child language acquisition essay examples

AQA A-Level English Language - Child Language Acquisition

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CHILD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: EXAMPLE OF A* ESSAY

child language acquisition essay examples

This was an essay I did in timed conditions in a college mock. Text highlighted in blue scored marks for AO1 , green= AO2 and pink= AO3.

It scored 44/48 (approx A*)

The transcript is a conversation of learning and exploration taking place through play between a mother and her child. Jess is in the telegraphic stage of language acquisition. Further contextual features suggest that playing together is an intimate activity between mother and daughter and so the spoken discourse is natural and common. We can apply Halliday’s taxonomy of speech functions to the discourse. It is both interactional but is also an activity led by the mother to encourage the child to speak representationally about facts; for example: ‘what do tigers do?’/’roar.’

The spoken discourse clearly reflects Vygotsky’s concept of the co-construction of learning. The child, being in the telegraphic stage, still requires language guidance. The mother acts as the ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ . Initially, Jess would struggle to complete the activity independently but working with a more competent caregiver reduces the zone of proximal development drawing closer to achieving success in the activity. Woodhead et al develop Vygotsky’s theory further with the concept of scaffolding. The mother assists Jess in the activity by suggesting problem solving strategies, for example, ‘Does it go there?’ This is evident in Mum’s involvement in Child Directed speech(CDS) .

Although CDS is an interactionist concept, the cognitive theorist, Vygotsky would agree that language is developed from interaction and adults provide stimulus in the way of questions. A feature of CDS is recasting. Mum recasts her utterances by changing how she words a question e.g .’Where does that one go (.) does it go there’. Particularly in text B, mum expands on Jess’ answers e.g. ‘rain’/’when it’s rainy.’ Mum demonstrated clear grammatical constructions by expanding on what Jess says into more linguistically sophisticated forms whilst showing valuation of her participation.

In relation to mum demonstrating CDS, we can apply Skinner’s behaviourist theory . This is one of the man schools of thought which argues that we learn everything from our environment. Importantly, Skinner asserts that the unconditioned stimulus-that is the natural, unlearnt response- must be checked by reinforcement when language is incorrect. In this case, mum is the operant conditioner. She demonstrates negative reinforcement by correcting Jess’ error ‘gloo’ by articulating what she meant to be ‘igloo.’ In light of this, we can compare Berko and Brown’s ‘fis’ experiment . Jess insists that she knows what she means by her diction of the word, but omits the ‘i’ . This challenges Piaget’s cognitive theory that a child must internalise a concept before they can verbalise it as Jess’ stage of development suggests she understands the word but cannot yet physically pronounce it fully. Mum also shows positive reinforcement through encouragement when Jess doubts her ability, for example: ‘You do!’ which is a supportive strategy.

Similarly, in both texts, a question and answer forum is carried out. Mum has what Wareing would afford personal power over Jess as well as intellectual advantages. Therefore, mum asserts power through guiding the conversation. As Jess is in the telegraphic stage of speech development, mum is helping Jess navigate question and response structures. Mum’s use of interrogatives such as, ‘where does this one go’ which promotes child directed speech and encourages Jess to stretch and challenge. Jess may be further behind in the telegraphic stage as she fails to invert the subject-object-question word with the copula construction successfully . Instead using question phrases like ‘what’/’where’ on their own with a looser range of meaning.

Another evident feature of the telegraphic stage is Jess’ attempts at negation. In Text A, Jess professes: ‘I not know.’ The linguist Bellugi explains that constructing a sentence with a negative in between other words is the limbo stage before adapting the n on-finite ‘not’ into its ‘don’t’ counterpart. However, Jess has successfully attached the personal pronoun ‘I’ which is a more advanced function word.

In terms of phonetics, Jess is arguably a competent speaker but still makes errors. I text B, phonology is firstly used for noise association between nouns of animals and the classic sounds they make e.g .’duck quack quack’ . Mum also uses alliteration of ‘busy bee’ to make learning more fun and memorable. However, mum also demonstrates CDS e.g .’horsey’ which juvinilises the original word to make it more child-friendly following a consonant-vowel-consonant- vowel structure. Elsewhere, Jess deletes the unstressed syllables in ‘banana’ shortening it to ‘nana’. This phonetic process takes place because the ‘b’ is a stop sound and has less influence on the other sounds of the word compared to the reduplicated ‘nana’ that harmonises the sounds. What’s more, Jess says ’em’instead of ‘them’. The deletion of the fricative ‘th’ could be due to the fact that it is created by controlling air flow and the interaction between tongue and teeth required for articulating consonant clusters that can be challenging for young children.

Throughout both texts, the picture cards assist the guidance of CDS. Bruner argues this helps children develop social skills and pragmatic values of politeness. This can be seen in turn-taking and direct responses on behalf of Jess towards her mother’s guided questions. The family home setting and discussion of home and work life in text B is recounted by Jess suggesting the fact dad took mum’s car to work and Jess’ association of apples at nursery promotes the development of language through social routines .

Essay on Language Development in Early Childhood

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Language Development Essay Introduction

Stages language development, promoting child language development, concepts of child language development, conclusion of language development essay, reference list.

Language development refers to the process of deliberate communication using sounds, gestures, or symbols which can be understood by other people (Machado, 1985). Language is double perspectives process which forms the basis for other forms of learning. These two aspects include communicating information, and listening to others (Training Module, 2007).

Existing theories acknowledge early childhood as a period during which physical and cognitive developmental processes occur rapidly. These developments form the basis upon which personal success will depend. Language development is one such process that fully depends on the factors presented during this phase of personal growth (Otto, 2010).

Children undergo various stages in their acquisition of language skills. The following phases depicts a typical sequences through which the skills develops, although their are diversities in the pattern of growth from child to child (Corporation for National Services [CNS], U.S. Department of Education, U.S. department of Health and Human Services, 1997, cited in Training Module, 2007).

Stage 1: – concerns a newborn, whereby it responds to sounds including voices through cries, smiles and coos.
Stage 2: – concern infant aged between 3 to 8 months; the time during which he or she begins to play with sounds, as well as babbling to others in conjunction to self. Also, in this stage language development is expressed through the waving of arms and kicking of legs.
Stage 3: – concerns children aged between 8 to 12 months and she or he understands and can react to basic words and signs.
Stage 4: – deals with children of age 12 to 18 months, the period during which a normal child starts to utter basic words and to follow very basic instructions. In addition, a normal child knows its name, and can chatter with a sequence of syllables that mimic expressions.
Stage 5: – concerns children aged between 18 to 24 months old; the level at which a child can construct two-word phrases, and imitate words and gestures of the grown-ups. It can also ask as well as answer general queries.

The process of promoting language development in children must take into consideration the development stage of the child. The following are some of the ways through which a child’s parent or caregiver can promote language development pertaining to the stage of development (Training Module, 2007).

