The hunt for endogenous and exogenous mechanisms that underlie language development has long been a central theme in (psycho)linguistics; however, much of this work relies on a fallacy that HIGH-QUALITY input is necessary for children to develop language “successfully”, and that there is a GAP in that type of input directed at children from historically marginalized families and communities. Within this framework, scholars have (in)advertently pathologized the early linguistic experiences of those with less social capital, ultimately preserving power relationships that were established earlier in the United States’ colonial history. In this lecture, Dr. Megan Figueroa will lay out how we must add nuance to the story of child language development by more accurately describing how language develops across families, communities, and cultures without portraying certain environments as “high-quality” and others as inherently “lacking” or “impoverished.”
Click here for the Zoom presentation: https://zoom.us/j/98890903092