Child Language Acquisition (paper 1 - section b)

Question 1

behaviourism

Answer 1

• SKINNER
• language is a reaction to a stimulus and a response coming together multiple times
  eg. a child comes into contact with an apple (stimulus) and encounters the word “apple” (response) therefore creating a connection between object and label
• positive reinforcement - a child that says “apple” will be praised
• negative reinforcement - a child that says “banana” will be corrected

Question 2

universal grammar

Answer 2

• CHOMSKY
• humans acquire language through innate functions
• Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - perceived predisposition among humans for learning language
• poverty of the stimulus - the stimulus (environment) cannot teach us syntax (grammar) because we aren’t exposed to enough positive or negative evidence through observation of language use alone
• virtuous error - non standard forms which have their own internal logic that actually displays a greater intelligence than repeating words and phrases like a parrot

Question 3

cognitive approach

Answer 3

• PIAGET
• children acquire language by constructing their own understanding of the environment around them via interaction
• before a child can say if something is bigger or smaller they must first understand the concept of relative size
• language is mapped onto the experiences of a child and develops alongside other cognitive abilities such as attention and memory

Question 4

usage - based approach

Answer 4

• TOMASELLO
• construction grammar - grammar is a collection of syntactic patterns that we learn - these relatively simple patterns can be combined to make more complex constructions of language
  eg. a child may understand the construction “I laugh” (ego-centric) and after repeated use the child will realise other words can be slotted in before the dynamic verb “laugh” like “you laugh” and “she laughs”
• while the child is not consciously aware that laugh is a verb, the pattern will become engrained in the child’s brain
• back up by the fact that humans have exceptional pattern finding abilities

Question 5

social interactionism

Answer 5

• VYGOTSKY & BRUNER
• language is acquired through repeated interactions with other language users in a social setting
• zone of proximal development - refers to what a child cannot do on their own but can do with the aid of a caregiver or more advanced speaker (VYGOTSKY)
• language acquisition support system (LASS) - highlights the role of adults in a child’s language development (BRUNER)
• child directed speech

Question 6

Papua New Guinea & Samoa (case study)

Answer 6

• Papua New Guinea - adults speak to children as they would speak to other adults and children are still able to acquire language at the same pace as elsewhere
• Samoa - in some tribes parents do not speak to their children until they reach a certain age yet these children still go through the same developmental stages as those exposed to language

Question 7

Genie (case study)

Answer 7

• discovered in 1970 at the age of 13
• had been severely neglected, brought up in isolation and deprived of normal human contact
• during subsequent attempts at rehabilitation her carers tried to teach her to speak
• despite some success she failed to acquire the grammatical competence of the average 5 year old

Question 8

Jim, hearing child of deaf parents (case study)

Answer 8

• 1977 BARD and SACHS published a study of a child known as Jim, the hearing son of deaf parents who’s parents wanted him to learn speech
• Jim watched a lot of TV and listened to the radio so had been exposed to frequent language input
• however, his progress was limited until a speech therapist was enlisted to work with him
• simply being exposed to language was not enough - without associated interaction it meant little to him

Question 9

wug test (case study)

Answer 9

• created by JEAN BERKO in 1958
• children are shown images of the NONSENSE NOUN “wug” and were able to use the BOUND MORPHEME “s” to PLURALISE “wug”
• it is impossible for children to properly make the word plural just because they may have learned how to conjugate that particular word before

Question 10

the importance of play

Answer 10

• CATHERINE GARVEY - the importance of play to language development - there is value on pretend play to help growth of vocabulary
• SUSAN ERVIN TRIPP - imaginative play is critical for children to experiment with language in unfamiliar and different ways
  children can learn from each other as they have to work collaboratively in a way that does not occur in adult-child interactions

Question 11

stages of language development

Answer 11

• babbling stage - children start to recognise and produce sounds, quickly learn which sounds attract the attention of their parents
• holophrastic stage - can produce small number of isolated, single words and many sounds
• two word stage - two word utterances are produced, usually in the form of noun-noun or noun-verb
• telegraphic stage - children are now able to string more than two words together
• post telegraphic - longer, more complex sentences

Question 12

under & over extension

Answer 12

• under-extension - a child accurately uses a word for one thing but does not use this word for other appropriate things
  eg. “doggie” only for one specific type of dog
• over-extension - a child uses a word for multiple things but some of these things are not accurately labelling the word
  eg. “daddy” for all men

Question 13

proto-word

Answer 13

an early word-like utterance produced by an infant before it has acquired true language