Science bus
To further examine current theories about language development, Sander drove the ‘Science on Wheels’ bus from the Baby & Child Research Center and travelled across the Netherlands (see picture 1). Together with research assistants Dilys Eikelboom and Marthe Meijer, she visited families with children learning Sign Language of the Netherlands.
Differences in social interaction
In the bus Sander recorded toy play and shared book reading sessions between signing and non-signing caregivers and their children. She specifically looked at those moments during the sessions when caregivers labelled an object or event. The social interaction between signing caregivers and children turned out to be different from that between non-signing caregivers and children. Signing dyads looked much more frequently at each other and they used other senses, such as touch, to draw attention to each other and to objects more frequently. Also, signing caregivers often first ensured their child was looking at them before they start signing, to make sure that the child was looking at the sign. Non-signing caregivers do this sometimes but not so often.
Similar developmental trajectories
Although the patterns of interaction differs between signers and non-signers, the children’s language development follows similar trajectories, and is just as fast.“When children are exposed to sign language at a young age, they go through the same stages of language development as non-signing children. Caregivers are very flexible in supporting their child’s language learning. The way they do this differs when teaching a sign language, but the result is the same.”
Underrepresented groups
Through her PhD research, Jennifer Sander demonstrates that who you study affects your conclusions. After all, making a different choice in the research process can easily lead to a different insight. Sander: “When I look at a theory, I always try to consider whether it also applies to groups of people who are underrepresented in research; groups like signers who researchers rarely work with. If we conduct more research with these groups, we can truly begin to make statements about language development in general.”
Defending her PhD
After six years, 7,000 kilometres and analyzing hundreds of hours of video footage, the end is in sight. On the 23rd of October at 12:30, Jennifer Sander will defend her PhD thesis in the auditorium of Radboud University.
Curious to see what the study looked like? Click here.
