A2 Language

Acquisition revision
 Speaking
acquisition
1. Complete the following table about the stages of acquisition:
Stage Approx age Typical linguistic feature
(months)
Cooing and 0 – 12 Proto-words; repeated consonant and
babbling vowel sounds

Holophrastic /
1-word
Two-word

Telegraphic

Post-
telegraphic
1. Complete the following table about the stages of acquisition:
Stage Approx age Typical linguistic feature
(months)
Cooing and 0 – 12 Proto-words; repeated consonant and
babbling vowel sounds

Holophrastic / 12 – 18 One word utterances, with a variety of

1-word meanings. E.g. Drink may be
requesting / labelling
Two-word 18 - 24 Two word utterances, showing the
emergence of grammar. E.g. want
drink.
Telegraphic 24 - 36 3+ word utterances, using questions,
negation, pronouns and determiners

Post- 36 + Complex utterances, using

telegraphic conjunctions, verb tenses and correct
morphemes.
2. What does LAD stand for and who came up
with the idea?
2. What does LAD stand for and who came up
with the idea?

Language
Acquisition
Device,
quoted by
me, Noam
Chomsky
3. Define the difference between positive
reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
3. Define the difference between positive
reinforcement and negative reinforcement.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT ✓
Mother: ok (.) now say mummy
Child: (1.0) mummy
Mother: well done! excellent!

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT x
Mother: ok (.) now say mummy
Child: (1.0) dummy
Mother: no that’s not right it’s mummy
4. Circle the morphemes in the following words:
4. Circle the morphemes in the following words:

running eats

smaller

wugs southward
5. List 5 linguistic features of child-directed
speech:
5. List 5 linguistic features of child-directed speech:

Raised pitch
Child-like language e.g. doggie-woggie
Verbal rewards
Slow pace
Simplified vocabulary
Melodic or sing-song type prosody
Extensive questioning
Short utterances
Using names not pronouns
6. What is one argument for the validity of the
innateness theory?
6. What is one argument for the validity of the
innateness theory?

That children not-exposed to language do not acquire language

That children all over the world learn language at a similar pace

Overgeneralise, using non-adult forms that appear logical e.g.

runned
7. Circle whether these statements are true or
false:
7. Circle whether these statements are true or false:
a. Children are enthusiastic about learning to speak and their language reflects this.
TRUE

b. If a child has not entered the telegraphic stage by 38 months they are in trouble.
FALSE

c. Phonological development depends upon learning complex articulatory movements.

TRUE

d. Children learn language at roughly the same pace regardless of their native
language. TRUE
e. Children in the two-word stage have knowledge of grammar and syntax. TRUE
8. Why are children’s first words usually nouns?

What types of words usually come next?

8. Why are children’s first words usually nouns?

Because they can see them, touch them and hold

them! Easy to cognitively deal with.

What types of words usually come next?

Verbs, because they can see them happening!

9. List the four main theories of language
acquisition, their associated theorist(s) and a
brief summary.
Theory Theorist(s) Brief summary
Behaviourism Skinner Children learn language through imitation
and reinforcement, just like a dog learns
to do tricks.

Nativist Chomsky, Language is innate and genetic. Language

is triggered through exposure and via a
Pinker Language Acquisition Device.

Social Vygotsky, Language is acquired through interacting

with adults.
interactionist Brown, Dore

Cognitive Piaget Language is acquired because it is

necessary: children want to describe their
environment and express their feelings.
10. Look at this short transcript:

Child: this is my fis

Adult: a fis?
Child: no a fis
Adult: a fish?
Child: yes a fis

What is happening here, in terms of the child’s language development?

 10. Look at this short transcript:

Child: this is my fis

Adult: a fis?
Child: no a fis The child cannot
Adult: a fish?
Child: yes a fis hear their own
errors! To them, it
sounds OK.

TIME

Comprehension Production
of of
language language
11. What is the ‘wug test’ trying to show about
language acquisition?
11. What is the ‘wug test’ trying to show about
language acquisition?

That a child either has or hasn’t acquired plural

endings.
12. Why might a child in the telegraphic stage
say /taka/ when wanting to say tractor?
12. Why might a child in the telegraphic stage
say /taka/ when wanting to say tractor?

Because /traktor/ is difficult to say! Lots of

consonant clusters – difficult articulatory
movements.
13. ‘Daddy kick’ and ‘kick ball’ are typical
utterances from what stage?

What kind of grammatical constructions are they?

