Análisis de las Intervenciones de Bebés de 9 Meses durante la Lectura Compartida / Analysis of the Interventions of 9 Month-old Babies during Shared Storybook Reading

Resumen La lectura compartida es frecuente en la infancia. Sin embargo, la participación de infantes menores de un año en esta actividad ha sido poco explorada. Este trabajo describe y analiza las intervenciones de bebés de 9 meses en la lectura conjunta materno-infantil en hogares argentinos. Transcribimos y analizamos filmaciones realizadas por 10 madres. Clasificamos las intervenciones en: acción responsiva o espontánea; vocalización responsiva o espontánea; acción responsiva + vocalización; acción espontánea + vocalización. Los bebés realizaron mayoritariamente acciones espontáneas (con o sin vocalizaciones). Luego, clasificamos las acciones (con o sin vocalizaciones) en: convencionales (pasar la página, señalar) o manipulativas (morder, sacudir los libros); otras no orientadas (tomar otro objeto, mirar fuera del escenario). Encontramos que las acciones fueron principalmente manipulativas. Finalmente, clasificamos las acciones en: inespecíficas (morder el libro, sacudirlo) u orientadas (intentar agarrar los objetos representados). Predominaron las acciones inespecíficas. Los hallazgos muestran bebés sensoriomotores en exploración. Sin embargo, algunas intervenciones revelaron también un incipiente desarrollo simbólico al usar los libros convencionalmente y reconocer las imágenes como objetos simbólicos. La lectura compartida es un escenario en el que se accede a diversos sistemas de representación (imágenes, números, letras), permitiendo desarrollar tempranamente un potencial simbólico en contextos sociales relevantes.

Abstract Shared reading is a significant and frequent activity in early childhood. However, the interventions in this kind of activities by babies and infants under one-year have been little explored. The main objective of this work was to describe 9-month-old babies' interventions in reading situations with their mothers at Argentinian homes. The focus of the analysis was babies' actions during reading with their mothers. Ten mothers filmed shared reading sessions with their babies. Then we transcribed and analyzed babies' interventions in three levels. First, we classified the interventions in: responsive action, spontaneous action, responsive vocalization, spontaneous vocalization, responsive action + vocalization, spontaneous action + vocalization. Isolated vocalizations were rare. The babies performed mostly spontaneous actions (with or without vocalizations). Responsive actions were less frequent (with or without vocalizations). Second, we classified babies' actions (with or without vocalizations) in 1-conventional, like turn the page, point to the book, put the book in reading position, 2-manipulative, like bite, shake, put the book in the mouth, open and close the book, try to grab/suck/ touch objects represented in pictures, 3- other actions- actions not oriented to books, like shake another object present in the interaction or looking to some object or person outside the scene. We found that babies' actions were mainly manipulative. Finally, we categorized manipulative actions in 1- unspecific actions, like bite, shake, put the book in the mouth, open and close the book, and 2- pictures-oriented ones, like try to grab, suck, touch objects present in pictures. Unspecific actions predominated. Findings show sensory motor babies in exploration. Nevertheless, the presence of conventional actions and picture-oriented actions are signs of an incipient symbolic development. That is, babies use books conventionally and recognize pictures as symbolic objects. In sum, shared reading is one of the richest scenarios for early symbolic development. In this context babies and children access to diverse representational systems (words, pictures, numbers, letters). This activity allows children to development their symbolic potential in relevant social contexts.

La construcción de producciones orales en la infancia a partir de imágenes realistas y no realistas / The construction of oral productions in childhood from realistic and unrealistic images

Resumen El objetivo de este trabajo fue examinar la construcción de narrativas de ficción por parte de niños/as de 5 y 6 años de edad a partir de imágenes con distinto nivel de realismo. Analizamos 49 relatos, 24 realizados a partir de imágenes realistas y 25 a partir de imágenes no realistas. Primero clasificamos las producciones en narraciones, descripciones y otras producciones, y analizamos el ordenamiento de las imágenes. La mayoría de los niños/ as que participaron en la condición no-realista construyeron narraciones e identificaron una imagen para el comienzo y otra para el cierre; mientras que los que observaron imágenes realistas construyeron mayormente descripciones y no las organizaron en secuencias. Luego realizamos un análisis de datos textuales consignando: recuento de palabras y segmentos, y recuento de tipos de palabras y segmentos; glosario de palabras y segmentos ordenados según su frecuencia; y respuesta característica (la más significativa de cada grupo). No se encontraron diferencias en el número de palabras y la cantidad de tipos de palabras utilizadas en cada producción, pero sí en las palabras características y en las respuestas que caracterizaron a cada grupo. En las descripciones se utilizaron más sustantivos, mientras que en las narraciones se utilizaron verbos y conectores causales. La respuesta característica de la descripción consistió en una exposición acerca de cada una de las imágenes por separado. La narración presentó un conflicto o estado emocional, una resolución y un cierre. Los resultados muestran que los niños/ as construyeron distintas producciones (narraciones o descripciones) según el tipo de imágenes presentadas.

