Language Flashcards
Explain the Nativist Theory of Language
Language theory proposed by Noam Chomsky stating that language development is an innate biological / genetic ability that humans are pre-programmed to possess.
- Suggests that humans have innate linguistic abilities that assist them in language acquisition
Describe some of the evidence Chomsky provided supporting his theory.
1) Even under extreme conditions, people can still acquire language
- although studies of neglected children that never learned to speak until adolescence demonstrated that there is a critical period
2) The fact that language centers are localized in the brain provide neurological evidence
- Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
3) Even though children hear imperfect grammer and incorrect sentences, they are still able to learn the language correctly
- fact that children learn languages so rapidly during early development hints there is underlying mechanism that allows this
Define Language Acquisition Device
The LAD concept is a purported instinctive mental capacity which enables an infant to acquire and produce language. It is a component of the nativist theory of language.
Explain mother-tongue acquisition
proposed by Chomsky; he thought that children begin listening to you while in the womb
- has been proven to be true
– so use good grammer while pregnant
Explaine Caretaker talk
Phenomena where people speak to children in a simple and repetitive way
Explain the Theory of Universal Grammer
all languages share similar structure because of common grammer rules and pattern we can learn how to speak w/o every being taught formally
Explain the Interactionist Theory (Social Interactionist Theory)
Language acquired and perfected by interactions between people
- social interactionists feel nurture plays a major role in language production rather than nature, but there are definitely biological contributors to language production
- based on the social cognitive model - observational learning, our cognition is shaped by our interactions
- child’s social circle is crucial in developing child’s language skills
Explain Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural model as it pertains to language development.
Sociocultural theory is an emerging theory in psychology that looks at the important contributions that society makes to individual development. Sociocultural theory also suggests that human learning is largely a social process.
- Child observes social circle communicating and develops ability to do what he observed
Explain discovery based learning and how it pertains to language acquisition
Discovery Learning was introduced by Jerome Bruner, and is a method of Inquiry-Based Instruction. This popular theory encourages learners to build on past experiences and knowledge, use their intuition, imagination and creativity, and search for new information to discover facts, correlations and new truths.
- children begin building a foundation upon which to structure later communication at an early age
Explain the relationship between language and cognition.
Language acquisition can strengthen cognition
- it broadens perspectives of the world, improves understanding of own language and increases vocabulary
– when childrean learn words they not only learn vocab, but concepts
— by understanding what a dog is, they begin to develop concepts of how dogs, cats, etc. are different from one another
Explain the relationship between poverty and cognition.
children of low socioeconomic families usually perform more poorly than children of higher SES on cognitive tasks
- high performing children usually have parents that talk to them a lot
- possible that low SES parents are working more jobs and don’t have time to speak with children as much
Define Broca’s Area
area in the brain responsible for forming speech and is located in the left frontal lobe. If damaged, they will have problems speaking properly, but can understand others. (aphasia)
Define Wernicke’s area
area in left temporal lobe responsible for language comprehension. If damaged, they can speak fluently, but their words will be gibberish.
