Language Acquisition: Theorists & case studies Flashcards
Instrumental: child trying to fulfil a need
Regulatory: used to control the behaviour of someone
Interactional: used to develop relationships with others
Personal: used to express views & preferences
Heuristic: used to explore the world around you
Imaginative: exploring creatively
Representational: used to exchange information
MK Halliday (1975) Functions of language
His theory proposes that all behaviour is a result of the conditioning we experience rather than any freedom of choice. He proposed that children learn through imitation & introduced the concept of operant conditioning. This was defined as behaviour that is spontaneous but the consequences of which will affect future behaviour. This is then linked to positive and negative reinforcement, ie a child may be praised for using a grammatically accurate sentence. Negative reinforcement would mean the child would not be praised for using an inaccurate sentence & would therefore be less likely to utter it again.
Skinner (1904-90) & Behaviourism
He introduced the concept of a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which went against the traditionally held view that the human brain might be a blank canvas (tabula rasa Aristotle). Chomsky argued that the human brain had a programmed ability to learn language, to work out systems of grammar & syntax (universal grammar). Often, the idea of virtuous errors is used as justification for the LAD: a child makes errors with syntax, grammar & inflections because they’re attempting to apply the rules they recognise from the language around them. ie the child says I swimmed using a logical regular inflection. They are not likely to have heard this from their caregiver & are not, therefore, imitating.
Chomsky (1928….) & nativism
proposed that there were stages through which children progress as their language & thought matured. He focused on cognitive development (a child’s development of thinking & understanding). He suggested that children would not develop until particular stages of cognitive development had been reached. Sensorimotor stage (0-2) Child begins to interact with their environment using their senses & physical movement. The child remains egocentric ( focused on themselves, without understanding or regard for the feelings of others) & an understanding of object permanence ( an understanding that objects exist even when they can’t be seen) appears. Pre-operational stage (2-6/7) Children are learning to speak & developing their imaginative focus. In play they become increasingly capable of representing the world symbolically. A child can remain egocentric & struggle to understand things from points of view not their own. They question frequently to develop an understanding.
The 2 below are much less likely to feature in your transcripts but didn’t want to miss them out!
Concrete operational stage (6/7 - 11/12) Stop being egocentric & are more able to understand other viewpoints and develop logical thought.
Formal operational stage ( 11-16+) No longer encounter problems with logical thought & thinking becomes increasingly abstract.
Piaget believed that a child’s cognitive ability needs to be present in order for their language to reflect this., ie a child couldn’t use comparative adjectives, like small, smaller & smallest without first understanding the concepts of size & scale.
Piaget (1896-1980)
Rejected Chomsky’s LAD & focused his research on the importance of a child’s interaction with caregivers. He suggested the importance of a Language Acquisition Support System LASS which refers to the importance of caregivers & other important participants in a child’s life. Emphasis is placed on the social situations in which a child has countless opportunities to acquire language with the help of significant adults who give meaningful input. He suggested the way carers question, encourage & support the child through scaffolding enables children to gradually develop their speech.
Jerome Bruner (1915. 2016) & social interactionism
He suggested the importance of ‘doing’ for a child to be able to develop & focused on the importance of a caregiver to act as a more knowledgeable other. Through supporting the child by having more knowledge/understanding, the adult can direct the child to move within the zone of proximal development. This is the area just beyond what a child might already be able to do, so the child may venture beyond their current level of ability, whether in language use or academically.
Vygotsky (1896- 1934) & scaffolding
proposed a series of stages in the acquisition of negatives. Children’s first attempt to construct a negative will be to place a negative word at the beginning of the utterance. The second stage sees the negative word move within the body of the utterance. The third stage wll show mastery of attaching negatives to utterances.
Bellugi (1966)
research to explore the extent to which a child can hear the correct pronunciation of words which they are not able to articulate themselves. Their research uses the child’s rejection of an adult using the word fis for fish even though the child articulates the word fis. This leads you to talk more generally about receptive and productive vocabulary.
Berko & Brown 1960 study:
The subjects case seems to challenge nativist theory in that: the subject was locked up with no social interaction between the age of 20 months & 13 years. She was discovered in 1970 & had no speech. Despite interventions, she acquired little speech at a very basic level. No exposure to language at a young age seems to have resulted in a situation where she was no longer able to learn language with the same fluency. One theorist used the term, critical period to describe the time (the first few years of life, the theorist said 5 years) when social interaction & exposure to language was essential in order that a child may gain mastery of language.
Eric Lenneburg and Genie’s case study
investigated the differences between male & female caregivers. She identified that fathers tended to use more commands & teased children more. She also found that fathers referred to mothers should a domestic need arise. Mothers tended to use simpler constructions & were more sensitive/responsive to children. The problem here is that this research is 45 years old & there has been much cultural change domestically since then.
The importance of caregivers using CDS is widely recognised however the phenomenon is not universal. The Kalubi tribe in Papua New Guinea has been identified as not using CDS & yet the children are not developmentally impaired with language development.
Jean Berko Gleason (1975)
studied children’s first words and found they could be categorised according to function. Approx. 60% of first words were nouns used to name people, things or animals. The other 3 categories were verbs, modifiers & personal & social words.
Katharine Nelson ( 1973)
found that there was a link between later vocabulary development in toddlers & continued language issues as they got older. However, fewer words acquired by the age of 2 could also indicate a different barrier, such as deafness or autism.
Leslie Rescorla (2009)
wrote about the labelling, packaging & network-building stages of a child’s acquisition of vocabulary; useful to mention if you identify over/underextension
Jean Aitchison
Sought to test the notion that children have a more sophisticated understanding of language than they have been taught explicitly. The test uses pseudo words like ‘wug’ to ensure no previous exposure. Berko found that children are often able to deduce the plural of a noun which seems to suggest that children have the ability to understand grammar rules & transfer them to other examples.
The Wug test ( Jean Berko 1958)
outlined 5 stages of language development that focused on the child’s grammatical development in terms of morphology (study of words and how they’re formed) & syntax. The appearance of bound & unbound morphemes, MLU (Mean Length of Utterance) & grammatical words that slowly appear are all ways in which grammatical development can be charted.
Roger Brown (1973)
