SPAU 3305 - Exam 1

Language and Literacy Development. redeate_seife

20 Minutes of Reading- Why Can't I Skip?

•Those who read 20 minutes a day→ 3600 minutes in a year (60 whole school days) → 1,800,000 words exposed to → 90th percentile by 6th grade

•Those who read 5 minutes a day→ 900 minutes a year (12 whole school days)→ 282,000 words exposed to → 50th percentile by 6th grade

•Those who read 1 minute a day→ 180 minutes a year→ 8,000 words→ only 10th percentile by 6th grade

•Television- must devalue the time spent watching television, whatever they're watching they're not interpreting at a young age (until 3), can never take the place of a parent reading to them because gaining listening comprehension which directly correlates to reading comprehension

Statistics

•93 million adults in US read at or below basic level needed to successfully contribute to society
•Colker Word Gap: kids who enter kinder with preschool experience have so many more words than those who have no prior education experience before kinder, 30 million word gap by 3 years old (from children of wealthiest→ poorest families)
•34% of children entering kinder lack the basic language skills needed to learn to read
•4th grade reading abilities- kids who did not have early word exposure do not recover by 4th grade, 65% of 4th graders were reading at or below the 4th grade level
•Carl Alexander- how much can you advance from the fall to spring given good instruction→ everyone could do about the same→ followed for 20 years→ the higher income\=higher scores\= higher abilities in the fall of 2nd grade→ summer months are so critical (cannot give 3 months of free time because they will never pick back up the same)
•When we have low literacy skills, no intervention \= irreversible effects, takes so much motivation to dig themselves out and the people with the lowest scores drop out of schools, direct correlation between low reading levels and high dropout rates

Readers at Different Languages

• 7 years old- can put anything in front of them and they'll try to sound it out and read fluently, comprehension will come later but production still there
• 6 years old- some mispronunciations but still gave it a shot and was fluent, more variety of words
• 5 years old- fluent, changes tones with his reading, redundant books→ repetitive so the more times they see them the more they say them
• 4 years old- more sounding it out by syllable, less fluent, "decoding"
• 3 years old- phonemic awareness, identifying the letters that goes with the sounds
• 2 years old- identify letters, shape to memorize and becomes more meaningful later

How does the process work/Biological contribution

studies the relationships
•Biological endowments huge contributors with experiences

What are the best methods to prepare children for literacy?

How we educate children to help prepare them for reading

What are the best methods for repair, when literacy skills are not readily acquired?

How does your place in the world help you or hurt you

How can educators manage skill disparity?

All come to the table with different experiences→ what can and can't they do

How can they understand the nature of the problem and what's going on within the mind of the child who isn't getting it

How can educators effectively identify individual abilities and speed of skill mastery?

They have the propensity to change, how do you get them to change at an appropriate speed

Where does the responsibility for literacy advancement lie?

•The only way to nudge kids forward is if you're sitting with them one on one listening to them read
•That's why 20 minutes it critical because teachers do not have enough time to sit one on one with each kid

When should children be proficient readers and what are the requirements for reading proficiency?

In the second grade, critical shift that shifts from learning to read to reading to learn→ interpreting and reading comprehension comes into play
To be proficient reader: have reasonable rate of reading (be able to read a certain number of words per minute,) reading fluency (you can read at reasonable rate without making a lot of errors considering age appropriate,) comprehension

Cytoarchitecture

Each brain is unique, containing a certain number of neurons connected to each other in particular ways
Fingerprint for our brain
Look at where places are in the brain and look at it by chunks/layers

Areal Organization

•Different areas perform different functions
•Localization of cognitive functions
• Frontal lobe- thinking, planning, motor
• Temporal- language/auditory
• Parietal- somatosensory function
• Occipital- visual
•Double dissociation- when you have damage to an area of the brain and it causes a deficit to one aspect of a skill
oBased on behavior, can guess where the damage is

