Some activities focused on specific frameworks, perhaps especially phonology and grammar, would also be appropriate starters for Child Language lessons, and in the ‘general starters’ section, some of the word game starters could be used to revise or refresh key terms for the topic.

Broad discussion questions can make great starters: simply display one on the board, or hand out a few on cards and let them think and explore. Possibilities for CLA lessons include:

• What do you need to learn in order to use language?
• Some say that language is...

This guide explores the key theoretical positions, and some useful case studies and research findings needed for the study of how children develop language.  It is not exhaustive – there are further case studies and sets of research findings which are useful to students in studying acquisition – but there are enough here to be able to discuss theories with sensible reference to evidence.  At the same time, different specifications will have different expectations in terms of students’ familiarity with research and theory, so some of the...

Click on the link below to download the resource.

Prompts for Child Language Data Analysis.doc

A Way to Analyse A Child’s Language

• Work out the transcript’s ‘big-picture’ – and remember that the transcript isn’t what you are analysing: it’s the original oral communication you need to be focusing on. The transcript is a mere shadow of this: you need to flesh out the scene and be there – be the participants! Try hard – it’s worth it. Use your imagination.
• For this unit (Language Change included) start your answer with a brief overview of the important discourse from which it derives. In CLA, you’ll need to be...

Your task when presented with any text is to dig out its subtleties. This guide offers a way to dig deep, one that can help to reveal a text’s subtlest aspects; and subtlety is what gains most marks, every time.

Analysing Children’s Language

• Whenever you analyse a text, your first job is to work out its ‘big-picture’. After all, the words you’ll find on the exam paper will be a pretty poor representation of the original ideas, thoughts and feelings that led to them.
• In important ways, it can be useful for you to burn into your...

Introduction

Child Language Acquisition is one of most enjoyable and apparently accessible topics for students of English Language A level. However, because of the enthusiasm and the apparent accessibility it becomes all too easy for study of this topic to remain fairly superficial, with identification of features not brought into a coherent, logical analysis related to the bigger picture, a characteristic which is the key to the higher grades.

Although different in their exact application, the various syllabuses have the same threads...