Child Language Acquisition - Theories Flashcards
Who created behaviorism theory?
B.F. Skinner
What is stated in the Behaviorist theory?
Children acquire language by imitating the speech of others and being rewarded for it.
What is operant conditioning?
Links to positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement.
What is positive reinforcement?
When a child produces words successfully, they receive a reward for it.
What is negative reinforcement?
When a child produces words wrong, they receive corrections or are ignored.
What are examples of Behaviorist Theory?
- Children copy words from adults
- Children copy the parents pronunciation
- Acquire pragmatics such as politeness from their parents
What is the case against Skinner’s Theory?
Berko’s ‘WUG’ theory - where we know bound morphemes such as plural ‘s’.
What are the 3 criticisms for Behaviorists Theory?
- Children learn language at same rate regardless of parent input
- Children can express themselves without copying someone - heard the words but not in that specific context.
- Children can say completely original sentences without having heard them all.
What do parents not correct and who claimed this?
Parents usually do not correct grammar, instead they focus politeness and truthfulness. Brown, Cazden and Bellugi.
What was Chompsky’s criticism of Skinner’s copying theory?
Chompsky claimed that adults language when speaking to children is ‘impoverished’ such as child directed language. Children will never learn to be adult speakers if they only copied what adults said to them.
What did Braine criticize Skinner’s theory for?
Children cannot be corrected until they reach the next speech learning stage.
What did McNeil state about children’s language?
That children known they’re getting stuff wrong but as they’ve not advanced to next stage yet - they cannot help it.
What was Berko and Brown’s Theory?
The Fis Phenomenon - Adults repeat children’s mistake but children is aware it is wrong but cannot pronounce such sounds yet.
What was Noam Chomsky’s theory?
Chomsky believed children have an innate ability to learn language and understand grammar. He claimed our brain is a language acquisition.
What are some further points on Chomsky’s Nativist Theory?
That children listen to language and extract the grammar rules from it , which is proved by children’s rapid state when learning language.
Do virtuous errors prove Language Acquisition?
Yes - shows child is attempting to apply rules which they have learnt
What was Isaac’s Slobin’s case in favour of Chomsky’s theory?
He claims human autonomy is specifically adapted for speech. Some areas of the brain are specifically targeted to language - that if they suffer a stroke, language will suffer.
What was Pinkers claim in favour of Chomsky’s view?
Chimpanzees can learn individual words but not grammar.
What were the escaped slaves in Surinam and how does this favor Chomsky’s view?
They were forced to communicate in a limited Dutch pidgin which they learnt from unfavorable conditions. Their children developed this into a sophisticated creole - no one taught them this creole , showing children’s innate ability.
What are some arguments against Chomsky’s view?
- Just focuses on grammar, sentences can be grammatically correct but is meaningless.
- Children can’t learn language from hearing recordings.
Who was the theorists who conducted Genie’s study?
Jean Butler
What happened in the case of Genie?
Between 20 months and 13 years, she was locked up in a singular room by her father. She was rescued at the age of 13, but she could not know how to speak. Despite the support Genie received, she was never able to speak past a very basic level - showing how the brain function significantly changes due to parent attention levels.
What was the period Eric Lenneberg proposed?
The critical or optimal period, which states children must be exposed to language and social interaction or they’ll be unable to learn language - she argues this age is 5 years.
What is the LAD - Chomsky?
An area of the brain where information of language is stored.
What did John Macnamara state?
Rather than having an in-built language device, children have an innate capacity to read meaning into social situations, and it is this capacity which makes them capable of learning and understanding language, not the LAD.
Who created the Cognitivism theory?
Jean Piaget
What is the Cognitivism theory?
Language acquisition was just part of a child’s wider cognitive development (brain).
What is cognitive development and an example?
Children develop mental skills and abilities in predictable stages. For example, for a child to use present or past tense they must have the cognitive understanding of time.
What is ‘Object Permanence’ - Piaget’s Cognitivism?
Children learn that objects continue to exist even if they can’t see or hear them. Whereas before this they think objects stop existing when they cannot see them but then when they see them again it is a brand new thing.
What is ‘Classification’ - Piaget’s Cognitivism?
Children learn to classify objects and actions. Increased use of verbs or nouns.
What is ‘Seriation’ - Piaget’s Cognitivism?
Children learn that things come in an order, stories have a start and conclusion and that things can come in a variety of sizes such as comparative and superlative adjectives - ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’.
What are some cases against Piaget’s Cognitivism?
- Many people with language difficulties do not have poor cognitivism development
- It neglects the social function of language
What are some cases supporting Piaget’s Cognitivism?
- Children talking about non-present or imaginary objects.
- Children talking to themselves whilst playing to suggest they’re trying to make sense of something
Whos created the Input theory?
Jerome Bruner
What did Bruner claim in his input theory?
That language used by parents when talking to children - CDL - is specifically designed to help children learn language.
Who and how does Bruner’s Input theory link to others?
Links to Halliday’s and Dore’s theory, as Bruner explained that children learn language through social context.
What did Bruner claim works alongside Chomsky’s LAD?
He states that the Language Acquisition Support system (LASS) works alongside it.
Bruner didn’t just consider speech, what else did he explore?
Bruner observed parents often use books as a way of helping children to learn naming abilities.
What was Bruner’s 4 stage structure when talking to a child from books?
- Gaining attention - pointing out a picture
- Query - asking the baby to identify the picture
- Label - telling the child what the object is
- Feedback - responding to a babies utterance.
What did Clarke-Stewart argue in support of Bruner’s Input theory?
Mothers who talk more have children with larger vocabularies and children who were corrected in their speech tend to develop more slowly than other children.
What are some cases against Bruner’s Input theory?
- Not all cultures use CDL such as the Tsimane Tribe of Bolivia.
- Child directed speech does not explain how children progress as they still learn through the different stages
What did Vygotsky claim?
Vygotsky developed Bruner’s theory when stating adults often provide ‘scaffolding’ to help children form an utterance, such as putting things in place.
Adults will often start a sentence and allow a child to finish it or will prompt them when an utterance is incomplete.
In Vygotsky’s study what does the adult act as?
Adult acts as a ‘More Knowledgeable Other’ (MKO) by supporting the child. MKO’s can be teachers/ caregivers/ older children to their younger siblings.
