Statistical Learning of Languages

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Overview

This is a simple activity on a complex topic, that can be explored to varying levels depending on the goals of the class.

Learning goals

  • To understand how our brains learn patterns in novel languages.
  • The activity uses the topic of Statistical Learning, as one of the mechanisms involved in learning a new language. It is a way to have an interactive, and effective demonstration with tangible real-world applications.

Materials

  • Instructor computer, with a projector, and access to audio presentation

Procedure

  1. We start with a small lie. Tell students they will do an experiment on “Visual Auditory Integration” (this is not true). The reason for this small lie is that they focus thoroughly in the visual task, making the effect from the auditory one even more impressive.
  2. Students will be told to count the number of times the balls in the screen collide with each other, while listening to the sounds being played in silence. (We really just want them to be quiet and focused while listening to the sounds)
  3. Then, we go over some different permutation of the syllables they heard in the sound stream and asked if they would say any of them are “real words” vs “fake words” from that artificial language.

Debrief & discussion questions

  • The main idea explored here is that through exposure alone we can learn the regularities that are part of a new language, making it easier for us to learn new words, or establish word boundaries.
  • We can have a small section about other types of regularities that can be learned. While before we were talking more about regularities in sounds, we can also talk about regularities in structure/grammar, using the ” Wug Test” as an example.

Expected outcomes (what you’ll likely observe)

  • It is expected that students will very reliably learn the “real words” from this novel language after only a couple minutes of exposure.

Variations

  • This is meant as an introductory activity, how you expand on it is entirely dependent on the needs of your class.
    • The focus can be put on the statistical learning, or pattern learning, or on psycholinguistics.

References

  • The materials used in this activity were made by me, with the usage of the syllables from the famous study by Saffran et al. (1996)

Personal Notes

  • The exposure phase lasts around 2 minutes right now. This was not a principled choice, and it is possible that it will work best with more time, or that it can be shorter without any detrimental consequences

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