A2 Language Acquisition revision

Speaking acquisition

1. Complete the following table about the stages of acquisition:

Stage Approx age (months)

Typical linguistic feature

Cooing and babbling

0 – 12 Proto-words; repeated consonant and vowel sounds

Holophrastic / 1-word

Two-word

Telegraphic

Post-telegraphic

1. Complete the following table about the stages of acquisition:

Stage Approx age (months)

Typical linguistic feature

Cooing and babbling

0 – 12 Proto-words; repeated consonant and vowel sounds

Holophrastic / 1-word

12 – 18 One word utterances, with a variety of meanings. E.g. Drink may be requesting / labelling

Two-word 18 - 24 Two word utterances, showing the emergence of grammar. E.g. want drink.

Telegraphic 24 - 36 3+ word utterances, using questions, negation, pronouns and determiners

Post-telegraphic

36 + Complex utterances, using conjunctions, verb tenses and correct morphemes.

2. What does LAD stand for and who came up with the idea?

2. What does LAD stand for and who came up with the idea?

Language Acquisition

Device, quoted by me, Noam Chomsky

3. Define the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.

3. Define the difference between positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ✓Mother: ok (.) now say mummyChild: (1.0) mummyMother: well done! excellent!

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT xMother: ok (.) now say mummyChild: (1.0) dummyMother: no that’s not right it’s mummy

4. Circle the morphemes in the following words:

4. Circle the morphemes in the following words:

running eats

smaller

wugs southward

5. List 5 linguistic features of child-directed speech:

5. List 5 linguistic features of child-directed speech:

Raised pitchChild-like language e.g. doggie-woggieVerbal rewardsSlow paceSimplified vocabularyMelodic or sing-song type prosodyExtensive questioningShort utterancesUsing names not pronouns

6. What is one argument for the validity of the innateness theory?

6. What is one argument for the validity of the innateness theory?

That children not-exposed to language do not acquire language

That children all over the world learn language at a similar pace

Overgeneralise, using non-adult forms that appear logical e.g. runned

7. Circle whether these statements are true or false:

7. Circle whether these statements are true or false:a. Children are enthusiastic about learning to speak and their language reflects this.

TRUE

b. If a child has not entered the telegraphic stage by 38 months they are in trouble.FALSE

c. Phonological development depends upon learning complex articulatory movements.TRUE

d. Children learn language at roughly the same pace regardless of their native language. TRUE

e. Children in the two-word stage have knowledge of grammar and syntax.TRUE

8. Why are children’s first words usually nouns?

What types of words usually come next?

8. Why are children’s first words usually nouns?

Because they can see them, touch them and hold them! Easy to cognitively deal with.

What types of words usually come next?

Verbs, because they can see them happening!

9. List the four main theories of language acquisition, their associated theorist(s) and a brief summary.

Theory Theorist(s) Brief summaryBehaviourism Skinner Children learn language through imitation

and reinforcement, just like a dog learns to do tricks.

Nativist Chomsky, Pinker

Language is innate and genetic. Language is triggered through exposure and via a Language Acquisition Device.

Social interactionist

Vygotsky, Brown, Dore

Language is acquired through interacting with adults.

Cognitive Piaget Language is acquired because it is necessary: children want to describe their environment and express their feelings.

10. Look at this short transcript:

Child: this is my fisAdult: a fis?Child: no a fisAdult: a fish?Child: yes a fis

What is happening here, in terms of the child’s language development?

10. Look at this short transcript:

Child: this is my fisAdult: a fis?Child: no a fisAdult: a fish?Child: yes a fis

The child cannot hear their own errors! To them, it sounds OK.

T I M E

Comprehension of language

Production of language

11. What is the ‘wug test’ trying to show about language acquisition?

11. What is the ‘wug test’ trying to show about language acquisition?

That a child either has or hasn’t acquired plural endings.

12. Why might a child in the telegraphic stage say /taka/ when wanting to say tractor?

12. Why might a child in the telegraphic stage say /taka/ when wanting to say tractor?

Because /traktor/ is difficult to say! Lots of consonant clusters – difficult articulatory movements.

13. ‘Daddy kick’ and ‘kick ball’ are typical utterances from what stage?

