Want to know how learning a second language can make a difference in your child’s development?

Research about children’s cognitive development and language acquisition

• Read about infants using computational strategies to detect patterns in language
  Mr. Chetty and five other researchers examined the life paths of almost 12,000 children who had been part of a well-known education experiment in Tennessee in the 1980s. The children are now about 30, well started on their adult lives. Just as in other studies, the Tennessee experiment found that some teachers were able to help students learn vastly more than other teachers. And just as in other studies, the effect largely disappeared by junior high, based on test scores. Yet when Mr. Chetty and his colleagues took another look at the students in adulthood, they discovered that the legacy of kindergarten had re-emerged. Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.



• Read about infants using computational strategies to detect patterns in language
  Another fascinating study by Dr. Patricia Kuhl about data that shows that infants use computational strategies to detect the statistical and prosodic patterns in language input, and that this leads to the discovery of phonemes and words. Social interaction with another human being affects speech learning in a way that resembles communicative learning in songbirds. The brain’s commitment to the statistical and prosodic patterns that are experienced early in life might help to explain the long-standing puzzle of why infants are better language learners than adults. Successful learning by infants, as well as constraints on that learning, are changing theories of language.



• Children Under Three Can't Learn Action Words From TV -- Unless An Adult Helps
  A study of American infants and toddlers that watch TV an average of two hours a day, programmes billed as educational. A new study finds that children under age 3 learn less from these videos that we might think—unless there's an adult present to interact with them and support their learning



• Hearing two languages in womb makes bilingual babies: study
  Babies who hear two languages regularly when they are in their mother's womb are more open to being bilingual, according to a group of Canadian and French researchers: Scientists from the University of British Columbia and a researcher from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in France, in a study published in Psychological Science, tested two groups of newborns, one of which only heard English in the womb and one that heard English and Tagalog, which is spoken in the Philippines.



• Read here about Dr. Judit Kovács’ thoughts after visiting HDEE lessons in Hungary.
  These thoughts are organized according to: Language development based on language acquisition, Learning based on activity, The Child as a meaning-maker, Perception as a way of children’s learning, The Role of Motivation.



• Use It Or Lose It? Study Suggests
  Many of us learn a foreign language when we are young, but in some cases, exposure to that language is brief and we never get to hear or practice it subsequently. Our subjective impression is often that the neglected language completely fades away from our memory. But does “use it or lose it” apply to foreign languages? Although it may seem we have absolutely no memory of the neglected language, new research suggests this “forgotten” language may be more deeply engraved in our minds than we realize.



• A New View of Language Acquisition
  Studies of infants across languages and cultures have provided valuable information about the initial state of the mechanisms underlying language, and more recently, have revealed infants' unexpected learning strategies.



• Music in the English Classroom
  Music is a strong resource which helps create positive feelings about English. While songs serve as useful teaching tools for EFL students, they also contribute to helping create a positive and warm atmosphere in the English learning environment.



• Why, How, and When Should My Child Learn a Second Language?
  In addition to developing a lifelong ability to communicate with more people, children may derive other benefits from early language instruction, including improved overall school performance and superior problem-solving skills. Knowing a second language ultimately provides a competitive advantage in the work force by opening up additional job opportunities.



• The Student Baby
  At first sight, the idea of teaching babies a SECOND language, when they haven't even mastered the FIRST, would seem to be a daunting task! However, it is common knowledge that children who are lucky enough to be born into bilingual families, can easily learn to communicate with ease in both languages at a very early age..



• Bilingual Infants Have Better Mental Control
  Far from becoming confused; it seems that babies actually develop superior mental skills from being raised in a bilingual environment.



• Bilingual Babies Are Precocious Decision-Makers
  Getting to the nub of what is going on in a bilingual child’s brain, how a second language affects the way he thinks, and thus in what circumstances being bilingual may be helpful.



• Bilingual Babies Get An Early Edge
  Bilingual parents and the experience of hearing two languages may give babies an early learning advantage — and all before they know how to speak.



• Foreign Language Learning: An Early Start
  Children who are adequately exposed to two languages at an early age experience gains: they are more flexible and creative, and they reach high levels of cognitive development at an earlier age than their monolingual peers.



• Bilingual Households May Improve Infants' Cognitive Abilities
  Early exposure to two languages can train the mind and improve its cognitive performance, not just linguistic abilities as had been believed.



• Babies Can Tell Apart Different Languages With Visual Cues
  Could you tell the difference between an English speaker and a French speaker just by looking at the movements of their lips? Babies have this ability at 4 and 6 months of age, but lose it by their eighth month.



• Babies' Gestures Partly Explain Link Between Wealth And Vocabulary
  Year-old toddlers who use more gestures tend to have more expansive vocabularies several years later, and vocabulary size tallies strongly with a child's academic success.