Child Language Acquisition
Tape-record at least five minutes of interaction between a child (24-48 months of age) and an adult (not yourself). Listen to the tape several times, noting how the adult caregiver communicates with the child. Then, following the guidelines below, write a report of 200-300 words about the child’s language development, based on your tape-recorded data.
If you do not have access to a child, you may substitute a transcript of one of the following links from Youtube.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kDP05CYgAlw
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=x8wpk-5N4CA&feature=related
Name of child
Age (in months) of child
Child’s L1 (first language)
Name of adult
Adult’s L1
Relationship of adult to child
Setting of taping session (where? when? how long?)
Describe one specific strategy you have read about that the adult uses to help the child’s language acquisition process (repeating child’s language; asking for information; answering questions; simplifying her/his own language; expanding child’s utterances).
Transcribe a one-minute segment of the interaction that shows how the strategy you described is used. Be sure the transcription is exact (word-for-word; parts of words; repetitions) and contains at least 30-40 lines of talk and follows the format of transcripts in the readings. Mark all examples of the one adult strategy you have selected in your transcript.
Comment on the effectiveness of the adult’s strategy in the segment you have transcribed. In other words, state whether (in your opinion) the strategy you have selected helps the child’s language development. Cite examples in your transcript to show how the adult strategy you have chosen helps or does not help the child’s language development.