Peter Sipes Article Review Bibliographic information Diesendruck, Gil & Shemer, Ginnat. (2006).

Young children's expectation of competence in word learning. Journal of Child Language, 33, pp 321338 doi:10.1017/S0305000906007343 Major questions How do children assign names to novel objects? Do children assume that adults know that children know the names of objects in the world? Methods used Children were shown a series of objects. In stage one, it was established that there was always an object in the bucket. In stage two, children were shown two objects: one in view and one in the bucket. Finally in stage three, children were shown three objects: two in view and one in the bucket. During stages two and three children were asked to either point out or give an object to the interviewer. These questions were divided into two sorts. Sometimes the experimenter asked for an object by name. (E.g. Can you point to the truck?) Sometimes the object was not named. (E.g. Can you give me something?) Subject population 40 two-year old native Hebrew speakers drawn from daycare centers in Israel. Special equipment A bucket, an assortment of items both familiar and unfamiliar. Nature of results This sort of research, if I understand the article, is not particluarly new. What the reasearchers were trying to find was how children find objects that go with unfamiliar names. They found that when children were given an unfamiliar name for an object in steps two and three, they would prefer to look for that object in the bucket. This preference arises because when adults ask children for an object, the

children believe that the adult is asking for something within their capability. The preference arises from the child's EXPECTATION OF COMPETENCE from the adult. I find this appealing when viewed through the lens of Vygotsky's scaffolding in learning. It implies, to me, that children know that the adults are providing an environment geared toward their linguistic success.