In Tuesday’s class, we talked briefly about the use of “mothernese” or “baby talk.” Most families adopt a unique lexicon to communicate with their children. However, a new study from Dutch researcher Lotte Henrichs has stressed influence of how adults approach their children. Specifically, it is important that adults use “academic language” when communicating to kids aged 3 to 6 years old to help with language acquisition. The study followed 150 children from the Netherlands, ages 3 to 6 years old.
What exactly is “academic language?” Academic language is used by teachers for instructions and teaching. Characterized by abstract words and complex sentence structures, academic language can be significantly harder to understand for students used to simpler words and sentences. Researcher Henrichs has shown that such language is used as early as nursery school.
In class, Professor Boroditsky mentioned that in some Native American communities, children are not spoken to until they can carry on an adult population. On the other hand, in some American households, mothers use “mothernese” and silly language with their kids, adoring anything that their child says.
According to Henrichs, children who were given the opportunity to “make meaningful contributions to conversations” often “use characteristics of academic language proficiency naturally.” Other factors, such as parents’ reading to children and engaging in conversations about specific subjects also have an impact on the development of “academic language.”
What implications do these findings have? Perhaps we should start using proper language with children instead of using incredibly simple or “baby” language. Today’s newspapers, paperwork, and other written documents are incredibly complex and convoluted. We should expose children to abstract words and complex sentences earlier on in order to facilitate their comprehension skills.
Article: Talking seriously with children is good for their language proficiency
Source: http://www.physorg.com/news192907116.html
I think this issue is very interesting because it illustrates the connection between language and culture- but culture in a different sense from how we usually define it as being tied to a race or country, for example. This finding seems to be advocating for a radical change in culture- culture that dictates that mothers (and fathers and other adults) should speak to babies in a very different way from how they speak to other people. This culture is not necessarily concrete, but seems undeniable, as it seems natural for many to slip automatically into this "mothernese" language when speaking with babies. Perhaps this shows how this type of speaking has been learned by many, and should be unlearned if the findings of this study continue to be seen as valid.
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