Newborn: Reaction to the child’s cries indicates to the child that s/he can communicate something to you and get a response (Lagoni et al, 1989, cited in Training Module, 2007).
3 to 8 months: it is encouraged that during this stage, the child’s custodian sings to the child while changing his or her diaper. Also, it has been discovered that playing peek-a-boo to the infant enhance language development (CNS et al., cited in Training Module, 2007). Also, the caregiver or parent is encouraged to describe daily routines to the child while performing them (Machado, 1985).
8 to 12 months: During this stage it is commended that the parent or caregiver uses the baby’s name repeatedly, perhaps by incorporating the name in simple rhythmical expressions or songs so that she or he can start to recognize it. , (CNS et al., 1997, cited in Training Module, 2007). Also, Machado (1985) recommends giving names to the toys, foods, and other objects surrounding the child.
12 to 18 months: – caregiver is advised to entice the child to converse on a toy telephone (CNS et al., 1997, cited in Training Module, 2007). Also, caregiver or parent should present rhymes and finger games to the child (Lagoni et al., 1989, cited in Training Module, 2007).
18 to 24 months: during this stage parent or caregiver is encouraged to talk about the previous day’s events, and what will transpire the next day.

There are five concepts of language development which emerge in children’s receptive and communicative language processes. The receptive language skills maturity precedes and lay the foundation for the development of expressive language process. The following paragraphs will explore these concepts of language development in children (Otto, 2010).

To begin with, the phonetic development in toddlerhood involves their ability to express their viewpoints, and constructions of phonemes. Phonemes refers to “a speech sound that distinguishes one word from another, e.g. the sounds “d” and “t” in the words “bid” and “bit.” A phoneme is the smallest phonetic unit that can carry meaning” [Encarta Dictionary].

This concept of language development begins to express during toddlerhood when she or he begins to articulate a range of terms. At first, the child’s pronunciation is unsteadily characterized with day to day variations, and in some cases shorter intervals. In addition, some variations have been observed between children in regard of the mastering of certain syllable (Otto, 2010).

Secondly, semantic language development in infancy entails initial connection of speech to meaning, conception and receptive semantic ability, direct and vivid events, symbol development signifying speech, and expressive semantic ability. On the other hand, the concept of semantic language development presents between the age 1 and 2. At this stage, the toddler possesses a range of 20 to 170 terms in his or her useful vocabulary.

Semantic development depicts variation from child to child depending on their respective familial experiences and background. While the child’s language will undergo gradual transition with age, the idiomorphs will still be retained in the child’s verbal expressions. In their hyperactive exploration of their environment, toddlers discover the identity of people and objects (Otto, 2010).

Furthermore, semantic understanding of toddles and arising literacy, increasingly progress during the toddler stage of a child’s language development process. Also, the child consciousness of environmental features and meaning, like stop signs, brand on food packets, and McDonalds’s logos increases. This consciousness of written symbols is normally expressed in their behaviors with inscribed materials within their familial environment (Otto, 2010).

Thirdly, the concept of syntactic language development on infants concerns the syntactic understanding and story book experiences. Conventionally, infants who are engaged in story book experiences with parent or caregiver get exposed to more complex syntactic arrangement relative those involved in routine conversational environment.

Noteworthy, as infants approach age 1, their verbal and non-verbal participation increase. On the other side, syntactic learning development in toddlers involves syntactic organization in telegraphic speech, mastering of pronouns, and emergent literacy coupled with syntactic ability (Otto, 2010).

Fourthly, the concept of morphemic language development in infants is influenced by phonemic ability. Development of morphemic understanding is dependent upon the skill to identify sound differences related with inflectional morphemes such as; tense indicators, plurals, and possessiveness.

Thus, receptive understanding of the meaning transforming features of morphemic develops with the experiences of spoken and read language. In addition, the development of morphemes skill gets clearer when toddlers start to exercise language. This stage is significant in development of morphemic understanding in regard that noun verb compatibility in English impact on the use of inflectional morphemes (Otto, 2010).

Language development in children is largely dependent on the characteristic of the environment within which the child grows. Experiences of a child determine the rate at which a child develops language skills. The degree of parent or caregiver interaction with a child plays a very significant role in a child language development. Also, health issues can slow a child language understanding.

Otto, B. W. (2010) Language Development in Early Childhood Education (3rd Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

Machado, J. M. (2010). Early childhood experiences in language arts: early literacy. Belmont, U.S.; Cengage learning.

Training Module. (2007). Language Development of Infants and Toddlers . HighReach learning.

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Language Acquisition Theory

Henna Lemetyinen

Postdoctoral Researcher

BSc (Hons), Psychology, PhD, Developmental Psychology

Henna Lemetyinen is a postdoctoral research associate at the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH).

Learn about our Editorial Process

Saul McLeod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul McLeod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

On This Page:

Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. Whereas other species do communicate with an innate ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations (e.g., bonobos) or even with partially learned systems (e.g., bird songs), there is no other species known to date that can express infinite ideas (sentences) with a limited set of symbols (speech sounds and words).

This ability is remarkable in itself. What makes it even more remarkable is that researchers are finding evidence for mastery of this complex skill in increasingly younger children.

Infants as young as 12 months are reported to have sensitivity to the grammar needed to understand causative sentences (who did what to whom; e.g., the bunny pushed the frog (Rowland & Noble, 2010).

After more than 60 years of research into child language development, the mechanism that enables children to segment syllables and words out of the strings of sounds they hear and to acquire grammar to understand and produce language is still quite an enigma.

Behaviorist Theory of Language Acquisition

One of the earliest scientific explanations of language acquisition was provided by Skinner (1957). As one of the pioneers of behaviorism , he accounted for language development using environmental influence, through imitation, reinforcement, and conditioning.

In this view, children learn words and grammar primarily by mimicking the speech they hear and receiving positive feedback for correct usage.

Skinner argued that children learn language based on behaviorist reinforcement principles by associating words with meanings. Correct utterances are positively reinforced when the child realizes the communicative value of words and phrases.

For example, when the child says ‘milk’ and the mother smiles and gives her some. As a result, the child will find this outcome rewarding, enhancing the child’s language development (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011).

Over time, through repetition and reinforcement, they refine their linguistic abilities. Critics argue this theory doesn’t fully explain the rapid pace of language acquisition nor the creation of novel sentences.

Chomsky Theory of Language Development

However, Skinner’s account was soon heavily criticized by Noam Chomsky, the world’s most famous linguist to date.

In the spirit of the cognitive revolution in the 1950s, Chomsky argued that children would never acquire the tools needed for processing an infinite number of sentences if the language acquisition mechanism was dependent on language input alone.

Noam Chomsky introduced the nativist theory of language development, emphasizing the role of innate structures and mechanisms in the human brain. Key points of Chomsky’s theory include:

Language Acquisition Device (LAD): Chomsky proposed that humans have an inborn biological capacity for language, often termed the LAD, which predisposes them to acquire language.

