HOW BABY TALK GIVES INFANT BRAINS A BOOST
A
The typical way of talking to a baby – high-pitched, exaggerated and repetitious – is a source of fascination for linguists who hope to understand how ‘baby talk’ impacts on learning. Most babies start developing their hearing while still in the womb, prompting some hopeful parents to play classical music to their pregnant bellies. Some research even suggests that infants are listening to adult speech as early as 10 weeks before being born, gathering the basic building blocks of their family’s native tongue.
B
Early language exposure seems to have benefits to the brain – for instance, studies suggest that babies raised in bilingual homes are better at learning how to mentally prioritize information. So how does the sweet if sometimes absurd sound of infant-directed speech influence a baby’s development? Here are some recent studies that explore the science behind baby talk.
C
Fathers don’t use baby talk as often or in the same ways as mothers – and that’s perfectly OK, according to a new study. Mark VanDam of Washington State University at Spokane and colleagues equipped parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day. ‘We found that moms do exactly what you’d expect and what’s been described many times over,’ VanDam explains. ‘But we found that dads aren’t doing the same thing. Dads didn’t raise their pitch or fundamental frequency when they talked to kids.’ Their role may be rooted in what is called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975. It suggests that fathers use less familial language to provide their children with a bridge to the kind of speech they’ll hear in public. ‘The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice,’ says VanDam.
D
Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut collected thousands of 30-second conversations between parents and their babies, fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests that captured language and sound during a typical eight-hour day. The study found that the more baby talk parents used, the more their youngsters began to babble. And when researchers saw the same babies at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary, regardless of socioeconomic status. ‘Those children who listened to a lot of baby talk were talking more than the babies that listened to more adult talk or standard speech,’ says Nairán Ramirez-Esparza of the University of Connecticut. ‘We also found that it really matters whether you use baby talk in a one-on-one context,’ she adds. ‘The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble, and the more they babble, the more words they produce later in life.’
E
Another study suggests that parents might want to pair their youngsters up so they can babble more with their own kind. Researchers from McGill University and Université du Québec à Montréal found that babies seem to like listening to each other rather than to adults – which may be why baby talk is such a universal tool among parents. They played repeating vowel sounds made by a special synthesizing device that mimicked sounds made by either an adult woman or another baby. This way, only the impact of the auditory cues was observed. The team then measured how long each type of sound held the infants’ attention. They found that the ‘infant’ sounds held babies’ attention nearly 40 percent longer. The baby noises also induced more reactions in the listening infants, like smiling or lip moving, which approximates sound making. The team theorizes that this attraction to other infant sounds could help launch the learning process that leads to speech. ‘It may be some property of the sound that is just drawing their attention,’ says study co-author Linda Polka. ‘Or maybe they are really interested in that particular type of sound because they are starting to focus on their own ability to make sounds. We are speculating here but it might catch their attention because they recognize it as a sound they could possibly make.’
F
In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a total of 57 babies from two slightly different age groups – seven months and eleven and a half months – were played a number of syllables from both their native language (English) and a non-native tongue (Spanish). The infants were placed in a brain-activation scanner that recorded activity in a brain region known to guide the motor movements that produce speech. The results suggest that listening to baby talk prompts infant brains to start practicing their language skills. ‘Finding activation in motor areas the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start, and suggests that seven-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out how to make interesting finding was that while the seven-month-olds responded to all speech sounds regardless of language, the brains of the older infants worked harder at the motor activations of non-native sounds compared to native sounds. The study may have also uncovered a process by which babies recognize differences between their native language and other tongues.
LỜI GIẢI CHI TIẾT
Questions 14-17. Look at the following ideas (Questions 14-17) and the list of researchers below.
Match each idea with the correct researcher.
Question 14. THE IMPORTANCE OF ADULTS GIVING BABIES INDIVIDUAL ATTENTION WHEN TALKING TO THEM
Keywords: adults, babies, individual attention, talking
Now, in paragraph D, the author writes about the study of Nairan Ramirez-Esparza. She says: “We also found that it really matters whether you use baby talk in a one-on-one context…The more parents use baby talk one-on-one, the more babies babble, and the more they babble, the more words they produce later in life”.
