University of Washington study builds upon UTSA bilingual baby research
(Aug. 30, 2011)--Research conducted at the University of Washington (UW) Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences suggests that the brains of bilingual babies remain open to learning a second language longer than the brains of monolingual babies. Furthermore, the research suggests that a baby's opportunity to learn a second language may begin to fade as early as the baby's first birthday.
The UW research is the next chapter in the Bilingual Baby Project, a collaborative language acquisition study conducted from 2005 to 2009 by neuroscientists, sociologists and educators at UW, the Bank of America Child and Adolescent Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), the UTSA Mexico Center and the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif.
UTSA researchers included Sophia Ortiz, CAPRI assistant director, Maria Rodriguez, a student research assistant, and Nicole Wicha, assistant professor of neuroscience in the Department of Biology and a member of the UTSA Neurosciences Institute.
Through home visits and neural laboratory studies, UTSA researchers found that bilingual babies demonstrated flexibility when labeling objects in one language or the other. While conducting the Bilingual Baby Project, they also found that the amount of exposure to each language, the strategies the babies' parents used to promote bilingualism in their homes and parents' desires to raise bilingual children were very important in their babies' bilingual comprehension.
The neural research conducted on monolingual and bilingual babies at UW confirms UTSA's findings and offers a more pinpointed time frame for bilingual language acquisition: one year from birth.
"Our research indicated that the early years of a child's life are an ideal time for a child to be exposed to rich language experiences," said Harriett Romo, CAPRI director. "The collaborative research conducted with the University of Washington further pinpoints key developmental stages the optimal age for language acquisition during the baby's first year."
UW researchers plan to continue the study, focusing next on how the brain aides bilingual language acquisition and school readiness.
>> Read about the study in the Aug. 17 issue of the Journal of Phonetics.
Events
Upon completion of this workshop, attendees will be able to: explain the history of Creative Commons, summarize the role of copyright law in the creation of Creative Commons, differentiate between different CC icons, identify the different layers and elements of CC licenses and tools, and list factors to consider when choosing a license for your project.
Virtual EventJoin UTSA Librarians for this introductory workshop for early career faculty on how to build your online scholarly identity. We will discuss how to set up author profiles as well as find existing and emerging metrics for measuring research impact, including Impact Factor, Altmetrics, and beyond.
Virtual EventThis workshop explores the intersection of digital activism, data collection, and visualization techniques in the context of gender-based violence and feminist movements. Participants will learn how to harness the power of GraphCommons to create impactful visualizations that can amplify marginalized voices and reveal hidden patterns in complex social issues.
CEDISH Co-Lab 3.02.38, 3rd Floor, John Peace LibraryHave questions about making your OER accessible on UTSA Pressbooks? The OER Team and the Digital Accessibility Team are ready to answer them! Please bring your questions about OER and accessibility and receive guidance from our two teams.
Virtual Event