Metalinguistic skills in children: what develops?

Abstract

The aim of this study is to test developmental changes in metalinguistic skills in primary school children, using the distinction proposed by Bialystock (1986) between «analyzed knowledge» and «executive control», as two components of metalinguistic awareness involved in different tasks. 60 first, second and third grade children were individually interviewed on two tasks. In the first task (guided word substitution) children were asked to substitute an underlined word with five alternatives, thus producing new sentences to be judged on their semantic and/or morpho-syntactical acceptability. In the second task (free word substitution), children have to find out the word that can be cancelled and substituted with a new one. In both tasks children have to express an acceptability judgement, giving reasons for it. Each subject receives two scores for each task. Results from two-way Anova show that the «control» component does not change much, while the «analyzed knowledge» changes significantly, although also third grade children are more aware of semantic than of morpho-syntactic features of language.     

Activation de schèmes de programmation et mémorisation de figures géométriques

Learning programming concepts in school raises various theoretical and pragmatical questions. The experience, accumulated these past years in this field, enables us to measure the scope of the difficulties encountered both by the pupils in mastering the basic programming concepts and by teachers in building pertinent learning situations. The experiment, reported in this paper, focuses on the comparison of the effects of «programming schemes» activation versus «drawing schemes» activation on the memorization of geometrical figure characteristics. The children of the «programming group» are asked to manipulate «computer programming objects» in order to describe a figure. They build up a schematic internal representation in which the pertinent information is presented without any reference to the metrical characteristics of the object. Conversely, the representation, elaborated by children who use «familiar schemes» (drawing), is closer to the figure characteristics of the image but it induces them to make more «false recognition» of the object when one asks them to find the target among other figures.     

Under threat but engaged: Stereotype threat leads women to engage with female but not male partners in math

This research tests how experiencing stereotype threat before a dyadic interaction affects women’s engagement with peers during a dyadic math task. In a pilot study (N = 167; M_age = 20.1 years), women who completed a manipulation of stereotype threat (a socially evaluative math task in front of male evaluators) experienced greater subjective threat than did men. In Studies 1A and 1B, math-identified female undergraduates completed the stereotype threat or control (doing math alone) manipulation and then completed a collaborative math task with another female or male student (who completed the control task). Sympathetic nervous system responses were collected to measure physiological linkage—the effect of participants’ physiological states on their partners’ subsequent physiological states—as an indicator of attention to the partner. We also measured the number of math-related questions participants asked their partners and task performance. In Study 1A (female-female dyads; N = 104; M_age = 19.9 years), threatened women asked more questions than controls did and became physiologically linked to their partners when those partners were speaking about math. Threatened women performed comparably to controls. In Study 1B (female-male dyads; N = 140; M_age = 20.0 years), threatened women did not ask more questions of their male partners than controls did, nor did they show physiological linkage to their male partners. Women performed worse than men did, regardless of condition. When working with a female, experiencing stereotype threat outside of a working interaction leads women to engage more; this effect does not occur when with a male.     

Apprentissage de concepts en mécanique et modélisation de situations expérimentales

Starting from an analysis of the limits of the formation of of categorial concepts as an approach to formation of physics concepts, and an epistemological analysis of the concepts fundamental to the domain of mechanics, a teaching sequence was conceived of with as its purpose the study of how such concepts («formal» and «relational») can be mastered by pupils using inductive and axiomatic procedures. The experiment described examines the concept of momentum, introduced in the first year of the lycée. The analysis of the teaching sequence shows the limits of induction in the construction of the concept studied. The logging of properties defining this quantity showed itself to be only possible through a number of questions related to previously established relations between the quantities known to the pupils (mass and velocity). An analysis of pupils, behaviours showed that the comprehension of properties (transfer, invariance, additivity…) and of the relation ( \(\vec P = m.v\) ) present less difficulty than the mastering of operational invariants which permit the elaboration of representations of experimental situations (the selection and temporal sequencing of events, the division into systems, the analysis of interaction…) The rupture of modes thinking which then «imposed” the taking into account of such invariants also permitted a comprehension of the difficulties of the conceptual changes.     

