Infants learn earlier than thought

Nancy Hornberger nancyh at gse.upenn.edu
Fri Feb 6 22:38:43 UTC 2009


Hal -- the latter primarily.  I am aware of the research, which troubles 
me for different reasons, but it's the reporting of it and the 
unsubstantiated leaps to direct implications for parents and schools 
that troubles me in this case.
Nancy

Harold Schiffman wrote:
> I'm surprised that you're so upset about this Nancy.  Patricia Kuhl is
> a reputable scholar
> and has been studying early childhood language acquisition for some
> time. I knew her
> from my time at U. of Washington.  Or are you upset about what the
> newspaper report
> deduces from her research?
>
> Hal Schiffman
>
> On Fri, Feb 6, 2009 at 11:54 AM, Nancy Hornberger <nancyh at gse.upenn.edu> wrote:
>   
>> Francis and all -- this turned out to be one of the scarier articles
>> I've read in recent times!  all sorts of unfounded assertions and leaps
>> from brain scans (that don't seem to tell us anything we didn't already
>> know) to recommendations to parents to read to their child (even in
>> utero), with unsubstantiated stereotypes about welfare, affluence, and
>> vocabulary development casually thrown into the mix.  Truly alarming to
>> think that this sort of stuff gets wide attention through the media.  Yikes!
>> Nhh
>>
>> Francis Hult wrote on 5 Feb 2009:
>>     
>>> The Seattle Times
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Infants learn earlier than thought
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Until recently, humans could safely view their brains as fatty, spongy masses of electrifying wonder. Brains are, in a sense, a secret place no one else can tap into unless we let them; they are our memory banks and central control centers that dictate how we behave and reason and interact with others.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> But in the past decade, neuroscientists across the world have started to peer into the young brain to determine exactly how we learn. Examining their findings, researchers say that learning starts at birth, and perhaps even earlier.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Full story:
>>>
>>> http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2008700779_brains03.html
>>>
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>>     
>
>
>
>   

-- 
Nancy H. Hornberger, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Pennsylvania

http://www.gse.upenn.edu/~hornberg/
http://www.springer.com/education/language+education/book/978-0-387-32875-1
(Encyclopedia of Language and Education)
http://picasaweb.google.com/nancy.hornberger  

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