Universal Grammar: He suggested that all human languages share a deep structure rooted in a set of grammatical rules and categories. This “universal grammar” is understood intuitively by all humans.

Poverty of the Stimulus: Chomsky argued that the linguistic input received by young children is often insufficient (or “impoverished”) for them to learn the complexities of their native language solely through imitation or reinforcement. Yet, children rapidly and consistently master their native language, pointing to inherent cognitive structures.

Critical Period: Chomsky, along with other linguists, posited a critical period for language acquisition, during which the brain is particularly receptive to linguistic input, making language learning more efficient.

Critics of Chomsky’s theory argue that it’s too innatist and doesn’t give enough weight to social interaction and other factors in language acquisition.

Universal Grammar

Consequently, he proposed the theory of Universal Grammar: an idea of innate, biological grammatical categories, such as a noun category and a verb category, that facilitate the entire language development in children and overall language processing in adults.

Universal Grammar contains all the grammatical information needed to combine these categories, e.g., nouns and verbs, into phrases. The child’s task is just to learn the words of her language (Ambridge & Lieven).

For example, according to the Universal Grammar account, children instinctively know how to combine a noun (e.g., a boy) and a verb (to eat) into a meaningful, correct phrase (A boy eats).

This Chomskian (1965) approach to language acquisition has inspired hundreds of scholars to investigate the nature of these assumed grammatical categories, and the research is still ongoing.

Contemporary Research

A decade or two later, some psycho-linguists began to question the existence of Universal Grammar. They argued that categories like nouns and verbs are biologically, evolutionarily, and psychologically implausible and that the field called for an account that can explain the acquisition process without innate categories.

Researchers started to suggest that instead of having a language-specific mechanism for language processing, children might utilize general cognitive and learning principles.

Whereas researchers approaching the language acquisition problem from the perspective of Universal Grammar argue for early full productivity, i.e., early adult-like knowledge of the language, the opposing constructivist investigators argue for a more gradual developmental process. It is suggested that children are sensitive to patterns in language which enables the acquisition process.

An example of this gradual pattern learning is morphology acquisition. Morphemes are the smallest grammatical markers, or units, in language that alter words. In English, regular plurals are marked with an –s morpheme (e.g., dog+s).

Similarly, English third singular verb forms (she eat+s, a boy kick+s) are marked with the –s morpheme. Children are considered to acquire their first instances of third singular forms as entire phrasal chunks (Daddy kicks, a girl eats, a dog barks) without the ability to tease the finest grammatical components apart.

When the child hears a sufficient number of instances of a linguistic construction (i.e., the third singular verb form), she will detect patterns across the utterances she has heard. In this case, the repeated pattern is the –s marker in this particular verb form.

As a result of many repetitions and examples of the –s marker in different verbs, the child will acquire sophisticated knowledge that, in English, verbs must be marked with an –s morpheme in the third singular form (Ambridge & Lieven, 2011; Pine, Conti-Ramsden, Joseph, Lieven & Serratrice, 2008; Theakson & Lieven, 2005).

Approaching language acquisition from the perspective of general cognitive processing is an economic account of how children can learn their first language without an excessive biolinguistic mechanism.

However, finding a solid answer to the problem of language acquisition is far from being over. Our current understanding of the developmental process is still immature.

Investigators of Universal Grammar are still trying to convince that language is a task too demanding to acquire without specific innate equipment, whereas constructivist researchers are fiercely arguing for the importance of linguistic input.

The biggest questions, however, are yet unanswered. What is the exact process that transforms the child’s utterances into grammatically correct, adult-like speech? How much does the child need to be exposed to language to achieve the adult-like state?

What account can explain variation between languages and the language acquisition process in children acquiring very different languages to English? The mystery of language acquisition is granted to keep psychologists and linguists alike astonished decade after decade.

What is language acquisition?

Language acquisition refers to the process by which individuals learn and develop their native or second language.

It involves the acquisition of grammar, vocabulary, and communication skills through exposure, interaction, and cognitive development. This process typically occurs in childhood but can continue throughout life.

What is Skinner’s theory of language development?

Skinner’s theory of language development, also known as behaviorist theory, suggests that language is acquired through operant conditioning. According to Skinner, children learn language by imitating and being reinforced for correct responses.

He argued that language is a result of external stimuli and reinforcement, emphasizing the role of the environment in shaping linguistic behavior.

What is Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition?

Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition, known as Universal Grammar, posits that language is an innate capacity of humans.

According to Chomsky, children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD), a biological ability that enables them to acquire language rules and structures effortlessly.

He argues that there are universal grammar principles that guide language development across cultures and languages, suggesting that language acquisition is driven by innate linguistic knowledge rather than solely by environmental factors.

Ambridge, B., & Lieven, E.V.M. (2011). Language Acquisition: Contrasting theoretical approaches . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax . MIT Press.

Pine, J.M., Conti-Ramsden, G., Joseph, K.L., Lieven, E.V.M., & Serratrice, L. (2008). Tense over time: testing the Agreement/Tense Omission Model as an account of the pattern of tense-marking provision in early child English. Journal of Child Language , 35(1): 55-75.

Rowland, C. F.; & Noble, C. L. (2010). The role of syntactic structure in children’s sentence comprehension: Evidence from the dative. Language Learning and Development , 7(1): 55-75.

Skinner, B.F. (1957). Verbal behavior . Acton, MA: Copley Publishing Group.

Theakston, A.L., & Lieven, E.V.M. (2005). The acquisition of auxiliaries BE and HAVE: an elicitation study. Journal of Child Language , 32(2): 587-616.

Children Language Acquisition.

Introduction.

Language in all its aspects is one of the most significant topics of study in linguistics. Scholars of this science dedicate their lives to exploring the emergence, development and modern stage of existence of the language. It can be explained by the fact that language is one of the main features that distinguish human beings from all other species of animals and influences greatly the development of the mankind.

It goes without saying that different nations and ethnic groups have different languages, as well as the different social classes and groups. In this case, languages do not differ in their essence but are different in some aspects like use of certain words and specific meanings attributed to them. These groups of languages are sometimes called slang, other people call the jargon or argot depending on the occupation or class belonging of people who speak them (Reschke, 2000, p. 4).

But there is a special kind of language that can not be referred to any of the above mentioned groups, because it does not display any features of any particular kind and can be examined as the language combining all features of other kinds of languages. This special language is the so-called “motherese”, or caregiver language, which is used in talks with small kids and infants (Fergusson, 1975, pp. 209 – 235).

In this paper I am going to consider the motherese in order to see its essence and examine its influence upon the language acquisition in small children. I am going to examine all terms used to define this very language so that to determine the most fitting one for the language used by adults in their communication with small children. Another aspect of this work will be the influence of foreign caretakers upon the language acquisition of children. Thus, the caretaker language will be considered in this paper in all its aspects that will allow getting the full picture of linguistic phenomenon.

