Symbol Grounding as an Educational Tool

熟练掌握书面语言和数学符号是在西方文化中各级教育取得成功的关键。与此同时，很明显，发展符号技能对儿童来说是困难的，对一些人来说，这种困难将贯穿整个一生。这项研究考察了为什么许多儿童发现符号操作很难(符号根植困难)，并测试了克服这一困难的基于理论的干预(根植于行动)。要使文字等符号具有意义，它们需要与经验联系起来，也就是接地。例如，一个婴儿的母亲说“瓶”这个词，同时给她的婴儿一个真正的瓶子来拿和操纵。然而，在学习阅读时，书面文字和经验之间的联系被打破了，原因有两个：儿童必须专注于将书面文字转化为声音的困难任务，以及文字所指的对象和动作不在阅读环境中。付诸行动是一个两部分的程序，教孩子们如何根据他们的感知和行动来写下文字。在物理操纵(PM)阶段，儿童操纵玩具以与他们正在阅读的句子相对应。例如，当孩子阅读关于农场活动的文章时，她面前有一个玩具谷仓、拖拉机、动物等。当她读到一个句子时，比如“农民把拖拉机开到谷仓”，孩子用这些玩具来模拟句子。这项活动迫使儿童思考玩具(地面)与单词和句法之间的关系。在PM的几次迭代之后，孩子们被介绍给想象操作(IM)。在这个阶段，孩子们被教导想象在阅读时操纵玩具。以前的工作已经证明，在与个人、小团体和课堂合作时，脚踏实地的积极影响非常大。目前的项目将调查实际行动成功的理论基础，它延伸到在计算机上阅读(儿童在计算机屏幕上操纵图片)，以及在课堂上的实施。大约25名一至三年级的教师将被随机分配到实施实际行动或控制条件的班级。从每周对儿童进行的理解测试来看，实际行动预计会产生相当大的好处。此外，与对照条件下的儿童相比，接受实际操作的儿童在标准化阅读测试中应该表现出更大的收获。这项工作的科学重要性来自于对语言和阅读理解基础的调查。一种被广泛接受的观点是，理解是使用抽象规则(句法)操纵符号的结果。这个项目研究了另一种假设，即交际需要语言符号接触相关的经验，而这些经验的组合才能产生理解。在一定程度上，实际行动在课堂上是成功的，它可能会通过引入有效的阅读理解教学程序来影响社会，从而极大地促进儿童从阅读中学习和享受阅读的能力。

Facility with written linguistic and mathematical symbols is essential for success at all levels of education in a Western culture. At the same time, it is clear that developing skill with symbols is difficult for children, and for some that difficulty continues throughout the life span. This research examines why many children find symbol manipulation arduous (difficulties in symbol grounding) and tests a theory-based intervention (grounding-in-action) for overcoming this difficulty. For symbols such as words to be meaningful, they need to be connected to experiences, that is, grounded. For example, an infant's mother says the word "bottle" while presenting her infant with a real bottle to hold and manipulate. When learning to read, however, the connection between written words and the experience is broken for two reasons: Children must focus on the difficult task of translating the written words into sounds, and the objects and actions to which the words refer are not in the reading environment. Grounding-in-action is a two-part procedure for teaching children how to ground written words in their perceptions and actions. In the physical manipulation (PM) stage, children manipulate toys to correspond to the sentences they are reading. For example, when reading about activities on a farm, the child has before her a toy barn, tractor, animals, etc. As she reads a sentence such as "The farmer drives the tractor to the barn" the child uses the toys to simulate the sentence. This activity forces the child to consider the relation between the toys (the ground) and the words and syntax. After several iterations of PM, the child is introduced to imagined manipulation (IM). In this stage, children are taught to imagine manipulating the toys while reading. Previous work has demonstrated very large positive effects of grounding-in-action when working with individuals, small groups, and in the classroom. The current project will investigate the theoretical basis for the success of grounding-in-action, its extension to reading on computers (children manipulate pictures on the computer screen), and implementation in the classroom. Approximately 25 first- to third-grade teachers will be randomly assigned to classes that implement grounding-in-action or a control condition. Grounding-in-action is expected to produce considerable benefits as measured by weekly comprehension tests given to the children. In addition, the children who receive grounding-in-action should show greater gains on a standardized reading test compared to children in the control condition.The scientific importance of the work derives from investigating the basis of language and reading comprehension. A widely accepted view is that comprehension results from the manipulation of symbols using abstract rules (syntax). This project investigates the alternative hypothesis that communication requires that linguistic symbols contact relevant experiences, and it is the fitting together of those experiences that produces comprehension. To the extent that grounding-in-action is successful in the classroom, it may have an impact on society by introducing effective procedures for teaching reading comprehension, thereby producing a tremendous boost in children's ability to learn from and enjoy reading.