Why YouTube and podcasts aren't useful for newborns
Jul 23, 2014 10:27:35 GMT 9
Post by Jeremy A on Jul 23, 2014 10:27:35 GMT 9
This is a translation of a post on my Esperanto language blog Esperanto Hejme (Esperanto at Home). Maybe this point is obvious to others but to me it wasn't until a couple of months ago:
According to some researchers, a child needs at least 30% of their waking time with input in the target language to completely master it. For Esperantists who are perhaps the only sources of the target language in their child's daily life, it can be hard to make sure they get that amount of input. And unfortunately, for young children electronic sources like YouTube and podcasts don't really help with language acquisition. Why?
One of the first steps for a child learning a language is to distinguish the individual sounds in the language. During their first six months, babies can distinguish the sounds of any language, but between the ages of six and twelve months they lose the ability to distinguish sounds that aren't found in their usual environment - the so-called "perceptual magnet" effect in which you perceive the sounds not used in your language as similar sounds that are used in your language.
According to this Ted Talk by Patricia Kuhl (subtitles are available in multiple languages but unfortunately not yet in Esperanto), babies older than six months can learn to distinguish the sounds of new languages - but only with face-to-face human contact. Input from audio or TV screens don't help them learn the new sounds, which suggests those kinds of input also don't help them learn new words - they're simply not useful input sources at very young ages.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years of age avoid passive time in front of screens. According to the recommendations, "Young children learn best from - and need - interaction with humans, not screens." Active time with screens, for example with iPad games, needs further research.
According to some researchers, a child needs at least 30% of their waking time with input in the target language to completely master it. For Esperantists who are perhaps the only sources of the target language in their child's daily life, it can be hard to make sure they get that amount of input. And unfortunately, for young children electronic sources like YouTube and podcasts don't really help with language acquisition. Why?
One of the first steps for a child learning a language is to distinguish the individual sounds in the language. During their first six months, babies can distinguish the sounds of any language, but between the ages of six and twelve months they lose the ability to distinguish sounds that aren't found in their usual environment - the so-called "perceptual magnet" effect in which you perceive the sounds not used in your language as similar sounds that are used in your language.
According to this Ted Talk by Patricia Kuhl (subtitles are available in multiple languages but unfortunately not yet in Esperanto), babies older than six months can learn to distinguish the sounds of new languages - but only with face-to-face human contact. Input from audio or TV screens don't help them learn the new sounds, which suggests those kinds of input also don't help them learn new words - they're simply not useful input sources at very young ages.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children under two years of age avoid passive time in front of screens. According to the recommendations, "Young children learn best from - and need - interaction with humans, not screens." Active time with screens, for example with iPad games, needs further research.
There are, however, other adults and languages (see: Japanese, Korean) who have marked difficulties because of allophony (r/l are the same sound) and lack of exposure.
Very positive podcast review of my book Bilingual Success Stories Around the World at Kletsheads 
