ERIC Number: ED168308
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1978-Aug
Reference Count: 0
The Need for Including the Topic of Developmental Psycholinguistics in Educational Psychology Courses.
Bierly, Margaret M.
Although educational psychologists are concerned with the acquisition of knowledge, particularly in the classroom, language acquisition and knowledge of language are areas slighted in their textbooks. Integration of developmental psycholinguistics into educational psychology courses should employ the recently emerging rationalist view rather than the older empiricist view. The rationalist view suggests that the human mind contains preconceptions about the nature of language, enabling persons to implicitly determine the linguistic rules of their community. This position has three major implications for teaching: (1) language differences among children do not reflect differences in cognitive ability, but rather differences in the speaker-hearer community; (2) individual differences in children's linguistic performance in classroom settings should be distinguished from their linguistic competence, and each aspect should be dealt with accordingly; and (3) teachers who have an understanding of language acquisition and knowledge can provide experiences that develop the child's metalinguistic awareness. Several practical methods for implementing each of these three aspects of psycholinguistics in the classroom are discussed. Suggested source materials and annotated bibliographies for student and instructor are appended. (Author/MHP)
Descriptors: Annotated Bibliographies, Bibliographies, Child Language, Cognitive Ability, Cognitive Development, Course Content, Developmental Psychology, Educational Needs, Educational Psychology, Elementary Education, Language Acquisition, Language Skills, Linguistic Competence, Linguistic Performance, Literature Reviews, Nonstandard Dialects, Psychoeducational Methods, Psycholinguistics, Teaching Methods
Publication Type: Opinion Papers; Reference Materials - Bibliographies; Information Analyses
Education Level: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association (86th, Toronto, Canada, August 1978)