English Proficiency I : Forum-Is it always spoken?

Scientists have long debated why babies babble !hey suggest that babbling
shows a baby"s growing sensitivity to the patterns and the rythms of human speech
From birth to before si# months of age$ babies have the ability to recogni%e the
sounds of almost any language in the world It is during these first si# to nine
months that babies ac&uire their native 'babbling language( ) normal baby starts
first with simple syllables together to sound like real sentences and &uestions *hat
happen$ though$ to children who cannot hear ? +ow do deaf children learn to
communicate ?
,ased on our topic$ we have invited some guests to tell us more on our
pleassure Firstly$ I would like to introduce Education professor$ -iss )licia .oberta$
who has been studying on how babies learn language for more than /0 years1 -iss
2elline 3aniel$ Ph3$ professor of Speech communication at Pennsylvania State
4niversity$ and -adam Susan Ericson$ who is credited with the populari%ation of
baby sign language She is also the inventor of the 'Sign *ith 5our ,aby System(
certified instructor who teach the language to parents and babies nation wide
2hairperson : )lright$ lets talk about the patterns of deaf babies of deaf parents
learn their languages
2elline : Scientists found that only 607 of all deaf children are born to deaf
parents$ are clearly a minority in the deaf population +owever$ these
children have linguistic advantage over deaf children of hearing
parents 3eaf children of deaf parents have an accessible language
available to them from an early age 2onse&uently$ they develop
language at about the same rate as their hearing counterparts 3eaf
babies of deaf parents babble with their hands in the same rhythmic$
repetitive fashion as hearing babies who babble with their voices
2hairperson : +ow deaf babies learn their languages from the interaction with their
deaf parents compared those hearing babies ?
)licia : 3eaf parents often sign in front of their deaf infants and may often
enlarge their children"s signs 8ust as hearing parents elongate spoken
words in 'baby talk( !he deaf babies who presumably watch their
parents use sign language at home start their manual babbles
before they are ten months old$ the same age hearing infants begin
stringing together sounds into wordlike units
2hairperson : )part from that$ what"s the difference of gestures between deaf
children and hearing children?
2elline : !he gestures of the deaf children do not have real meaning but they
are far more systematic and deliberate than the random fingers
flutters and fist clenches of hearing babies !he motion seem to be
the deaf babies fledgling attempts to master language$ said dr 9aura
)n Pettito$ a psychologist at -c:ill 4niversity in -ontreal She found
that the deaf parents use )S9 to communicate with their deaf babies
!he deaf babies have the potential to indicate something when their
hand signs are placed together with other gestures
2hairperson : ;ow$ let -adam Susan tells us the description and linguistic structure
of )S9
Susan : *ell$ )S9 is an autonomous linguistic system independent of English
It is a visual$spatial or gestural language that is very e#pressive and
dependent on visual cues of the hands$ body and face )S9 is
symbolic and systematic$ it has it"s own morphology and synta# )S9
was originated in the 4nited States in the late 6<
th
centuary It was
transformed into a true language that has been taught to many deaf
people 9ike all other languages )S9 uses arbitrary symbols and it"s
'word( *ord order of )S9 varies according to emphasis$ giving the
user many e#pressive possibilities
2hairperson : If so$ how )S9 can be applied in education?
Susan : )cross ;orth )merica$ the ma8ority of deaf children attend public
schools Some of them rely on lips reading and other people as note
takers$ while others may have an )S9 interpreters in the classroom
)S9 as well as signed English appear to serve$ e&ually well$ the same
roles on thinking as spoken language does for hearing children
2hairperson : ;e#t$ let us discover on how hearing parents knowing that their
children are deaf and therefore how their children learn their
language
)licia : 3eaf children of hearing parents typically begin language ac&uisition
later as a result of parents not knowing that their child is deaf$ often
until the child is two to four years old !herefore$ a manual form of
language is not used infront of the infant$ nor is the child receiving
another type of effective communication training because the infant
cannot hear information presented orally
2hairperson : )fter being diagnosed$ what are the first move of the parents?
2elline : )fter being diagnosed$ some of these children may eventually first
learn on manual coding of English in the home along with speech
Some of the hearing parents begin to learn )S9 to teach their children
2hairperson : So$ what are the findings after the babies being taught )S9 in a
certain period?
)licia : !he deaf babies seemed to make hand movements over and over
again !heir hand"s motions started to resemble some of the basic
hand-shapes used in )S9 ;e#t$ they form some simple hand signs
and use these movements together to resemble )S9 sentences
2hairperson : 9inguists believe that humans are born with capcity for language )
baby"s brain is capable of learning any foreign language ing the world
!his is possible because the brain of an infant is malleable to mold of
the environment ) hearing baby whose parents are deaf and those
babies of deaf parents will be doing sign language !hey will
communicate with their fingers$ hands and facial e#pressions For
those hearing babies who have one deaf parent will babble e&ually
with their hands and voices !he capacity for language is uni&uely
human )s a result$ the sign system of deaf is physical e&uivalent of
speech In a nutshell$ the old theory that only the spoken word is
language will have to be changed )t the end of this meeting$ we
would like to thank to our guests for sharing their opinions !hank you
for spending your precious time with us