer 12

-when one speaker talks at length as in lecture, sermon, or a narrative

Question 13

Grice’s Two Basic Rules of Communication

Answer 13

-take turns
-be cooperative

Question 14

Quantity Conversational Maxim

Answer 14

-make your contribution as informative as is required
-provide neither too much or too little

Question 15

Quality Conversational Maxim

Answer 15

-try to make your contribution one that is true
-don’t say what you believe to be false or that for which you lack adequate evidence

Question 16

Relation Conversational Maxim

Answer 16

-be relevant

Question 17

Manner Conversational Maxim

Answer 17

-be perspicuous (clear, brief, orderly, unambiguous)

Question 18

Registers

Answer 18

-styles of language use associated with particular social settings

Question 19

Cultural Variation in Language Use

Answer 19

-different cultures have different norms for language use

Question 20

Sociolinguistics

Answer 20

-children must learn to use language in the particular way their social group does, or their social group

Question 21

Pragmatic Development

Answer 21

-The development of the use of language to serve communicative functions
-The absence of intentional control distinguishes reflexive behavior from true communication

Question 22

Development of Speech Acts Phase 1

Answer 22

-perlocutionary (birth-10mo)
-Behavior has consequences but is not produced with communicative intent.

Question 23

Development of Speech Acts: Phase 2

Answer 23

-Illocutionary (10-12mo)
-Behavior has communicative goals but does not use the forms of the target language.
-Children become aware that their behavior can be used to communicate with others.

Question 24

Development of Speech Acts: Phase 3

Answer 24

-Locutionary (12mo+)
-Behavior has communicative intentions and adultlike forms

Question 25

The Expanding Range of the Communicative Functions of Speech

Answer 25

-Children have communicative intentions before they have adult linguistic means of expressing them -The range of communicative functions children express grows in the first few years. -During the second year of life, children become more interested in communicating, they communicate a greater range of intentions, and they use a greater number of linguistic forms to realize each intention.

Question 26

Instrumental Function of Language

Answer 26

-Satisfying the child’s needs

Question 27

Regulatory Function of Language

Answer 27

-Directing others’ behavior

Question 28

Interactional Function of Language

Answer 28

-Interacting with others

Question 29

Personal Function of Language

Answer 29

-Express personal feelings

Question 30

Heurisitic Function of Language

Answer 30

-Requesting information

Question 31

Imaginative Function of Language

Answer 31

-Pretending

Question 32

Informative Function of Language

Answer 32

-Conveying information

Question 33

Piaget’s Description of the Egocentric Child

Answer 33

-Children's speech is not really communicative -They take turns but each turn has little to do with previous speakers turn -Each child produces own monologue: collective monologues -Children can not put themselves in the shoes of their listener or desire to influence their listener -Preschool children are egocentric

Question 34

Private Speech

Answer 34

-Children’s nondialogic speech -Solitary monologues and monologues in conversational context -Young children talk to themselves more and more obviously than older children and adults

Question 35

Children's Use of Solitary Monologues

Answer 35

-Researchers suggest children use these for language exploration and practice.

Question 36

Nelson (1989) presleep narratives

Answer 36

-longer and more complex narratives when alone than those used in conversation with parents.

Question 37

Language Play

Answer 37

-this is not “work” for children -The ability to play with language is in itself a skill that is manifest in forms as varied puns and poetry -children who produce high amounts of language play in their spontaneous speech are also better than average at explaining verbal riddles

Question 38

Vygotsky’s Theory of the Function of Private Speech

Answer 38

-Primary function of private speech is behavioral self-guidance -Cognitive skills develop first in social interaction and then later are internalized. -Does not apply to presleep soliloquies but to situations in which children produce private speech as they act on objects

Question 39

Piagetian View on the Function of Private Speech

Answer 39

-children lack the requisite ability and interest to be truly conversational

Question 40

Vigotskyan View on the Function of Private Speech

Answer 40

-the child is doing something else with his/her speech

Question 41

Early Conversational Skills in Interaction with Adults

Answer 41

-Research: children know something about the mechanics of conversation from the age of about 1 year. -Mother’s support children’s conversational role -young children are also capable of using language to accomplish communicative goals in interaction with peers.

Question 42

Responding to Speech

Answer 42

-First understanding = they need to respond to another speaker’s utterance -Early strategy is to respond with action

Question 43

Differential Responding to Different Utterance Types: Children Under 2

Answer 43

-more likely to respond to what or where questions, than other forms.

Question 44

Differential Responding to Different Utterance Types: 1 & 2 yr olds

Answer 44

-abilities to participate in conversation are based on a mixture of partial understandings and strategies for participating despite only partial understandings.

Question 45

Differential Responding to Different Utterance Types: by age 2

Answer 45

children understand -Take turns in conversation -What one says in one’s turn is constrained by what the previous speaker has said -Based more on the form than on the content of utterances.

Question 46

Foster's 3 Developmental Changes in Children's Topic Initiations

Answer 46

1. with increasing age, children successfully initiated more topics 2. the means of topic initiation changed from nonverbal to verbal 3. the type of topic children initiated changed.

