L1 Acquisition

Question 1

Define Imitation Theory

Answer 1

Children learn their L1 through imitation of adult speech
language acquisition consists of memorising the words and sentences of some language

Question 2

What contradicts Imitation Theory?

Answer 2

Children make “errors” of many types despite not hearing those “errors”, and may not repeat the sentence structure.
They are also able to produce and understand new sentences never heard or seen

Question 3

Define Reinforcement Theory

Answer 3

children are praised, awarded, positively reinforced when they produce right forms, and are corrected when they say something that sounds “wrong” to adults

Question 4

What contradicts Reinforcement Theory?

Answer 4

even when adults try to correct the child’s grammar, the attempts usually fail
however most corrections have to do with accuracy or truth of the statement more

Question 5

Define Innateness Hypothesis

Answer 5

Humans are genetically predisposed to acquire and use language
Babies are born with the knowledge that languages have patterns and also with the ability to seek out these patterns

Question 6

What challenges Innateness Hypothesis?

Answer 6

there is likely to be a “critical period” that is crucial for L1 acquisition

Question 7

Define Hypothesis on baby talk

Answer 7

children acquire their L1 because adults speak to them in a special “simplified” language called child-directed speech, or motherese, or baby talk

Question 8

Name the stages of L1 acquisition

Answer 8

• before 6 months: cooing (vowels)
• 6-12 months: babbling (combination of vowels and consonants + gestures)
• 12-18 months: one-word stage (single terms are recognised)
• 18-24 months: two-word stage
• 24-48 months: telegraphic speech and beyond (string of words in phrases, and sentence-building capacity)

Question 9

Define critical period hypothesis

Answer 9

there is a “critical period” of time in children during which language must be acquired, and that acquisition will fail if it is attempted after this period