Language & Development I - PSY00004C
- Department: Psychology
- Credit value: 30 credits
- Credit level: C
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Autumn Term 2022-23 to Summer Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
Two faculties that set us apart from other animals are our extraordinary capacity to learn and to communicate. This module focuses on these faculties through the psychological study of infant and child development, and the acquisition of language skills from infancy to adulthood. The module begins with a broad introduction to language and development, leading to a more detailed look at infancy (including cognitive, linguistic, and motoric abilities) and early language acquisition. The module ends with consideration of how, as adults, we manage to recognize the sounds we hear as comprising individual words.
Module learning outcomes
- Describe the major stages through which infants pass as they develop into young children.
- Give an account of how language acquisition proceeds, from ‘babbling’ to early competence with the grammar of the native language to which the child is exposed.
- Describe how the infant’s sensitivities to the sounds of language change with increased exposure to, and practice with, the native language from before birth onwards.
- Give an overview of the psychological processes which, taking sounds as input, lead to the recognition of that input as a sequence of individuated words.
Module content
Year 1 begins with a broad introduction to language and development, leading to a more detailed look at infancy (including cognitive, linguistic, and motoric abilities) and early language acquisition. Year 1 ends with a consideration of how, as adults, we manage to recognize the sounds we hear as comprising individual words.
- TB1: Introduction to Language
- TB2: Introduction to Development
- TB3: Infancy
- TB4: Language Development
- TB5: Sounds and Words
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 25 |
| Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 30 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
| Groupwork | 5 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 25 |
| Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) | 30 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
| Essay/coursework | 20 |
Module feedback
The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.
Students will meet supervisors in wk 6 in AuT, SpT and wk 9 in SuT to discuss their marks.
Indicative reading
Harley, T. A. (2008). The Psychology of Language: From data to theory (3rd. ed.) Hove: Psychology Press.
Slater S. & Bremner, J. G. (2011). An Introduction to Developmental Psychology, 2nd edition.