Learning the Statistics of a New Language

Throughout my research career, I have emphasized the role of talking and reading experience in becoming a skilled language user. The papers in this section are digging into just how this experience of reading or talking is translated into long term learning and improved skill down the road. This work is important for beginning to understand many important questions in children and adults’ language use. These include the best ways to present information in school to result in sustained learning (letting students talk helps a lot). Another question is what kinds of experience are necessary, such as how much do kids need to read in order to become fluent readers? I don’t have the magic answer here, but understanding how people learn from experience is key to figuring out answers to questions like these.

The Seidenberg and MacDonald (2018) paper emphasizes children’s learning and experience and is designed to be accessible to students, teachers, and others who care about children’s language and reading. Amato and MacDonald (2010) investigate learning of a made-up language and find that readers rapidly learn patterns in a language enough to influence their reading, even though they have no conscious awareness of what they have learned. 

Some of my other work emphasizes the role of talking in learning, including Hopman and MacDonald (2018) and Rojas et al. (2020, an article for a science journal for children). I also discuss the role of talking on learning in my book, More Than Words.

* Indicates that the article offers review, new theory, or response to other researchers.