A ‘one-on-one context’ means a situation in which the parent is alone with the baby, talking to the baby and giving it individual attention.
Here, importance = it really matters; individual = one-on-one.
Answer: B.
Question 15. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WHAT BABIES HEAR AND THEIR OWN EFFORTS TO CREATE SPEECH
Keywords: connection, hear, efforts, speech
Now, in paragraph F, the author refers to a study in which Patricia Kuhl took part: “The results suggest that listening to baby talk prompts infant brains to start practicing their language skills”. Thus, when babies listen to (= hear) baby talk, this stimulates their brains to try to practice their own language skills.
The passage continues: “Finding activation in the motor areas of the brain when infants are simply listening is significant, because it means the baby brain is engaged in trying to talk back right from the start, and suggests that seven-month-olds’ brains are already trying to figure out how to make the right movements that will produce words”.
Here, create speech = produce words
Answer: C.
Question 16.THE ADVANTAGE FOR THE BABY OF HAVING TWO PARENTS EACH SPEAKING IN A DIFFERENT WAY
Keywords: advantage, two parents, different way
Now, in paragraph C, the author tells us about the study of Mark VanDam. He found that mothers and fathers (the two parents) each spoke to children in a different way: “The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice”.
The advantage for the baby when parent speak in these different ways, is that it grows up having a wider range (= repertoire) of kinds of speech, which it can then practice.
Here, a different way = another kind
Answer: A.
Question 17. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE AMOUNT OF BABY TALK BABIES HEAR AND HOW MUCH VOCALISING THEY DO THEMSELVES
Keywords: connection, amount of baby talk, vocalising
Now, in the middle of paragraph D, the author writes about a study which found that “…the more baby talk parents used, the more their youngsters began to babble”. Nairan Ramirez-Esparza adds: “Those children who listened to a lot of baby talk were talking more than the babies that listened to more adult talk or standard speech”.
She found, therefore, that there is a connection between the amount of baby talk which babies listened to, and how much talking the babies did.
Here, vocalising = babble/ talking.
Answer: B.
QUESTIONS 18-23: COMPLETE THE SUMMARY.
Question 18. RESEARCHERS AT WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY USED ………………….. , TOGETHER WITH SPECIALISED COMPUTER PROGRAMS, TO ANALYSE HOW PARENTS INTERACTED WITH THEIR BABIES DURING A NORMAL DAY.
Keywords: Washington State University, computer programs, interacted, normal day
We find a reference to Washington State University in paragraph C. “Mark VanDam of Washington State University at Spokane and colleagues equipped parents with recording devices and speech-recognition software to study the way they interacted with their youngsters during a normal day”.
Here, specialised computer programs = speech-recognition software; analyse = study.
Answer: recording devices.
Question 19. THE STUDY REVEALED THAT ……………….. TENDED NOT TO MODIFY THEIR ORDINARY SPEECH PATTERNS WHEN INTERACTING WITH THEIR BABIES.
Keywords: not modify, speech patterns, interacting
Now, in paragraph C, VanDam explains: “Dads didn’t raise their pitch or fundamental frequency when they talked to kids”.
In other words, fathers spoke to their babies in a similar way that they would speak normally. Their ‘pitch and fundamental frequency’ refers to the ‘ordinary speech patterns’ which fathers use to talk to their babies.
Here, interacting with = talked to; babies = kids.
Answer: dads/fathers.
Question 20. ACCORDING TO AN IDEA KNOWN AS THE ……………….. , THEY MAY USE A MORE ADULT TYPE OF SPEECH TO PREPARE INFANTS FOR THE LANGUAGE THEY WILL HEAR OUTSIDE THE FAMILY HOME.
Keywords: idea, adult, speech, prepare, language, outside
Now, continuing with the findings of the study in paragraph C, the author says of fathers: “Their role may be rooted in what is called the bridge hypothesis, which dates back to 1975. It suggests that fathers use less familiar language to provide their children with a bridge to the kind of speech they’ll hear in public”.
So, the author suggests that fathers may use ‘less familiar’ (= more adult) language to talk to their babies, which helps to prepare these infants for what they will hear when they are not in the family home.
Here, idea = hypothesis; language = speech; outside the family home = in public;
Answer: bridge hypothesis.
