Topic: Language Acquisition ModelsAssignment Instructions & Materials:

There are three activities associated with this assignment.

Activity One:

Complete the first activity with a child between the age of 5-6.

Say:" I am going to read you a sentence, then I am going to ask you to tell me which of two words should go in the sentence."

The ___ hit the ball (desk/boy).

I saw a ___ swimming in the ocean (fish/car).

The ___ looked at me (dog/train).

Ask the child to tell you why he chose the word. Then ask the child to help you create some more "silly sentences." What do the results indicate about the acquisition of language?

Activity Two:

Record someone ( a parent, roommate, friend) talking to a dog. Listen to the recording.

Can you detect any elements of "parentese"?

What do the results indicate?

Activity Three:

1. Describe each of the six major models of language acquisition and how they differ from one another.

2. Using the table below, match the language acquisition model to the name of the researcher associated with the model by filling out the number of your answer next to the model.

Language Acquisition Model	Researcher
__ Nativist-syntactic	1. Skinner
__Social interactionist	2. Bloom
__Semantic- cognitive	3. Chomsky
__Behavioral	4. Bruner

3.What is the LAD? What does the LAD do?