Language Development and Theoretical Perspectives Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering sociolinguistics, language acquisition, bilingualism, theoretical perspectives, neurolinguistics, and adult-child interaction strategies.

Sociolinguistics

The study of the relationship between language and society.

Ethnography

The study of people within their own social and cultural environments.

Dialect

A language variation associated with a geographic, social, or cultural group.

Vernacular

An everyday, informal language variety associated with a particular group.

Register

Language appropriate for a particular situation, purpose, audience, or role.

Discourse modes

Different ways language is used to communicate or organize what is being said.

Academic English

English used in academic environments such as classrooms, textbooks, and research.

Cognitive strategies

Strategies involving thinking and actively working with information.

Metacognitive strategies

Strategies involving thinking about and monitoring your own learning.

Social-affective strategies

Strategies involving social interaction and emotions during learning.

Simultaneous bilingualism

Developing two languages during early childhood, generally by about age 3.

Sequential bilingualism

Developing a second language after the first language has already begun developing, typically after age 3.

Language transfer

When features of one language influence a child's use of another language.

Code-mixing

Using elements of both languages within the same communication.

Code-switching

Changing from one language to another based on context, audience, topic, or purpose.

Subtractive bilingualism

Learning a second language while losing ability in the first/home language.

Additive bilingualism

Learning a second language while maintaining and continuing to develop the first language.

Syntax

The rules for how words are arranged into sentences.

BICS

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills: language for everyday social communication.

CALP

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency: language needed for academic learning and complex tasks.

Language learning

Learning language through formal instruction in rules, grammar, vocabulary, and structure.

Language acquisition

Developing language through natural and meaningful social experiences.

Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE)

Instruction that initially uses the home language while gradually transitioning toward English.

Maintenance bilingual education

Instruction where students learn through both their home language and English.

Submersion

Placing a student directly into a regular English-speaking classroom without specialized English instruction.

Nativist Perspective

A theoretical perspective associated with Noam Chomsky that views language learning as natural, biological, and instinctual, supported by cognitive structures that process language.

Universal grammar

The idea that language, regardless of the particular language, has certain principles, conditions, and rules.

Cognitive Developmental Perspective

A theoretical perspective stating that cognitive development is required for language learning and that language develops as cognitive development is acquired.

Object permanence

The understanding that an object still exists even when it cannot be seen and that it has not changed when it becomes visible again.

Preoperational stage

A stage in which children begin using words, drawings, and images to build their understanding of the world and develop speech into deeper logical thinking.

Behaviorist Perspective

A theoretical perspective associated with B. F. Skinner that emphasizes learning through environmental experiences such as imitation, repetition, and reinforcement.

Operant conditioning

A process involving a positive response to an action or a negative response to a negative action.

Imitative speech

Attempting to say what one is hearing in order to communicate.

Sociocultural Perspective

A theoretical perspective associated with Vygotsky, Bruner, and Halliday that views language as developing through social interaction with parents, siblings, and the outside community.

LASS

Language Acquisition Support System: the way in which a child's environment supports their language development.

Zone of proximal development

The difference between what a child can accomplish alone and what the child can accomplish with an adult's intervention.

Interactive-Emergentist Perspective

A perspective associated with Hollich, Tomasello, and Bloom proposing that language skills emerge gradually as a child learns cognitively and developmentally through engagement, interaction, and making sense of the environment.

Neurolinguistics

The study of language in the brain.

Neuron

A nerve cell.

Axon

A structure in a nerve cell that carries information away from the cell.

Dendrites

Structures in a nerve cell that carry information to the cell.

Shared reference / Eye contact

An interaction where an adult looks at a child and uses gestures, speech, or pointing to direct shared attention.

Communication loop

A sequence involving a speaker, listener, verbal response, and listening to the response.

Child-directed speech

The use of phrases or single words when communicating with a young child.

Verbal mapping

Verbally describing an object.

Linguistic scaffolding

A support mechanism in which older people interact in dialogue with young children.

Mediation

Simplifying the learning stimulus to facilitate language interaction.