Figure 3.

The need for social interaction in language learning is shown by foreign-language learning experiments. 9-month-old infants experienced 12 sessions of Mandarin Chinese through (a) natural interaction with a Chinese speaker (left) or the identical linguistic information delivered via television (right) or audiotape (not shown). (b) Natural interaction resulted in significant learning of Mandarin phonemes when compared to a Control group who participated in interaction using English (left panel). No learning occurred from television or audiotaped presentations (middle panel). Data for age-matched Chinese and American infants learning their native languages are shown for comparison (right panel). [Adapted from (48) and reprinted with permission.]