Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of the course, students will:
- be able to analyze real data from children's language
- become familiar with measuring the mean length of utterance (MLU), which is an internationally accepted appropriate indicator for assessing a child's language age
- have been exposed to quantitative and qualitative data analysis from at least two stages of development
Course Content (Syllabus)
The course belongs to the field of Psycholinguistics and specializes in the ‘Acquisition of Mother Tongue’ by children with normal development but also by children with Specific Language Impairment. It begins with the presentation of some theories of language development which disagree with regard to the basic principles of perception of language as a cognitive system and then focuses on the development of language behavior from birth till about the age of 4 years. It then compares typical language development with cases of disorders to identify the facets of language that are more severely affected.