| Research Institute
Directors: Isabelle Barriere, PhD & Garey V. Ellis, MD
The populations that YVY serves represent a broad range of ethnic, cultural and linguistic communities: about 15 languages are spoken at home by YVY children in addition to English. In order to raise to the challenge of understanding and responding to the needs of YVY children and families, in the spring 2006 YVY established a Research Institute that a) houses research projects that lead to a better understanding of YVY populations and their needs, b) improves assessments, with the input of YVY staff and parents and c) contributes to YVY educational policies and to YVY staff professional development. The findings that emerge from projects conducted at YVY are shared with regional, national and international partners so that they can benefit all children, families and communities.
1.2 MISSION 1: Research
How do children develop in different cultural and linguistic settings? What
are the universal, language-specific, cultural-specific patterns their development
exhibits? How can this development be fostered or enhanced in cases of typical,
delayed and atypical development? What are the underlying causes of delayed
and atypical development and how to best address the child’s and family’s
needs? How to distinguish between delayed, atypical and cultural-specific
Here are some of the issues that Yeled V’Yalda Multilingual Development
and Education Research Institute is seeking to address. The heart of the YVYMDE
Research Institute is the Yeled V’Yalda Early Childhood Education Center
(http://www.yeled.org/) (2005 Outstanding Early Childhood Program Awards granted
by the New York State Education Department Office of School Improvement and
Community Services), one of the two largest Head Start Programs in New York
City. Its population totals over 2,000 children representing an unsurpassed
cross-section of languages and cultures in the US. This offers the institute
an opportunity to pioneer assessment, intervention, and rehabilitation tools
that will meet the needs of these children, their families and the health and
education professionals who serve them while answering fundamental theoretical
and empirical issues about child development and education that will serve
1. Cross-linguistic, bilingual and multilingual development
2. Speech, reading and writing- different writing systems and alphabets
3. Early childhood education, intervention and rehabilitation
4. School age intervention and rehabilitation
5. Families and their communities
6. Typical, delayed and atypical physical and cognitive development
7. Assessment, diagnostic, intervention and rehabilitation
8. Link between theoretical research and implications for education, intervention
1.3 MISSION 2: Policy
The Research Institute communicates the research findings that emerge from projects conducted at YVY as well as relevant outcomes of state-of-the arts findings published in a broad range of disciplines that pertain to young children’s education (including applied linguistics, cognitive science, early childhood education, health sciences, neuropsychology, developmental psychology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and speech sciences) to YVY Management Board. This information informs changes in YVY educational policies.
Yeled v'Yalda Dual Language Policy
Raising Bilingual Children (Yeled v'Yalda Newsletter)
In 2008-2009, YVY Research Institute developed the Dual Language Policy now required by Head Start for all programs that serve children whose Home Language is not English, in collaboration with other YVY Early Head Start and Head Start programs and with YVY families. The policy reflects both Head Start directives as well as the in-depth knowledge of YVY populations that has emerged from the Research Institute research projects.
The aim of YVY Dual Language policy is to:
a) identify and respond to the needs of Dual Language Learners with respect to assessment, best teaching and clinical practice and parenting behavior;
b) create a learning environment that promotes the successful acquisition of skills that determine subsequent school success for all children including Dual Language Learners;
c) disseminate research-based information that positively contributes to children’s acquisition of English and of their Home Language to parents, policy makers and service providers (at and outside of YVY) and to institutions that train education and health professionals and researchers.
Isabelle Barrière, PhD.
Dr. Barrière has received interdisciplinary training in developmental psychology of language, education and neuropsychology at Birkbeck College/ University of London (UK), Toulouse University (France), the Child Neuropsychology Unit at the Salpetriere Hospital in Paris (France) and Johns Hopkins University. Her research has been supported by European (e.g. UK ESRC) and American grant-giving organizations (e.g. NSF) and disseminated in the peer-reviewed literature. It focuses on the acquisition of different languages; bilingual development; early literacy; typical and impaired development; intervention and the link between theoretical research and education policies and clinical interventions. Dr Barriere is currently developing assessment tools in little researched languages used by YVY children and investigating the comprehension of word-combinations by toddlers exposed to different languages. Dr Barriere is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Speech Communication Arts & Science at Brooklyn College/City University of New York where she teaches courses in Language Development, Emergent Literacy and Dual Language Learning. She is also a Research Associate at the Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society/Department of Linguistics, City University of New York Graduate Center and a member if the Doctoral Faculty of Brooklyn College Department of Psychology and of the Speech Language and Hearing Sciences Department at the CUNY Graduate Center.
