Research Methods in Language Acquisition
Description
Language acquisition research is challenging-the intricate behavioral and cognitive foundations of speech are difficult to measure objectively. The audible components of speech, however, are quantifiable and thus provide crucial data. This practical guide synthesizes the authors' decades of experience into a comprehensive set of tools that will allow students and early career researchers in the field to design and conduct rigorous studies that produce reliable and valid speech data and interpretations.
The authors thoroughly review specific techniques for obtaining qualitative and quantitative speech data, including how to tailor the testing environments for optimal results. They explore observational tasks for collecting natural speech and experimental tasks for eliciting specific types of speech. Language comprehension tasks are also reviewed so researchers can study participants' interpretations of speech and conceptualizations of grammar. Most tasks are oriented towards children, but special considerations for infants are also reviewed, as well as multilingual children.
Chapters also provide strategies for transcribing and coding raw speech data into reliable data sets that can be scientifically analyzed. Furthermore, they investigate the intricacies of interpretation so that researchers can make empirically sound inferences from their data and avoid common pitfalls that can lead to unscientific conclusions.
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Acknowledgments
Introduction
I. Fundamentals of Language Acquisition Research
The Challenge of Studying Language
Preparing to Work With Children, Schools, and Families
Creating the Data I: Working in Teams, Basic Data Collection, Data Sharing, and Data Management
II. Experimental and Observational Methods in Language Acquisition Research
Studying Language Acquisition Through Collecting Speech
Introduction to Experimental Methods: Design and Analysis
Experimental Tasks for Generating Language Production Data
Experimental Tasks for Generating Language Comprehension Data
The Grammaticality Judgment Task
III. Managing and Interpreting Speech Data
Creating the Data II: Begin Data Processing
Creating the Data III: Preparing for Data Analysis
Interpreting the Data: Scientific Inference
IV. Special Considerations in Language Acquisition Research
Assessing Multilingual Acquisition
Introduction to Infant Testing Methods in Language Acquisition Research
Conclusions and Proceeding to the Future
Appendix A. Transcription Symbols
Appendix B. The International Phonetic Alphabet
Appendix C. Outline for Preparation of Schematic Research Proposal
Suggested Readings
References
Index
About the Authors