1. 1. Think of three or four ?telegraphic? sentences that a young child might
produce. These may be in English or another language you know well. How are these ?little sentences? similar to those in the adult language? How are they different?
“telegraphic” sentences：
（1）\（2）I having this. I'm having 'nana. （3）Baby fall down
Similarities: They both contain the necessary key words, especially nouns, verbs and
adjectives
Differences: “Telegraphic” sentences lack function words like prepositions and
conjunctions. They are shorter, and grammatical elements are often omitted or inserted incorrectly, and they are single clauses.
2. Researchers have used both longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches to investigate
the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes in English by young children. Describe these approaches in your own words. What are the challenges and the potential benefits of each?
Cross-sectional approaches: A research method studies subjects at different ages and stages of development.
Longitudinal studies: It is a type of observational study. By longitudinal studies, we mean that we can study learner‘s language with a period of time, one month, one year, or more. This contrasts with Cross-sectional studies.
The challenges of longitudinal study approaches: They are time-consuming and money-consuming. Also, they are not convenient.
Potential benefits of longitudinal study approaches: Longitudinal studies track the same people, and therefore the differences observed in those people are less likely to be the result of cultural differences across generations.
The challenges of Cross-sectional approaches: Routine data are not designed to answer the specific question.
Potential benefits of Cross-sectional approaches: . The use of routinely collected data allows large cross-sectional studies to be made at little or no expense.
3. What is the ?wug test?? What do the findings from the wug test tell us about Children?s developing language? What advantages does the wug test have over studies that observe children?s language in natural settings? Can you think of some disadvantages?
(1) “Wug test” is a procedure to explore children‘s knowledge of language developed by Jean Berko Gleason. It was designed as a way to investigate the acquisition of the plural and other inflectional morphemes in English-speaking children.
(2) By the age of three-and-a-half or four years, most children can ask questions, give commands, report real events, and create stories about imaginary ones-complete with correct grammatical morphemes.
(3) Advantages of wug test By completing these sentences, children demonstrate that they actually know the rules in English, not just a list of memorized word pairs, and can apply these rules to words which they have never heard before. (4)Some disadvantages: The acquisition of the more complex grammatical structures of the language requires a different sort of explanation
4. What is metalinguistic awareness? Why is it a prerequisite for being able to understand most jokes and riddles? Think of a joke or riddle you know. How is metalinguistic awareness related to your understanding of what makes this joke funny?
(1) Metalinguistic awareness is the ability to treat language as an object, separate
from the meaning it conveys.
(2) Because Metalinguistic awareness includes the discovery of such things as
ambiguity---words and sentences that have multiple meaning.
(3) Jokes: Why is the bride feeling unhappy in her wedding? Because she cannot
marry the ?best man‘.
5. What have researchers observed about the frequency with which young
children engage in imitation and repetitive practice? In what way are young children?s linguistic imitation and practice patterns different from those of some foreign language classes?
(1) Observation: ●First year, most babies can understand quite a few frequently
repeated words.
●Speech consists of imitation, but different children have
different rate of imitation
●Children‘s imitations are not random; they do not imitate
everything they hear
●Children sometimes repeat themselves or produce a series of
related practice sentences
(2) Differences: Linguistic imitation and practice patterns are the natural process in
which children subconsciously possess and develop the linguistic knowledge of the setting they live in. Young children learn language through exposure to the language and meaningful communication.
Foreign language classes take place where the target language is
not the language spoken in the language community. Children have the need of systematic studies of any kind.
6. Give examples of both grammatical and lexical overgeneralization errors found in early child language. What is the general learning principle that underlies such errors?
Examples of grammatical overgeneralization errors：
Randall (2, 9), who is in stage 3 of question formation, concluded that the
trick of asking questions is to put a certain word (in this case: are) at the beginning of the sentence. for example: Are dogs wiggle their tails？ Correct form: Do dogs wiggle their tails?
Examples of lexical overgeneralization errors: Michel (2, 0) says: Mummy, I'm hiccing up and I can't stop.
(Michel has heard many two-word verbs with up, such as \
\
The general learning principle that underlies such errors:
(1) Children appear to pick out patterns and then generalize them to new
contexts. They create new forms or new uses of words until they finally figure out how the forms are used by adults. Their new sentences are usually comprehensible and often correct. (2) Behaviorism in first language learning.
7. How do the stories of Victor and Genie (pages 19–21) support the critical period hypothesis? Do you find this evidence convincing? Why do most researchers consider that the evidence from users of American Sign Language that was collected by Newport and her colleagues (page 21) is stronger support for the CPH?
(1) Victor and Genie are children who have been deprived of contact with language in their early years. Their language acquisition device was stimulated too late. As a result, even though they were taught to speak when they were 12 or 13 years old they CANNOT learn language like normal people and their language development was abnormal. So the stories of Victor and Genie support the critical period hypothesis.