Tel: 718.209.1122 ext. 237 | Fax: 718.209.1171 | e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.org
Garey V. Ellis, M.D.
Dr. Ellis received his BSc in Psychology and Biology from Brooklyn College and his Medical Degree from Ross University School of Medicine. His multi-faceted contributions to community health and education have been rewarded by many prizes including the Vernal G. Cave Humanitarian Award, the Martin Luther King’s Fulfilling the Dream Award and the New York City Technical College's 2009 Best of Community Assistance Award. In Spring 2009 Dr Ellis was the Recipient of the Borough of Brooklyn City of New York Citation for demonstrating an extraordinary commitment to promoting community health and well-being through the development of responsive and outstanding services for all Brooklynites. In the same year he was an Honoree at New York City College of Technology Foundation at their Best of New York Award Dinner. In 2010 he was appointed Honorary member of the Jewish Faculty Staff Association (JFSA), New York City College of Technology, the City University of New York in recognition of philanthropic generosity and educational and humanitarian services to the community. Dr Ellis’s areas of expertise include wellness education, health policy, public health, the prevention and treatment of attention and memory disorders, eating disorders and the enhancement of the teaching of scientific subjects. Before joining YVY, Dr Ellis served as the Medical Adviser to the Commissioner of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr Ellis has is currently leading several new YVY initiatives to tackle important community issues such as asthma, diabetes and obesity.
Tel: 718.809.9571 | e-mail: email@example.com
2.2 RESEARCH ASSISTANTS
Department of Education, Touro College
Macaulay Honors College, CUNY
- Max Temnogorod (Major: Psychology)
- Lilach Gez (Major: Speech, Minor: Linguistics)
Program of Linguistics, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Department of Psychology, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Department of Speech Communication Arts & Science, Brooklyn College, CUNY
- Agnes Liede
- Schifra François
- Charles Gansa
- Irina Grigoryan
- Marianna Grodzinskaya
- Amanda Gutierrez
- Dalia Hesham
- Eric Hora
- Julie Kyshtobaeva
- Julia Malykhina
- Shanika Phillips
- Ludmila Pukhovich
- Christine Roland
- Ebony Turner
- Esther Williams
- Nancy Zaki
- Sophia Zalta
- Galyna Zaslav
Link- Department of Speech Communication Arts & Science Brooklyn College, CUNY:
3.1 IN-HOUSE PROJECTS
Emergent biliteracy skills in Hebrew/English-Speaking Dual Language Learners
Principal Investigator: Tami Mor, MA in Special Education (Touro College) and MA in Applied Linguistics (Queens College, CUNY) & Teacher at YVY
Supervisor: Dr. Isabelle Barrière
Research Assistants: Mariela Alda, Naomi Baine, Rosaly Fallas, Yvette Faour, Lilach Gez, Shira Oved, Brendan Royston, Esther Williams, Sophia Zalta
This study investigates emergent literacy in bilingual preschoolers who are being taught both the Hebrew and the English writing systems simultaneously, and who are exposed to both languages' oral and written forms concurrently. It addresses four specific questions:
- Do dual language learning preschoolers distinguish between the Hebrew and English writing systems that differ in a) the shapes of the letters and b) the directions of the writing in the early stages of exposure to literacy?
- To what extent do literacy skills transfer from one language to another?
- Does the transparency of the orthography of (vowelized) Hebrew have a facilitating effect over the opaque characteristics of English orthography in the early stages of acquisition of literacy?
- Do dual language learners of two writing systems take longer to master emergent literacy skills compared to monolingual children exposed to one writing system?
