儿童语用技能发展研究的进展

1　引言语用学、语法学、语义学和语音学一起构成了语言符号研究的 4个分支。其中 ,语用学是关于说话人 (或写作者 )所传递的和听话人 (或读者 )所理解的意义的研究。二十世纪八、九十年代 ,由于语用学的兴起以及儿童词汇习得和语法习得等方面研究的相对成熟 ,儿童语用技能发展开始引起了西方研究者的重视。儿童的语用技能是指儿童在交际环境中按照语用规则去得体、有效地使用语言的能力。语言的价值在于运用 ,语用技能是言语发展的高级层面 ,儿童语用技能发展研究对于儿童语言教育、社交技能培养、社会性发展以及言语障碍儿童训练等应用需…     

英语学习不良儿童语音意识假词拼读与单词认知能力的关系研究

本研究探讨了英语学习不良儿童语音技能一语音意识与词汇到达的发展水平及这两项语音技能与其单词认知能力间关系。结果发现,英语学习不良儿童在假词拼读能力发展上存在缺陷．而在语音意识能力的发展方面却表现正常。在对儿童的单词认知能力进行预测时,语音意识和假词拼读能力是较好的效标。     

学习困难儿童与非学习困难儿童问题行为、社会技能的对比研究

本研究采用早期问题行为发现量表、社会技能测量量表对 12 0名小学四、五年级学生进行测量 ,其中学习困难儿童和非学习困难儿童各 6 0名。结果发现 :1.学习困难儿童与非学习困难儿童相比存在明显的问题行为 ;2 .学习困难儿童相对于其非学习困难同伴社会技能低下 ;3.学习困难儿童问题行为与社会技能存在不同程度的负相关     

3-9岁儿童社会技能的发展

社会性技能是个体社会能力的重要组成部分.现有文献证明,社会性技能与个体的心理健康、事业与生活的成功有着密切的关系.儿童的社会性技能不良常常意味着成年期的人际关系不良.本研究依据有关文献和国内的一些调查,编制了社会性技能筛查表,探讨了265名3-9岁儿童部分社会性技能的发展状况,检验并证明了其有效性,并对社会性技能的内容、评价方法和其它有关问题进行了讨论.     

关于人际认知问题解决的研究

已有的许多研究表明,在社会性发展上存在缺焰的儿童其情绪、行为和学业上也会出现严重的问题,童年期的社会技能有着显著的短期和长期后效。社会技能好的儿童自我感受好、在校表现好,且更可能成为适应良好的成人,而社会技能存在缺陷的儿童受到的积极强化很少,常出现学业困难或行为问题,且更可能陷于成年期适应不良。因此,许多研究者开始寻求对社会技能缺陷儿童进行弥补     

小学3~5年级学习不良儿童社会比较的特点

以小学三、四、五年级95名儿童为被试,采用访谈法探讨了小学学习不良儿童的社会比较特点。结果表明:70%学习不良儿童自发地进行上行比较,即群体外比较,其动机为自我提升;学习不良儿童的社会比较和时间比较的频率均低于一般儿童;学习不良儿童的社会比较目标水平显著低于一般儿童,随着年级的升高其目标水平呈不断下降的发展趋势。     

学习不良和优良儿童社会信息加工中反应特点比较

采用情境故事和结构性访谈,研究学习不良和学习优良的小学四年级儿童的社会信息加工特点。结果表明,学习不良儿童在社会信息加工过程中的反应数量与质量总体上不如学习优良儿童;学习优良儿童更能注意到特质线索对他人行为的影响,他们在自我估计时体现了有别于他人的行为倾向,而且具有策略性;学习不良儿童更多地依据情境做出对他人行为的判断,无论是社会判断还是自我估计都还停留在非此即彼的水平上。     

学习不良儿童研究的社会认知取向

用认知范式研究学习不良,可以从基本心理过程障碍和社会信息加工过程障碍这“两种认知过程障碍”来理解其学业和社会性困难的深层心理机制。根据该观点以及对学习不良的理解,提出用社会认知的范式推进学习不良儿童社会性研究的思路,以超越当前研究面临的困境。具体是从比较研究的视角探讨学习不良儿童与一般儿童在社会认知过程上的差异以及社会认知中主客体各因素之间的相互作用。     

家庭学习环境对儿童早期学业和社会技能的作用

家庭学习环境作为个体出生后最先接触到的学习环境,对个体早期乃至未来一生的发展都有重要作用。本研究以181名年龄在53~67个月的学前儿童及其母亲为被试,考察了家庭学习环境对儿童早期语言、数学和社会技能的作用。结果发现:(1)控制个体性别、年龄后,家庭学习环境对儿童早期语言、数学和社会技能的解释率分别为9.2%、4.4%和9.6%,均大于家庭社会经济地位和学前教育经历对三方面技能的解释率;(2)进一步控制家庭社会经济地位和学前教育经历后,家庭学习环境仍可显著预测个体早期语言、数学和社会技能,解释率分别为7.4%、3.2%和8.5%;(3)家庭学习环境的不同方面与儿童早期发展不同方面的关系不同。其中,家庭学习活动是儿童早期语言和数学技能的重要预测变量,丰富生活经验是儿童早期社会技能的重要预测变量。     

