Learning the rules of grammar
Virtuous errors
Virtuous errors are mistakes made by children when they get their grammar wrong but have followed a logical route to this i.e. they have applied a rule which they have learnt. Unfortunately, the English language contains many exceptions to its rules, and children take a long time to learn these individual differences from the rules.
e.g. I goed to the cinema.
Over-generalisation
Over-generalisation is the term used for the process by which a child applies a rule he / she has learnt, but applies it too widely.
You might comment in the exam that:
the virtuous error ‘goed’ indicates that the child has over-generalised the grammatical rule for creating the past tense, applying the rule to the verb ‘go’
Note that there are several issues in forming the past tense in English:
· Some verbs change form depending on whether they are singular or plural, e.g. ‘be’ – I was, we were
· Children may have difficulty with verbs which describe continuous activities with less clear cut endings, e.g. talk
What implications does this have for theories about the acquisition of language?
Order of acquisition of grammar rules
This list is arranged from the earliest to the latest learned by children
1. –ing
2. plural –s
3. possessive –s
4. the, a
5. past tense –ed
6. third person singular –s
7. auxiliary ‘be’
Alongside each of these, write an example in a sentence.
Why do you think that children learn –ing before –ed ?
Compare the list with the list of elements most frequently used by caregivers / parents:
1. the, a
2. –ing
3. plural –s
4. auxiliary ‘be’
5. possessive –s
6. third person singular –s
7. past tense –ed
What are the implications for theories about language acquisition, focussing on the role of the caregiver and the use of child-directed speech?