Assignment: Review On Language Acquisition

Assignment: Review On Language Acquisition

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You are a teacher’s assistant at a local university.

Prepare a review for the class using a 10- to 15-slide Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® presentation for the upcoming final on theories of language acquisition.

Include information about the structure and function of language.

Analysis. Analysis refers to the ability to break down material into its component parts and may include the identification of the parts, analysis of the relationship between the parts, and recognition of the organizational principles involved. Students are able to identify the component parts of a research or literature review article and can identify the main patterns or themes in each article reviewed. They no longer need to rely on the source author’s own conclusions; they can reach conclusions of their own, based on an analysis of the research or ideas presented. However, they have yet to articulate a method for evaluating the information and therefore have difficulty reconciling contradictory findings in research. In addition, like students at lower levels of the Taxonomy, they do not demonstrate an ability to link source material across articles. Each item is presented as a stand-alone piece of information.

Synthesis. Synthesis refers to the ability to put parts together to form a new whole. The student originates, integrates, and combines ideas into a product, plan, or proposal that is new to him or her. In their writing, students at this level are able to draw together ideas and research findings from source material into thematically outlined literature reviews. They are able to gather all relevant information, taken from an analysis of the components of the source articles, and combine it into broader themes and principles. However, their writing still lacks an organized and articulated schema for evaluation. Thus, like students at lower levels of the Taxonomy, students at the synthesis level tend to give more merit to source articles that support their premise, ideas, and values and to downplay the results of studies or opinions if they do not match the student’s position or if they contradict other sources.