Language Development

by Erika Hoff

Erika Hoff's LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, 4th Edition communicates both the content and the excitement of this quickly evolving field. By presenting a balanced treatment that examines all sides of the issues, Hoff helps readers understand different theoretical points of view -- and the research processes that have lead theorists to their findings. After an overview and history of the field, Hoff thoroughly covers the biological bases of language development and the core topics of phonological, lexical, and syntactic development. She also provides in-depth discussions of the communicative foundations of language, the development of communicative competence, language development in special populations, childhood bilingualism, and language development in the school years.

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Reference, Language, Education

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

As far as interesting material goes I enjoyed the subject matter of this textbook. Unfortunately, this interdisciplinary textbook lacked the tendency of psychology texts to be easy and dynamic reading, with a clear, concise, and logical flow of information throughout the chapter, and instead had a more linguistic tendency to be convoluted and hard to follow. I might have given this textbook three stars regardless of it's convoluted layout, but the author failed to write an inclusive take on linguistic development. I found the examples used to be extremely heteronormative. Considering this newest edition is only a few years old, it would have been nice to have up to date terms used. Lot's of children grow up with two fathers, or two mothers, or has a mother who works and a father that stays home so continuing to talk about the mother's influence on the child's lexical development ceases to make sense.
Also, as a university student, I don't feel that I can afford to pay the $150 that this textbook costs.

[David Schwan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives a broad view of research in the study of language development. People who have not read books like this one should not be involved in setting school curriculum. While there are still holes in our knowledge we have a pretty firm notion of how language is learned, and correspondingly how to teach language.

Of special interest were chapters covering bilingual education, dyslexia, language and the hear impaired, and autism.

[Karla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent language text

Recent revisions update research practices in the field and explain development and how/ why skills are important.

Recommended.

[Jozette :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here for my Psycholinguistics class at uni.

Kinda convoluted to read, as many empirical texts are. Very vague sometimes. I wrote an essay arguing phonological development drives lexical development, and there was so much actual research on it but the textbook gives a few paragraphs and a general vibe.

Also, surely you can organise a reference list better. Organise in APA but broken up into chapters at the end to make articles for further reading easier to find for each chapter.

[Jess Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top-notch textbook

[CORSAK fan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough intro to the study of language acquisition. Lots of examples, goes into great detail, makes a very lengthy subject approachable.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

ugh