Methods For Investigating Developmental Patterns
Methods For Investigating Developmental Patterns
I. ON L1 ACQUISITION
3. frequency analysis –
focuses on learner language system
catalogue linguistic devices
shows vertical variation in learner’s development and best way to examine
developmental sequences
Longitudinal studies – data collection over a period of many months, and in some cases
many years
Cross-sectional design studies – data were collected only at a single point in time
1. Silent Period – children go through a lengthy period of listening to people talk to them before
they produce their first word/necessary for the child to discover what language is and what it
does
2. Formulaic Speech – consists of expressions which are learnt as unanalyzable wholes and
employed on particular occasions/ can consist of entire scripts such as getting sequences, which
the learner can memorize because they are fixed and predictable/ called lexical phrases (for
native speakers)/happens regardless of age
3. Structural and Semantic Simplifications - creative utterances which are typically truncated,
consisting of one or two words, with both grammatical functions and content words
missing/strong resemblance with pidgin language/
Structural simplification - omission of grammatical factors such as auxiliary verbs, articles, and
bound morphemes
Semantic simplification – omission of content words – nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs