The Limitations Of Research Methods - 1155 Words

The limitations of the research methods used in the investigation were not taken account in the popular report. My primary source used an experiment approach. They were looking at the kind of languages they were exposed to prenatally to the types of languages they prefer after they are born; the languages used in this experiment were Chinese, English, and Tagalog. Infants were tested using high- amplitude sucking preference procedure, which capitalizes on newborns’ sucking reflex. The popular report does not even mention this. The popular report mentions how if newborns are interested to a certain language they turn their gaze or pay attention more but nothing about sucking. The results also only focus on three languages in the primary†¦show more content†¦Hypotheses stated in the main article is whether or not the same initial perceptual biases and early learning mechanisms that underlie monolingual acquisition operate in the bilingual neonate to propel bilingual ac quisition. Important characteristics of the participants in the research is that 30 newborn infants (0-5 days old), half from monolingual English backgrounds and half from bilingual Tagalog- English backgrounds for the first part of the experiment. For the second part of the experiment 14 infants (neonates), whose mothers spoke both English and Chinese regularly during pregnancy, were tested for their preference for Tagalog versus English. Research questions did no address age- related changes in the main report. Research methods used in this investigation were self reports to whether or not the mother spoke another language, a sucking instrument to collect data; sentences of either English or Tagalog were also presented to the infants. Major findings are that 1. Monolingual English infants were significantly less interested in Tagalog bilinguals did not show a significant preference for either English or Tagalog and 2. Chinese bilingual neonates did not show an outright preference for ei ther English or Tagalog. These infants did show a pattern of preference distinct from that of either English monolingual or Tagalog bilinguals.