Key Points on First Language Acquisition Theories
B.F. Skinner- Behaviorist
Skinner provided one of the earliest explanations for language acquisition. He proposed a child learns language based on behaviorist reinforcement, meaning that a child who imitates the language of the adults surrounding him/her will most likely be reinforced on his/her utterance through the positive responses of caregivers. For example, a child might say "milk" at which the mother may smile at the child while pouring a glass of milk. When the mother responded to the child's request, the mother is reinforcing the child to continue to learn language so that he/she can communicate needs to others.
Pit Falls To Skinner's Theory
Individuals argued against Skinner, proclaiming that his theory was enough to explain the complexity of language acquisition
Noam Chomsky - Naturalist/Innateness
Chomsky criticized Skinner's theory for he argued that children acquire language and learn infinite numbers of sentences regardless of receiving feed back from others. For example, a parent doesn't constantly praise their child for every new word, phrase, or sentence he/she learns. Consequently, Chomsky proposed the theory of "Universal Grammar: an idea of innate, biological grammatical categories, such as a noun category and a verb category that facilitate" in all languages. This idea of Universal Grammar lead Chomsky to believe that language is an innate with the biological structure of humans brain. He proposed that a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is within human's brains. LAD helps humans understand underlying rules of language and help them acquire the language they are most in contact with. He further stated that children need exposure to activate the LAD by a certain critical age and they can easily take off with the language.
Jean Piaget- Cognitive/ Psychologist
Jean Piaget was a psychologist that study how humans develop cognitively from the time of infancy up into the late age of adulthood. Jean Piaget believed that there are certain stages of development that every individual goes through. The four stages he discussed were Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and formal operational stage. "According to Piaget's theory, all children develop cognitive abilities such as language in each o the four stages" (). Another main aspect of Piaget's theory is that these stages of development could not be rushed despite the persistent training, or presenting of certain information to a child. In other words, it does not matter how often a parent tries to correct a child's mispronunciation of a word; if a child is not cognitively developed to understand the word then they will not quite learn how to correctly pronounce such vocabulary word.
Jerome Bruner- Sociocultrualist/ Interactionist
Bruner believed that in order for humans' to develop language competence, one needs more than just Piaget's and Chomsky's theories to explain the complexity of human language acquisition. He claimed that having a "Language Acquisition Device within the human brain" and "cognitively developing through stages" is not enough of an explanation to fully explains how human's acquire language. Bruner believed that it is crucial for a child to communicate with others, and that interactions develop language. In other words, Bruner argued that humans must receive input from those around them in order to develop language. Input could be the response of a mother when her child says "milk," or simply response of any human when a individual speaks to them.
Skinner provided one of the earliest explanations for language acquisition. He proposed a child learns language based on behaviorist reinforcement, meaning that a child who imitates the language of the adults surrounding him/her will most likely be reinforced on his/her utterance through the positive responses of caregivers. For example, a child might say "milk" at which the mother may smile at the child while pouring a glass of milk. When the mother responded to the child's request, the mother is reinforcing the child to continue to learn language so that he/she can communicate needs to others.
Pit Falls To Skinner's Theory
Individuals argued against Skinner, proclaiming that his theory was enough to explain the complexity of language acquisition
Noam Chomsky - Naturalist/Innateness
Chomsky criticized Skinner's theory for he argued that children acquire language and learn infinite numbers of sentences regardless of receiving feed back from others. For example, a parent doesn't constantly praise their child for every new word, phrase, or sentence he/she learns. Consequently, Chomsky proposed the theory of "Universal Grammar: an idea of innate, biological grammatical categories, such as a noun category and a verb category that facilitate" in all languages. This idea of Universal Grammar lead Chomsky to believe that language is an innate with the biological structure of humans brain. He proposed that a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is within human's brains. LAD helps humans understand underlying rules of language and help them acquire the language they are most in contact with. He further stated that children need exposure to activate the LAD by a certain critical age and they can easily take off with the language.
Jean Piaget- Cognitive/ Psychologist
Jean Piaget was a psychologist that study how humans develop cognitively from the time of infancy up into the late age of adulthood. Jean Piaget believed that there are certain stages of development that every individual goes through. The four stages he discussed were Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete Operational, and formal operational stage. "According to Piaget's theory, all children develop cognitive abilities such as language in each o the four stages" (). Another main aspect of Piaget's theory is that these stages of development could not be rushed despite the persistent training, or presenting of certain information to a child. In other words, it does not matter how often a parent tries to correct a child's mispronunciation of a word; if a child is not cognitively developed to understand the word then they will not quite learn how to correctly pronounce such vocabulary word.
Jerome Bruner- Sociocultrualist/ Interactionist
Bruner believed that in order for humans' to develop language competence, one needs more than just Piaget's and Chomsky's theories to explain the complexity of human language acquisition. He claimed that having a "Language Acquisition Device within the human brain" and "cognitively developing through stages" is not enough of an explanation to fully explains how human's acquire language. Bruner believed that it is crucial for a child to communicate with others, and that interactions develop language. In other words, Bruner argued that humans must receive input from those around them in order to develop language. Input could be the response of a mother when her child says "milk," or simply response of any human when a individual speaks to them.
|
|
Above is a video comparing and contrasting Skinner's & Above is a video going over the four stages of cognitive Chomsky's view on Language Development development and how language is connected to these stages
Works Cited:
- Wright, W. E. (2010). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory. Policy and Practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing