ABSTRACT

Hudson Kam (2018) examined whether learning of a particular aspect of language that adults are known to have difficulty with (grammatical gender) could be improved by manipulating the learning experience of adults so that it was more like that of infants. Specifically, based on likely differences between adult and child learners’ experiences as well as theoretical assumptions about the nature of child first language learning, experimental participants initially heard spoken sentences without any accompanying meaning. This was an attempt to restrict learners’ focus to the phonological aspects of the language, thereby facilitating category formation and, in turn, the learning of the behavior of the classes. However, the manipulation did not lead to improved learning. Arnon (2018) presented a critique of the study, based in part on differences between my results and her own in related studies. In this response, I discuss two main points raised in her critique: the nature of early language experience in infants in the study and sample size issues. I also examine what people were actually tasked with learning in my study and hers, as a way of explaining differences between our results.

摘要

哈德森·卡姆（Hudson Kam，2018）研究了通过控制成人的学习体验是否可以改善成人已知的语言特定方面（语法性别）的学习，使其更像婴儿的学习体验。具体来说，根据成人和儿童学习者经验之间的可能差异以及有关儿童母语学习性质的理论假设，实验参与者最初听到的口头句子没有任何附带意义。试图将学习者的注意力集中在语言的语音方面，从而促进类别的形成，进而促进对课堂行为的学习。但是，这种操作并没有导致学习的改善。Arnon（2018）对这项研究提出了批评，部分基于我的研究结果与她在相关研究中的研究结果之间的差异。在此回应中，我讨论了她的批评中提出的两个主要观点：研究中婴儿早期语言经验的性质和样本量问题。我还研究了我和她的研究对象实际承担的学习任务，以解释我们结果之间的差异。