LANGUAGE ACQUISITION (Psych 830:353:01; Ling 615:373:01)

SPRING 2008 SYLLABUS

(Last Updated: 4/24/08)

ANNOUCEMENTS:

1) The syllabus describes 3 ways of earning extra credit points.

2) All extra credit assignments are due by 11 AM the day of the final exam (Thur May 8^th). No late assignments will be accepted

Instructor: Prof. Karin Stromswold	Course Time: Mon & Thur 10:20-11:40
Phone: (732) 445-2448	Course location: ARC 107
E mail: karin@ruccs.rutgers.edu
Office Hours: Busch Psychology Building Room 233, Time Mondays 1-2:30 or by arrangement
Course website: http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/syllabus353.htm

Required Textbooks (Read chapters in the order specified on the syllabus)

Hoff = Hoff, E. 2005. Language development, third edition. Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Good = Goodluck, H. 1991. Language acquisition. Blackwell.

Date	TOPIC	READINGS
Thur 1/24	Intro to language & language acquisition	Hoff ch. 1
Mon 1/28	Intro to language & language acquisition	Good ch. 1
Thur 1/31	Language & learnability	Good ch. 6 (p 140-156)
Mon 2/4	Language & learnability	Good ch. 6 (p 140-156)
Thur 2/7	Phonological acquisition	Hoff ch 3 (p 90-7); Good ch 2 (p 6-13)
Mon 2/11	Phonological acquisition	Hoff ch 3 (p 97-114); Good ch 2 (p. 13-24)
Thur 2/14	No class
Mon 2/18	Phonological acquisition	Hoff ch 3 (p 114-130); Good ch 2 (p 24-29)
Thur 2/21	Phonology acquisition	Hoff ch 3 (p 114-130); Good ch 2 (p 29-38)
Mon 2/25	1^st Hourly exam	Given in regular classroom
Thur 2/28	Lexical acquisition	Hoff, ch. 4
Mon 3/3	Lexical acquisition	Hoff, ch. 4
Thur 3/6	Morphology acquisition	Good ch. 3;
Mon 3/10	Morphology acquisition	Hoff ch. 5 (p 184-200)
Thur 3/13	Syntax acquisition	Good ch 4 (p 61-74); Hoff ch. 5 (p 201-219)
Mon 3/24	Syntax acquisition	Good ch 4 (p 74-95)
Thur 3/27	Syntax acquisition	Good ch. 4 (p 99-107); Hoff ch 5 (p 219-37)
Mon 3/31	Syntax acquisition	Good ch. 5 (p 113-127);
Thur 4/3	Syntax acquisition	Good ch. 5 (p 113-127);
Mon 4/7	2^nd Hourly exam	Given in regular classroom
Thur 4/10	Pragmatic acquisition	Hoff, ch. 6
Mon 4/14	Pragmatic acquisition	Hoff, ch. 6
Thur 4/17	Bilingualism	Hoff, ch. 8
Mon 4/21	No class (Passover)
Thur 4/24	Language learning in older children	Hoff, ch. 9, Good ch 5 (p 95-99
Mon 4/28	Atypical Lang Acquisition	Hoff, ch. 2
Thur 5/1	Atypical Lang Acquisition	Hoff, ch. 7
Mon 5/5	Review session (Bring questions!)
Thur 5/8	Cumulative Final Exam	Time: 8 – 11 AM Place: regular classroom

GRADING

Final grades will be determined by the total number of points earned in the class. Grades will be scaled so that the top-scoring student receives 100 points for the course. For example, if the top scoring student earns 95 points during the course, all students will have an additional 5 points added to their final grade. Course grades will be assigned as follows:
A (90-100 points); B+ (85-89 points); B (80-84 points); C+ (75-79 points); C (70-74 points); D (60-69 points); F (<60)

EXAMS [Please note that, as per class vote, there will be two hourly exams rather than a midterm.]

2 Hourly Exams As per class vote, there will be 2 hourly exams (rather than 1 midterm). For each hourly, students will have the option of taking either an essay or a multiple-choice version of the hourly. Each hourly is worth 20 points.

