insight4me Linguistics: Child Speech Development With University Of Reading & University Of Nottingham

THIS EVENT IS NOW FULLY BOOKED

insight4me is a series of subject specific webinars for current Year 12 & 13 students. The sessions support students’ current studies by giving an insight into particular curriculum areas whilst affording students the opportunity to talk to different universities and make informed comparisons about how, in this case, Linguistics is taught.

In this insight4me Linguistics webinar for schools and colleges, University of Nottingham and University of Reading will each have roughly 30 minutes to deliver a punchy, topic based ‘micro’ talk. Within an overall session theme of Child Speech Development, the universities have the freedom to choose their own topic and use the time to convey the key points of the case studies for the Year 12 students.

Through the discussion, the universities are encouraged to provide an insight into the teaching and learning experience of this topic at university, and compare and contrast how other subject areas across the Linguistics spectrum might be treated. Students will gain an insight into how these subjects continue beyond A-levels, IB, BTEC and equivalent qualifications.

By hearing from 2 unis, students will also appreciate how the further study of Linguistics can vary between institutions, contributing to the depth of their HE research and assisting informed decision making.

Full details of the universities and their talks will appear below when available. 

• University of Nottingham: Dr Helen Buckler, Assistant Professor in Psycholinguistics & Second Language Acquisition – Before children learn how to speak, they need to learn how to listen. In this webinar we will think about the earliest stages of language acquisition during the first year of a baby’s life. At this age you might not think much language is happening, but really this is a crucial time to learn how to listen and prepare to speak. We’ll also take a look at some of the methods researchers use to understand what young babies know about language.
• University of Reading: Dr Fraibet Aveledo from the Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics – Most studies on syntax development focus on the early steps children take before producing syntactic speech. But less attention is paid to the development of more complex structures which happens later in childhood. In this talk we would discuss how children start to expand their sentence repertoire and produce more complex syntactic structures, such as Wh-questions, relative and subordinate sentences, making their language use richer and varied. Additionally, one of our BA students will discuss her research project on the development of Wh-questions. We will also show how, despite the pandemic, we can continue studying child language development.

Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. This means that sessions will continue irrespective of possible school closures.

Suitable for: Year 12 & 13 students studying, or with a possible interest in studying, Linguistics and related disciplines.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: Students may wish to consider the 2 topics and discuss some of the key elements in advance. Students can also think about questions they have about studying Linguistics at university level.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This event is now fully booked.