One of the most interesting things I learned from this essay was the rather uselessness of parents when it comes to language acquisition. I had always thought that parent’s played a more pivotal role in teaching their children their language, but really all they’re good for is talking. Talk around a child and they’ll figure it out for themselves.
Similarly, the fact that a caretakers decision to correct or ignore their child’s linguistic mistakes has little to no effect on that child’s pronunciation or was surprising. Although, it does seem to be contradicted by the little girl who formed negative sentences by pitch. Perhaps Moskowitz was referring to the effects it has on the process of learning rather than the result of that learning.
I was also intrigued by the way in which children learn phonology despite their underdeveloped motor and pronunciation skills. The story about the child talking to Brown about a “fis” pretty much explained why many children will agree when you correct them on pronunciation, but still continue to use their own. They know there is a difference between /s/ and /ʃ/; they just don’t have the ability to express it.
I also found the chart in the next essay to be really informative. Much of a child’s language acquisition seems to coincide with their motor skills. The 30 months mark represents the largest jump in linguistic ability—something I would attribute to their simultaneous increase in physical ability. I wonder if this chart also applies to children with sign language as their first language.
I was as surprised as you were, Charlynn, about the parents. I really always thought that the parents were a more pivotal role. I mean, children typically pick up whatever language or accent their parents have, so I guess I just thought that they learned more from their parents than I guess they really do. It never really occured to me that the children basically pick it up on their own. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I believe that. Not completely, at least. I think that the parents aren't necessarily vital to the acquisition of language to a child, but I think that they do more than this article accredited them for. I mean, it does give them, or the caretaker, credit for initially introducing the child to language and for correcting them and helping them grow in their conversation, but I do truly think that the parents are not given enough credit. I don’t know, maybe that is just me, but I am certain that the parents are more involved.
I also really found the stages interesting. I knew that children don’t just learn how to speak complete sentences over night, but I guess I never paid much attention to the stages. It makes sense, though. How they have stages of only being able to say a couple of words, to juvenile sentences, to full-fledged sentences. I enjoyed the way that this was explained. It just made sense. I’m definitely going to have to start paying closer attention to my nephew!
I also feel like everything we discuss in this class somehow ties back in with ASL. Has anyone else noticed this?
Like Charlynn and Sarah I found the first few sections about the parents' role within language acquisition to be less important than I initially thought. Another thing that surprised me (though completely off the topic of language acquisition) was the fact that Moskowitz exclusively used the pronoun "she" when referring to an individual child acquiring a language. I found this interesting, but I also noticed how she was unable to keep up this female child persona throughout the piece. There was one instance I noticed (pages 617 and 618) where she refers to a specific deaf boy, then changes back to the "she" pronoun. Like I said--completely off topic, but interesting nonetheless.
This entire essay was intriguing to me, but some of the key points and concepts that stuck out to me were the need for interaction and not just observation, the introduction of the term "caretaker speech" and the stages of word learning and sentence formation. I really enjoyed the example of the deaf little boy who was sat in front of a tv so that he could acquire English along with the ASL his parents communicated with. I can see what the parents were trying to do, but it has been proven again and again that interaction is the best teacher of language. I also liked how the interaction part of the speech learning process was emphasized on page 617 to qualify the previous statement of some linguists believing "language is innate and only the surface details of the particular language spoken in a child's environment need to be learned."
Also, the term "Caretaker speech" was new to me, but I am familiar with "Baby Talk." I also found it interesting that sentences are spoken in patterns: first, one word sentences, next, two word sentences, then the sentences become more complex as far as the number of words but don't necessarily make sense until the function words are acquired.
Overall, I found this essay and the accompanying chart to be insightful and helpful in the breakdown of language acquisition.
