Children's Language: Revised Edition: Consensus and Controversy

by Ray Cattell

The popular notion of how children come to speak their first language is that their parents teach them words, then phrases, then sentences, then longer utterances. Although there is widespread agreement amongst linguists that this account is wrong, there is much less agreement as to how children really learn language. This revised edition of Ray Cattell's bestselling textbook aims to give readers the background necessary to form their own views on the debate, and includes accessible summaries of key thinkers, including Chomsky, Halliday, Karmiloff-Smith and Piaget.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Grace Duthie · Rating 3 out of 5]

* I found this book interesting as it introduced me to the different theories surrounding language acquisition.
* Quite a tricky read as lots of different psychologists and studies are mentioned throughout.
* No definite answer, which was disappointing!
* It was interesting, but I'm not sure how applicable it will be in my profession.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well (humorously) written, with a good eye for breadth and depth in an introductory textbook. Unfortunately, as with most neuroscience texts, it's in need of another update.