Enfance - Current Issue

Volume 2011 Issue 03

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:00:00 GMT

Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03

Enfance a 60 ans. A cette occasion, elle se toilette de neuf et change d'éditeur, renouvelant quelque peu ses informations et recommandations aux auteurs. Enfance est une revue scientifique trimestrielle qui publie des articles consacrés à l'enfant et à son développement. Les domaines d'exploration sont divers : ils concernent le développement moteur, sensoriel, social, émotionnel, cognitif. Des âges très différents peuvent faire l'objet de publication dans Enfance , depuis la période néonatale jusqu'à l'adolescence. Les articles peuvent concerner le développement normal, une particularité développementale (par exemple une compétence exceptionnelle) ou bien un trouble ou handicap de développement. Les comparaisons entre divers types de développement sont encouragées. Un intérêt particulier est porté aux études situées à l'interface entre plusieurs disciplines : économie de la santé, épidémiologie, clinique quantitative, informatique, robotique, biologie animale, éthologie, ethnosociologie. La revue fait alterner régulièrement des numéros thématiques (numéros 1 et 3) et des numéros variés (numéros 2 et 4). Les numéros thématiques sont issus de propositions adressées au Comité de Rédaction par un auteur ou un groupe d'auteurs sous forme d'un argumentaire accompagné d'une liste de contributeurs potentiels. Le CR examine la proposition et l'accepte en l'état ou propose des modifications concernant le cadrage de la thématique ou les contributeurs, il peut aussi la rejeter. Les numéros thématiques en effet doivent nécessairement représenter une somme actuelle et internationale de contributions de haut niveau émanant de groupes différents représentant des pays différents. Les numéros variés sont composés d'articles issus de propositions individuelles.

Avant-propos Des bébés et des mots : l’acquisition lexicale chez le jeune enfant

Research Articles
Jacqueline Nadel,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 289-289

Abstract

Introduction

Research Articles
Diane Poulin-Dubois, Pascal Zesiger,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 291-292

Abstract

Les représentations phonologiques des mots chez le jeune enfant

Research Articles
Pascal Zesiger, Jane Jöhr,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 293-309

Abstract
This paper tackles the issue of the degree of specificity of phonological representations in infants during their second year of life. Are words initially encoded in a holistic format, with a progressive specification that would depend on maturation, vocabulary size or word familiarity? Or are they represented in a detailed format from early on? After a brief review of papers examining different languages, we present two studies performed in our lab with 14-month-old, French-speaking infants, using the inter-modal preferential looking paradigm. The results show that infants look longer at pictures corresponding to well-pronounced bi-syllabic words ( , car) than at pictures corresponding to words with a modified medial consonant ( ). By contrast, a modification of the first or the second vowel does not appear to be perceived by the infants. These results support the hypothesis of a more important role played by consonants over vowels on the lexical level in French.

Examining the Role of Attention and Intention in Two-year-olds’ Acquisition of Novel Words

Research Articles
Susan A. Graham, Elizabeth S. Nilsen, Chris K. Friesen, Jennie Johnson,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 311-328

Abstract
Previous studies have demonstrated that infants will use an adult s eye-gaze direction to identify the intended referent of a novel word (e.g., Baldwin, 1991). Here we examine the possibility that eye gaze may be triggering attention to an object because of the directional nature of eye gaze itself. In the first study, we demonstrated that 24-month-olds mapped a novel word to a novel object that had appeared at the location cued by a nonreferential cue (i.e., flashing lights). The results of the second study, however, suggest that gaze direction cues do not operate in a similar fashion to nonreferential cues. That is, while cueing a specific object with a gaze direction cue led infants to map a novel word to that object, cueing an object location with gaze direction did not result in meaningful word learning. These findings suggest that infants view gaze direction as a marker of intentionality.

Une réplication systématique des propriétés psychométriques du Computerized Comprehension Task dans trois langues

Research Articles
Margaret Friend, Pascal Zesiger,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 329-344

Abstract
Early language comprehension skills may be one of the most important predictors of a risk for language delay. A methodology is needed to assess early comprehension that can be easily administered and has utility across languages. Three studies of the psychometric properties of the Computerized Comprehension Task (CCT) are presented. In Study 1, 40 infants (16-21 months) acquiring English completed a standard picture book task and the CCT. The CCT significantly improved attention, compliance and performance. Reliability was high and convergent validity with parent report was strong. There was an advantage for easy words over difficult words and for nouns over verbs and adjectives. In Study 2, 17 infants (16-18 months) acquiring Mexican-Spanish participated. The relation between test and reliability trials was strong, positive, and linear and the advantage for easy words over difficult words and for nouns over verbs and adjectives was replicated. In Study 3, 35 infants (16-20 months) acquiring French participated. The significant relation between performance in the CCT and parent report in Study 1 and the advantage of nouns over verbs and adjectives in Studies 1 and 2 were replicated. These studies provide evidence for the utility of a behavior-based approach to assessing early language comprehension that extends across languages and have implications for the development of early screening assessments for developmental risk.

A longitudinal study of word learning: interrelations between word-event association, fast mapping, and vocabulary

Research Articles
Marina Katerelos, Diane Poulin-Dubois,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 345-362

Abstract
The current paper examines the issue of continuity in children performance on a word-event association task using a habituation procedure and their performance on a fast-mapping task at 24 months was explored. Furthermore, the relationship with concurrent and longitudinal vocabulary was also examined. The results suggested that children s ability to form a word-object association is related to their vocabulary at 18 and 24 months. This study is the first to demonstrate a link between vocabulary and word mapping assessed with a habituation paradigm.

Comment les touts-petits apprennent-ils les verbes ?

Research Articles
Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 363-382

Abstract
Any theory of language must account for how children learn verbs, the gateway to grammar. Yet verbs are difficult to learn. Here, two competing hypotheses to explain this phenomenon are introduced and evaluated: The and the Results suggest that young children possess the conceptual foundations necessary to learn verbs, but have trouble mapping verbs onto these representations. Under the Emergentist Coalition model, children recruiting multiple cues (perceptual, social, and linguistic), weighted differently across developmental time, map word-to-world. This model allows us to track the course of verb learning over time and provides the field with a more comprehensive framework for vocabulary development.

Développement lexical chez les enfants bilingues avec Trisomie 21

Research Articles
Natacha Trudeau, Elizabeth Kay-Raining Bird, Ann Sutton, Patricia L. Cleave,
Enfance, Volume 2011 Issue 03 , pp 383-404

Abstract
This article describes vocabulary acquisition in 18 bilingual children with Down Syndrome (DS), using a parental report measure. A cross-sectional analysis of the scores reveals a smaller vocabulary and greater variability in L2 compared to english. Vocabulary composition was also variable in the early stages of L2 acquisition, but became more uniform as vocabulary size increased, approaching the distribution observed in typically developing monolingual children at the same level of lexical development. A longitudinal follow-up study on 15 of the 18 participants showed that English vocabulary increased for almost all of them (n = 13), whereas a smaller number (n = 9) showed progress in their L2. Performance in L2, was related to the degree of exposure to L2 but such a relationship was not found for English. These results suggest that exposure to and development of an L2 did not interfere with the acquisition of vocabulary in english, and that children with DS were able to achieve varying degrees of bilingualism.