One of the most remarkable properties of humans is that we acquire a very complex linguistic interactional system early in life. Along the way, children make adjustments to how they produce utterances and interpret what they hear. Understanding out how we do this takes us on a fascinating journey, visiting research highlights that speak to the core of human cognition and social interaction. What psycholinguistic processes explain an utterance such as "Nail polish me!" or "We holded the baby rabbits"? What conclusions can we draw about what is universal in language development versus what is language or culture specific? Do children always imitate their care-givers or do they bring innovations into a language? We will explore the development of language abilities from several perspectives, including unilingual and multilingual contexts, and across languages of different types, drawing on differing theoretical approaches.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- explain, and argue for, how children learn their first language in terms of phonology, morphosyntax, semantics, interaction and caregiver's input;
- critically evaluate various language acquisition theories;
- critically evaluate published empirical research on child language acquisition; and
- think about, write and present an argument using evidence and results from previous child language research.
Other Information
Usually offered in alternate years
Indicative Assessment
- Quizzes (15 minutes each) (10) [LO 1,2,3]
- Major research report (4,000 words) (40) [LO 1,2,3,4]
- Final exam (2 hours) (40) [LO 1,2,4]
- Class participation and discussion (10) [LO 1,2,4]
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Workload
130 hours of total student learning time made up from:
a) 36 hours of contact: 24 hours of lectures, 12 hours of tutorials; and
b) 94 hours of independent student research, reading and writing.
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Saxton, M. (2017). Child Language: acquisition and development. London: Sage.
Preliminary Reading
Students will be given a full reading list at the beginning of the semester.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 1
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
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