The Role of Language Experiences on Vocabulary Development: a Multidimensional, Developmental, and Individual Differences Analysis

 描述：早期语言延迟是一个代价高昂的公共卫生问题，因为它具有临床、教育和社会影响。例如，词汇量较小的儿童更有可能发展为语言障碍(一种影响美国6%-7%儿童的障碍)，更有可能落后于他们的上学准备，更有可能发展为行为问题。研究表明，儿童早期的语言经验是他们语言发展的主要预测因素。然而，这些经历是如何以及通过什么机制导致强健的语言发展仍然没有被很好地理解。在这一研究领域取得进展的一个障碍是，儿童的语言体验是一个多维的结构。它包括：儿童听到的单词的数量， 这些单词出现的互动语境的性质，以及儿童指导的言语中明显的指称透明度。所有这些语言体验的维度都与词汇发展有单独的联系。然而，很少有人试图了解语言经验的不同维度如何共同影响语言发展，特别是早期词汇发展。拟议的研究计划旨在统一理解语言经验对早期语言发展的作用。提出了三个具体目标。第一个目标是了解这些维度是如何相互联系的，以及它们是如何独特地共同促进语言发展的。第二个目的是了解这些维度在语言习得中的作用是否随着发展而变化。最终目的是揭示不同维度的体验是否会以不同的方式影响不同的孩子。通过追求这三个目标所获得的知识将使我们对语言发展中最重要的变异性来源之一有更深刻的理解。此外，由于修改语言体验是语言迟缓儿童常见的干预方法，本研究的结果可能会为制定更有效的干预策略提供参考。在追求这些研究目标时，申请者将完成一套量身定做的科学和 超出申请者当前培训范围的职业发展活动。这将包括关于语言习得的翻译科学的培训、关于早期社会过程的发展科学的培训以及关于发展方法和统计学的广泛培训。这套技能，再加上申请者之前的培训，将为申请者开始一项理论上先进的、方法论上先进的独立研究生涯做好准备，并弥合早期语言发展基础科学和应用科学之间的差距。

 DESCRIPTION: Early language delay is a costly public health problem because of its clinical, educational, and societal implications. For example, children who have small vocabularies have a greater likelihood of developing language impairments (a disorder that affects 6-7% of children in the US), are more likely to lag in their readiness for school, and have a greater chance of developing behavioral problems. Research has revealed that children's early language experiences are a major predictor of their language development. How, and through what mechanisms, these experiences lead to robust language development though is still not well understood. One barrier to progress in this area of research is that children's language experience is a multi- dimensional construct. It includes: the quantity of the words children hear, the nature of the interactive contexts in which those words occur, and the referential transparency evident in child-directed speech. All of these dimensions of language experience have been individually linked to vocabulary development. Little work, however, has sought to understand how different dimensions of language experience together jointly shape language development, specifically early vocabulary development. The proposed research plan is aimed at developing a unified understanding of the role of language experiences on early language development. Three specific aims are proposed. The first aim is to understand how the dimensions interconnect with one another and how they uniquely and jointly contribute to language development. The second aim is to understand whether the roles the dimensions play in language acquisition change with development. The final aim is to uncover whether different dimensions of experience impact different children in different ways. The knowledge gained from pursuing these three aims will lead to a deeper understanding of one of the most important sources of variability in language development. Additionally, because modifications to the language experience is a common method of intervention for children with language delay, the results from this research may inform ways of developing more effective intervention strategies. In pursuing these research objectives, the applicant will complete a tailored set of scientific and professional development activities that go beyond the applicant's current training. This will include training in the translational science of language acquisition, training in the developmental science of early social processes, and extensive training in developmental methodologies and statistics. This skill set, coupled with the applicant's previous training, will prepare the applicant to launch an independent research career that is advanced theoretically, cutting edge methodologically and that bridges the gap between the basic and applied sciences of early language development.