学优儿童学习适应性、学习习惯和应试技能及其关系

采用《儿童学习适应性调查表（I）、（II）》和《学习习惯与应试技能自我测查表》对231名学优儿童的学习适应性及其相关因素进行调查。结果表明：（1）学优儿童和学习不良儿童的学习适应性、学习习惯和应试技能存在显著性差异;（2）城市学优儿童的学习生活、学习习惯、学习方法、阅读习惯和技能明显优于农村学优儿童;（3）学优女生在学习适应性明显好于男生,但女生有独立性差、情绪障碍等症状,而学优男生则在学习习惯方面不如女生。在学习习惯与应试技能方面则不存在显著的性别差异;（4）除了对学校的态度因子外,学优儿童学习适应性与其学习习惯和学习方法、阅读习惯和技能、准备与应试等有显著性相关。     

The Introduction of a Qualitative Perspective in Advanced Psychological Research Training: Narrative of a Mixed Methods Doctoral Dissertation

The first mixed methods dissertation in the Department of Psychology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Fordham University is described. In research on pre-kindergarten through 3rd-grade school programs, the interplay of quantitative hypothesis testing and qualitative discovery was used to gain knowledge of how different educational outcomes are achieved. A narrative addresses such contemporary disciplinary issues as the growing interest in qualitative research methods; the effort to employ holistic, contextually sensitive investigations of complex social problems; and the need in graduate training to facilitate the learning of and an identity formation that includes multiple methods. This study highlights the value of dissertation research for learning qualitative methods and melding multiple methods into a unified research identity and stresses graduate students' need for coursework on qualitative research methodology and philosophy of science. The pragmatic approach (Fishman, 1999) is suggested as one methodological framework capable of successfully synthesizing multiple methods.     

Learning and understanding in virtual teams.

There are sufficient reasons to conclude that virtual education is not just hype. There are, among others, economic motivations such as bringing one learning module to a larger audience of learners, and pragmatic reasons such as achieving flexibility in time and space for learning, which is especially important for adult learners. However, from a pedagogic point of view there are some doubts. Current technologies meant for learning and working in teams are often designed for functional collaboration (e.g., sharing documents, communicating), but fail to support learning, understanding and team forming (e.g., carrying out pedagogically adequate tasks, understanding each other's work and group dynamic processes) in virtual teams. In order to understand virtual teams, we need to know how we can study learning and understanding in virtual teams. Interesting research questions are: Which concepts are important in understanding virtual teams? How can we measure those concepts, and in what type of setting (e.g., experimental study, case study)? The aim of this special issue is to provide and discuss concepts and pragmatic insights in research on learning and understanding in virtual teams. The aim of this article is to set the stage for those articles.     

Thinking is for doing: portraits of social cognition from daguerreotype to laserphoto.

From the outset, perspectives on social cognition have taken an emphatically pragmatic stance, as evident in early writing by James, Allport, Bruner, Asch, Heider, Tagiuri, and Jones. After a hiatus, during which social cognition research neglected its proper attunement to social behavior, researchers again are emphasizing that thinking is for doing, that social understanding operates in the service of social interaction. Early and recent (but not intermediate) theories have reflected a pragmatic orientation in 3 recurring themes: People are good-enough social perceivers; people construct meaning through traits, stereotypes, and stories; and people's thinking strategies depend on their goals. The pragmatic viewpoint again opens up new areas for research and theory in social cognition.     

Word learning in dogs?

In a recent paper, Kaminski, Call and Fischer report pioneering research on word-learning in a dog. In this commentary we suggest ways of distinguishing referential word use from mere association. We question whether the dog is reasoning by exclusion and, if so, compare three explanations - learned heuristics, default assumptions, and pragmatic reasoning - as they apply to children and might apply to dogs. Kaminski et al.'s work clearly raises important questions about the origins and basis of word learning and social cognition.     

Fear of crime and community concerns: Mediating effect of risk and pragmatic fear

This study investigates the relationship between community concerns (i.e., perceived crime, incivilities, and infrastructure) and fear of crime (FOC) while examining the mediating role of risk of victimisation and pragmatic fear. Gender and ethnic differences were also explored. Data were collected using a proportionate multistage random sample of 3,003 participants from a southern Caribbean island in 2015. The following self‐reported measures were used: risk of victimisation and FOC scales, a general (noncrime) fear scale measuring pragmatic fear, and a community concern scale. Data were analysed using path analysis, Sobel tests, and multiple group analysis. Findings revealed that perceived crime and incivilities significantly predicted FOC, whereas infrastructure was insignificant as a direct predictor. Females had higher FOC, and among ethnic groups, Indo‐Trinidadians had the highest FOC than Afro‐Trinidadians and Mixed participants. Risk of victimisation and pragmatic fear had significant mediating effects on community concerns and FOC. Findings are discussed in the context of the social psychology of social disorganisation and previous research.     

