8 Summary of Session 6

In this session you looked at the shape of development, which is not always linear, and it was revealed that there is a tension at the heart of development, between being creative and conforming. What makes language so expressive and versatile is also what makes it a challenge to learn. Children need to make generalisations about the way language works and do remarkably well at it – much better than we would do as adults. Occasionally they make errors though and use a range of clever strategies to get back on track.

In the next session you will turn your attention to the rules of conversation (and how to break them), how children use figurative language and storytelling, and how they master pragmatic aspects of language use, understanding the relevance of what others say, building common ground between speakers and structuring information so that they can be understood.

You can now go to Session 7.