Session 1: Making the ordinary extraordinary

Introduction

Welcome to Session 1 of this free course, How do children learn language?

We use language every day to communicate our thoughts and to understand others. But there was a time in our lives when we knew no language at all. Millions of babies are in the same position today, yet like us they will go on to acquire the extraordinary gift of language. How do they do it? How did we do it? Throughout this course you are going to find out.

This first session will make the ordinary extraordinary. We are so familiar with using language that it might not be immediately obvious that there is much to explain. Language is in fact an incredibly complex, powerful and subtle skill. We tend not to give it much thought precisely because it works so well. It is our species’ superpower, allowing us to get thoughts from one mind to another, without the need for surgery. Language is also rare in the natural world. Out of 8.7 million species on Earth, there is no other animal that uses language like we do.

This session begins by outlining the questions this course explores. You will learn about some of the challenges children face when learning language and the ingenious strategies they use to overcome them. The session will then consider why understanding child language matters, before introducing the general sequence in which children learn different language skills.

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

• describe what questions this course explores
• understand some of the challenges children face learning language
• reflect on why language development matters
• describe the major developmental milestones in language acquisition.