The ‘Big Five’

Question 1

Who created the behaviourist theory?

Answer 1

Skinner

Question 2

What is the behaviourist theory?

Answer 2

Skinner believed that children learn language thanks to the interventions of adults (primarily their caregivers/parents)! And they imitate them.
He believed that children learned via a process called operant conditioning and gradually this process leads children to using the correct forms of language, and avoiding incorrect ones.

Question 3

What is operant conditioning?

Answer 3

If children use language correctly, they get positive reinforcement (praise, the desired outcome…) and if they use language incorrectly, they get negative reinforcement ( corrections, they don’t get the desired outcome…)

Question 4

Points for skinners theory

Answer 4

It acknowledges the role of adults in developing children’s language.
Children often initiate adults’ accents, vocabulary and phrases (sometimes without understanding it)

Question 5

Points against skinners theory

Answer 5

Not all adults actively correct children, yet they still develop at an expected rate.
Children are capable of using correct grammar etc. even though their parents may not.
Children use language they’ve never heard anyone else say, such as overgeneralisations - they innovate, not just imitate!

Question 6

Who created the nativism and the language acquisition device (LAD) theory?

Answer 6

Noam Chomsky

Question 7

What is the LAD theory?

Answer 7

Chomsky suggested that the ability to learn language is innate (inbuilt) and that in a way, we are all born with a pre-programmed ability to learn grammatical structures. He points to the fact that all human languages share similar principles of grammar, despite their surface differences.

Question 8

Points for Chomsky’s theory

Answer 8

Stages of language development suggest that language is innate- children with different mother tongues develop at similar rates.
Virtuous errors (grammatical mistakes) ‘I goed’ ‘there were two fishes’ etc… show children applying grammatical rules for themselves.

Question 9

Points against Chomsky’s theory

Answer 9

Chomsky underplays the importance of caregivers- evidence suggests that children who lack adult interaction at a young age never fully develop linguistically (Feral children).

Question 10

Chomsky’s response to the point against him

Answer 10

He talks about a critical period that says if the connections aren’t made at an early age then they will be used for a different reason.

Question 11

Who created the social interactionist theory

Answer 11

Bruner (and Vygotsky)

Question 12

What is the social interactionist theory?

Answer 12

Bruner highlights the importance of adults taking an active role in children’s development - he saw adults as creating ritualised activities which provide structured opportunities for children to practise language (‘peek-a-boo’, bedtime stories, asking ‘what’s that?’ on a walk etc…’
He also refers to the support that adults put in place as scaffolding (we support when children need it and take it away as they learn to do it themselves)
He calls this support that adults put in place the Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

Question 13

What idea did Bruner build on?

Answer 13

He built on the ideas of Vygotsky’s ‘Zone of proximal development’ which is where adults pitch their their own language at the level just above what the child can currently do, in order to encourage children to make progress in small, incremental steps

Question 14

Points for Bruner’s theory

Answer 14

Adults tend to adapt their language when speaking to children (child directed speech (LASS)) and children learn politeness and turn taking etc from adults

Question 15

Points against Bruner’s theory

Answer 15

Studies have shown that children raised without child directed speech features (in countries such as Papa New Guinea) learn language at similar rates to everyone else

Question 16

Who created the cognitivist theory?

Answer 16

Piaget

Question 17

What is the cognitivist theory?

Answer 17

This theory links children’s brain development with their language development, basically a child will only use language once they understand the concept.

Question 18

What are the stages of Piaget’s theory?

Answer 18

1. Sensorimotor stage - children interact with the world physically, and their language reflects these physical elements (concrete nouns, names etc…)
2. Pre-operational stage - imagination develops, therefore imaginative language and play develops / language is egocentric - they struggle to understand others’ points of view so questioning develops
3. Concrete operational stage - children stop being egocentric and are able to understand other points of view and can use logical (concrete) thought and language
4. Formal operational - abstract reasoning develops, as does abstract language

Question 19

Points for piaget’s theory

Answer 19

Stages of development suggest that children gradually acquire language as they develop their understanding of the world.
Around 18 months, the concept of object-permanence develops and children’s vocabulary massively increases , suggesting they now need words to describe objects which will continue to exist.

Question 20

Points against Piaget’s theory

Answer 20

Children develop at different rates

Children can use language they don’t yet understand

Question 21

Which theorist added to Piaget’s theory?

Answer 21

Eve Clark

Question 22

What did Eve Clark add?

Answer 22

She found that common adjectives were often found in children’s first 50 words, but spatial adjectives only occurred later on.
Children will use adjectives such as ‘big’, but won’t use ‘thick’, ‘thin’, ‘wide’ or ‘narrow’ as they don’t understand these abstract concepts

Question 23

Who created the usage based model theory?

Answer 23

Tomasello

Question 24

what is the usage based model theory?

Answer 24

This is the idea that children only learn language by using language for themselves in the real world- they don’t have pre-existing linguistic skills.
Children will develop an understanding of patterns in others’ behaviour and will start to interact with them in a cooperative manner, one aspect of this is joint attention (an adult and child working together, usually involves a shared visual gaze)

Question 25

What approach does Tomasello emphasise?

Answer 25

A ‘bottom up’ / ‘building block’ approach to language development- the child actively builds and then uses templates for grammatical structures based on an interaction with caregivers.

Question 26

Which theorist does Tomasello totally disagree with?

Answer 26

Chomsky and his LAD theory

Question 27

Points for Tomasello’s theory

Answer 27

Children do interact with adults and create joint attention.
Children will often mimic whole ‘blocks’ of language rather than applying grammatical rules -eg idioms (it’s raining cats and dogs etc…)

Question 28

Points against Tomasello’s theory

Answer 28

Autistic children sometimes are able to use language in a very advanced way, but tend to avoid joint attention.