Laminar Organization

o Layers of the brain contain different types of cells

Glial cells

help provide a hospitable environment so that neurons can do their jobs- need the cells for function of other cells
o Have more glial cells than we do of others
o They do not play a role in the processing of information
o Functions provided:
• Proving firmness and structure to the brain
• Forming the myelin sheath that surrounds the axons of long neurons and speeds up their firing
• Providing a "scaffold" for neurons to latch onto during the process of cell migration
• Taking up and removing some of the chemical transmitters that are released during synaptic transmission

Neurons

responsible for transmitting information, used in cognitive function
o They do play a role in processing information
o The connectivity dimension underlines the distinction between excitatory and inhibitory neurons.
o The neurotransmitter dimension allows one to distinguish between neurons that excrete dopamine, neurons that excrete gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and neurons that excrete serotonin
o Pyramidal- nucleus on one end, axon and dendrites on the other,
o Stellate- dendrites come from cell body

• Layers

o Layer 1- horizontal fivers (closest to scalp)
• Long horizontal fibers that connect different regions of the cortex to each other.
o Layers 2 & 3- dendritic connections
• Dendrite- is the branching portion of a neuron that receives neurotransmitters secreted by presynaptic neurons.
o Layer 4- stellate cells
o Layers 5 & 6- stellate

• Proliferation

o Are there enough cells?
• Have to have enough cells to do job
• Mitosis- cells begin making brain immediately after conception
• Proliferative zones- where the cells begin duplicating (250,000/minute→ 7 months gestation)

• Migration

o Cells start to migrate to send cells where they need to go so they know how to communicate with another
o Wouldn't make sense if they just stayed at proliferation zone so they must move out to different areas

• Differentiation

o Process that assures the right number of cells and the right type of cells are located in the right place
o Cells are made then move, then differentiate because they become what the brain needs them to be→ take on necessary function based on where they land

• Now that they're all in position, what happens?

o Growth
• Neurons grow (axon length, etc.)- proximity facilitates efficiency
• Closer you are\= more efficient
• Need them to grow so they can be closer to each other

o Function Properly

• Form synaptic connections to send and receive messages
• Synaptogenesis- where cells are creating connections with one another (starting in utero)

Synaptic Connections
• During Fetal Development

o Activation patterns occur spontaneously
o How things are connecting are all being established spontaneously

• During Infancy and Childhood

o Once babies are born, activation connections must be provoked or stimulated
o How does this happen?
• Rely on your 5 senses
• Babies get information through activation of the 5 senses→ activation patterns strengthen and growth continues through nutrition
• Babies start learning through senses the day they are born

• Dendritic Arborization

o Sprouting of new dendrites
o Due to stimulated growth

• Axonal Myelination

o Fatty coating speeds up firing
o Is myelin present and helpful?
• More quickly, effectively, efficiently
• Depends on nutrition too

• Synaptic Connections

o Regressive Process
• Death of Neurons- what we don't need your brain lets go of
• Makes organizing the information you have more efficient
• Ones that you do need are focused on your environment

• Allowance for Error

o What if there's a problem
o Plasticity→ make up for something that's lost

• Synaptic Pruning

o Getting rid of what you don't need

• Genetics

o Between species differences (how our species differs from others)
• Proliferation
• We have more brain cells in more refined areas
o In centers for language, emotion
o All of these areas allow for more cognitive function- have more cells within these areas
o That's why we can do everything we can
Migration & Differentiation
Protective flexibility
• Create what we need in certain areas- critical for development and specific for humans
o Within Species (from human to human)
• Despite genetic instruction, each brain is uniquely different
• Twin studies- some genetic instruction but individual differences- processes have differed even with shared environment