Where do "constraints" come from? A comparison between inferences in biology and in word learning

In this paper, as a commentary on the papers in this special issue, the nature of constraints is discussed in terms of the comparison between inferences in biology and in word learning. Young children's inferences in biology could be constrained by three sources of information: factual knowledge, expectations based on a theory, and ontological knowledge. For example, young children's inference about the length of noses could be constrained by the facts the children know about the animals, the similarity between the animals and humans, and the ontological distinction between living things and nonliving things. In the same way, young children might figure out word meanings by linguistic and pragmatic knowledge, expectations of word meanings (e.g., the whole-object assumption), and ontological knowledge. Interactions among these sources of knowledge are documented by the papers in this special issue and related studies. It is argued that learning biases such as the whole-object assumption could not be induced only by linguistic and pragmatic cues in a social context, but should be regarded as a product of the interaction between a social context and children's theories.     

How do children ape? Applying concepts from the study of non‐human primates to the developmental study of ‘imitation’ in children

We highlight two aspects of research into social learning that have been neglected in existing developmental research, namely: (1) The role of social learning in learning to use tools, and (2) Whether children’s social learning involves copying the actions themselves (‘blind’ imitation or mimicry), or alternatively, the effects of those actions (emulation). In Part I of the paper we argue that the failure to distinguish between these different mechanisms is closely related to the lack of research on the social transmission of tool use and that both omissions limit our understanding of early social learning. We conclude Part I by outlining the requirements for an adequate study of these two issues. In Part II, we use this analysis to critically examine data from existing developmental research with children. We also assess the data currently available in the comparative literature which address these issues more directly. We conclude that children learn only what actions to perform via observation (‘blind’ imitation or mimicry), and not why those actions are effective (emulation). We close by identifying important potential pitfalls and unresolved questions for the future study of the social learning of actions on objects.     

Pragmatics aid referent disambiguation and word learning in young children and adults

How do children succeed in learning a word? Research has shown robustly that, in ambiguous labeling situations, young children assume novel labels to refer to unfamiliar rather than familiar objects. However, ongoing debates center on the underlying mechanism: Is this behavior based on lexical constraints, guided by pragmatic reasoning, or simply driven by children's attraction to novelty? Additionally, recent research has questioned whether children's disambiguation leads to long-term learning or rather indicates an attentional shift in the moment of the conversation. Thus, we conducted a pre-registered online study with 2- and 3-year-olds and adults. Participants were presented with unknown objects as potential referents for a novel word. Across conditions, we manipulated whether the only difference between both objects was their relative novelty to the participant or whether, in addition, participants were provided with pragmatic information that indicated which object the speaker referred to. We tested participants’ immediate referent selection and their retention after 5 min. Results revealed that when given common ground information both age groups inferred the correct referent with high success and enhanced behavioral certainty. Without this information, object novelty alone did not guide their selection. After 5 min, adults remembered their previous selections above chance in both conditions, while children only showed reliable learning in the pragmatic condition. The pattern of results indicates how pragmatics may aid referent disambiguation and learning in both adults and young children. From early ontogeny on, children's social-cognitive understanding may guide their communicative interactions and support their language acquisition.

Research Highlights

• We tested how 2-3-year-olds and adults resolve referential ambiguity without any lexical cues.
• In the pragmatic context both age groups disambiguated novel word-object-mappings, while object novelty alone did not guide their referent selection.
• In the pragmatic context, children also showed increased certainty in disambiguation and retained new word-object-mappings over time.
• These findings contribute to the ongoing debate on whether children learn words on the basis of domain-specific constraints, lower-level associative mechanisms, or pragmatic inferences.

     

Peirce on Educational Beliefs

This article contends that Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) may enhance our understanding of educational beliefs and that Peirce’s logic may be a tool to distinguish between a dogmatic and a pragmatic justification of such beliefs. The first part of the article elaborates on Peirce’s comprehension of beliefs as mediated, socially situated and future-oriented. The second part points to how Peirce promotes his “method of inquiry” as an ethos of science. The method is not judged by the conclusions it lead to or by the knowledge it may produce. Contrary, as the results are unavoidably provisional and rectifiable, Peirce holds the method productive due to the norms guiding the inquiry: (1) the pragmatic principle, (2) the social principle, (3) fallibilism and (4) abduction. In sum, when adopting a peircean conception, educational research, theory building and practice should be characterized as a mutual commitment towards shared processes of joint learning. In that, Peirce’s method of inquiry may be fruitful in sorting dogmatism from pragmatism.