Empirical research in First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition clearly shows that without interaction, language acquisition cannot take place. Clear and simple, right? Leading linguists and neurolinguists specializing in language acquisition agree on this: interaction with another human being is essential to acquire a language. If you did your homework and read the articles I suggested last week, you may have a clearer picture in this respect now. The following passage is a quotation from an article published by TIME magazine on January 8th, 2006 entitled “Want a Brainer Baby?,” based on studies carried out by Patricia Kuhl, PhD. Dr. Patricia K. Kuhl is a Co-Director of the University of Washington Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences. Her research focuses on language acquisition and language processing by the brain.

“ CDs and DVDs designed to teach a baby Spanish or Chinese are also problematic. Patricia Kuhl, who studies acquisition at the University of Washington, conducted an experiment comparing the effects of Chinese audio recordings for children and a Chinese-speaking human. She had a native Mandarin speaker play with a group of babies while speaking Chinese for 12 sessions of 25 minutes each over a four-week period. Later she tested the babies and was able to demonstrate that they recognized Mandarin sounds. But when she repeated the experiment with three control groups – one set of babies that saw the Chinese speaker play with babies on video, another that listened to an audio recording of the Chinese woman playing and a third that had no exposure to the Chinese speaker – none seem to perceive Mandarin sounds. Apparently, the presence of a living, breathing human was essential. There’s a lesson there for any parent who wants to encourage early learning. Most experts agree that what matters most is not what toy the baby plays with, but the ways in which you interact with your child.(…) But the good news is none of this costs any money. Babies prefer humans over anything inanimate.