• Environmental Stimulation

o Responding to the environment based on uniformity in how information is received
• Environment plays role in how the brain organizes itself
• Think of children born with impairments- organized differently because receiving information in different ways
• Sensory integration- how you integrate information as it comes through your senses, completely relative (sensory overload- how is something too loud)
• No sensory input early on\= set child at disadvantage
• More positive information, the better
• More faces the baby sees, the better→ how babies organize facial processing
• More auditory experiences→ affect how the baby organizes their auditory cortex

o Role of the Brain

• Afferent neurons bring information to the brain via sensory receptors
• Cortical neurons receive, process, and store information
• Plasticity allows for accommodations

• Nutrition

o Prenatal Malnutrition (not enough/not good)
• Slows proliferation (cells aren't being made)
• Fewer neurons
• Fewer glial cells
• If the opportunity is lost, you don't have the correct number of cells

o Malnutrition in childhood

• Slows cell growth
• Inhibits myelination- may be able to fix them over time but not exactly in extreme cases
o Which is more dangerous?
• Prenatal- if you don't have them to begin with, you can't fix them or grow them later
• Can't create more cells when proliferation is over
• Can't create myelin without some sort of buffer

• Steroids

o Use of steroids affects cell growth and reactivity, but it is not entirely understood
• Functioning can be altered due to over activation of fight/flight response
o Stress hormones affect neurological development
• Excessive amounts could promote neuronal death in key areas
• Over taxes the areas so it makes responses less and less effective
• Will affect cognitive and learning abilities later
o Inborn structural differences of male/female brain
• Sex hormones affect neurological development
• Androgens and estrogens play key role in development

• Teratogens

o Any foreign substance that can cause harm during the fetal stages or development
o Associations between teratogens and their effects are evident based on dose (how much), susceptibility (wild card- no one knows how your body will metabolize something until you've had it) and time of exposure (at what period during pregnancy)
• (anything not part of natural process\= threat to neurological development)
• Nicotine
• Alcohol
• Prescription pain killers
• Illicit drugs
• Viruses

• Nativist

abilities are innate and predetermined

• Empiricist

intelligence is nurture, shaped by environment

• Constructivist

nature and nurture are equally important
o But with environment,
• More is more→ the more good stuff you provide the better, the more you withhold, the more negative result you will have
• Sooner is better→ while they don't hold firm to critical period, the earlier you activate the senses the more you provoke those senses and sharpen the brain

Spoken Language Competence

• Kids who enter school with higher skills in spoken language do better with reading
• Have better social skills
• Do better with the complexities

Language development theory

Acquisition of structure

Formalism

Nativism
Language is autonomous

Functionalism

o Empiricism
o Language is developed in context of the environment

Requirements

• Semantic knowledge
o Word meaning
• Phonological knowledge
o Letter-sound awareness
• Grammatical knowledge
o Organization

• Interpersonal proficiencies

1. Desire to communicate with others
2. Have to have respect for others
3. Ability to get along with others
4. Reciprocity
a. Do your conversations have good reciprocity between the both of you
5. Lack of egocentrism
a. All you do is talk about yourself

Goal Directed

• Conversational goals in the following scenarios
o Parent-child
• Patent trying to get the kids to do something
• Parent trying to get their child to stop doing something
• Kids try to get their parent to do something for them
• Kids try to ask parents for explanation about the world
o Friends
• Goals vary among children and change as they get older
o Dating
• Goals change depending on who we are speaking to and how we see them
• "Figure out how to accomplish primary communicative goals while maintaining positive social relationships with others"
o This is what hard conversations are hard

Skills of competent speakers

• Recognize the intention of communication
• Gauge possible reactions from their listeners
o When is it the best time to tell someone something, knowing when your message will get across. (That is the roll of the speaker)
• Choose words that are more effective
o There are ways you can say things
• Infer meaning
o Use more than just what they are saying
• Remember the details

The Rules

• Quantity principle
o Informative but just use the right amount of information
• Quality principle
o Truthful without exaggerations for which you have no evidence. Only say what you know to be true
• Relation principle
• Manner principle
o Don't say too little to where the listener tries to infer incorrectly

