Incidental Foreign-Language Acquisition by Children Watching Subtitled Television Programs

Previous research on adults has demonstrated incidental foreign-language acquisition by watching subtitled television programs in a foreign language. Based on these findings and the literature about the sensitive period for language acquisition, we expected the acquisition to be larger with children. A short subtitled cartoon was presented to Dutch-speaking children (8–12 years old). We varied the channel in which the foreign and native languages were presented (sound track and subtitles); we also looked at the effects of the existing knowledge of the foreign language (due to formal teaching at school) and the linguistic similarity between the native and the foreign language (using Danish and French as foreign languages). We obtained real but limited foreign-language acquisition and in contrast to the sensitive language-acquisition hypothesis, the learning of the children was not superior to that of adults investigated in prior studies. The acquisition here does not profit from the more formal language learning at school. Contrary to the adults, the children tend to acquire more when the foreign language is in the sound track than in the subtitles.     

The Impact of Subtitles on Comprehension of Narrative Film

Theoretically, viewers of a movie strive to construct coherent mental models to understand the local events as they occur, and to link these situation mental models coherently to understand the movie as a whole. This article reports the results of two experiments on the impact of subtitles on the local and global coherence of mental models of a movie. In both experiments, the extent to which attention and memory resources available for generating local and global mental models was manipulated by having half of the participants watch the movie in English (standard condition) while the other half watched in French with English subtitles (subtitled condition). Experiment 1 examined patterns of inferences generated during movie watching. Results showed that participants in the standard condition made more elaborative inferences than those in the subtitled condition, indicating a higher level of global coherence. In contrast, results also showed that participants in the subtitled condition made more bridging inferences than those in the standard condition, indicating a higher level of local coherence. In Experiment 2, participants sorted movie events according to perceived similarity of events, and the data were submitted to a Pathfinder analysis. The resulting collective network of events for the standard and subtitled conditions corroborated the results of Experiment 1. We argue that the tradeoff between local and global coherence should be addressed in current theories of narrative comprehension.     

Lexical and semantic representations in the acquisition of L2 cognate and non-cognate words: evidence from two learning methods in children

How bilinguals represent words in two languages and which mechanisms are responsible for second language acquisition are important questions in the bilingual and vocabulary acquisition literature. This study aims to analyse the effect of two learning methods (picture- vs. word-based method) and two types of words (cognates and non-cognates) in early stages of children's L2 acquisition. Forty-eight native speakers of European Portuguese, all sixth graders (mean age = 10.87 years; SD= 0.85), participated in the study. None of them had prior knowledge of Basque (the L2 in this study). After a learning phase in which L2 words were learned either by a picture- or a word-based method, children were tested in a backward-word translation recognition task at two times (immediately vs. one week later). Results showed that the participants made more errors when rejecting semantically related than semantically unrelated words as correct translations (semantic interference effect). The magnitude of this effect was higher in the delayed test condition regardless of the learning method. Moreover, the overall performance of participants from the word-based method was better than the performance of participants from the picture-word method. Results were discussed concerning the most significant bilingual lexical processing models.     

Do children "DRM" like adults? False memory production in children

The Deese/Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was used to investigate developmental trends in accurate and false memory production. In Experiment 1, DRM lists adjusted to be more consistent with children's vocabulary were used with 2nd graders, 8th graders, and college students. Accurate and false recall and recognition increased with age, but semantic information appeared to be available to all age groups. Experiment 2 created a set of child-generated lists based on the free associations by a group of 3rd graders to critical items. The child-generated associates were different from those generated by adults; long and short versions of the child-generated lists were therefore presented to 2nd, 5th, and 8th graders and college students in Experiment 3. Second graders exhibited few false memories, whereas 5th graders were similar to adults in low-demand conditions and more similar to younger children in high-demand conditions. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental changes in automatic and effortful processing and the use of semantic networks.     

Developmental Differences in Cognitive Control: Goal Representation and Maintenance During a Continuous Performance Task

The present study examined whether younger and older children differ in the use of the goal-related information in a continuous performance task (AX-CPT), and if so, whether those age differences are due to the ability to represent and/or maintain goal information. Experiment 1 compared third- and sixth-grade children in their ability to transform the identity of letter cues into goal representations, as well as to sustain those goal representations during a long (5,500 ms) cue-probe delay in the AX-CPT. Experiment 2 used a short cue-probe delay (1,000 ms) and thereby eliminated the demands of maintaining goal representations in working memory. In addition, Experiment 2 varied the level of demand that was placed on the ability to represent context information by varying the features of letter cues. The combined results of these experiments indicated that sixth graders were superior to third graders in cognitive control under conditions that placed demands on either the ability to represent or maintain goal-related information.     

