Biography

Panelist 1 Biography. Núria Sebastián-Gallés received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from the University of Barcelona (UB) in 1986. After Post-doctoral training at the Max Plank Institute and the CNRS (Paris), she became Associate Professor at UB in 1988 and Full Professor in 2002. In 2009, she moved to Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). She was a Visiting Scholar at IRCS University of Pennsylvania, ICN University College (London), and the University of Chicago. She coordinated the Consolider-Ingenio consortium (BRAINGLOT). She was recently awarded an ERC Advanced grant (UNDER CONTROL). She is currently Vice-President of the European Research Council (ERC). At UPF's Center for Brain and Cognition, she leads the Speech Acquisition and Processing Research Group. She has over 90 publications in international journals.

Her research focuses on learning and language processing with an emphasis on bilingual populations. Her research extends from infants to adults with methodologies based on behavioural, physiological and brain imaging responses.

Panelist 2 Biography. Anne Fernald is the Josephine Knowles Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University. As director of the Language Learning Lab in the Department of Psychology, she conducts experimental studies of language processing by infants in conjunction with observational studies of caregiver-infant interaction. Fernald’s research team has developed sensitive time-course measures of infants’ real-time comprehension of spoken language. In longitudinal studies with English- and Spanish-learning children from advantaged and disadvantaged families, this research reveals the vital role of early language experience in strengthening speech processing efficiency and vocabulary learning. Fernald is also conducting parallel studies with infants and caregivers in rural villages in Senegal, West Africa. A central goal of this research program is to show how parents from diverse sociocultural backgrounds play a crucial role in supporting their children’s language growth.

1-157 - Language Learning by Bilingual Infants: Cognitive, Linguistic and Sociocultural Challenges

Session Type: Invited Views by Two

Integrative Statement

Panelist 1: Language Learning in a 'Blooming, Buzzing Bilingual Confusion'
Abstract. Infants are immersed in rich and multidimensional environments, full of linguistic and non-linguistic information. Language learning requires that infants pinpoint the relevant subset of dimensions and weigh them in an appropriate way. How does the baby navigate through the immense search space, such space being dependent on each language? Several types of mechanisms (including not just attention and cognitive control but also social and emotional components) are thus involved in language acquisition.

The case of infants raised in bilingual environments face additional challenges. In particular, the same dimensions may be combined in different ways in each of the languages (I.e. the same acoustic dimensions result in language-specific phoneme spaces, often combining dimensions in conflicting ways). How do bilingual-to-be infants face such challenges? How is their learning process adapted?

Panelist 2: ‘Deficits’ vs. ‘Differences’ in Early Bilingual Language Learning by Children from Language-Minority Homes
Abstract. Claims that some learning difficulties in children from lower-SES families are linked to inadequate language stimulation at home - often characterized as a ‘deficit’ perspective – have been criticized as disrespectful of minority families whose cultural traditions of parenting are simply different from those in affluent mainstream families. It is time to reframe this enduring and unproductive debate. In the U.S. millions of children from lower-SES families where a minority language is spoken are at risk for low educational attainment. Bilingual development has many benefits, but can also have potentially serious costs. The science is clear that many bilingual children enter kindergarten with language deficits that have cascading negative consequences. Providing additional support for parents of infants in low-SES minority-language families can reduce these disparities. The more our society understands the critical role of parents in nourishing a young child’s mind starting at birth, the more we all stand to benefit.

Sub Unit

• SRCD Biennial Meeting

Moderator

• Linda B Smith, Indiana University

Panelists

• Nuria Sebastian-Galles, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

• Anne Fernald, Stanford Univ