Theories of language acquisition ! Flashcards
Behaviourism: Skinner
suggested that language is acquired solely by observing and imitating the behaviour of others. Positive/negative reinforcement (operant conditioning) from parents supports the learning process. Children do indeed acquire the accent of their primary caregiver, and may repeat those lexemes heard most often.
Nativism: Chomsky
believed that humans are born with a Language Acquisition Device. This is a part of the brain evolutionarily pre-programmed with every grammatical feature possible. As the child hears people speaking around them, the LAD will turn on/off the principles and parameters relevant to their native language.
Lenneberg (1967)
promoted the idea of a critical period for language acquisition. Based on the cases of isolated individuals like Genie, it may well be that the LAD must have input within a limited time-frame in order to process language correctly.
What is LAD supported by
Chomsky believed that virtuous errors were a logical byproduct of, and proved the existence of, an LAD. His theory is further supported by linguistic universals observed across all languages, and the fact that children across the world go through similar stages of language development.
Interactionist theory: Bruner
argued that humans are social creatures who learn through their social environment. It called this the ‘Language Acquisition Support System’, which is different for every child.
Bruner- supported by
His theory is supported by the fact that children with a poor linguistic environment tend to start school with inferior language skills !
Zone of Proximal Development: Vygotsky
theorised that children learn language by interacting with a more skilled partner, who can provide them with an intellectual scaffold. This may explain why children won’t respond to or repeat corrections. Vygotsky asserted that internal mediators were crucial, e.g. inner speech, imagination and pretend play
Cognitive theory: Piaget
proposed that a child cannot learn a word until s/he understands the concept it represents, e.g. object permanence, time, relative sizes. Interaction with peers is imperative, namely through playgroups and imaginative play. Piaget was also interested in egocentric speech, which children grow out of as their experiences widen.
Berko and Brown (1960): Fis phenomenon
babies hear others correctly even if they m don’t pronounce a word correctly themselves
What theory supports Piaget- children don’t learn words unless they understand the concept behind them
Spelke - infants find these categories easiest to understand, Cohesion: clearly defined in shape! Continuity: doesn’t disappear! Solidity: is solid!
Contact: doesn’t have a life of its own!
Another theory to support Piaget
Eva Clarke found that common adjectives are more likely to be included in the child’s
first 50 words than spacial adjectives !
Crystal
Overall Crystal’s theory was that children learn in amorphous stages by trial and error to successfully learn the language. They learn in stages of grammar, different types of questioning e.g. intonation and recognising the rhythms of voices.
Aitchinson
In 1987, she identified three stages that occur during a child’s acquisition of vocabulary: labeling, packaging and network building.
Piaget Stages
Sensori-motor, pre-operational stage, concrete operational stage, formal operational stage
Piaget sensor I motor
Sensori-motor Stage (0 – 2 years) Baby can differenciate from self and objects Parent: Where’s the ball? Child: *points to ball* Ball! P: Yess! And now where’s Tommy? C: *points to self* P: Yesss!
