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nativists says that a child is born with innate knowledge and a disposition toward language; Linguists, psychologists, and educators have been embroiled in the nature-nurture controversy

According to studies, the human being is innately programmed to release certain language properties at certain developmental ages

Nature or Nurture?

Universals

It is related to the innate controversy since there is the statement that language is universally acquired in the same way and also that the deep structure of language can be common to all languages.

All languages adhere to the principle of assigning meaning to the order of the words, then depending on the specific language I specify the variants in the order of the words such as: subject, verb, object, etc.

the child's task of learning the language is manageable due to certain naturally occurring limitations, this is known as the principle of structural dependence

Systematicity and Variability

Children exhibit a remarkable ability to infer the structural, lexical and semantic phonological system of language, however there is variability in the learning process.

Language and Thought

the relationship between language and cognition has been investigated; Cognition is too mentalistic, however, according to Piaget (1972), who stated that cognitive development is at the very center of the human organism and that language depends on and arises from cognitive development (43).

Another contribution was that of Vygotsky (1962, 1978), who also differed from Piaget in that social interaction, the language of the thighs, is a prerequisite for cognitive development (43).

Limitation

children are good at imitating and it is one of the strategies used by the child for language acquisition.

Limitation of the surface structure: refers to the strings of the surface (phonological code, rather than a semantic code)

superficial limitation: occurs in the early stages of learning where sounds are imitated without understanding the meaning

First language acquisition insights applied to language teaching

The learning of the second language must be the same as the first, that is, with a lot of interaction, active oral, spontaneous use of the language, little analysis of grammatical rules, etc.

direct method

translation method

series method

language learning is a matter of transforming perceptions into conceptions.

THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

theories of first language adquisition

children make attempts to imitate the words and speech sounds they hear around them, and as time goes by their vocabulary multiplies and by two years children acquire a more sophisticated language

behavioral approaches

By the age of three, children can understand a great deal of linguistic information, expand their vocabulary and sharpen communication skills at school

language is a fundamental part of human behavior

According to Skinner, verbal behavior is controlled by its consequences, when the consequences are rewarding, the behavior is maintained and increases in strength and perhaps in frequency. when the consequences are punishing or when there is a complete lack of reinforcement, the behavior weakens and eventually becomes esting.

For example, when a child tells his father that he wants milk and he gives it to him, this rewarding consequence causes the behavior to remain.

challenges to behavioral approaches and the nativist approach

Imitation is an important and essential aspect, however the child's creativity and the interactive nature of language acquisition play a very important role.

we are born with a genetic capacity that predisposes us to a systematic perception of the language that surrounds us, the existence of the innate properties of language to explain the child's mastery of narrative language in such a short time despite the abstract nature of language rules

Innate knowledge according to Chomsky is embedded in a small metaphorical black box in the brain, a language acquisition device

4 innate linguistic properties

1. the ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment.

2. ability to organize linguistic data in various classes that can then be refined.

3. knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not

4. the ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of the available linguistic inputs