Key Figures: Leonard Bloomfield, Edward Sapir, Charles Hockett, Charles Fries
Principles:
Focus on observable responses and descriptions of language.
Linguists' task: describe and identify structural characteristics of languages.
Axiom: Languages vary greatly and no preconceptions can apply.
Key statement by Freeman Twaddeli: "The scientific method is quite simply the convention that mind does not exist."
Ignored mentalistic approaches, focusing on observable data, as seen in B.F. Skinner's work, especially Verbal Behavior (1957).
Skinner's view: Ideas and meanings are fictions; behavior is conditioned through reinforcement.
Charles Osgood (1957): Meaning reinstated as a representational mediation process.
Generative Linguistics and Cognitive Psychology
Influence: Noam Chomsky seeks a deeper exploration of human language.
Focus: Move beyond mere description to explaining language use based on competence.
Historical Roots: Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) emphasized the difference between parole (observable speech) and langue (underlying language ability).
Cognitive Psychology: Emphasizes understanding internal processes of the mind, asserting that meaning is central to human psychology.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Overview
Roots in theorists like Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky.
Emphasizes integration of linguistic, psychological, and sociological perspectives.
Key Branches:
Cognitive Version: Learners construct their own reality through individual discovery (Siavin, 2003).
Social Version: Stress on social interaction to construct knowledge; championed by Vygotsky.
LANGUAGE AND THE BRAIN
Neurolinguistics
Language areas not confined to the brain's front but primarily above the left ear.
Key Areas:
Broca's Area: Speech production; damage here leads to motor aphasia characterized by reduced speech and articulation issues.
Wernicke's Area: Understanding speech; damage results in sensory aphasia where fluid speech lacks coherence.
Motor Cortex: Controls speech muscle movement.
Aphasia Types:
Broca's Aphasia: Effortful speech production issues, comprehension largely intact.
Wernicke's Aphasia: Fluent but nonsensical speech, significant comprehension deficits.
Anomia: Difficulty finding correct words, common in Wernicke's Aphasia.
BEHAVIORISM AND NATIVISM IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Behavioral Approach
Language learned through environmental interaction.
Reinforcement: Children associate words with meanings through positive reinforcement.
Nativist Approach
Language abilities are innate, based on concepts like Language Acquisition Device (LAD) as proposed by Chomsky.
Universal Grammar (UG): Common structural basis of all languages. Key proofs:
Languages share elements (e.g., nouns, verbs).
Learners acquire language effortlessly through limited exposure.
Observed consistency in language learning sequences despite diverse inputs.
COGNITIVIST THEORY
Language development parallels cognitive development (Piaget): Assimilation (embedding new info into existing schema) and accommodation (adapting schema to new info).
Development milestones in children, from babbling to full language comprehension around 9 years.
SOCIAL INTERACTIONISM
Acknowledge vital importance of social context in learning language (Vygotsky’s ZPD).
Emphasizes dialogues and interactions between learners and more capable language users.
LEARNING THEORIES AND STRATEGIES
Subsumption Theory (David Ausubel)
Learning ties to previous cognitive structures.
Types of Subsumption:
Correlative: Extends existing knowledge.
Derivative: Constructs new knowledge from existing cognitive structures.
Humanistic Psychology (Carl Rogers)
Focus on the learner as a whole person; teaching involves respecting emotional and social needs, as well as cognitive.
ISSUES IN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Competence vs. Performance
Competence: Ideally, refers to knowledge of a language.
Performance: Actual use of language; errors give clues to competence and understanding.