Homework: Nova Program, The Genie Videos

Before our class next Wednesday, October 23, please watch the NOVA program. This program originally aired on Nova (PBS) in 1994 about Genie, a child who was deprived of human contact (and therefore linguistic input) for the first 13 years of her life. The program speaks rather dramatically to the issue of whether, and if so how, age affects L1 acquisition. It also has important implications for the effects of age on SLA.

Questions to think about:

1. Why is Genies's case interesting to the scientific community?
2. Which scientific disciplines seem to "have a stake" in Genie's story?
3. Was Genie mentally retarded or was it that she just couldn't learn to speak because had missed the critical period of language learning?
4. Do these stories of feral children validate or disproof Lenneberg's theory?
5. Which side of the Nature vs Nurture debate do these cases support?

Genie (part 1)

Genie (part 2)

Genie (part 3)

Genie (part 4)

Genie (part 5)

Genie (part 6)

Source: Markee, N. (2013). Second Languge Acquisition. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois.