Paper 3, Child Language Acquisition - Broad Spectrum Stages and Skinner, Chomsky, Vygotsky and Piaget's Theories flashcards

Broad spectrum stages of child language acquisition

Pre-verbal, babbling, holophrastic, telegraphic, multi-word stage

Pre-verbal stage (0-7 months)

Babies begin to cry and make vegetative noises, which exercises the vocal organs and gives them practice in controlling the flow of air through the mouth and nose, which are preliminary steps towards speaking; babies communicate using body language and are able to respond to their parents’ voices as well as tell the difference between speech and other sounds

Babbling stage (7-11 months)

The child starts to make a wide variety of speech sounds, the noises that they make do not sound like speech because they lack intonation and rhythm as babies stop for breath at random intervals; babies begin to string together long sequences of repeated sounds and more varied patterns arise from approximately nine months

Holophrastic stage (11-18 months)

The child starts making a small number of basic one word utterances that are always open class words, these single words take the place of a whole phrase or sentence and the child uses gestures and intonation to communicate the right meaning with the word

Telegraphic stage (18 months - 2.5 years)

The child starts making two word utterances, usually two nouns or a noun and a verb, these two word utterances lack small grammatical words and endings

Multi-word stage (2.5 years onwards)

The child forms longer utterances that are meaningful and lack closed class words and correct grammar; the word order of these utterances is correct and these utterances are more similar to sentences in structure than utterances produced in other stages

Skinner’s behaviourism model

A theory of language acquisition that suggests children learn language through imitation, reinforcement, and conditioning, emphasizing the role of environmental interaction in language learning. Language acquisition is a learned behaviour rather than an innate ability.

Process of Skinner’s behaviourism

Stimulus → response → reinforcement and habit formation

Skinner’s explanation for development of speech

Parents tend to reward infant vocalisations by giving the infant attention, this increases the frequency of vocalisation and the child will not progress from babbling to language unless the parents shape the child’s language behaviour

Issues with Skinner’s behaviourism

The theory assumes that without reinforcement, imitation will not result in learning; however some parents pay very little attention to the vocalisation of their infants, who still develop language despite this lack of attention as well as the fact that shaping is a very lengthy process whereas a child’s language acquisition is rapid

Chomsky’s Nativism model

Argues that humans are born with an innate ability for language acquisition, proposing the existence of a universal grammar that enables children to learn any language they are exposed to.

Chomsky’s criticism of Skinner’s theory

Poverty of stimulus: although children only hear finite number of sentences, they are able to produce an infinite number of possible sentences with no previous formal training or correction; constraints and principles cannot be learnt: children learn their first or second language at an early age and do not have the cognitive ability to understand the principles of grammar as a system, but due to some innate capacity are still capable of using it

Evidence of Chomsky’s nativism

Patterns of development are universal, when children develop their first language, they learn the various aspects of language in a very similar order; if children only learned what they are taught, the order of what they learned would vary in different environments

Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

A function of the brain specifically for learning language, it is an innate biological function of human beings. It accounts for the striking similarities among human languages and the speed, ease and regularity with which children learn their first language

Universal Grammar

A set of innate. abstract, linguistic principles which govern what is possible in human language, explaining the remarkable similarities or principles across languages. Consists of phonological, syntactic and semantic universals

Phonological universals

Patterns of sounds that appear in all languages, including rules for sound combinations and structures, e.g. All languages have stops (like p,t,k,b,d,g), and all languages have at least two degrees of vowel height

Syntactic universals

Rules that apply to all languages regarding sentence structure, examples include the similarity in relative clause constructions from English, French and Arabic, and most existing languages having verbs, nouns, adjectives, and pronouns

Semantic universals

Concepts that exist across all languages, such as the eleven basic colour terms existing across languages (black, white, red, green, blue, yellow, brown, purple, pink, orange, and grey)

Vygotsky’s Sociocultural theory

A theory that emphasizes the fundamental role of social interaction and instruction in the development of cognitive processes and language acquisition. The sociocultural environment is the most important element in cognitive development.

Zone of Proximal Development

The discrepancy between the level of actual development and the level of potential development if provided with appropriate guidance and support by a knowledgeable other

Scaffolding (Vygotsky)

Guidance and support needed for cognitive development to proceed, provided by a more competent peer or adult and typically through the use of language

Co-construction of knowledge (Vygotsky)

Knowledge is first encountered in shared activities with a more skilled partner and the knowledge gained from social interaction is then internalised

Make-believe play (Vygotsky)

Children advance themselves as they try out a wide variety of skills and roles in a safe environment, allowing for cognitive and social development.

Role of language (Vygotsky)

Language is essential to cognitive development, cognitive development is the product of social interaction, and subsequently language

Private speech (Vygotsky)

self-talk used by children to guide their thinking and actions, facilitating problem-solving and self-regulation.

Public speech (Vygotsky)

Language used in social interactions, serving to communicate thoughts and ideas to others.

Development of thought (Vygotsky)

Adults give instructions to children (social speech), children then start to use their parents’ instructions to direct their own behaviour (private speech), this then becomes internalised as thought processes and the internalised speech is used to plan and guide behaviour which leads to cognitive development

Role of Language (Piaget)

Language is just another mental representation and is under-developed until age 6-7, it is simply one consequence of other developmental processes

Piaget’s Constructivism model

A model that assumes that learning is an active process of construction rather than a passive assimilation of information or rote memorisation

Learning (Piaget’s Constructivism)

All learning is constructed whether it is something we are taught or something that is self-taught, and regardless of if we are taught in a ‘constructivist’ manner, we are constructing knowledge in all our learning

Equilibration (Piaget)

We adjust our ideas to make sense of reality, achieved through assimilation and accommodation

Assimilation (Piaget)

The process of matching external reality to an existing cognitive structure

Accommodation (Piaget)

When there is an inconsistency between an existing cognitive structure and the thing being learned, the learner will reorganise the structure and their thoughts

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

All children develop according to four stages based on how they see the world, the age may vary somewhat but we all go through the stages in the same order: sensori-motor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-11 years), and formal operational (12-15 years).

Sensori-motor stage

Occurs from birth to about 2 years, the child explores the world through senses and motor activity. The baby can’t tell the difference between themselves and the environment early on and cannot understand object-conservation; they also begin to understand cause and effect and can begin to later follow something with their eyes.

Pre-operational stage

Occurs from approximately 2 to about 7 years, the child develops better speech communication and basic numerical capabilities as well as the ability to imagine the future and reflect on the past. The child has difficulty distinguishing fantasy from reality, cannot understand conservation of matter, and are still pretty egocentric but are learning to be able to delay gratification

Concrete operational stage

Occurs from approximately 7 to about 11 years, the child’s abstract reasoning and ability to generalise from the concrete increases and they understand conservation of matter

Piaget’s Cognitive development

Development happens from one stage to another through interaction with the environment and cognitive development can only happen after biological growth. The child can only learn certain things when they are at the right stage and it is not possible to hurry along or skip stages through education.

Problems with Piaget’s theory

Children often grasp ideas earlier than what Piaget found, cognitive development across domains is inconsistent and studies have shown that development can to some degree be accelerated