Language Learning & Development

The opening essay on language development explores the factors that can affect a child s ability to learn his or her first language. As the article stresses, it s imperative that children have strong and healthy relationships with their parents and caregivers, and it s equally critical that their school environment promotes social interaction and conversation to advance the language learning process. In her essay on psycholinguistics, Edith Arrington details the skills and processes that comprise language competency. Noelle Vance explores communicative competence as a way to assess a student s ability to effectively convey meaning in a given context by looking at the individual components of this ability. Vance then reviews the four main skills that are necessary to acquire full mastery of a language, and she emphasizes the need for variety when teaching language in order to encourage the development of all four skills. Vance examines the affective variable, explores the ways emotions and attitudes influence language learning in individuals, and suggests ways that teachers can help their students, primarily by increasing their motivation.