Starting Over

Abstract

Language development is characterized by predictable shifts in the words that children learn and the complexity of their utterances. Because language acquisition typically occurs simultaneously with cognitive development and maturation, it is difficult to determine the causes of these shifts. We explored how acquisition precedes in the absence of possible cognitive or maturational roadblocks, by examining the acquisition of English in internationally-adopted preschoolers. Like infants, and unlike other L2 learners, these children acquire a language from child-directed speech in the home, without access to bilingual informants. Parental reports (CDI-2) and speech samples were collected from 14 preschoolers, 3 to 18 months after they were adopted from China. These children made rapid progress in acquiring English and showed the same developmental patterns as monolingual infants (matched for vocabulary size). Early on, their lexicons were dominated by nouns, their utterances were short, and function morphemes were almost entirely absent. Children at later stages of development had more diverse lexicons and produced longer utterances with more closed-class morphemes.

Dual language exposure and early bilingual development

“…To understand how input influences the rate of grammatical development will require further research. The effects on vocabulary and grammar observed here may reflect direct effects of access to input on both vocabulary and grammatical development or indirect effects on grammar via the dependence of grammatical on lexical development (Marchman et al , 2004) and/or a necessary synchrony between the acquisition of vocabulary and grammar that arises from the nature of the language learning process (Snedeker, Geren & Shafto, 2007). …”

Two- and Three-Year-Olds Track a Single Meaning During Word Learning: Evidence for Propose-but-Verify

“…Although there is some reason to believe that observational word learning is similar in adults and children (e.g., Gillette, Gleitman, Gleitman & Lederer, 1999; Medina et al, 2011; Piccin & Waxman, 2007; Smith & Yu, 2008; Snedeker, Geren & Shafto, 2007), there are also key differences between adults and children that might lead to the prediction that children approach observational word learning using a global-intersective method rather than a single-hypothesis testing procedure like propose-but-verify. Most notably, young children learning their early vocabulary (e.g., age 1;6 to 3;0) likely have only a partial understanding of how reference works (e.g., Karmiloff-Smith, 1979; Maratsos, 1976), and, for example, may not fully appreciate that a definite expression like “the dax” should have a unique referent.…”

Effect of foster care on language learning at eight years: Findings from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project

“…International adoption of children living in institutional care in several countries also is growing, presenting new challenges in assessment and intervention for children’s language skills. Overall, positive short and long term language outcomes have been reported for many young children living in institutional care who subsequently have been placed in foster and adoptive families as infants and young toddlers (Cohen, Lojkasek, Zadeh, Pugliese, & Kiefer, 2008, Snedeker, Geren, & Shafto, 2007). However, the outcomes are more mixed for children who have experienced institutional care and are placed in foster or adoptive care later in life.…”