1. Consider the definition of "language" in the book, and any definition of it that you may have had up to now.

Any differences between the two? If so, what are they? My definition was fairly similar to that in the book. Ive always thought of language as not only words, but as symbols. One difference that I really liked about the book definition was that it mentioned not only communication but self-expression. Ive never really thought of language in terms of how we use it for ourselves and I really like that aspect. 2. A critical difference between a child learning his/her native language(s) and an adult learning a foreign language is the speed of acquisition. What does a child master by his/her 3rd year? How far along were you in your 3rd year of foreign language study (if you got to the 3rd year)? rd rd During the 3 year, children begin to master the grammar of the language. Throughout the 3 year, children go from 2-to-3 word affirmative sentences (that lack grammatical endings) to children who can use full sentences, ask questions and include negatives. I took Spanish for three years and I certainly didnt have a 500 word vocabulary (which is something a child should get around 2.5 years, nor was I able to compile complex sentences complete with the appropriate articles and correct tenses. 3. Why is the study of language acquisition central to the study of the human mind? When a child learns a language, he/she accomplishes a difficult and powerful task in a relatively short amount of time. If we could know how this was done, then it would reveal a lot about how the mind operates. 4. Compare/contrast (briefly) the nativist, interactionist, and emergentist views of language development. The nativist believes that language acquisition is more about maturation of skills that already exist in a childs mind rather than learning in a traditional sense. They place great emphasis on the innate characteristics within the brain. While the interactionalists also believe in these innate characteristics, they place stronger emphasis on language-learning experiences. They really look at our language input that children receive. Emergintism really combines the ideas of nativism and interactionism. This position puts the ideas of nature and nurture on equal footing. They acknowledge the parallel between genetics and the environment. 5. Compare and contrast statistical learning vs. rule learning. Statistical learning is counting the frequency with which one stimulus is followed by another. This means that in order to learn, a child will place more attention on the dissimilar stimuli. Rule learning is the process of learning and recognizing patters in terms of symbols or variables. Where statistical learning focuses on recognizing differences, rule learning focuses on recognizing patterns/similarities. 6. Are the terms "communication" and "language" interchangeable? Why or why not? No, they are not interchangeable. One must have a language in order to communicate. Without a language (either written, spoken, symbols, gestures, etc.) there is no way to project thoughts. Without a way to project thoughts or ideas, then we cannot communicate. 1. What are pidgins and creoles, and why are they of interest? A pidgin is a language that is made up from one or more other languages, but has its own distinct grammar. A creole is a language that was once a pidgin, but has subsequently become a native language for some speakers. This is important because it suggests that language can be something other than inheritedit can be invented and yet still have a standardized grammar. Even though theyre made up, they still share many traits of other languages. This suggests proof for a universal grammar. There are, however, those who debate this idea with the notion that many Creole languages come from similar backgrounds anyway. 2. When Hoff talks of the "division of labor" in the brain, to what is she referring? It means that different parts of the brain tend to be responsible for different things. Neurolinguists study which parts of the brain experience activity while doing different things. Language tends to be a primarily left hemisphere function. This means that while some language utility can come from the right hemisphere (in young children and more often in women than men), that almost all language functioning takes place in the left hemisphere. Division of labor

can be as specific as damage to one area can cause a specific type of aphasia (language impairment). There are many kinds of aphasia, but two that correspond to specific areas of the brain are Brocas and Wernikes. Because they correspond to specific parts of the brain, they also have distinctive symptoms. 3. What is the critical period hypothesis, which of the 3 major language acquisition theories does it fit best with, and what are some challenges to it? The critical theory hypothesis states that there is a certain biologically imposed deadline for something (such as acquiring language) to occur otherwise it will not occur at all. Some nd complications arise when setting a distinct cut off point. As we know with 2 language learners, while it certainly is more difficult to acquire a new language as an adult, it is still possible to do later in life. Further there is the idea of dominant language switch (immigrants who to come to the US when they are young sometimes switch their dominant language from their native language to English). The text also cites a study of nd Dutch as a 2 language to English speakers; in this experiment, the youngest children actually did the worst on the test whereas 12-15 year olds did the best. This hypothesis best fits with the nativist approach. It suggests that biology gives us a template to fill, but if we dont end up using it or filling in each part, the te mplate pieces we dont use will go away. 4. How does human language compare to communication systems in other species? Human communication is far more intricate, specifically when it comes to reference and syntax. While many researchers have been successful in teaching chimps and apes certain signs, the animals can only sign simple, repetitive sentences and they dont understand how to talk about something; it is usually just a way to achieve a goal (get food, put this here, etc). Additionally, human vocabulary grows with age. The study of Kanzi showed that an 8 year old chimp could score better than a 2 year old in a vocabulary exercise, but in 6 years, the 2 year old (pending normal development) would do much better. Kanzis score, however, would remain relatively the same 6 years later. 