Abstract The aim of this paper was to examine the creation of fictional narratives by 5 and 6 year-old children from images with different levels of realism. We analyzed 49 stories, 24 from realistic images and 25 from unrealistic images. First, the productions were classified into narratives, descriptions and other productions, and analyzed the arrangement of the images. Most of the children who participated in the unrealistic condition created narratives and identified one image for the beginning and another for the ending; while those who observed realistic images mostly made descriptions and did not arrange them into sequences. It was analyzed: number of words and segments and number of kinds of words; glossaries and segments of words sorted by frequency; characteristic responses (the most significant of each group). No differences were found neither in the number of words nor in the number of different word types used in each production. However, differences were found in the characteristic words and in the complete responses that characterized each group. More nouns were used in the descriptions, while verbs and causal connectors were used in the narratives. The characteristic response of the description consisted in a presentation of the images separately. The narrative introduced a conflict or emotional state, a resolution and a closure. The results showed that the children developed different productions (narrations or descriptions) according to the type of images they were exposed.

Cognición en desarrollo: aprendiendo palabras por medio de imágenes / Cognition in development: learning words through images / Cognição em desenvolvimento: aprender palavras através de imagens

En esta investigación estudiamos el aprendizaje de palabras a través de imágenes. Presentamos tres estudios cuasi-experimentales. En los Estudios 1 y 2, comparamos la ejecución de niños y niñas de tres años y de adultos. Primero enseñamos un seudo-sustantivo (pompe) aplicado a un objeto novedoso. Luego, enseñamos la palabra utilizándola como adjetivo referido a una propiedad no-convencional. En el Estudio 3, contrastamos el aprendizaje de adjetivos por personas adultas, con o sin el sufijo adjetivador ado (pompe-pompeado). Los resultados muestran que los niños y las niñas utilizaron información contextual para aprender las palabras, mientras que los adultos le dieron más relevancia a la lingüística, resultándoles difícil aprender el adjetivo sin sufijo. Concluimos que, bajo algunas circunstancias, los niños y las niñas son aprendices más eficaces que los adultos. Estos hallazgos señalan la importancia de incluir personas adultas en estudios de desarrollo.

This study investigates children’s and adults’ learning of words in apicture learning context. Three quasi-experimental studies are presented. Studies 1 and 2 comparethe performance of three-year-old children with that of adults. First, we teach teaches a new nounapplied to an unknown object (pompe). Then, we teach the same word, but instead using it as anadjective that refers to a non-conventional property. Study 3 contrasted adults’ learning of twoadjectives with or without the spanish suffix ado (pompe-pompeado). Taken together these results show that children use contextual information to learn words, while adults place more relevance onlinguistic information. As a result, the absence of a suffix made learning the adjective more difficult.We conclude that, under some conditions, children are more efficient than adults. These findings showthe importance of ensuring that adults’ inclusion is part of development studies.

Esta investigação estuda a aprendizagem de palavras mediante imagens.Três estudos quase-experimentais são apresentados. Os Estudos 1 e 2 comparam a execução decrianças de três anos e adultos. Primeiro, ensinamos um substantivo desconhecido (pompe) aplicado a um objeto inovador. Depois, nós ensinamos a palavra, mas usada como adjetivo que se refere a uma propriedade não-convencional. O Estudo 3, contrasta a aprendizagem por parte de adultos de adjetivos, com ou sem o sufixo adjetivador “ado” (pompe-pompeado). Os resultados mostram que as crianças usaram informação contextual para aprender as palavras, enquanto os adultos deram mais importância às linguísticas, para o qual a ausência do sufixo dificultou a aprendizagem do adjetivo.Concluímos que, dado algumas circunstâncias, as crianças são mais efetivas que os adultos. Esses resultados mostram a importância de incluir adultos em estudos de desenvolvimento.