(2) It is difficult to argue that the hypothesis is confirmed on the basis of evidence from such unusual children and the unknown circumstances of their early lives. We cannot know what other factors besides biological maturity might have contributed to their inability to learn language. Therefore, this evidence is not convincing
(3) These users of American Sign Language are usual children who acquire their first language at different ages. They come from loving homes, yet do not receive exposure to language at the usual time. Besides, the circumstances of their early lives are known to the researchers. They begin learning ASL often when they start attending a residential school where sign language is used for day-to-day communication. Moreover, in the study, there were three distinct groups of ASL users: Native signers who were exposed to sign language from birth, Early learners whose first exposure to ASL began at ages four to six at school, and Late learners who first came into contact with ASL after the age of 12. Results of the research showed that the Native group outperformed the Early learner group who outperformed the late learner group on tests focusing on grammatical markers. The study supports the hypothesis that there is a critical period for first language learning.
8. How are Piaget?s and Vygotsky?s views of first language acquisition similar? How do they differ?
Similarities:
(1) Both of them thought that interaction played a very important role in language development;
(2) Children are active learners; (3) Development declines with age Differences:
(1) Piaget hypothesized Children's cognitive development would partly determine how they use language!
(2) Vygotsky believed that Language develops entirely from social interaction.
9. What was unusual about Jim?s exposure to language? How does this case support an interactionist perspective on language acquisition?
Unusual:
(1) Jim, the hearing children of deaf parents, had little contract with hearing/speaking
adults up to the age of three years and nine months. (2) His only contract with oral language was through TV. (3) His parents did not use sign language with Jim
Support:
(1) Interactionism focus on the role of the linguistic environment in interaction with the child‘s innate capacities in determining language development. And Vygotsky thought was essentially internalized speech, and speech emerged in social interaction.
(2) Jim‘s only contract with oral language was through TV, which cannot give immediate adjustment for the needs of Jim. But when Jim began conversations with sessions with an adult, his expressive abilities began to improve. By the age of four years and two months, most of the unusual speech patterns had disappeared, replaced by structures more typical of Jim‘s age.
10. State the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) and explain why it is often
linked to the behaviourist theory. What are its limitations?
(1) The CAH was put forward by Dr. Robert Lado and it predicts that where there
are similarities between the first and second language, the learner will acquire second language structures with ease; where there are differences, the learner will have difficulty
(2) The CAH is based on the behaviouristic psychology. It holds that language
development is viewed as the formation of habits; it is assumed that a person learning a second language starts off with the habits formed in the first language and that these habits interfere with the new ones needed for the second language. (3) Limitations:
I. Not all errors predicted by CAH are actually made.
II. Many of the errors which learners do make are not predictable on the basis of the CAH.
III. Only a few errors made during the second language learning attributes to the interferences of the mother tongue.
VI. It only focuses on making comparisons between the mother tongue and the second language in terms of phonology and syntax, ignoring the comparisons in semantics, vocabulary, and pragmatics.
V. Except from the mother tongue, the national culture also influences the second language learning.
11. What contribution has behaviourism made to our understanding of how
languages are learned? What is the theory not able to explain?
(1). I. Behaviourists account for learning in terms of imitation, practice,
reinforcement, (or feedback on success), and habit formation. II. All learning takes place through the same underlying processes.
III. Learners receive linguistic input from speakers in their environment and they form \
IV. Learners receive encouragement for their correct imitations and corrective feedback on their errors.
V. Learners start off with the habits formed in the first language while learning a second language and these habits interfere with the new ones needed for the second language.
(2).I. Where there are differences between the first language and the target
language, the learners will have difficulty.
II. Not all errors predicted by it are actually made. Many of the errors which learners do make are not predictable on the basis of it.
III. Many of the sentences produced by second language learners would be quite ungrammatical in their first language. Some characteristics of these simple structures are very similar across learners from a variety of backgrounds.
IV. The learner's first language may not simply be a matter of the transfer of
habits.
12. Sum up, in your own words, the main points surrounding the debate about the nature and availability of UG in SLA. Where do you stand?
UG is not suitable for explaining second language acquisition. (1) UG is suitable for acquiring language during a critical period; it is not available for second language learners who have passed the critical period. (Even if it may be present and available, its exact nature has been changed.) (2) Formal instruction and error correction will not affect the learner‘s knowledge of second language. (3) Instead of UG, many different theories might be vital to explain some early language performance.
UG is suitable for explaining second language acquisition. (1) There is still a logical problem of second language acquisition, which also appears in mother language learning, even if learners begin learning a second language after the critical period. (2) Second language learners need both formal instruction and error correction or they will be affected by their first language. (3) UG is necessary to explain learner‘s knowledge of complex syntax.
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