Basic Factors in the Formation of Speech Behavior

The purpose of this study was to observe the learning process of speech behavior and to pursue which factors are effective in acquiring the facility of improving speech behavior. Speech behavior was defined as the result of human motor activities and as discriminate behaviors using visual and auditory movement. Based on this consideration, the following was investigated. A. How infants acquire the motor movements of the vocal organs through differentiation of motor development. B. How infants develop their functions of visual and auditory discrimination to achieve speech behavior. To investigate A and B, the popular Japanese nursery rhyme, "Genkotsuyama no tanukisan" ("Badger of fist mountain") was used for observation and analyzed for formation of speech behavior. It usually takes about thirteen seconds to sing and uses seven typical patterns of gestural movements. Thirteen hard of hearing children (from three to six years old) were tested under the following conditions. 1. the nursery rhyme was presented to the subjects by singing with gestural movement (on a television screen). 2. singing was presented without gestural movement through a tape recorder. The song was presented at two different speeds (the first at 13 seconds and the second at 10 seconds). The infant's gestures and/or singing responses were recorded with a camera using 8mm film. The observations were conducted once every six months for about three years. The results were follows: A. The process of acquiring motor movements in the vocal organs: Step 1: The infant's verbal behaviors were formulated under the first condition. The infant's singing with gestures was recorded using visual and auditory means. Step 2: Verbal behaviors were formulated under the second condition (singing without gesture) using auditory means only. Step 3: Speech behavior (repeating the song with gestures, singing the song with gestures) was formulated based on step 2 (10 seconds). Within each step, we found that the skills of gestural movements (including the vocal organs) formulated from slow movements to quick movements, from hesitation to without hesitation, from the indistinct to the distinct and from undiscriminate to discriminate. B. Process of acquiring visual and auditory discriminating functions to obtain speech behavior: From the description above A, we can understand how to develop their visual and auditory discrimination functions. The infants first responded to thirteen seconds of singing and gradually they responded to ten seconds of singing. This showed a progressive development in auditory discrimination functions. The author concludes that this effect is a very significant finding for the study of speech development and also for the observation and assessment of the formation of speech in delayed speech children, including the hard of hearing and the mentally retarded.