Instructions for tape recording children’s speech (16 months to 9 years of age):

Before starting this project, please read or reread Chapter four and explore child language acquisition on the Internet.

I would like you to do one of the following tasks:

1. Interview a child between the ages of 16 months and six (6) years of age who is acquiring English as his/her first language OR

2. Interview a child between the ages of two (2) and nine (9) years of age who is acquiring English as his/her second language.

Obtain a quality tape recorder, preferably one that has an external mike which you can attach to the child’s clothing. Please do not use cheap micro-cassette recorders. It is very difficult to make out what everyone is saying when the quality of the recording is poor.

Tape record a child for 10 to 15 minutes and transcribe approximately three- to five-minutes of the interview. Pay particular attention to the child’s evolving phonology, morphology and syntax in his/her first or second language.

To get the child to talk to you, ask him/her to tell you about his/her favorite story (A Cat in the Hat or whatever). If that does not work, ask the child to show you or describe his/her favorite toy, game, or activity. With precocious children, you could ask the child to tell you a story. DO NOT INTERRUPT THE CHILD when he/she is describing or explaining something to you. You may want to prompt him/her by saying, "could you describe that in detail?" or "tell me more.." and "then, what happened?" Stay away from background noise or noisy locations and be sure the child speaks into the microphone!

Once you have transcribed part of this interview, analyze your data. You should have a section on morphology, syntax, and phonology. Describe the child’s stage of language development. Is he/she in the telegraphese stage? Does the child overgeneralize? Does he/she use complex structures (e.g., I saw the woman who lives next door shopping at Stop & Shop)? Does the child delete pronouns/subjects? Does he/she use dummy ("it" or "there") subjects (e.g., there’s a puppy out there)? How would you characterize the child’s pronunciation of his/her first/second language? Does it approximate target-like usage? Is there any evidence of transfer in the child’s evolving L2 language?

I will play some of the tapes in class and ask everyone to comment on your classmates’ findings.

Write a four-page summary and analysis of your findings. Maximum No. of word-processed pages=five. Be sure to include your transcribed data. Assignment due October 9, 2002. (60 points)