Impaired Language Acquisition

Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,7, University of Paderborn (Anglistik), course: Psycolinguistics, language: English, abstract: Language is a major communicative device. Human beings communicate via different language systems like for instance sign languages, verbal languages and written languages. This paper will deal with the acquisition of the verbal language or more accurate certain problems which can occur during the process of acquisition. Almost every human being acquires one or more languages during his live. The general schedule of acquisition can be considered to be the same for all languages and all human beings. Learners of different languages and different age create the same errors. However this process of acquisition does not always follow the same pattern, there are instances in which the process is distracted due to certain problems. Some children suffer from brain damages which prevent them from learning a language properly, while other children have hearing problems which result as well in problems with the acquisition of a language. Furthermore there exists a group of children which have no obvious physically problems like brain damages or hearing problems, but they are delayed or impaired concerning the process of language acquisition. This group of children is within the focus of this paper because their development as well as the treatment of their impairment is most challenging for researchers and medical doctors. To show the problems that can occur in an acquisition process, the first part of this paper will outline the normal process of language acquisition which almost all children pass through. This serves the purpose to show the contrasts between a normal language development and an impaired development. After this short outline the general concept of language impairment will be described, before dealing with the concept of Specific Language Impairment (SLI). This concept will be described in more detail before showing the different specifications in which the SLI can occur. These specifications will be illustrated through examples that sow the contrasts and similarities between children with and without problems in the language acquisition. The Conclusion will present a short summary of the presented issues as well as results of recent research concerning the treatment of SLI.