Priya M. Shimpi

Syntactic Priming in 3- and 4-Year-Old Children: Evidence for Abstract Representations of Transitive and Dative Forms.

The current studies used a syntactic priming paradigm with 3- and 4-year-old children. In Experiment 1, children were asked to describe a series of drawings depicting transitive and dative relations to establish baseline production levels. In Experiment 2, an experimenter described a similar series of drawings using one of two syntactic forms (i.e., active/passive for transitive; double-object/prepositional for dative). Children were then asked to describe pictures identical to those shown in the corresponding baseline procedure. In both transitive and dative conditions, 4-year-old children were more likely to use a particular syntactic form if it had been used by the experimenter. Three-year-old children did not show priming effects, but their production of transitive sentences was higher following transitive primes than in Experiment 1. In Experiment 3, an additional group of 3-year-olds participated in a procedure in which they repeated the experimenters sentences before describing the pictures. This procedure yielded significant priming effects for transitive and dative forms. These results indicate that very young children possess abstract syntactic representations, but that their access to these representations is sensitive to task demands.

Social Experience, Social Attention and Word Learning in an Overhearing Paradigm

This study explored the relation between childrens daily experiences, their attentional behaviors, and their ability to learn words from directed and overheard speech at 20 months of age. Novel objects were presented and labeled in one of two conditions: (a) a Direct condition in which an experimenter addressed the child or (b) an Overhearing condition in which an experimenter addressed a confederate. Childrens attentional behaviors during training were coded and parents were asked to describe their childrens social experiences outside of the laboratory. In the Direct condition there was no reliable pattern of correlations between experience, attention, and word learning. In the Overhearing condition, word learning positively related to both the amount of time children spent with multiple adults and to the duration of childrens attention to the experimenters during training. Furthermore, childrens experience around multiple adults positively related to their attention to the experimenters. These findings suggest the possibility that children who have more experience with multiple adults develop attention strategies that enable them to learn words in an overhearing situation.

Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in bilingual children

Previous research has used cross-linguistic priming methodology with bilingual adults to explore the nature of their syntactic representations. The present paper extends the use of this methodology to bilingual children to investigate the relation between the syntactic structures of their two languages. Specifically, we examined whether the use of passives by the experimenter in one language primed the subsequent use of passives by the child in the other language. Results showed evidence of syntactic priming from Spanish to English: hearing a Spanish sentence containing a passive led to the increase in childrens production of the parallel structure in English. However, there was no priming in the other direction: hearing an English sentence containing a passive did not increase childrens use of the parallel structure in Spanish. These results provide evidence for both the integration of syntactic representations in bilingual children and the asymmetry of the relation between their two languages.

Social and linguistic input in low-income African American mother-child dyads from 1 month through 2 years: Relations to vocabulary development

The relation of social and linguistic input measures to early vocabulary development was examined in 30 low-income African American mother–infant pairs. Observations were conducted when the child was 0 years, 1 month (0;1), 0;4, 0;8, 1;0, 1;6, and 2;0. Maternal input was coded for word types and tokens, contingent responsiveness, and directiveness. Childrens outcome measures included productive vocabulary at 1;6 and 2;0. Patterns of social and linguistic input were highly consistent over time. Significant positive relations were found between linguistic input measures and child vocabulary development. Findings for social input measures included positive relations between directive input and child word types, which differs from previous research with European American middle-class samples.

Priming a perspective in Spanish monolingual children: the use of syntactic alternatives.

We used a syntactic priming paradigm to show priming effects for active and passive forms in monolingual Spanish-speaking four- and five-year-olds. In a baseline experiment, we examined childrens use of the fue-passive form and found it was virtually non-existent in their speech, although they produced important elements of the form. Children used a more frequent Spanish passive form, the subjectless/se-passive. In a priming experiment, we presented children with drawings described using either active or fue-passive sentences. Children then described novel drawings. Priming was induced for active and passive forms; however, children did not produce the fue-passive provided for them. Instead, children used the subjectless/se-passive and what we term the function-passive, which like the fue-passive, emphasize the patient of the action. We argue that childrens use of different passive forms suggests they are sensitive to experimenters input as it relates to scene interpretation and to syntax.

