Assessment for Verb Acquisition and Developing Its Computer Assisted Learning Program

本研究的目的是：（1）通过早期的母子互动获得动词习得的背景信息;（2）阐明正常儿童动词习得的发展阶段，以了解残疾儿童的问题;（3）开发一些难以区分和扩展其含义的动词的计算机辅助学习程序。进行纵向研究，以比较母子互动中观察到的非语言背景。在游戏中，母亲被观察到使用更多的环境声音和象声词与玩具的名称。沿着儿童运动能力的发展，母亲开始示范并使用带宾语的动词。儿童首先学习游戏动作，然后用环境音或拟声词来表示物体，然后学习使用适当的动词来处理特定的物体。横断面研究显示，儿童对动词的理解从近端扩展到远端，即从大运动到精细运动的协调。研究还发现，儿童似乎是通过与经常使用的物体或上下文的联系来学习动词的。在非语言词汇测试中，身体残疾的儿童可以通过点头等方式做出反应，他们发现他们可以理解一些他们永远不会执行但通过日常经验观察到的动词。部分弱智儿童在言语刺激下打球后，能学习使用动词，如“throw，roll，catch”，本研究利用录像机和动画材料制作了各种计算机程序，供儿童学习和扩展某些动词的意义。正常儿童和残障儿童对电脑辅助教学的兴趣更高，参与的时间更长。还获得了统计学上显著的收益。

The aims of this project are (1) to obtain background information for verb acquisition through early stages of mother-child interaction, (2) to clarify developmental stages of verb acquisition in normal children in order to understand problems of the handicapped, (3) to develop computer assisted learning programs for some verbs which are difficult to differentiate with and extend their meanings.First, longitudinal studies are conducted to compare nonverbal contexts observed in mother-child interactions. In play, mothers were observed to use more environmental sounds and onomatopoeia with names of toys. Along with motor development of children, mothers began to demonstrate as well as use verbs with the objects. Children at first learned to play in actions, then uttered environmental sounds or onomatopoeia to mean the objects, and later learn to use appropriate verbs in handling the particular objects.Cross-sectional studies revealed that children's understanding about verbs extend from those relating to proximal to distal, i.e. gross-motor to fine motor co-ordination. It was also found that children seemed to learn verbs through association with frequently used objects or contexts. Physically handicapped children who could respond to non-verbal vocabulary tests by nodding, etc. were found to understand some verbs which they could never perform but observe through daily experiences. Some mentally retarded children showed that they could learn to use verbs, such as "throw, roll, catch" after playing ball with verbal stimuli.Various computer programs were made for children to learn and to extend meanings of some verbs by using VTR and animation materials. Normal as well as handicapped children showed more interests and attended longer to these computer-assisted program. The statistically significant gains were also obtained.