A Historical Overview of Acquisition Theory

Question 1

Who was Skinner and what was his theory/what concept did he propose?

Answer 1

Skinner was an American psychologist and a key representative of the behaviourist theory. He proposed the theory that all behaviour is a result of the conditioning we have experienced rather than any freedom of choice. He proposed that children learn through imitation and introduced the concept of operant conditioning.

Question 2

How is operant conditioning defined?

Answer 2

The idea that either a positive or negative response given by a caregiver can influence the way in which a child talks on future occasions.

Question 3

What is positive reinforcement?

Answer 3

The positive feedback given to a child which is thought to encourage similar performance again.

Question 4

What is negative reinforcement?

Answer 4

The lack of feedback, correction or negative feedback that might prevent a child from making the same error repeatedly.

Question 5

What is a problem with operant conditioning?

Answer 5

Children are more likely to be corrected on the truth value of their utterances than the linguistic accuracy, so negative reinforcement does not occur very often.

Question 6

What is a problem with negative reinforcement?

Answer 6

There is evidence to suggest that children do not respond to correction and that it can actually hamper their language development.

Question 7

What is the main argument against the ‘imitation’ theory?

Answer 7

Children do not suddenly produce grammatically complete Standard English sentences, instead, they build up their language gradually, refining their speech as they develop.

Question 8

Who is Noam Chomsky and what concept is he best known for?

Answer 8

Chomsky is an American linguist, best known for introducing the concept of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

Question 9

What is LAD?

Answer 9

Language Acquisition Device - as proposed by Chomsky, the idea that all humans are born with an innate language learning capacity.

Question 10

What is universal grammar?

Answer 10

A term coined by Chomsky - the notion that all human languages possess similar grammatical properties which the brain is ‘hard wired’ to be able to decode and use.
Used in relation to Chomsky’s theory to describe this global capacity for children to learn languages at similar rates and in similar ways.

Question 11

What are virtuous errors?

Answer 11

Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules e.g. ‘I swimmed’

Question 12

Why are virtuous errors used as a justification for the LAD?

Answer 12

The child is attempting to apply the rules that they recognise from the language around them - they are unlikely do have heard this construction from a caregiver so it will not, therefore, be imitated.

Question 13

Why is the LAD often rejected as a theory?

Answer 13

It does not place sufficient importance on the role of caregivers to influence language acquisition, and evidence suggests that children who lack sufficient exposure to language and interaction will never really catch up with their language acquisition.

Question 14

What key study rejects Chomsky’s theory?

Answer 14

Genie - between the ages of 20 months and 13 years, a young girl was locked up and exposed to no social interaction or talk. When discovered, she had no speech, and despite numerous interventions, she was not then able to acquire language beyond a very basic level. This seems to reinforce another concept, of a critical period.

Question 15

What is a critical period?

Answer 15

The age at which a child will be most receptive to learn language (suggested by Lenneburg to be up to the age of 5).

Question 16

Who was Jean Piaget and what was his theory?

Answer 16

Piaget was a highly influential developmental psychologist and a key figure in 20th century thinking surrounding child development.
He suggested that children would not develop until particular stages of cognitive development had been reached, and that children develop their own understanding through exploring and questioning the world around them.

Question 17

What is cognitive development?

Answer 17

A child’s development of thinking and understanding.

Question 18

Who was Bruner and what did he reject/propose?

Answer 18

Bruner was a psychologist, who rejected Chomsky’s LAD and focused his research on the importance of a child’s interaction with caregivers as the key to language development. He suggested the importance of a LASS, and that the way in which carers question, encourage, and support the child through scaffolding enables children to gradually develop their speech.

Question 19

What is a LASS?

Answer 19

Language Acquisition Support System - proposed by Bruner (i.e. the caregivers and other individuals who play a key role in a child’s language development.

Question 20

What is scaffolding?

Answer 20

The support provided by caregivers through modelling how speech ought to take place, in order to help the child’s language development.

Question 21

Who was Vygotsky and what did he suggest?

Answer 21

Vygotsky was a Russian developmental psychologist whose ideas only became influential in the 1970s.
He suggested the importance of ‘doing’ for a child to be able to develop, and also focused on the importance of the caregiver to act as a more knowledgeable other. Through this, the adult can direct the child to move within the zone of proximal development, providing the necessary support, or scaffolding, for the child to venture beyond their current level of ability.

Question 22

What is a more knowledgeable other (MKO?

Answer 22

The older participant in an interaction who might offer support to a child so that they can further their own development or learning.

Question 23

What is the zone of proximal development? (ZPD)

Answer 23

The area between what a child can already do, and what is beyond their reach. It is the area into which a caregiver might enable the child to progress by offering the necessary support or scaffolding.

Question 24

What is the cognitive linguistic approach?

Answer 24

A further rejection of Chomsky’s ideas. For example, Tomasello outlines a usage-based model of language acquisition and development, arguing against language being a special ‘instinct’. Instead, the ability to learn language is both primarily social, and relies on using the same kinds of cognitive processes as other forms of learning, such as walking, drawing etc.