Life-Span Human Development - Language, Education, & Work

Basic Components of Language

• Phonemes
  • Basic, distinct units of sound that can be detected (e.g., p, b, t, 5 vowels).
  • Languages specify how phonemes can be combined.
• Morphemes
  • Smallest units of meaning within a word (e.g., hotdog).
• Syntax
  • Systematic rules for forming phrases/sentences (e.g., SVO, SVA - Subject-Verb-Object, Subject-Verb-Adverbial).
• Semantics
  • Meanings of sentences, which can sometimes go beyond the literal meaning.
  • Examples: "The midterm is a piece of cake," "He is a walking dictionary."
• Pragmatics
  • Rules specifying how language is used appropriately in different contexts.

Brain Regions Associated with Language

• Broca’s area
  • For speech production.
• Wernicke’s area
  • For comprehension.
• Arcuate fasciculus
  • Connects Broca's and Wernicke's areas.
• Left Hemisphere Function
  • Shows activity when listening.
• Right Hemisphere Function
  • Shows activity when processing melody or rhythm.
• Angular gyrus
  • Involved in reading comprehension.
• Handedness & Sex Differences
  • In the two hemispheres and supramarginal gyrus.

Innate Predispositions

• Universal grammar
  • A system of common rules and properties for learning any language.
• Language acquisition device (LAD)
  • Areas of the brain that sift through language, apply universal rules, and tailor the system to the specifics of the language spoken in the child’s environment.

Critical Period

• Critical Window for Language Learning
  • Is there a specific time frame that is most effective for learning a language?
• Childhood Bilingualism
  • Children learning two languages reach milestones at the same time as monolingual babies.
  • Benefits of bilingualism and early exposure to multiple languages.

Child-Directed Speech

• Also called infant-directed speech or "parentese."
  • Characteristics include a high-pitched voice, exaggerated pitch, slower speech, and guessing the infant’s intent.
• Functions to increase the child’s attention to speech.
• High cross-cultural similarity.

Prelinguistic Period

• Newborns show a preference for speech in their native language.
• Cooing
  • Repeating vowel-like sounds, typically starting around 6-8 weeks of age.
  • By 3-4 months, infants start producing consonant sounds.
• Babbling
  • Repeating consonant-vowel combinations such as "baba," usually from 4-6 months.
• Gestures & Nonverbal Movement
  • Important for joint attention, around 8-10 months.
• Word Segmentation
  • The ability to detect and separate target words in a sentence.
  • By 7.5 months, infants can segment words in sentences like "the cat chased the mouse."
• Comprehension Before Production
  • Language development involves understanding words before being able to produce them.

Early Words

• Holophrases (10-18 months)
  • A single word often conveys an entire sentence’s worth of meaning.
  • An infant’s first word is typically spoken around one year of age.
  • The first 50 words often consist of common nouns representing objects and people.
  • Examples of early words categorized by type:
    • Category Words: Sound effects, food and drink, animals, body parts and clothing, house and outdoors, people, toys and vehicles, actions, games and routines, adjectives and descriptors.

Telegraphic Speech

• Telegraphic Speech (18–24 months)
  • Early combinations of two, three, or more words.
• Functional grammar
  • Emphasizes the semantic relationships among words, the meanings being expressed, and the functions served by sentences.
  • Examples of functional grammar across languages (English and German).
    • Language Function of Sentence: To locate or name, to demand, to negate, to indicate possession, to modify or qualify, to question
    • English Examples: There book, More milk, No wet, My shoe, Pretty dress, Where ball.
    • German Examples: Buch da (book there), Mehr Milch (more milk), Nicht blasen, Mein Ball (my ball), Armer Wauwau (poor doggie), Wo Ball (where ball).

Language Development in Toddlers

• 18 months
  • Vocabulary spurt: The pace of word learning quickens dramatically.
• 20 months
  • Children produce an average of 150 words.
• 24 months
  • Children have a vocabulary of about 300 words.
• Fast mapping
  • Children's ability to quickly learn the meaning of a new word after just one or a few exposures.
  • Example: learning/recognizing "platypus" differing from "dog" after one attempt.

Common Linguistic Errors by Children

• Overextension
  • A child uses the word "doggie" for all four-legged animals.
• Underextension
  • A child uses the word "doggie" only for basset hounds like the family pet.
• Overregularization
  • Overapplying rules to cases in which the proper form is irregular.
    • e.g., regular plural form, foot → foots; verb tense, go → goed
• Transformational grammar
  • Rules of syntax for transforming basic underlying thoughts into a variety of sentence forms.
    • e.g., "Where kitty?" → "Where kitty is going?" → "Where is the kitty going?"

