Child Language Acquisition

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Skinner and behaviourist theory (1957)
MAIN IDEA: Children are conditioned and taught how to respond, children acquire language by imitating the language of others and it being positively/negatively reinforced. Nurture rather than nature.
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Chomsky and nativist theory (1965)
KEY IDEA: Children have an innate ability to acquire language called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD.) There is also 'Universal grammar' which is properties and rules shared by all human languages innate to the brain. Nature not nurture.
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Berko-Gleason and the Wug Test (1958)
Supports Chomsky's idea of universal grammar and children applying grammatical rules they have an innate capacity for knowing. They can apply these rules to language they have never been exposed to e.g. Wugs.
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Piaget and cognitive theory
KEY IDEA: Children acquire language in accordance with cognitive development and increased world experience. To understand language you must be able to understand the relevant concept. There are universal stages of development with key features.
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Sensorimotor stage (up to about 2 years old)
Understanding of object permanence occurs around 18 months and after this there is a sharp increase in vocabulary.
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Pre-operational stage (ages 2-7)
Children show egocentric language- struggle to understand another person's point of view. Use role play and objects can represent something else e.g. a broom as a horse.
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Concrete operational stage (ages 7-11)
Children begin thinking logically about concrete events but have difficulty understanding abstract/hypothetical concepts. Become more sociocentric and begin to understand conservation-something stays the same in quantity even if appearance changes.
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Bruner and social interactionist theory
KEY IDEA: The social environment of a child helps their linguistic development and caregivers play a crucial role. There is a Language Acquisition Support System (LASS) which caregivers use to support children's language.
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LASS
Can be achieved through: Scaffolding- providing conversational material or patterns such as repeated grammatical structure. Framing- controlling conversation agenda or encouraging children to fill in the blanks in utterances. Recasting- rephrasing.
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Vygotsky
KEY IDEA: The zone of proximal development- the distance between what a child can do independently and what they need help with. With assistance from a caregiver child could cross the ZPD and reach the upper limit of their potential.
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Halliday
Children are motivated to develop language because it serves certain purposes or functions for them. There are 7 functions.
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Halliday's Instrumental function
Language used to fulfil a need e.g. 'want milk'
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Halliday's Regulatory function
Language used to tell others what to do e.g. 'pick up'
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Halliday's Interactional function
Language used to develop and maintain social relationships e.g. 'love you'
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Halliday's Personal function
Language used to convey individual opinions, feelings and a sense of identity e.g. 'me like Teletubbies'
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Halliday's Representational function
Language used to convey facts and information e.g. 'that ball green'
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Halliday's Imaginative function
Language used to create an imaginary world, probably seen predominantly in play e.g. 'me dragon'
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Halliday's Heuristic function
Language used to learn about the environment around them e.g. 'what's dat?'
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Aitchinson and stages of linguistic development
Labelling-making links between sounds of words and the objects they refer to. Packaging-Child begins to understand the range of a word's meaning. Network building-child makes connections betweens words and understands similarities/opposite in meaning
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Berko and Brown and the 'fis' test
A child referred to a plastic fish as 'fis' but rejected adult mimicry of this sound. Demonstrates how comprehension of phonological patterns develops more quickly than a child's ability to reproduce them.
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Catherine Nelson (1973)
Identified 4 categories of first words: Naming things/people, Actions/events, Describing/modifying things and Personal/social words. 60% of first words are nouns so fall in the first category.
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Bellugi and stages of negative formations
1) Uses 'no' or 'not' at beginning or end of a sentence. 2) Moves 'no' or 'not' inside the sentence. 3) Securely attaches negative to auxiliaries and the verb 'be.'
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Thompson
Girls are more likely to ask an adult for help in play activities e.g. doing a jigsaw.
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Sachs
Boys more likely to use simple imperatives with playmates whereas girls use less imperatives and more language involving other children in planning.
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Killen and Naigles
Children use less gender-stereotyped lanuage when in mixed sex groups than in single sex groups.
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Amy Sheldon
Girls more likely to negotiate a settlement to play disputes whereas boys more likely to make threats.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Chomsky and nativist theory (1965)

Back

KEY IDEA: Children have an innate ability to acquire language called the Language Acquisition Device (LAD.) There is also 'Universal grammar' which is properties and rules shared by all human languages innate to the brain. Nature not nurture.

Card 3

Front

Berko-Gleason and the Wug Test (1958)

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Piaget and cognitive theory

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Sensorimotor stage (up to about 2 years old)

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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