Language

Question 1

What are the three domains of language development?

Answer 1

• Syntax
• Semantics
• Pragmatics

Question 2

What does LAD stand for?

Answer 2

Language Acquisition Device

Question 3

What does LASS stand for?

Answer 3

Language Acquisition Support System

Question 4

What does successful communication require us to do?

Answer 4

1) Perceive and produce the sounds that make up a language and convey meanings to others
2) Know what the words of a language mean
3) Know how to put these words together in grammatically appropriate ways
4) Know how to effectively use our language to communicate with others

Question 5

What is phonology?

Answer 5

The study of how we produce meaningful sounds

Question 6

Define semantics.

Answer 6

The study of word meaning and how we acquire a vocabulary.

Question 7

Define grammar.

Answer 7

The rules of a language.

Question 8

What is pragmatics?

Answer 8

The study of how we use language to achieve communicative goals.

Question 9

How did Watson believe classical conditioning related to language acquisition?

Answer 9

Watson suggested that language is learned through interaction with the environment:

Stimulus-Response
(Hear a word-Repeat the word)

Question 10

How did Skinner believed operant conditioning related to language acquisition?

Answer 10

Skinner believed that language was learnt through stimulus - response - reinforcement. Rewards result in repeating, punishment results in avoidance.

Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement
Hear a word-Repeat the word-Praise for getting it right

Question 11

What did Bandura believe about language?

Answer 11

Bandura believed that language is learned through observation and imitation. Additionally, if a sibling or peer was witnessed being rewarded for appropriate language use, the child was more likely to copy the behaviour.

Question 12

What did Noam Chomsky believe about language as a biologically based theory?

Answer 12

Humans are born pre-programmed with an innate ability to develop language.

Question 13

Why did Chomsky believe that some aspects of language had to be innately specified?

Answer 13

He believed that the rules which underpin language are too complex to be acquired by children in a few short years.

Question 14

What is the language acquisition device?

Answer 14

A language organ hardwired into the brain, allowing children to understand the rules of language and grammar.

Question 15

What did Chomsky term universal grammar?

Answer 15

A set of features common to all languages, contained in the language acquisition device. This refers to the entire set of rules - or linguistic parameters - which specify all possible human languages.

Question 16

What does Chomsky believe the optimal learning age for language is?

Answer 16

3 to 10 years. After 10 it is difficult or even impossible to completely understand and grasp language.

Question 17

What do interactionist theorists believe about language?

Answer 17

That children have a strong biological predisposition to acquire a language.

Question 18

What are interactionist theories concerned with in respect of language?

Answer 18

The interplay between environmental and biological factors in the process of acquiring language.

Question 19

What do interactionists stress the importance of in respect of language development?

Answer 19

Both the social support that parents provide the child, as well as the social contexts in which a child is instructed.

Question 20

Who argued that parents provide a language acquisition support system (LASS)?

Answer 20

Bruner, 1983

Question 21

What is the language acquisition support system?

Answer 21

A collection of strategies that parents employ to facilitate their child’s acquisition of language.

Question 22

What is scaffolding (in respect of language acquisition)?

Answer 22

The deliberate use of language at a level slightly above the child’s own comprehension

Question 23

With parental support, what can scaffolding lead to (in respect of language acquisition)?

Answer 23

The child acquiring complex language more quickly than they might alone.

Question 24

What is motherese?

Answer 24

Infant directed speech, delivered in a higher pitch, at a slower pace and with important words stressed.

Question 25

True or false: young infants show a clear preference for motherese (infant directed speech)

Answer 25

True

Question 26

What is the expansion technique?

Answer 26

When an adult takes a child’s speech and expands on its complexity (e.g. ‘Yes, that’s right, Joey did eat a biscuit’)

Question 27

What is the recasting technique?

Answer 27

When a parent corrects aspects of a child’s grammar (e.g. Joey eated a biscuit is recast as ‘Joey ate a biscuit’)

Often used with expansion, e.g. ‘Joey eated a biscuit’ is recast and expanded to: ‘Yes, that’s right. Joey ate a biscuit.’