The acquisition of language is one of the most crucial elements of early childhood development. Yet how children accomplish this task remains a rather mysterious process because the children themselves lack the ability to describe it.
Roberta Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Educational Studies, has been a pioneer in the study of language development in infants. As director of the Infant Language Project at the University, she has created a simple but ingenious method of "getting inside kids’ heads." Using side-by-side videos that require only that a child look at one of the screens to signal comprehension, Golinkoff can determine what infants as young as 10 months can understand. This method has enabled her to test infants’ understanding of verbs and more complex grammar. She has shown that infants who can only say one or two words can comprehend five- or six-word sentences.
Golinkoff has used this method since the early 1980s to study thousands of youngsters. She often runs as many as seven experiments at a time, thereby providing numerous opportunities for undergraduate students to become involved in her research. By holding regular seminars with her research assistants, Golinkoff is able to acquaint them with every aspect of her research from its theoretical underpinnings to experimental design and data analysis. She frequently includes undergraduates as co-authors of research papers.
According to undergraduate researcher Kevin Driscoll, Golinkoff is "very accessible" and responsive to student input. "I liked the fact that I could bring up ideas specific to an experiment and see modifications based on my ideas. Being a part of the design of experiments has made my experience overwhelmingly positive."
Undergraduate researcher Melissa Dougherty adds, "Hands-on experience in the lab combined with intense discussions of previous research on language acquisition with Dr. Golinkoff offers students the chance to excel. I hope to attend graduate school in speech and language pathology, and I feel confident that this experience has prepared me for future research work."