WEEK 5

Question 1

What is language?

Answer 1

• Symbolic communication
• Social/ Intellectual
  -Written/ Sign/ Spoken

Question 2

PHONOLOGY (Sounds)

Answer 2

• perception and production of sounds in language
• Phonemes = smallest unit of sound

Question 3

Chomsky and Halle (1968)

Answer 3

• Rules govern combination

Question 4

ORTHOGRAPHY (letters)

Answer 4

• Graphemes = smallest unit of text

Question 5

SEMANTICS (meanings)

Answer 5

• Morphemes: smallest meaningful unit

Question 6

PRAGMATICS (non-linguistic)

Answer 6

• considers communicative function
  -adjusting language for context
• perspective taking, intonation and prosody

Question 7

Stages of language development

Answer 7

1. Prelinguistic: newborn

newborn: reflexive vocalisations

1month: discriminate virtually all phonemes

2-3months: coo, smile, laugh

Question 8

Stages of Language development:

Answer 8

Prelinguistic: Year 1

4-6 months: babbling, echolalia
- pragmatics
- turn-taking

6-9 months: canonical babbling, reduplicated babbling

9-12 months: modulated babbling, dyadic > triadic interaction
- pointing
- comprehension of simple instructions

Question 9

First Words

Answer 9

• comprehension precedes production
• first word around 1yo
• vocab development, 1-3 words per months > 10-20 words per week

Question 10

Sentences

Answer 10

• Holophrases: 12-18 months
• 2 word utterances: 1-2 yrs
• 3 word utterances: 2-3 yrs
  Logical errors
  -rhyming

Question 11

Theories of language acquisition:

Answer 11

Skinner: Behaviourist
Chomsky: Nativist

= Interactionist

Question 12

Nature- Nurture debate:

Answer 12

Nativists: Chomsky, Pinker
-only human
-Universal grammar’
-Innate Capacity
-“Language Acquisition Device” (Chomsky)

Behaviourists: Skinner
- Different languages, dialects, accents
-Imitation and Reinforcement

Question 13

Nativist VS Behaviourist

Answer 13

N:
-Innate desire to communicate
FOR: Universal properties of language
AGAINST: Understates complexity

B:
FOR: Learned behaviour, environmental effects evident
AGAINST: Understates developmental achievement

Question 14

Literacy: Ability to read and write

Answer 14

• written language
• develops after spoken
  -Not all humans acquire (easily)
• Requires explicit education
  -Development = matching written to spoken

Question 15

Stage Models:

Answer 15

• Logographic: pre-school
• smaller misread as yellow

Question 16

Literacy development

Answer 16

• Alphabetic stage (5+ years)
• Convert to known spoken words
• Dependent on knowledge of phonology

Question 17

Literacy Development

Answer 17

• Orthographic stage (8+ yrs)
  -vocab development from text

Question 18

Piaget: Literacy Development

Answer 18

• Sensori-motor stage: birth- 2 years
• no/ limited language skills
• sensory exploration of the world

Preoperational stage: 2-7/8 years
- rapid language development
- categorise with words

Concrete Operational stage: 7-12 years
- use concrete objects to think about abstract concepts

Formal Operational: 12- adult
- Use language in an abstract way

Question 19

Holdaway

Answer 19

• proposed 4 key components linking reading to development of oral language skills

1. Observation
   -observe literacy behaviours from others
2. Collaboration
   - interact with others
3. Practice
   - Practice alone, increase independency
4. Performance
   - share new reading skills with those who support them

Question 20

Relationship between spoken and written language

Answer 20

• Bi-directional relationship
  -Exposure to different language forms
• Metalinguistic development (language as an object of thought)