Question 47

Foster says the development of topic initiation skills is not solely a matter of developing language skill

Answer 47

-Language skill and communicative skill are to a degree independent -Successful conversations with young children are supported by the motivation of their conversational partners and by shared knowledge between speaker and listener.

Question 48

Repairing Miscommunication

Answer 48

-As children acquire language, both their messages and their repairs become more frequently verbal. -1-3 yrs. More likely to repeat a misunderstood message -3-5 yrs. More likely to revise their message

Question 49

Sustaining Dialogue and Contingent Responding

Answer 49

-change in children's conversational abilities after 2 yrs old = increase in length of conversations children can sustain -initiating a new topic is easier for children than producing a response based on previous utterance with new info

Question 50

Producing Spontaneous Utterance Requires

Answer 50

-retrieving information from memory to formulate a message -attend to the ongoing interaction

Question 51

Increase in Linguistic Contingency (More turns)

Answer 51

-using prior utterance to form new utterance -they have to be semantically related -children and adults both form new utterance based on the prior one but children's are more simple

Question 52

The Role of the Adult

Answer 52

-mother's help their children during interactions -mother's contribute to their children's ability to participate in conversations -Children's responsiveness is due in part to their mother's efforts at eliciting responses -questions increase the rate of linguistically contingent responses

Question 53

Young Children's Peer Conversations

Answer 53

-children's ability to sustain dialogue is facilitated when they share knowledge that provides a background for their conversations (conversational partners can relate to) -when children share contextual knowledge, their conversations are longer and their language uses are more advanced

Question 54

Eisenberg's Three Phases in Narratives: Phase 1

Answer 54

-children's talk about the past is typically elicited and maintained by an adult -adult provides scaffolding for children's reports; adults elicit more information -"Go tell dad what we did today."

Question 55

Eisenberg's Three Phases in Narratives: Phase 2

Answer 55

-children depend less on the scaffolding of adult's questions -children's contributions are longer and introduce new information -tend to be general descriptions of a kind of familiar event/lack specifics

Question 56

Eisenberg's Three Phases in Narratives: Phase 3

Answer 56

-children's narratives depend less on either conversational support or general event knowledge -they include more information that is unique to the particular event being recounted

Question 57

Elaborative Style

Answer 57

-questions that help the child say something that moves the narrative forward -"what was the bear doing?" -helps immediate production but also influences children's ability to produce own narratives

Question 58

Repetitive Style

Answer 58

-characterized by questions that seek the same information over and over again "and then what did we see?"

Question 59

Developmental Trends in Children's Early Narrative Production

Answer 59

-increase in spontaneous mention of past events -increase in length of narrative produced -increase in the remoteness of the past event -increases in the structural complexity of the stories told -increases in the use of narrative devices such as orienting to time and place and evaluating the events in the narrative

Question 60

Age 5 Narratives

Answer 60

-still lacking -still difficult to fully understand as they fail to provide enough information -not fully mastered tense system -referents of pronouns can be unclear

Question 61

Differences in Narratives

Answer 61

-quality can differ between children depending on the content -stories of negative events have more dramatic structure -nonfictional stories are higher quality -greater difficulty in story retell for children in low SES and younger children

Question 62

Children's Use of Request Forms

Answer 62

-young speakers have multiple ways of requesting available to them and they select different forms from their repertoires depending on the circumstance

Question 63

Politeness

Answer 63

-perceived politeness is at least one of the differences between more and less direct forms of request -children use less direct forms with higher statues listeners -switch to less direct forms when told to be nicer -children as young as 3 know how to use a less direct from when asked to be more polite

Question 64

Children's Child Directed Speech

Answer 64

-piaget=wrong -when children speak to younger children they adjust their speech depending on listeners ability

Question 65

Children Talking to other Children

Answer 65

-not the same as adults -talk less overall -more directive, higher frequency of attention grabbing devices and repetitions, less questions -less attuned to young child

Question 66

Children as Conversational Partners

Answer 66

-young children are not as supportive conversational partners as mother typically are

Question 67

Children's Understanding of Registers

Answer 67

-children show early sensitivity to use of different registers -shift for settings -shift for social status -shift for social roles -shift for good or bad speech

Question 68

Girls Gender Type Language Use

Answer 68

-more likely to ask for help than boys -more polite and cooperative -fewer imperatives -use language that includes other child in planning

Question 69

Boys Gender Type Language Use

Answer 69

-more assertive and demanding -interrupt girls 2x as much -simple imperatives

Question 70

Girls Gender Type Language Use in Conflict

Answer 70

-negotiate settlement -talk oriented conflict resolution

Question 71

Boys Gender Type Language Use in Conflict

Answer 71

-more disputes -give directives and threats

Question 72

Conversational Skill in Development

Answer 72

-conversational skill is not consistent at any point in development -fluctuates depending on task demands

Question 73

Sources of Development of Communicative Competence

Answer 73

-biologically based social and cognitive capacities mature -responsive communicative partners support -need to communicate in less supportive environments may foster the development of other skills -children observe communicative behaviors, sometimes they are explicitly taught