Acquiring Explicit Grammatical Knowledge Using the Spanish Verbs <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ser</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Estar</Emphasis> as Examples

The role of explicit and implicit acquisition of grammatical rules in second language learning was examined by assessing high school students performance after several years of study on the correct use of the Spanish verbs ser and estar. These two verbs are essentially equivalent in use to the English verb “to be,” but there is a complex set of statements that specifies when each is to be used. A 100-item two-choice test in which students from several different high schools receiving instruction in the explicit principles of these two Spanish verbs or receiving immersion training in which no instruction in their grammatical principles was given were examined for the following five factors: (a) general achievement level, (b) comparison of grade level achievement, (c) time allotted to complete the 100-item test, (d) grammatical instruction prior to taking the 100-item test, and (e) comparison of instructional methodology. The results indicated that students receiving explicit instruction in the rules of ser and estar beyond the first year of study achieved slightly higher scores, but that the level of achievement was considered to be poor. Differences between groups for the remaining factors were not significant. It was concluded that successful application of explicitly learned grammatical rules, such as the rules for ser and estar, may not be achievable in the time frame of a two-year high school foreign language course. Considerations regarding implicit and explicit acquisition of grammatical rules in second language learning were presented.     

Learning words and rules: abstract knowledge of word order in early sentence comprehension

Children quickly acquire basic grammatical facts about their native language. Does this early syntactic knowledge involve knowledge of words or rules? According to lexical accounts of acquisition, abstract syntactic and semantic categories are not primitive to the language-acquisition system; thus, early language comprehension and production are based on verb-specific knowledge. The present experiments challenge this account: We probed the abstractness of young children's knowledge of syntax by testing whether 25- and 21-month-olds extend their knowledge of English word order to new verbs. In four experiments, children used word order appropriately to interpret transitive sentences containing novel verbs. These findings demonstrate that although toddlers have much to learn about their native languages, they represent language experience in terms of an abstract mental vocabulary. These abstract representations allow children to rapidly detect general patterns in their native language, and thus to learn rules as well as words from the start.     

Contrasting contributions of phonological short‐term memory and long‐term knowledge to vocabulary learning in a foreign language

The contributions of phonological short‐term memory and existing foreign vocabulary knowledge to the learning of new words in a second language were compared in a sample of 40 Greek children studying English at school. The children's speed of learning new English words in a paired‐associate learning task was strongly influenced by their current English vocabulary, but was independent of phonological memory skill, indexed by nonword repetition ability. However, phonological memory performance was closely linked to English vocabulary scores. The findings suggest that in learners with considerable familiarity with a second language, foreign vocabulary acquisition is mediated largely by use of existing knowledge representations.     

学龄期普通话特异性语言损伤儿童体习得——来自词汇体和语法体组合加工的证据

采用自定步速阅读范式，探讨了7~10岁普通话特异性语言损伤儿童对词汇体和语法体组合语义一致和不一致情况的加工表现。被试分为特异性语言损伤儿童，实龄匹配儿童和语言能力匹配儿童三组，结果表明7~10岁的特异性语言损伤儿童与年幼的语言能力匹配组儿童一样，词汇体和语法体一致条件下的加工快于不一致条件，两组儿童的表现均符合词汇体假设；与此不同，实龄匹配儿童的加工速度整体均快于以上两组儿童，且词汇体和语法体一致与不一致条件下的加工速度无显著差异。上述结果表明，普通话7~10岁特异性语言损伤儿童对词汇体和语法体组合合法性的习得仍不成熟，语法体的加工仍受词汇体影响，处于语法体能力发展的早期阶段。     

Comparing and combining retrieval practice and the keyword mnemonic for foreign vocabulary learning

