The Consortium on Language Variation in Input Environments around the World (LangVIEW for short) is a network of professionals (students, practitioners, clinicians, researchers, and others)1 interested in how young children across the world use their language experiences to learn about the ambient language(s) (i.e., used in and/or outside the home).
We have a mailing list (~1 email/month) and a monthly scientific seminar (an online talk). Nothing is mandatory, and the hope is that people take out much more than they put in (e.g., they can more easily present their work at symposia).
Here’s why it is beneficial to join:
If you have a google-registered address:
If you don’t: Email alecristia@gmail.com (but please prefer the former route to avoid contributing to email overload!)
Our overarching mission is to understand what are the causal links between (1) children’s experiences and (2) language outcomes via (3) the child’s learning and processing mechanisms. Defining children’s experiences, learning and processing mechanisms, and language outcomes is not straightforward, and is part of our discussions. Moreover, both these definitions and the causal processes involved are complex, with social and cultural factors affecting all of them, and with potentially complicated feedback loops that assure the child an active role. In this complex setting, relevant research may not include all three key aspects (experiences, outcomes, mechanisms).
Our aim is to understand these causal links for as many diverse languages and populations as possible, and not just the populations that are more commonly studied (typically-developing children growing up in USA/Western Europe)
To this end, we discuss the development of toolkits and theories with a concern that they be adaptable across languages and cultures, and that they can shed light on individuals’ language learning environments and trajectories
This does not mean all LangVIEW members agree on what the toolkits and theories could be; for instance, some of us believe word checklists can play this role and others do not. In fact, some members believe it is impossible to capture individual development in a standardized way!
Additionally, we are all open to hearing about when a theory or toolkit does not “work” in some language and culture, as we believe such limits can be insightful.
Some of our members are also members of other networks (see Language acquisition networks, initiatives, and resources for a growing list). LangVIEW’s unique angle is that it is built around a single conceptual question (the causal link between experiences and outcomes).
Our overarching mission is ambitious. To make our progress visible, we have selected the following goals for the first half of 2022:
If you are uncertain whether this will be useful to you, we recommend you join the mailing list and see! You can always leave the list later. ↩