Introduction

About the lecture

In this lecture, we provide an introduction to the study of language acquisition, focusing in particular on: (i) the definition of language acquisition; (ii) what we mean when we say "I know (e.g.) English" – what is it that we actually know?; (iii) the three stages of language learning; and (iv) the complexity of language learning and the lack of any clear answers.

About the lecturer

Prof. Henriëtte Hendriks is Professor of Language Acquisition and Cognition at the University of Cambridge. Her principal interests are in applied- and psycholinguistics and more specifically in the interaction between language acquisition and cognition and language acquisition and culture, involving languages as different as Dutch, German, English, French, Chinese and Polish.