Susan Foster-Cohen

Very preterm children show impairments across multiple neurodevelopmental domains by age 4 years.

Objectives: Neurodevelopmental outcomes associated with preterm birth are of major health and educational concern. This study examined the neuromotor, cognitive, language and emotional/behavioural outcomes of a regional cohort of 4-year-old children born extremely preterm (EPT: 23–27 weeks’ gestation), very preterm (VPT: 28–33 weeks) and full term (FT: 38–41 weeks). Of particular interest were children’s risks of impairment across multiple neurodevelopmental domains. Methods: Data were gathered as part of a prospective longitudinal study of 105 very preterm (⩽33 weeks gestation) and 107 FT children born during 1998–2000. At 4 years corrected age, children underwent a comprehensive multidisciplinary assessment that included a paediatric neurological examination, cognitive and language testing, and an assessment of child emotional and behavioural adjustment. Results: At age 4 years, compared to FT children, EPT and VPT children had increased risks of cerebral palsy (EPT 18%, VPT 15%, FT 1%), cognitive delay (EPT 33%, VPT 36%, FT 13%), language delay (EPT 29%, VPT 29%, FT 10%) and emotional/behavioural adjustment problems (EPT 37%, VPT 13%, FT 11%). EPT and VPT children were three times more likely to have multiple domain impairments than FT children (EPT 30%, VPT 29%, FT 10%). Conclusions: A substantial proportion of preschool children born very preterm show clinically significant problems in at least one neurodevelopmental domain, with impairment in multiple domains being common. There is a need to monitor preschool development across a range of functional domains and to consider the likely cascading effects of multiple impairments on later development.

High prevalence/low severity language delay in preschool children born very preterm.

Objective: To examine the language development at corrected age 4 years of a regionally representative cohort of children born very preterm (VPT). Of particular interest was the identification of biological and socioenvironmental risk and protective factors that influence VPT childrens early language development. Method: Data were collected as part of a prospective longitudinal study of 110 VPT (VPT: ≤33 weeks gestation) and 113 full-term children (full term: 37–41 weeks gestation) born in Canterbury, New Zealand from 1998 to 2000. At corrected age 4 years, all children were assessed with the preschool version of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals. Extensive information was also collected about childrens family social background, perinatal health, childrearing environment, education/intervention exposures, and neurodevelopmental progress from birth to age 4. Results: At the age of 4 years, VPT children were characterized by poorer receptive and expressive language development than full-term children. These differences persisted after exclusion of children with neurosensory impairment as well as statistical adjustment for the effects of social risk. Within the VPT group, the key predictors of childrens overall language development were family social risk at birth (p =.05), severity of white matter abnormalities on neonatal magnetic resonance imaging (p =.49), observed parent-child synchrony (p =.001), and concurrent child cognitive ability (p =.001). Together, these factors accounted for 45% of the variance in childrens total Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals—Preschool scores. Conclusion: By preschool age, children born VPT show early emerging mild to moderate language delays that are likely to affect their school success and longer-term developmental progress. Findings highlight the importance of potentially modifiable factors such as early brain injury and parenting quality in predicting the language outcomes of children born VPT.

Exploring the boundary between syntax and pragmatics: relevance and the binding of pronouns.

This paper explores the interface between syntax and pragmatics, focusing on the binding of pronouns and the pragmatics of the paradigms used to test this aspect of syntactic knowledge. Reinharts (1986) version of Binding Theory (which accords a specific role to pragmatics in processes of pronoun resolution) and Sperber & Wilsons (1986) Theory of Relevance are used to examine the syntax and pragmatics of pronoun interpretation. A set of predictions based on Relevance Theory are evaluated against published results of tests of Binding Theory. The paper concludes that Relevance Theory provides a means of understanding constraints on testing syntactic knowledge and argues that pragmatic factors must be systematically controlled in any evaluation of syntactic knowledge.

First language acquisition... second language acquisition: ‘What’s Hecuba to him or he to Hecuba?’

Second language (L2) research appeals to first language acquisition research frequently and standardly. It is important, however, to take stock from time to time of the uses that second language acquisition (SLA) makes of its sister field. Whether we use first language (L1) research to generate or bolster the importance of a particular research question, to argue for a fundamental similarity or a fundamental difference between the two sorts of acquisition, or to offer guidance in the formulation of research paradigms, it is important that we do so with our critical eyes open.This article examines the possible and specific relationships between L1 acquisition and SLA, with the aim of showing that a number of assumptions warrant closer inspection. It begins by examining the expressions ‘first language acquisition’ and ‘second language acquisition’, suggesting that the syntactic and lexical parallelism between the two masks important issues internal to the fields involved. It then explores problems in distinguishing L1 from L2 acquisition from three different perspectives: individual language learner histories, the data, and the mechanisms proposed to account for the two types of acquisition. Finally, it takes a brief look at the sociology of L1 and L2 studies, and suggests that second language study has yet to assume fully its rightful place in the academy.

