MLSMA4SLA Level 7 Module Handbook for Language Acquisition Academic year 2023/24

Module Learning Outcomes

• Critical awareness of a range of social and psychological factors involved in language acquisition.  
• Knowledge and critical understanding of some of the main theories concerning the processes involved in language acquisition, and a critical awareness of current insights in relation to research in the area.  
• Ability to exercise effective analytical, interpretative and communication skills concerning the  topic.  
• Advanced understanding of a particular area that the student chooses to explore.  5 Ability to reflect on language acquisition in contexts or situations familiar to the students, in the light of relevant theories and research, to inform and further develop practical expertise in the field.

Overview of learning and teaching activities on the module: These will include informal lectures,  tutorials, group tasks involving, for example, analyses of learner language, seminars and discussion of research in language acquisition. To enhance understanding, teaching strategies frequently exemplify the processes that are being investigated. 

Brief Module Description

 The module considers the observable processes involved in acquiring one’s first language. It examines the main theories that have been proposed to explain this, and how these have been taken up in thinking about second language acquisition.  We investigate similarities and differences between how people learn their first and subsequent languages, and hypotheses relating to the roles of input, interaction and output, language transfer, motivation, learning styles, learning strategies, sociocultural theory, constructivism, and recent contributions from Cognitive Linguistics. We consider the significance of identity,  cultural background, bilingualism, context and situation, and students’ own diverse perspectives and experiences in the language acquisition process. Students have opportunities to explore the topic through analysing transcripts of first and second-language acquisition data and to look at diverse ways in which language acquisition processes can be researched.