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REFERENCES
31:217-221.
Krashen,
Stephen.1981.LettertotheEditor.LanguageLearning
and practiceinsecondlanguageacquisiKrashen,
Stephen.1982.Principles
tion.New York:Pergamon.
Long,Michael.1983.Inputand secondlanguageacquisition
theory.
Paper
of MichiganConferenceon Applied
presentedat the 10thUniversity
AnnArbor,Michigan,
October28-30,1983.
Linguistics,
IndianaReynolds,Paul Davidson.1971.A primerin theoryconstruction.
polis:Bobbs-Merrill.
A Commentary
on Krashen'sInputHypothesis
CHRISTIAN FALTIS
University
ofAlabama
TESOL QUARTERLY
The idea that both adults and children acquire language in this
manner comes primarilyfroma small number of studies on first
language acquisition in childrenwhich report on a phenomenon
known as "caregiverspeech" (Krashen 1978:15-18;1981b:128-135).
Caregiver speech is also referredto in the literatureas "caretaker
speech" and "motherese" (Newport 1975). Krashen prefers"caregiver speech" and definesit as "the modificationthatparentsand
othersmake whentalkingto youngchildren"(Krashen1982:22).The
caregiverwhichhe has characterizedforthe last fiveyearsas being
the model forhis inputhypothesisinteractswithyoung childrenin
the followingways:
1. does not deliberately
attemptto teach language(citingNewport,
and Gleitman
Gleitman,
1977)
2. modifieshisorherspeechinordertoaid comprehension
(citingClark
and Clark1977)
3. usesshort,simplesentencesthatbecomemorecomplexas thechild
getsolder(citingPhillips1973)
4. repeatshim-or herselffrequently
to assurecomprehension
(citing
Cross1977)
5. correctslanguageonlyto clarifymeaning(citingClarkand Clark
1977).
353
socialization among Black residentsof the Southeasternworkingclass community referred to as Trackton. In Trackton, young
children are never viewed as conversationalpartners by adult
caregivers. For a caregiver to choose a young child over another
adult as a conversationpartnerwould be considered strangeand
inappropriate.Children are not excluded fromadult activitiesor
fromlisteningto conversationson any topic; they simply are not
broughtintothe discussion.
Tracktoncaregiversmake no attemptsto reduce the competence
gap between themand theirchildrenby simplifyingtheirspeech.
From the day Tracktonchildrenare born,parentsand older siblings
make statementsabout themto otherfamilymembersand friends
but do not attemptto engage them as talkingpartnersuntilthey
become realisticsources of informationalconversation.Childrenin
Trackton become informationgivers by taking in and imitating
sounds theyconstantlyhear around them.
Ward (1971) provides a similar,thoughless complete,description
of language acquisitionpatternsamong the caregiversand children
livingin the Black communityof Rosepoint in rural Louisiana. In
Rosepoint,althoughtalk is all around,thereis no such thingas talk
forthe sake of talkbetween caregiversand youngchildrenbecause
childrenwho are learningto talkare not consideredto be appropriate conversationalpartners.When caregiversdo findit necessaryto
address young children,theydo not attemptto imitateor expand
thespeech of the children.
Child language socialization research conducted outside the
United States pointsto a patternof caregiver-childinteractionthat
also differs markedly from the mainstreamstudies. Schieffelin
(1979) provides an account of language learningamong the rain
forest Kaluli people of the Southern Highlands in Papua New
Guinea. Kaluli caregivers direct very little speech to pre-verbal
children. Since babies are described by adults as "having no
understanding,"it does not make any sense to treat them as
conversationalpartners.Kaluli motherswill, however,speak "for"
the baby under the right conditions. For example, when older
childrengreet and address the baby, the motherwill respond in a
markedvoice forthe baby. In speaking forthe baby, however,the
mother makes no attemptwhatsoever to simplifyher speech to
imitatethe baby. Her language is well formedand appropriatefor
older children.
Ochs (1982) discusses the organizationand developmentof communication between caregivers and young children living in a
traditional,highly stratifiedvillage on the island of Upolu in
Western Samoa. For the firstsix to eight months after birth,
354
TESOL QUARTERLY
355
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wouldliketo thankShirleyHeathand MindySperlingfortheircomments
on an
earlierdraftofthiscommentary.
REFERENCES
Clark, Herbert,and Eve Clark. 1977.Psychologyand language. New York:
BraceandJovanovich.
Harcourt,
Press.
Cambridge,England:CambridgeUniversity
athomeandatschool:a comparaHeath,ShirleyBrice.1982a.Questioning
tive study. In Doing the ethnographyof schooling, George Spindler
and Winston.
(Ed.), 103-131.New York:Holt,Rinehart
TESOL QUARTERLY
andsecondlanguage
Krashen,
Stephen.1981b.Secondlanguageacquisition
learning.New York: PergamonPress.
AnnalsoftheNew YorkAcademyofScience385:259-278.
Catherine
style.In Talkingto children:
languageinputand acquisition,
a studyoflanguagelearning.
Ward,MarthaC. 1971.Themchildren:
New
York: IrvingtonPublishers.
357