Chapter 9: LIFE SPAN DEVELOPMENT I
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
How familiar are you with American idioms? Match each item in column A with the appropriate meaning given in column B. If you are unsure, look at the sentence context given below. Answers are given on pages 70-71.
COLUMN A / COLUMN Ba. to drop out / 1. to get a lot of use from
b. to take for granted / 2. to disregard, pay no attention to
c. a milestone / 3. a helpful suggestion
d. to set aside / 4.to signal as support for an argument
e. to get mileage out of / 5. an important event in a person's life
f. a tip / 6. to be left out of
g. to point to the fact / 7. to accept without question
h. to be skipped / 8.easy to overlook or forget
i. out of sight, out of mind / 9. an important characteristic
j. a hallmark / 10. to quit or stop taking part in
Sentence context
a.Longitudinal studies also have their limits. They are expensive in terms of time and money, and their results are restricted in generalizability. Because participants often drop out or move away during the extended test period, the experimenter may end up with a self-selected sample that differs from the general population in important ways. (p. 320)
b.We take our culture for granted, operating within it while being almost unaware of it. (p. 322)
c.Puberty, the period of life when a person becomes capable of reproduction, is a major physical milestone for everyone. (p. 329)
d.If we set aside contributions from secondary aging, (changes resulting from disease, disuse, or neglect), we are left with studies of primary aging (gradual, inevitable age-related changes in physical and mental processes). (p. 331)
e.Children get a lot of mileage out of single-utterance vocabulary; for example, "mama" can be used to say "I want you to come and get me," "I'm hurt," or "I don't like this stranger." (p. 333)
f.Study tip: If you're having difficulty differentiating between overextension and overgeneralization, remember the "g" in overgeneralize as a cue that this term applies to problems with grammar. (pp. 333-334)
g.To support his viewpoint, Chomsky points to the fact that children all over the world go through similar stages in language development. (p. 334)
h.According to Piaget, all children go through the same four cognitive stages at approximately the same age, regardless of the culture in which they live. No stage can be skipped, because skills acquired at the earlier stages are essential to mastery at later stages. (p. 341)
i.At birth and for the next 3 or 4 months, children lack object permanence. They seem to have no schemas for objects that disappear from their visionout of sight is truly out of mind. (p. 341)
j.Egocentrism is the inability to consider another’s point of view, which Piaget considered a hallmark of the preoperational stage. (p. 342)
Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
Adjectives are often used to compare or contrast two elements or ideas. The comparative structure used is determined by the adjective itself. Note that for adjectives of one syllable, the suffix -er is added to the adjective. For adjectives with more than one syllable, more precedes the adjective. Look at these examples:
In the case of intelligence, studies often overlook that older subjects have generally received less formal education than younger subjects, which can be correlated with lower test scores.
Longitudinal studies typically employ smaller samples than do cross-sectional studies.
By asking deeper and more complex questions than other researchers of his time, Piaget moved beyond the simple measurement of a child's intelligence.
Researchers question whether inherited intelligence is more important for determining scholastic achievement or if the environment is really more influential in this aspect of a child's development.
Review your knowledge of these structures by inserting the appropriate comparative form of the adjective in parentheses. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
The effects of early or late maturation in adolescents are mixed. Early maturing girls often have ______(high) school achievement and are ______(independent) than their peers. However, they also have ______(low) self-esteem, ______(poor) self-images, and are ______(quarrelsome) with their parents and siblings. Early maturing boys demonstrate similar tendencies: they are ______(tall) and have ______(great) strength than their peers, but some studies have shown that they have ______(problematic) behavior patterns than do late maturing boys.
Finding key information
Often, the authors make generalized, factual statements that they need to support and prove in order to convince the reader of the logic of their arguments. To do this, they employ a typical structure of academic writing: the inverted pyramid paragraph. Look at the paragraph on page 325, under the heading "Hazards to Prenatal Development." Notice how the first sentence provides a broad, general statement, and how the following sentences narrow the focus of the discussion, resulting in a very specific example. Study the figure on the next page in order to visualize this another way:
Read the section in your textbook on page 327 under the heading "Motor Development." Fill in the figure below. When you are finished, you may check your answers in the answer key section.
Examining structural clues
Writers use many ways to signal comparison and contrast between principle elements and ideas. In addition to the specific grammatical structures reviewed earlier in this chapter, sentence connectors and transition words can be used to signal comparison and contrast. For example:
COMPARISON
Just as a child's body and physical abilities change, his or her way of knowing and perceiving the world also grows and changes.
Teenage mothers belong to the highest risk group both for birth complications and for fetal abnormalities.
Like the nature versus nurture issue, the continuity versus stage question is not a matter of "either-or."
Doman's belief that with special training any child can become a genius is an example of an extreme nurturist position; similarly, Graham's belief that high intelligence can be produced by selectively breeding sperm and eggs is an extreme naturist perspective.
CONTRAST
These two "womb mates" are no more alike than brothers and sisters born at different times.
Fantz discovered that infants prefer complex rather than simple patterns, color rather than black and white, and pictures of faces rather than nonfaces.
Some theorists believe that the capability to acquire language is innate, or inborn, whereas others claim that it is learned through imitation and reinforcement.
Studies found that children as young as three years of age will adjust their speech and vocabulary when communicating with another child as opposed to an adult.
Locate 5 sentences in this chapter which contain a comparison or contrast relationship and write them in the spaces provided below. Study your sentences. Which demonstrate comparison and which mark contrast? What elements are being compared or contrasted? Highlight the connector words which clarify these relationships and think about how they are used in each sentence.
1.______
______
2.______
______
3.______
______
4.______
______
5.______
______
Answer key
Testing your knowledge of idioms and other vocabulary
a. 10; / b. 7; / c. 5; / d. 2; / e. 1; / f. 3; / g. 4; / h. 6; / i. 8; / j. 9Reviewing your knowledge of English grammar
The effects of early or late maturation in adolescents are mixed. Early maturing girls often have higher school achievement and are more independent than their peers. However, they also have lower self-esteem, poorer self-images, and are more quarrelsome with their parents and siblings. Early maturing boys demonstrate similar tendencies: they are taller and have greater strength than their peers, but some studies have shown that they have more problematic behavior patterns than do late maturing boys.
Finding key information
Examining structural clues
Answers will vary.
Handbook for Non-Native Speakers-1-