1. What is intentionality and how does it relate to speech act development? Intentionality is an important feature of all communicative behavior. Intentionality is the reason one has for communicating with another. It is also about creating a belief in the listeners mind and this is the ultimate goal of communication. Infants are not yet communicators because most of their behaviors (crying, fussing, smiling, etc) are reflexive automatic responses rather than chosen ways to get what they need. They have no intentional control at this point in their speech development. Once there is an intended action or communication, speech acts are also happening. 2. What are the various theoretical accounts of communicative (functional) development and grammatical (language form) development? It is clear from our research on pragmatic developments that children have communicative intentions before they have the linguistic ability to express them. One theory regarding function of language is called pragmatic bootstrapping. This theory states that once children begin to see that their language can influence others, they begin to produce speech acts. As they increase speech acts, they borrow less and less from the adult system and begin to see language as more than just pragmatic intentions (or as a way to get something they want). There is another theory that states the language and grammar adults use is solely defined by its communicative function. Words are learned by listening to communicative intentions and therefore learning grammar is just another result of learning the process of communication. Yet another theory believes that learning language is independent of learning to communicate. Leading linguist Chomsky believes in this idea. To see proof of this dissociation, we could look at individuals with autismthey can have very extensive vocabularies and grammatical skills, but do not use it to communicate. 3. Think about Grice's conversational maxims. Do these seem like the same sort of language "knowledge" that we employ when we judge a sentence like Is the girl who in your class is tall? as ungrammatical? Explain your answer. I think its slightly different than our knowledge to judge a sentence as ungrammatical. While most people can judge if theyre participating in a fair and equal conversation, I think there are still many people who may never understand and put to use Grices conversational maxims. If it was a more intuitive knowledge, like grammar, then people would do it without thinking about it, but weve all experie nced conversations where the

other person has broken both of Grices basic rules of communication (to take turns and to be cooperative). Grices maxims seem to be more about manners than a strict grammar. 4. What does the apparently early sensitivity of children to registers and the linguistic aspects of various social situations suggest about language-learning in bilingual situations? Since language use is situationally appropriate, and children can detect this very early on, they may have difficultly grasping it in a second language. This means that if certain phrases or mannerisms were acceptable in their native language, the child might gravitate toward using them in the new language (even if they arent situationally appropriate in the second lang uage). We can see this when we look at adults learning a second language, or learning about what is appropriate in a different culture. It can be difficult to learn new norms and mores when you already have a system hard-coded in your brain. For children, this would most likely show up in a classroom and would possibly be misconstrued in a bad way by the teacher/adult who was unaware of the students intentions and the potential cultural differences. 5. Based on your understanding of Ch. 2 of D&L, how would you define "pragmatics" and "contrastive pragmatics" to a skeptical parent/administrator/friend who might feel that students from certain language backgrounds are "just plain rude"? I would define pragmatics as the way language is used within a certain context. It is word choice, which not only includes the words they choose, but also the difficulties they have in using language within any situation. People can say certain things in many different ways and one specific sentence can mean several different things based on the situation. Contrastive pragmatics mean that one can say something with a certain meaning in mind, but due to cultural or other differences, it may mean an entirely different thing to the listener. With a different cultural background, some of these things can seem rude or ill-willed when in reality there were no bad intentions. Its important for us as educators to stop and think about the words being said and also to educate about the different ways that things can have meaning. 1. Define and differentiate between phones, phonemes, and allophones. Phones are different sounds that a language uses. These can be meaningful or meaningless in terms of how they are used in a language some sounds carry meaning while others are just sounds. Phonemes are the different meaningful sounds in a language. Allophones, on the other hand, do not differentiate meaning. 