Language Development

Erika Hoff is professor of psychology at Florida Atlantic University. She has taught language development to undergraduate students 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 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. Dr. Hoff 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.

Foundations of Language Development: Contributions of Children's Skills and Experiences.
1. Introduction to the Study of Language Development.
2. Biological Bases of Language Development.
3. Communicative Development: Foundations and Functions of Language.
4. Phonological Development: Learning the Sounds of Language.
5. Lexical Development: Learning Words.
6. The Development of Syntax and Morphology: Learning the Structure of Language.
7. Language, Culture, and Cognition in Development.
8. Childhood Bilingualism.
9. Language in the School Years.
10. Language Development in Special Populations.