Experiment 1 compared the effectiveness of retrieval practice, the keyword mnemonic and rote rehearsal for learning foreign language vocabulary. Both mnemonic methods produced similar recall and were superior to rote rehearsal. In Experiment 2, participants learned German vocabulary using keywords, retrieval practice or their own method. Retrieval practice and keyword‐based recall were similar and superior to self‐directed study. In Experiment 3, participants studied using keywords, retrieval practice, a combination or an elaboration strategy. Criterion testing occurred immediately and after a week. For receptive learning, retrieval practice and keywords were equally beneficial but for productive learning, retrieval practice was more effective. Combining strategies produced mixed results with significant benefits only for receptive learning in the delayed test. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The development of cynicism

Two experiments explored the development of cynicism by examining how children evaluate other people who make claims consistent or inconsistent with their self-interests. In Experiment 1, kindergartners, second graders, and fourth graders heard stories with ambiguous conclusions in which characters made statements that were aligned either with or against self-interest. Older children took into account the self-interests of characters in determining how much to believe them: They discounted statements aligned with self-interest, whereas they accepted statements going against self-interest. Experiment 2 examined children's endorsement of three different explanations for potentially self-interested statements: lies, biases, and mistakes. Like adults, sixth graders endorsed lies and bias as plausible explanations for wrong statements aligned with self-interest; younger children did not endorse bias. Implications for the development of cynicism and children's understanding of bias are discussed.     

A developmental study of the Prelinguistic Auditory Store (PAS)

Lists of digits 5 and 7 items in length were presented to second graders, sixth graders, and low-IQ sixth graders in either the visual or auditory modality. Half the auditory lists were followed by the redundant nonrecalled, auditorily presented word “recall” which served as a list suffix. The second graders had the most errors in the ordered recall task followed by the low-IQ sixth- and normal sixth-graders in that order. The size of the modality and suffix effects for the various groups seemed to indicate that, for the younger subjects, a larger proportion of the recall after auditory presentation comes from the Prelinguistic Auditory Store than for the older subjects.     

The Influence of Child-Directed Speech on Word Learning and Comprehension

This paper describes an investigation into the function of child-directed speech (CDS) across development. In the first experiment, 10–21-month-olds were presented with familiar words in CDS and trained on novel words in CDS or adult-directed speech (ADS). All children preferred the matching display for familiar words. However, only older toddlers in the CDS condition preferred the matching display for novel words. In Experiment 2, children 3–6 years of age were presented with a sentence comprehension task in CDS or ADS. Older children performed better overall than younger children with 5- and 6-year-olds performing above chance regardless of speech condition, while 3- and 4-year-olds only performed above chance when the sentences were presented in CDS. These findings provide support for the theory that CDS is most effective at the beginning of acquisition for particular constructions (e.g. vocabulary acquisition, syntactic comprehension) rather than at a particular age or for a particular task.     

Is there a direct relation between the development of vocabulary and grammar?

Previous studies of individual differences have revealed strong correlations between children's vocabulary and grammatical abilities, and these data have been used to support theoretical accounts positing direct developmental relations between these two areas of language. However, between‐person differences do not necessarily reflect intra‐individual dynamics. Thus, in the present study, we analysed longitudinal data from three annual assessments of vocabulary and grammar in 217 children (M_age = 4 years and 3 months at first assessment) using a modelling strategy with some utility in distinguishing relations at the between‐ and within‐person levels. The results revealed strong correlations between grammar and vocabulary at the between‐person level, but the evidence of direct dependencies between the variables at the within‐person level was rather limited. Specifically, we found a small direct contribution from grammar to vocabulary for children between the ages of 4 and 5, but there was no evidence of any direct contributions from vocabulary to grammar. Further analyses suggested that the home literacy environment may represent a common source of individual differences in children's vocabulary and grammatical skills. In light of these results, we argue that the evidence of direct relations between vocabulary and grammatical development in preschool‐aged children may not be as strong as previously assumed.     

