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80 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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What are the basic goals of child language research ? (three-fold) |
- Discover and confirm general linguistic principles and patterns of language development - Clarify the relationship of language development to changes in other areas , such as cognition - Provide a theoretical description of language development that helps explain the process |
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The purpose of a child language study and the researcher's theoretical predisposition , will influence the ? |
- will influence the type of data-collection procedure used |
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Theories can influence the? |
- can influence the questions asked , the specific language features studied and the overall design of study |
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The method of collection is driven by? |
- the aspect of language being studied |
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3 general areas of interest in method of collection might include? |
- Speech perception - Language comprehension - Language Production |
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Describe what speech perception studies are interested in? |
- they are interested in speech discrimination of children , especially infants - and the ways in which these abilities may aid language learning |
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Give an example of testing for speech perception? |
- Infants can be tested while still in the womb for their responses to speech sounds in isolation and in connected speech - infant responses may consist of changing state , moving , or kicking |
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With older children and adults , speech perception is often assessed with? |
more specific responses ,such as pointing |
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One new approach is called online or real-time research in which responses are paired with brain-imaging techniques , such as MRI to? |
- to identify areas of the brain where perception occurs * these techniques are also used with language comprehension and expression |
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Language comprehension studies are interested in? |
- our understanding of language |
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Describe an example of language comprehension being tested? |
- A researcher conducting a study of comprehension of sentences might be interested in different types of memory that are stored in different areas of the brain |
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Explain how language comprehension works? |
- Subjects usually respond to structured procedures by looking , pointing , acting out , or following directions in response to a spoken or written stimulus - this type of research requires a standardized , structured experimental design to ensure that all subjects have the same input |
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Describe Expressive language testing / method of data collection? |
- can take a number of forms - the primary difference is the degree of control the experimenter has over the context |
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Expressive language-development data are usually collected in what two ways? |
- Spontaneous conversational sampling or natural observation - structured testing or experimental manipulation |
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Each method raises issues of? |
- raises issues of appropriateness for the language feature being studied |
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Either one method alone , may be insufficient to describe? |
- may be insufficient to describe a child's linguistic competence , that is what he or she knows about language |
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Give an example how data yielded in one context may not appear in another. |
For example, in a study of pronouns , children produced a wider variety in conversation and produced more advanced forms in more formal testing |
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Ideally , the linguist would employ both what 3 things using the structured procedures to obtain more in-depth information on data collected by the more broad-based naturalistic or informal procedures? |
- informal - formal - structured approaches |
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Some researchers prefer testing or experimental manipulation in order to control? |
- to control for some variables inherent in more naturalistic collection |
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Within a test or experimental procedure , various linguistic elements may be elicited using? |
- using verbal and nonverbal stimuli in a structured presentation |
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In structured collection methods / experimental manipulation , such control of context , may result in what kind of sampling? |
- Narrow Sampling |
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Formal procedures enable researchers to gather data that may? give an example? *structured collection method |
- may not be readily available using conversational or observational techniques - For example, it is difficult to assess either children's comprehension or their metalinguistic skills without direct testing |
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In structured collection methods /
experimental manipulation , some hypotheses cannot be tested directly , however ? |
- however so researchers must test indirectly or observe some features of language development |
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Language and experimental factors must be manipulated with caution , because? |
- one aspect of language can affect others , even though the researcher does not intend for this to happen |
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What are 5 disadvantages of structured collection methods ? * structured testing/ experimental manipulation |
- Pragmatics influencing phonology - when highlighting an item in a picture in an attempt to ensure a child's accurate comment , the amount of redundancy or inclusion or irrelevant information does increase - testing and experimental tasks do not necessarily reflect a child's performance in everyday use - Results can be misread - Test scores alone tell researchers nothing about the performance on individual items |
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Give an example of disadvantage in structured testing , how pragmatics influences phonology? |
- Ex: Among both children and adults , new information is introduced into the conversation in a consistently more phonologically accurate manner , than older shared information. |
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Give an example of disadvantage in structured testing , how it does not necessarily reflect a child's performance in everyday use?