In order to address these questions, 3;7 to 5 year old preschoolers were administered tasks that tap various sub-skills including invented spelling, letter naming, print recognition, language preference, direction of book opening, distinguishing alphabets, verbal analogies and vocabulary skills. In addition a detailed questionnaire on the demographic and linguistic contexts in which the children are raised was administered to parents and teachers' interviews were conducted to collect information on the pedagogical strategies to which the children are exposed.
The data were collected on Hebrew/English-speaking children who attend Farragut Road/Canarsie Head Start program in the Spring and Summer 2011. The results are currently being processed and will be posted as soon as they are available.
Presented at the Student Research Day organized by the Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences Day at CUNY Graduate Center:http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/lilachgez/2011/04/17/my-first-conference/
In Brooklyn College Linguistics Program News: http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/linguistics/webdev/linguistics-program.html
The emergence of decontextualized speech in toddlers exposed to English, French and Russian
Project Leader: Ludmila Pukhovich, MSc Student, Speech, Brooklyn College
Supervisor: Dr. Isabelle Barrière
Research Assistants: Max Temnogorod, Ebony Turner, Sophia Zalta
The aims of this study are to: a) identify the early acquisition patterns of the use of decontextualized language (i.e language that evokes events, object and people removed in time or space from the immediate context) ; b) investigate the similarities and differences across three languages- English, French and Russian- and cultures given that to date only one study focused on the emergence of this aspect of language acquisition in American English; c) to determine whether parental input has an impact on this aspect of language development. Transcripts of language samples of 1;10 and 2 year old toddlers interacting with their caregivers were extracted from the CHILDES database (MacWhinney, 2000). The coding system has been adapted from Adamson and Bakeman (2006) that considers Symbolic Highlighting, Spatial Displacement and Temporal Displacement. The results will have implications for the cognitive underpinnings of early language development and the identification of universal versus language and culture-specific acquisition patterns. The results are currently being processed and will be posted as soon as they are available.
The adaptation of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development Inventory-
Words & Sentences- to Yiddish
Principal Investigator: Dr. I. Barrière
• Official exclusive adaptation of the MacArthur Bates Communicative Development
Inventory (MBCDI) to Yiddish granted by the MBCDI board
• Initiative praised by NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Program
Monitoring and Quality Improvement Early Intervention Program Review 2006
2009-2011 Phase 2 Funded by a PSC-CUNY Award (#60108-39 40)
Validity study: Identifying developmental phases in the acquisition of Yiddish as a First Language
2005-2009 Phase 1- Development and Norming
Collaborators, Consultants and Research Assistants:
2005-2006: S. Frenkel, CCC.SLP, G.V.Ellis, MD, M. Sputz, MS, SAS, L. Hirth, CCC.SLLP, H. Lubinsky, CCC. SLP, R. Zeller, CCC. SLP, PhD, M.Schapiro, E. Rosenfeld, R. Bemcheboum, C. Rosenberg, H. Eisner, R. Hauben
2006-2007: F. Halberstam, S. Smdesdran, C. Buchman, E. Bergelson, J. Chen
2007-2008: M. Gruzman, A. Weiss, N. Weiss
2008-2009: Y. Blum, L. Gillig, G. Lichtenstein & R. Miles
3.2 REGIONAL, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATIONS
2007-2008 Early Childhood Interfaces: Analyses of Demographic, Cognitive, Socio-emotional, Linguistic, Behavioral, Educational and Medical data collected on YvY population (> 2,000 low SES children aged 0 to 5, using more than 15 languages, > 10% with Individualized Education Plan) in 2006-2007.
