Child Language Acquisition Theories
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- Created on: 20-11-17 15:50
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- Child Language Acquisition Theories
- Behaviourism
- B.F. Skinner
- All behaviour is a result of the conditioning we experienced rather than any freedom of choice
- Operant Conditioning - the idea that either a positive or negative response given by a caregiver can influence the way in which a child talks on future occasions
- Positive Reinforcement - the positive feedback given to a child which is thought to encourage similar performance again
- Negative Reinforcement - correction or negative feedback that that might prevent a child from making the same error repeatedly
- Children are more likely to be corrected on the truth of their statement rather than the linguistic accuracy
- There is evidence to suggest that children do not respond to correction and that it can actually hamper their development
- Children do not produce the Standard English sentences you might expect from imitation
- Children learn through imitation and operant conditioning
- Nativism
- Noam Chomsky
- Opposes Skinner's behaviourist theory
- Language Acquisition Device - a proposed idea that all humans are born with an innate language learning capacity
- Universal Grammar - the notion that all human languages possess similar grammatical properties which the brain is 'hard-wired; to be able to decode and use
- Virtuous Errors - grammatical errors that are understandable and logical through incorrect assumption being made about grammar rules
- Went against Aristotle's view that the human brain is a Tabula Rasa
- The human brain has a naturally programmed ability to learn language
- a child makes errors in their grammar, inflections and syntax because they are attempting to apply the rules that they recognised from the language around them
- Does not place sufficient importance on the role of caregivers in influencing language
- chilldren who lack sufficient exposure to alnguage and interaction will never really catch up
- Stages of Development
- Four stages through which children progress as their language and thoughts mature
- Sensorimotor Stage
- Child begins to interact with the built environment
- Child remains egocentric but an understanding of object permanence appears
- 0-2 Years
- Pre-Operational Stage
- Characterised by a child learning to speak and developing their imaginative focus
- Become capable of representing the world symbollically
- 2-6/7 Years
- Remains egocentric and struggles to understand things from others' points of view
- Ask questions frequently and start to develop understanding
- Concrete Operational Stage
- 6/7-11/12 Years
- Stops being egocentric
- Begins to understand the PoV of others
- Become more capable of logical thought
- Formal Operational Stage
- 11-16+ Years
- There will no longer be a problem with logical thought and thinking becomes increasingly abstract
- Children develop their own understanding by exploring and questioning the world around them
- at the core of a child's development of understanding is the learning that a child undertakes
- Piaget
- Social Interactionism
- Rejected Chomsky's LAD and focused on the importance of a child's interaction with caregivers
- Language Acquisition Support System - system where the caregivers and other individuals play a key role in a child's language development
- Jerome Bruner
- Places emphasis back on the social situations in which a child takes part
- the way in which carers question, encourage and support the child through scaffolding enables children to gradually develop their speech
- Linked to Vygotsky's scaffolding theory
- Scaffolding
- Lev Vygotsky
- suggested the importance of 'doing' for a child to be able to develop
- Zone of Proximal Development - describes the area between what a child can already do and that which is beyond their reach. It is the area into which a caregiver might enable the child to progress by offering the necessary support or scaffolding to facilitate learning
- Through supporting the child from a position of having more knowledge, the adult can direct the child through the ZPD
- More Knowledgeable Other - the older participant in an interaction who might offer support to a child so that they can further their own development or learning
- Cognitive Lingusitics
- Usage-Based linguistics - a model that emphasises that language structure emerges from use in that linguistic patterns are formed and become what we know as grammatical constructions
- Further rejection of Chomsky's idea of universal grammar
- Michael Tomasello
- Outlines a usage-based model of language acquisition and development
- Arguing against language being special 'instinct'. Instead,
- By the age of 9-12 months children make use of pattern-forming ability, which become the building blocks for various grammatical patterns
- Children build generalisations about how those words form larger syntactic constructions or schemas
- Behaviourism
- Key Theorist
- General Overview
- Key Terms
- Opposition of the Theory
- Other Information
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