Logic abilities and mental representations of the informatical device in acquisition of conditional structures by 15–16 year old students

During the acquisition of programming concepts prior knowledge may serve as «precursor» and interacts with the informatical concepts; nevertheless the integration of prior knowledge in the new informatical frame requires forming mental representations on this device. Two experiments on conditional structures (on 10th grade students) are reported: they show that logical knowledge is a prerequisite to the acquisition of conditional structures but is not sufficient to insure acquisition. Properties of natural communication are used by many beginners when they need to handle dialog with an informatical device in programming tasks. A model, termed the PRES-model is defined, which accounts for the discrepancy observed between logical knowledge and success on programming tasks.     

Young children's adaptive partner choice in cooperation and competition contexts

Choosing adequate partners is essential for cooperation, but how children calibrate their partner choice to specific social challenges is unknown. In two experiments, 4- to 7-year-olds (N = 189, 49% girls, mostly White, data collection: 03.2021–09.2022) were presented with partners in possession of different positive qualities. Children then recruited partners for hypothetical tasks that differed with respect to the quality necessary for success. Children and the selected partner either worked together toward a common goal or competed against each other. From age 5, children selectively chose individuals in possession of task-relevant qualities as cooperative partners while avoiding them as competitors. Younger children chose partners indiscriminately. Children thus learn to strategically adjust their partner choice depending on context-specific task demands and different social goals.     

Children's inquiry strategies in referential communication and in the game of twenty questions

Young listeners perform poorly on referential communication tasks because they respond to ambiguous messages by guessing rather than by seeking clarification. 2 experiments addressed the ability of 4-, 5-, and 7-year-old listeners to perform competently following training in the skill of asking categorical questions. Training was presented either in the context of a Listener task or a Twenty Questions task. As these tasks require common strategies of information seeking, it was predicted that training in one task context would lead to improved performance on that task and to generalization of skill to the untrained task. The hypothesis was supported, although there were age differences in the effectiveness of training and efficiency of strategy use. The implications of the results for children's developing communication abilities were discussed.     

Teaching text comprehension strategies to adult poor readers

This study demonstrated the benefit of teaching text comprehension strategies to adults who are poor readers. Subjects (n=90) were students enrolled in adult education programs who earned a score of 90 or above on theSlosson Intelligence Test and a score equivalent to a 3rd–7th grade reading level on theNelson Denny Reading Test. These subjects were randomly assigned to one of three experimental or two control conditions. Experimental conditions were: self questioning and summarizing instruction (total condition); self questioning instruction only; or summarizing instruction only. Control conditions were: tests and experimental materials without instruction; or tests only. Experimental subjects were instructed in small groups for six 45 minute sessions using an instructional method which features informed self control training and guided learning. Analyses of covariance showed significant differences between the performances of the groups. On one measure, a question task, subjects who self questioned and summarized, and subjects who self questioned, significantly out performed the two controls. On a second measure, a free recall task, subjects who self questioned and summarized significantly outperformed control groups combined. Contrary to expectations, the self questioning and summarizing condition (total condition) did not significantly outperform the other experimental groups.     

Comparaison sociale. Stratégies individuelles et médiations socio-cognitives. un effet de différenciations comportementales dans le champ scolaire

Three experimentations are described in order to give a basis to an empirical psycho-social conception aimed at taking into consideration the essential role of social variables. The experimental paradigm «deals with» social comparison modes of social insertion and «success-failure attributions». The results show modifications in performance depending on the various social insertions that are dealt with. These modifications go as far as inverting success and failure in the reconstruction of information asked of them in the experiment. The interpretations are based on an explanation that links the weight of the socio-normative evaluation context in which subjects operate to the socio-cognitive mediations involved in the various social insertions.     

