An Experimental Research on Children’s Recursive Abilities

許政 李雪怡 陸宜青 吳繁 楊彩梅

Recursion， firstly originating from mathematics and computer science， is later broadly discussed in the linguistic field. Recursion is defined as the process of embedding a constituent inside another constituent of the same kind （Fitch， 2010； Pinker and Jankendoff， 2005； van der Hulst， 2010）. It is claimed to be an important step in the evolution of human language and it is regarded as an essential ability and technique which endows human beings with the generative power of language （Fitch， Hauser， and Chomsky， 2005； Hauser et al.， 2002； Martins and Fitch， 2014）. The study of recursion was started a long time ago and it has long been the interests and fascination of many scholars and researchers. Even today， it is still a very hot research topic in linguistic field

In order to clearly find out the difference of childrens acquisition of three levels of recursive structures in different age phases and how they improve through their growing process， we select 120 children who are still studying in “Hand-in-hand” kindergarten in Songjiang district of Shanghai as our research targets and their ages range from 3 to 6 years old. All these tested children are divided into three test groups based on their ages. The group division is arranged as follows： 40 children of three years old （range from 3.0-3.9）， 40 children of four years old （range from 4.0-4.9）， 40 children of five years old （range from 5.0-5.9）. To make the experiments more objective and the research data more convincing， the 120 children are chosen from different grades and classes. Apart from that， we have designed several tables and figures in order to put down the accurate records of their responses to the test so that we are able to make sure that all the research data and findings are first-handed and are originated from the actual field research. Moreover， if we put down all these responses， we wont leave out any kind of details so that the analyzing process can be a little bit easier.

After selecting the research targets and completing all the preparation work， the present study adopted two designed tests which were printed on papers and they were named “comprehension of recursion” test and “production of recursion” test. As for the fact that these two tests have different research targets and requirements， we plan to conduct the tests respectively and use different methods to record the responses of children and put the information into different tables and graphs.

In “comprehension of recursion” test， we have given each child ten questions and each question contains three similar pictures， which are slightly different in some small details. Also， we make sure that the ten selected questions have covered three levels of recursion types. Those tested children are required to circle the target picture under the instructions of the test conductor. One crucial thing about the test is that considering the test efficiency and accurateness， there will be a demonstration test performed by two test conductors as a model test to children. After that， children are required to do the test on their own without any kind of disturbance or assistance. After the children giving his or her response to a particular question， the conductor should put down their responses to each test question.

After finishing the “Comprehension of recursion” test， they start to do the “Production of recursion” test， which is slightly different from the first one. In this test， children are required to utter sentences which contain a basic recursive structure according to their understanding of the picture on the right side. The test conductor will tell the children to imitate the sentence structure produced by the conductor himself or herself so that children only need to imitate and produce their own recursive sentences following the same pattern of the test conductors. After finishing all the process of the test， the test results are put down to the tables for further coding and analyzing process. It is essential that all the responses should be recorded and collected in excel sheets and the other data analysis systems for further discussion， no matter how greatly their responses differ from the provided standard answer. At the end of the test， all the test conductors need to express their gratitude to those tested children for their patience and cooperation and give each tested child some candies as small gifts.

With the help of the data analysis system and the careful work of all the test conductors， we are able to figure out the deep meanings hidden behind the various kinds of responses. Throughout the field research， we have found that childrens recursive abilities are closely related to childrens age and the elder the child is， the better he or she is able to comprehend recursive structures. In addition， nearly all children of 3 to 6 years old can comprehend first-level recursion while when it comes to the comprehension of the third-level recursion， the differences of childrens performance are widened. According to the data， nearly half of the children from 5 to 6 years old can comprehend different kinds of third-level recursive structures while there are nearly thirty percent of children of 4 to 5 years old can comprehend those structures and only less than twenty percent of children of 3-4 years old can comprehend third-level recursion. Therefore， we can figure out from the statistics that children below 5 years old find it really difficult to comprehend third-level structures and when they grow to 6 or above 6 years old， their abilities to comprehend complicated recursive structures will improve a lot.

Through the process of collecting and analyzing the former studies home and abroad， as well as conducting the field research， the present study explores Chinese childrens comprehension and production abilities of three levels of recursive structures： first-level recursive structures， second-level recursive structures and third-level recursive structures. With the employment of the two designed “Comprehension of recursion” test and “Production of recursion” test， we come to better understand that childrens acquisition of recursive structures is closely related to age and childrens recursive abilities improve gradually through the growing process.

Apart from that， the study rules out the rumor that gender can exert much influence to childrens recursive abilities. The test results show that there is no significant difference found in males and females in acquiring different degrees of recursive structures， no matter in comprehension or production. In other words， every child is able to gain the abilities of comprehending and producing recursive structures.

Furthermore， after closely and accurately analyzing the research data， the study shows that nearly all the children in these three age phases can comprehend or produce the first-level recursive structures while the third-level recursion is the biggest challenge for children in all ages to comprehend or produce. In addition， when children are above 5 years old， they have been equipped with the basic recursive abilities because when they have trouble with producing third-level recursion， they tend to adopt second-level or even first-level recursion to express their meanings with the employment of genitive auxiliaries.

As for the fact that the research targets of the present study are children from 3 to 6 years old， who are still studying in “Hand in hand” kindergarten of Songjiang district in Shanghai， and only a small group of children are capable of remembering their birth rates. Therefore， it becomes difficult for us to know their exact ages and it is hard to separate them into the corresponding age groups based on their ages. To cope with this problem， we pay out visit to the principle of the kindergarten and finally have some solutions. As we all know， Chinese kindergartens are divided into three grades and the children studying in the same grade usually have similar cognitive and language abilities. Therefore， in order to separate tested children into the appropriate age groups， we can select children from these three grades respectively. Another problem is that it is hard to select the equal number of boys and girls studying in the same grade according to the gender distribution of the kindergarten， especially in the age phase of 3 to 4 years old.

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