Phone: 725-4140 E-mail: santelmannl@pdx.edu (Note: that’s last name FIRST INITIAL)

Required Text: The Development of Language, 5^th Edition, Jean Berko Gleason. Available at the PSU bookstore. (It must be this edition.)

Packet of child language data and paper guidelines to be obtained from Clean Copy.

• To acquire an appreciation for the amazing task that every child is able to accomplish in acquiring their first language.

• To gain a detailed knowledge of child language development including the major milestones in the development of: speech perception, speech production, word learning, morphology, syntax, pragmatic and social language skills.

• To learn some of the methods used in studying child language acquisition and to become acquainted with the types of results these methods have uncovered.

• To explore basic child language data and conduct basic analyses of this data.

• To become familiar with the major theories of language development and some of the major debates in field.

Student Learning Objectives: At the end of First Language Acquisitions, students will be able to:

• Describe of the basic "stages" of language development from infancy through the early school years.

• Describe cross-linguistic and cross-cultural differences in language acquisition and attitudes toward language development.

• Describe the characteristic features of children's language, explain and illustrate how these features develop over time, for the following areas of language: phonology (sound system), semantics (meaning), morphology (word building), syntax (sentence structure), pragmatics (conversations, register), sociolinguistics (social language, variation), narrative (story-telling), and literacy.

• Describe and analyze basic language acquisition data from 2 or 3 languages other than English

• Apply knowledge of the features of child language to analyze children's language samples and to compare samples of language from children of different ages.

• Understand and describe some of the basic methods in child language research.

• Describe the underlying assumptions and aims of 3 current theories of child language acquisition.

• Evaluate the same set of child language acquisition data from several theoretical perspectives.

• Develop skills for critical reading of some of the primary literature on language acquisition, including:

Quizzes: Quizzes will be conducted on-line using WebCT. These quizzes are intended to make sure that students know the basic vocabulary and definitions for each unit and can apply that knowledge to basic data sets. These will be open book and not timed. You will, however, receive only one chance to take the quiz.

Exams: Exams will be take home exams, and will involve both short answer questions and essay questions. The purpose of the take-home exams is to get you to synthesize your knowledge of child language acquisition, as covered in class and in your readings. Graduate students (537) may receive extra questions on the exams. Work on exams/quizzes must, of course, be entirely individual. If there is clear evidence that it is not, those involved will receive a zero for the exam.

1. Plan ahead. Murphy's Law dictates that failures will happen when you can least afford it. So, give yourself time to try again if there is something wrong with the equipment.

2. Contact me AS SOON AS the problem develops. If I know about it I can help you get around the problem. If it's a problem on my end, the sooner I know about it, the sooner I can get it fixed so you can continue. I will also know then that you have attempted the assignment. If I cannot fix the problem, I will reschedule.

Participation: One of the goals of this course is to gain skills in analyzing and evaluating child language data. To facilitate this, we will have 5 or 6 exercises looking at child language. Most of these will be examined in-class, but will require you to prepare them in advance. In addition, we will discuss the research articles assigned in class. Regular attendance, preparation for class and full participation in these activities is necessary for you to acquire the skills that you need.

Critique of supplemental articles: Students enrolled in 537 (grad students) will be responsible for critiquing one of the articles from the supplemental reading list. This written critique can, and should, be informed by the discussion in class. The written critique will be due one week after the oral discussion in class. Guidelines are given a separate handout and examples for critiques will be discussed in class.

Discussion of supplemental articles: All students are responsible for reading the supplemental articles and coming to class prepared. Students in 437: This will count toward your participation grade. As part of this, you will be responsible for coming up with at least two (2) thought questions for each article, plus any content questions (i.e. things you did not understand.) Thought questions are questions designed to promote discussion and relate ideas to those we have been discussing in class. Details and examples will be given in class.

Project Term paper: The purpose of this paper is to have you collect child language data, analyze it and apply what you have learned in class to this data. The focus should be on researching one topic from class in depth and then applying concepts in class to your own data. The project consist of 4 parts. Only the final term paper will be graded.

c. What age child or children you are going to observe and what arrangements you have made to conduct your observation(s).

This is a short update on your project. This must be typed and should include:

a. An bibliography of the literature that you will be using. 4-5 of the references must be annotated, meaning that with these, you give a paragraph summarizing the main points of the reference.)

3. In-class summary/discussion (will count toward participation grade) – Due March 10^th

This is a 5-10 minute presentation for your classmates (to be done in small groups). You will need to make a handout for your classmates. This handout should include:

1. A brief background and discussion of topic. Include information as to basic development, why this topic is interesting to study.

