Linking adult second language learning and diachronic change:a cautionary note

It has been suggested that the morphological complexity of a language is negatively correlated with the size of its population of speakers. This relationship may be driven by the proportion of non-native speakers, among other things, and reflects adaptations to learning constraints imposed by adult language learners. Here we sound a note of caution with respect to these claims by arguing that (a) morphological complexity is defined in somewhat contradictory ways and hence not straightforward to measure, and (b) there is insufficient evidence to suggest that children’s cognitive limitations support mechanisms beneficial for learning of complex morphology relative to adults. We suggest that considering the informational value of morphological cues may be a better way to capture learnability of morphology. To settle the issue of how age related constraints on learning might impact language change, more cross-linguistic studies comparing learning trajectories of different second languages and laboratory experiments examining language transmission in children and adults are needed

How are exemplar representations transformed by encoding, retrieval, and explicit knowledge? A commentary on Ambridge (2020)

The radical exemplar model resonates with work on perceptual classification and categorization highlighting the role of exemplars in memory representations. Further development of the model requires acknowledgment of both the fleeting and fragile nature of perceptual representations and the gist-based, good-enough quality of long-term memory representations. Retrieval operations potentially serve as a mechanism for abstraction as representations of exemplars are distorted through reconstructive processes. As a framework applicable to both first and second language acquisition, the model needs to account for how explicit knowledge arises and its role in filtering input via selective attention

More is more in language learning:reconsidering the less-is-more hypothesis

The Less-is-More hypothesis was proposed to explain age-of-acquisition effects in first language (L1) acquisition and second language (L2) attainment. We scrutinize different renditions of the hypothesis by examining how learning outcomes are affected by (1) limited cognitive capacity, (2) reduced interference resulting from less prior knowledge, and (3) simplified language input. While there is little-to-no evidence of benefits of limited cognitive capacity, there is ample support for a More-is-More account linking enhanced capacity with better L1- and L2-learning outcomes, and reduced capacity with childhood language disorders. Instead, reduced prior knowledge (relative to adults) may afford children with greater flexibility in inductive inference; this contradicts the idea that children benefit from a more constrained hypothesis space. Finally, studies of childdirected speech (CDS) confirm benefits from less complex input at early stages, but also emphasize how greater lexical and syntactic complexity of the input confers benefits in L1-attainment

Distributional effects and individual differences in L2 morphology learning

Second language (L2) learning outcomes may depend on the structure of the input and learners’ cognitive abilities. This study tested whether less predictable input might facilitate learning and generalization of L2 morphology while evaluating contributions of statistical learning ability, nonverbal intelligence, phonological short-term memory, and verbal working memory. Over three sessions, 54 adults were exposed to a Russian case-marking paradigm with a balanced or skewed item distribution in the input. Whereas statistical learning ability and nonverbal intelligence predicted learning of trained items, only nonverbal intelligence also predicted generalization of case-marking inflections to new vocabulary. Neither measure of temporary storage capacity predicted learning. Balanced, less predictable input was associated with higher accuracy in generalization but only in the initial test session. These results suggest that individual differences in pattern extraction play a more sustained role in L2 acquisition than instructional manipulations that vary the predictability of lexical items in the input

Acquisition of gender agreement in Lithuanian:exploring the effect of diminutive usage in an elicited production task

This study examines Lithuanian children's acquisition of gender agreement using an elicited production task. Lithuanian is a richly inflected Baltic language, with two genders and seven cases. Younger (N=24, mean 3;1, 2;5–3;8) and older (N=24, mean 6;3, 5;6–6;9) children were shown pictures of animals and asked to describe them after hearing the animal's name. Animal names differed with respect to familiarity (novel vs. familiar), derivational status (diminutive vs. simplex) and gender (masculine vs. feminine). Analyses of gender-agreement errors based on adjective and pronoun usage indicated that younger children made more errors than older children, with errors more prevalent for novel animal names. For novel animals, and for feminine nouns, children produced fewer errors with nouns introduced in diminutive form. These results complement findings from several Slavic languages (Russian, Serbian and Polish) that diminutives constitute a salient cluster of word forms that may provide an entry point for the child's acquisition of noun morphology

An internship experience in educational leadership at Pyne Poynt Family School

This study is intended to focus attention on the need for technological training for educators. Teachers do not have the necessary technological skills to effectively impact on student learning. Participants of the study were surveyed and interviewed. All those surveyed were teachers at the school where the intern was assigned. Teaching experience ranged from first year teacher to 30 year teacher. Of the 48 questionnaires distributed, 22 were returned. Results provided information for the intern to determine staff training needs relative to curriculum, past computer knowledge and Internet experience, attitude toward technology, and barriers hindering technology use. Data collected supported the fact that the majority of teachers felt unprepared to use computers as instructional tools, and few teacher training programs were preparing educators to effectively use the Internet to enrich their classrooms and contribute to their own personal development

Recognizing La Cultura: The Experience of Cultural Scripts in Latina Leadership

Currently, Latinas are the fastest growing population in the United States and comprise one-fifth of the female population (Colby and Ortman, 2015). It is estimated that by the year 2060 Latinas will make up one-third of the females in the US (Colby and Ortman, 2015). Gaps exist in the literature on how Latino/a culture influences leadership, while there are several factors that indicate that Latina leaders bring their cultural scrips to their leadership practices (Espinoza, 2015; Gándara, 2015; González, 2007; Holvino, 2008). This narrative inquiry examines the personal and professional lived experiences of Latina leaders to gain a deeper understanding of how their lived experiences as leaders were informed by their culture. Specifically, this study used Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Latino Critical Race Theory (LatCrit) as theoretical foundations to examine both data collection and data analysis. The research design primarily used elicitation of narratives through interviews and pláticas (simple conversation used as a way to educate and advocate through the use of storytelling) to examine the lived experiences of Latina leaders. The primary goal of this study is the need to understand Latino cultural scripts and the implications they have for leadership practices. The participants in this study support previous findings that suggest that their firsthand experience and their cultural identity serves as catalysts along their leadership trajectories and practices (Espinoza, 2015; Gándara, 2015; González, 2007). In addition, the participant’s stories can provide critical information to not only serve Latina leaders, but can also help drive and influence Latino women in non-leadership roles. To conclude, this research study contributes to the literature and to the field by offering information that can eventually promote a better understanding of Latina leaders, providing organizations with information which will help them become more inclusive environment that encourage belongingness and a constructive work experience for Latina leaders

Children’s tolerance of word-form variation

How much morphological variation can children tolerate when identifying familiar words? This is an important question in the context of the acquisition of richly inflected languages where identical word forms occur far less frequently than in English. To address this question, we compared children’s (N = 96, mean age 4;1, range 2;11–5;1) and adults’ (N = 96, mean age 21 years) tolerance of word-onset modifications (e.g., for stug: wug and wastug) and pseudoaffixes (e.g., kostug and stugko) in a labelextension task. Word-form modifications were repeated within each experiment to establish productive inflectional patterns. In two experiments, children and adults exhibited similar strategies: they were more tolerant of prefixes (wastug) than substitutions of initial consonants (wug), and more tolerant of suffixes (stugko) than prefixes (kostug). The findings point to word-learning strategies as being flexible and adaptive to morphological patterns in languages