Learning Goals and Objectives: Nature of Language

Learning Objectives: Nature of Language

Enduring Understandings

• While many animals have communication systems, there are elements of language that seem to be uniquely human.
• Language can influence thought and behavior, but does not absolutely control it.
• Language is co-determined by biology and culture.
• Humans have a large amount of cognitive resources dedicated explicitly to the production and comprehension of language.

Essential Questions

• What is explicitly human about language? What do we share with other animals?
• In what ways does language influence thought and culture?
• What is the structure of language, and how is it biologically and culturally determined?

Core Skills

• Given a sentence, identify: phonemes, morphemes, syntax.

Foundational Knowledge

• Summarize how language is acquired in childhood, and relate it to different theories of acquisition.
• Review the components and structure of language.
• Explain the biological underpinnings of language.
• Outline the theories of language development.
• Describe Chomsky's insights into language, and differentiate them from previous approaches.