The very essence of the motherese, or caretaker language, lies in the fact that it uses specific structures and lexical units so that to make the communication with children more useful and understandable for those children and infants. According to Shore (1997) infants and small children perceive the baby-talk better than the usual speech and develop better language skills when they grow up if talked to in motherese in the early childhood. This language is characterized by unusual in ordinary speech pitch variations that are higher, use of shorter and simpler sentences, diminutive suffixes and shortenings, and pronounced in the so-called “cooing” tone of speech (Fernald, 1987, pp. 279 – 293). The examples of lexical units typical of the child-directed language can be as follows:

baba (can mean a blanket or a bottle);
boo-boo (wound or bruise);
nana (grandmother);
tummy (stomach);
yucky (disgusting).

Needless to say, that the terms used to define the language considered in this paper are various and numerous and their use depends upon the major aspect which is singled out in the speech by this or that scholar (Schuller, 2007, pp. 2253-56).

Terminology

Terminology in the question of language spoken during communication with infants is rather various. Some scholars use the term motherese which is not absolutely adequate to the essence of the language. It is spoken not only by mothers to their children, but by numerous groups of other people including fathers, other relatives, caretakers, etc. Moreover, this term is criticized by supporters of gender equality because it reflects only the belonging of the term to one sex (Snow, 1977, pp. 1 – 22). Also, child development professionals do not support the usage of the term due to the above mentioned reasons.

However, the term “motherese” can also be properly used if it is implemented to define the communication that takes place only between a child and his or her mother. In this case, the term acquires specific meaning and becomes a kind of the child-directed speech which is much wider in its scope. In this very case, motherese is the language that consists of verbal and non-verbal means and is used in the closest communicative acts ever – between mothers and children only (Lindon, 2005, pp. 5 – 8).

Another variation of this term “parentese” does not reflect the very essence of the language due to the same reasons. At the same time, the term “caregiver language” is biased in favor of caregivers and it can not be considered adequate because it presupposes only caregivers as the users of the language and excludes parents and relatives from their number (Shore, 1997, p. 34).

As a neutral term the word combination “baby talk” was coined. This term is also not absolutely adequate as it does not reflect the users of the language. From this term one can understand this language as the one spoken by children but actually it is the language used to address infants who have not yet formed their language skills. To solve this problem, the scholars in the field of children development invented the term that has different direction and seems to reflect accurately the essence of the language itself. This term is “child-directed speech” or CDS. From the term, one can understand that the language is used by adults, is directed at children and can be used by various groups of people because otherwise is not stipulated in the term (Reschke, 2002, p. 23).

Languages Purposes

The main purpose of the child-directed language is to communicate with infants who have not yet formed their language and communicative skills. Thus, parents, caregivers, etc. try to use the structures similar to those used by infants in their communicative acts. Despite the fact that such structures, as babble for instance, bear little meaning but they aid in establishing contacts between the adults and infants and in showing the bidirectional nature of communication (Fergusson, 1977, pp. 209 – 235).

Drawing from this, child-directed language is a useful means of development of language and communication skills in infants and small children. Moreover, scientists tend to consider the child-directed speech to be a useful means of mental and cognitive development of children. With the help of this language, children learn initial information about the phenomena of the surrounding world and learn how to communicate with others, although yet without any particular structures to use (Reschke, 2002, pp. 21 – 48).

Possible Spheres of Usage

Infant communication.

The most common situation in which the child-directed language is commonly used is the communication with infants and small children. The communication usually takes place between an infant and an adult who can be a parent of the infant, his or her relative, a caregiver or other person. In this situation, child-directed speech is used in order to establish the contact with the child. Adults usually use diminutive suffixes, shortenings and word-reduplications in their speech and their main purpose is not to convey information but to show the bidirectional nature of communication. The examples of the words and word-combinations used in these situations are as follows:

icky (disgusting);
didee (diaper);
oopsie daisy (small accident);
poo-poo (defecation);
sleepy-bye (to go to bed) (Snow, 1977, pp. 1 – 22).

However, the usage of baby talk with infants is not accepted world wide. In certain countries and regions it is admitted that children should be spoken to like adults in order to make their mental and cognitive development faster and more effective (Peters, 1986, pp. 80 – 96). This is a typical feature of the conservative societies constructed on the basis of discipline and obedience. For instance, it is usual practice in Asian countries and in the states of the Muslim world where children are considered to be grown ups at a rather early age. Furthermore, in certain African countries where the tribal customs and traditions are still rather strong, for instance in Samoa, it is a typical practice not to talk to children at all until they reach the age when they are able to communicate with adults (Ochs, 1982, pp. 77 – 104).

Baby Talk in Adult Communication

It goes without saying that the baby talk can be used in other situations and spheres. Among them the most common spheres of its use are non-infant communication and communication of adults and children with pets. In all these situations the lexical and pragmatic meanings of the language will be different. If while talking to a child a person aims at establishing contacts with him or her, the baby talk used while talking to a grown-up shows either strong affection to that person, or flirting intentions, or joke or even trying to make somebody be afraid of something (Adrien, 1991, p. 44).

For example, when a communication between two adults is carried out by means of the child-directed speech, the purposes of such a communicative act differ from those of communication with children. The most common example of adult communication with the help of baby talk is the communication between partners who want to express their tender feelings and affection towards each other. In this case, the partners can choose either the role of a child or a parent or both children and develop their relations by means of such a role game (Snow, 1977, pp. 1 – 22). The examples of the lexical units used in such situation include:

honey (a beloved person);
kitty (the same);
baby (tender address to the beloved person).

Moreover, child-directed speech can be used by adults in the situation when one wants to express his or her patronizing or derogatory intentions. Besides, the situation when a person is bullying another one is also often characterized by the use of baby talk. When patronizing tone is intended, people use child-directed speech to show their superiority over their communication partners whom they want to infantilize and present as children in need of help.

When a derogatory intention is the reason for the use of baby talk, it usually sounds in the situations when a person is dependant upon another person and can not get the necessary result without playing the role of a child. Furthermore, the most unusual situation of usage of child-directed speech by adults is when a person is bullying another one and uses the words from baby talk to verbally abuse and offend his communication partner. Also, baby talk is used by adults and children when communicating to their pets. In this case, the lexical units and their meanings acquire different meanings. All this situations demonstrate the possible spheres of usage of the child-directed speech in the human communication, but nevertheless, the most important realization of this kind of speech lies in the help with children language acquisition (Fergusson, 1977, p. 209).

Results and Possible Effects

The main result of the usage of child-directed speech by parent and caregivers while communicating with infants and small children is the development of children’s communication skills and language acquisition. The main means of developing the communication skills of infants are talks with them during which parents and caregivers resort to use of verbal and non-verbal means of communication. This is explained by the fact that infants are yet unable to perceive the complicated lexical and grammatical structures of the language and need simplified patterns of communication to be involved in it (Ochs, 1984, pp. 276 – 320).

