Developing a meaningful account of the acquisition of the English past tense.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Manchester
Department Name: Psychological Sciences
Abstract
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Organisations
Publications
Grzegorz Krajewski (Author)
(2012)
Learning the English past tense : developing corpus-based measures
Krajewski, G.
The acquisition of the English past tense.
in 14th Annual conference of the Chester (North-West) Language Development group, Alston hall, UK. 2012
Moy, J.
The impact of task context on children's acquisition of inflection: Experimental evidence and computational simulation.
in 20th Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing, Edinburgh 2014
Taylor J
(2015)
How Word Meaning Influences Word Reading
in Current Directions in Psychological Science
Theakston, A.
Frequency, phonological and semantic factors in the development of the English past tense.
in Cognitive Science Society conference, Berlin 2013
Theakston, A.
Morphological errors in the production of the English past tense: The contribution of frequency, phonological, semantic and contextual factors.
in 13th International Association for the Study of Child Language, Amsterdam, 2014
Theakston, A.
Prior discourse effects in the production of the English past tense - the role of priming in children's errors.
in Boston University Child Language Development conference, 2013
Theakston, A.
The role of lexical aspect in past tense production in children
in 5th Uk Cognitive Linguistics Society conference
Theakston, A.
Verb semantics and the acquisition of the English past tense.
in 13th International Association for the Study of Child Language, Amsterdam, 2014
Theakston, A.
Task effects in the production of the English past tense: Stem retrieval versus direct access from meaning.
in Child Language Seminar, 2013
| Description | New methods and knowledge: We compared children's performance in producing past tense inflections on a stem-based elicitation task, with a strong emphasis on phonological representations, to a novel and more ecologically valid video inflection task with an inherently higher load on semantic information. We created a standard picture task and animations for 120 English verbs and elicited these from 900 children across the two tasks aged 2;6-5;5 years. Our results demonstrate that the rate at which children produce correct and error responses varies as a function of their age, the regularity of the verb, and the task, reflecting different routes to access or generate past tense forms as a function of context. New research resources and knowledge We produced a database that documents children's performance on a large number of early-acquired verbs. To this end, we tested 543 children aged between 2;6-5;5 on 300 verbs using the standard picture inflection task, and analysed their rate of correct responses and error for each verb across development. These data reveal interesting differences between verbs in the children's responses, and will provide a benchmark against which to compare the performance of children in other studies, and those with language disorders. In addition, we developed a wide range of predictor variables for past tense verb performance encoding various kinds of frequency, phonological, and semantic information for individual verbs, including a number of novel measures. To achieve this, we coded 300 different verbs for 58 predictor variables. These predictors, where appropriate, were entered into a principle components analysis to derive a series of composite measures that characterised the set of verbs. These composite variables were then entered into a series of multilevel analyses to predict the children's past tense performance. The results reveal complex interactions between the variables that change over the course of development, providing insights into how the system builds up. Finally, we developed a connectionist model to simulate the children's data. The model consisted of three input/output layers corresponding to input phonology, output phonology, and input/output semantics (what the model is "hearing", "saying", and the verb meanings presented to the model respectively) and one large bank of hidden units connecting them. The two tasks were simulated as either "inflection from form" (standard picture inflection task) or "inflection from meaning" (video-inflection task) whereby the model was presented with the present tense/semantic representation of the verb respectively. The model accurately reproduced the task and developmental differences seen in the children, demonstrating that a unified frequency-sensitive system of phonological and semantic networks can explain the variable performance we see in children at different developmental stages. Together, these new methods, resources and theoretical insights provide much needed evidence of how children's knowledge of morphological systems develops, and important tools for the further investigation of critical questions in language acquisition research. |
| Exploitation Route | First, these findings may be used to inform researchers and practitioners' understanding of how children's knowledge of morphological systems develops, and how this might go wrong in atypical development. Summaries of children's performance on individual verbs and sub-groups of verbs could be used to inform SLT practice. The PI is in discussions with the RCSLT to find the best ways to facilitate the dissemination of information. Second, these findings are likely to be of interest to Early Years practitioners, especially in the context of enhanced Early Years provision for two-year-olds. A greater awareness of language development within the 2-3yr age group has been signalled as an area for targeted training. The PI is working with a number of Greater Manchester childcare providers to establish how researcher input can best inform their practice. Third, members of the public typically express interest in understanding the errors children make and their origins. The PI has delivered a series of talks as part of the University Widening Participation initiative, informing sixth form students, staff, and the wider public about children's past tense production. Finally, the findings are also likely to be of interest to practitioners working with adults with acquired aphasia. Many of the errors we see in early childhood also appear during language attrition. The Co-I is investigating ways in which our findings can best be communicated to this audience to inform clinical practice. |
| Sectors | Education |
