Course Description
Normal development of children's reception, integration, and expression of linguistic information; cultural, gender, socioeconomic, cognitive, and prelinguistic influences on language development.
Athena Title
LANGUAGE DEVELOP
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in CMSD(LING) 4500/6500
Prerequisite
Permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, students will be able to: 1. integrate critical thinking and writing skills into discussions of language development; 2. analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information in order to draw conclusions from direct empirical data and reason through discrepancies presented by different data sets focused on the same area of inquiry; 3. examine the role of language in human development beyond its obvious role in communication; 4. identify and discuss the various components of language and demonstrate appropriate use of basic terminology; 5. describe the developmental sequences in English of the various components of language (phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics); 6. analyze, synthesize, and evaluate theories of language development, discuss the empirical evidence refuting or supporting them, and examine hose this research is conducted and what is focused upon in that research; 7. explain and evaluate how profoundly cultural and linguistic differences can influence all dimensions of language development and communicative processes; 8. recognize and discuss both endogenous (biological, neurological, cognitive, and psychological) and exogenous (cultural, socioeconomic, and familial) factors that influence language development; 9. demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles and methods for language sample collection and analysis.
Topical Outline
The goals of this course are: 1)To introduce the components of language and consider their developmental trajectories 2)To consider the varied and critical roles of language in human development 3)To understand the impact of culture, different languages, child factors and the environment on development 4)To be introduced to the theoretical perspectives driving research and thinking in this area of inquiry.
Syllabus