Principal Investigator: Dr. I. Barrière, YvY Research Institute
Co-Principal Investigators: Prof. G. Martohardjono, RISLUS and Department of Linguistics, CUNY Graduate Center and G. V. Ellis, Yeled v’Yalda Research Institute
Research Assistant: Tomonori Nagano, Graduate Student in Computational Linguistics, CUNY Graduate Center
Funded by RISLUS (Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society), CUNY Graduate Center
The nature of first word combinations: insights from the comprehension and production of subject-verb agreement and tense-marking by native French-speaking children
Principal Investigator: Prof. G. Legendre, PhD, Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. I. Barrière, YvY Research Institute
Co-Investigator: Dr. T. Nazzi, CNRS laboratory Cognition & Development, Paris, France
National Science Foundation grant- Division of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences- Linguistics Program and Office of International Science and Engineering:
Amount: $300,000 Award number: 0446954
Acquiring one's native language is a tremendous achievement. Most 3 year olds already exhibit both a solid understanding of the linguistic exchanges that surround them, and also, within the limits set by their expanding vocabulary, a significant ability to express themselves in that language. Four main questions arise: How do they get to this point? Where do they start? Do they exhibit the same patterns in production (the forms they use) and comprehension (the forms they understand)? How much is tied to the particular grammatical properties of the language they are acquiring? Few non-contradictory answers exist, in large part because of the notorious difficulty of testing linguistic comprehension in very young children. With funding from the Linguistics Program and the Office of International Science and Engineering, Dr. Geraldine Legendre and Dr. Isabelle Barriere will seek answers to these and other related questions using recently developed non-invasive experimental methods. Based on measuring the duration of gazing at short videos paired with short audio descriptions that match or do not match the videos, these methods have been used to test linguistic comprehension in very young children acquiring English. The research team will apply such methods to the testing of children acquiring French, a language which has a richer system of marking tense, person, and gender distinctions than English. This novel study of comprehension in young children from a cross-linguistic perspective will inform the debate on, and attempt to resolve contradictory claims pertaining to, first language acquisition. Broader impacts include advancing the diagnostic of atypical linguistic development by establishing a benchmark for both typical production and comprehension, creating research opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students at Johns Hopkins University, and fostering scientific dialogue with research communities abroad.
The development of adjective concord in Spanish-speaking children with or without specific language impairment
The measurement of executive functions in young children
Principal Investigator: Prof. C. Blair, Department of Psychology, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education & Human Development
Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Recent studies have revealed that executive functions a) constitute a strong predictor of school readiness (Duncan et al., 2007, Blair & Razza, 2007) and b) change rapidly during the preschool period (Rueda et al., 2005). The aim of this project is to develop and norm a sensitive tool that reflects the developmental stages of executive functions in 2 to 5 year olds.
Children enrolled at Farragut Road and Silver Lake II are currently participating in this project.
Principal Investigator: Dr. P. Royle, University of Montreal
Co-Principal Investigator: Dr. P. Gordon, Teachers College University of Columbia, Dr. Daniel Valois, University of Montreal
Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Noun-Phrases Are Part of the Building Blocks of Language. This research on the acquisition of adjective agreement studies the capacity of the young children to produce complex noun phrases (for example the small red balloon). We aim to collect data on the
acquisition of this structure in Spanish-speaking children with and without language impairment.
Learning Spanish Involves Learning Gender Agreement in the Noun Phrase. In Spanish, adjectives and other elements of the noun phrase must agree in gender (masculine or feminine) with the noun. Thus, ‘red car’ is carro rojo (masculine) but ‘red frog’ is rana roja (feminine). Children produce these structures at young ages. We can gain a better understanding of how children acquire agreement by studying agreement in the noun phrase.
What Can Children with Language Impairment Do? What Is Difficult? The study of this structure in language-impaired children will inform us on the differences between normal and impaired development of this structure. Previous studies using play situations have shown some difficulties producing correct gender in Spanish-speaking children with language impairment. However, this study will systematically test this question.
This Study Will Help us Understand the Acquisition of Other Languages. We will compare the abilities of children acquiring Spanish to those obtained in French-speaking children who are participating in a similar project conducted by the same investigators in Montreal, Canada. This cross-linguistic comparison will allow us to address issues regarding the relationship between language form and ease of acquisition of linguistic structures.
Studies of Early Acquisition Help Us Understand Important Steps in Development. Since pre-school age is a critical period for linguistic development, it is essential to identify language learning problems as soon as possible. Presently, very few standardized tools exist for the evaluation of language acquisition of Spanish-speaking children. Clinical evaluation tools could allow speech-language pathologists to evaluate children at risk for speech and language disorders. This study will eventually lead to the creation of better evaluation tools.
