Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Synopsis A detailed investigation of children's acquisition of their first language, from infant pre-speech through to adolescence. A number of different views of language acquisition and learning mechanisms will be considered. An examination of the acquisition of phonological, morphological and syntactic systems, the development of word meaning and the acquisition of communicative competence will furnish us with data for weighing up these different views. Students will have the opportunity to specialise in one of the above areas in the preparation of a research project as their major unit of assessment.
Assessment Research project (5000 words): 60% + Classwork including a 2000-word class paper: 40%