Language Development (Sports Skills S.) [Hardcover]

Erika Hoff (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0534641709 | ISBN-13: 978-0534641702 | Publication Date: July 13, 2004 | Edition: 3

LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT will help you understand different theoretical points of view--and the research processes that have lead theorists to their findings in this quickly evolving field. The author covers the biological bases of language development and phonological, lexical, and syntactic development, as well as the communicative foundations of language, the development of communicative competence, language development in special populations, childhood bilingualism, and language development in the school years.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Erika Hoff is professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University. She has taught language development to undergraduate students for the past 15 years at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and, since 1996, at Florida Atlantic University. Dr. Hoff holds an M.S. in psychology from Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey (1976) and a Ph.D. in psychology from University of Michigan (1981). She conducts research on the process of language development in both typically developing children and children with language impairment, and she has received funding for this research from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Spencer Foundation. She has published her research in Child Development, Developmental Psychology, First Language, The Journal of Applied Psycholinguistics, The Journal of Child Language, and the Merrill-Palmer Quarterly. She has contributed chapters to LINGUISTIC DISORDERS AND PATHOLOGIES: AN INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK 1993), THE HANDBOOK OF PARENTING, (2002), THE HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGY, and the MIT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF COMMUNICATION DISORDERS.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing; 3 edition (July 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534641709
• ISBN-13: 978-0534641702
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #99,982 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly interesting and easy to read for a textbook., August 15, 2011

By 

Fyziksgirl - See all my reviews

This review is from: Language Development (Hardcover)

First off, let me say, this book is a textbook. If you are looking for a fun book to pick up and lose yourself in, this isn't it. But if you are looking for a book that will really help you understand how a young child, usually with no direct instruction, can go from being non-communicative at birth to being able to communicate in mostly correct and complete sentences by age four, this is for you.

I had to read this entire book, cover to cover, for a college class, and I did enjoy it. Yes, I was reading a textbook, but the material is interesting and the author puts in a LOT of real-life examples which really helped to keep me interested and engaged. I learn well through example, and every topic had one or more stories of experiments done on children or studies done on children to illustrate the concept being discussed. I loved this, as it really made the topics comprehensible and fascinating for me!

I also appreciated that the author presented multiple theories for everything. I'm not sure which theory Hoff subscribes to, because she presented a wide variety in a balanced way. I feel this gave me a fuller understanding of the field.

It did get dry at times. The author did go into detail on EVERYTHING. But that is because this is an introductory book covering a HUGE spectrum of information intended for those who have no background in it. So, for me, I needed that information. There was very little where I wished the author would just get on with it, in general if I got overwhelmed it was at the sheer amount of information contained in the pages.

This was, by far, my best text book this semester. It was accurate, it was interesting (for a textbook), and I feel like I have walked away with a lot of great information from reading it.

3.0 out of 5 stars Facts but no thrill, August 12, 2009

By 

Melody - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Language Development (Hardcover)

The text is well written and the subject is interesting but this author has chosen a style that is not the best for keeping a student's attention. Perhaps her next text could use fictitous families with a children that we could follow throughout her book, we would feel a little more connected.

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Rather Dull Read,, April 6, 2008

By 

drD (So Cal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Language Development (Sports Skills S.) (Hardcover)

Well I'm am 90% finished with this book for my upper division linguistics course, and I honestly have to say it is probably one of the most dull books I have ever read. I don't think the subject is that boring, but the book certainly is repetitious. Some of the words that are "highlighted" are self explanatory to the point where you really do not need them to be christened darker to make the student notice them. Furthermore, it goes into too much detail. Do we really need two full pages at 8pt font talking about the high amplitude sucking technique? This can be explained in one-non wordy sentence. I think that the arguments between the various theorists are amusing, but it gets way out of hand the more you read. Why not just have a big list at the end of the book, rather than spreading it out over 250 pages? Some of the sentences are rather long as well, and this makes it more dull. Students aren't so dumb that we need 18 word sentences to explain something.

Also its highly overpriced- the book is worth about probably what they are paying the author, my guess is somewhere around $40.00. Not $120.00 My college requires around 87 students to buy this book per semester. However, my teachers lectures cover all the information in this book in a much more concise way. I suggest using something else.

Also it focuses so much on first language acquisition it becomes annoying to those that find FIRST language acquisition NOT what they are interested in. This book pretty much overlooks L2 and L3 acquisition, and only devotes one meager chapter to it! Not all of us care about babies cooing and if it means something culturally or cognitively.