Kidprime: Structural priming in young children
Principal Investigator: Dr. G. Bencini, Language Acquisition Research Center,
Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York
Mentor: Prof. V. Valian, Distinguished Professor, Department of Psychology,
Hunter College; PhD Program in Linguistics & PhD Program in Psychology-
CUNY Graduate Center
Cognitive Science; Language and Learnability; Cognition & Gneder; Gender
Abstract: This research looks at children’s early word combinations (sentences)
and the relationship between the sentences children say and the sentences they
understand. By carefully controlling the input the child receives and simplifying
the task of saying a sentence, Dr. Bencini has shown that: normally developing
monolingual children’s early sentences are more adult-like than previously
thought; children are able to understand complex sentences earlier than previously
thought. Understanding the benchmarks of typical development is the first step
in early assessment of language skills. This in turn can inform interventions
when deficits are found.
4. RESEARCH INSTITUTE RESOURCES FOR EDUCATION PROFESSIONALS AND CLINICIANS
These resources have been prepared to assist clinicians and educational professionals who service dual language learners from different language backgrounds. The educational professionals and clinicians should feel free to contact the institution if they need information about other languages. This is a work in progress and will regularly be updated.
- Emergent literacy in children acquiring two writing systems (including Hebrew-English)- in progress
- Education of medically fragile children Annotated bibliography by L.Pukhovich
- Haitian (Creole)- in progress
- Russian Annotated Bibliography by K. Silva, G. Zaslav & J. Kyshtobaeva
- Yiddish Yiddish Chapter in Czernowitz Centenary Yiddish Conference
5.1 SELECTED REGIONAL, NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Barrière, I., Blum, Y., Gillig, L. & Meisels, M. (July 2011) Effects of Quantity and Quality of Input and of Language Contact in Heritage Language Learners: Insights from the Acquisition of Yiddish by Hasidic Toddlers. Symposium on " Bilingual development in contexts of variation and change" 12th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Montreal, Canada.
Legendre, G., Barrière, I., Goyet, L., Nazzi, T. (July 2011) Is there a production/comprehension asymmetry in the acquisition of verbal number marking? Evidence from French. Symposium on "Detecting and interpreting agreement morphology: cross-linguistic issues" 12th International Congress for the Study of Child Language, Montreal, Canada.
Barrière, I. (March 2011) Fostering Successful and Long-term bilingual development, (Russian and Hebrew- speaking) Parents Workshop, Organized by the Edith & Carl Marks Jewish Community House of Bensonhurst and held at Park Slope Jewish Center, Brooklyn, NY.
Nazzi, T., Goyet, L. , Barrière, I., Kresh, S., Legendre, G. (March 2011) New Evidence of French-Learning Infants'Sensitivity to Irregular Subject Verb Agrrement at 18 Months, Biennal Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development.
Barrière, I (February 2011) The Nature of Early Linguistic Representations: Evidence from the Acquisition of Subject-Verb Agreement by French-Learning Toddlers. Brooklyn College Department of Psychology, Cognition, Brain & Behavior Colloquium Series,
Barrière, I. (November 2010) The acquisition of Yiddish by Hasidic toddlers and preschoolers: insights into bilingualism from a natural psycholinguistic experiment. Judaic Studies Program, Drexel University, Philadelphia
Barrière, I., Goyet, L., Nazzi, T., Kresh, S. & Legendre, G.(November 2010) The Representation of Subject-Verb Agreement in French-learning Toddlers: New Evidence from the Comprehension of an Infrequent Pattern of Pseudoverbs. Boston University Conference on Language Development 35.
Legendre, G., Barrière, I., Goyet, L., & Nazzi, T. (September 2010) On the acquisition of implicated presuppositions: Evidence from French personal pronouns. Generative Approaches to Language Acquisition North America, Toronto, Canada.
