Topics in Language Acquisition
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| EDEN3009 | School of Education and English | 3 | 20 | Autumn China |
- Code
- EDEN3009
- School
- School of Education and English
- Level
- 3
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Autumn China
Summary
The module focuses on issues in language acquisition by humans in different contexts, such as first language acquisition, second language acquisition, bilingual acquisition, language acquisition of atypical children, and language attrition. The module will cover crucial theories underlying language acquisition research such as innateness, ultimate attainment and incompleteness, statistical learning and emergentism, cross-linguistic influence and directionality of transfer, typical and atypical language acquisition, linguistic input and interaction, etc. Language acquisition research methodology will also be introduced in the module.
Please note: This module is assessed at the end of Autumn semester. Re-sit exams are scheduled normally in the summer and can take the same form as the missing/ failed component of the assessment (exam, essay etc.) or other form, as decided by the School.
Target Students
BA English with International Business; BA English Language and Applied Linguistics. Other students by agreement with the convenor.
Classes
- One 1-hour-30-minute seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 1-hour-30-minute lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 30% Project: Multimedia story-telling illustrating an important concept/issue in language acquisition
- 70% Coursework: One 2,500-word essay on a small-scale research project investigating the acquisition of a selected language
Assessed by end of autumn semester
Educational Aims
After completing this module, students will -•achieve a basic understanding of the key concepts and important findings in different fields of language acquisition.•obtain the foundational knowledge of the major theoretical issues and methods in first language acquisition, bilingual language acquisition and second language acquisition.•understand and appreciate the complexity of language acquisition in different contexts.build a foundation on which to develop their interest and pursue further study in language acquisition.Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and understanding of:
• the nature of language and human mind;
• theories underlying language acquisition research;
• language acquisition methodology;
• the key concepts in different fields of language acquisition;
• major theoretical issues and methods in language acquisition.
Intellectual skills:
• The ability to apply the knowledge covered in the module to their language acquisition project;
• The appreciation of language diversity and complexity in different contexts;
• The ability to interpret research findings and their implications in a broad context;
• The capability to theorize the distinctions between different approaches to language acquisition studies;
• The ability to understand relevant published research, locate the strengths as well as drawbacks of students' own work and make plans for improvement.
Professional skills:
• The capability to design, construct and use language acquisition data for quantitative/qualitative-oriented research;
• The competence in evaluating language acquisition studies within theoretical framework in a professional setting;
• The ability to disseminate findings of language acquisition research via clear and effective presentation.
Transferable skills:
• The competence in gathering, sorting out and processing data for empirical research;
• The capability to present findings of language acquisition project and engage in discussion of them from various perspectives;
• The ability to work constructively with team members.
Conveners
- Yanhui Zhang