Sociology 3701: Worksheet--"Baby Talk"

1. What was the traditional (pre-1957) belief about how children acquire language, and what happened in 1957?

2. How do children learn that turn-taking is part of human communication?

3. What kinds of words are typically a child's first words?

4. Define the following:

syntax

semantics

pragmatics

scaffolding

Sociology 3701: Group project--"Baby Talk"

1. Summarize the major theories of language acquisition described in the movie? What was the basis for Chomsky's original theory?

2. Describe the different kinds of research through which Chomsky's theory is being tested, modified, and elaborated.

3. To what extent do you see an emerging consensus among the researchers in the movie about modifications to Chomsky's original theory? What do these researchers see as the relative role of internal genetic language capacity versus the role of social interaction?

4. What kinds of interaction between child and parents (or other caregivers) seem important in the development of a sophisticated language capacity? Identify several typical patterns.