Child Language Acquisition

Question 1

What is a virtuous error?

Answer 1

Where general grammar rules are applied to irregular words e.g Run = Runned

Question 2

What is the behaviourist approach?

Answer 2

Children acquire language through imitation

Question 3

What did Skinner suggest?

Answer 3

Interactionism
Children imitate their caregivers and this is reinforced by positive or negative reinforcement

Question 4

How are developmental milestones a limitation of Behaviourism?

Answer 4

Most children go through the same developmental milestones apart from extreme cases of abuse

Question 5

What did David McNeill state about behaviourism?

Answer 5

Children are often unable to repeat directly what a parent has said especially if they have not learned the syntax yet

Question 6

What is the critical period?

Answer 6

The period under the age of seven where children need to learn to speak otherwise they will never catch up

Question 7

What does the innate theory suggest about language acquisition?

Answer 7

That children must have an innate language acquisition device to learn language.

Question 8

What is the language acquisition device?

Answer 8

A supposed part of the brain that establishes how children learn to speak through influencing how they process words from those around them

Question 9

What is the Wug Test?

Answer 9

• Designed to understand how children acquire plurals
• To show that children learn language through patterns and not imitation
• 76% of 4-5 year olds effectively applied the ‘s

Question 10

What did Slobin state to support Innateness?

Answer 10

• That human anatomy is adapted to facilitate speech
• Areas of the brain such as Broca’s area are identified as being part of speech development

Question 11

How does sign language support innateness?

Answer 11

Fully grammatical language
Children learning to sign as a first language pass through similar stages

Question 12

What is the main limit of Chomskys work?

Answer 12

His study was theoretical
Did not study actual children and their carers
Didn’t take into account the functions of language

Question 13

How do Bard and Sachs study disprove Chomsky?

Answer 13

• Studied CODA named Jim - hearing son of deaf parents
• Watched TV,listened to radio etc but his progress was limited until a speech therapist was enlisted

Question 14

What is the cognitive theory?

Answer 14

• Piaget
• Children can understand a concept before they can acquire language forms
• Language can’t develop until cognitive development
• e.g. children can’t use comparatives

Question 15

What is seriation?

Answer 15

The point in a child’s intellectual development where they can compare by size

Question 16

What is object permanence?

Answer 16

The idea that children have a limited understanding of objects they cannot see. This limits understanding of labels

Question 17

What does Nelson say in contrast to innateness?

Answer 17

• Imaginary play means language is an extension of a child’s meaning making capacity

Question 18

What did vygotsky state about the zone of proximal development?

Answer 18

• The gap in knowledge between the development on their own and the development under adult guidance/ in collaboration with more knowledgable peers

Question 19

What does the interactionist theory say about language acquisition?

Answer 19

• The importance of language input from caregivers
• Bruners Child directed speech says that it provides context of interaction

Question 20

What are the features of child directed speech?

Answer 20

• Change in pits
• Slower speech, lots of pauses
• Repetition and clearer speech/recasting
• Grammatically simpler sentences
• Tag questions
• Use of nouns in place of pronouns

Question 21

What is Expansion in Child Directed speech?

Answer 21

When adults develop or add details to a child utterance

Question 22

What is recasting in child directed speech?

Answer 22

When a caregiver repeats the child’s utterance but corrected

Question 23

What are mitigated imperatives for CDS?

Answer 23

A command that doesn’t appear as a command but more as a suggestion

Question 24

IRF (Initiation, response,feedback)- Sinclair and coulthard

Answer 24

• Models pragmatic/discourse conventions

Question 25

What did Shieffelin and Ochs study?

Answer 25

• That in some cultures child directed speech is not a universal concept.
• That this doesn’t affect language acquisition

Question 26

What is the language acquisition support system (LASS)

Answer 26

• gaining attention- gain babies attention
• Query- ask baby about it
• Label- label it
• Feedback

Question 27

What did Wells find?

Answer 27

That children’s language development was proportional to the mothers speech to a child during shared activities

Question 28

Karmiloff and Karmiloff-Smith?

Answer 28

That none of the theories explain language on its own so we need to take all of them into account

Question 29

Features of pre-verbal stage?

Answer 29

• Cooing used as an attempt to respond
• Crying to communicate physical needs

Question 30

Features of Holophrastic stage?

Answer 30

• ONe word utterances