Learner Resource 1
Using the numbers, place each statement on the agreement continuum below. For each decision
you make, you should have a reason/anecdotal evidence to support your theory.
1. Babies may not produce language
until nearly two years old.
2. T.V. can ‘teach’ babies how to talk.
3. Children of deaf parents produce
their first words sooner than those of
hearing parents.
4. A baby, locked in a room with no
interaction, will still learn to talk
because language is innate.
5. Children learn to speak through
imitation (copying).
6. Children learn ‘babytalk’ from their
care-givers.
7. Bilingual children learn to talk more
slowly than monolingual children.
8. Children cannot communicate clearly
using just two words.
9. The amount of talking a baby
sees/hears is important.
10. Children’s language acquisition can
be made faster.
11. All children are capable, when born,
of acquiring any language.
12. Children can only learn languages
when they are young.
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Lesson Resource 1 Teacher Notes
Below are potential comments to make about each statement. This could be reproduced in
the same format as the cards above and could be a matching game alternative to the
original task.
1. One of the key things students need to be aware of is the fact that all babies are individual
and will acquire language at their own pace. Conceptual models are just that, models. It is
also worth highlighting that speech production is just one half of spoken acquisition and
learning how to comprehend speech is just as important. Some children don’t speak for two
years but this does not mean that acquisition of skills/knowledge hasn’t been taking place.
2. Interaction is key to acquisition. T.V. may be useful in learning of phrases/lexis but
meaningful acquisition of grammar, pragmatics, discourse, semantics happens through
interaction.
3. When you think about it, this is common sense. It is much easier to gain control of your
hands/fingers than it is to manipulate the various parts of the mouth needed to produce
intelligible speech. This also suggests that ability to comprehend will often outstrip the
ability to produce. Hence, the so-called terrible twos!
4. Innateness is a key acquisition theory but no-one believes acquisition would occur in a
linguistic vacuum. As a species we learn what is useful for survival. Communication of
ideas verbally is useful in sharing information. That’s why we strive to talk.
5. Imitation is another theoretical approach but research over the last half-a-century suggests
that it is not the main driver of acquisition. Think about the child who says “I runned” rather
than “I ran”. Presumably this is not by imitation.
6. So-called baby-talk is rooted in the babbling and vocal play stages of pre-verbal children
who are playing with their organs of articulation in preparation for becoming verbal. Adults
just copied it because it’s cool! (Note, not all cultures around the world exhibit this
behaviour).
7. Dual acquisition does tend to be slower which makes sense. If you’re learning two
grammatical systems and two lexicons, it will take longer; although, the power of the
nascent brain means that is doesn’t take twice as long!
8. Rubbish! I think that was fairly clear from just one word. Adults (especially parents) work
hard to decode children’s utterances based on context.
9. As 2. points out, interaction is key to acquisition. The more interaction a baby gets, the
faster they will acquire language (up to a point).
10. Well, obviously given that 9. is true. Although the pushy parent should be aware that there
is a limit.
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11. Absolutely true. A number of theorists suggest why this is the case but one, Lenneberg,
talks of a critical period in which the brain is wired to acquire language.
12. This one is partly true. It’s much easier when they are young but not impossible to learn
language later on; although delayed acquisition often leads to incomplete acquisition of
deep structures (grammar)
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