Mini managers: Children strategically divide cognitive labor among collaborators,but with a self-serving bias

Strategic collaboration according to the law of comparative advantage involves dividing tasks based on the relative capabilities of group members. Three experiments (N = 405, primarily White and Asian, 45% female, collected 2016–2019 in Canada) examined how this strategy develops in children when dividing cognitive labor. Children divided questions about numbers between two partners. By 7 years, children allocated difficult questions to the skilled partner (Experiment 1, d = 1.42; Experiment 2, d = 0.87). However, younger children demonstrated a self-serving bias, choosing the easiest questions for themselves. Only when engaging in a third-party collaborative task did 5-year-olds assign harder questions to the more skilled individual (Experiment 3, d = 0.55). These findings demonstrate early understanding of strategic collaboration subject to a self-serving bias.     

Presuppositions and relation of cognitive functions in a schoolreadiness curriculum

The schoolreadiness curriculum by Dumont and Kok (1973) is a Dutch adaptation of the curriculum by Connor and Talbot (1966). It contains presuppositions about the teachers’ diagnostic skills and about the sequence of 5 different levels of functions and behaviours. The latter two were tested for 13 cognitive functions, e.g. Visual Perception, Number Concept, etc. The presuppositions about the teachers’ diagnostic skills could not be denied. They judged the cognitive levels of pupils who were, according to an objective measuring device for schoolreadiness, classified as «not» and «questionably» schoolready to be significantly lower than pupils who were classified as «schoolready». The presupposition about the sequence of levels received little support. Three out of 13 functions revealed this sequence. The relation between the functions was explored. Substantial correlations between all functions in two samples of subjects suggested a general memory or attention factor. Correlations within and between groups of functions suggested two specific factors, a quantitative-relational and a spatial orientation factor.     

Lexical categorization modalities in pre-school children: Influence of perceptual and verbal tasks

This study investigates how categorical organization functions in pre-school children, focusing on the dichotomy between living and nonliving things. The variables of familiarity, frequency of word use and perceptual complexity were controlled. Sixty children aged between 4 years and 5 years 10 months were investigated. Three tasks were used: a naming task; a concepts deconstruction task; and a concepts construction task. Results indicated that age influences: (a) the picture naming and concepts deconstruction task, with older children performing better, and (b) the prevalence of functional features for the inanimate stimuli. These data show that it would be risky to argue that there is a pre-eminence of one concept component without considering the task involved, which is of particular importance in the educational domain.     

How adults contribute to the development of early referential communication?

The study focuses on the organization of prelinguistic «referential» communication routines and their effects on infant’s progressive mastery of protoreferential communication. Routines are defined here as exchanges where turn-taking and/or topic are repetead and conventionalized. The design compares an experimental group and a control group in a pretest/post test format. In the experimental group, routinized exchanges about a poster are encouraged. Three «training» sessions are devoted to the establishment of routines. The sample was composed of 13 infants aged 12 to 13 months and their mothers. Comparisons between the pretest and the postest for the E group infants show an increase in the time devoted to referential behavior, in the number of infant initiations of dialogue on the poster and in the use of pointing. For the mothers, results show that, during the three «training» sessions, E group mothers, produce more points than C group mothers and tend to «confirm» infants’ pointing plus vocalization as though it was a complete reference. Findings are discussed in terms of conventionalization of protoreferential gestures and vocalizations.     

Effects of Questions and Test-Like Events on Achievement and On-Task Behavior in a Classroom Concept Learning Presentation

Abstract

Fifty-one third grade subjects were randomly assigned to two groups. Both groups were exposed to a standard presentation on the concept of first class lever and were asked the same questions in both treatments. Experimental subjects were all required to make overt responses to every question, while questions to control subjects were addressed to one individual at a time. Those in the experimental group exhibited significantly fewer off- task behaviors than control subjects, and classified new examples of levers more accurately. Apparently, oral questions are nominal stimuli when individually addressed, and Rothkopf’s theory extends from prose learning to concept learning tasks in classroom settings.     

Psicología Educativa y Didáctica de las ciencias: los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje de las ciencias como lugar de encuentro

Resumen

Se cuestiona el rechazo aprioristico de buena parte del profesorado de ciencias (incluido el implicado en innovaciones e investigaciones didácticas) hacia las «ciencias de la educación» en general, cuyas contribuciones son consideradas, sin apenas matizaciones, «abstractas», «puramente librescas» y «producidas sin contacto con la realidad de las aulas».