2. Explain the phonotactic rules of English related to the phoneme / / (corresponding to the sound associated with the letters 'ng'), and the rule related to the phoneme /h/ ('h'). How might these two little phonemes (and their rules) help infants begin to identify some words? (BTW, this isn't explicitly in the book you'll need to THINK about it.) The rule for the // phoneme is that it cannot begin an English word. The /h/ phoneme, however, cannot end any English word. The phonetic features of the language will dictate the different speech sounds, voicing, mouth position, air flow, et cetera. Knowing these two rules (or phonotactic rules and features in general) help infants map out what is and is not possible in their language. 3. What features of infant-directed speech are helpful to infants as they begin processing the sounds of their language? Infant-directed speech (also known as Motherese) is the style of speech that adults use to talk to babies. They use higher pitched voice, a wider range of pitches, longer pauses and shorter phrases. These prosodic characteristics are more appealing to infants and help them distinguish correlations between sound and meaning (adults exhibit greater discrimination of phonemes by their exaggerated stress patterns). It can also help distinguish the grammar of a language. 7-10 month olds can tell when pauses are inserted in the middle of clausesbut only if they are spoken in infant-directed speech (they cannot in adult-directed speech). It is important to note, however, that infant-directed speech isnt a required stepping-stone to language acquisition since there are many cultures who do not talk directly to their children, yet their children still develop language. 4. On the back of the page, briefly compare & contrast the biologically-based theories, the cognitive problemsolving approach, and the connectionist approach to phonological development. Biologically-based theories emphasize the role of nature and point to commonalities among the majority of infants to show its undeniable

role. Not only do they emphasize our anatomy, they highlight acquisition similarities across languages. For example, 97% of languages use the /m/ phoneme, which is among the first sounds that most babies produce. On the other hand, the /r/ phoneme causes school children trouble and this phoneme is only used in about 5% of the worlds languages. Cognitive problem-solving states that children figure out the phonology of their language in order to sound like adults. This idea puts less effort on the biology and more responsibility on the childs problem-solving efforts. According to these theorists, children first see words as whole items, but later, they see them for their separate pieces/phonemes. The connectionist approach doesnt believe that rules are required to explain the regularities of human behaviors. These theorists break down the various components of a word or phrase and look at the connections and patterns of the phonological rules. They pay attention to the errors that children might make, not because they dont know a particular rule, but because they havent developed a particular connection among phonemes. As the child grows and the connections grow stronger and wider, thus increasing phonological development. 1. When people talk about "learning language," they usually mean learning words. But all words are not created equal. What are some of the important distinctions between types of words that children learn (within the first 50 or so words)? There are two main kinds of words that children use: context-bound words and referential words. Context-bound words are similar to a childs protowordstheyre tied to a specific place, example, context, etc. This may mean that a child thinks of their pet dog as dog, but the dog in her picture book is not a dog. The mental representation of dog is currently incomplete. Ref erential words, on the other hand, are not tied to a specific context. Using the dog example again, if a child had a referential understanding of dog, it would refer to any and all dogs. Children also acquire nominals, which are names for things. Nominals can either be context-bound or contextually flexible. 2. What's the relationship between comprehension and production? Word learning and comprehension begin before production. Children comprehend more words than they can speak. For example, a typical spoken vocabulary of a child between 15-24 months is about 50 words. A 10 month old, however, can comprehend between 11 and 154 words. By 16 months, they can comprehend from 92-321 words. This does not necessarily mean that a child must comprehend a word before it is spokensometimes it does work the other way around. 3. What sorts of individual differences among kids with respect to early word-learning that would be useful for teachers to keep in mind? Children use words and expand their vocabulary differently. Some children have more context-based words whereas some have more referential words in their vocabulary. There are several reasons these differences existcertain children are bigger risk takers than others. This means that theyre probably going to have more context-based words in their vocabulary because theyre less concerned with making a mistake. Similarly, some children are just more social than others. These children will be more likely to use whatever means they have for communication, even if theyre unsure of the word. More quiet kids, however, will spend more time ensuring the meaning of their words are solidified. Perhaps most important to remember is that one way is NOT better than another. Referential vocabulary is not necessarily better than a context-bound vocabularythey are just different ways of learning words. 