Language Learning is one of the topics we study under the banner of "Language and Culture". As you'll see, it includes lots of big ideas in the study of language. What is a language? And do any creatures other than humans have it? How is it learned? Is it somehow "wired" into our brains? Can you be "good" or "bad" at language and language learning? These and other issues will gradually be unpeeled as we study the topic further.
Class Handouts:
Internet Resources:
- An excellent introduction to the topic of language acquisition is called "Mama Teached Me Talk," at the Alpha Dictionary, where you'll find articles such as "Can Chimpanzees Talk?" and an excellent page of Language Fun (tongue twisters, palindromes, jokes, puns, etc.).
- A quick, academic look at "The Acquisition of Language by Children" is a nice introduction. (This is a PDF file, so you'll need a PDF viewer to see it.)
- Over the years, there have been cases of "feral children," abandoned and raised away from all other humans. Amazingly, there's a website devoted to them, and their page on "Language Development in Feral Children" has some interesting articles and theories.
- How does a second language learner learn to write an e-mail appropriate for an authority figure rather than a friend? That's the kind of thing you could write a 20-page paper about! And get it published! Chi-Fen Emily Chen did, in the journal Language Learning and Technology.