Exploring the relationships between theories of second language acquisition and Relevance Theory

This article explores a number of points at which Relevance Theory makes a useful contribution to second language theoretical models, specifically those of Bialystok and Schmidt and their respective notions of ‘analysis’, ‘control’ and ‘noticing’.It is suggested that the inferential mechanisms of Relevance Theory can account for the contingencies of communicative interaction without which pragmatic negotiations do not make sense, and thus can complement such information-processing accounts through the notions of ‘manifestness’ and the balance between ‘effort’ and ‘effect’.Further research is called for into the integration of information-processing concepts and Relevance Theoretical insights as part of a complex theoretical architecture capable of capturing the rich diversity of pragmatic development in second language acquisition.

Relevance Theory, Action Theory and second language communication strategies:

The discussion in this article offers a comparison between Relevance Theory as an account of human communication and Herbert Clark’s (1996)sociocognitive Action Theory approach. It is argued that the differences are fundamental and impact analysis of all kinds of naturally occurring communicative data, including that produced by non-native speakers. The differences are discussed and illustrated with data from second language communication strategies. It is suggested that the often fraught interactions between native and non-native speakers are better captured through a Relevance Theory approach than through the alternatives.

The Effects of Expansions, Questions and Cloze Procedures on Children's Conversational Skills.

The effectiveness of expansion as a technique for facilitating children’s language and conversational skills is well known (Scherer and Olswang, 1984). Expansion, however, can appear alone or in combination with other techniques. Using a repeated measures design, this study aimed to compare the effects of expansion alone (EA); expansion combined with wh-questions (EQ); and expansion followed by a cloze procedure (EC) on the conversational skills of eight preschool children with conversational difficulties. Results showed that while there were no significant differences in child verbal topic maintaining responses across all techniques, EA elicited a significantly higher number of topic extensions, more non-verbal topic maintaining responses and fewer ‘non-relevant responses’ from the children, than either EQ or EC. The positive effects of each technique on the pragmatic appropriateness in conversations suggest that they could be used strategically in language intervention to ensure greater therapeutic effect.

Directions of influence in first and second language acquisition research

This article explores ways in which studies in second language acquisition (SLA) research can illuminate first language acquisition research. The discussion revolves around the issues of learner strategies, individual variation, the acquisition of late learned structures, bilingualism, the role of Universal Grammar (UG) and the fate of obsolete knowledge in acquisition. It is argued that second language research in these (and other) areas can provide fresh insights into familiar problems and raise issues not commonly given consideration in first language acquisition studies.

Modularity and Principles and Parameters: avoiding the 'cognitively ugly'

This paper provides an overview of some of the advantages of the Principles and Parameters approach to language acquisition research, and suggests that modularity is a particularly helpful feature of this approach. It argues that serious attention to modularity clarifies research thinking, encouraging us to examine the boundaries between modules in constructive ways. Particular attention is paid to the boundary between syntax and pragmatics as illustrative of such boundary issues in general. Researchers are encouraged to examine other frameworks for their contributions to a more eclectic view of language acquisition than currently popular, with the anticipation that it will lead to a healthy interaction between the contributions of different approaches.

Relevance Theory and second language learning/behaviour

In my review article of Sperber and Wilson (1986=95), published in this journal (Foster-Cohen, 2000), I suggested that relevance theoretic work in second language acquisition had barely begun. The current issue of this journal is intended to demonstrate that, despite its young history, research into second language study adopting a Relevance Theory approach is now a vigorous and important player in our field. The impact, I believe, of the current collection is that it demonstrates how relevance theoretic researchers think about second language data, how they argue with each other over theoretical issues, and how they can and do provide insight into key issues in ways worthy of attention by researchers in other frameworks. Most importantly, the collection demonstrates both how behaviours that are general to all language users as well as those particular to second language (L2) learners can be understood from this theoretical perspective. At the basis of the application is that second language learners are not some unusual breed of speaker= hearer (Foster-Cohen, 2000; Rosales Sequieros, this issue). The first two articles in the issue address specific topics in the acquisition of particularly difficult morphosyntactic distinctions in English. Zegarac’s article examines the acquisition of the English definite article the by L2 learners who do not have an article system in their first language (L1); he looks at Croatian and Serbian.