What Big Data Reveals About How Kids Learn to Talk with Dr. Michael Frank

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Join host Garrett Oyama on Beyond Words for a fascinating conversation with Dr. Michael C. Frank, the Benjamin Scott Crocker Professor of Human Biology at Stanford University. Dr. Frank directs the Language and Cognition Lab and the Symbolic Systems Program, and his research asks some of the biggest questions about how children learn language and how social interaction shapes that learning.

In this episode, we explore:

• The origins of WordBank and how massive open datasets are transforming child language research.
• What the MacArthur–Bates CDI reveals about early vocabulary, variability, and developmental trajectories.
• Why children’s first words are more social than survival-based.
• How pointing, joint attention, and even hand movements lay the foundation for communication.
• The surprising universals of variability across cultures and languages.
• What large language models (LLMs) can and can’t teach us about human language learning.
• New multimodal projects like BabyView, capturing the world from a child’s perspective.