LANG H3006 Week 12

Module Re-Cap and Revision Topics

B.A. in Early Childhood Care & Education

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Referencing conventions

• Barbour, S and Carmichael, C. (eds.) 2007. Language and Nationalism

in Europe. London: Oxford university Press.

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

CUT example

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Author's reference to a general statement.
This example from Barbour and Carmichael (2002, p.278)
• In text
Symbols of Ukranian statehood (such as the blue and yellow flag) vary
from region to region and are historically contested (Krawchenko 1990;
Serhiichuk 1992).

• In references at end of that book

• Krawchenko, B. (1990), 'National Memory in the Ukraine: The Role of
the Blue and Yellow Flag', Journal of Ukrainian Studies, 11:1-21.
• Serhiichuk, V. (1992), Natsional'na Symvolika Ukraïny (Kiev: Veselka). 

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Author's more specific reference.
This example also from Barbour and Carmichael (2002, p.278)
• In text
In 1994 only 27 per cent of newspapers in circulation were in Ukrainian
(Wilson 1997:156)

• In references at end of that book

Wilson, A. (1997), Ukrainian Nationalism in the 1990s: A Minority Faith
( Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Referencing in written exams.
• Requirements for live, written exams are not the same as formal essay
submissions.
• If used, direct quotes must be referenced with 100% accuracy, and are
therefore best avoided.
• More general references to wider research is acceptable within the text
of an answer in a written exam:
• Psychologist B. F. Skinner's book Verbal Behavior was published in 1957. He
describes ... verbal behavior.... gave rise to the Behaviourism theory of L1
acquisition...

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

May 2023 / August 2023 Exam layout
• 2 hours (2 hours+ for students with accommodations).

• Exam contains 4 questions – you must answer 3.

• Answer question 1 – compulsory question (30 marks)
• Answer 2 other questions of your choice (each worth 35 marks)

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Written exam question - expected responses
• Candidates' knowledge and understanding of course content
• L1 acquisition theory & stages
• L2 acquisition theory & stages
• Bilingualism

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Module Content

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

1st Language Acquisition Theory
• Behaviourism
• Innatism
• Interactionism
• Emergentism

• N.B. Study the slides - do not confuse Connectionism and

Interactionism

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Theories and hypotheses: be able to discuss
claims in favour of or in opposition to the theories
• Stimulus-Response Theory
• Poverty of stimulus hypothesis
• LAD 
• Universal Grammar
• Zone of proximal development
• Monitor Model
• Silent phase of learning

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

First Language Acquisition: Stages
• What happens and when?
• Know the 6 stages of development
• Name the stages
• The approx. age at which these stages occur
• Typical examples of the child utterances at each stage 

• Example: Holophrastic stage (=name), A single word utterance, typically from

12 months to 18 months. "CAR" (= example of a holophrase). N.B.
Holophrases mean more than the literal word meaning. 

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

2nd Language Acquisition Theory
• What constitutes SLA?
• When is it SLA as opposed to FLA (links here to bilingualism)
• 5 differences between FLA and SLA
• Factors affecting SLA: age & birth order / home and school
environment / personality / learning style / other spoken language(s)
• SLA in young children in pre-school environment. 
• Naíonra (setting and concept, rationale, features, theoretical basis)

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) Stages
SLA is a huge research area but focus for this module is:
• SLA in young children in pre-school environment. 
• 4- or 6- step learning models / frameworks looked at in class. 4-6 stages –
know these frameworks and their authors.
• Be able to present the models in a Table form
• How does Language Acquisition appear to happen for monolingual children in
a Naíonra setting?

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

SLA frameworks (..also see earlier slides)
• Tabors & Snow 1994
• 1 Continued use of the home language 
• 2 The non-verbal period (silent / mute) 
• 3 Telegraphic and formulaic speech 
• 4 Productive language use

• Clarke 1996 
• 1. Continued use of the home language 
• 2. Non-verbal communication
• 3. A Period of silence
• 4. Repetition and language play
• 5. Single words, formulae and routine language 
• 6. Development of more complex English

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Bilingualism & Biculturalism
• Myths and mis-conceptions about bilingualism
• Different forms / versions of bilingualism
• Perceived cognitive benefits of bilingualism
• Differences in the language of a bilingual v.s monolingual child.
• Heritage/ minority language and newcomer children in the EY setting
• How can these learners' cultures and languages be celebrated?
• How can these learners be supported in majority language development?

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Emergentism
• Based on the premise that language emerges from
communicative use.
• An alternative to the innatist approach to language acquisition
• An umbrella term referring to a fast-growing range of usage-based
theories which adopt “connectionist” and associative learning views.

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition

Ellis, N. (2002) Frequency effects in language processing: A Review with Implications for Theories of Implicit
and Explicit Language Acquisition. Studies in SLA, 24,2, 143-188.

• Nick Ellis is a leading spokesman for emergentism.

• In a leading article “Frequency Effects in Language Processing” (part of a special issue of Studies in
Second Language Acquisition, 2002, Vol. 24, 2, devoted to emergentism) Ellis argues that language
processing is “intimately tuned to input frequency”, and expounds a usage-based theory which holds
that “acquisition of language is exemplar based”. 
• The power law of practice is taken by Ellis as the underpinning for his frequency-based account. The
power law of learning says that the time it takes to perform a task decreases with the number of
repetitions of that task.
• Ellis argues that “a huge collection of memories of previously experienced utterances”, rather than
knowledge of abstract rules, is what underlies the fluent use of language. 
• In short, emergentists take language learning to be “the gradual strengthening of associations
between co-occurring elements of the language”, and they see fluent language performance as “the
exploitation of this probabilistic knowledge” (Ellis, 2002: 173).

T. McKiernan LANG H3006 Language Acquisition