CFS100 - NS Ch.10

Why Hannah Talks and Alyssa Doesn’t

What is the myth described?

• “Baby DVDs boost infant vocabulary”

  • Infants who watched more baby DVDs actually had smaller vocabularies

Dr. Meltzoff’s Study

• Surveyed parents on TV use, measured vocabulary using CDI

  • Found that more baby DVD watching = fewer words known

  • Watching 1 hour a day = 6-8 fewer words (DVDs didn't promote language learning)

Communicative Development Inventory (CDI)

• A standardized list of 89 common words used to measure infants’ vocabulary

  • ex: “cup”, “push”

Dr. Kuhl’s Study

• Live Mandarin speakers taught infants foreign phonemes (unique sound combinations that make up a word; “kuh”, “ch”)

  • Babies learned only from live interaction, not from video/audio

Hart & Risley’s Study

• Tracked word exposure in homes over 3 years

  • Professional-class children heard ~1,500 words an hour vs. 600 in welfare homes

  • More language exposure = larger vocabularies by age 3

Tamis-LeMonda’s Study

• Videotaped mom-infant play & tracked responsiveness

  • Toddlers w/ highly responsive moms were 6 months ahead in speech

  • Responding to babies’ cues was key—not just speaking at them

Goldstein’s Study

• Used affectionate touch to reward babble in 9-month-olds

  • Babies vocalized more & produced more advanced sounds

  • Live, well-timed interaction directly influenced vocal growth

Schwade’s Study

• Studied parents “object labeling”

  • ex: “That’s your stroller,” “See the flower?,” “Look at the moon!”

• Best results when labeling matched child's gaze & vocalizing/pointing

• Incorrect labeling led to much lower vocabulary growth

Smith & Samuelson’s Study

• Studied “shape bias" - the tendency of children to categorize objects by shape

• Trained toddlers to do this ^ by having them identify novel shapes for 5 mins a week for 7 weeks

  • Vocabulary for object names grew by 256%

Dr. Waterfall’s Study

• Studied grammar acquisition through repeated varied sentence structures

• Children learned syntax & vocabulary better with “variation sets”

  • ex: “Rachel, bring the book to Daddy. Bring him the book. Give it to Daddy. Thank you, Rachel—you gave Daddy the book.”

Motionese

• Exaggerated object movement synced w/ speech

  • Helps babies focus & learn names of objects

  • Most effective before 15 months old

Parentese

• Singsong, exaggerated speech used w/ babies

• Slower pace, clearer pronunciation, big pitch changes

  • Helps infants hear & learn speech sounds

Reccomendations

• Respond quickly to baby's cues

• Talk with, not just to, your child

• Use live interactions, not videos

• Use object labeling & avoid mislabeling what baby is focused on

• Use variation sets when talking to baby

• Multiple people talking to baby is beneficial (learn how phonics are the same, even if voices are different)

• Use motionese & parentese