Child Language Acquisition

Graphology;
page layout
lineation
pictures
fonts/size of letters

Lexis and semantics;
length of words
types of words
semantic field
concrete/abstract nouns
repetition

Grammar;
sentence types
sentence lengths
verb tense
use of active or passive voice

Cohesion;
repetition
pronouns used after
referent well established

Influences from everyday speech;
face to face interactions
familiar scenarios
use of direct speech
informal register
repetition

Features borrowed from the oral tradition of
story telling;
alliteration
repeated epithet
parallel sentence structures
rhythmic language

Alliteration

Repeated epithet

balanced sentence

Assonance

Repeated formulae

Proverb or Aphorism

Rhythmic language

Epithet as Metaphor

Recongnising letters

associating sounds and letters

Realising letters make words

Realising that sound combine to make words

words say the same thing every time

Words go together to form sentences

Learning the conventions of punctuation and layout

Phonic schemes

based on identifying the regular sound
letter relationship in a writing system.
Child should use this to decode or constuct words.

Arguments for;
a child has a rationale for
'sounding out' new words

Arguments against;
A child will stuggle to blend
individual sounds into a word
and also point out that there are
severe restrictions on the vocabulary

Whole word schemes

based on recognising words as
a whole

Argumaents for;
system allows access to longer
and more meaningful sentences,
through frequently occuring words
and the use of some longer words

Arguments against;
object to the often arbitary
choice of words, which are
not always closley related to
childrens experiences

THE SIGHT VOCABULARY OR WHOLE WORD STAGE

where children recognise written words
as a whole and are not aware of their
internal orthographic strucutre

THE DISCRIMINATION NET STAGE

where children are beginning to pay attention
to the orthography, but in a fragmentary way.

Subtopic

IMITATING

Children learn to speak by imitating their parents
and being rewarded or punished according to the
accuracty of their utterances.

Childen eventually learn to
say 'went' instead of 'goed'.
This seems to be learned
through listening, imitating
and correction

INNATE

babies born with innate knowledge
of the structure of language and speeds
up their learning of their native language
when they hear it.

Berko-Gleason
found children were able to
provide the plural of 'wug' the
name of an imaginary creature,
even though had never heard
the word before

COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Language development goes
hand in hand with the development
of thinking and knowledge.

When seven year olds were
taught phrases like 'more than'
and 'less than' it did not help
then grasp these concepts.
The words are usually acquired
after the concepts have been grasped

SOCIAL INTERACTIONIST THEORY

Language is social. 'Children initially use
language to get what they want'.
Childrens language development is
enriched and accelerated due to quantity
and quality of social interactions with adults.

Clarke-Stewart
found that children whose mothers
talk more have larger vocabulary

CRITICAL PERIOD THEORY

The human brain is designed
to acquire language at a certain
time (first five years) and once this
period has passed normal language
development is no longer possible.

Genie - was locked up until the
age of 13 never learned to
speak fully.

Rising intonation

Wh- questions

Inversion of main verb and subject

Inversion of auxilary and subject

Caretaker speech-
the way adults speak to young children

Errors made

Childrens vocabulary may
exhibit errors of:

Underextension:
the child restricts applications of a word
E.G. 'white' being used to describe snow
but not paper

Over extension:
the child widens the context of a word
E.G. uses 'ball' to describe not only a ball
but anything thats round

1. Deletion
simplifying pronunciation by deleting certain sounds;
the 't' being dropped in 'hat' or 'cat'

2. Addition
breaking up consonant clusters by adding vowel to separated them;
'blue' becomes 'belu'

3.Substitution
substituting harder sounds with easier ones;
'r' becomes 'w'
'th' becomes ''d,n or f'
't' becomes 'd'
'p' becomes 'b'

4. Reduplication
where a syllable in a word is repeated
'wee-wee' or 'night-night'

5. Assimilation
when sounds in a word are made to sound more
like neighbouring ones
'dog' becomes 'gog'

6. Metathesis
sounds in a word are swapped round
'relevant' becomes 'revelant'

STAGE ONE
producaes affirmative sentences
with no added to the beginning or
the end.
E.G. 'no sit there' or 'not my bed'

STAGE TWO
cant and dont start being used but
without variation of verb tense.
No is still used but appeared mid-sentence.
E.G. 'you cant dance' or 'he no bite you'

STAGE THREE
there is more variety in tense. 'not' is used after
main verb. Improved a lot but still has some issues.
E.G. 'this cant stick' or 'i not crying'

Instrumental
Language is used to fulfil
a particular need

Regulatory
Language is used to influence
others' behaviour

Interactional
Language is used to develop
social relationships and ease
the process of interaction (phatic talk)

Personal
Language is used to express ideas, opinions
and individual identity

Representational
Language is used to convey facts and information

Heuristic
Language is used to learn and explore
the enviroment

Imaginative
Language is used to create an imaginary
enviroment. May accompany play