Developing Situational and Metalinguistic Awareness in a Young

Developing Situational and Metalinguistic Awareness in a Young Bilingual Child: A Hebrew-English Case Study Kristen Pallonetti, Julia Rosenberg, Erica Shreck, & Brian Druyan Graduate Advisor: Yarden Kedar • Faculty Advisor: Dr. Barbara Lust Cornell Language Acquisition Lab, Cornell University • NE Sigma Xi Conference 2007, Ithaca, NY Abstract Results The present study evaluates the English second language acquisition of NG, a three-year old child who emigrated from Israel to the United States in August 2006, after being exposed only to Hebrew since birth. Enrolled in a full-day pre-k program, this child had been exposed to English beginning in late August, until the present in school, but maintained Hebrew at home. One of the mysteries of second language acquisition in the young child is: how does a child differentiate two languages, while acquiring them simultaneously? Does diverse exposure aid or hinder the language acquisition process? In this project, we pursue an answer to these questions. To gather the necessary data, experimenters conducted sessions in both Hebrew and English with the child at school and at home (over a six month period, aged 3; 0; 15 to 3; 6; 16), following from first exposure to English. In these videotaped sessions, experimenters spoke with the child to elicit natural speech in each language through conversation and play. Specifically designed questionnaires were administered to the child's parents and teachers. While the child's English acquisition was found to proceed significantly over these months, at the same time, the development of the child's metalinguistic situational awareness was found to proceed in four distinct stages over the seven month period. Several factors were found to influence this developing awareness. This study on early childhood bilingualism provides evidence on how second language learning through immersion in a balanced exposure aids in rapid learning and growth. • Four distinct stages were found in L 1 and L 2 production, bearing on the child’s developing situational awareness • Stages were determined by noticeable change or rapid increase in one of the following areas: L 1 production, L 2 production, translational ability, and apparent meta-linguistic (child’s knowledge of own linguistic capacities) and situational awareness (child’s ability to incorporate understanding of context and speaker’s language to determine the appropriate language to use) Language History • NG, Female, born 08/2003 in Israel and Currently (04/2007) in Ithaca, NY Exposure to Hebrew (L 1) • Exposed to Hebrew from birth; sole language for 3 years • Continues to speak mainly Hebrew at home • Speaks Hebrew in daycare with one classmate Exposure to English (L 2) • First exposure in 8/2006 at 3. 0 years; now 3. 8 years • Hears nearly 100% English at daycare center (8 hrs. /day, 5 days/week) Methods • • Visited child twice per week at day care o c t o b e r and once per month at home Video recorded natural speech & general observations at each session Researchers wrote informal reports following each session noting language production in the areas of phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics, as well as language comprehension in terms of metalinguistic and situational awareness. Administered Multilingualism Questionnaire (Yang, Blume, & Lust, in prep. ) and Pragmatics Profile (Dewart & Summers, 1988) to parents and daycare teachers Interviewed parents and teachers regularly about child’s linguistic and social progress S • • Progress of Hebrew (L 1), English (L 2), Ability to Translate, and Situational Awareness Sep 2006 “It’s all Hebrew to Me!” “Withdrawal Period” Oct 2006 Nov 2006 Dec 2006 Stage One: 9/12/06 – 9/26/06 Jan 2007 S Feb 2007 Mar 2007 S H • • April 2007 Age: 3; 0; 25 - 3; 1; 8 Stage Two: 10/31/06 - 11/28/06 Age: 3; 02; 13 - 03; 10 “And then There Were Two!” Stage Three: 12/15/06 - 02/02/07 Age: 3; 03; 28 - 3; 05; 15 Stage Four: 02/08/07 - 03/06/07 • • • Age: 3/05; 21 - 3; 06; 16 • • Table 2: Stage Characteristics STAGE ONE (“It’s all Hebrew to Me”): L 1 Production: Ability to Translate: Fluent, Proficient None Apparent L 2 Production: Situational Awareness: 0 -1 word Utterances No Differentiation (L 1 for all speakers) STAGE TWO (“Withdrawal period”): L 1 Production: Fluent, proficient L 2 Production: Mostly Repetition, 2 -3 words • • Stage One Observed NG after her arrival in Ithaca, New York from Israel in September 2006 until the present (a period of approximately 7 months). NG spoke Hebrew proficiently, without an apparent awareness or use of English. Speech production exclusively in Hebrew Stage Two Movement into Stage 2: recognition and awareness that classmates and teachers were not very responsive to Hebrew speech. There was minimal Hebrew and English speech to everyone, indicating a developing awareness. L 2 understanding and lexicon was minimal, creating this period of apparent withdrawal. Realized she cannot successfully communicate yet. She realized she must adapt her ability to speak two languages to her specific setting. Stage Three Impetus for progression to Stage 3: mother insists one morning at school to “try to say it English. ” From that point on, made significant effort to only speak English at school. Hebrew speech minimal and only with native Hebrew speakers. NG demonstrated an increase in the length of L 2 utterances, with six to seven words sentences, despite grammatical errors. Demonstrates effort to speak English fluently. Observations indicated an apparent situational awareness, as she translated between Hebrew and English. Stage Four Increasing awareness of English language grammar and syntax. Self-corrects and recognizes grammatical errors in English reflect her crystallized language knowledge in Hebrew. NG continues to demonstrate the ability and willingness to translate between Hebrew and English. NG has well-developed situational awareness, speaking almost exclusively in English at school, and at home with L 2 speakers. Conclusions and Future Studies Ability to Translate: None apparent Situational Awareness: Awareness of both languages (shy) STAGE THREE (“Now there Are Two”): L 1 Production: Ability to Translate: Begins to worsen Demonstrated ability L 2 Production: Situational Awareness: Increased utterance length (6 -7 words) Very apparent (person and context) S S • • S S • Table 1: Transitional Timeline “Fluent Language Switching” Subject Hello! Discussion STAGE FOUR (Fluent Language Switching): L 1 Production: Ability to Translate: Noticing pronunciation errors Demonstrated ability L 2 Production: Situational Awareness: Self-corrected syntax Well-developed (person and context) • Development of NGs metalinguistic and situational awareness proceeded in four distinct stages over 7 month period. • L 1 and L 2 production was determined by the child’s ability to process knowledge about both languages in terms of context and speaker. • Likewise, the concept of bilingualism plays an important role in questions relating to cognition and the cognitive development of the child as well. • Evaluating the child’s comprehension of her bilingual abilities, her actions in various environments, and her overall development might enable us to understand the process, obstacles, and challenges of second language acquisition more clearly. • Data is still being collected and future research on child’s developing bilingualism will include syntax errors, accent, pronunciation difficulties and flaws. • The evolution of her grammar usage might shed light on the different processes taking place in the child's mind as it acquires a new language. Table 3: Speech Samples “yes” “wan snack” “cat meow” “dis” “dat” “No, I wan” “I can for me do dat” “You can’t not” “Do you want to see my baby” “You not see it” … “You can’t see it” “Tell Erica she come to my house, ok? ” References • • Dewart, H. , & Summers, S. (1988). The Pragmatics Profile of Early Communication Skills. Windsor: NFER Nelson Yang, S. , Blume, M. , & Lust, B. (Eds. ) (in preparation). Virtual Linguistic Lab (VLL) Child Multilingualism Questionnaire. Virtual Center for Language Acquisition, Cornell University.