Students

LING3384 – Child Language Acquisition: Morphology and Syntax

2022 – Session 1, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff
Loes Koring
loes.koring@mq.edu.au
Maria Herke
maria.herke@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
20cp in LING units at 2000 level or above including (LING220 or LING2220)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit is an introduction to current theories of child language acquisition, including the generative approach and usage-based approaches. The focus of the unit is typically-developing children's acquisition of morphology and syntax, but we also discuss children with developmental language delay. Tutorials review online lecture content, test linguistic hypotheses by investigating transcript data from children's spontaneous speech, and discuss appropriate methodologies for evaluating knowledge of language in different populations of children. This unit introduces foundational theoretical knowledge regarding child language development that is important for anyone wishing to do the Master of Speech and Language Pathology and work with children.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: Demonstrate knowledge of theories of child language acquisition and their predictions for the developmental path
  • ULO2: Develop skills using data from corpora of child language, and searching them for relevant information, including using CLAN, a software program that searches transcripts of children's spontaneous speech in a repository of child language data.
  • ULO3: Test linguistic hypotheses, and make further predictions through analysis and interpretation of existing acquisition data, either from a corpus of child language data or from existing experiments.
  • ULO4: Evaluate methodologies for assessing children's linguistic knowledge including standardised tests and experimental methodologies, and command the ethical issues surrounding working with children

General Assessment Information

Requesting an extension to assignment due date

On occasion, you may be in a situation when you aren't able to submit an assessment task on time. Extensions are only given in special circumstances, by completing a Special Consideration request. For more information on Special Consideration, see https://students.mq.edu.au/study/my-study-program/special-consideration  

Late submission of assignments

If you haven't been approved for an extension and you submit your assessment task late, penalties are applied. You should consult your unit convenor if you are in this position. Late submissions will receive a 5% per day penalty. If you submit the assessment task 10 days or more beyond the due date, without an approved extension, you will be awarded a maximum of 50% of the overall assessment marks. Weekends and public holidays are included.

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Analysing child language data 25% No Week 11
Final Exam 40% No Final Exam Period
Review Quiz 2 20% No Week 9
Review Quiz 1 15% No Week 5

Analysing child language data

Assessment Type 1: Problem set
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: Week 11
Weighting: 25%

 

In this assignment, you use child language data to test linguistic hypotheses about language development. You will work with data, organise it, use graphs, charts, or tables to illustrate findings, and interpret the data.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of theories of child language acquisition and their predictions for the developmental path
  • Develop skills using data from corpora of child language, and searching them for relevant information, including using CLAN, a software program that searches transcripts of children's spontaneous speech in a repository of child language data.
  • Test linguistic hypotheses, and make further predictions through analysis and interpretation of existing acquisition data, either from a corpus of child language data or from existing experiments.

Final Exam

Assessment Type 1: Examination
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Final Exam Period
Weighting: 40%

 

The final examination reviews lecture/tutorial/reading content for the entire unit.

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of theories of child language acquisition and their predictions for the developmental path
  • Test linguistic hypotheses, and make further predictions through analysis and interpretation of existing acquisition data, either from a corpus of child language data or from existing experiments.
  • Evaluate methodologies for assessing children's linguistic knowledge including standardised tests and experimental methodologies, and command the ethical issues surrounding working with children

Review Quiz 2

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 20 hours
Due: Week 9
Weighting: 20%

 

This quiz reviews lecture, reading, and tutorial content on early child language acquisition

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of theories of child language acquisition and their predictions for the developmental path
  • Develop skills using data from corpora of child language, and searching them for relevant information, including using CLAN, a software program that searches transcripts of children's spontaneous speech in a repository of child language data.
  • Evaluate methodologies for assessing children's linguistic knowledge including standardised tests and experimental methodologies, and command the ethical issues surrounding working with children

Review Quiz 1

Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 15 hours
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 15%

 

This quiz reviews foundational issues and theories of child language acquisition

 
On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Demonstrate knowledge of theories of child language acquisition and their predictions for the developmental path

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

  • Lectures are recorded, which makes lectures available to students who are unable to attend classes. 
  • Students are expected to listen to all of the lectures in the order they are delivered, as near as possible to when they are delivered. In addition, they are advised to use the recordings to review or revise lectures, especially as the exam draws near.  
  • Tutorial material is designed for students to practice progressively what has been covered in lectures, so students who do not keep up to date with the lecture material will find themselves at a serious disadvantage in tutorials during the semester.  
  • There may be compulsory reading material(s) some weeks. The reading materials will be specified in iLearn.
  • Lecture support material, activities, assessment task instructions, and other relevant materials are uploaded to the LING3384 iLearn site. Lecture slides may be made available, although there is no guarantee that they will be available before lectures.

Unit Schedule

Please see schedule posted on the iLearn site.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/. 

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Unit information based on version 2022.03 of the Handbook