Moreover, adults demonstrate the basic principles of communication and its question-answer or mutual nature. By means of this, not only communicative development, but also mental and cognitive development of infants is facilitated. Thus, the main use of the child-directed speech lies in its ability to contribute to all aspects of the development of personality. Moreover, absence of child-directed speech in the early childhood or small amount of communication by its means, can result in serious negative consequences for the children (Steinberg, 1993, p. 21).

Numerous scholars stress the vital importance of child-directed speech for the further development of personalities of children. Their main arguments are found in the specific data about the mental and health problems of the children who were not talked to in child-directed speech in the infant age. Besides, the language spoken by a caregiver can also affect negatively the language acquisition development.

To develop the above mentioned points, the following arguments can be presented. First of all, the lack of communication in the infant age can often result in autism of the children. The research by Adrien (1991) examines this topic and conducts interviews with the families of autistic children. The results were shocking as far as over 75% of the families interviewed proved to have autism cases as the results of lack of attention to the child-directed speech as one of the most important factors in language acquisition of children (Adrien, 1991, pp. 43 – 49). Another negative effect may be the confusion that can result from the caregiver who speaks two or more languages.

Their usage in the communication with children can cause the confusion and lack of knowledge of both languages. But, if these languages are used separately, they may even bring opposite results, and children may acquire knowledge of both languages (Steinberg, 1993, pp. 23 – 25).

The so-called “motherese”, or also known as child-directed speech, baby talk or caregiver language, is a rather significant means of aiding in children development and language acquisition. The scholars have not yet invented the uniform term for the language, but its essence remains the same – it introduces the fundamental principles of communication to the infants and prepares them for the further personal development.

The main usefulness of the child-directed speech lies in its being helpful to children. At the same time, absence of child-directed speech in the methods of upbringing can often results in mental and physical problems in the development of the child and lead to such irresistible consequences as autism. To conclude, I can state that child-directed speech is of vital importance for further personality development of children.

A Dictionary of Psychology. (2001). Oxford University Press: New York.

Adrien, J. L., Faure, M., Perrot, A., Hameury, L., Garreau, B., Barthelemy, C., Sauvage, D., 1991. Autism and family home movies: preliminary findings. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 21(1), 43-9.

Ferguson, C. (1977) ‘Baby talk as a simplified register’ In C. Snow & C. Ferguson (eds.) Talking to children: language input and acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 209-35.

Fernald, A., Kuhl, P., 1987. Acoustic determinants of infant preference for Motherese speech. Infant Behavior and Development, 10, 279-293.

Kathy L. Reschke, Ph.D. (2002), Ohio State University, “Baby Talk”.

Lindon, J (2005) Understanding Child Development – Linking Theory and Practice, Hodder Arnold, London. Added by S M Burnett, Scotland.

Ochs, E (1982) ‘Talking to children in Western Samoa.’ Language in Society 11:77-104.

Ochs, Elinor and Bambi Schieffelin. (1984). “Language acquisition and socialization: Three developmental stories.” Culture Theory Eds. R. Shweder and R. LeVine. 276-320.

Peters, A.M. & S.T. Boggs (1986) ‘Interactional routines as cultural influences upon language acquisition.’ In B.B. Schieffelin & E Ochs Language socialization across cultures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 80-96.

Schuller, B., Batliner, A., Seppi, D., Steidl, S., Vogt, T., Wagner, J., Devillers, L., Vidrascu, L., Amir, N., Kessous, L., Aharonson, V., 2007. The relevance of feature type for the automatic classification of emotional user states: low level descriptors and functionals. Proceedings of Interspeech, pp. 2253-2256.

Shore, Rima. (1997). Rethinking the brain: New insights into early development . New York: Families and Work Institute.

Snow, C. (1977) ‘The development of conversation between mothers and babies.’ Journal of Child Language. 4:1-22.

Steinberg, D.D. (1993) An introduction to psycholinguistics. London: Longman.

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Language Acquisition in Children

Child language acquisition (CLA) refers to how children develop the ability to understand and use language. But what process do children go through exactly? How do we study CLA? And what is an example? Let's find out!

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What does language acquisition mean?

What happens in the babbling stage of language acquisition?

What are the two types of babbling and how do they differ?

When does the babbling stage of language acquisition occur?

What is another name for the words that children create in the holophrastic stage?

What happens in the holophrastic stage of language acquisition?

What is holophrasis?

When does the holophrastic stage occur?

What happens in the two-word stage of language acquisition?

When does the two-word stage start?

What are the two substages of the multi-word stage?

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Stages of first language acquisition in children

There are four main stages of first language acquisition in children. These are:

The Babbling Stage

The Holophrastic Stage

The Two-word Stage

The multi-word stage.

The babbling stage is the first significant stage of language acquisition in children, occurring from around 4-6 months until about 12 months of age. During this stage, the child hears speech syllables (sounds that make up spoken language) from its environment and caregivers and attempts to imitate by repeating them. There are two types of babbling: canonical babbling and variegated babbling .

Canonical babbling is the type of babbling that emerges first. It consists of the same syllables being repeated over and over e.g. a baby saying 'ga ga ga', 'ba ba ba', or a similar string of repeated syllables.

Variegated babbling is when different syllables are used in the babbling sequence. Instead of using one syllable repeatedly, the child uses a variety e.g. 'ga ba da' or 'ma da pa'. This occurs around two months after canonical babbling starts, at around eight months of age. Children may also begin to use intonation that resembles actual speech at this stage, while still only producing meaningless sounds.

Language Acquisition in Children, parents speaking to baby, StudySmarter

The Holophrastic Stage (The One-Word Stage)

The holophrastic stage of language acquisition, also known as the ‘ one-word stage ’, typically occurs around the age of 12 to 18 months. At this stage, children have identified which words and combinations of syllables are the most effective for communicating and may attempt to communicate a full sentence's worth of information. For example, a child may say 'dada' which could mean anything from ‘I want dad’ to ‘where is dad?’. This is known as holophrasis .

A child's first word will often resemble a babble and, while they may hear and understand a wide range of sounds, they can still only produce a limited range themselves. These words are known as proto words . Despite sounding like babbles, they still work as words because the child has assigned meaning to them. Children may also use real words and typically adapt them to suit their speaking ability. Sometimes these words are used incorrectly as the child attempts to learn and use them. For example, they may call every animal a 'cat' if they grew up with one.

The two-word stage occurs at around 18 months of age. At this stage, children are able to use two words in the right grammatical order. However, the words they use tend to exclusively be content words (words that hold and convey meaning) and they often leave out function words (words that hold a sentence together, such as articles , prepositions, etc.).

For example, a child might see a dog jump over the fence and simply say ‘dog jump’ instead of ‘A dog jumped over the fence.’ The order is correct and they say the most important word, but the lack of function words, as well as a lack of tense use, makes the information very context-dependent, much like in the holophrastic stage.

