Children's Language Ability: a multi-theoretical approach

Abstract

Research on children's language impairments has provided valuable insights into the factors that are important for normal language acquisition. In particular, research on Specific Language Impairment has investigated dysfunction in cognitive, perceptual, social, environmental and developmental areas that impact on normal language development. Until recently however, many of these factors have been investigated in isolation in clinical samples. Therefore, despite suggestions that the factors are important for normal language acquisition this hasn't been fully investigated in a normal sample of children. This book provides a multi-theoretical and multi-faceted approach to investigating language ability that incorporates the main factors of importance in child language. Structural models are developed and analysed with a view to predicting which factors are related and most important in language development in a non-clinical group of children. The analysis summarises and synthesises current child language research and should be especially useful to child language researchers and professionals in the psychology, speech pathology, education and child development fields