Theories of Language Acquisition

Theories of Language Acquisition

1. Noam Chomsky (1950s-present)

   • Babies are born with an innate knowledge of language structure
   • Unique LAD (Language Acquisition Device) enable us to learn language.
   • Genie and feral children support the critical period hypothesis.
     • Critical period hypothesis = language needs to be acquired within a certain time frame.
   • Some interaction is necessary for language development
   • Children stop overgeneralising and learn to use language correctly.
   • Children deprived of social contact can't achieve complete communicative competence.
   • Most linguists believe there must be something innate in a child.
     • What is innate?
       • Content
         • Primary linguistic data (speech around child)
           • Innate specific knowledge about language
             • Internal grammar
               • Speech
       • Process
         • Primary linguistic data (speech around child)
           • Innate puzzle solving equipment
             • Internal grammar
               • Speech
   • Children internalise language rules and overgeneralise e.g: walked, ambled, throwed
   • Wug experiment (1985) - Jean Berko-Gleason
     • Supports Chomsky's idea of LAD
     • Gave 4-5 yr olds a picture of an imaginary creature called a wug
       • 3/4s of children formed the regular plural "wugs" when shown a picture of more than one creature.
   • Nativist approach - humans have an inbuilt capacity to acquire language
   • Universal grammar AKA linguistic universals - the explanation that all world languages share the principles of grammar despite surface differences in lexis and phonology.

2. B.F Skinner (1957)

   • Children learn to speak through imitation of parents
   • Children receive rewards/punishments according to the accuracy of utterances.
   • His theory has only been tested on animals.
   • Children do more than just imitate
     • They can hear ungrammatical spoken language but learn correct language
   • Children don't respond to correction and it might slow development.
   • They imitate but don't necessarily understand meaning.
   • Wrote Verbal Behaviour in 1957
   • Operant conditioning theory

3. Lev Vygotsky (1962)

   • Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice.
   • ZPD = Zone of Proximal Development
     • Level of development attained when children engage in social behaviour.
     • Gap between what they know and what they can potentially achieve via socialisation with peers/adults.
   • First utterances are to communicate but once mastered they become internalised and allow inner speech.
   • Cognitive development is limited to a certain range at any given age
   • Social interactionist theory
   • You socialise and it helps develop your cognitive abilities.
   • MKO = More Knowledgeable Other
     • Someone with a better understanding than the learner.

4. Bruner

   • Brought Vygotsky's ideas into the Western world.
   • Crucial techniques: pre-verbal exchanges, games and ritualised scenarios
     • Scenarios e.g: eating a meal, having a bath
       • Child gradually moves from passive to active and can predict language because of the consistent context.
     • Adult and infant can have conversations even if the child's non-verbal.
     • Scaffolding = interactional support structured by the adult to help the child develop.
     • Language Acquisition Support System = children need social intervention to learn things like turn-taking, politeness ect.
       • 4 phase structure in the mother's interaction with the child.
         • 1. Gaining attention
         • 2. Query
         • 3. Label
         • 4. Feedback
     • Adults change language to scaffold child's learning through Child-Directed Speech

5. Piaget

   • Cognitive theory
   • Children are born with basic mental structure which enables them to acquire language
   • Focuses on development. Doesn't address learning.
   • Gradual increase in number and complexity of behaviours
   • It's about developmental stages
   • Children will learn to speak "naturally" with little intervention.
   • Language development goes hand in hand with intellectual development
     • E.g: must understand past tense concept to use it correctly
     • E.g: acquiring morphemes beginning with the participle "-ing", then "in", "on, "-s" and finally forms of the verb "to be".
   • Berko-Brown (1960)
     • The fis phenomenon
       • The child knows what the correct pronounciation for fish is but can't articulate it
       • The child responds to fish but not fis
       • Supports the idea that children will produce certain forms when they're "ready".

6. How should I write about theory?

   • "The data appears to challenge the ideas of..."
   • Virtuous error - the mistakes children make by overgeneralisation. They've learnt a rule but are applying it in the wrong situation.
   • Start with data and then say what theorists would think
   • Behaviourist approach (Skinner)
   • Nativist approach (Chomsky) - about innateness
   • Use epistemic modal verbs ie: could