At this stage, the child’s vocabulary starts at around 50 words and consists mostly of common nouns and verbs. These often come from things their caregivers have said or things in their immediate environment. Typically, as the child progresses through the two-word stage, the ‘word spurt’ occurs, which is a relatively short period during which the child's vocabulary grows much larger. Most children know 50 words by around 17 months of age, but by 24 months they may know up to over 600.¹

The multi-word stage of language acquisition in children can be broken up into two distinct sub-stages: the early multi-word stage and the later multi-word stage. Children move on from two-word phrases and begin to form short sentences of around three, four, and five words, and eventually even more. They also begin to use more and more function words and are able to form more complex sentences. Children typically progress rapidly through this stage as they understand many of the basics of their language already.

The early multi-word stage

The early part of this stage is sometimes called the ‘ telegraphic stage ’ as the children's sentences seem to resemble telegram messages due to their simplicity. The telegraphic stage takes place from around 24 to 30 months of age. Children mostly ignore function words in favour of using the most important content words and usually start using negatives (no, not, can't, etc.). They also tend to ask more questions about their surroundings.

For example, a child might say ‘no want veggies’ instead of ‘I don't want vegetables with my food.’ While children at this substage still don't use function words in their own sentences, many do understand when others use them.

The later multi-word stage

The later multi-word stage, also known as the complex stage, is the final part of language acquisition. It starts at around 30 months of age and has no fixed endpoint. At this stage, children start to use a variety of function words and t here is a great increase in the amount of words children can use. Their sentence structures also become a lot more complex and varied.

Children in this stage have a concrete sense of time, quantity, and the ability to engage in simple reasoning. This means they can talk confidently in different tenses , and verbally explain ideas such as putting ‘some’ or ‘all’ of their toys away. They can also start to explain why and how they think or feel things, and may also ask others.

As children reach the age of five and above, their ability to use and understand language becomes more or less fluent. Many children still struggle with pronunciations, but they are able to understand when others use these sounds. Eventually, older children gain the ability to confidently read, write, and explore a variety of new topics and ideas. Typically, school will also help children to further develop their linguistic skills.

Language Acquisition in Children Father talking to child StudySmarter

Methodology in child language acquisition

So, how exactly do we study child language acquisition?

Types of studies include:

Cross-sectional studies - comparing different groups of children of different ages. This method helps to get results faster.
Longitudinal studies - observing several children over a period of time, from several months to decades.
Case studies - in-depth studies of one or a small number of children. This helps get a more detailed understanding of the child’s development.

There are several methods to measure a child’s development. For example:

Observations e.g. recording spontaneous speech or repetition of words.
Comprehension e.g. pointing at an image.
Act-out e.g. children are asked to act something out or make toys act out a scenario.
Preferential-looking e.g. measuring the time spent looking at an image.
Neuroimaging e.g. measuring brain responses to certain linguistic stimuli

Language acquisition example

An example of the study of child language acquisition is the Genie Case Study. Genie had minimal interaction with others as a child due to her abusive upbringing and isolation. Due to this, her case drew many psychologists and linguists who wanted to study her and study the idea of a ' critical period ' for language acquisition. This is the idea that the first few years of a child’s life are a crucial time to learn a language.

Researchers provided Genie with stimulus-rich environments to help her develop her language skills. She began to copy words and could eventually put together utterances of two to four words, leaving researchers optimistic that Genie might be able to fully develop language. Unfortunately, Genie did not progress past this stage and was not able to apply grammatical rules to her utterances. It appeared that Genie had passed the critical period for language acquisition; however, it is also important to remember the impact of abuse and neglect on her childhood. Case studies like Genie’s are key components of research into language acquisition.

The role of the environment in language acquisition in children

The role of the environment in CLA is a key area of study for many linguists. It all comes back to the 'nature vs nurture' debate; some linguists argue that environment and upbringing are key in language acquisition (nurture) whilst others argue that genetics and other biological factors are most important (nature).

The Behavioural Theory is the main theory that argues for the importance of the environment in language acquisition. It proposes that children do not have any internal mechanisms for learning a language; instead, they learn language as a result of imitating their caregivers and those around them. Interactionist theory also argues for the importance of the environment and propose that, whilst children do have the innate ability to learn language, they require regular interaction with caregivers to achieve full fluency.

Opposing theories to these are the Nativist theory and the Cognitive Theory . The Nativist Theory argues that children are born with an innate 'Language Acquisition Device' that provides children with a baseline understanding of language. The Cognitive Theory argues that children learn language as their cognitive ability and understanding of the world develops.

Language Acquisition in Children - Key takeaways

Child language acquisition (CLA) refers to how children develop the ability to understand and use language.
There are four main stages of language acquisition: the Babbling stage, holophrastic stage, two-word stage, and multi-word stage.
There are different types of studies and methodologies that we can use to carry out research on language acquisition e.g. longitudinal studies, case studies, preferential-looking etc.
An example of the study of child language acquisition is the Genie Case Study. Genie was raised in isolation without speaking a language. Due to this, her case drew many psychologists and linguists who wanted to study her and study the idea of a 'critical period' for language acquisition.
The nature vs nurture debate is central to studies of child language acquisition. The behavioural and interactionist theories argue that language develops mainly due to the environment of a child whilst the nativist and cognitive theories argue that biological components are most important.

¹ Fenson et al., Lexical development norms for young children, 1993.

Flashcards in Language Acquisition in Children 115

Language acquisition refers to the way humans are able to develop the ability to understand and use language.

In the babbling stage, the child repeats phonemes in a sequence.

The two types of babbling are canonical and variegated babbling. Canonical babbling is the repetition of one phoneme and variegated babbling is the repetition of different phonemes.

6-12 months.

The words children create are examples of proto words.

In the holophrastic stage, children begin to learn or create words and use one word in place of a sentence.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Language Acquisition in Children

What are the different stages of language acquisition of a child?

The four stages are the Babbling stage, holophrastic stage, two-word stage, and multi-word stage.

How does age affect first language acquisition?

Many linguists argue for the idea of a 'critical period' of language acquisition. This is the idea that the first few years of a child’s life are a crucial time to learn a language. After this, children are not able to achieve full fluency.

What is the meaning of language acquisition?

Child language acquisition (CLA) refers to how children develop the ability to understand and use language.

What is the first stage of language acquisition in children?

The first stage of language acquisition in children is the Babbling Stage. This occurs at around 6 to 12 months and it where children attempt to imitate speech syllables such as 'ga ga ga' or 'ga ba da'.

What is an example of language acquisition?

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Language Acquisition - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Language acquisition is the process by which individuals acquire the ability to understand and use language. This process involves the acquisition of a wide range of language skills, including the ability to listen, speak, read, and write. Language acquisition typically begins in the early years of life, and is influenced by a variety of factors, including interactions with caregivers and exposure to language in naturalistic settings. Over time, individuals gradually develop a more sophisticated understanding of language, and are able to use language to communicate their thoughts and ideas effectively.

