Bilingual environments present an important context for word learning. One feature of bilingual environments is the existence of translation equivalents (TEs)--words in different languages that share similar meanings. Documenting TE learning over development may give us insight into the mechanisms underlying word learning in young bilingual…

It is said that children are amazing at acquiring their first language (L1); by the time they reach school age, they are using complex grammar and demonstrating a wide vocabulary. Even more impressive, these young learners might show up at school with two languages in their toolbox or add a second language (L2) with far less effort than older…

In this research paper, we present an AR- and AI-based mobile learning tool that provides: 1.) automatic and accurate intelligibility analysis at various levels: letter, word, phrase and sentences, 2.) immediate feedback and multimodal coaching on how to correct pronunciation, and 3.) evidence-based dynamic training curriculum tailored to each…

The teaching of foreign languages to young learners is growing in popularity around the world. Research in this field, particularly of English as a second/foreign language education in East Asia, is a relatively new area of empirical inquiry, and it has the potential to make significant contributions to child second-language acquisition…

Paper shows that Wittgenstein, in discussing ostensive definition, understanding, and the private language argument, attacks Saint Augustine's notion of learning. Recently, the Augustinian conception has been resurrected in cognitive theories postulating an innate language of thought, making Wittgenstein's claims that this conception of learning…

Three types of processes occur in language learning, each intricately connected with the others. Social processes are the steps by which learners and target language speakers create a social situation in which target language communication is possible and desired. Linguistic processes are the ways in which assumptions held by target language…

The interaction of two elementary-age American children with their bilingual mother and French-speaking peers was monitored to determine learning strategies in a natural French immersion situation. Seven strategies were discovered, each of which provided the necessary ingredients of processible input, practice, and feedback to the language…

Reviews current understanding of the process of emergent literacy development for linguistically diverse children. Claims that process of literacy development can be viewed as a sequential developmental task. Also explains that children create principles or hypotheses to develop literacy specific to their understanding of their native language and…

Language is easiest to learn before age 5. The Cherokee Nation supported production of a toy that teaches young children basic Cherokee words. When figures that come with the toy are placed into it, a computer chip activates a voice speaking the name of the figure in Cherokee. Learning takes place on visual, auditory, and tactile levels. (TD)

A study investigated a model that takes into account the influence of conceptual, cultural, and linguistic variables in formation of verbal and nonverbal concepts in bilingual children. This triple-interaction model states that concepts are represented in three ways: (1) nonverbally as abstract categories; (2) symbolically by means of…

The case study of a 5-year-old Taiwanese child, newly arrived in the United States with no English skills, focuses on the effect that parent and teacher expectations have on the child's acquisition of English literacy skills. Data were gathered in home and classroom visits, in formal and semi-structured interviews, and from samples of the child's…

Question development in English as a second language in four native Spanish-speaking children is described. The English questions initiated by four children differing in English proficiency (two limited English speaking and two fluent English speaking) were examined at two points in time to determine how question use changes in the syntactic,…

A literature review and discussion of the language acquisition processes of young children looks at three types of child bilingualism: (1) simultaneous bilingualism in very young children, (2) sequential bilingualism in preschool children, and (3) sequential bilingualism in school-age children below the age of puberty. First, a theoretical…

This document is a report on English acquisition by a 2-year old Gujarati-speaking child. Overall language development is dealt with only partially. Two aspects of this development are concentrated on. These are (1) phonological accomodation of English and Gujarati in a changing and increasing system, and (2) concentration of English lexemes in…

Second language educators need to examine in greater depth the learning processes of young children in order to provide them with the kind of teaching they need in order to really learn. This means searching other fields to learn as much as possible about: questioning strategies and the development of critical thinking skills; hemispheric…