If I Am Not Doing My Own Playing Then I Am Not Able to Truly Share the Gift of Play with Children: Using Poststructuralism and Care Ethics to Examine Future Early Childhood Educators' Relationships with Play in Adulthood.

The current sociopolitical context of schooling is positioning play as incongruous with childrens academic learning. As a result, teacher educators must increasingly guide future early childhood professionals to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become effective play advocates. This includes articulating the value of play across the lifespan to a variety of stakeholders. Yet, ironically, many adult women entering the early childhood profession report that a wide range of barriers prevent them from including play in their adult lives. Two case studies highlight how early childhood graduate students use their experiences with play across the lifespan as a foundation for becoming play advocates. Nel Noddingss care ethics and feminist poststructural critiques of the construct of care inform the analysis and discussion of the findings. Implications suggest the importance of guiding early childhood professionals to acknowledge self-care as a component of care and play as an essential expression of self-care.

Structural Priming in Spanish as Evidence of Implicit Learning.

This study uses a structural priming technique with young Spanish speakers to test whether exposure to a rare syntactic form in Spanish (fue-passive) would increase the production and comprehension of that form. In Study 1, 14 six-year-old Spanish speakers described pictures of transitive scenes. This baseline study revealed that fue-passives were virtually non-existent in childrens spontaneous speech. Using the priming technique in Study 2, an additional 56 Spanish-speaking children were exposed to fue-passive or active picture descriptions; we varied whether children repeated the modeled form. With repetition, production of fue-passives increased past baseline usage. When not asked to repeat, comprehension and production of fue-passives was no different than chance. Results extend the existing literature by experimentally testing input effects on the production and comprehension of infrequently used constructions, further corroborating the relation between input frequency and language skill. Findings are consistent with the view that an implicit learning mechanism guides language learning.

Cycling on abandoned Second World War airfields and Jugando a Las Escondidas en el Parque: examining play memories from adults growing up around the world

This study examined play memories from adults who grew up in a wide range of international contexts. Surveys and semi-structured interviews asking adults to recollect play memories were completed with 135 adults (100 Females, 35 Males) who grew up in 21 countries. Play memories were analysed to identify adults’ favourite types of childhood play, barriers preventing their play, beliefs about the impact of their childhood play across their lifespan, the emotions associated with recollecting their play, and the similarities and variations represented across the adults’ play memories. Pretend play, play in nature, and risk-taking were prevalent themes, however, the data reflect how variation in sociocultural and historical contexts strongly influenced childrens play experiences. The majority of participants associated play memories with positive feelings and reported lifelong benefits of early play experiences. The literature on sociocultural variations in childrens play and neuroscience research on memories as reconstructions informs discussion of the findings.

Using Parent and Teacher Voices in the Creation of a Western-Based Early Childhood English-Language Program in China.

The current English-language research and educational program was driven by an initiative to create a more interactive, theme-based bilingual language education model for preschools in Chengdu, China. During a 2-week teacher education program centered at the Experimental Kindergarten of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Chengdu, China, a team of educational and developmental researchers and early childhood educators from the United States created and implemented a teacher education workshop centered on theme-based, child-centered early bilingual education curricula. The team conducted a series of classroom demonstrations, teaching observations, and focused group discussions and presented theoretical lectures to supplement and support the learning objectives of the workshop. Changes in teachers’ understanding of the learning materials and perspectives on educational approaches were measured using pre- and posttest surveys with multiple-choice, Likert-type scale, and open-ended responses. Results showed increases in teachers’ learning as well as positive responses to the researchers’ model. Parent surveys were collected to understand their motivations and expectations for children’s English-language learning, and the data showed unique patterns in Chinese parents’ goals for their children’s bilingualism. The authors describe how teacher and parent data can be used to give context to the local teaching approaches and conditions, and how these data can be used to refine, adapt, and implement Western-based models.