Here is a 117-word response in 2 paragraphs: The school years mark an important time in a child's language development. As they begin formal education, children's language abilities expand rapidly. They are exposed to new vocabulary from lessons and conversations with peers. Their understanding of grammar becomes more advanced as they read and write regularly. Producing and comprehending longer, more complex sentences becomes easier. Children also develop stronger metalinguistic skills like understanding ambiguity and multiple meanings. They can analyze language as an object rather than just a tool for communication. By the end of this stage, most children have a strong grasp of their first language in terms of its structure, vocabulary, and use.

1. SUBJECT: PEDAGOGICAL METHODS
TOPIC: LEARNING A FIRST LANGUAGE
By: Indira Cevallos
TEXTBOOK: How languages are learned
Patsy M. Lightbown
Nina Spada
OXFORD HANDBOOKS FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS

2. GLOSSARY:
SEARCH FOR MEANING OF THE FOLLOWING
TERMS:
MORPHEMES
MILESTONES
COOING
GURGLING
SUBTLE

3. GLOSSARY:
SEARCH FOR MEANING OF THE FOLLOWING TERMS:
MORPHEMES: A meaningful morphological unit of a
language that cannot be further divided. Example: in, come,
-ing, etc.
 MILESTONES: An action or event marking a significant
change or stage in development.
 COOING: Make a soft murmuring sound similar to this,
expressing contentment.
GURGLING: Make a hollow bubbling sound like that made
by water running out of a bottle.
SUBTLE: Able to make fine distinctions.

4. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• 1L acquisition is similar all over the world.
• EARLIEST VOCALIZATIONS:
DISCUSSION:
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF EARLY VOCALIZATIONS? (PAIR WORK)
 Involuntary crying (hungry or
uncomfortable)
 Cooing and gurgling (content babies)
 Infants hear subtle differences between
sounds of human language.

5. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
WHAT DO YOU THINK BABIES CAN UNDERSTAND BY
END OF FIRST YEAR?
 Babies understand quite a few frequently repeated
words.
WHAT DO YOU THINK BABIES CAN
UNDERSTAND AT TWELVE MONTHS?
 Most babies have begun to produce a
word or two that everyone recognizes.

6. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
AFTER TWELVE MONTHS:
The number of words they understand and produce grows
rapidly.
• BY THE AGE OF TWO:
– Most children produce at least fifty words,
and others produce many more.
– Produce simply sentences (‘Mommy juice’
and ‘baby fall down’)
• Telegraphic sentences (leaving out articles,
prepositions, and auxiliary verbs)
• Sentences are recognized even though function
words and grammatical morphemes are missing.

7. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• BY THE AGE THREE AND A-HALF TO FOUR YEARS:
 Most children can ask questions, give commands,
report real events, and create stories (imaginary ones).
 Complete with correct grammatical morphemes.
 Research has demonstrated that children
know the rules for the formation of plural
and simple past in English.

8. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• GRAMMATICAL MORPHEMES:
Roger Brown (researcher)
LONGITUDINAL study of the language development of
three children.
FINDINGS: fourteen grammatical morphemes were
acquired.
 Present progressive –ing (Mommy running)
 Plural –s (Two books)
 Irregular past forms (Baby went)
 Possessive ‘s (Daddy’s hat)
 Copula (Annie is happy)
 Regular past –ed (She walked)
 Third person singular simple present –s ( She runs)
 Auxiliary be (He is coming)

9. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• NEGATION:
 CHILDREN LEARN THE FUNCTIONS OF NEGATION VERY EARLY.
 LOIS BLOOM’S (1991) longitudinal studies show that it takes some time
for children to express them in sentences (using the appropriate words
and word order).
• STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEGATION IN THE
ACQUISITION OF ENLGIHS: (OTHER LANGUAGES (WODE
1981))
STAGE 1
Usually expressed by the word ‘no’
EXAMPLE: No. No cookie. No comb hair.
STAGE 2
Utterances grow longer, a subject may be included. (appears before
the verb/sentences expressing rejection or prohibition often use
‘don’t’
EXAMPLE: Daddy no comb hair.
Don’t touch that!

10. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
STAGE 3
Negative element is inserted into a more complex sentence.
(Can include: ‘can’t’ and ‘don’t’)
Children do not vary these forms for different persons or
tenses:
EXAMPLE: I can’t do it. He don’t want it.
STAGE 4
Attach the negative element to the correct form of auxiliary
verbs: ‘do’ and ‘be’
EXAMPLE: You didn’t have supper. She doesn’t want it.
Children may still have difficulty with some other features
related to negatives.
EXAMPLE: I don’t have no more candies.

11. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• QUESTIONS:
 There is a predictable order in which the ‘wh-
words’ emerge (Bloom 1991).
 What’s generally the first wh- question word
to be used. It is often learned as part of a
CHUNK (‘Whassat?’) Takes some time before
they learn variations of the form. ‘What is
that?’ and ‘What are these?’
 ‘Where’ and ‘Who’ emerge very soon.
Identifying and locating people and objects
are within the child’s understanding of the
world. Adults tend to ask them questions,
such as: ‘Where’s Mommy?’, or ‘Who’s that?’

12. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• QUESTIONS:
‘Why’ around the end of the second year.
Children discover how effectively this little
word gets adult to engage in conversations,
and they seem to ask endless number of
questions beginning with it.
EXAMPLE: Why that lady has blue hair?
‘How’ and ‘When’ emerge when the child
has a better understanding of manner and
time.

13. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING CHART. USE THE
EXAMPLES OF STAGES ON PAGES 6 AND 7:
WHAT HAPPENS ON
STAGE EXAMPLE
THIS STAGE?
STAGE 1
STAGE 2
STAGE 3
STAGE 4
STAGE 5
STAGE 6

14. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• PRE-SCHOOL YEARS:
Children’s ability to understand language and to use
it to express themselves develops rapidly.
 Metalinguistic Awareness—the ability to
treat language as an object, separate from
the meaning it conveys—develops more
slowly.
• Metalinguistic Awareness includes the
discovery of ambiguity—words and sentences
that have multiple meaning.
• Children have access to word jokes, trick
questions, and riddles.
 Dramatic development in metalinguistic
awareness (children begin to learn to read)

15. MILESTONES AND PATTERNS IN
DEVELOPMENT
• ASSIGNMENT:
Read ‘THE SCHOOL YEARS’, and write your personal
impressions. Use 80-120words. (2 paragraphs)