I thought the individual breaking down of language acquisition was interesting. I remember being in the car with my brother when he was about a year old, he would repeatedly repeat the “b” sound. I thought it was interesting how children will constantly reiterate sounds and words to themselves in order to make sense of it. For some reason he loved repeating the “buh” sound a B makes. As he got older he would frequently babble to himself in more comprehensive words. There was a game he would play he called “Blue-Yellow.” In the car he would cover his eyes and say “bluuue….Yeyoh!” quickly uncovering his eyes to a yellow color of the sunlight. Blue being closed eyes in shadow. I drew some connections with this to the recorder placed in the toddler’s room at night. Though I would play the game with him, I didn’t repeat his word of “yeyoh” just saying the word yellow which might’ve been him verifying the sound of the word. I speak a lot about my brother because I’m interested in the other such ways a child may be influenced to acquire language on their own. When he was learning about basic object such as the shape of a circle, once he saw it written in a child’s book he would pronounce it [Kirkle] while in conversation. “That’s a kirkle!” though we would tell him, yes it’s a circle! He would still refer to it as a kirkle, but soon grew out of this habit. There were a few such words that he would mispronounce after he noticed the nonstandard spelling, though he was still very young (between 1-2yrs.) He also began reading at a much younger age, although we stressed normal speaking in his first exposure to language, but this was his own unique way of putting 2 and 2 together. -Leslie
This essay was quite a read! I have to say, this was a topic that I haven't ever really studied, but always wondered about. After reading this work, I called my parents and asked them about the methods that I used to learn language, and what they did to help me learn different structures. The topic in this essay that interested me the most was the idea that children learn a language through a similar process, no matter where they are in the world or what pace they take for linguistic development. In my consideration of cognitive and linguistic development, I'd never considered that methods could be similar among people in many different regions.
This essay was very helpful for me, as I begin to research how humans learn language. Knowing that most linguistic development comes from interaction between children and their environments is contrary to what I previously understood, so these essays are changing the way I form my opinions on these topics. I feel like I've had a great opportunity to learn about linguistic diversity, but it is cool to know that all of these people from different places learn their respective languages in a similar way. I have to say, this was one of the more interesting reads so far in this class! I will definitely have to keep this topic on my mind, because some day, I will be responsible for helping a child grow and develop into a communicator. These essays will help me with insights that will prove to be invaluable in those processes!
So you've read the essays by Moskowitz and Lenneberg.
One of the most interesting things I learned from this essay was the rather uselessness of parents when it comes to language acquisition. I had always thought that parent’s played a more pivotal role in teaching their children their language, but really all they’re good for is talking. Talk around a child and they’ll figure it out for themselves.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, the fact that a caretakers decision to correct or ignore their child’s linguistic mistakes has little to no effect on that child’s pronunciation or was surprising. Although, it does seem to be contradicted by the little girl who formed negative sentences by pitch. Perhaps Moskowitz was referring to the effects it has on the process of learning rather than the result of that learning.
I was also intrigued by the way in which children learn phonology despite their underdeveloped motor and pronunciation skills. The story about the child talking to Brown about a “fis” pretty much explained why many children will agree when you correct them on pronunciation, but still continue to use their own. They know there is a difference between /s/ and /ʃ/; they just don’t have the ability to express it.
I also found the chart in the next essay to be really informative. Much of a child’s language acquisition seems to coincide with their motor skills. The 30 months mark represents the largest jump in linguistic ability—something I would attribute to their simultaneous increase in physical ability. I wonder if this chart also applies to children with sign language as their first language.
I was as surprised as you were, Charlynn, about the parents. I really always thought that the parents were a more pivotal role. I mean, children typically pick up whatever language or accent their parents have, so I guess I just thought that they learned more from their parents than I guess they really do. It never really occured to me that the children basically pick it up on their own. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure that I believe that. Not completely, at least. I think that the parents aren't necessarily vital to the acquisition of language to a child, but I think that they do more than this article accredited them for. I mean, it does give them, or the caretaker, credit for initially introducing the child to language and for correcting them and helping them grow in their conversation, but I do truly think that the parents are not given enough credit. I don’t know, maybe that is just me, but I am certain that the parents are more involved.
ReplyDeleteI also really found the stages interesting. I knew that children don’t just learn how to speak complete sentences over night, but I guess I never paid much attention to the stages. It makes sense, though. How they have stages of only being able to say a couple of words, to juvenile sentences, to full-fledged sentences. I enjoyed the way that this was explained. It just made sense. I’m definitely going to have to start paying closer attention to my nephew!
