Study Programmes 2016-2017
LOGO5005-1  
Speech development
Duration :
30h Th
Number of credits :
Master in French and Romance languages and literatures : French as a second language (120 ECTS)4
Bachelor in psychology and education : speech and language therapy3
Master in education (120 ECTS)4
Master in speech and language therapy (120 ECTS)3
Lecturer :
Christelle Maillart
Language(s) of instruction :
French language
Organisation and examination :
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents :
This course is an introduction to developmental psycholinguistics, i.e. the field which deals with the way children learn the language. It is built around the following sections :




  • Introduction
  • Prelinguistic development
  • Phonological development
  • Lexical development.
  • Morphosyntactic development.
  • Pragmatic and discursive development.
  • Theoretical approaches regarding language acquisition
  • Individual differences
  • Atypical language development
At the University of Liège, education in Speech and Language Therapy is based on a repertoire of individual skills. This course supports SLT education by utilising the following resources : Targeted knowledge :




  • knowledge of stages in the development of oral language ;
Targeted know-how:




  • use of an existing or adapted observation checklist ;
  • working up an etiological evaluation regarding a complaint ;
  • clear and correct communication in oral and written language ;
  • communication of clinical evidence as interpreted ;
  • mastery of research methodology ;
Targeted professional attitudes:




  • intellectual curiosity;
  • critical thinking;
Learning outcomes of the learning unit :
At the end of the session, students will be able


  • to describe the developmental trajectory of language;
  • to determine the language abilities of a child at a specific age ;
  • to identify the verbal or non verbal communication means used by a child ;
  • to recognize different experimental methods used in developmental psycholinguistics ;
  • to compare different theoretical frameworks used in language acquisition ;
  • to analyze research about child language acquisition;
Prerequisite knowledge and skills :
PSYC0016: Language psychology
Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
1er semester : 2H each monday 8h30-10h30. At each class meeting, 15 minutes will be reserved for the analysis of video documentation in order to introduce students to the methodology of observation in the area of language and communication
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
In-person instruction
Recommended or required readings :
see e-campus
Assessment methods and criteria :
A written examination will take place in January. The grade will include the following components :


  • 20% - analysis of language data
  • 30% - selected questions covered during the course (definition of concepts, question about comprehension, etc.)
  • 50% true or false questions
Work placement(s) :
Organizational remarks :
The course and podcasts are available on e-campus.
Contacts :
Pr. Christelle Maillart
Research Unit on Childhood B38 Clinical Speech Therapy Unit
Quartier Village 2 30, rue de l'aunaie B-4000 Liège (Sart Tilman) christelle.maillart@ulg.ac.be