Investigating Optimal Memory Enhancement Procedures in Foreign Language Learning

We investigated the effects of learning schedule and multi‐modality stimulus presentation on foreign language vocabulary learning. In Experiment 1, participants learned German vocabulary words utilizing three learning methods that were organized either in a blocked or interleaved fashion. We found interleaving with the keyword mnemonic and rote study advantageous over blocking, but retrieval practice was better served in a blocked schedule. It is likely that the excessively delayed feedback for the retrieval practice in the interleaved practice schedule impeded learning while the spacing involved in the interleaved schedule enhanced learning in the keyword mnemonic and rote study. In Experiment 2, we examined whether a multi‐modality stimulus presentation from visual and auditory channels is better suited for aiding learning over a visual presentation condition. We found benefits of multi‐modality presentation only for the keyword mnemonic condition, presumably because the nature of the keyword mnemonic involving sound and visualization was particularly relevant with the multi‐modality presentation. The present study suggests that optimal foreign language learning environments should incorporate learning schedules and multimedia presentations based on specific learning methods and materials. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Artificial grammar learning by 1-year-olds leads to specific and abstract knowledge.

Four experiments used the head-turn preference procedure to assess whether infants could extract and remember information from auditory strings produced by a miniature artificial grammar. In all four experiments, infants generalized to new structure by discriminating new grammatical strings from ungrammatical ones after less than 2 min exposure to the grammar. Infants acquired specific information about the grammar as demonstrated by the ability to discriminate new grammatical strings from those with illegal endpoints (Experiment 1). Infants also discriminated new grammatical strings from those with string-internal pairwise violations (Experiments 2 and 3). Infants in Experiment 4 abstracted beyond specific word order as demonstrated by the ability to discriminate new strings produced by their training grammar from strings produced by another grammar despite a change in vocabulary between training and test. We discuss the implications of these findings for the study of language acquisition.     

Are diagrams always helpful tools? Developmental and individual differences in the effect of presentation format on student problem solving

Background. High school and college students demonstrate a verbal, or textual, advantage whereby beginning algebra problems in story format are easier to solve than matched equations ( Koedinger & Nathan, 2004 ). Adding diagrams to the stories may further facilitate solution ( Hembree, 1992 ; Koedinger & Terao, 2002 ). However, diagrams may not be universally beneficial ( Ainsworth, 2006 ; Larkin & Simon, 1987 ). Aims. To identify developmental and individual differences in the use of diagrams, story, and equation representations in problem solving. When do diagrams begin to aid problem‐solving performance? Does the verbal advantage replicate for younger students? Sample. Three hundred and seventy‐three students (121 sixth, 117 seventh, 135 eighth grade) from an ethnically diverse middle school in the American Midwest participated in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, 84 sixth graders who had participated in Experiment 1 were followed up in seventh and eighth grades. Method. In both experiments, students solved algebra problems in three matched presentation formats (equation, story, story + diagram). Results. The textual advantage was replicated for all groups. While diagrams enhance performance of older and higher ability students, younger and lower‐ability students do not benefit, and may even be hindered by a diagram's presence. Conclusions. The textual advantage is in place by sixth grade. Diagrams are not inherently helpful aids to student understanding and should be used cautiously in the middle school years, as students are developing competency for diagram comprehension during this time.     

Starting over: international adoption as a natural experiment in language development

Language development is characterized by predictable shifts in the words children produce and the complexity of their utterances. Because acquisition typically occurs simultaneously with maturation and cognitive development, it is difficult to determine the causes of these shifts. We explored how acquisition proceeds in the absence of possible cognitive or maturational roadblocks, by examining the acquisition of English in internationally adopted preschoolers. Like infants, and unlike other second-language learners, these children acquire language from child-directed speech, without access to bilingual informants. Parental reports and speech samples were collected from 27 preschoolers, 3 to 18 months after they were adopted from China. These children showed the same developmental patterns in language production as monolingual infants (matched for vocabulary size). Early on, their vocabularies were dominated by nouns, their utterances were short, and grammatical morphemes were generally omitted. Children at later stages had more diverse vocabularies and produced longer utterances with more grammatical morphemes.     

Organizational vs retrieval factors in the development of digit span

Three possible sources of memory span growth were tested with a modified version of the digit span task using subjects 6, 8, 11, and 19 years of age. There was no developmental trend in facilitation due to experimenter-imposed organization of the input strings, ruling out simple input-organizational theories. The notion that children are deficient at organizing retrieved information was also found to be untenable. The data support the view that older subjects use more selective retrieval strategies, strategies which are better suited to the encoded material. The largest improvement in retrieval selectivity occurred between sixth grade and college. Recency effects were smaller for the younger subjects than for older subjects, with first graders showing significantly less recency than third graders, sixth graders, and college students. Improved item identification during input may account for this finding.