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The Theories of Language Acquisition
Second Language Acquisition: Processs and Hypotheses
Explaining First Language Acquisition
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Noam Chomsky’s Theory on Language Acquisition
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Descriptive and Prescriptive Approaches in Language Acquisition
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FAQ about Language Acquisition

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Band 7+: Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin learning a foreign language at primary school rather than secondary school. Do the advantages of this outweigh the disadvantages? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words.

Some experts argue that it is more beneficial for schoolchildren to study a foreign language in primary school instead of waiting until secondary school. While there are some disadvantages, I believe the advantages are more significant.

There are three reasons why introducing early foreign language education might not be ideal. Firstly, this approach may lead to confusion in the language learning process, as young children may struggle to distinguish between vocabulary and grammar rules of different languages. Secondly, it could hinder the proper acquisition of a child’s mother tongue, given that primary school is a critical period for mastering their native language. Finally, teaching languages that are not closely related to a student’s daily life might not be a practical endeavour. For instance, children in the UK may not find immediate use for the Chinese language, and their learning might become less relevant over time, as language acquisition requires ongoing practice in order to maintain fluency.

Despite these drawbacks, I believe that introducing foreign language learning at an early age offers more significant advantages. Primarily, children can benefit from studying languages that are closely related to their native tongue early on. Learning languages that complement their primary language not only provides additional benefits but also enhances proficiency in their native language. For example, children in the UK might gain considerable advantages from mastering French or German, as these languages share many similarities with English. Additionally, childhood is the peak period for language acquisition, so it is better to leverage this optimal learning period for the child’s benefit.

In conclusion, while I acknowledge the potential disadvantages of learning a foreign language in primary school, I consider it to be a generallybeneficial approach.

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Report Mon 14th May, 2018 @ 14:20

Den Backofen auf 200°C vorheizen. Eine Kastenform einfetten, mit Grieß ausstreuen.

Die trockenen Zutaten gut vermischen, dann die Milch dazugeben und eventuelle Aromen wie Zitronenschale/-öl oder Schokolade. Alles gut verrühren. Die recht flüssige Masse in die vorbereitete Kuchenform geben, ca. 60 min bei 200° C backen. Stäbchenprobe! Den Kuchen erkalten lassen bevor man ihn aus der Form nimmt, er bricht sonst leicht. Den fertigen Kuchen kann man mit Puderzucker überstäuben, mit einer Schokoladenglasur oder einem Guss aus Puderzucker und Zitronen-/Orangensaft versehen. Der Fantasie sind bei diesem Kuchen (fast) keine Grenzen gesetzt und er lädt buchstäblich dazu ein, neue Varianten auszuprobieren.

Report Fri 29th June, 2018 @ 10:43

WHERE have these notes vanished to?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Report Sun 6th January, 2019 @ 17:02

For the exam question at the bottom. What exam board is this for?

Report Mon 20th January, 2020 @ 11:50

Thanks so much for creating and sharing this!

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The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century: A Printable List

By The New York Times Books Staff Aug. 26, 2024

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The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 1 My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante 26 26 Atonement, by lan McEwan 2 The Warmth of Other Suns, by Isabel Wilkerson 27 Americanah, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie 3 Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel 28 Cloud Atlas, by David Mitchell 4 The Known World, by Edward P. Jones 29 The Last Samurai, by Helen DeWitt 5 The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen 30 Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward 6 2666, by Roberto Bolaño 31 White Teeth, by Zadie Smith 7 The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead 32 The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst 8 Austerlitz, by W.G. Sebald 33 Salvage the Bones, by Jesmyn Ward 9 Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro 34 Citizen, by Claudia Rankine 10 Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson 35 Fun Home, by Alison Bechdel 11 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Díaz 36 Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates 12 The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion 37 The Years, by Annie Ernaux 13 The Road, by Cormac McCarthy 38 The Savage Detectives, by Roberto Bolaño 14 Outline, by Rachel Cusk 39 A Visit From the Goon Squad, by Jennifer Egan 15 Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee 40 H Is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald 16 The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon 41 Small Things Like These, by Claire Keegan 17 The Sellout, by Paul Beatty 42 A Brief History of Seven Killings, by Marlon James 18 Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders 43 Postwar, by Tony Judt 19 Say Nothing, by Patrick Radden Keefe 44 The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin 20 Erasure, by Percival Everrett 45 The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson 21 Evicted, by Matthew Desmond 46 The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt 22 22 Behind the Beautiful Forevers, by Katherine Boo 47 A Mercy, by Toni Morrison 23 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro 48 Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi 24 The Overstory, by Richard Powers 49 The Vegetarian, by Han Kang 25 25 Random Family, by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc 50 Trust, by Hernan Diaz I've I want read to it read it

The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 51 Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson 52 52 Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson 53 Runaway, by Alice Munro 76 77 An American Marriage, by Tayari Jones 78 Septology, by Jon Fosse Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, by Gabrielle Zevin 54 Tenth of December, by George Saunders 55 The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright 56 The Flamethrowers, by Rachel Kushner 57 Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich ཤྲཱ རྒྱ སྐྱ A Manual for Cleaning Women, by Lucia Berlin The Story of the Lost Child, by Elena Ferrante Pulphead, by John Jeremiah Sullivan. Hurricane Season, by Fernanda Melchor 58 Stay True, by Hua Hsu 83 When We Cease to Understand the World, by Benjamín Labatut 59 Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides 84 The Emperor of All Maladies, by Siddhartha Mukherjee 60 Heavy, by Kiese Laymon 85 Pastoralia, by George Saunders 61 Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver 86 Frederick Douglass, by David W. Blight 62 10:04, by Ben Lerner 87 Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters 63 Veronica, by Mary Gaitskill 88 The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis 64 The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai 89 The Return, by Hisham Matar 65 The Plot Against America, by Philip Roth 90 The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen 66 We the Animals, by Justin Torres 91 The Human Stain, by Philip Roth 67 Far From the Tree, by Andrew Solomon 92 The Days of Abandonment, by Elena Ferrante 68 The Friend, by Sigrid Nunez 93 Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel 69 59 The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander 94 On Beauty, by Zadie Smith 10 70 All Aunt Hagar's Children, by Edward P. Jones 95 Bring Up the Bodies, by Hilary Mantel 71 The Copenhagen Trilogy, by Tove Ditlevsen 96 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments, by Saidiya Hartman 72 22 Secondhand Time, by Svetlana Alexievich 97 Men We Reaped, by Jesmyn Ward 73 The Passage of Power, by Robert A. Caro 98 Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett 74 Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout 99 How to Be Both, by Ali Smith 75 15 Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid 100 Tree of Smoke, by Denis Johnson I've I want read to it read it

