By the time children are 3 years old, they know about 3,000 words; they can formulate complex sentences; and they can produce all the sounds of their own language. How do they do this? This course will seek to answer these questions and more. It will survey the central themes in language acquisition. It will focus on all the stages in acquisition from the babbling infant up to the pre-school child. This course is relevant not only for linguists, but also for psychologists, educators and anyone interested in child development.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to

1. Assess the level of language ability for a young child by listening to naturally occurring examples of young children talking.
2. Explain, and argue for, how children learn their first language in terms of phonology, morphosyntax, semantics, interaction and caretaker's input.
3. Critically evaluate various language acquisition theories.
4. Think about, write and present an argument using evidence and results from previous child language research.

Assessment consists of:

• A critical essay 1500 words (30%) [Learning Outcomes 3,4]
• Phonological analysis of a child's language 750 words (15%) [Learning Outcomes 1,2,4]
• Morpho-syntactic analysis of a child's language 750 words (15%) [Learning Outcomes 1,2,4]
• Data analysis assignment 2,500 words (40%) [Learning Outcomes 1,2,4] due in the exam period.

2.5 weekly contact hours, plus 7.5 hours of regular work per week outside class.

This course introduces students to child language acquisition. Students will need to have some understanding of linguistics (particularly an understanding of phonetics and syntax) before enrolling in this course.

Students must have completed Introduction to the Study of Language (LING1001 / LING2001) (or its equivalent) before taking this course. There are no courses that must be taken concurrently with this course.

Gleason, J. B. (ed) (2009) The Development of Language. 7^th Edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon

Wardhaugh, Ronald (1993) How do we learn a language? Investigating Language: Central Problems in Linguistics, Basil Blackwell: Oxford

O'Grady (2005) How Children Learn Language. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge

Students will be given a full reading list at the beginning of the semester. Journals that publish child language acquisition research include, First Language, Journal of Child Language, Language Acquisition, Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behaviour.

Other than normal internet access to Wattle, no special equipment is required to access materials to complete the course.

This class is co-taught with postgraduate students LING6521.