Barrière, I. (August 2010) Will the 2008 Head Start Dual Language Policy help Yiddish continue to thrive in Brooklyn Hasidic Communities? Raanana, Highland Mills, Orange County.
Barrière, I., Legendre, G., Nazzi, Goyet, L. & Kresh, S. (July 2010) L'acquisition de l'accord sujet-verbe par les jeunes francophones natifs entre 14 et 30 mois: préférence, comprèhension et environnement linguistique. 2nd World Congress of French Linguistics, New Orleans, USA.
Barrière, I., Blum, Y., Buchman, C., Barnett, D., Miles, R., François, S. & Guttierez, A. (June 2010) Developing culturally sensitive language assessments with EHS and HS professionals and parents to inform a Dual Language Policy adapted to your populations: insights for a project on Yiddish, Spanish and Haitian Dual Language Learners. Head Start 10th National Research Conference: Research on Young Children and Families: Launching the Next Decade for Policy and Practice, Washington.See the HS 10th National Research Conference poster
Legendre, G., Barrière,I. Nazzi, T., Goyet, L., (January 2010) French Personal Pronouns and the Acquisition of Implicated Presuppositions. Linguistic Society of America Annual Meeting, Baltimore.
Barrière, I., Blum, Y., Gillig, L. (December 2009) Word-order, Pro-drop and Auxiliary Selection in Varieties of Contemporary Brooklyn Yiddish. Conference on Yiddish Language Structures, University of Regensburg, Germany.
Legendre, G., Goyet, L., Barrière, I., Kresh, S., Nazzi, T. (November 2009) Sensitivity to Irregular French subject-verb agreement at 18 months: Evidence from the Head Turn Preference Procedure. Boston University Conference on Language Development 34.
Barrière, I., Blum, Y., Gillig, L. & Kresh, S. (June 2009) Changing the cultural and communicative status of Yiddish in the Hasidic community by investigating its acquisition. Bloomsbury Round Table in Culture, Communication and Cognition, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.
Ellis, G.V. (May 2009) Increase Awareness and Knowledge of Important Factors in Prevention of Chronic Diseases (e.g. Diabetes, Heart Diseases) Focus on Nutrition & Exercise. Anderson School of Management, University of California/ Los Angeles.
Barrière, I. (March 2009) Bilinguality and Impaired Language Development. Brooklyn College Department of Speech Science Master Clinicians Series. ASHA CEU-credit (0.2).
Barrière, I.(January 2009) The distinction between low percentage of exposure and language impairment: insights from the acquisition of Yiddish and English. Bilingualism and Specific Language Impairment, Institute for Advanced Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel.
Barrière, I.(August, 2008) The vitality of Yiddish among Hasidic infants and toddlers in a low SES preschool in Brooklyn. W. Moskovich, L. Finberg, M. Chlenow (eds.) The 2008 Czernowicz Yiddish Language International Centenary Conference, Czernowicz, the Ukraine.
Ellis, G.V. (May 2008) Effects of Obesity on a Child’s Mental Health. ACS/CCHS Special Needs Forum for Education Professionals, NYC.
Barrière, I., Martohardjono, G. & Ellis, G.V. (May 2008) Languages and Pre-literacy skills in low-income preschoolers in New York City. Research Institute for the Study of Language in Urban Society Annual Forum.
Barrière, I. (October 2007) Les facteurs qui déterminent le développement morphosyntaxique chez les bilingues. CHU Ste Justine Research Center Mother and Child University Hospital Center. Université de Montréal.
Barrière, I. (May 2007) Talk to me: helping families and their young children to engage in communication. Conference Families as partners: strategies for effective early intervention partnering, New York University.
Barrière, I. Halberstam, F., Smedesdran, S. & Lambova, M. (May 2007) Environmental influences on the early bilingual (Spanish/English, Yiddish/English) development of low SES children in NYC. Annual Forum of the Research Institute for the Study of Languages in Urban Society, CUNY Graduate School.
Barrière, I. (January 2007) Screening and assessments of young children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Brooklyn Special Education cluster, New York.