I also feel like everything we discuss in this class somehow ties back in with ASL. Has anyone else noticed this?
Like Charlynn and Sarah I found the first few sections about the parents' role within language acquisition to be less important than I initially thought. Another thing that surprised me (though completely off the topic of language acquisition) was the fact that Moskowitz exclusively used the pronoun "she" when referring to an individual child acquiring a language. I found this interesting, but I also noticed how she was unable to keep up this female child persona throughout the piece. There was one instance I noticed (pages 617 and 618) where she refers to a specific deaf boy, then changes back to the "she" pronoun. Like I said--completely off topic, but interesting nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteThis entire essay was intriguing to me, but some of the key points and concepts that stuck out to me were the need for interaction and not just observation, the introduction of the term "caretaker speech" and the stages of word learning and sentence formation. I really enjoyed the example of the deaf little boy who was sat in front of a tv so that he could acquire English along with the ASL his parents communicated with. I can see what the parents were trying to do, but it has been proven again and again that interaction is the best teacher of language. I also liked how the interaction part of the speech learning process was emphasized on page 617 to qualify the previous statement of some linguists believing "language is innate and only the surface details of the particular language spoken in a child's environment need to be learned."
Also, the term "Caretaker speech" was new to me, but I am familiar with "Baby Talk." I also found it interesting that sentences are spoken in patterns: first, one word sentences, next, two word sentences, then the sentences become more complex as far as the number of words but don't necessarily make sense until the function words are acquired.
Overall, I found this essay and the accompanying chart to be insightful and helpful in the breakdown of language acquisition.
-Emily Davis
I thought the individual breaking down of language acquisition was interesting. I remember being in the car with my brother when he was about a year old, he would repeatedly repeat the “b” sound. I thought it was interesting how children will constantly reiterate sounds and words to themselves in order to make sense of it. For some reason he loved repeating the “buh” sound a B makes. As he got older he would frequently babble to himself in more comprehensive words. There was a game he would play he called “Blue-Yellow.” In the car he would cover his eyes and say “bluuue….Yeyoh!” quickly uncovering his eyes to a yellow color of the sunlight. Blue being closed eyes in shadow. I drew some connections with this to the recorder placed in the toddler’s room at night. Though I would play the game with him, I didn’t repeat his word of “yeyoh” just saying the word yellow which might’ve been him verifying the sound of the word.
ReplyDeleteI speak a lot about my brother because I’m interested in the other such ways a child may be influenced to acquire language on their own. When he was learning about basic object such as the shape of a circle, once he saw it written in a child’s book he would pronounce it [Kirkle] while in conversation. “That’s a kirkle!” though we would tell him, yes it’s a circle! He would still refer to it as a kirkle, but soon grew out of this habit. There were a few such words that he would mispronounce after he noticed the nonstandard spelling, though he was still very young (between 1-2yrs.) He also began reading at a much younger age, although we stressed normal speaking in his first exposure to language, but this was his own unique way of putting 2 and 2 together.
-Leslie
This essay was quite a read! I have to say, this was a topic that I haven't ever really studied, but always wondered about. After reading this work, I called my parents and asked them about the methods that I used to learn language, and what they did to help me learn different structures. The topic in this essay that interested me the most was the idea that children learn a language through a similar process, no matter where they are in the world or what pace they take for linguistic development. In my consideration of cognitive and linguistic development, I'd never considered that methods could be similar among people in many different regions.
ReplyDeleteThis essay was very helpful for me, as I begin to research how humans learn language. Knowing that most linguistic development comes from interaction between children and their environments is contrary to what I previously understood, so these essays are changing the way I form my opinions on these topics. I feel like I've had a great opportunity to learn about linguistic diversity, but it is cool to know that all of these people from different places learn their respective languages in a similar way. I have to say, this was one of the more interesting reads so far in this class! I will definitely have to keep this topic on my mind, because some day, I will be responsible for helping a child grow and develop into a communicator. These essays will help me with insights that will prove to be invaluable in those processes!