1. Chapter 10, Language Production and Chapter 13, Cognitive Development Throughout the Lifespan fits into what I have learned already in this course. In the previous Chapter 9, we learned that listening and reading are important for language comprehension. In this weeks chapters, we learned that speaking, writing, and bilingualism are also important for language production. In order to perform any of these skills, one must use their cognitive processes, such as their working memory, long-term memory, metacognition, phonology, etc.
2. What am I still not clear on in this week's readings? The Age of Acquisition was confusing to me because at one point it stated that "individiuals who have already reached a specified age --perhaps early puberty--will no longer be able to acquire a new language with native-like fluency." However, another part of the book mentioned that "several studies demonstrate that adults and older adolescents can indeed learn to speak a new language very fluently." I guess that is up to the reader to decide what they think is true (controversies are so confusing--I like straight answers).
3. I like the information on p. 330 about the narrative discourse. I would definitely use this in my language arts class because so many students have such a difficult time speaking and telling stories in an organized fashion. I think I'll use the comic strip idea we did in this class to help my students convey a message through the six parts of the narrative: 1) a brief overview of the story. 2) a summary of the characters and setting 3) an action that made the situation complicated 4)the point of the story 5) the resolution of the story and 6) the final signal that the narrative is complete. I think this will help students learn to prewrite before they begin writing as well. I know that this activity helped me in this area. I tend to think I am a good writer, but writing a comic strip was a bit of a challenge for me--much different than writing a paper and a bit more fun too.
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Interesting point about learning the languages at different ages! I'm wondering if what they mean is that it is easier for younger kids to learn another language but older people can still learn the language (and at a fluent rate) but it is more difficult for them and might take longer for them to do so. I know my hubbie's having quite a hard time at learning spanish at his age but when I learned it in high school it came naturally because I started at an early age. Sometimes I also wonder if it is the individual that matters. Some highly gifted adults might find it easy to learn a language and some younger kids might even find it difficult to learn at an early age. Research shows the younger age is more ideal but the older we get it is still possible, just more difficult.
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