Høst 2023

ENG-3040 First Language Acquisition - 10 stp

The course is administrated by

Institutt for språk og kultur

Type of course

This course is mandatory for students in the MA programme in English Acquisition and Multilingualism and elective for students in the MA programme in teacher education year 8-13 (lektorutdanninga, studieretning engelsk, jf. progresjonskrav for år 4) and students in the MA programme in Theoretical Linguistics.

This course may be taken as a single course by students who qualify for admission to the MA programme in English Acquisition and Multilingualism.

Course overlap

HIF-3040 First Language Acquisition 10 ects

Course contents

This course will look at typical first language acquisition in monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. The main focus will be morphosyntax, in English and in a range of other languages. Attention will be paid at different factors that play a role in language development, such as input, pragmatics, general cognitive or processing abilities. The course uses a research-driven approach. The students will be engaged in a variety of tasks including project work and writing an academic paper.

Admission requirements

A bachelor's degree (180 ECTS), or equivalent qualification, in English language, or a degree combining English language and literature (minimum 80 ECTS in English). Applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent issued in Europe, Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand: An average grade equivalent to C or better is required. Applicants who hold a bachelor's degree or equivalent issued in countries other than the above mentioned region/countries: An average grade equivalent to B or better is required.

Application code: 9371 - Enkeltemner på masternivå (Nordic applicants).

Objective of the course

The students have the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The student has knowledge of:

typical language development (with a focus on morphology and syntax) in mono and bilingual children
the main theories of first language acquisition and recent research findings
research methods used to investigate first language acquisition

Skills

The student is:

able to work with and analyze linguistic data from child language corpora, e.g. CHILDES
able to discuss contemporary first language acquisition research both orally and in writing
able to develop and express their ideas clearly in the form of an oral presentation
able to cooperate with fellow students and carry out independent project work

Language of instruction

English.

Teaching methods

Lectures, exercises, seminars, and project work.

Quality assurance: All courses will be evaluated once during the period of the study program. The study programme's leader decides which courses will be evaluated by students and teacher each year.