First Language Acquisition

First Language Acquisition

1. The behaviourist perspective

   • 1. HYPOTHESIS: The child's language behaviour is shaped by:
     • The quality and quantity of the language the child hears.
     • Consistency of the reinforcement offered by others.
   • 2. Imitation and practice are the primary processes in language development.
   • 3. Behaviorism does not explain the acquisition of the more complex grammar that children acquire.
   • 4. Influential figure: B.F. Skinner.

2. The innatist perspective

   • 3. Influential figure: Noam Chomsky.
   • 1. Hypothesis: All human languages are based on some innate universal principles.
     • The environment offers a basic contribution: People who speak to the child.
     • The child's biological endowment.
   • 2. Children discover the underlying rules of a language on the samples of a natural language they are exposed to.

3. Interactionist/developmental perspectives

   • 3. They argue that innatists place too much emphasis on the "final state" of a language and not enough to the developmental aspects of language acquisition.
   • 4. Earliest proponents: Piaget (interaction is the expression of written symbols) and Vygotsky (social interaction results from internalized speech).
   • 1. Hypothesis: Language acquisition is based on both learners´ innate abilities and on opportunities to engage in conversations.
     • Language develops primarily from social interaction.
   • 2. Zone of proximal development: Metaphorical place in which children can do more than they wold be capable of doing independently.