Linguistics
Your assignment is to observe a child who is between the
ages of birth and four years old. The
ideal age of a child to observe is between the ages of two and three because most
children ages two to three are in the midst of the “language explosion” period.
You can choose to interact with the child and film your
experience to reflect on later or you can observe a parent/friend/teacher/sibling
interacting with the child and takes notes on what you observe. Pay attention to the phonemes the child is
able to produce and the ones the child is not able to produce yet. What sounds does the child make for the
phonemes they cannot yet pronounce? (My
son, for example, at age two made the [t] sound in place of the [k]
sound—choosing a voiceless alveolar consonant instead of the voiceless velar
sound that he could not yet pronounce.) Record
as many examples as you can of sounds, words, phrases, and sentences the child
says.
Your assignment is to turn your notes into a narrative of
your experience. Describe the context
of your observation with the child (Where were you? How do you know the child? What was the child doing while you
observed/interacted with him/her?). In
paragraph form, explain the observations you made about the sounds, words,
phrases, and/or sentences that the child said.
Your essay should be 2-4 pages, typed, double-spaced, in MLA format.
Rubric:
_____/ 5- At least one full page of notes from your
observation
_____/ 5- Essay explains the context of your observation in
detail
_____/ 15- Essay explains the observations you made about
the child’s language acquisition (phonemes, words, phrases, sentences)
_____/ 3- Grammar/Mechanics of the essay
_____/ 2- Essay is at least 2-4 pages, typed, double-spaced,
in MLA format
Total Score: _____/ 30 points
**On the due date, you will be asked to tell the class about
your experience in a two minute oral presentation.