Mastery Motivation

• Mastery motivation
  • Striving to understand and exert control over objects or the world.
  • Appears to be inborn and universal.
  • Displayed in the exploring behaviors of all typical infants.
  • Flourishes in responsive environments with multiple opportunities.
• Some demonstrate greater mastery motivation than others.
• An infant’s level of mastery motivation affects later achievement behavior.
  • Babies who actively attempt to master challenges at 6-12 months show greater mental development at 2-3 years old than those with less mastery motivation.
• Parents can help strengthen the inborn motive by being responsive, playing with the baby frequently, and providing proper stimulation regularly.

Learn from Screens?

• Babies and toddlers learn best through live human face-to-face interactions.
• Limited learning from screens.
  • For each hour per day spent watching videos, babies (8-16 months) understood 6-8 fewer words than those who did not watch video (negative effect).
  • Watching videos shows no positive or negative effects for 17-24 months.
• The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends zero screen time for infants/toddlers under 18 months.
• For older toddlers, co-viewing educational videos with an adult is better.

Pre-School Education

• Abecedarian Project
  • Showed cognitive gains during and after the program.
    • 23% earned a college degree vs. 6% in the comparison group (CG).
    • 75% working full-time vs. 50% in CG.
    • No between-group differences in criminal activity at age 30.
• Studies comparing educational vs. social-oriented preschool programs.
  • Initial advantage in basic academic skills for educational programs.
  • Less creative, more anxious in testing situations, and more negative toward school than social-oriented preschool.
• Preschool programs that offer a healthy mix of play & academic training:
  • Stimulates cognitive growth & allow time for play and social interaction.
  • Provides programming for parents.
  • Full-day programs.

Expanding Language Skills & Learning to Read

• The average 1st grader recognizes 10,000 words (receptive vocabulary) with approximately 2,600 expressive words.
• Middle childhood (6-10 y-o) brings increased metalinguistic awareness.
  • Knowledge of language as a system.
  • Children who are metalinguistic understand the concept of words and can define words.
  • Children can distinguish between grammatically correct and incorrect sentences.
  • Bilingual children have better metalinguistic skills.

Reading

• Reading is not inborn; reading acquisition requires direct instruction.
• Children must understand the alphabetic principle:
  • The connection between sounds in spoken language and printed words in a systematic way.
  • Four steps:
    • Pre-alphabetic phase: use picture as cue to recall words on a page.
    • Partial alphabetic phase: recognize shapes and sounds of some letters; connect the letter to the sound of the word.
    • Full alphabetic phase: know all letters and make connections b/w written letters and corresponding sounds. Phonological awareness (sensitivity to the sound system of language → segment spoken words into sounds/phonemes).
    • Consolidated alphabetic phase: group letters that regularly occur together into a unit, e.g., -ing, con-.

Learning to Read

• Emergent literacy
  • Developmental precursors of reading skills in young children.
    • e.g., phonological awareness is a precursor for reading skill.
  • Children with greater working memory and longer attention spans have higher reading readiness.
  • Rhyming or repetitious stories and games can help foster phonological awareness.
• Dyslexia
  • Characterized by difficulties with oral language, written language, and/or reading.

Grade School Education in the US

• No Child Left Behind Act
  • A governmental initiative aimed at improving education standards.
• High school dropout rates
  • A concern in the US education system.
• Academic Achievement
  • Fixed mindset
    • Believe abilities and talent are fixed or static.
    • Little reason to put forth great effort on a task.
  • Growth mindset
    • Believe abilities and talent are malleable.
    • Motivated to put forth effort.

Academic Performance Declination in Secondary School

• In middle school & high school:
  • Achievement motivation, self-esteem, & grades all decline.
    • Students with more risk factors show a steady decline.
    • Students with few risk factors show a slight increase in achievement until 7th or 8th grade; achievement then declines.
    • Boys show greater declines.
• Explanations:
  • Lower academic self-esteem & less expectancies of success.
  • Racial/ethnic minority group.
  • Single-parent family; having a parent with mental health problems.
  • Peer pressure.
  • Poor fit between person and environment.

Differences in Academic Achievement

• The achievement gap between American and Asian students is rooted in cultural differences concerning education and educational practices.
  • Asian students spend more time being educated.
  • Asian parents are strongly committed to the educational process.
  • Asian parents & students have a growth mindset.
  • Asian parents, teachers, and students all share a strong belief that hard work or effort will pay off.