Chapters 10 11 and 12 Chapter 10 Mastering Language The complex process of language acquisition appears to occur effortlessly through an interaction of inborn readiness and a normal language environment To acquire language children must master phonology sound semantics meaning and syntax sentence structure They must also learn how to use language appropriately pragmatics and how to understand nonverbal communication Infants are able to discriminate speech sounds and progress from crying cooing and babbling to one word holophrases at 12 months and then to telegraphic speech 18 months During the preschool years language abilities improve dramatically as illustrated by over regularizations and new transformation rules School age children and adolescents refine their language skills and become less egocentric communication Theories of language development include learning theories nativist theories and interactionist theories These emphasize the child s biologically base capacities and experience conversing with adults who use child directed speech and strategies such as expansion that simplify the language learning task Precursors of achievement motivation can be seen among infants who strive to master their environments Opportunities to succeed are important for children of all ages Without such opportunities children are at risk for developing a learned helplessness orientation Early education can help prepare disadvantaged children for formal schooling but an overemphasis on academics at the expense of other activities may hinder young children s development The Infant The Child During childhood some children develop higher levels of achievement motivation than others they tend to have mastery oriented rather than helpless attribution styles and they set learning goals rather than performance goals in the classroom To read children must master the alphabetic principle and develop phonological awareness so that they can grasp letter0sound correspondence rules Emergent literacy activities such as listening to storybooks facilitate later reading Compared with unskilled readers skilled readers have better understanding of the alphabetic principle and greater phonological awareness A school s effectiveness is not influences much by financial support class size time spent in school or use of ability grouping Instead students perform best when 1 they are intellectually capable and motivated 2 their teachers create a motivation confortable and task oriented setting and involve parents in their children s schooling an effective learning environment and 3 there is a good fit between children s characteristics and the kind of instruction they receive The Adolescent Achievement motivation and grades tend to drop during adolescents for a variety of reasons including cognitive growth family characteristics peer pressure and a poor fit between the student and the school Middle school and high school include a greater focus on science and mathematics education U S students score close to the international average but below several other countries in math and science Cross cultural research suggests that the success of Asian schools is rooted in more class time spent on academics more homework more parents involvement more peer support and a stronger belief that hard work pays off The Adult Level of achievement carries over from adolescence into adulthood There may be some decline in achievement motivation among women who set aside career goals to raise children but career goals reemerge as their children age especially among women with higher levels of education Some adults despite years of education have no acquired the skills of functional literacy Literacy programs have had minimal success in improving literacy rates Adults increasingly are seeking continued educational opportunities for both person and work related reasons Language Phonemes Morphemes Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Prosody Word segmentation Cooing Babbling Joint attention Syntactic bootstrapping Holophrases Vocabulary spurt Overextension Under extension Telegraphic speech Functional grammar Over regularization Transformational grammar Metalinguistic awareness Aphasia Universal grammar Language acquisition device LAD Child directed speech Expansion Mastery motivation Mastery orientation Helpless orientation Mastery learning goal Performance goal Alphabetic principle Phonological awareness Emergent literacy Dyslexia Ability grouping Integration Inclusion Cooperative learning Literacy Chapter 12 Sex and Gender Differences between male and females can be detected in the physical psychological and social realms gender differences arise from a n interaction of biological influences and socialization into gender roles including the learning of gender role norms and stereotypes Research comparing males and females indicate that the two sexes are far more similar than different psychologically The average male is more aggressive and better at spatial and mathematical problem solving tasks but less adept at verbal tasks than the average female Males also tend to be more active assertive and developmentally vulnerable than females who tend to be more compliant with adults requests tactful nurturant and anxious Most sex differences are small however and some are becoming smaller The Infant During infancy boys and girls are similar but adults treat them differently By age 2 infants have often gained knowledge of their basic gender identity and display gender appropriate play preferences Because their sex is important to those around them and because they see that males and females differ infants begin to form categories of male and female establish a basic gender identity and pursue gender appropriate activities The Child Gender role development proceeds with remarkable speed By the time they enter school children have long been aware of their basic gender identities have acquired many stereotypes about how the sexes differ and have come to prefer gender appropriate activities and same sex playmates During middle childhood their knowledge continues to expand as they learn more about gender stereotyped psychological traits but they also become more flexible in their thinking about gender roles Their behavior especially if they are boys becomes even more gender typed and they segregate themselves even more from the other sex The Adolescent Adolescents become intolerant in their thinking about gender role deviations and through gender