AICE Child Language Development

Nativist Theory

Child already has knowledge of language, just needs input-Chomsky, Pinker, Crystal

Behaviorist Theory

language is learned through operant conditioning and imitation; Needs to be drilled-skinner

Social Constructivist Theory

Only learn language through social interaction

Cognitive Theory

Develop linguistic competence alongside ability to understand words around them; Language comes with understanding-Piaget

Interactional Theory

Learn through input of carers, correction & supporting linguistic development-Bruner

Halliday's functions of language

Instrumental; Igneous
Regulatory; Rock
Interactional; Is
Personal; Probably
Heuristic; Helium
Imaginative; In
Representational; Retrograde

Instrumental

Express needs/get things done- "want cookie"

Regulatory

Tell others what to do- "give cookie"

Interactional

Make contact with others and form relationships

Personal

Express personal reference &identity of speaker- "Here I Am" function

Heuristic

Language used to learn and explore environment, questions & answers, running commentary that accompanies children's play

Imaginative

Language used to explore imagination. May also accompany play as children create imagery

Representational

Exchange info concerned with relaying and requesting info

Adjacency pairs

Regular two-turn exchanges in spoken discourse. e.g.: A: How are you? B: I'm fine, thanks. And you?

Stages of language development

Babbling, Holophrastic, Two-word, Telegraphic, Post-telegraphic

Babbling

Repetition of phonemes. Begins with b, p, m, n, d, w, t: babababa, mamamama, papapapa

Holophrastic

One-word stage, often concrete nouns

Two-Word

Combined to create simple, syntactical structures

Telegraphic

Three-word- complex & accurate orders. Content, get things done

Post-telegraphic

Increasing awareness of grammatical rules & irregularities. Express more and understand complex sentences

Recast

Child directed speech, can show language is taught/learned-Skinner (behaviorism; repetition & positive or negative reinforcement). Piaget (meaningful social exchanges).

Rising Intonation

Grammatical function- marker of question. Child directed speech. Discourse function- help mark ends of speaking turns. Indexical function- membership of group and characteristic _Gen X, Mill., Gen Z, middle class speakers of English_. Marker for excitement.

Overgeneralization

Language acquired through input rather than taught through memorization. Chomsky: Universal Grammar

Accidental repetition

Needless or unintentional repetition, clutter that may distract or bore. "because(4x)" "like(4x)"

Deixis

The way language "points to" spatial, temporal, and personal features of the context. e.g.: YOU have been HERE for three weeks NOW

Positive face threatening act

Emotions; "You look particularly ugly today"

Negative face threatening act

Imposition; "Get me those reports by 12pm"

Positive politeness

Emotions; "You look stunning"

Negative politeness

Imposition; "If you wouldn't mind...it would be great" "it will only take you a couple of hours"

Child Directed Speech

Slow and clear; pauses; higher pitch; exaggerated intonation & stress; personal names instead of pronouns; repeated sentence frames; repetition of adult's own words, frequent questions & commands, simpler sentence structure, concrete nouns, diminutives (doggie), expansion of child's utterance, recasting

Deletion

Child not hearing or missing out constant, often final constant. Child says 'ca-' instead of 'cat'

Substitution

Substituting one sound for another

Addition

adding a sound, esp. an extra vowel after final constant

Devoicing

taking the final voice out of /b/d/g/ to produce /p/t/ or /k/

Assimilation

th- fronting, replacing 'd' with a 't', do with every instance of context

Reduplication

repetition of a whole syllable, eg. 'snowowman'

Under extension

a child says 'nana' instead of 'banana'

Deletion of unstressed syllales

Child refers to his socks as 'socks' but won't use this term to name the socks of others.

Skinner

language is just another form of learned behavior. Suggested that children learn through positive and negative reinforcement.. Called children's brains a 'blank slate', ready for them to learn language through interaction.

Identifying Skinner

Adults explicitly modelling or teaching language, and children responding. Children imitating/repeating adults' speech. Children learning or repairing mistakes after correction from adults.

Chomsky

The baby already knows about linguistic universals. The baby hears examples of language in its native language. The linguistic universals help the baby to make hypotheses about the incoming language. From these hypotheses, the baby works out a grammar, a set of rules. As more and more language is heard, the grammar becomes more and more like that of adults.

Identifying Chomsky

Children doing more than simply imitating adult speech. Things like over and under-extension suggest that children are actively constructing language according to an unconscious model of how language works. Children resisting or simply not responding to correction from adults.

Piaget

language comes with understanding. A child cannot linguistically articulate concepts they do not understand.

Identifying Piaget

Children talking to themselves while playing or working at a task, in a way that suggests they are trying to help themselves make sense of something. Children failing to use or understand language because they haven't yet grasped the concept expressed by the language.

Bruner

Put forward the idea that the interactions between child and carer are crucial to language development, and help children develop important abilities such as turn taking. Focus on the importance of conversations, routines of interaction and the role of CDS.

Identifying Bruner

Children clearly enjoying/benefitting from their interaction. Parents reinforcing their children's attempts to speak by responding in an encouraging and positive way. Adult caregivers using features of CDS. Conversation skills and pragmatic awareness being modelled/taught/learnt through interaction between child and adult.