Jean Piaget

Who was Jean Piaget?

Jean Piaget was a biologist and psychologist; he was not primarily concerned with language acquisition but saw it as being inherently linked to a child's general intellectual (‘cognitive’) development.

What did Piaget believe about language and thought?

Piaget believed that a child's competence with language goes hand in hand with its ability to think and, through thought, understand things.

What did Piaget argue about understanding and language?

Piaget argued that without a basic level of understanding of a thing, the language needed to discuss it would not arise.

What did Piaget suggest would happen if language was learned without understanding?

If language was learned without understanding, it would be used parrot-fashion and thus have no semantic value to us — it would be meaningless.

What example did Piaget use to explain cognitive understanding?

Piaget proposed that a child would have to understand that a specified amount of water will reach vastly differing levels if poured into a narrow beaker or a wide bowl; only then would the child be able to verbalise anything meaningful concerning this phenomenon.

How did Piaget differ from Vygotsky?

Unlike Vygotsky, Piaget placed more emphasis on the child (‘child-centred’) rather than on the child’s culture or society.

How did Piaget’s theory relate to Chomsky’s innateness theory?

Piaget seemed to side with the innateness theories proposed by Chomsky because he linked language to intellectual development, but he did not agree that there was a specifically human ‘Language Acquisition Device’.

What are Piaget’s theories sometimes called?

Piaget’s theories are sometimes called ‘maturational’.

What did Piaget outline in his theory of cognitive development?

Piaget outlined four specific periods of maturity that a child passes through on the way to adulthood, each allowing a certain level of necessary language development.

What is the ‘sensori-motor’ stage?

The ‘sensori-motor’ stage occurs on average between birth and eighteen months.

What happens during the ‘sensori-motor’ stage?

In this stage a child is learning about the world from its abilities to move and feel through its senses.

What is a child’s cognitive development limited to in the ‘sensori-motor’ stage?

Its intellectual/cognitive development is limited to learning about its immediate environment.

What is the ‘pre-operational’ stage?

The ‘pre-operational’ stage occurs from around 18 months to 7 years.

What did Piaget believe children could understand during the ‘pre-operational’ stage?

Piaget felt that a child could begin to understand basic symbolic representation.

Why is language considered a symbolic system according to Piaget?

Language is a symbolic system where shapes and sounds are symbols for ideas.

What happens during the ‘pre-operational’ stage according to Piaget?

During this stage children generalise about things but initially make errors by over-generalising.

What example did Piaget give of over-generalisation?

A child might learn that its daddy is a man, but then over-generalise and call all other men ‘daddy’.

What is the ‘concrete operational’ stage?

The ‘concrete operational’ stage occurs between about the ages of 7 and 11.

What can children do during the ‘concrete operational’ stage?

In this stage a child can learn mental tasks and language use but is limited by these having to relate to real life objects.

What is the ‘formal operational’ stage?

The ‘formal operational’ stage occurs on average from the age of 11 onwards.

What can children understand during the ‘formal operational’ stage?

At this stage the child can deal with abstract ideas that do not rely on any existence in the real world.

What abstract ideas did Piaget suggest children could understand in the ‘formal operational’ stage?

Abstract ideas such as ‘love’, ‘management’, and ‘education’.

What did Piaget observe about the pre-linguistic stage?

Piaget observed that the pre-linguistic stage (birth to one year) is a determining period in the development of ‘sensory-motor intelligence’.

What happens during the pre-linguistic stage according to Piaget?

Children are forming a sense of their physical identity in relation to the environment.

What is ‘egocentric speech’?

Piaget called egocentric speech the inability of the child to separate their own perspective from those of other people.

Where did Piaget discuss egocentric speech?

Piaget discussed egocentric speech in his first book on child psychology, The Language and Thought of the Child.

How did Piaget describe children’s speech in the presence of others?

Piaget described how children who speak aloud in the presence of others will sometimes adapt their speech to take into consideration the hearer(s), but at other times direct remarks to no-one in particular.

What did Vygotsky think about egocentric speech?

Vygotsky felt that egocentric speech was the link between external speech and internal thought.

What did Vygotsky say about egocentric speech?

Vygotsky wrote that ‘Egocentric speech is inner speech in its functions’.

How did Vygotsky describe egocentric speech?

Vygotsky described it as a stage distinguished by external signs and external operations that are used as aids to solve internal problems.

What examples did Vygotsky give of egocentric speech?

Counting on fingers, resorting to memory aids, and similar external operations.

What age group typically uses egocentric speech?

Three- to seven-year-olds typically use egocentric speech.

What is ‘inner speech’ according to Vygotsky?

Inner speech is similar to internal thought.

What happens during the stage of inner speech?

The external operation turns inward and undergoes a profound change in the process.

What can children do during the inner speech stage?

Children begin to count in their heads and use their ‘logical memory’.

What is ‘logical memory’?

‘Logical memory’ is operating with inherent relations and inner signs.

Who typically uses inner speech?

Older children and adults.

What did Vygotsky claim about the development of inner speech?

Vygotsky claimed that inner speech branches off from the child’s external speech simultaneously with the differentiation of the social and egocentric functions of speech.

What did Vygotsky claim speech structures become?

Vygotsky claimed that the speech structures mastered by the child become the basic structures of thinking.

How did Piaget view egocentric speech?

Piaget saw egocentric speech as being the reflection of thought processes of the young child.

What function did Piaget think egocentric speech had?

Piaget believed egocentric speech had no apparent function in the child's behaviour.

What did Piaget think would happen to egocentric speech?

Piaget believed it would eventually fade away as the child became more aware of the distinctions between themselves and others.

How did Piaget differ from Vygotsky regarding egocentric speech?

Piaget did not believe that egocentric speech on its own served any function in language development.

What did Piaget deduce about language and thought?

Piaget deduced that language reflects thought — it does not shape it.

What did Piaget deduce about cognitive structures?

Piaget deduced that our cognitive structures limit and define what we are able to say.

What did Piaget deduce about development and society?

Piaget deduced that development is social — egocentricity shows that a child is imperfectly adapted socially.

What must a child develop into according to Piaget?

The child must develop into being a mature social being from being an immature one by considering the role of the hearer.