Question 21. ACCORDING TO THE RESEARCHERS, HEARING BABY TALK FROM ONE PARENT AND ‘NORMAL’ LANGUAGE FROM THE OTHER EXPANDS THE BABY’S ………………. OF TYPES OF SPEECH WHICH THEY CAN PRACTICE.
Keywords: normal language, expands, types of speech
Now, we find the answer at the end of paragraph C. We know from the previous question that fathers speak to babies using less ‘baby talk’ and more normal speech, using adult language. “The idea is that a kid gets to practice a certain kind of speech with mom and another kind of speech with dad, so the kid then has a wider repertoire of kinds of speech to practice’, says VanDam”.
A repertoire refers to all the things that a person – in this case, a baby – is able to do. So, the baby is able to practice different kinds of speech with each parent.
Answer: repertoire.
Question 22. MEANWHILE ANOTHER STUDY CARRIED OUT BY SCIENTISTS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT RECORDED SPEECH AND SOUND USING SPECIAL …………. THAT THE BABIES WERE EQUIPPED WITH.
Keywords: Washington, Connecticut, recorded, equipped
Now, in paragraph D, we find a reference to the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut. This enables us to know where to look for the answer: “Scientists from the University of Washington and the University of Connecticut collected thousands of 30-second conversations between parents and their babies, fitting 26 children with audio-recording vests that captured language and sound….”Thus, these scientists recorded the language and sounds, using audio-recording vests fitted to the babies.
Here, recorded = captured.
Answer: (audio-recording) vests.
Question 23. WHEN THEY STUDIED THE BABIES AGAIN AT AGE TWO, THEY FOUND THAT THOSE WHO HAD HEARD A LOT OF BABY TALK IN INFANCY HAD A MUCH LARGER …………… THAN THOSE WHO HAD NOT.
Keywords: age two, babies again, larger
Now, we now have to find more information on the study conducted by the scientists mentioned in the previous question. Again, the answer is in paragraph D: “And when researchers saw the same babies at age two, they found that frequent baby talk had dramatically boosted vocabulary….”
At the age of two, babies who had heard a lot of baby talk, had more vocabulary than those who had not heard much baby talk.
Here, a lot of = frequent; had a much larger vocabulary = dramatically boosted vocabulary.
Answer: vocabulary.
QUESTIONS 24-26: READING PASSAGE 2 HAS SIX PARAGRAPHS, A-F.
Question 24. A REFERENCE TO A CHANGE WHICH OCCURS IN BABIES’ BRAIN ACTIVITY BEFORE THE END OF THEIR FIRST YEAR
Keywords: change, brain activity, end of first year
Now, in paragraph F. The author writes about a publication called Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In this publication, a study was reported which was carried out with babies of 7 months and 11.5 months – in other words, before the end of their first year. “The infants were placed in a brain-activation scanner that recorded activity in a brain region known to guide the motor movements that produce speech. The results suggest that listening to baby talk prompts infant brains to start practicing their language skills”.
So, listening to baby talk leads to changes in the activity of ‘infant brains’.
Answer: F.
Question 25. AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT SOME PARENTS DO FOR THEIR BABY’S BENEFIT BEFORE BIRTH
Keywords: example, baby’s benefit, before birth
The answer can be found in paragraph A. “Most babies start developing their hearing while still in the womb, prompting some hopeful parents to play classical music to their pregnant bellies”. Most babies, therefore, start to hear when they are still inside the body of the mother. So, some parents start to play music for these unborn babies to stimulate their hearing.
Here, before birth = still in the womb.
Answer: A.
Question 26. A MENTION OF BABIES’ PREFERENCE FOR THE SOUNDS THAT OTHER BABIES MAKE
Keywords: preference, sounds, other babies
Now, at the beginning of paragraph E. “Another study suggests that parents might want to pair their youngsters up so they can babble more with their own kind. Researchers from McGill University and Universite du Quebec a Montreal found that babies seem to like listening to each other rather than adults…”
More details of this study are given in the paragraph, and these refer specifically to the sounds made by babies: “…the ‘infant’ sounds held babies’ attention nearly 40 percent longer” than the sounds made by adults.
Here, preference = seem to like.
Answer: E.
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