Course: Understanding Multilingual Children's Language Development

One core aspect of linguistic development is word learning – the mapping of a sequence of sounds (phonemes) to a meaning. For example, making the connection between the sequence of …

An ear for language: listening to rhythm From birth, children have the ability to process speech and ‘tune in’ to their linguistic environment. In the first six months of life, …

Linking written letters (graphemes) and letter sounds (phonemes) is often referred to as decoding. We can also think of decoding as the mechanics of reading: it’s not the final goal …

As you saw in Step 2.4, word learning is a core aspect of language learning, and the number of words children know in a language – vocabulary size – is …

Watch Reenaz explain how the curriculum is designed to develop English vocabulary skills and Mandeep, Ana, Yumna and Yusaf share their perspective on how important using their heritage language at …

Listening to stories and telling stories is a common experience shared by children all over the world. Stories allow children to connect with their family and friends and to make …

This Week you’ve explored the mechanisms of multilingual language development. You’ve looked at how children learn to understand what they hear and how multilingualism shapes word learning. You then looked …

Language input is “the totality of language [that children] hear”1. Both the quantity and the quality of language input are important for language development2 and vary hugely between families, whether …

Do you recall an instance when a multilingual child said something to you using a slightly odd turn of phrase or strange arrangement of words? Languages package semantics (meaning) into …