Vocabulary is a key marker of children’s language development because it is a prominent feature of child language that parents hear, attend to, and make judgments on. Vocabulary is also central to social and cognitive intelligence. How do children differ in their vocabularies? Why do they differ? What do children bring to vocabulary learning?
These questions and more will be examined during a special lecture given by Marc Bornstein, director of the Child and Family Research Centre of the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, Bethesda, MD. Bornstein’s lecture "Children’s first words", will take place today, at 
4:30pm, in Room 291, Behavioural Sciences Building on the Keele campus.
Right: Marc Bornstein
A world-renowned psychologist, Bornstein’s research and writings have changed the way we think about developmental processes and have inspired the research and thinking of many developmental scientists.
Bornstein has held faculty positions at Princeton University and New York University as well as academic appointments as visiting scientist at the Max-Planck-Institut füür Psychiatrie in Munich, Visiting Fellow at University College London, Professeur Invitéé at the Laboratoire de Psychologie Expéérimentale at the Universitéé Renéé Descartes in Paris, Child Clinical Fellow at the Institute for Behavior Therapy in New York, visiting professor at the University of Tokyo, Professeur Invitéé at the Laboratoire de Psychologie du Dééveloppement et de l’ÉÉducation de l’Enfant at the Sorbonne in Paris, and Visiting Fellow of the British Psychological Society.
Bornstein’s lecture will also examine the mechanisms and processes that characterize parenting that promotes vocabulary development. The lecture is part of the Development and Cognitive Development Colloquium Series offered by the Psychology Department in York’s Faculty of Health. It is free and open to the York community. For more information on the series visit www.psych.yorku.ca/dcp/colloquium/index.html.