2. A brief summary of the data that you analyzed. Include basic information on subjects and a summary of your results. Visual presentation of results, such as tables and/or charts are usually the most effective way of doing this.

4. Questions or concerns you have for about project that you may like your colleagues to help you with.

See guidelines in the data packet. Papers usually average 15-20 pages. Quantity is not as important as quality!

Quizzes will be graded on a point scale. An A or A- will fall between 91-100% of the points, a B+, B, or B- will fall between 90-81% of the points, a C, C+, or C- will fall between 80% and 71%. Each quiz question will generally be worth one point. (Matching questions will be worth one point for each answser.)

Exams will be graded on an A-F scale. "C" exams will contain accurate description of concepts and illustrations of relevant concepts, and describe how illustrations relate. "B" exams will also draw on information from more than one source and relate facts to larger acquisition issues or perspectives. "A" exams will also synthesize information and include theoretical and cross-linguistic perspectives. Exams that fail to meet the criteria of a C exam or that fail to answer all questions will receive a D or below.

Critiques (for graduate students): Will be graded on how well they meet the guidelines for critiques (given in separate handout). "C" critiques will contain an accurate summary of the facts presented in the article. "B" critiques will also relate the facts/arguments to a larger perspective. "A" critiques will also contain some critical assessment of the article or application of the arguments to other contexts.

Final Projects: Will be graded on how well they meet the guidelines for the paper (given in separate handout). A "C" project will contain background information, new data and will relate the data to the issue under discussion. A "B" project will contain more comprehensive background information, new data and will relate data to both issue under discussion and larger issues of child language. An "A" project will contain a review of the representative literature and place that literature in theoretical perspectives, new data, and will relate data to the issue under discussion, larger issues and theoretical or outside perspectives.

	Grading Criteria for Exams and Papers
C Range	Accurately relate facts Illustrate facts & explain them
C Range	Accurately relate facts Illustrate facts & explain them
B Range	Include more than 1 source of info Relate facts to larger issues or problems
A Range	Synthesize facts and information from several sources Include theoretical, cross-linguistic or other perspectives

Participation During the quarter, you will be regularly asked to contribute to the group as a whole. In addition, you will be asked to participate in small group problem-solving or discussions. These activities are important for your learning of the material, so participation and attendance are critical. In addition, these activities will require you to come to class prepared.

d. Ability to respond appropriately to classmates' questions, comments and discussion.

Regular attendance and appropriate contribution to only small groups will earn a "C". Regular attendance and appropriate contribution to both large and small groups will earn a "B". Superior participation in both large and small groups will earn an "A".Irregular attendance and/or failure to participate in discussions will earn a "D" or lower. Consistent inappropriate contributions will be penalized by one letter grade or more. I will inform you in private if I think your contributions are inappropriate.

Withdrawing from Class: January 30th is the last day to withdraw without a "W". February 4th is the last day to withdraw without instructor approval. February 25th is the last day to withdraw with permission. I understand that students occasionally need to withdraw from a course. If you need to withdraw and you need my signature, please don't hesitate to come see me. You won't have to explain why. If you attend class, even once, and stop coming to class without withdrawing, you will receive a grade of F.

Students with special needs: Please see me if you have a disability that may require some modification of the seating, testing or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements may be made. Also, call Disabled Students Services at 725-4150 or TDD 725- 6504. I will work with you to arrange needed supports.

Supplemental Readings. These will be in a course packet and on reserve at the library.

Lieven, Elena V.M. (1994). Crosslinguistic and cross-cultural aspects of language addressed to children. In Gallaway, C. & Richards, B.J. Input and Interaction in Language Acquisition. (pp. 56-73). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. P118.5 .I56 1994

Jusczyk, Peter (1997) The Discovery of Spoken Language, ch. 4: How Speech Perception Develops during the First Year (pp. 73-110). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. BF720 .S67 J87 1997

Gleitman, Lila & Henry Gleitman (1992) "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, but That's the Problem: The Role of Syntax in Vocabulary Acquisition," in Barbara Lust, M. Suñer and J. Whitman (eds.) Syntactic Theory and First Language Acquisition. (pp. 291-300). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.P118.4 .F6 1990

Clark, Eve V. (2003). Honing Conversational Skills in Eve Clark, First Language Acquisition (pp. 303-330). Cambridge: England, Cambridge University Press.

Michaels, S. (1986). Narrative presentations: An oral preparation for literacy with first graders. In J. Cook-Gumperz (Ed.), The social construction of literacy (pp. 94-116). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. P40 .S53 1986

Mayberry, Rachel (1994). The importance of childhood to language acquisition. In J. Goodman & H.. Nusbaum. (eds). The Development of Speech Perception (pp. 57-90). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. P118 .D46 1994