4. As one possible means of solving the "mapping problem," children might come into the world with certain constraints on their assumptions about the connection between words (strings of sounds) and meanings. What are the constraints/assumptions Hoff mentions and how might they be briefly defined? The whole-object assumption states that children assume that each new word refers to an entirely new, whole object. This means that when children hear a new word, they will think of it as something different from anything they already know (as opposed to a part of something they may already know). Another constraint children are under is the mutual exclusivity assumption, which states that different words refer to different things. This is a process of elimination in that when children hear a novel word they look around for a novel object (rather than something they already know for). 5. How might a young child's knowledge of syntax help him/her learn words? Don't children learn the little pieces (words) before the big structures (syntax)? Once children acquire enough grammar to identify the various parts

of speech (nouns, verbs, etc), they can identify the kind of (new) word being spoken. They can determine if the novel word is a noun or a verb, or even what kind of verb it might be (whether there is just a do-er or a do-er and a recipient). Children can pick out the words (even if they dont know the defini tions of them) by listening for the various phonotactic constraints, stresses, rhythm, prosody, etc. Even though they may not know all of the words, they know where they are occurring in the sentence. Once theyve found the words, they use the syntactical clues to find out what it means. 1. How does exposure to different accents and dialects in school affect a child's language development? Once a child enters school, he/she is exposed to much more than just his/her parents phonology. Speech style can be considered an expression of ones identity. It can be changed by switching geographic locations early on in your schooling (5-6 years old). The earlier you are exposed to this new peer influence, the more youll pick up on the accent. Social circles also expose young children to different phonological changes again, it is a way to express who you are. 2. How does accent/dialect exposure relate to language change and death, as described in D&L, Ch. 12? Denham discusses how change is inevitable and natural. One of the reasons she cites for language change is exposure to different languages. Even if its just a different form of English, one can hear different variations and choose pieces of that variation to use. Even if you do switch the kind of language youre using, your old form isnt deadit has just morphed into the new variety youre currently speaking. Most importantly, change is NOT a bad thingjust because something is different from what youre used to does not mean that it is wrong. Parents who are unfamiliar with linguistics might be concerned about a different variety or word usage, but change is natural and all language is systematic and rule-governed, meaning there is no right or wrong way. 3. Compare and contrast direct teaching vs. contextual learning of vocabulary, and discuss briefly your own preferences. Direct teaching is just thatyou give the child a word and then you tell the child what it means. Contextual learning is to look at (or listen to) a word as it appears in a sentence or a passage and define it in terms of what is around it. Some believe that helping children to decode context is the best way to expand their vocabularies. In a sense, it gives them the tools to get the job done. Yet others see explicit instruction as the best way to truly expand a vocabulary of memorable words. I can definitely see both sides. I see explicit instruction as better for long-term vocabulary words (words youll know and use for a very long time), but context learning as better for short-term decoding, which could be extremely important for tests, job applications/interviews, etc. I think it would be foolish to pick one kind of instruction since both are helpful for different reasons. 4. What are some of the specific skills encompassed by "narrative skill?" Stories should be coherent, which means the events must make sense in meaningful ways. Stories must also be cohesive, which means the events and linguistic characteristics must go together smoothly. As children get older, they also discover the importance of story structure. They begin to include things like multiple episodes, settings with characters and place, an initiating, relevant story event, a conflict and a resolution. Stories go from fragments to a whole narrative. They become more complex and include more details in general, especially emotions. Yet even as adults, the endpoint of grasping how to construct a narrative will vary from person to person. 5. What are some of the schooling effects on language development listed by Hoff? Childrens vocabularies grow at a much faster rate during the months they are in school compared to the months they are away (summer vacation, for example). Children also learn how to structure a definition of a word (how to take what they know in their head about a word and say it out loud or write it down). Children develop the skill to produce more formal, descriptive definitions. Of course, the more one-on-one time they have with a teacher or the more complex speech a teacher uses will result in greater development. A teacher must also be aware of cultural differences when they are instructing and asking questions. Knowing that there are differences can help the teacher address language development and narrative skill for each individual.