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- For example , in a experimental task , a child may rely on different problem-solving techniques than in everyday tasks |
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Give an example of disadvantage in structured testing , how results can be misread?
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- For example , noncompliance with testing or experimental procedures doesn't necessarily mean non-comprehension or lack of knowledge - especially with preschoolers , incorrect responding may indicate a lack of attention or interest |
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Give an example of disadvantage in structured testing , how test scores tell researchers
nothing about performance on individual items? |
- two children may have the same score and very different responses - scoring of individual items may be limited to a wrong-or-right dichotomy - testing contexts may provide more or fewer stimuli than are found in the real world (thus modifying the difficulty of the task) |
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Language processing is not a single unitary operation , as it is assumed in test construction , but consists of component operations such as: |
- lexical or vocabulary access - syntactic decoding - discourse processing * that are engaged at different times and with varying degrees depending on the linguistic task |
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Naturalistic studies , such as language samples , may yield very different data than? |
- experimental manipulation |
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Sampling spontaneous conversations is more naturalistic and ideally ensures analysis of real-life behaviors (true or false) |
- true ; but such collection is not without its problems |
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In Sampling and Observation, data collected may be affected by several variables such as? |
- the amount of language of a child - the amount of intelligibility of a child - the effect of the context |
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To date , Linguists have not identified all the possible variables that can affect performance or the extent of their influence which method of data collection? |
- Sampling and observation |
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In sampling and observation, some linguistic elements occur infrequently , such as ? |
- such as passive-voice sentences and others are optional such as the use of pronouns |
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Why in sampling and observation, a single conversational sample is inadequate to demonstrate full range of a child's communication abilities? |
- it is difficult to estimate a child's competence or ability based on informal behavior *provides only a general estimate of comprehension |
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Sampling techniques exist along a continuum from ? |
- unstructured situations - open-ended situations - more structured , restrictive ones * in which the researcher attempts to control or manipulate one or more variables |
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Give an example in Sampling and observation , where the researcher attempts to control or manipulate one or more variables |
- For example, the researcher interested in narrative may want to elicit a particular variety , such as recounts and directs a child to provide a story about something that happened to them |
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In Sampling and observation , what is also used to elicit narratives?
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pictures |
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In Sampling and observation, pretend playing involving routine events facilitates
communication with? |
- facilitates communication with more topic maintenance and less miscommunication among children (than in less familiar interactive situations) |
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In Sampling and observation , child language data may also be obtained from?
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the CHILDES system of database transcripts |
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What does the child language data CHILDES include? |
- includes programs for computer analysis , methods of linguistic coding , and systems for linking these transcripts to digitized audio and video |
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Any naturalistic situation may be insufficient for eliciting a child's ? |
- for eliciting a child's systematic knowledge of language - nor is there certainty that a given test situation will represent a child's naturally occurring communication |
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It is best to have data from? |
- from a combination of collection procedures |
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The researcher must be concerned about what two samples? |
- the sample or group of children from whom data are collected or - sample of language data from each child |
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In both samples , the researcher must be concerned with? |
- must be concerned with size and variability |
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What happens if you have too small of a sample? |
- restrict the conclusions that can be drawn about all children |
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What happens if you have too large of a sample? |
- may be unwieldy (difficult to carry or move because of its size, shape, or weight) |
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In sample size , the number of children or subjects should be? |
- should be large enough to allow for individual differences and to enable group conclusions to be drawn |
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The samples , subject , and language also interact , one influencing the other true or false? |
true |
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Give an example for how the overall design of the study will influence the number of subjects considered adequate *sample size |
- It may be appropriate to follow a few children for a period of time (longitudinal study) , but inappropriate to administer a one-time-only test to the same limited number of children |
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In _______ study , for example , as many as 30% if the children may be lost because of family mobility, illness , or unwillingness to continue over the length , which may last several years. |
longitudinal study |
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What would be better to avoid conflict with longitudinal study? |
