Child Language Acquisition Flashcards
Judith Butler
Gender performativity - the way we present ourselves linguistically and socially is often dependent on gender
High economic status - words learned per day
11,000
Low economic status - words learned per day
700
Zone of proximal development - Vygotsky
Children of low and high economic status learn a different number of new words per day - this gap remains for life
Impacts of high economic status on a child
- Parents can typically engage in more enriching activities with their child
- Families of this status may hire nannies that are stereotypically young or ESL (English as Second Language) - this can hinder a child’s progress
Reasons for usage of prosodic features
“Cootchy-coo” voices or voices with high pitch and intonation help a baby or young child understand a voice easier than if it were deeper
Reasons for speech coming before reading and writing
- Pronunciation
- Letter sounds
- Confidence in spoken language is higher than other forms
- More natural
- Writing requires physical dexterity
Lev Vygotsky - Social interactionist theory
An explanation of language development emphasising the role of social interaction between children and adults
BF Skinner - Operant conditioning
When good or desired behaviour is learned through repetition, positive reinforcement and reward
June and Jennifer Gibbons
- 1963
- Twins that spoke English but also had a private lingo
- Often bullied by their peers and therefore resigned to exclusively speaking their private language
Grace and Virginia Kennedy
- 1970s
- Twins that had a lingo with very few invented words
- Language consisted of badly-pronounced English and German words
- There were supposedly 16 ways that the twins pronounced “potato salad”
- The girls eventually underwent speech therapy and found employment, though it is unskilled and their language continues to lag
Cryptophrasia
“Secret twin-speak”, often blamed for hampering children’s linguistic development
Jerome Bruner - LASS
- “Language acquisition support system” - putting methods in place to guide a child’s learning
- A child learns with life experience
- Rich experiences are better for language learning
- Reacts against Chomsky’s nativist theory, instead focusing on the interactions between children and caregivers
Jerome Bruner - Scaffolding
A child is presented with numerous opportunities for conversation or speech:
- Questions
- Encouragement
- Support of a child’s utterances
Nurture vs Nature
Nature - innate
Nurture - surrounding context
Chomsky - LAD and nativism
- “Language acquisition device” - all humans are born with an innate language learning capacity
- Children have the innate ability to learn language, though it requires social context and support
- Children will always need a way to communicate
- All children make the same virtuous errors
Virtuous errors
Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption made about grammar rules
Disadvantages of Skinner
- Fails to consider nurture and social interaction
- Theory based on animal behaviour
- Laboratory-based
- Dated theories (1930-31)
Disadvantages of Bruner
- Observational study (lacks rigour)
- Questions can arise over the quality of videotaped evidence
Disadvantages of Chomsky
- No scientific justification
- The LAD cannot be biologically identified
- Undermined by Bruner’s theory
Gender performativity - the way we present ourselves linguistically and socially is often dependent on gender
Judith Butler
11,000
High economic status - words learned per day
700
Low economic status - words learned per day
Children of low and high economic status learn a different number of new words per day - this gap remains for life
Zone of proximal development - Vygotsky
An explanation of language development emphasising the role of social interaction between children and adults
Lev Vygotsky - Social interactionist theory
When good or desired behaviour is learned through repetition, positive reinforcement and reward
BF Skinner - Operant conditioning
“Secret twin-speak”, often blamed for hampering children’s linguistic development
Cryptophrasia
- “Language acquisition support system” - putting methods in place to guide a child’s learning
- A child learns with life experience
- Rich experiences are better for language learning
- Reacts against Chomsky’s nativist theory, instead focusing on the interactions between children and caregivers
Jerome Bruner - LASS
A child is presented with numerous opportunities for conversation or speech:
- Questions
- Encouragement
- Support of a child’s utterances
Jerome Bruner - Scaffolding
- “Language acquisition device” - all humans are born with an innate language learning capacity
- Children have the innate ability to learn language, though it requires social context and support
- Children will always need a way to communicate
- All children make the same virtuous errors
Chomsky - LAD and nativism
Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption made about grammar rules
Virtuous errors
- Fails to consider nurture and social interaction
- Theory based on animal behaviour
- Laboratory-based
- Dated theories (1930-31)
Disadvantages of Skinner
- Observational study (lacks rigour)
- Questions can arise over the quality of videotaped evidence
Disadvantages of Bruner
- No scientific justification
- The LAD cannot be biologically identified
- Undermined by Bruner’s theory
Disadvantages of Chomsky
Clarke-Stewart - 1973
Chilren whose mothers talk more have larger vocabularies
Hart and Risley - 1995
By the time children from high socio-economic backgrounds turn four, they have heard 30 million more utterances than those of a poor socio-economic background
Chilren whose mothers talk more have larger vocabularies
Clarke-Stewart - 1973
By the time children from high socio-economic backgrounds turn four, they have heard 30 million more utterances than those of a poor socio-economic background
Hart and Risley - 1995
