CLD spoken/general theories

Question 1

What was Aristotle’s theory?

Answer 1

Tabula rasa. It means ‘blank slate’. Aristotle came up with the theory that the human brain works like a blank slate at birth-ready to absorb the information from the world around it.

Question 2

What is Skinner’s theory?

Answer 2

Behaviourist theory- nurture is the most important aspect in a child’s development, crucially when it comes to child/caregiver interactions.

Question 3

What is ‘operant conditioning’ and who coined the term?

Answer 3

Skinner coined this term. Operant conditioning refers to how a caregiver’s response to a child’s utterance can influence how they talk in the future. Links to positive/negative reinforcement.

Question 4

What is positive reinforcement and how can this impact a child?

Answer 4

Positive reinforcement is where a child is praised for their verbal efforts, which will hopefully encourage them to speak similarly in the future.

Question 5

What is negative reinforcement and how can this impact a child?

Answer 5

Correction or perhaps lack of feedback that may prevent a child from making a certain error again. Correcting linguistic issues (as opposed to the truth of the utterance) can be problematic as it may make the child feel stupid and prohibit them from experimenting.

Question 6

Who did Bard and Sachs investigate in 1977 and why is this significant?

Answer 6

Jim- a child of two deaf parents. Jim was able to acquire language, but only with help from a speech therapist. Although he had been exposed to TV and radio, it was not enough for him to acquire language properly

Question 7

Who was Genie and what can we learn from the case?

Answer 7

In 1970, Genie was discovered tied naked at 13 to a potty in her parents’ home. She was never able to acquire language even when she was taken into care. This supports the critical period theory as she was out of this and could not learn language, but there is also a lot of trauma involved, so this should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Question 8

What is the LASS and who proposed it?

Answer 8

Jerome Bruner proposed this. The Language Acquisition Support System places emphasis on the caregiver and their interactions with the child. The suggestion is that quality input with questions and scaffolded responses enables children to gradually develop speech

Question 9

How is Bruner’s theory different from Skinner’s?

Answer 9

While Skinner places emphasis on positive and negative reinforcement, Bruner suggests that there is a need for quality input from caregivers to facilitate learning. While negative reinforcement could be a simple correction, Bruner’s idea could involve more of an explanation from the caregiver

Question 10

What is scaffolding?

Answer 10

Scaffolding is where a caregiver models how speech ought to take place, thus allowing the child to develop their own speech

Question 11

What does it mean to be an egocentric child?

Answer 11

Children are normally egocentric, which means that they are unable to see beyond their own world. They might be more engaged if their learning involved themselves as they are unable to understand the feelings of others

Question 12

What is object permanence?

Answer 12

The general understanding that objects continue to exist even when they can’t be seen or touched

Question 13

What is a virtuous error?

Answer 13

Grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through an incorrect assumption about grammar rules.

Question 14

Who argues the nativist theory with the LAD?

Answer 14

Noam Chomsky

Question 15

What is the LAD?

Answer 15

Language Acquisition Device- proposes that all children were born with the innate ability to learn language

Question 16

Why does the LAD slightly oppose the tabula rasa?

Answer 16

The tabula rasa suggests that the brain is a blank canvas at birth, whereas the LAD suggests that the brain has a programmed ability to learn language

Question 17

What is universal grammar and who coined the term?

Answer 17

Noam Chomsky- universal grammar is the notion that all human language possesses similar grammatical properties that the brain is ‘hard wired’ to decode and use

Question 18

What is CDS?

Answer 18

Child Directed Speech. It refers to the way in which a caregiver (perhaps unconsciously) adapts their speech to aid the child in their language development

Question 19

What is an expansion?

Answer 19

Where a caregiver might develop the child’s utterance to make it more grammatically complete

Question 20

What is a recast?

Answer 20

The grammatically incorrect utterance of a child is spoken back to the child but in the correct form

Question 21

What is a mitigated imperative?

Answer 21

an instruction given in a way that seems more like a gentle suggestion

Question 22

What is MLU?

Answer 22

Mean length of utterance. The average utterance length of speakers calculated by adding up the total number of words spoken and dividing it by the total number of utterances. A broad way of investigating a person’s input and dominance

Question 23

What is a bound morpheme?

Answer 23

Units of meaning that do not make sense on their own (e.g. -est)

Question 24

What is an unbound/free morpheme?

Answer 24

Units of meaning within a word that do not depend on other morphemes to make sense (e.g. light)

Question 25

Who created the Wug Test and when?

Answer 25

Jean Berko in 1958

Question 26

What is the Wug Test?

Answer 26

The Wug test creates words that need to be applied using grammar rules (e.g. this is a wug. If there are two, there are two……. [wugs]). It tests the child’s ability to correctly apply these grammar rules. Berko found that 76% of 4 and 5 year olds were able to deduce that ‘wugs’ would be the plural of the noun ‘wug.’ A child may also be able to correctly transfer a noun into an adjective (a dog with quirks/ a [quirky] dog)

Question 27

What is the ZPD?

Answer 27

Zone of Proximal Development. Describes the area between what a child can already do and that which is beyond their reach. It is the area into which a caregiver might enable the child to progress by offering the necessary support or scaffolding to facilitate learning

Question 28

Who can we credit with the acronyms ‘ZPD’ and ‘MKO’?

Answer 28

Lev Vygotsky

Question 29

What is an MKO?

Answer 29

More Knowledgeable Other. The older participant in an interaction who might offer support to a child so that they can further their own development or learning

Question 30

What was Vygotsky’s main idea?

Answer 30

He emphasised the importance of ‘doing’ and the caregiver acting as an MKO. Through supporting the child from a position of having more knowledge, the adult can direct the child to the ZPD, perhaps using scaffolding to get there.

Question 31

What were Michael Tomasello’s ideas (2003)?

Answer 31

Usage-based model. Language is not a specialist ‘instinct’. Instead, the ability to learn language is primarily social and relies on using the same kinds of cognitive processes as other forms of learning e.g. walking, drawing. By the age of 9-12 months, children make use of a pattern-forming ability (not limited to language) that enables them to learn about the different forms and functions of single words.

Children build generalisations about how these words become larger syntactic constructions. The usage-based model argues that children gradually build templates for grammatical structures based on sensory input and interaction with cartegivers

Question 32

Summarise usage-based linguistics

Answer 32

Language structure emerges from use in that linguistic patterns are formed and become what we know as grammatical constructions

Question 33

Which theorists argue the cognitive theory?

Answer 33

Tomasello and Piaget

Question 34

What/when is the critical period? Who coined the term?

Answer 34

Eric Lenneburg- the critical period is the age at which the child is most receptive to learn language. Lenneburg suggests that this is up to about the age of 5.

Question 35

What was Catherine Garvey’s idea in 1977?

Answer 35

She considered the importance of play and particularly focused on the value of pretend play, which can help vocabulary growth. Her publication was called ‘Play, the Developing Child’

Question 36

What did Susan Ervin Tripp argue in 1991?

Answer 36

She built on Garvey’s ideas surrounding play. She identified that children can learn together and work collaboratively in a way that does not occur in adult-child interactions.

Question 37

What did Susan Ervin Tripp argue in 1991?

Answer 37

She built on Garvey’s ideas surrounding play. She identified that children can learn together and work collaboratively in a way that does not occur in adult-child interactions. She also made the point that imaginative play is critical for children to experiment with language in unfamiliar and different ways