Reading Guide 1 Ch 1: Language Learning in Early Childhood in Lightbown & Spada (2013)

Reading Guide 1

Ch 1: Language Learning in Early Childhood in Lightbown & Spada (2013)
Please read from pp. 5 – 25.
Name_______________ Date__________
Instructions: Read the questions in the Reading Guide before you read the assigned chapter. The questions will help you focus on some key ideas in the chapter. Please write out your answers under each question. Submit it BEFORE class. Happy reading!
Before you read:
2. Ask your (grand)parents (or any caregivers who were around when you were a baby) if they remember the words you spoke when you first started to speak as a baby. List as many as they can remember. If you have children, you can write their first words too!
While or after you read:
3. What is one way to examine if there is a predictable order in which children learn their first language?
Your answer:
4. Language development does not equal rote memorization of words and phrases that people have heard. How is this statement supported on pp.15-18 and in this video? Explain.
Your answer:
5. Does the behaviorist view provide satisfactory explanations for children’s language acquisition? Why? Why not?
Your answer:
6. Watch this video. How does this video support the critical period hypothesis?
Your answer:
7. In what way do you think age affects second language (L2) learning?
Your answer: