There are endless areas relating to this field that have captured my interest. First of all, I am really fascinated with how children acquire language. More specifically, I would like to further explore the interconnections between a child learning to speak and learning to read. I already know that research has shown a correlation between phonological development and later reading skills. Also I am aware that a child’s awareness of the sounds in their language impact their reading ability. A question I have concerning this subject is…do children acquire metaphonological skills as a result of their emerging literacy or are these skills necessary to have before they can become literate? I’m unsure if there is a definite answer to this question, but I would be interested in examining some of the research concerning this matter. Children with phonological disorders are also at great risk for certain related literacy difficulties and I’d like to see if specific phonological disorders cause specific reading difficulties or if the connection between the two is not that precise.

Another area that piques my curiosity deals with speakers of English as a second language. I would like to find out if certain native languages are more conducive to an individual's success in acquiring the English language. My guess would be that many other factors would come into play as well, such as the individual's determination, teachers, intellectual ability, and their willingness to learn. I would also be interested in finding out what methods therapists use when working with people whose native language is not English. I know that a clinician must be knowledgeable about the vowel and consonant differences between the inventories of the English language and that of the speaker’s native language. This is crucial in order for the clinician to make an accurate diagnosis of a phonological disorder. Personally, I love the Spanish language and would definitely love to one day work with a native Spanish speaker on their acquisition of English. I'm not very familiar with other foreign languages but I think Spanish would be one of the easier languages to work with because the Spanish language is similar in many ways to English. While it would be relatively easy to find clinicians to work with people natively speaking Spanish or French, I wonder if it would be difficult to find clinicians qualified to work with individuals with not so common native languages such as Mandarin or Cantonese. If so, my question would become...who would the individual be referred to for help if a qualified clinician could not be found. I assume in that case, the clinician must take it upon themself to become more proficient in and familiar with that specific language.

Both of my topics of interest have been briefly covered in my previous courses, but I am looking forward to increasing my knowledge of them in the future.