Enseñando palabras mediante libros ilustrados: El aprendizaje temprano de sustantivos y adjetivos / Teaching words through picture-books: Early learning of nouns and adjectives

El objetivo del trabajo que se informa fue investigar el aprendizaje de adjetivos y sustantivos mediante libros ilustrados en niños de tres años de edad. Se diseñaron dos estudios con una metodología cuasi-experimental en los que se enseñó a los niños un sustantivo o un adjetivo. Luego los participantes debían extender la palabra aprendida primero al objeto representado por la imagen, y luego a un nuevo ejemplar de la misma categoría de objeto (sustantivo) o propiedad de objeto (adjetivo). El Estudio 1 comparó el aprendizaje de sustantivos y adjetivos. Se encontró que los niños aprendieron el sustantivo pero no el adjetivo, lo que indicaría que para ellos aprender adjetivos a través de libros con imágenes es más difícil que aprender sustantivos. El Estudio 2 exploró el impacto de la información descriptiva sobre el aprendizaje de un adjetivo que refería a una propiedad visual (estampado). Esta información destacaba, por un lado, el núcleo del concepto, el estampado, y por otro la intención comunicativa del interlocutor. Se contrastó la ejecución de los niños en función de la información provista por la experimentadora. Los datos obtenidos muestran que si los niños reciben información descriptiva sobre el aspecto de la imagen que debe conectarse con la palabra, logran relacionarlo con la propiedad a la que refiere, aprendiendo el adjetivo. Los resultados de esta investigación aportan información relevante acerca de la relación entre el aprendizaje del léxico y el desarrollo conceptual y subrayan la relevancia del contexto sociopragmático en el aprendizaje de palabras.

Picture-books reading are a very common practice between children and adults. In these interactions parents assume that their children learn lots of things, especially words. But, is this interaction effective as a word learning device? Is it the same to teach different kind of words? The main question of this research arises in the intersection of two fields: symbolic comprehension of pictures and word learning. Three main ideas guided this research. Symbolic understanding of pictures is a very complex process that involves cognitive and social skills. The socio-pragmatic context has an impact in the cognitive processes involved in word learning. There is a strong relationship between word learning and conceptual development. The aim of this research was to explore 3-year-old children´s learning of nouns and adjectives in a picture-book reading situation. We designed two studies using a cuasi-experimental approach. In Study 1 we compared two groups of children: one learned a noun (category condition) and the other an adjective (property condition).The noun was pompe, a word that does not exist but has a Spanish morphologic structure. The adjective, pompeado, was built based on the word pompe, adding the suffix-ado; suffix marks that the word is an adjective. Toddlers were exposed to the new words during a picture-book reading interaction with the experimenter, then, they had to solve two successive tests. In the first test of the category condition participants had to apply the new noun learned via pictures to the real object. In the second test they had to extend the new noun to a new exemplar, an object with the same shape but different color. In the first test of the property condition, participants had to apply the new adjective learned via pictures to the real object with the property. In the second test they had to extend the adjective to a new exemplar, a new object with the same target-property. The second tests were taken as strong indicators of word learning as they involved some kind of generalization. In the first test both groups, category and property, applied the word to the real object. In the second test, while children in the category condition extended the noun to another exemplar, children in the property condition did not extend the adjective to another exemplar with the same property. In a second study we explored if children need more cues to extend the adjective to another exemplar with the same property, and truly learn the adjective. Study 2 investigated the impact of descriptive information in word learning. We set two groups on the basis of the information provided by the experimenter. One group received descriptive information highlighting the specific aspect of the picture that had to be mapped with the property. The other group did not receive this additional information. We found that only the participants that received descriptive information extended the word pompeado to a new exemplar with the target property. We propose that the descriptive information worked highlighting the communicative intention of the experimenter as well as the core of the concept. Underscoring the perceptual feature allowed much more than making a superficial association, as the descriptive information pointed directly to the heart of the concept. Overall, the results of this research are consistent with previous studies that found that it is more difficult for young children to learn adjectives than nouns. The results also highlight the strong relationship between word learning and conceptual development. This research provides strong evidence concerning the importance of socio the pragmatic context on referential understanding and word learning.