6. What is the "alphabetic principle," why is it important to literacy, and what approach to literacy instruction has been shown by the vast preponderance of research to be most effective in developing it? The alphabetic principle states that letter symbols correspond to specific phonemes. It is important to literacy because children learn the way different letters sound and they take this knowledge to break apart words they dont know. It allows them to separate pieces of words to help them learn the whole. The Phonics approach is the explicit teaching of sound-letter correspondence and it is particularly helpful with poor readers. It can help those who are poor readers catch up to their peers. 7. What do you think of the approach to language instruction outlined in D&L, Ch. 18? Advantages? Drawbacks? I think that looking at corpora such as the Bank of English could really help by opening a teachers eyes to real time language use. It could help distinguish what is dated and what has evolved into acceptable usage. I also liked Hungs tip about saving time by using the sentences in the database. One of the drawbacks, though, could be that if a teacher is lazy, he/she would depend upon corpora for all of his/her examples. Worse still, he/she might not even look for or correct actual problematic passages in the students work. This would be under the very vague assumption that since there are so many acceptable uses, that the students literally cant be wrong. Theyd use it more as a crutch rather than an instructional tool. I really do think it could be helpful a putting language into a more current perspective as long as its used and NOT abused. 1. What two broad types of bilingualism are given by Hoff, and how do they differ? The two kinds of bilingualism are simultaneous and sequential. Simultaneous bilingualism is when children learn two languages at the same time from birth. Sequential bilingualism is when a child only hears one language for the first few years of life and then develop another language. 2. Why is bilingualism difficult to study? The bilingual population is not all the same. Bilingual children differ in many aspects, such as amount of language heard, social context in which they hear languages, proficiency of what they hear, etc. Even the two languages spoken affects data on bilingualism. Bilingualism itself is a contested term among researchers, which means studies on bilingualism dont all refer to the s ame thing. 3. How are different languages differentiated in the bilingual brain (or are they)? What are the 3 main hypotheses about language differentiation, and which hypothesis does the evidence at various levels of linguistic analysis best support? The fusion hypothesis states that children initially create on system that combines the two languages they hear. The differentitation with autonomous development hypothesis states that children differentiate two languages they hear and acquire each uninfluenced by the other. Lastly (and the hypothesis with the best support) is the differentiation with interdependent hypothesis which states that children do differentiate the languages they acquire, but the course of development of each is influenced by the other. Research has looked at phonology, lexicon and morphosyntactic differences and it shows that children are developing two different language systems at oncethey can follow the grammatical rules of each as they switch from one language to another. The development of one language, however, is still affected by the development of the other. 4. How does bilingualism affect development of both languages? The research is a bit divided on thisdo the languages develop similarly or differently than monolingual children? Some studies have found that both bi-and monolingual children produce canonical babbling on the same schedule. As for vocabulary development, bilingual children tend to have smaller vocabularies in each language, yet they often know words in one language that they do not in another. Their vocabulary tends to be more distributed and sometimes this distribution is actually more words than monolingual children. Bilingual children can lag behind monolingual peers in acquiring grammar, but these differences usually disappear by age 10. In general, since languages can vary so greatly in their linguistic components, the overall profile of bilingual children varies much more than monolingual children (Oller et. al. call this profile effect) 5. How proficient are kids at code-switching between two or more languages? Children as young as 2 can code switch in contextually sensitive ways. Children as young as 3 know how to switch languages when they detect a

