Language Acquisition in Children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing

1
Chapter 2

• Language Acquisition in Children who are Deaf and
  Hard of Hearing

2
Language Development

• Follows a predetermined sequence similar across
  cultures
• Hearing children easily become native speakers
• Deaf children follow a predetermined sequence
  however delays in development occur that may
  range from mild to severe.
• The most debilitating aspect of deafness is not
  the hearing loss but the lack of language that
  results from sufficient visual or auditory input.

3
Cognition
Barrier Deafness
Communication Links the child to socialization
and cognition
Receptive
Writing
Expressive
Reading
340, 330, 354, 355, PAS 351
340, 354. 355. 359
Phonics
Syntax
Semantics
Pragmatics
130, 230, PAS 211, 355
130, 230, 340, 354, 355
354, 359, 375
354, 359, 375
245.08
245.08, 245.09
245.08, 245.10
245.08,245.09,245.10, 245.11
245.11, STT
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The Nature of Language

• Language has form
• Language involves representation
• Languages are arbitrary
• Languages are shared
• Language elements form, content use

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Language has Form

• Chomsky (1965) Language is a system of rules
  that in some explicit and well defined way
  assigns structural descriptions to sentences.
• Bloom and Lahey (1978) Language is the code
  whereby ideas about the world are represented
  through a conventional system of arbitrary
  signals for communication.

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Language Involves Representation

• Enactive Representation
• Enact or re-enact an object or event
• Iconic Representation
• Visual presentation of a concept
• Symbolic Representation
• Symbols used in a systematic, rule-governed way

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Languages are Arbitrary

• Little logic in the relationship between sounds
  and the word
• Or the handshape and the sign
• Transparent signs (tree, love, eat)
• Translucent signs (what, bread, my)
• Opaque signs ( mom, print, videotape)

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Languages are Shared

• Communities of speakers
• A cornerstone of cultures is their shared
  language

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Elements of Language

• Form
• Surface structure phonology, morphology and
  syntax
• Content
• semantics
• Use
• pragmatics

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Language
Form
Use
Content
Semantics
Phonology Syntax
Pragmatics
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Phonology (Form)

• The study of the linguistic rules governing a
  languages sound system and how sounds form an
  integrated system for encoding information.
• Phonemes
• smallest elements of speech, vowels and
  consonants
• Smallest element of sign, handshape, location,
  orientation, movement, non-manual markers
• Rules
• How sounds can be combined

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Morphology (Form)

• The study of how basic units of meaning are
  combined to form meaningful units.
• Morphemes are the smallest unit of
• Meaning
• Free morphemes an independent unit
• Bound morphemes are dependent

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Morphology

• Changes in morphemes can change syntax
• Example add ly to a word and it changes from
  an adjective to an adverb
• Example add ed to a verb and it becomes past
  tense

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Syntax (Form)

• The system of rules and categories that allow
  words/signs to form sentences
• The structure of sentences, the word or sign
  order, and the changes that take place in that
  word/sign order
• Phrase structure rules, transformational rules,
  and morphological rules.

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Semantics (Content)

• The study of meaning
• how words and sentences are related to
  situations they describe and the real or
  imaginary objects to which they refer.
• The study pf meaning at the basic lexical (word)
  level and on to more complex structures.

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Pragmatics (Use)

• The study of how we use language to communicate,
  express our intentions, and get things
  accomplished.
• The set of sociolinguistic rules that are
  situational and that one knows and uses in
  determining what to say to whom and when.
• Pragmatics is culturally based.

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Which is it?

• You know what word to put in the blank because
  you are using your ____ skill.
• Mary wore her ___ dress to the party.
• Bob was working on his car all _____.
• The children wanted to go to _____ for dinner.
• He likes _____ cards with his friends.
• syntax

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Which is it?

• These are examples of ______ skill.
• Addressing your parents friends as Mr. and Mrs.
• Saying Thank you when food is passed to you at
  the table.
• Writing a sympathy note.
• Pragmatic

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Which is it?

• You are using your ______ skills to read this
  paragraph.
• If the hypothesis suggested here is true, and the
  data presented below on interpreters evaluations
  of their own competence in signs for behavior are
  accurate, then there are important implications
  for anthropological studies of such factors as
  rites of passage, social identification and
  structure, familial and institutional influence
  on enculturation, and the values and beliefs of
  the deaf community.
• Semantic

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Which is it?

• You can guess these words because you are using
  your ________skill.
• S______k
• M__n__y
• D_ g
• phonological

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Theories of Language Acquisition

• Behavior Theory
• Linguistic Theory
• Cognitive Theory
• Sociocultural Theory

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Behavior Theory

• Environment influences the language learning
  process
• Child is a passive learner who responds to
  stimuli
• Child does not self-initiate language learning
• Language is a verbal behavior that is dependent
  on reinforcement

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Behavior Theory continued

• Through reinforcement, sounds are shaped into
  words, words into functional units.
• Language learning is determined primarily by the
  environmental stimuli to which the child is
  exposed and for which the child receives adequate
  reinforcement.

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Arguments Against Behavior Theory

• Behavior theory does not take meaning into
  account
• Does not account for the generative nature of
  language
• Many aspects of language acquisition is uniform
  in all children.
• Children replace early correct forms with
  incorrect forms
• Although exposed to certain sentences, children
  learn not the particular sentences but the
  underlying rules.

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Linguistic Theory

• Language has a structure that is somewhat
  independent of language use.
• Grammars consist of a finite set of rules that
  allow for the generation of an infinite set of
  possible sentences.
• All native speakers know the rules.

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Linguistic Theorycontinued

• Chomsky (1957) transformational-generative
  grammar
• Surface structures
• Deep structures
• Chomsky believed that a speakers meaning was not
  always conveyed in the surface structure but
  could be found in the deep structure

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Example

• They are visiting relatives.
• They are relatives visiting.
• Or
• They are visiting relatives.

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Chomsky

• Chomsky proposed that children possess an innate
  predisposition to acquire language. (biological
  basis of language)
• There is an existence of linguistic universals
• There is structure in the linguistic input to
  children
• Children acquire language quickly

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Cognitive Theory

• Syntax is not separable from semantics
• Semantics is more basic in language than syntax
• Language is not independent of other cognitive
  functions
• Language is a mapping out of existing cognitive
  skills

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Sociocultural Theory

• Development of language is attributable to a
  childs interaction with other members of
  society.
• Emphasis is on pragmatics and communicative
  competence
• Sentences are not the highest level of linguistic
  analysis
• Language functions are diverse

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Principles of Language Instruction

• Reread the 7 principles of language instruction
  pages 39-40
• Discuss each principle
• Work with a partner to identify what the impact
  of the principle would have on your teaching

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Language DevelopmentDeaf and Hard of Hearing

• Normal language development stages flow one into
  the other.
• Prelinguistic
• Critical precursor sharing language with
  caregivers
• Auditory cortex makes new connections after birth
  through age 12
• Synaptic connections become stable after they are
  activated by sensory input (touch, sight,
  hearing, smell, taste)

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Prelinguistic, continued

• Synapses that are not activated by sensory input
  are eventually discarded
• Environment is central in shaping the brain

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Cognition
Barrier
Communication Links the child to socialization
and cognition
Receptive
Writing
Expressive
Reading
________
______
______
________
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