Language Acquisition

Language Acquisition

1. Behaviourist - Skinner

   • Develops concept of language through environmental factors around them
     • Associate words with meanings
   • Positive reinforcement. eg. 'milk' receives drink and praise.
     • Shows how they understand the value of a certain word

2. Social Learning Theory - Bandura

   • Imitate language from a role model
   • Social animals need to communicate
   • Observe grammatical skills
   • Retain and recall
   • E.g. Emphasise sylabbles and how to pronounce a word.
     • Ask them to recall

3. Biological

   • Lenneberg - Critical Period Hypothesis
     • Age 2 to end of puberty is when language functions develeop
     • Innate ability to learn language
       • Inherited ability to communicate to otehrs
     • If they don't learn language in the critical period then they never will
     • After puberty = brain's organisation is set = unadaptable
     • E.g. encourage children to include certain words and encourage correct pronounciation
   • Chomsky - Language Acquisition Device
     • Innate capability to learn different human languages = Inherited
     • Child has certain language structures imprinted within their brain
       • Places principles of language and grammar in the brain
     • Innate ability to speak their native language when exposed to it
       • Children should fluently speak their language by the age of 6. Regardless of IQ.
     • E.g. Expose children to new words
   • Genetics - inherited

4. Cognitive - Piaget

   • Use of cognitions- learning a word then relating it to real life
     • Process the meaning and relation in their mind
   • Concept of language through adaptation
     • Achieved through assimilation and accommodation
       • Assimilation: Absorbs info and makes it make sense
       • Accommodation: Fit something to their understanding
     • Classification: categorise words = help understand
   • E.g. provide the child with language to absorb (assimilation)
     • Change it to fit their level of understanding (accommodation)

5. Feral Children

   • Genie
     • Feral, unsocialised 13 yr old
       • Locked in a small room, tied to a potty
     • Physically abused if made a noise
       • In rehabilition she was unable to use communication effectively
         • Support Lennerberg = Can't acquire language after 12
     • Challenges Chomsky = Not innate
     • Unsure if she has any cognitive defects before
   • Victor
     • 12 yrs = foraging the woods eating raw rotten food
     • Supports Lennerberg : Can't develop after 12
     • Challenges Bandura: Observing others didn't work
     • Challenges Piaget: Didn't assimilate or accommodate
   • Totally isolated from human contact
     • No experience of human langauge