Se cuestiona igualmente la consideración de la didáctica de las ciencias como campo de «aplicación» y se fundamenta la necesidad de reconocerla como un dominio específico de conocimientos que no queda subsumido en el de la psicología educativa ni se reduce a una dimensión práctica.

Se avanzan, por último, algunas propuestas de cooperación.     

La percepción de contingencias y el conocimiento social temprano

Resumen

La «hipótesis del juego» («Game hipothesis»), propuesta por Watson en 1972, establece que la percepción de relaciones contingentes entre acciones y estímulos ambientales es, con independencia de la naturaleza de tales estímulos, un determinante poderoso del desarrollo social del bebé. Se investiga la posible influencia de la naturaleza de los estímulos contingentes mediante el uso de estímulos «sociales» (emisiones lingüísticas) y «no sociales» (música) en una situación de percepción de contingencias, que se estableció para 6 bebés, con una edad media de 3 meses y 2 días. Los resultados demuestran que existen diferencias entre los estímulos sociales y no-sociales tanto en lo referente a los patrones de adquisición de las «operantes» o «respuestas circulares» ante las contingencias, como en las respuestas emocionales que acompañaban a los procesos de adquisición y extinción. Estas diferencias sugieren la necesidad de reconocer la importancia de la naturaleza de los estímulos contingentes en la interpretación del papel social de los procesos de percepción de contingencias.     

Disabled readers' processing of prose: Do any processes change because of intervention?

A multiple baseline design was implemented to address the questions, “Do qualitative changes in reported strategies occur during treatment and does strategy instruction concurrently influence a conceptually related task?” The dependent measure for the prose recall task was the number of idea units recalled, while the number of facts comprehended during silent reading sessions assessed transfer effects. “Thinking aloud protocols” were used to identify cognitive processes during prose recall. The results suggested that a qualitative shift in verbal strategy reports occurred across training sessions. The introduction of cognitive training (visual and verbal mapping of idea units) increased the recall of prose compared to the baseline conditions, although concurrent effects on reading comprehension tasks were minimal. It was assumed that unstable cognitive processes during prose recall, as well as nonequivalent mental processes between the two tasks, accounted for the poor transfer of training effects.     

Sémantique et Résolution de Problèmes Arithmétiques Simples

This paper concerns an experiment which begun four years ago (1984) in the province of Bologna, and is still in progress. It deals with a residential community (which we called an «apartment group» because it is, housed in normal city apartments) for seriously deprived children. The integration of two theoretical perspectives: the ecology of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), and the interactional-constructivist approach (Schaffer, 1984) has provided the theoretical frame of reference. We described how the regulation and stability of everyday life as well as the «scaffolding» activity of educators, became the crucial factors in promoting the developmental processes.     

Oral and written references to new and given information by 9- and 11-year-olds and adults

Monolingual, native French-speaking subjects (9- and 11-year-old children and adults) were requested either to talk or write about nine triplets of pictures whose components varied along the pragmatic dimension «new vs. given information». In the first picture in each series, all components were new. In the second and third pictures, one component was replaced each time by a new component, the other components becoming given. The oral execution of the task made the experimenter (the addressee) into a co-producer of the situational discourse produced, whereas the written production situation placed a certain distance between the producer and the addressee. The expression of the contrast between old versus new elements to be described in each situation was studied by examining the use ofarticles (definite andindefinite) andpronouns. The expression of oldness and newness by means of articles was more common in speaking than in writing. In the oral medium, the given/new contrast was marked more and more often as age increased, although this was not true in the writing situation, where the subjects generally used definite articles, even when referring to a new element. Pronouns were used infrequently orally, particularly by 9-year-olds, to express the increasing «oldness» of the elements. The written use of pronouns was extremely rare. Although it was already present orally in older subjects, the tendency to give autonomy to the production associated with each picture (decreasing use of pronouns in favor of nouns) was predominant in the written medium. Maximum explicitness was favored in writing (due to the deferred reception of the production by the addressee), and the marking of elements as new or given was therefore not given priority. The way in which the written and oral production media modulated the choices of the subjects is discussed.