Comprehension questions and tasks:

1) What are the central questions of psycholinguistics?

2) What are the features of the two main approaches in developmental
psycholinguistics ?
3) Explain the difference between “adult” and “child’s” linguistic material.
4) Express your opinion why developmental psycholinguistics is important today.
1. What is the central theme of psycholinguistics?
Psycholinguistics investigates how humans produce, understand, and store language,
and is therefore concerned with processes such as speaking, listening, writing, and
reading. Therefore, of necessity the representation and storage of language and
meaning are of fundamental interest to researchers in the area.Psycholinguistics is the
scientific study of the psychological processes involved in language.
Psycholinguistics investigates how humans produce, understand, and store language,
and is therefore concerned with processes such as speaking, listening, writing, and
reading. Therefore, of necessity the representation and storage of language and
meaning are of fundamental interest to researchers in the area.
2. Psycholinguistic approach views language and thought as related but completely
independent phenomena (Claros, 2009). In the psycholinguistic approach, the
individual internal cognitive processes are activated so that activation allows the
individual to access the comprehensible input needed to further advance in the
acquisition of the L2 (Long, 1996 cited in Claros, 2009). Krashen (1985) argues that
to understand and learn language, s/he must be exposed to the linguistic input that is a
little beyond his/her current level of competence. Krashen explains his view in his
famous i+1 concept which indicates that the input the learner receives must contain
some slight amount of new information in addition to what s/he already knows. To
Krashen, a comprehensible input is not just a necessary condition, but it is the
sufficient condition. In relation to language teaching, developmental psycholinguistics
and applied psycholinguistics play significant roles in formulating effective ways of
teaching. Psycholinguistics theory covered the language development of humans, in
accordance with humans’ physical and mental development. These theories are
considered in designing language teaching programs and materials in order to be
effective for the second language learners master the target language.
3. Young children learn categorical rules and categorically follow patterns that are
widespread in natural languages, even when their linguistic input exemplifies these
patterns only probabilistically. In contrast, adult learners reproduce the probabilistic
 patterns of the input. Older children are in between, producing regular patterns
somewhat more often than they appear in the input but also acquiring some
probabilistic variation. These results suggest that the outcome of learning is quite
different at different ages and that many of the properties of natural languages may be
shaped by the behavior of children as they learn their native languages.
4. Psycholinguistics also helps to explain the errors students do in the language
learning. Moreover psycholinguistics also defines some kinds of brain disorders that
affect language learning performance such as agraphia and aphasia which must be
treated properly. Psycholinguistics has provided numerous theories that explain how a
person acquires a language, produces and perceives both spoken and written
language. The theories have been used in the field of language teaching. Some experts
use them as the basic theories in developing language teaching methods. It is known
as psycholinguistics approach. Psycholinguistic approach views learning as a
cognitive individual process happening within the individual and then moves to the
social dimension.
TASK
Stages of Language Development
Children typically go through several stages in their language development journey.
These include:

1. Pre-linguistic Stage (0-12 months): This stage encompasses the child’s early
communicative behaviors before words emerge. Children experiment with sounds and
intonation, resulting in coos, babbles, and gestures.
2. One-word Stage (12-24 months): Here, children begin to utter single words, each
representing an entire sentence’s worth of meaning. These first words often include
common objects, family members, or actions.
3. Two-word Stage (24-30 months): Children start combining two words, developing
basic syntax, and showing an understanding of word order.
4. Multi-word Stage (30 months onwards): This stage sees children using increasingly
complex sentences, showing a grasp of grammar rules, and rapidly expanding their
vocabulary.
TASK

according to my parents, I started saying the word papa when I was 1 year old. Of
course, every child begins to speak at different ages.