Learing to Listen Ahead in English and Spanish

描述(申请人提供)：为了理解语言，孩子们必须学会从迅速展开的语音序列中听懂含义。流利的理解需要“提前倾听”，通过使用言语语境中的语言和非语言信息，不断预测接下来会发生什么。许多研究表明，熟练的成年人如何利用多种知识来源，以惊人的速度和效率实时处理语音(Tanenhaus&Trueswell，1995)。我们实验室最近使用“边听边看”任务的研究记录了英语学习者在第二-第三年的速度和精确度方面的显著提高(Fernald等人，2001)，以及语音处理效率和词汇和语法能力发展的个体差异之间的密切联系(Perfors等人，正在审查中)。此外，我们还开展了令人兴奋的跨语者研究，考察将西班牙语作为第一语言的儿童的在线语言技能。这项补充申请中提出的研究将这一研究路线扩展到同时学习英语和西班牙语的儿童的纵向样本。我们将应用新开发的方法来检查这一重要且不断增长的人口的语言背景，以及特别适合于纵向样本分析的统计技术(HLM)。拟议的项目致力于三个目标：(1)记录儿童在学习英语和西班牙语的过程中处理速度/准确性的发展提高，并将这些轨迹与我们正在进行的单语西班牙语学习者的研究中的参与者的轨迹进行比较，这些参与者的SES和词汇量相匹配。(2)考察双语儿童口语加工与离线词汇测量之间的关系。结果可能表明：以前报道的单语者的这种关系反映了在构建特定的语言知识体系(例如英语或西班牙语)的背景下共享的表征或加工机制。或者，我们可能会发现，语言加工效率更多地与词汇的一般测量有关，这表明加工效率是一个人的一种稳定特征，它促进了不同语言学习环境中的词汇增长。(3)探讨依赖于词汇和语法学习之间紧密联系的语言习得机制的关键理论问题(Bates&Goodman，1997；Tomasello，2003)。对儿童学习两种语言的研究很好地评估了关于引导年轻学习者语言技能发展的机制的性质和特殊性的主张。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): To understand language, children must learn to listen for meaning in sequences of speech sounds that unfold] rapidly in time. Fluent understanding requires "listening ahead," continually anticipating what is coming next by using linguistic and nonlinguistic information from the context in which words are spoken. Many studies have shown how skilled adults draw on multiple sources of knowledge to process speech in real time with remarkable speed and efficiency (Tanenhaus & Trueswell, 1995). Recent studies in our laboratory using the "looking-while-listening" task have documented the dramatic gains in speed and accuracy of speed processing abilities in English-language learners over the 2nd-3rd yrs of life (Fernald et al., 2001), and the robust links between efficiency of speech processing and individual differences in the growth in lexical an grammatical abilities (Perfors et al., under review). In addition, we have embarked on exciting crosslinguisti studies examining these online language skills in children learning Spanish as a first language. The studies proposed in this supplemental application extend this line of research to a longitudinal sample of children learning both English and Spanish at the same time. We will apply newly developed measures to examine language background in this important and growing population, as well as statistical techniques (HLM) that are particularly suited to analyses of longitudinal samples. The proposed project addresses three goals: (1) To document developmental increases in speed/accuracy of processing in children learning both English and Spanish and to compare these trajectories to those of participants in our ongoing study of monolingua Spanish-learners, matched on SES and vocabulary size. (2) To examine relations between spoken language processing and offline measures of vocabulary in bilingual children. Results could indicate that the relation: previously reported for monolinguals reflect representations or processing mechanisms that are shared in the context of constructing a particular body of language knowledge (e.g., English or Spanish). Alternatively, we might find that language-processing efficiency is more related to general measures of vocabulary, suggesting that processing efficiency is a stable characteristic of an individual that facilitates vocabulary growth across different language-learning contexts. (3) To address key theoretical issues about mechanisms of language acquisition that rely on strong associations between lexical and grammar learning (Bates & Goodman, 1997; Tomasello, 2003). Studies of children learning two languages are well-positioned to evaluate claims regarding the nature and specificity of the mechanisms guiding the development of language skills in young learners.