CTEL 1 Flashcards
critical period hypothesis
there is a period of growth in which full native competence is possible when acquiring a language. This period is from early childhood to adolescence. The critical period hypothesis has implications for teachers and learning programmes, but it is not universally accepted.
linguistic learning theory
or innatist theory
Chomsky’s linguistic theory states that we are born with an innate ability to learn language, and with little guidance, children will naturally learn language. Chomsky argues we must be born with a language acquisition device, an area in our brains that makes learning language a natural event.
Stages of Language Development
According to linguistic theory, there are three main stages of language acquisition:
The Babbling Stage
One Word Stage (age one)
Two Word Stage (age two years)
Criticisms of Linguistic Theory
One of the most striking limitations of Chomsky’s work is that it is purely theoretical and it does not draw on empirical studies with children.
Another key limitation of the innatist theory is that it lacks neuroscientific evidence.
behavior theory
a branch of psychology that focuses on how people learn through their interactions with the environment. It is based on the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning, which is a process of reinforcement and punishment.
classical conditioning
involves the pairing of two stimulus events, typically a neutral conditioned stimulus (CS), and an unconditioned stimulus (US). That an association between these two events is learned is reflected in the acquisition of a conditioned response (CR) to the CS.
operant conditioning
a learning method that uses rewards and punishments to modify behavior.
Criticisms of Skinner’s Language Theory
One of the most pressing limitations of behaviorism is its purely deterministic view of language acquisition.
The behaviorist theory fails to account for fast mapping, the rapid acquisition of vocabulary that unfolds in early childhood.
Chomsky pointed out that language usage is overwhelmingly independent of reinforcement.
cognitive learning theory
Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age two)
Preoperational Stage (ages two to seven)
Concrete Operational Stage (ages seven to around eleven)
Formal Operational Stage (ages twelve onward)
Criticisms of Cognitive Theory
increasing difficulty to find links between intellectual learning and language development as a child gets older. It is also limiting to view language acquisition as a response to environmental factors alone.
Interactionist theory
combines ideas from sociology and biology to explain how language is developed. According to this theory, children learn language out of a desire to communicate with the world around them. Language emerges from, and is dependent upon, social interaction.
Criticisms of the Interactionist Theory
a critical limitation is that children in many cultures progress through the same stages of language acquisition regardless of the behaviors of their caregivers. Additionally, the assertion that even infants are as intellectually capable as adults elicits pause for many people.
pre-production
During this stage, students have no spoken English skills. They have minimal comprehension and listening skills and often utilize gestures like nodding, pointing, and drawing to explain themselves.
early production
Early production is the second stage of language acquisition for students. In this stage, learners can produce short words and phrases, repeat them after being prompted, and use fixed expressions to communicate.
speech emergent
can produce simple sentences and understands well, but still misinterprets jokes.
intermediate fluency
excellent comprehension and can use more complex grammar fairly accurately
