CLA THEORIES Flashcards
BEHAVIOURIST APPROACH
Advocated by B. F. Skinner
The environment (rather than inbuilt knowledge) teaches us what we know. Skinner believed that language was acquired through a mixture of copying and reinforcement.
OPPOSED CHOMSKY, WHO BELIEVED THE THAT THE CAPACITY FOR SPEECH RELIED ON “NATURE”, SKINNER BELIEVED THAT IT WAS DEPENDANT ON “NURTURE”
NATIVIST APPROACH
Noam Chomsky- a prominent nativist
Believe that babies are born with an inbuilt capacity to learn language.
Noam thought the capacity to develop speech was “programmed” into the human brain. He called this the language acquisition device (LAD)
INTERACTIONIST THEORY
Language acquisition is an example of childrens ability to learn from experience. What children need to know is essentially available in the language they are exposed to - relies on the innate learning ability of children and takes into account the environment they develop in. CLA IS A CRUCIAL ELEMENT IN LA PROCESS “caretaker talk” is considered vital to LA progress by BRUNER
COGNITIVE APPROACH
Piaget suggested that children can only use certain linguistic structure when they understand the concept involved. Will only understand past tense when they understand the concept of past time.
As they grow they develop and awareness of concepts