COMMENTS

AQA A-Level English Language
hen structuring a Child Language Acquisition essay, it's important to strike a balance between analyzing the transcript and incorporating relevant theoretical concepts. Here's a suggested structure that can help you create a coherent and well-organized essay: Introduction: Provide an overview of the topic and the main question or prompt you are addressing. Briefly introduce the child and the ...
Much Ado About Revision
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PDF Child Language Acquisition Expository Essay
Child Language Acquisition Expository Essay "Parents play little to no part in child language acquisition." Discuss in relation to the different theories regarding Child Language Acquisition. Language is an essential part of human life, which makes humans so distinctly different to other species.
Language Acquisition and Development
The biological aspects of language are quite complex to understand (Ellis, 2001, p. 65). The first biological aspect of language acquisition is natural brain development. According to Piaget, cognitive development is a process of brain development and it is active during childhood. Piaget also demonstrated that children leant new language ...
Child Language Acquisition Example Student Essay
Child Language Acquisition Example Student Essay. Subject: English. Age range: 16+. Resource type: Worksheet/Activity. File previews. pdf, 62.61 KB. Top band, student written model answer for A Level English Language. Evaluate the idea that children's linguistic development is the result of an innate capacity to learn language.
Essay on Language Development in Early Childhood
Language Development Essay Introduction. Language development refers to the process of deliberate communication using sounds, gestures, or symbols which can be understood by other people (Machado, 1985). Language is double perspectives process which forms the basis for other forms of learning.
Child language development A* essays (AQA 2017 & 2018 exam papers)
A* essay responses to the AQA 2017 and 2018 English Language A Level exams (Paper 1 Section B Children's language development - Q4 learning to talk task). These essays meet the criteria for high level 5 for both AO1 and AO2 so are ideal as ready made modelling examples for any of the knowledge and skills required for this section of the A ...
PDF Language development and acquisition in early childhood
Acquisition of a child's first language begins at birth and continues to puberty (the 'critical period'). Spada and Lightbown [6]; DeKeyser and Larson-Hall [2] noted that during the first three years of the child's life, the child gets exposed to the language in his/her environment. During that time child put his or her
Language Acquisition Theory In Psychology
Language acquisition refers to the process by which individuals learn and develop their native or second language. It involves the acquisition of grammar, vocabulary, and communication skills through exposure, interaction, and cognitive development. This process typically occurs in childhood but can continue throughout life.
Child Language Acquisition Transcript & Example Essay
Example essay shows students how to approach the question and balance data analysis with child language acquisition theories. Easily turned into a mock question since data is included. Essay can be used as a marking activity. Notes on spoken & written CLA, transcript activity and example essay bundle. Rated 5*!
(AQA A Level English Language) Essay 30/30 FULL MARKS on Child ...
d directed speech is the most important reason for language development" fully Concise, detailed and accomplished Includes a sufficient amount of transcript extracts which are analysed in detail and is therefore easy to follow and replicate A useful revision tool for learning about language theorists in an accessible way Includes relevant language theory tastefully and relevantly Utilises an ...
Children Language Acquisition.
This special language is the so-called "motherese", or caregiver language, which is used in talks with small kids and infants (Fergusson, 1975, pp. 209 - 235). In this paper I am going to consider the motherese in order to see its essence and examine its influence upon the language acquisition in small children.
Stages of Child Language Acquisition
Table 1. Stages of Child Language Acquisition*. Phonology. From birth to 0.5 years - perception of adult speech; 0.6 years - pronunciation of the first sounds (vowels → consonants → vowels + consonants); 0.8 years - repetition of syllables and recognition of phonemic differences; 1.0 year - understanding of the relation between ...
Language Acquisition in Children: Explanation, Stages
Child language acquisition (CLA) refers to how children develop the ability to understand and use language. There are four main stages of language acquisition: the Babbling stage, holophrastic stage, two-word stage, and multi-word stage. An example of the study of child language acquisition is the Genie Case Study.
Language Acquisition
Paper Type: 450 Word Essay Examples. During the late 1950s, psychologists differed on how language is acquired. Skinner argued that language acquisition is based on instrumental conditioning, while Chomsky stressed that people are born with an innate capacity for acquiring a language/s, also called nativism.
PDF Indicative Candidate Answers ENGLISH LANGUAGE
that children do the bulk of their linguistic learning by imitating their parents and carers.11 Stage theory is something that is widely known and accepted as a theory of child language acquisition. It does however, have its flaws, namely that it assumes that children all learn at exactly the same rate and they stop learning or learn one thing
PDF Student responses with examiner commentary
Similarly in data set 1 Joey uses the word "saucy pan" this is an example of affixation as he added a "y" onto the word "sauce". This shows that Joey is actively using language rather than simply copying the adult. This could lessen the importance of caregiver language used as a model of speech for children to imitate.
An Example A-Level English Language Essay: Child Language Acquisition
An example of an essay analysing two texts of a child's creative writing work. For English Language at A Level. 100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
Child Language Acquisition Essay Plans Flashcards
Paragraph 2: detailed grammar (John Dore), Vyotsky, Katherine Nelson. Paragraph 3: level 3 AO1 examples, Elminger, Schwade and Goldstein working together, Piaget. Paragraph 4: level 4 AO1 examples, Chomsky LAD nature, Bruner LASS nurture. Paragraph 6: Jim and Genie case studies. Conclusion: if we took away interaction, would children be as ...
(PDF) CHILDREN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROCESS
in Bukittinggi. The process deals with some stages. namely cooing, babbling, holophrastic, the two-. word stage, telegraphic stage, and multiword stage. The purpose of this study is focused on how ...
Band 7: Some experts believe that it is better for children to begin
Firstly, this approach may lead to confusion in the language learning process, as young children may struggle to distinguish between vocabulary and grammar rules of different languages. Secondly, it could hinder the proper acquisition of a child's mother tongue, given that primary school is a critical period for mastering their native language.
Spoken Child Language Acquisition Transcript Analysis Activity
Why it works: * Activity sheet guides students through the initially daunting task of analysing large chunks of data * Example essay shows students how to approach the question and balance data analysis with child language acquisition theories * Easily turned into a mock question since data is included * Essay can be used as a marking activity ...
Child Language Acquisition A* notes
Child Language Acquisition A* notes Word Document 1.85 Mb. English Language. Child language acquisition. A2/A-level. AQA. Save to favourites. Share: Tweet. About Get Revising. For teachers.
Diploma sample exam papers
Group 1: Language A: literature. English A: literature paper 1 and marking notes (first assessment 2021) [512KB] English A paper 2 [197KB] Group 2: Language acquisition: Language B. English B HL specimen paper 2 audio [84,3 MB] English B SL specimen paper 2 audio [61,7 MB] English B specimen papers and markschemes (first assessment 2020) [2.1MB]
The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century: A Printable List
The New York Times Book Review I've I want THE 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY read to it read it 51 Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson 52 52 Train Dreams, by Denis Johnson 53 Runaway, by Alice ...