5.2 SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Barrière, I. & Monéreau-Merry, M.M. (in press) Trilingualism of the Haitian Diaspora in NYC: Current and Future Challenges. In O. Garcia, B. Otcu & Z. Zakharia (eds) Bilingual Community Education.
Barrière, I., , Goyet, L. , Nazzi, Goyet, L. & Legendre, G. (2011) The Representation of Subject-Verb agreement in French-learning toddlers: New Evidence from the Comprehension of an Infrequent Pattern of Pseudoverbs. Proceedings of Boston University Language Development conference 35. See original here.
Barrière, I. (2010) L'Haïtianophonie aux Etats-Unis" (The Haitianophone World in the United States). Haiti-Liberté 4.3, December: 18-19. Original French version accessible at: http://www.haiti-liberte.com/archives/volume4- 23/The_Book/index.html; http://www.tnh.ht/actua/culture/l'haitianophonie%20aux%20usa.htm
Barrière, I. (2010) The vitality of Yiddish among Hasidic infants and toddlers in a low SES preschool in Brooklyn. W. Moskovich, (ed.) Yiddish - a Jewish National Language at 100. Proceedings of Czernowitz Yiddish Language 2008 International Centenary Conference,Jerusalem-Kyiv, 2010, series "Jews and Slavs",vol.22: 170 - 196.
Legendre, G., Barrière, I., Goyet, L. & Nazzi, T. (2010) Comprehension of infrequent subject-verb agreement forms: evidence from French-learning children. Child Development, 81 (6): 1859-1875.
DeBey, M. & Barrière, I. (2009) Globalization, Technology and the Education of Young Children: Understanding the World in Two Languages. In O’Connor-Petruso, S.A. & Girelli-Carasi, F. (eds) Globalization, Technology and Curriculum. Pearsons
Morgan, G, Herman, R. C, Barrière, I.,.Woll, B. (2008) The onset and mastery of spatial language in children acquiring British Sign Language. Cognitive Development., 23: 1-19 (with a commentary by Dan I. Slobin) Cognitive Development 23 (2008), Slobin’s commentary
Legendre, G., Nazzi, T., Barrière, I., Culbertson, J., Lopez-Gonzalez, M., Goyet, L. & Zaroukian, E. (2007) Acquiring subject-verb agreement in French: evidence for abstract knowledge from comprehension. In H. Caunt-Nulton, S. Kulatilake abd I. Woo (eds) Proceedings of Boston University Language Development Conference 31, Vol. 2: 370-381. BULCD 31 Proceedings
Barrière, I. & Lorch, M. P (2006) On the acquisition of ambiguous valency-marking morphemes: insights from the acquisition of French SE. V. Torrens & Escobar, L. (ed.) The acquisition of Syntax in Romance Languages. Amsterdams: John Benjamins. pp23-49. Acquisition of Syntax in Romance Languages (2006)
Morgan, G., Barrière, I. & Woll, B. (2006) The roles of modality and typology in the acquisition
of verb morphology in British Sign Language. First Language, 26 (1): 19-43. First Language modality & xpology(2006)
February 19th, 2009: G.V. Ellis, MD/YVY, B. Zurer-Pearson/ University of Mass/Amherst, PhD, I. Barriere, PhD/YVY and Brooklyn College, M.DeBey, PhD/Early Childhood Education, Brooklyn College
6.1 GUEST SPEAKERS
Dr. Barbara Zurer-Peason of the University of Massachussets/Amherst, whose book “Raising a Bilingual Child: A Step by Step Guide for Parents” was awarded the 2008 Parenting Media Award gave a presentation on Dual Language Learning to YVY Education Professionals and Clinicians that was open to students and professors from other institutions.
Prof. Joel Walters of Bar lIan University visited several YVY sites and presented Bilingual Development in Young Children: Insights form Code-switching.
Lauren Swensen, MA and Dr. Letitia Naigles, from the Department of Psychology at the University of Connecticut, presented Positive effects of Maternal Input on the Language Development of Children with Autism to parents of children enrolled in the YvY ABA Program.
