Overview

This course is of interest to anyone interested in how we acquire our first language – teachers, parents, educators and linguists. The emphasis is on interactive and fun exercises to find out about language. So, for example, participants will be able to find out what it’s like to be a child exposed to his or her native language, and to explore ideas around how children manage to learn their language so quickly and effectively.

Your tutor is Dr Charles Hohmann, who was born in Alexandria (Egypt) in 1947. He studied English, French and Spanish languages and literatures at the universities of Fribourg, and the Universidad de Chile (Santiago), where he also held a post as a lecturer in Applied Linguistics for several years. From 1982 - 1986 he worked as an assistant for literary studies at the English department of the University of Zürich. In 1987 he joined Unisys as an IT Instructor and became Educational Manager in that company in 1988. Since 1993 he has taught modern languages and computing at Institut Montana (Switzerland).

Course Structure

Day One: Introduction

What is language? How do we acquire a first language (L1)? Bilingualism and codeswitching. What are the differences between acquiring an L1 and learning an L2? My own language biography.

Day Two: First language (L1) acquisition

What do psycholinguists and sociolinguists say about L1 acquisition? What does an applied linguist do? The role of cognition. The dual-code hypothesis.

Day Three: Some Linguistics

What we have to know about meaning (semantics), grammar (syntax) and vocabulary? What are language universals? What is communicative competence?

Day Four: receptive & productive language uses

Mental processes involved in reading and listening. The role of memory and lexical learning. Mental processes involved in speaking and writing.

Day Five: Natural language & its automated processing

Natural language processing (NLP): its purposes and uses. Processing samples. Social implications and perspectives. Some concrete problems. Review / Summary.

Accommodation

Students stay in Wadham College, one of the most traditional Oxford University colleges. Located right in the centre of city, Wadham is near all the famous colleges and museums, which makes it ideal for an inspiring study break! The Wadham College website contains practical information about your stay.

Excursions - Outside Oxford

Students wishing to travel outside Oxford, can visit places of historic interest, such as London, Hay-on-Wye, Bath and Blenheim Palace. These tours are an additional cost to the standard programme.

Application

You can either book online or you can download a paper application form and send it back to us.

If you require any support, please either email us or give us a call on +44 (0) 845 130 60 21.

Deposit

There is a booking deposit of £395.00 to accompany your application. Confirmation of your place will be sent to you once your application form has been processed.