<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;"><br>It's slightly more complicated than that. You also have to consider whether<br>more of today's kids attend daycare, which adds both a big peer group and an<br>interestingly diverse (often first language non-English) set of adults for kids to<br>interact with. That could be a plus or a minus, but it can't be ignored.<br><br>The age of the mother and whether a father is around could also be a<br>factor. Both have changed over time, and both vary across the US and<br>across demographic groups. It's easy to see how the child of a single<br>16-year-old might get different input than the child of a married 30-year <br>old, even if all else is the same.<br><br>A quick glance at a map of US birth rates suggests that the lower numbers<br>of siblings tend to be in the areas of the US with
higher school test scores.<br>This makes me wonder how help those extra siblings are really providing.<br><br>Margaret Fleck<br><br>--- On <b>Thu, 8/6/09, Keith Nelson <i><k1n@psu.edu></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>From: Keith Nelson <k1n@psu.edu><br>Subject: Re: Pace of early language development<br>To: info-childes@googlegroups.com<br>Date: Thursday, August 6, 2009, 6:18 AM<br><br><div class="plainMail"><br>Hi all. Have been on beach vacation and <br>watching toddlers and older siblings and parents <br>a little.<br><br> To the questions of has pace changed and <br>does it vary by SES, a few thoughts:<br><br> 1. 40 or 50 years ago there may have <br>been on average some advantages for language <br>learning in the first 3 years of life created by <br>larger families and more older siblings
fairly <br>close in age to the learner's age (say 2 years <br>ahead) and also more direct conversational time <br>between the learner and an available total pool <br>of parents, grandparents, siblings, and neighbors<br><br> 2. "Controlled" comparisons are <br>difficult between now and then, but to the extent <br>possible it would be excellent to have some <br>comparisons where first language, SES, <br>neighborhood, number and spacing of siblings, <br>number of extended family members like <br>grandparents and cousins and so on are highly <br>similar<br><br> 3. There are many clues that John <br>Bercow's observation holds even when the <br>comparisons between lower and higher SES hold <br>constant the first <br>language/ethnic/immigrant-or-not status of the <br>families--lower language levels, including <br>clinical levels of language delay, are more <br>probable for lower SES
children<br><br> 4. High variability in acquisition rates <br>have been observed again and again, even when <br>many of the factors in #2 have been documented as <br>similar across the children being compared, in <br>modern studies. Biological differences in what <br>different children bring to the language learning <br>"table" are no doubt contributing, but are poorly <br>understood. Patterns of interaction have been <br>shown to matter greatly, and when the same <br>biological child encounters newly favorable <br>interaction patterns the pace of acquisition <br>accelerates. So, 50 or 100 years ago were the <br>interaction patterns typically better or worse to <br>support language acquisition ? On that, I can <br>see both sides--as noted in #1, earlier days <br>could have been better in some respects, but <br>modern times may pair the child language learner
<br>with adults and older siblings who have broader <br>world knowledge, more influence of literacy on <br>oral language sophistication and flexibility, and <br>possibly more awareness of (and use of ) <br>strategies that are helpful when conversing with <br>the child learner.<br><br> Keith<br><br><br><br><br><br>At 11:28 AM +0100 8/3/09, Matthew Saxton wrote:<br>>I think Brianıs suggestion is ingenious. <br>>However, to my knowledge, language change is <br>>especially driven by young people in the teenage <br>>years with the introduction of new meanings, <br>>terms and phrases rather than by toddlers.<br>><br>>The perception of a linguistic decline over <br>>successive generations is sometimes driven by <br>>political considerations. A recent U.K. example <br>>is the Bercow Review (by the same John Bercow <br>>who is now Speaker of the House of Commons). <br>>Without citing any specific
sources, his report <br>>suggests that:<br>><br>>Approximately 50% of children in some <br>>socio-economically disadvantaged populations <br>>have speech and language skills that are <br>>significantly lower than those of other children <br>>of the same age.<br>><br>>The implication is that a steep decline is in <br>>train within the U.K., ascribable to <br>>socioeconomic factors. One such factor is <br>>whether or not English is the childıs first <br>>language. It has become increasingly common for <br>>very young children, who have had little <br>>exposure to English, to be placed in <br>>English-language Nursery settings. Such children <br>>will naturally depress average scores on <br>>standardised language tests, especially in the <br>>early stages of their exposure to English. But <br>>one could not argue from such data that the <br>>language learning capacities of children had
<br>>declined in any way.<br>><br>>Regards,<br>><br>>Matthew Saxton.<br>><br>><br>><br>>*********************************************************************************************************<br>><br>>Department of Psychology and Human Development,<br>>Institute of Education,<br>>University of London,<br>>25 Woburn Square,<br>>London,<br>>WC1H 0AA.<br>><br>>Tel: 020-7612-6509<br>>Fax: 020-7612-6304<br>><br>><<a href="http://www.ioe.ac.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.ioe.ac.uk/</a>><a href="http://www.ioe.ac.uk" target="_blank">http://www.ioe.ac.uk</a><br>><br>><br>><br>><br><br>-- <br><br><br><br>Keith Nelson<br>Professor of Psychology<br>Penn State University<br>423 Moore Building<br>University Park, PA 16802<br><br><br><a ymailto="mailto:keithnelsonart@psu.edu" href="/mc/compose?to=keithnelsonart@psu.edu">keithnelsonart@psu.edu</a><br><br>814 863
1747<br><br><br><br>And what is mind<br>and how is it recognized ?<br>It is clearly drawn<br>in Sumi ink, the<br>sound of breezes drifting through pine.<br><br>--Ikkyu Sojun<br>Japanese Zen Master 1394-1481<br><br><br><br></div></blockquote></td></tr></table<br>
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