10Th Form Reading Text #2:

From “Babies Recognize Mother Tongue From Birth” by Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 2013.

Infants are known for their impressive ability to learn language, which most scientists say kicks in somewhere around the six-month mark. But a new study indicates that language recognition may begin even earlier, while the baby is still in the womb. Using a creative means of measurement, researchers found that babies could already recognize their mother tongue by the time they left their mothers’ bodies.

The researchers tested American and Swedish newborns between seven hours and three days old. Each baby was given a pacifier hooked up to a computer. When the baby sucked on the pacifier, it triggered the computer to produce a vowel sound—sometimes in English and sometimes in Swedish. The vowel sound was repeated until the baby stopped sucking. When the baby resumed sucking, a new vowel sound would start.

The sucking was used as a metric to determine the babies’ interest in each vowel sound. More interest meant more sucks, according to the study soon to be published in Acta Paediatrica. In both countries, babies sucked on the pacifier longer when they heard foreign vowel sounds as compared to those of their mom’s native language. The researchers suggest that this is because the babies already recognize the vowels from their mothers and were keen to learn new ones. Hearing develops in a baby’s brain at around the 30th week of pregnancy, which leaves the last 10 weeks of gestation for babies to put that newfound ability to work. Baby brains are quick to learn, so a better understanding of these mechanisms may help researchers figure out how to improve the learning process for the rest of us.

Multiple Choice Questions:

1. According to the article, scientists have new evidence that suggests that infants begin language recognition:

   1. Before they are born.

   2. About seven hours to three days after birth.

   3. About three months after birth.

   4. About 6 months after birth.

2. When language ability “kicks in”, it is most accurate to say that “kicks in” means:

   1. To break

   2. To subside

   3. To begin

   4. To stutter

3. When hearing a vowel from a foreign language, activity on the pacifier

   1. Stayed the same for both infants.

   2. Increased for both infants.

   3. Decreased for both infants.

   4. Was unpredictable.

4. What does gestation most nearly mean?

   1. Deterioration

   2. Activity

   3. The process of hearing

   4. Development

5. Aside from learning about a baby’s profound ability to rapidly recognize and acquire language, why else is this study important, according to this author?

   1. It’s an effective test of a modern pacifier product.

   2. Studying accelerated learning in infants may shine light on advancing learning for adults.

   3. It illustrates that all infants have the inclination to learn new languages.

   4. It demonstrates that linguistics and cognitive science are linked.

Reading Text Answer Document:

Reading Text #1: About Coming of Age

True/False:

1. True

2. False

3. False

4. True

5. False

6. False

7. True

8. True

9. True

10. True

Reading Text #2: From “Babies Recognize Mother Tongue From Birth” by Breanna Draxler, Discover Magazine, 2013

Multiple Choice:

1. A

2. C

3. B

4. D

5. B