Symbol Grounding as an Educational Tool

在西方文化中，掌握书面语言和数学符号对于在各级教育中取得成功至关重要。与此同时，很明显，培养孩子们使用符号的技能是很困难的，对一些人来说，这种困难会持续一生。本研究探讨了为什么许多儿童发现符号操作困难（符号接地困难），并测试了一种基于理论的干预（行动接地）来克服这一困难。要使文字等符号具有意义，它们需要与经验联系起来，也就是说，有根据。例如，一个婴儿的母亲说“瓶子”这个词，同时给她的婴儿一个真正的瓶子，让他拿着和操纵。然而，在学习阅读时，书面文字和体验之间的联系被打破了，原因有二：儿童必须把注意力集中在将书面文字翻译成声音的艰巨任务上，而这些文字所指的对象和行为并不在阅读环境中。在行动中扎根是一个两部分的过程，教孩子们如何在他们的感知和行动中扎根书面文字。在物理操作（PM）阶段，孩子们操纵玩具来对应他们正在阅读的句子。例如，当阅读有关农场活动的内容时，孩子面前有一个玩具仓库、拖拉机、动物等。当她读到一个句子，比如“农民把拖拉机开到谷仓”时，孩子用玩具来模拟这个句子。这个活动迫使孩子考虑玩具（地面）和单词和句法之间的关系。在PM的几次迭代之后，孩子被引入想象操作（IM）。在这个阶段，孩子们被教导在阅读时想象操纵玩具。先前的研究已经证明，在个人、小团体和课堂上，“行动接地”的积极作用非常大。本项目将研究行动接地成功的理论基础，将其推广到电脑阅读（儿童在电脑屏幕上操作图片），以及在课堂上的实施。大约25名一年级到三年级的教师将被随机分配到实施“行动接地”或控制条件的班级。根据每周对儿童进行的理解测试，预计行动接地会产生相当大的好处。此外，与对照组的孩子相比，接受行动接地的孩子在标准化阅读测试中应该表现出更大的进步。这项工作的科学重要性源于对语言和阅读理解基础的研究。一个被广泛接受的观点是，理解源于使用抽象规则（语法）对符号的操作。该项目研究了另一种假设，即交流需要语言符号接触相关经验，而这些经验的融合产生了理解。从某种程度上说，“行动扎根”在课堂上是成功的，它可以通过引入有效的阅读理解教学程序对社会产生影响，从而极大地提高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.