Child Acquisition of Language

Explain some of the difficulties a child might encounter in the acquisition of words and their meanings
You should:
  * Explain some of the practical difficulties that children come across when learning words and their meanings. For example:
  * Early communication
  * First words
  * Word class such as: nouns, verbs, spatial adjectives, hypernyms and hyponyms
  * Explain why children might make ‘virtuous errors’. For this you will need to refer to research and theory relating to cognitivism, innateness and the importance of interaction (Child Directed Speech). Note: you can comment on the theory at any point in your essay, as long as it supports your line of argument. Make sure your references to research and theory are relevant.
  * Provide examples of children’s language (with AO1 labels). You can use examples from the packs or provide examples of your own.
Essay Structure in more detail ...
Introduction Acknowledge that the acquisition of language is a complex process and explain that children learn through a process of active experimentation. You might refer to innateness here.
Next ... Structure your essay clearly so that you are relating back to the question. Use topic sentences such as ‘One difficulty that children encounter is ...’, ‘Children also find the acquisition of .... difficult and ‘the acquisition of verbs also presents a challenge to children ...’ In other words, your paragraphs must clearly guide me through a line of argument - You are simply providing an account of difficulties that children encounter and explaining why these difficulties arise.
It is a good idea to adopt a chronological approach. Begin with the beginnings of child language acquisition and then move to more complex concepts. Jean Aitchison’s theory of the process of acquisition will help you to decide how to order your examples of child language here (labelling – packaging – networking)
Use AO1 labelled quotes to provide examples of virtuous errors and make...