Proper use of the Ancillary

• Irony
• Sarcasm
• Metaphor
• Humor
o Use of humor can be disarming
• Lying
o Lying can be effective when you need it to be

Paralinguistics

• Melodic components of speech
o Tone
o Volume
o Infliction

• Why Should Educators Pay Attention

o Chicken or the egg, empirically speaking
• Phonological, semantic, and grammatical knowledge
• Social expertise- if they have better spoken language, they will have better social skills and be more encourage to use language
• Think the Matthew effect- those who are good get better, those who struggle fail
• Look at where a child lies in relation to peers

• Developmental Changes

o Phonological- drastic changes in the first 5 years, plateau in the next couple years, kids can meet all articulators between 5-6
o Semantic- changes throughout the lifetime, you have a capacity to grow your words all your life, the more words you have the more unique sentences you can create
o Grammatical Knowledge- most rules are learned early, rules of language once learned you don't unlearn it

• Developmental Changes- Conversational Skills

o Progress made over the course of childhood into adulthood
o Adults provide scaffolding- when they receive information and are patient, kids do better
o Kids interrupt more, wander off topic

• Communicative Goals

o Initially:
• Gaining attention
• Recruiting for action- can you do something for me
o Changes over time
• Talking just to talk
• Variety of functions emerge

• Communicative Devices (comprehension and use)

o Indirect requests, polite expressions, irony, sarcasm, verbal humor
o Improvements over time
o Comprehension before use

• Factors that promote change

o Phonological, Semantic, and Grammatical Knowledge
• Kids need more models, need more people using language around them to retain new words
• Exposure to words in a variety of context
• Allows practice of phonemes- hearing them then saying them
• Children need to have enough base words before manipulating them to learn grammatical rules
• Semantics affect both grammar and phonological development
• Have to have enough words to build sentences and phrases

o Conversational Skills

• Adults are speaking partners are immensely important
• Appropriate modeling
• Patience- such a practice of patience to allow them to finish their conversation
• Siblings
• Good if they provide good/more experienced models
o Nurturing and instructive
• Not good if the sibling takes over and talks for them all the time
• Witness to more sophisticated interactions

o Communicative Goals

• Feedback is key
• Perlocutionary period- when babies are trying to communicate, how well adults get what they're trying to do \= positive feedback → kids who go on to have different communicative goals
• Natural Consequences
• Effects we see based on interactions

o Communicative Devices

• Indirect requests, polite expressions...
• Age + exposure + firsthand experience
• Exposure to pick up on sarcasm and such
• Firsthand experience- when you have an extra, you're not going to get those rules of language others pick up on quickly
• There's an added degree of difficulty with this
• English is not primary language
• Language delay/disorder
o Reading expressions is hard with disorder
o Think of little kids where they don't have as many words to use so they don't understand how to use them sarcastically

• Areal Organization
o Language centers of the brain are important but

• ASD (autism spectrum)
• RHD (right hemisphere damage)
• TBI (traumatic brain injury)
• Damage to other areas in the brain result in language differences, especially the nuances and ancillary contributors → damage to any part of the brain is going to impact language

Phonological Processing

• Receptive phonological skills
o Ability to recognize sounds and typical sound patterns of native language when listening to another speaker

o Four levels

• Phoneme
• Smallest unit of sound
o English language has about 45 phonemes
• Further breakdown
• Differentiate between individual speech sounds
• Puh vs duh
• Pear vs bear
• Babies are universal listeners
• Syllable
• Phonemes come together to make syllables, or segment of words
• Word
• Words are composed of syllables, which are formed by a letter of group of letters
• Words must carry meaning
• Prosody
• Begins with motherese/ infant-directed speech (IDS)
• Provides information about syllables, words in a sentences, type of sentences, etc.

