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Pointing can boost toddlers' language skills, say researchers. Pointing and other hand signals seem to give babies a head start in learning language skills, possibly by helping them to make connections between words and the objects in the world around them, psychologists found. The research highlights how interacting with toddlers can have a marked impact on their brain development, even before they have started talking, the researchers said.
I believe this phenomenon has been extensively explored by SLA (Second Language Acquisition) before it was described in depth by researchers investigating first language acquisition. SLA uses the highly efficient techniques like TPR (Total Physical Response) and the methods proposed by professor Krashen. Total Physical Response maximizes the input of Second Language that the learners get by creating in-class situations commented on-line by teachers which are readily understood by students, the rules and a little fragment of video from a TPR classroom can be found here:
Professor Krashen's theory of language input is fascinating even to a speaker of just one language, I believe and are as applicable to SLA as to FLA. I won't try to summarize his ideas, but he googles fairly well, so anyone interested in them can search to their soul's content 🙂
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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