Features

EYE SUPPLEMENT Research: How rhythm and tone are key for the early language-learning brain

A study recently concluded babies first learn language via rhythm and tone instead of phonetic information. Professor Usha Goswami shares more about the BabyRhythm project.
Centre for Neuroscience in Education

Children’s language skills are fundamental to their ability to benefit from the opportunities offered by education. Recent brain imaging studies with babies are showing us some of the mechanisms that the brain uses to create a language system. Rhythm and rhyme are fundamentally important.

HOW DO BABIES LEARN LANGUAGE?

The new brain research uses the fact that when we speak, we are creating sound waves, moving energy through the air. The brain picks up these energy changes, aligning its own intrinsic rhythms to these energy waves, which are heard as different rhythm patterns in speech.

We can think of the brain waves ‘surfing’ the sound waves. Brain waves occur naturally at a range of different speeds. ‘Speech-brain alignment’ is the neural tracking of speech rhythms at different speeds by automatic matching with the correct brain waves. Speech-brain alignment is an automatic aspect of how we listen.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included

  • Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month

  • Unlimited access to news and opinion

  • Email newsletter providing activity ideas, best practice and breaking news

Register

Already have an account? Sign in here