| Description | First, the findings are beginning to be used to inform practitioners' understanding of how children's knowledge of morphological systems develops, and how this might go wrong in atypical development. The PI (Theakston) in collaboration with Prof. Julian Pine (Academic, University of Liverpool), Dr. Anne Hesketh (Academic & clinician, University of Manchester) and Dr Emma Pagnamenta (Research Manager, Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists) organized and delivered a training workshop for SLTs (October 2015, http://www.lucid.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/slt-workshop-methods-for-informally-assessing-children-s-language/), part of which specifically targeted language elicitation techniques for working with children. Summaries of children's past tense performance on individual verbs and sub-groups of verbs, along with elicitation stimuli and scripts are available for SLTs to download and use in their practice from our project website. We are currently working directly with a number of SLTs interested in implementing these techniques into their practice. Second, our findings are of interest to Early Years practitioners, especially in the context of enhanced Early Years provision for two-year-olds. A greater awareness of language development within the 2-3yr age group has been signalled as an area for targeted training. The PI, along with Prof. Elena Lieven (University of Manchester) was responsible for designing and delivering a training conference for Early Years Practitioners in the Stockport area in February 2016. One of the sessions included a focus on children's grammatical errors. Past tense errors are one of the common problems seen in children with Specific Language Impairment, thus increasing awareness among practitioners of patterns of development may, in the longer term, increase the likelihood of early diagnosis and effective interventions. Third, members of the public often express interest in understanding the errors children make and their origins. The PI has delivered a series of talks as part of the University Widening Participation initiative, informing sixth form students, staff, and the wider public about children's past tense production. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Exploiting variation in language processing: A cognitive neuroscience approach. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Colloquium, Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, August, 2011. Greater awareness of our research in the international community. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2011 |
| Description | Explorations in Past-Tense Inflection: From decline to development |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited Colloquium, Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway, 19th September, 2012. N/A |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Frequency, phonological and semantic factors in the development of the English past tense. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Poster presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster presented at the 35th Annual Cognitive Science Conference, Berlin, Germany. Abstract published in proceedings - http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2013/papers/0954/index.html Poster presented at the 35th Annual Cognitive Science Conference, Berlin, 2013. Conference attended by researchers from a broad range of disciplines within Cognitive Science. Abstract published in online proceedings - http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2013/papers/0954/index.html Poster presented at the 35th Annual Cognitive Science Conference, Berlin, 2013. Conference attended by researchers from a broad range of disciplines within Cognitive Science. Abstract published in online proceedings - http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2013/pa |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Inflection from form versus meaning: Developmental and computational evidence |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | Poster presentation |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Poster abstract published in the online proceedings of the 35th Annual Cognitive Science Conference. http://mindmodeling.org/cogsci2013/papers/0986/index.html Poster abstract published in Cognitive Science Society online proceedings. Conference attended by internaitonal researchers from a variety of Cognitive Science disciplines. Poster abstract published in Cognitive Science Society online proceedings. Conference attended by internaitonal researchers from a variety of Cognitive Science disciplines. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | School visit, Accrington |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked lots of questions and discussion about both how children learn to talk, and University study more generally. Very positive feedback received, and repeat visits likely. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | School visit, Ashton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Interactive lecture inspired a lot of discussion and questions about how children learn language among both students and staff. Students from Ashton Sixth Form have since visited our labs (LuCiD Child Study Centre) - June 2015. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Task effects in the production of the English past tense: Stem retrieval versus direct access from meaning. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper presented at Child Language Seminar, Manchester. International conference presentation - Child Language Seminar, 2013 held in Manchester, UK, attended by researchers in the Child Language field (both typical and atypical development) and by some child langauge practitioners. International conference presentation - Child Language Seminar, 2013 held in Manchester, UK, attended by researchers in the Child Language field (both typical and atypical development) and by some child langauge practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Training event for Speech and Language Therapists |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Theakston was a lead organizer of a training workshop for SLTs attended by approx. 30 SLTs from across the UK. Workshop provided hands-on experience for SLTs in use of research-based transcription and elicitation techniques. As a result of the activity, a number of SLTs have signed up to work more closely with researchers to implement these methods (including our past tense elicitation techniques & data) in their practice. In addition, our elicitation materials and summary data are available for practitioners to download from our project website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.lucid.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/slt-workshop-methods-for-informally-assessing-children... |