- It might be better to adopt an overlapping longitudinal design with two different age samples , each being observed for half the length of time that would be needed in longitudinal study |
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The sample of children should accurately reflect the diversity of ? *variability |
- reflect the diversity of larger population from which they were drawn |
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Children sampled should represent all (4 things)? *variability |
- socioeconomic - racial - ethnic - dialectal variations *found in total population and in the same proportions found there |
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Other variables that may be important includes? |
- size of family - gender - birth order - presence of one or both parents in the home - presence of natural parents in the home - the amount of schooling |
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In variability, Mixed-race children may force the researcher to ? |
- to make decisions about racial self-identity that are not appropriate |
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Characteristics of the tester , experimenter or conversational partner are also important in amount of language collected true or false |
false ; not amount of language collected it is variable |
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Give two examples of in how in variability, charcteristics of the tester , experimenter or conversational partner is important. |
- In general , preschool children will perform better with a familiar adult - there is also an indication that children of color may perform better with the same identity |
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Some children found in the general population may be excluded when the study attempts to determine typical development. Which children does this include? |
- these may include children with known handicaps ; bilingual children ; twins , triplets , and other multiple births - children in institutional care or full-time nursery - children who are likely to move during the course of study (migrant workers or military service = unreliable) |
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With each exclusion , the normal "group" becomes? |
- the normal group becomes more restricted and thus less representative |
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In variability, Reliable age-independent measures of development, such as? |
- level of cognitive development * may be a better device for measuring real developmental difference and may allow more appropriate comparisons of children's language development |
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What is the most common way to group children? |
- by age |
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Why is matching children by age , inappropriate when matching the subjects in language-development studies ? |
- because many language differences reflect developmental changes in other areas |
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The problem of the appropriate amount of child's language to sample becomes especially critical with low-incidence language features such as? * amount of language collected |
Passive sentences |
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At least how many utterances are needed in order to have an adequate sample? |
at least 100 utterances * although the sample size depends on the purpose for which it is collected |
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High reliability on measures such as the number of different words and mean utterance and sentence length in morphemes may require? |
- at least 175 complete and intelligible utterances |
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The amount of language collected will? |
- will vary with the language feature being studied |
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Pragmatic aspects of language , which vary with context , may require? |
- may require the inclusion of several contexts to provide an adequately varied sample |
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The larger the sample of children and / or speech , the ? |
- the fewer data it is possible to analyze |
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The more detailed the analysis the? |
- the fewer children or the smaller amount of speech it is possible to sample |
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Any sample should fulfill what two twin requirements? |
- Naturalness - Representativeness |
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In order for testing to meet the two requirements naturalness and representativeness of data , testing should attempt to? |
- testing should attempt to use familiar situations |
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A conversational sample would be more natural if? |
- if the participants are free to move about and are uninhibited by the process of sample collection |
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A representative sample should include as many of? |
- should include as many of the child's everyday experiences as possible |
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At least 3 potential factors may be problems when obtaining natural and representative language data |
1. the observer paradox 2. child's physical and emotional state at the time the information is collected 3. Relates to the context in which the sample is collected |
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Describe how observer paradox takes place in natural and representative language data? |
- the absence of an observer may result in uninterpretable data - But the presence of an observer may influence the language obtained , so that it lacks spontaneity and naturalness |
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The absence of an observer may also complicate? |
- complicate the process of determining the exact context of the language sample * in addition the nonlinguistic context of each utterance cannot be reconstructed from audio tape alone |
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Describe how child's physical and emotional state at the time the information is collectedtakes place in natural and representative
languagedata? |
- usually a caregiver is asked to comment on the typicalness of the child's performance |
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Quantitative values such as mean or average length of utterances (MLU) or
number of utterances within a given time or number of root words vary ? |
- vary widely across different communication situations and partners |
