Language Development Theories and Subdomains

What historical debate centers on whether language is innate or a function of the environment?

Nature versus nurture

Theorists who believe language is an innate human ability are often referred to as nativists or __.

Rationalists

Theorists who favor the role of the environment in language development are referred to as __.

Empiricists

According to the extreme empiricist viewpoint, a newborn is a "__" shaped by the environment.

Blank slate

Which theory suggests that learning occurs when an environmental stimulus triggers a response?

Behaviorism

Which individual is most closely associated with behaviorism theory?

B. F. Skinner

What process occurs when a parent expects closer approximations to a word before providing reinforcement?

Shaping

In behaviorism, what term describes adding a stimulus to the environment to increase a behavior?

Positive reinforcement

How does negative reinforcement strengthen the likelihood of a particular response?

By removing an undesirable stimulus following the behavior.

What is the behavioral principle where a response decreases or disappears because it is not reinforced?

Extinction

What is the term for a stimulus that precedes a specific behavior?

Antecedent

What is the primary intent of punishment in behavioral theory?

To reduce the likelihood that a behavior will occur again.

Behavioral chaining

Breaking down a complex sequence into smaller units taught in linked steps.

What adult-directed teaching method is based on behaviorism and used frequently for children with autism?

Discrete Trial Training (DTT)

What are the three distinct parts of a Discrete Trial Training sequence?

Stimulus/instruction, child response, and consequence.

What is a major limitation of behaviorism in explaining language development?

It does not explain how children produce complex and novel utterances they have never heard.

Cognitive constructivist theory is based primarily on the work of which researcher?

Jean Piaget

Schema

A concept, mental category, or cognitive structure used to interact with the environment.

What occurs when a child takes in new information and incorporates it into existing schemata?

Assimilation

What occurs when a child adjusts their schemata because of new information?

Accommodation

Equilibrium

The balance children seek between assimilating new information and developing new schemata through accommodation.

What cognitive state motivates reorganization to higher levels of thinking when schemata are contradictory?

Disequilibrium

Symbolic play

A behavior evidenced when a child uses one object to represent another.

What is the cognitive realization that an object exists even when it cannot be seen or felt?

Object permanence

Object constancy

Learning that an object remains the same regardless of distance, light, or viewing angle.

What is the term for intentional behavior where a child identifies a problem and makes a plan to solve it?

Means-end

How do practitioners use Piaget's sensorimotor stage concepts in clinical practice?

They observe play behavior to gauge general cognitive ability and representational thought.

Representational thought

The child's ability to use one object to symbolize another, serving as a precursor to symbolic language.

What is a primary limitation of Piaget's cognitive constructivist theory?

Children do not always move through discrete stages in a strictly linear, sequential fashion.

Which theory views language as a means of making social connections and communicating ideas?

Social interactionist theory

Which psychologist is credited with the early advocacy of social interactionist theory?

Lev Vygotsky

In Vygotsky's view, what is the primary medium through which cognitive development is mediated?

Social interactions with others.

What is the role of private speech in a child's development according to Vygotsky?

It helps children internalize important concepts and promotes self-regulation.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The area between what a child can do independently and what they cannot do even with assistance.

Child-directed talk (Motherese)

Communication characteristics like increased pitch and content word isolation that enhance language learning.

What behavior occurs when an adult follows a child's eye gaze to match their communication to the child's focus?

Coordinating attention

Scaffolding

Adult support, such as simplifying tasks or modeling, that allows a child to engage in challenging activities.

How does mediation differ from scaffolding?

Mediation focuses on teaching the learner "how to learn" and gain insights for independent functioning.

Parent-child communication routines (Scripts)

Predictable patterns of action, such as "Peek-a-boo," that facilitate child participation and pragmatic skills.

What is a limitation of social interactionist theory regarding cultural differences?

It does not account for cultures where caregivers do not use child-directed speech yet children develop language.

Which theory views language as a complex, open system where biology adapts to the environment through active engagement?

Emergentist theory

What technology-driven research tool is a repository for language data used in emergentist studies?

CHILDES (Child Language Data Exchange System)

Why do emergentists believe detecting language patterns through cues is biologically efficient?

It reduces the child's cognitive load and serves an evolutionary function for survival.

Which language facilitation technique is specifically aligned with emergentist theory?

Language recasting

Which communication subdomain involves prelinguistic skills like joint visual attention and imitation?

Communication Subdomain 1 (Early Pragmatic Skills)

What specific behavior involves a child following the visual direction of an adult's gaze?

Responding to Joint Visual Attention (JVA)

When do children typically begin to reliably produce Joint Visual Attention?

Between 10 and 12 months of age.

Pragmatic function (Speech act)

The communicator's goal for communication, such as requesting, refusing, or commenting.

Communication mean

The way a child communicates, ranging from nonlinguistic (gestures) to linguistic (spoken words).

Discourse

The connected and contingent flow of communication between two or more individuals.

What conversational skill is used to indicate a message was not understood or to fix a communication breakdown?

Conversational repair

Pragmatic code switching

The ability to alternate between different language conventions based on the social situation or listener.

Dialect (Language Variation)

A form of speaking with distinct syntactic, semantic, and phonetic features used by a specific group.

Which communication subdomain focuses on the production and surge of word meanings?

Communication Subdomain 2 (Vocabulary Development)

What are the three main types of meanings usually described by a child's first words?

Appearance/disappearance, names of people/objects, and affective attitudes.

By age 2, how many words do children typically produce?

200 to 500 words.

Semantic map (Graphic organizer)

A visual tool used to help students create connections between words and increase background knowledge.

Word study

A vocabulary activity where students analyze root words, prefixes, and suffixes to understand word parts.

Syntactic bootstrapping

A mechanism where a child learns the meaning of a novel word by relying on the surrounding sentence context.

Approximately how many words must a child produce before word combinations emerge in Subdomain 3?

50 individual words.

How does Communication Subdomain 3 differ qualitatively from Subdomain 4?

Subdomain 3 uses semantic combinations rather than adult syntax rules or morphological forms.

In the semantic combination "Doggie ball," which term describes "Doggie"?

Agent

Which communication subdomain corresponds with Brown's Stages II through V+?

Communication Subdomain 4 (Morphosyntax Development)

Morphosyntax

The combination of features covering both the sequence of words (syntax) and the internal structure of words (morphology).

Free morpheme

A unit of linguistic meaning that can stand alone, such as the word "walk."

Bound morpheme

A unit of meaning that must occur with a free morpheme, such as the plural "s."

Morphophonology

The study of phonological variations that occur when specific morphemes are used, such as the different sounds of "ed."

Which communication subdomain involves high-level skills like empathy, sarcasm, and classroom participation?

Communication Subdomain 5 (Advanced Pragmatic and Discourse Development)

Oral narrative

A one-sided monologue relating a series of sequenced, causally related events.

Expository discourse

An informational genre used to describe procedures, summarize events, or explain scientific experiments.

What is the primary indicator used by Roger Brown to trace syntax acquisition?

Mean Length of Utterance (MLU).

Which of Brown's stages is associated with the emergence of the present progressive "-ing" verb form?

Brown's Stage II

At what age range do typical children move through Brown's Stages II to V+?

Between 27 and 46 months.

What is the "descriptive-developmental approach" in language intervention?

An approach where practitioners sequentially consider a child's skills across subdomains to guide intervention.

Why is the communication subdomain model considered "cyclic" rather than strictly linear?

New skills at higher levels stimulate growth and refinement of earlier developing skills.