How babies learn, when, and even in what position_美文

How babies learn, when, and even in what position

The researchers studied babies who were between six and 12 months old. The babies were not yet saying words in any language. The youngest monolingual babies were able to recognize a difference between a language used at home and another language. But by 10 to 12 months of age, the monolingual babies were not identifying the sounds of the second language -- only the main language spoken in their home.

By comparison, the bilingual babies did not differentiate sounds of different languages spoken to them between the ages of six and nine months. But between 10 and 12 months, they could identify the different sounds of both languages.

Another study has shown the effect of early education on future learning abilities. The study followed more than 1,300 children from birth through the ages of 10 or 11. It found that children who received higher-quality care before starting school had better language skills by those ages than children who had lower-quality care.

The study is said to be the largest, longest-lasting and most-complete study of child care in the United States. The children studied were born around 1991 in 10 areas. Researchers examined the quality and amount of child care the children received until they were four and one-half years old.

The researchers then examined each child’s performance in school and social development and looked at the quality of classroom education and parenting. They found that the children who had received higher-quality child care showed better ability in tests of language skills.