Child Language Acquisition - Key Theorists (Part 1)

Flashcards about Chomsky, Skinner, Vygotsky, Bruner, Nelson, and Tomasello. Turn off writing mode.

What did Skinner believe about Child Language Acquisition?

What did Skinner believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• Children learn to speak by imitating the language and structures that they hear around them.

• Speech needs to be directed at the child in order for them to learn from it.

• Caregivers use positive and negative reinforcement to teach the child how to speak correctly.

What are some weaknesses of Skinner’s theory?

• He based his theory on the behaviour patterns of rats and pigeons, which may not be generalisable to humans.

• It cannot explain how children over-extend their language - such as turning irregular verbs into regular verbs.

• The theory cannot explain how children can produce grammatical structures that they haven’t heard before.

What are some strengths of Skinner’s theory?

• The theory can explain how children can quickly acquire vocabulary/content words.

• Has practical applications in education, especially surrounding praise and correction of language.

• It can explain how children learn in early stages of language acquisition.

What did Chomsky believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• Children have an innate ability to learn language, through part of their brain referred to as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

• The language that a child is exposed to is fit into a conceptual scheme, where children already understand the structure and grammar of the language (known as Universal Grammar), and need to fill in the ‘blank’ concepts.

• Language is needed within the environment to stimulate a child’s ability to learn language.

What are some weaknesses of Chomsky’s theory?

• Chomsky never actually did a study to back up his theory, and therefore there is no concrete evidence that it is correct.

• Case studies such as Genie show that caregiver interaction is needed in order for language to be properly acquired, so language acquisition cannot be completely biological.

• More recent studies have shown cultural differences in language acquisition, especially in terms of grammar, which Universal Grammar is unable to explain.

What are some strengths of Chomsky’s theory?

• The theory is supported by the Critical Period Hypothesis - which claims that children are innately better at language acquisition before puberty.

• Can explain how children over-generalize language and make grammatical errors with their language use.

• Can explain how children are able to be creative with their language use.

What did Vygotsky believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• Children develop their language through social interactions with MKOs (More Knowledgeable Others - Older Siblings, Parents, Teachers, etc.)

• Children need to be pushed into a Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) in order to learn a language.

• Caregivers provide scaffolding/structured support to help a child build language skills - as the child gets more proficient, the support is gradually removed.

What are some weaknesses of Vygotsky’s theory?

• Vygotsky died at a young age and so did not have enough time to fully develop his theory.

• Underestimates the importance of biological and cognitive factors in language development.

• Cannot explain how children learn to use grammar and syntax.

What are some strengths of Vygotsky’s theory?

• The idea that social interaction is crucial for language acquisition has been backed up by a number of studies.

• Is able to explain how children with atypical language develop learn to speak.

• Can explain pragmatic development of language.

What did Bruner believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• While children do have an innate ability to learn language, they need social interaction in order to fully develop their skills.

• Caregivers produce a Language Acquisition Support System in order to facilitate language learning for the child.

• Caregivers provide scaffolding for a child to expand their language abilities, which are slowly taken away as the child develops their skills.

What are some strengths of Bruner’s theory?

• Can account for cultural and social variation in language acquisition.

• Research into caregiver-child interactions often find similar results to what Bruner claimed.

• The theory is widely used in education across the world to facilitate language acquisition for children.

What are some weaknesses of Bruner’s theory?

• Assumes that caregivers provide constant, structured support for a child’s language acquisition.

• Does not consider cognitive/biological differences in language acquisition.

• Cannot explain how children learn to use grammar, which needs more than just interaction.

What did Nelson believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• Children’s early words tend to be Naming, Action, Social and Modifying words.

• Children learn in meaningful contexts, where they can connect words to real experiences.

• There are two distinct styles of speech in early language development - a referential style (relating to naming words and nouns) and an expressive style (relating to social phrases and relational words).

What are some strengths of Nelson’s theory?

• Completed her own studies into her theory, and so has a lot of observational data to back it up.

• Useful for educators in designing early language interventions for children.

• Highlights individual differences in language acquisition.

What are some weaknesses of Nelson’s theory?

• Cannot explain how children are able to generalise language use to new contexts.

• Children may know more nouns than any other words at first because the majority of English words are nouns.

• No way to explain how children develop complicated grammatical structures.

What did Tomasello believe about Child Language Acquisition?

• Young children learn patterns and frameworks in language, where they can fill in slots with a variety of terms.

• There is a close relationship between cognitive development and linguistic development.

• Caregivers provide these frameworks to children through CDS.

What are some strengths of Tomasello’s theory?

• Research into it is recent, and so is more likely to relate to modern day.

• The principles of Cognitive Functionalism can be applied independently to language and linguistic theory - so they can account for all languages.

• Other studies into CLA have found similar results to Tomasello.

What are some weaknesses of Tomasello’s theory?

• Cannot explain how children learn frameworks for language acquisition.

• Many samples that Tomasello used in his research were too short to draw effective conclusions from - many samples had to consist of several different children to make up for this.

• Children are able to make errors that cannot be explained through a slot-and-frame.