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SUMMARY:Later language development: How literacy impacts grammar - Profess
 or Harriet Jisa (Lyon)
DTSTART:20070306T160000Z
DTEND:20070306T173000Z
UID:TALK6327@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Teresa Parodi
DESCRIPTION:By the age of four the vast majority of children have acquired
  the basics of their native language. When they enter school\, however\, t
 hey are challenged with the task of becoming more than just native speaker
 s\; they are required to become proficient producers of different text typ
 es in both the spoken and written modality. The work to be presented will 
 show how the use of language to produce monologue texts in speaking and in
  writing modifies children’s grammar over the course of later language d
 evelopment. Passive constructions and lexical noun phrases will be analyse
 d in narrative and expository texts produced in both spoken and written mo
 dalities by eighty native speakers of French (10-\, 12-\, 16-year-olds and
  university graduate students). The study of passive constructions illustr
 ates the role of text type in buttressing the gradual development of synta
 ctic flexibility. The study of lexical noun phrases underscores the differ
 ence between written and spoken modalities of language production. Both of
  these constructions – passives and heavy noun phrases – are more char
 acteristic of planned discourse. Exposure to these constructions is crucia
 l for their emergence\, but exercising these constructions is crucial for 
 their mastery. The most appropriate situation in which a child can exercis
 e his/her ability to use these constructions is in writing. Thus\, it is n
 ot surprising that children’s knowledge of and ability to use language i
 s profoundly effected by learning to produce written discourse. \n 
LOCATION:GR-06/07\, English Faculty Building
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