Dr. Sharon Armon-Lotem, from the Department of English and Linguistics at Bar Ilan University, presented Distinguishing Bilingualism from Specific Language Impairment in Bilingual Children with Specific Language Impairment to the YvY therapy staff and professionals from several New York universities and non-profits.
6.2 INSTITUTE DIRECTORS
Dr. G.V. Ellis gave a presentation titled “Increase Awareness and Knowledge of Important Factors in Prevention of Chronic Diseases (e.g. Diabetes, Heart Diseases)” to the staff at Staten Island (Silver Lakes I & II), Farragut Road and Borough Park sites.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented the new Dual Language Policy to the Policy Council.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented the new YVY Dual Language Policy to Head Start Professionals.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented the new YVY Dual Language Policy to Early Head Start Professionals.
Dr. Ellis, G.V. gave a presentation on the Effects of Obesity on a Child’s Mental Health to parents and staff at Staten Island Silver Lakes I & II.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented New Brigance Forms and Profile & Progress of YvY Children for ACF HS teachers at the Borough Park Professional Development Day.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented Profile & Progress of YvY Children for HS and EHS teachers at the Staten Island Professional Development Day at Silver Lake I & II.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented a Workshop on Cognitive Development for parents of YvY HS and ESH children at Silver Lake I.
Dr. Isabelle Barriere presented a workshop on Language Development for parents of YvY HS and EHS children at Silver Lake I.
7. POSITIONS AVAILABLE
Interested students should contact:
Dr. Isabelle Barriere
Co-Director, YvY Multilingual Development & Education Research Institute
& Director of Policy for Research & Education, Yeled v'Yalda Early Childhood
6002-6012 Farragut Road
Brooklyn, NY 11236
Tel: 718.209.1122 ext. 237
8. CONTACT AND DIRECTIONS
Dr. Isabelle Barriere
Co-Director, YvY Multilingual Development & Education Research Institute
& Director of Policy for Research & Education, Yeled v'Yalda Early Childhood
Tel.: (718) 209-1122, ext. 237
Fax: (718) 209-1171
Directions to 6012 Farragut Road, Brooklyn, NY 11236 (map)
Public transit: Take a number 3 subway to Sutter Ave – Rutland Rd station, then take the B47 toward Kings Plaza to the corner of Ralph Av and Farragut Rd, or take the B/Q line to King’s Highway station, then take the B82 to Ralph Av, and walk one block north to Farragut Rd.
From Brooklyn College: Take the B06 to Flatlands and 76th St., cross Flatlands and walk two blocks to Farragut Rd.
9.1 ON DUAL LANGUAGE LEARNING
For Parents, Clinicians, and Education Professionals:
Making a difference: A Framework for Supporting First and Second Language Development in Preschool Children or Migrant Farm Workers, by AED Center for Early Care and Education(TAC-12) http://www.ece.aed.org/
Bilingual Infant/Toddler Environments: Supporting Language and Learning in our Youngest Children- A guide for Migrant and Seasonal Head Start Programs, by AED Center for Early Care and Education (TAC-12) http://www.ece.aed.org/
California Department of Education:
Office of Head Start official website, Early Childhood Learning and knowledge Center at http://www.eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov Search specifically English Language Learners and Dual Language Acquisition”
English Language Learners Focus Group- Identifying strategies to support English Language Learners in Early Head Start Programs, April 2002 http://www.ece.aed.org
A website that presents the most up-to-date information on the more than 6,000 languages spoken in the world (very useful if you need to match a part of the world with a language or the other way round) Ethnologue: http://www.ethnologue.com/
A website with information on child development including recent research on Autism Spectrum Disorders and Dual Language Learning: http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/HD/Outreach_extension/publications.cfm
9.2 ON THE PREVENTION OF OBESITY (FOR DIVERSE CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC COMMUNITIES)
MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: http://www.sci.sdsu.edu/cdi/
Linguist List: http://www.linguistlist.org/
The Virtual Center for Language Acquisition: http://www.clal.cornell.edu/vcla/
Websites for Training and Display Materials
Websites for Materials to Distribute to Parents
Websites for Diversity Materials
Websites for Video Clips