Language Development (Human Behaviour) Flashcards
Explain the idea of the “language acquisition device”
A nativist argument that:
Children are biologically programmed with a LAD, Language Acquisition Device.
A device for deriving a language from limited experience
Input: experience -> LAD -> output: language
Describe “child-directed speech” and why it is used
Interactionism argument:
Characterised by a slower rate of delivery, higher pitch, more varied intonation, shorter, simpler sentence patterns, stress on key words, frequent repetition, and paraphrase. Furthermore, topics of conversation emphasize the child’s immediate environment… Adults often repeat the content of a child’s utterance, but they expand or recast it into a grammatically correct sentence” (Lightbown and Spada, 2013: p. 26).
- Uses vocabulary tailored to developmental stage
- Focuses on child’s interests
- Literal and concrete, rather than metaphorical and abstract
What’s the point?
- Easier for the child to understand
- Maintains the child’s attention
- Provides “scaffolding”: Support till they can stand on their own.
- As learning a language is incremental
Describe the process of language development in pre-school years
By age 1:
- Recognise own name
- Says a few words
- Follows simple instructions e.g. Mum says wave bye-bey
By age 2:
- Uses around 20 words.
- Uses two-word sentences, including names.
- Makes desires known.
- Example: Child says, “Michael drink.”
By age 3:
- Uses around 450 words.
- Uses short sentences.
- Identifies body parts.
- Answers “where?” questions.
- Forms some plurals.
- Example: Child says, “My foots hurt.”
By age 4:
- Tells stories.
- Uses around 1,000 words.
- Uses 5-word sentences.
- Knows last name, name of street, nursery rhymes.
By age 5:
- Uses past tense.
- Uses 1,500 words.
- Asks questions.
- Identifies colours and shapes.
- Example: Child says, “why?”… “why?”…
(Woolfolk et al., 2013: p. 64.)
They learn to distinguish words.
They learn to pronounce words.
They learn the meaning of words and sentences.
They learn grammar.
They learn pragmatics.
(locution react vs illocution react)
How & Theories
Nurture: Behaviourism (Skinner, 1957).
Nature: Nativism (Chomsky, 1959).
A bit of both: Interactionism (Bruner, 1983).
Something about language might be innate to all humans
Behaviourism
- Children observe others’ speech behaviour
- They imitate this behaviour
- Their behaviour is reinforced or punished
- They form habits on the basis of this practice
Problems:
- Poverty of the stimulus argument; the evidence children get from experience seems very limited
- Children rarely have their speech explicitly corrected
“The language children are exposed to includes false starts, incomplete sentences, and slips of the tongue, and yet they learn to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences” (Lightbown and Spada, 2013: p. 20).
- In particular, a language contains an infinite number of sentences.
- But our evidence is necessarily only finite.
(Radford et al., 2009 p.4.)
- Languages seem too complex to be learned by experience, especially when you consider the limitations of the evidence
Another problem is that children go beyond mere imitation.
- They generalize from examples.
- And thereby come up with phrases on their own.
- Example: “My foots hurt.”
Nativism:
Language is in some sense innate
Children are biologically programmed with a LAD, Language Acquisition Device.
A device for deriving a language from limited experience
Problems for nativism explanation
- It seems too focused on the individual language learner
- Social interactions seems to help language learning
Bruner: “Every LAD needs a LASS”
LASS = Language Acquisition Support System
Interactionism:
Agrees “that humans are biologically prepared for language in a way that other species are not. However, they see the environment as an important part of language development too. Jerome Bruner (1983) for example believed that the way language is presented to children helps them to engage with it more easily. He labelled the way that adults talk to infants … ‘child-directed speech’” (Woolfolk, et al., 2013: p. 65)
Discuss implications for doctor-child communication
Child-directed tips:
- Creates a positive communication environment
Top tips:
- Serve and return
- Non-verbal communication (eye contact, arm crossing, body language)
- Use of first names
Gauge level of child’s language development to tailor communication:
- Ask questions yourself;
- Monitor the child’s responses;
- Ask them to repeat the information back
Tailoring:
- Think about your vocabulary;
- Think about your sentence length and complexity;
- Think about the time you’re giving them to respond
More tips:
- Encourage them to ask questions;
- Keep their attention;
- Pause between instructions;
- Ask one question at a time;
- Keep it literal and concrete