13. ‘Daddy kick’ and ‘kick ball’ are typical utterances from what
stage?

TWO-WORD STAGE

What kind of grammatical constructions are they?

Daddy kick = NOUN + VERB

Kick ball = VERB + NOUN
14. Which sounds are likely to be learnt first?

Which are likely to be

learnt later?
14. Which sounds are likely to be learnt first?

Vowels and plosive sounds, e.g. /b, p, t, d/; ones that need
simple articulatory movements

Which are likely to be learnt later?

Ones that need difficult articulatory movements, e.g. /dg, ng,

sh/.
 Reading
acquisition
1. List 5 ways in which the pages from this
child’s book are designed to help children
learn how to read:
 Image on the left, Mono-syllabic
Engaging words
subject matter text on the right
Teddy Bear

Directly
involving
the child:
just like
you

Images that Short,

Simple conjunctions and simple
match the text
to join sentences sentences
2. Match each of these statements to either
synthetic phonics or analytic phonics:

a) The UK government supports it being taught in schools

b) Is a system of reading where each grapheme is worked out individually
c) A system of reading that encourages guessing
d) Requires a lot of intensive teaching
e) The process is fast
f) Emphasis on the first letter works well for short words but not for long words
2. Match each of these statements to either
synthetic phonics or analytic phonics:
SYNTHETIC PHONICS ANALYTIC PHONICS

Is a system of reading where each The UK government supports it being

grapheme is worked out individually
Requires a lot of intensive teaching
The process is fast
taught in schools
A system of reading that encourages
guessing
Emphasis on the first letter works well
for short words but not for long words
3. Complete the following table about reading
cues:
Reading cue Description and example

Visual When using a visual cue, a child will look at an image in a book to help them read /
remember a word. For example, they see a picture of a tiger and this helps to
trigger the word recall.
3. Complete the following table about reading
cues:
Reading cue Description and example

Visual When using a visual cue, a child will look at an image in a book to help them read /
remember a word. For example, they see a picture of a tiger and this helps to
trigger the word recall.
Semantic Understanding meanings of words, e.g. knowing that mummy also means Mother,
Mum etc.

Syntactic Using knowledge of word order to extract meaning: the boy sat in the chair with
the broken arm vs. the boy with the broken arm say in the chair

Contextual Using their own knowledge to read unfamiliar words, e.g. swimming pool if the
child has been there recently.

Miscue Making errors when reading, e.g. reading sheep as shop because they look and
sound similiar
4. Speech is innate but reading is…..
4. Speech is innate but reading is…..

TAUGHT
 Writing
acquisition
1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass)

baot (boat)

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)
1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat)

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)
1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong)

rediculuos (ridiculous)
1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong) OMISSION / PHONETIC SPELLING

rediculuos (ridiculous)
1. What kinds of spelling errors are apparent here?

glas (glass) OMISSION

baot (boat) TRANSPOSITION

rong (wrong) OMISSION / PHONETIC SPELLING

rediculuos (ridiculous) OVERGENERALISATION / TRANSPOSITION

2. List 5 things that children may find difficult
when learning how to write:
Physiological muscle control: holding the pen and making the correct
movements

Learning the alphabet

Learning grammar and syntax

Spelling (orthography)

Putting in spaces between words

Having a limited vocabulary size

3. Put these stages of writing development in
order:
3. Put these stages of writing development in order:

Drawing
Letter-like forms
Copied letters
Child’s name and strings of letters
Words
Sentences
Text
4. What is meant by the term emergent
writing?
4. What is meant by the term emergent
writing?

The early stages of literacy development, where

children are making scribbles and some very
rudimentary letter-like forms
5. Look at this (typed up) example of children’s writing, written by a
child of 7 years:

It’s a misrbel rainy day The wind is tossing the Trees and
levaes about I like to see the streekes of rain drops.
Runing and racing down the window pane. i am warm and
cosy in My house But all the trees are Not.

List 5 things the child knows about writing

List 5 things the child is struggling with
List 5 things the child knows about writing

- Some sense of narrative structure; beginning, middle, end

- Some punctuation (full-stops)
- Can use contractions It’s
- Knows that some letters are capitalised
- Plural endings: leaves
- Verb inflections: tossing
- Use of conjunctions: I am warm and cosy
List 5 things the child is struggling with

- Consistent use of capital letters: not been standardised yet

- Phonetic spelling: streekes
- Omission of letters: runing, misrbel
- Transposition: levaes
- Correct and consistent placing of full stops