What kind of grammatical constructions are they?

13. ‘Daddy kick’ and ‘kick ball’ are typical utterances from what stage?

TWO-WORD STAGE

What kind of grammatical constructions are they?

Daddy kick = NOUN + VERBKick ball = VERB + NOUN

14. Which sounds are likely to be learnt first?

Which are likely to be learnt later?

14. Which sounds are likely to be learnt first?

Vowels and plosive sounds, e.g. /b, p, t, d/; ones that need simple articulatory movements

Which are likely to be learnt later?

Ones that need difficult articulatory movements, e.g. /dg, ng, sh/.

Reading acquisition

1. List 5 ways in which the pages from this child’s book are designed to help children learn how to read:

Images that match the text

Image on the left, text on the right

Mono-syllabic words

Short, simple sentences

Directly involving the child: just like you

Simple conjunctions and to join sentences

Engaging subject matter Teddy Bear

2. Match each of these statements to either synthetic phonics or analytic phonics:

a) The UK government supports it being taught in schoolsb) Is a system of reading where each grapheme is worked out individuallyc) A system of reading that encourages guessingd) Requires a lot of intensive teachinge) The process is fastf) Emphasis on the first letter works well for short words but not for long words

2. Match each of these statements to either synthetic phonics or analytic phonics:

SYNTHETIC PHONICS ANALYTIC PHONICS

Is a system of reading where each grapheme is worked out individually

The UK government supports it being taught in schools

Requires a lot of intensive teaching A system of reading that encourages guessing

The process is fast Emphasis on the first letter works well for short words but not for long words

3. Complete the following table about reading cues:

Reading cue Description and example

Visual When using a visual cue, a child will look at an image in a book to help them read / remember a word. For example, they see a picture of a tiger and this helps to trigger the word recall.

3. Complete the following table about reading cues:

Reading cue Description and example

Visual When using a visual cue, a child will look at an image in a book to help them read / remember a word. For example, they see a picture of a tiger and this helps to trigger the word recall.

Semantic Understanding meanings of words, e.g. knowing that mummy also means Mother, Mum etc.

Syntactic Using knowledge of word order to extract meaning: the boy sat in the chair with the broken arm vs. the boy with the broken arm say in the chair

Contextual Using their own knowledge to read unfamiliar words, e.g. swimming pool if the child has been there recently.

Miscue Making errors when reading, e.g. reading sheep as shop because they look and sound similiar

4. Speech is innate but reading is…..

4. Speech is innate but reading is…..

TAUGHT

Writing acquisition

1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass)

baot (boat)

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)

1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat)

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)

1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)

1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong) OMISSION / PHONETIC SPELLING

rediculuos (ridiculous)

1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong) OMISSION / PHONETIC SPELLING

rediculuos (ridiculous) OVERGENERALISATION / TRANSPOSITION

2. List 5 things that children may find difficult when learning how to write:

Physiological muscle control: holding the pen and making the correct movements

Learning the alphabet

Learning grammar and syntax

Spelling (orthography)

Putting in spaces between words

Having a limited vocabulary size

3. Put these stages of writing development in order:

3. Put these stages of writing development in order:

DrawingLetter-like formsCopied lettersChild’s name and strings of lettersWordsSentencesText

4. What is meant by the term emergent writing?

4. What is meant by the term emergent writing?

The early stages of literacy development, where children are making scribbles and some very rudimentary letter-like forms

5. Look at this (typed up) example of children’s writing, written by a child of 7 years:

It’s a misrbel rainy day The wind is tossing the Trees and levaes about I like to see the streekes of rain drops. Runing and racing down the window pane. i am warm and cosy in My house But all the trees are Not.

List 5 things the child knows about writing

List 5 things the child is struggling with

List 5 things the child knows about writing

- Some sense of narrative structure; beginning, middle, end- Some punctuation (full-stops)- Can use contractions It’s- Knows that some letters are capitalised- Plural endings: leaves- Verb inflections: tossing- Use of conjunctions: I am warm and cosy

List 5 things the child is struggling with

- Consistent use of capital letters: not been standardised yet

- Phonetic spelling: streekes- Omission of letters: runing, misrbel- Transposition: levaes- Correct and consistent placing of full stops