PART II LISTENING COMPREHENSION SECTION A TALK In this section you will hear a talk. You will hear the talk ONCE ONLY . While listening, you may look at the task on ANSWER SHEET and write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each gap . Make sure what you fill is both grammatically and semantically acceptable. You may you the blank sheet for note-taking. You have THIRTY seconds to preview the gap-filling task. Now listen to the talk. When it is over, you will be given TWO minutes to check your work. Critical age Decline of babies’ language learning ability occurs at the age of (1) . Lab work Research focus: l How babies learn (2) in the first critical period Research aims: l developing a model for babies in their critical periods of --language acquisition --social, emotional and (3) development Research process: l Babies need to listen. l They are trained to turn their heads when (4) . l A panda bear pounds a drum if babies are correct. Participants: l (5) Babies Results: l Babies can (6) of all language. l Babies become language-bound before (7) . --sound reaction between American and Japanese babies --6-8 months old: (8) --two months later: (9) l Two events during the critical two months -- (10) when listening to a language --change of babies’ brains when distributions grow Conclusion Language learning may slow down when sound distributions become stable.