Learing to Listen Ahead in English and Spanish

描述（由申请人提供）：为了理解语言，儿童必须学会倾听随着时间迅速展开的语音序列中的含义。流利的理解需要“提前倾听”，通过使用来自话语语境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在真实的时间内处理语音（Tanenhaus和Trueswell，1995）。最近在我们实验室使用“边听边看”任务的研究已经记录了英语学习者在生命的第2 - 3年中速度处理能力的速度和准确性的显著提高（Fernald等人，2001），以及语音处理效率与词汇和语法能力增长中的个体差异之间的稳健联系（Perfors et al.，审查中）。此外，我们已经开始了令人兴奋的crosslinguisti研究，检查这些在线语言技能的儿童学习西班牙语作为第一语言。本补充申请中提出的研究将这一研究延伸到同时学习英语和西班牙语的儿童的纵向样本。我们将采用新开发的措施来研究这个重要和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）。建议的项目解决了三个目标：（1）记录发展的速度/准确性的处理在儿童学习英语和西班牙语，并比较这些轨迹的参与者在我们正在进行的研究单语西班牙语学习者，匹配的SES和词汇量。(2)探讨双语儿童口语加工与离线词汇量测量之间的关系。结果可能表明，以前报道的单语者的关系反映了在构建特定语言知识体系的背景下共享的表征或处理机制（例如，英文或西班牙文）。或者，我们可能会发现语言处理效率与词汇量的一般衡量标准更相关，这表明处理效率是个体的一个稳定特征，有助于在不同的语言学习环境中促进词汇量的增长。(3)为了解决语言习得机制的关键理论问题，依赖于词汇和语法学习之间的强关联（贝茨和古德曼，1997年;托马塞洛，2003年）。儿童学习两种语言的研究是很好的定位，以评估索赔的性质和特殊性的机制，指导语言技能的发展，在年轻的学习者。

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.