Child acquisition theory Flashcards
Noam Chomsky 1960s
Nature
Nativist theory
Humans have an inbuilt capacity to acquire language
children are born with an inherited ability to learn any human language
Chomsky key concepts
- All children have LAD - language acquisition device
- encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.
- theory is universal, applies to all language, they share similar grammer
Arguments in favour of Chomsky
- All children experience the same stages of language acquisition at the same ages no matter what language. Suggests there is something guiding them in the process.
- Children resist correction from their parents. If they are corrected, they make the mistake again, suggests something in their brain controlling their language.
- some mistakes made by children cannot be through imitation only. E.g. irregular verbs
- Wug test - Jean Berko, children can apply rules of grammar to nonsense words they have never heard before. Proves not by memory
Arguments against Chomsky
- He did not make any distinction about age e.g. problem with feral children
- Genie
- Children eventually stop using over generalisations and vitreous errors. Suggests they do learn via imitation
- Only looked at grammar, not other frameworks e.g. pragmatics
Eric Lenneberg 1967
Nature
Nativist theory
Agrees with Chomsky- innate language device
Lenneberg key concepts
- children have a certain amount of time to acquire a language
- critical period- children’s LAD must be activated with sufficient input within age of 5-12
Arguments in favour of Lenneberg
-Explains problem with feral children e.g. Genie
Arguments against Lenneberg
-Doesn’t explain how children stop making virtuous errors and learn irregular features. E.g. irregular verbs
Genie
- She was locked away from normal civilisation and was underdeveloped physically and emotionally
- An infant trapped in a 13 year old body, could only make infant like sounds. no words or sentences
- proves social interaction with caregiver is vital for development
B.F Skinner 1948
Nurture
Behaviorist theory
Language is acquired through imitation and reinforcement
B.F Skinner key concepts
- Nurture
- Language is acquired through imitation and reinforcement
- positive/ negative Reinforcement and operant conditioning
Arguments in favour for Skinner
- children have the same accent/dialect as their parents
- if their parents make grammatical mistakes, children will also make the mistakes
- children learn politeness and pragmatic aspect from their parents
- children repeat lexemes they have heard around them
Arguments against Skinner
- Parents do not say virtuous errors. Does not account for children inventions of language
- parents focus on grammatical correctness, children find meanings more important
Jerome Bruner
Nurutre
Social Interactionist theory
Child language is developed through interaction with adults
Jerome Bruner key concepts
- children have LASS - language acquisition support system
- caregivers support their children’s linguistic development in social situations, by interacting and encouraging the child to respond
- caregivers are key to development
- Bruner focuses on that there must be a significant input from their parents for language to be learnt
- looked at social activities&social conventions that teach children
Arguments in favour of Bruner
- Interaction seems to teach children about spoken discourse e.g. turn taking
- Pragmatic development suggests children do learn politeness and verbally acceptable behavior
- role play and pretend play suggest that more interaction with carers increases VOCAB
- Halliday functions
- Vincent Cs: born to deaf parents, who communicated via sign language. Encouraged him to watch TV to speak. By 3, he was still speechless. TV is no substitute to real life people!
- Jim cs: born to deaf parents. Relied on tv. Only began to rapidly progress when with a speech therapist. Needs gesture & interaction
Arguments against Bruner
- Parents from cultures that do not promote interaction with children can become articulate fluent language users without adult input
- Papa new guinea - no social interaction with parents for a while. No child directed speech. Did not experience late or impaired development
Jean Piaget
Cognitive theory
Language acquisition is part of a wider development of understanding that develops
Jean Piaget key concepts
- A child cannot be taught something until they are mentally ready to learn it
- argues children cannot learn complex sentences/structures until they reached mental capacity
- interaction with people helps develop cognition
Arguments in favour of Piaget
- Children produce utterances which increases in complexity as they work towards mastering a rule
- Browns morphemes
- Bellugi’s stages of pronoun and question formation
Arguments against Piaget
- Fis phenomenon - suggests children cognitive understanding can be present but their physical development still impacts their development
Lev Vygotsky
Nurture
Cognitive and social interactionist theory
- Language acquisition is part of a wider development of understanding that develops
-Child language is developed through interaction with adults
Vygotsky key concepts
- caregiver is MKO
- scaffolding to help child to successfully cross the ZPD via interrogatives and demonstaration
- social constructing
- focused on imaginative play during pre-operational stage
- child talking to themselves = cognitive development