Final exam: The final exam is a cumulative, multiple-choice exam (no essay option) worth 60 points. Approximately 20% of the questions on the final will cover material from the first 1/3 of the course, 20% from the second 1/3 of the course, and approximately 50% of the questions will cover material from the third 1/3 of the course.

Makeup exams will not be given without a note from your doctor or dean

EXTRA CREDIT

Throughout the semester, students may earn extra credit points toward their final grade. The purpose of the extra credit assignments is to give students the experience of learning about language acquisition in the ways that a researcher/scientist learns about language acquisition. You will receive one point toward your final grade for each acceptable paper you write (see below). You may earn a maximum of 5 extra credit points toward your final grade. I will accept extra credit papers up to the morning of the final exam (Thursday May 8th). No extra credit papers will be accepted after 11 AM, Thursday May 8th.

Ways of earning extra credit:

1) Attend a colloquium that concerns language and write a 2-page paper that summarizes the talk and what you have learned by attending the talk. Throughout the course, I will announce various colloquia/talks that definitely count towards extra credit. In addition, students may attend other language colloquia. If you plan to attend a colloquium that I do not announce in class must talk to me before the talk so I can determine whether the colloquium will count for extra credit. When you speak to me, you must bring a print out of the announcement that gives the name of the speaker, the title of the talk, what series the talk is part of, and an abstract of the talk. When you hand in your paper, please attach this announcement. Course lectures do not count.

2) Participate in a language experiment and write a 2-page paper that summarizes what you did in the experiment and what you think the experiment was investigating. You must also provide proof that you did the experiment (e.g., a signed consent form, a note from the experimenter, etc.). You must talk to me before you do the experiment so I can determine whether the experiment counts. When you speak with me, you will have to provide a print-out that gives the name of the experiment, the experimenter or lab that is conducting the experiment, and the affiliation of the experimenter (e.g., Rutgers Psychology Department). When you hand in your paper, please append this print out.

3) Read a peer-reviewed, published journal article on language acquisition and write a 2-page paper about what you learned by reading the paper. Any article that is published in the journals Journal of Child Language, Language Learning and Development, Language Acquisition, First Language, and Language Acquisition automatically counts for extra credit. If you would like to read an article that appears in some other journal, please speak to me before you read the journal paper so I can determine whether the journal article will count for extra credit. When you speak to me, you must bring a print out that has the name of the journal, the authors of the paper, the title of the paper, and the abstract. When you hand in your paper, please append a copy of the journal article. Book chapters, articles that appear in the popular press (e.g., New York Times, Scientific American, Time Magazine, etc.), and on-line articles (e.g., Wikipedia entries, NIH summaries, articles directed at parents, etc.) do not count.

How to find journal articles

1. Go to the following URL:
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/indexes/findarticles.shtml

2. Go to the link that says “Indexes and Databases”
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/indexes/indexes.shtml

3. For most topics, the most relevant databases will be:
PsycInfo:http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/indexes/search_guides/psycinfo.shtml
Medline: http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/indexes/search_guides/medline.shtml

4. Once you choose your database, login in by hitting the CONNECT button. You will be prompted to provide keywords or phrases.

5. The default search is a Keyword search. If “Map terms onto subject headings is “clicked”, your terms will be used to find matching subject headings, a strategy that sometimes is useful when you are just beginning. If you ‘unclick’ the “Map Terms onto Subject Headings”, the program will match any reference in the database that includes all of those terms somewhere in the title, abstract, author, journal title, and subject headings.

6. If you want to search for a particular author, click the author icon, and then provide the last name of the author and the author’s first initial.

7. If you get too many hits, you can use the “LIMIT” function to limit your search to particular years, articles with abstracts, review articles, age groups, population groups (e.g., animals vs. humans), publication type etc. For example, if you merely search for “autism” on PsycInfo, you will get 9312 hits … far too many to even read the abstracts of. But let’s say I am interested in the language of autistic children, and only want articles written in English, with an abstract. By limiting my search to English, abstract, human, and children, I get a semi-manageable number of hits.

8. Another strategy for when you get too many hits is to use the COMBINE function to combine the results of two or more searches. For example, on PsychInfo, you might combine searches for “autism” “language”, “children” and “development”

9. A third strategy if you really get too many hits is to put your search terms in