communication breakdown. This process requires a lot of knowledge of various linguistic components yet children seem to pick this up very quickly. 6. What are some of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism? Bilingual children tend to have a greater ability to explain and seek out patterns. They also have greater matalinguistic awareness (knowing how language works). Bilingual individuals also tend to hold attention better than monolingual individuals, even with non-verbal tasks. In older age, bilingual individuals show less decline in cognition (or slower decline in cognition). 1. What conclusion do you draw from the observations that although cultural differences in language use with and around children exist, it appears that children in all languages/cultures reach language milestones at about the same time? I believe this shows that there is a strong genetic component to language. While environment is certainly an influencing factor in the language development process, humans already have the tools they need to acquire language. 2. How would you describe and define "language socialization" to colleagues in an educational setting? I would define language socialization as learning culturally specific practices of speaking or learning these practices through language. This means that children from different cultural backgrounds will use language in different ways. For example, some cultures encourage less talk while others encourage more self-expression. Even the way things are said can be a result of cultural socialization some children maybe more direct than others. As educators, we must understand the multiple ways our students might (or might not) interact with us or their peers. There is more than one way to express something. 3. The Hoff chapter outlines six possible relations between language and cognition/thought. On the back of the page, describe each theory in 2 sentences. Then, decide which appeals to you most, and explain briefly why. Developmental theory of Jean Piaget: Cognition is a result of non-linguistic interactions. Cognition begins before language development and even afterward the two remain independent. Whorfian hypothesis: Different languages have different distinctions. When you learn a language, these distinctions shape your thoughts. Theory theory: Concepts and words develop simultaneously. As children learn new concepts, they seek new words to describe them and vice versa. Thinking for speaking: There are some core cognitive components that are either innate or acquired independent of language. Building on these, however, are also meanings expressed differently in different languages. Language as medium of thought: We think in the language we speak. Some cognitive tasks do not require language, but some (such as mathematics or analytical reasoning) do. Language as cognition-advancing: Children learn based on what others say. Children who are told different things ultimately understand the world in different ways. I enjoy different theories for different reasonsfor example, I really liked the idea of language as medium of thought because I felt that the autobiography point was really interesting and made a lot of sense. I also enjoyed the color example in the Whorfian section. I think if I had to pick one theory, it would be the Theory theory. I can picture language and cognition as being very similar to the chicken or the egg ideait is almost impossible to know which will come first. This theory helps explai n they depend on one another; you cant really have one without the other, and therefore occur simultaneously. 4. D&L Ch. 4 makes the case that certain linguistic features of English either reflect or establish/reinforce gender inequity. First, what are some examples given? Second, do you agree, why or why not (reflect on some of the theories discussed in the Hoff chapter)? Some examples given were words for female promiscuity, such as slut, whore and ho. These words tend to be comments about inap propriate female behavior. There are no male equivalents to these words, which suggests that there is no appropriateness standard for men (or if there is one, it is not the same as for women). I would agree language creates a very strong and specific picture in the mind of the listener. The Whorfian hypothesis helps explain this there are different words in different languages and once there are distinctions created, your opinion and views are shaped accordingly. For those who know English fluently and know of these distinctions, theses words have a very specific, negative connotation. If these words (or their equivalent) dont exist in another language, then the harsh distinction may

not exist either. Without these words, the gender inequity isnt b eing verbally established or reinforced. I think that the Language as cognition-advancing hypothesis would also explain the inequalityit only exists if you know about it. People who learn different things would ultimately have a different understanding of the world.