• Productive

• Ability to produce sounds and sound patterns when speaking
• Produce all the phonemes in native language
• Combine phonemes into syllables & words
• Create multi-word expressions

• Onset & Rimes

• Onset (word beginnings)
• Matching the beginning sounds of words
o Receptive-point to all the things that start with....
o Productive- producing the word
• Rime (word ending)
o Receptive
o Productive

o Can you have one without the other?

• When receptive processing functions properly, but production is impaired
• Articulation disorder
• Motor speech disorder
• When producing function properly, but reception is impaired

o Compensating

• Listeners don't require production to be exact-it just needs to be close enough
• We are REALLY good at compensating
• It's easier to compensate for one when you have all of the context giving
o How do they do it?
• How do we learn about skill development when the neural operations during infancy aren't visible?
• Ask questions (form hypotheses)
o Invariance
• How do we make words fit into our representations when spoken by different speakers of different ages or genders, etc.
• Conduct behavioral research
• Create models

o Categorical perception

• How do we have the ability to form categories for speech sounds
• Phonemes are heard as discrete categories rater then a continuum

o Parsing

• How do you know one word begins and one word ends

Conducting research

• High amplitude sucking
• Head turn procedure-associate sound to events

Models of Receptive Skills

• Partial inputs models
o Cohort model-Marslen & Wilson, 1989
• Narrow down a word based on how it unfolds
• As someone is speaking, our brain jumps around and guesses what someone will say
• EX: Unverse, autofill, etc.

o Neighborhood activation model (NAM)-Goldinger, pisoni & Luce, 1995

• Determining a word based on its neighbors
• Relying on words that are phonologically similar
• Ex:leaning on the familiar
• Cat, rat, sat, bat, fat, chat
• Almond

o Spreading activation model

Stored representations for sound patterns
• When an onset is heard, information is sent along a network

• Associative strength

amount of strength in firing depends on how frequent that sound occurs
• Having friends with a common name, easy you remember name
• Having friends with a no common name, harder to remember name

o Statistical learning model

• Combining pattern detection and computable abilities
• Phonemes
o Narrowing from 600-45
• Distribution of syllable sequences
o Pret-ty-ba-by
• Phonotacic patterns
o Restrictions placed on locations of sounds
o Helps define word boundaries in connected speech
o Dt, kt don't occur in English but I polish
• Stress cues
o English: first syllable
o "jenny went to the grocery store yesterday, didn't she?'

o Why is all of this relevant?

• The ability to analyze sounds in words is one of the best predictors of reading success
• Children with reading disabilities do not "hear" onsets, rimes and phonemes the same way as other children
• Without stored representations od sound patterns it is difficult to build spoken vocabulary

Age trends

• Birth to 4 months
o The following are attributed to prenatal exposure
• Newborn preference for mothers language
• Preference for voice of mother over stranger
• Matching of prosodic properties
o Early infant categorization
• Categorieztion of ohonemes
• Stop vs. stop
• Stop vs. nasal

• 5-8 mo.

o Sensitivity to non-native vowels declines
o Syllable stress needed for parsing
• They rely on the rules of the native language in syllable stressing

• 9-12 mo

o Preference for own language:
• Phonemes
• Phonoticatic patterns

• 13+ mo.

o greater understanding of the process
• Predictive value in segmenting:
• Syllables
• Onsets & rimes

Productive

• We know this is happening by looking at their productive skills
• Birth-12mo.
o Reflexive cry
• Cooing & laughter
• Vocal play
• Canonical babbling
• Variegated babbling
• Phoneme Acquisition
• Vowels: by age 3
• Consonants: by age 7
o Stops (p,b,t,d,k,g) & Nasals (m,n)
o Liquids (l,r) glides (y) Sibilants (s, sh) fricatives (f, v, th), Affricates (ch,j) consonats clusters
• Speech sound errors
o Sound substitutions
o Assimilation
o Cluster reduction
o How are children who have articulation issues affected when learning to read?
• If a child has artic. probs. That doesn't mean they will have reading issues but if they have issues with phonological processing