language development, language diversity

Question 1

early language development

Answer 1

• humans can me more then 2000 sounds
• english only uses 39
• our ability to distinguish between sounds depends on what language we hear when we are young, diminishes at 7-14 for unexposed sounds

Question 2

noam chomsky

Answer 2

• the way we learn language is different to how we learn anything else
• humans are predisposed to learn language, invent our own with 2 groups that can’t communicate
• language doesn’t have to be taught just exposed

Question 3

joint attention

Answer 3

• important for early language development
• child and caregiver attend to the same object/action
• drawing childs attention to object and naming/describing
• aids comprehension and vocab development

Question 4

child directed speech (motherese)

Answer 4

• simplified grammar, vocabulary
• slower, exaggerated tone high pitch
• found cross culturally

Question 5

early language development
3 months

Answer 5

cooing
- all phonemes/sounds for human language

Question 6

early language development
4-6 months

Answer 6

babbling
- increasingly in response to others

Question 7

early language development
7-11 months

Answer 7

• more coherent babbling
  not producing sounds that they don’t hear, restriction of phonemes, more linguistically relevant babbling, sounds more like real speech

Question 8

early language development
10 months

Answer 8

first words

Question 9

early language development
18-24 months

Answer 9

• 2 word sentences, telegraphic speech

Question 10

early language development
2-3 years old

Answer 10

• 450 words, 3-4 word sentences

Question 11

common language errors
over extensions and under extensions

Answer 11

over: eg calling all furry animals cat
under: “cat” is only the pet they have not any others
- occurs across languages

Question 12

common language errors
over-regularize

Answer 12

• most languages aren’t completely regular
• not changing grammar rules for exceptions/irregularities
• eg daddy buyed (normally ed for past tense) me a bear

Question 13

language during school years
3-4 years

Answer 13

• 4-5 word stories
• basic grammar
• 1000 word productive vocab, understand a lot more (receptive vocab)

Question 14

language during school years
5 years

Answer 14

• tenses
• all essential grammar
• 1,500+ words, expanding

Question 15

language during school years
6 years

Answer 15

• 10,000 - 20,000 words productive vocab
• rapid progression

Question 16

language during school years
purpose of elementary school

Answer 16

• difficult to produce sounds (eg th, v)
• complex syntax (eg. passive voice)
• increasing vocabulary
• non literal language
• understanding of abstract words

Question 17

pragmatics

Answer 17

• how to use a language
• turn taking, different listeners, talking to different people differently, eg teacher vs friends
• emerges early
• culturally specific

Question 18

metalinguistic awareness

Answer 18

• knowledge about language as a process, impact of word choice, perceived as rude before developed
• 5 years

Question 19

reading
skills

Answer 19

• understanding relationship between sounds, letters forming words
• oral language skills, vocabulary, grammar, story telling

Question 20

reading
home environment

Answer 20

• very powerful
• value of reading , positive model (seeing people around them reading)
• materials available, exposure to bookstores and libraries
• they get read to
• literacy based play, reading tools part of play

Question 21

benefits of multiple languages

Answer 21

• improved cognitive abilities, attention, executive function, flexibility
• around a year earlier awareness of metalinguistics
• better at directed attention, ignoring non important information
• previous belief that it confuses children, wrong
• makes it easier to learn more languages

Question 22

developing multiple languages

Answer 22

• easiest before 7, early childhood consistent, sustained exposure
• learning language after early childhood, deliberate, explicit language program instead of just hearing it,
  takes 2-3 years to become conversational
  takes 6-9 years to acquire academic language/skills, same words in different contexts, abstract meaning

Question 23

language learner profiles

Answer 23

L1= mother tongue L2 = second language

monolingual/preliterate: limited literacy L1, no L2, early elementary school student

monolingual/literate: literate L1, no/limited L2

limited bilingual: converse well in L1 and L2, limited academic language, possible challenges

balanced bilingual: speak, read and write equally in L1 and L2
L1, culture, family, identity
L2, academic, social

Question 24

heritage language

Answer 24

• language spoken at home different from dominant language
• without deliberate effort, lost in 3 generations

Question 25

additive bilingualism/multilingualism

Answer 25

- maintain L1/heritage, add L2

Question 26

subtractive bilingualism

Answer 26

- loose L1, add L2

Question 27

learning english immersion

Answer 27

- wallace lambert - aim to create a program for children to learn french, monolingual english parents - instruction in L2, max exposure to L2, goal to transition as quickly as possible

Question 28

learning english native language maintenance, bilingual learning

Answer 28

- maintain L1, educate in L1 while learning L2 - transition to L2 when possible - tend to do better with this approach, may not be practical too many languages within one class

Question 29

french immersion

Answer 29

- at least 50% instruction in french - popular, increasing greatly

Question 30

learning disabilities in language learners

Answer 30

- difficult to detect whether a language learner has a disability or is struggling with L2 itself - issue is learning language of instruction not understanding of instruction vice versa

Question 31

diverse backgrounds

Answer 31

- assumptions about people with accents - prior education in language - education interruptions eg refugees, home situation