Description
Module Content
After introducing language acquisition as a theoretical issue, the course will concentrate on empirical evidence of the nature and effects of input to children, and the nature of children's language production and comprehension at different stages, including discussion of the processes by which language is acquired
Teaching Delivery
The module is delivered with weekly one-hour lectures and weekly one-hour backups
Indicative Topics
Indicative lecture topics are based on module content in 2023/24, subject to possible changes.
- Pre-linguistic speech perception and production
- Phonological development
- Approaches to first language acquisition and the Role of the Input
- From first words to a lexicon
- The emergence of syntax: two-word utterances
- Emergence of grammatical morphemes
- Emergence of functional categories: negatives and questions
- Bilingual language acquisition
Module Aims and/or Objectives
The aim of this module is to provide students with an understanding of how children develop language, relying on some of the main accounts of first language acquisition. The module is delivered with weekly one-hour lectures and weekly one-hour backups. At the end of this course, students will be able to:
• explain key properties of how language is acquired;
• describe the typical sequence of language development at levels of vocabulary, phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax, semantics and pragmatics;
• apply knowledge of relevant theoretical constructs when describing language development data. ing on some of the main accounts of first language acquisition. . At the end of this course, students will be able to: • explain key properties of how language is acquired;
• describe the typical sequence of language development at levels of vocabulary, phonetics, phonology, morphosyntax, semantics and pragmatics;
• apply knowledge of relevant theoretical constructs when describing language development data.
Module deliveries for 2024/25 academic year
Last updated
This module description was last updated on 19th August 2024.
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