Child Language

Writing in a conversational, playful voice Matthew Saxton offers a particularly engaging and accessible introduction to a wealth of knowledge about language. He models how language allows us both to share personal interests and enthusiasms and to build more public understanding by publishing and arguing about research findings.

Engaging and well-organized, this textbook highlights nature-nurture debate, mismatches between comprehension and production, individual variation, and methodological issues. The second edition adds web-based support for teachers and students, including test questions and instructional slides. Updated references, some re-ordered material, and a new state-of-the-art ending further enhance this excellent textbook.

This book is an extremely clear and accessible introduction to a complex and fascinating subject, essential reading not only for its target audience of psychology students but also for Early Years teachers and students. Welcome touches of humor enliven balanced and detailed explanations of theory, debates, and research evidence.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of the subject of child language acquisition, and provides a balanced, unbiased discussion of the various issues and debates surrounding the topic. Saxton makes complex, and at times controversial, topics accessible and relevant, and the text will be invaluable for students of language, linguistics and psychology alike.

Mathew Saxton’s Child Language is an excellent book on a difficult to understand (and explain) field. The book covers the what we know about child language development in a readily accessible, readable and at times amusing format, which is perfect for UGs who have no previous knowledge in the field. This book is the best general book on child language development that I’ve seen and I welcome the updated second edition.

Matthew Saxton provides a compelling account and comprehensive overview of child language acquisition and development . Engagingly written in a style that draws the reader in, the book covers all the bases and provides an excellent introduction to and overview of the area.

Once again Matthew has managed to tackle one of life’s most complex and confusing aspects in an accessible and engaging way. His engaging style, clarity and humour enable him to demystify the most vexing of language develop...

Matthew Saxton is trained in psychology and linguistics at the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford, and worked for about 20 years variously at Royal Holloway, University of London, Westminster University and the Institute of Education - UCL. In 2011, he retrained as a nurse and now works in the NHS at a central London hospital.

Landmarks in the Landscape of Child Language Can Animals Acquire Human Language? Shakespeare's Typewriter The Critical Period Hypothesis: Now or Never? Input and Interaction: Tutorials for Toddlers Language in the First Year: Breaking the Sound Barrier The Developing Lexicon: What's in a Name? The Acquisition of Morphology: Linguistic Lego Linguistic Nativism: To the Grammar Born The Usage-Based Approach: Making It up as You Go along You Say Nature, I Say Nurture: Better Call the Calling off off