Child Language Aquisition

Question 1

State 2 elements of Vygotsky’s theory

Answer 1

1) children need a ‘more knowledgeable other’ to learn language - as they provide scaffolding and support

2) children have a ‘zone of proximal development’ which is the time they have to learn language and make progress

Question 2

Who developed IRF (Initiation, Response, Feedback)?

Answer 2

Sinclair and coulthard (1975)

Question 3

What does a nativist believe?

Answer 3

That language is innate and that children are immediately born with it.

Question 4

What did Berko and Brown (1960s) discover?

Answer 4

That a child referred to an inflatable as a ‘fis’ but couldn’t link adults use of the word to the object

Question 5

What does a cognitivist believe?

Answer 5

That language grows as children develop over time

Question 6

State 8 stages of John Dore’s functions of speech

Answer 6

1) labelling
2) repeating
3) answering
4) requesting
5) calling
6) greeting
7) protesting
8) practicing

Question 7

Who developed the idea of negation in early childhood language?

Answer 7

Pea (1980)

Question 8

What was the LASS (Language Aquisition Support System)?

Answer 8

Idea that scaffolding can support child’s development and increases their confidence. They go from passive to active learners.

Question 9

What does IRF (Initation, Response, Feedback) mean?

Answer 9

Question, answer, praise

(Child directed speech between caregiver and child)

Question 10

CASE STUDY: Explain Genie’s case

Answer 10

13 yr old girl locked in dark room for 13 yrs with little sunlight - couldn’t talk, walk, stand etc.

Rescued, taught by teachers/psychologists but couldn’t develop past 2 word stage of CLA (never caught up)

Proved Skinner’s and Lenneberg’s theories

Question 11

State 5 elements of child directed speech

Answer 11

1) tag questions
2) repeating child’s name
3) recasting child’s mistakes
4) higher pitch
5) actions that accompanies speech

Question 12

Who came up with the LASS (Language Aquisition Support System)?

Answer 12

Bruner

Question 13

When are children in the holophrastic stage of CLA?

Answer 13

Usually 12-18 months

Question 14

Explain Bobo doll experiment

Answer 14

Adults behaved violently towards blow up doll - children watched and when alone also acted violently - imitated bad behaviour

When adults were kind to it, so were the children

Proves social cognitive theory is correct

Question 15

Who came up with the Bobo doll experiment?

Answer 15

Bandura (1977)

Question 16

What does negation mean?

Answer 16

Found children from age 1 use headshakes to signal rejection negation before they’ve learnt to speak

Question 17

What 2 things does Jean Aitcherson suggest?

Answer 17

1) At 18 months a child realises everything has a label attached to it and so assume things

2) Naming explosion - developing new language to fill in gaps

Question 18

What are the stages of child language acquisition, in order?

Answer 18

1) preverbal
2) holophrastic
3) two word
4) telegraphic
5) post telegraphic

Question 19

What is Tomasello’s theory?

Answer 19

Believes ability to learn language is social that relies on cognitive processes to pattern form and understand generalisations

Question 20

What is skinner’s theory and what does it suggest?

Answer 20

Behaviourism

Children learn language through their environment (media, caregivers, family etc.)

Positive and negative reinforcement - praise and corrections

Links to pigeon and rat experiments

Question 21

What did the 3 stages of pronoun usage contain?

Answer 21

1) child uses own name
2) child uses i/me pronouns
3) child uses them correctly in the appropriate place

Question 22

Who came up with the 3 stages of pronoun usage?

Answer 22

Bellugi (1971)

Question 23

Who came up with the ‘wug test’?

Answer 23

Berko (1958)

Question 24

What does Chomsky’s theory suggest?

Answer 24

Every child is born with a LAD (Language Aquisition Device) built into their brain that allows them to speak language

Language is innate (inbuilt) and environmental factors have no influence over child’s ability to speak

Nativism

Question 25

State the 7 of Halliday’s functions of speech

Answer 25

1) instrumental
2) regulatory
3) interactional
4) personal
5) representational
6) imaginative
7) heuristic

Question 26

What is social cognitive theory?

Answer 26

When an adult does something and a child imitates it by learning behaviour through what they’ve seen first hand

Question 27

State piaget’s 4 stages of cognitive development

Answer 27

1) sensori-motor stage
2) preoperational
3) concrete operational
4) formal operational

Question 28

What is Lenneberg’s theory?

Answer 28

Idea that children have a critical period when language needs to develop

Question 29

What was the ‘wug test’?

Answer 29

Presented children with mad eup creature called a ‘wug’, when placed 2 together all of the children immediately pluralised it by saying ‘there are 2 wugs’

Proving children learn grammatical rules from input

Question 30

What does a social interactionalist believe?

Answer 30

That adults help influence children’s language

Question 31

What does a behaviourist believe?

Answer 31

Language is developed by imitating others