Doctoral Dissertation Research: How Does Pointing Facilitate Word Learning?

博士论文研究：指向如何促进单词学习？

• 批准号: 1323285
• 负责人: Julie Gros-Louis
• 金额: $ 0.95万
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1323285&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; How; Does

This project aims to study how infants' early pointing gestures help them learn words. This work builds on the evidence that infants usually point before they are able to use words, and there is a robust correlation between the early use of pointing gestures and subsequent vocabulary growth. It is hypothesized that pointing may help word learning in two ways: (1) pointing may create an effective state for learning, so that labels are better learned when children point; and/or, (2) pointing may increase word learning opportunities. Under the direction of Dr. Gros-Louis, Zhen Wu will conduct experiments with 14 to 20 month-old participants to evaluate these hypotheses. Experiment 1 will assess the role of pointing in forming word-object associations by labeling objects when infants point, or when they just look. If pointing is indicative of infants' particular readiness to learn, then infants would learn the word better when they point. By contrast, if pointing just establishes a moment that both the child and the partner attend to the same target, then infants may learn words equally well when a label is provided when they are looking at an object, regardless of whether they point or not. Experiment 2 will test the hypothesis that pointing increases word learning opportunities by observing parent-child social interactions in a pointing-eliciting environment. This project is significant for several reasons. First, it will not only clarify the relationship between pointing and word learning, but also add to our understanding of how pointing helps word learning. Second, the research has wide applicability to education and societal benefits. Understanding the contribution of infant pointing gestures and caregiver responses can inform intervention programs for at-risk populations in addition to leading to recommendations for parenting to enable earlier language acquisition.

这个项目旨在研究婴儿早期的指向手势如何帮助他们学习单词。这项工作建立在婴儿通常在他们能够使用单词之前就指向的证据之上，并且在早期使用指向手势和随后的词汇增长之间存在强烈的相关性。据推测，指向可以通过两种方式帮助单词学习：（1）指向可以为学习创造一种有效的状态，因此当孩子指向时，标签可以更好地学习;和/或（2）指向可以增加单词学习的机会。在Gros-Louis博士的指导下，Zhen Wu将对14至20个月大的参与者进行实验，以评估这些假设。实验1将评估指向在形成词-对象关联中的作用，方法是在婴儿指向或只是看时标记对象。如果指向表示婴儿特别愿意学习，那么婴儿在指向时会更好地学习单词。相比之下，如果指向只是建立了一个时刻，孩子和伴侣都注意到同一个目标，那么当婴儿在看物体时提供标签时，无论他们是否指向，婴儿都可以同样好地学习单词。实验二将通过观察指向-引出环境中的亲子社会互动来检验指向增加单词学习机会的假设。这个项目意义重大，有几个原因。首先，它不仅将澄清指向和单词学习之间的关系，而且还增加了我们对指向如何帮助单词学习的理解。第二，研究具有广泛的教育和社会效益的适用性。了解婴儿指向手势和照顾者反应的贡献，可以为高危人群的干预计划提供信息，并为父母提供建议，使他们能够更早地获得语言。