Combining observational and experimental approaches to the development of language and communication in rural samples: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

Multiple approaches – including observational and experimental – are necessary to articulate powerful theories of learning. Our field’s key questions, which rely on these varied methods, are still open. How do children perceive and produce language? What do they encounter in their linguistic input? What does the learner bring to the task of acquisition? Considerable progress has been made for the development of spoken English (especially by North American learners). Yet there is still a great deal to discover about how children in other populations proceed, especially populations in rural settings. To examine language learning in these populations, we need a multi-method approach. However, adapting and integrating methods, particularly experimental ones, to new settings can present immense challenges. In this paper, we discuss the opportunities and challenges facing researchers who aim to use a multimethodological approach in rural samples, and what the field of language acquisition can do to promote such work.

Vowel harmony preferences in infants growing up in multilingual Ghana (Africa).

“…While there have been some studies with children aged 3 years and above in Ghana (e.g., Amoako & Stemberger, 2022a, 2022b; Omane & Höhle, 2021), the present study represents the first psycholinguistics research on infants growing up in Ghana. Our experiences support and illustrate several issues raised in the ongoing discussion on diversifying language acquisition research (e.g., Aravena-Bravo et al, 2023; Cristia et al, 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022; Paradis, 2022; Singh et al, 2023). First, given the prevalent multilingualism and its immense diversity in Ghana’s cities, it would have been impossible to recruit a monolingual control group or a homogenous multilingual group.…”

“…Most research on infant and child language development has focused on populations growing up in Western cultures with Indo-European languages. As this can cause biases in theory building, there is a growing call among language acquisition researchers and developmental psychologists for more diversity across languages and cultures studied (e.g., Aravena-Bravo et al, 2023; Cristia et al, 2023; Kidd & Garcia, 2022; Singh et al, 2023). Across the world, infants’ early language and cultural experiences may, for example, vary significantly concerning the number of languages they are immersed in.…”

Computational modelling of language acquisition: an introduction

“…Secondly, all six contributions focus on monolingual language development, and four only consider an 'average' typically developing child (De Seyssel et al; Pearl; Alahama et al; Monaghan). The third bias evident in this special issue is the English preponderance in the languagedevelopment literature (Cristia et al, 2023;Kidd & Garcia, 2022), with three contributions modelling only the acquisition of English, two including other (Indo-European) languages in addition to English (DeSeyssel et al; Pine et al), and one contribution discussing general learning mechanisms that would presumably apply to all languages (Meier & Guenther, although examples are in English).…”

Studying Child-Directed Speech

“…4. The broadening of research perspectives advocated above necessitates a broadening of our methodological repertoire and integration of observational and experimental methods (Cristia et al, 2023). This will entail expanding and augmenting current analysis methods of long-form recordings to in vivo approaches that capture contextual information (e.g., including logging of situational context alongside transcription of linguistic content) but also broadening elicitation methods used in the laboratory to include diverse situations and interlocutors.…”