ELS102: Theories of Language and Language Acquisition

Wild and Isolated Children: The Critical Age Issue

Montaigne's View

I believe that a child brought up in complete solitude, far from all discourse would have some kind of speech to express his ideas, for it is not likely that nature would deprive us of this recourse when she has given it to many other animals.

-Montaigne

Victor: The Wild Boy of Aveyron

  • In January of 1800, a boy was captured by hunters near Saint-Sernin in Aveyron, France.

  • Appeared to be 11 or 12 years old, naked except for a tattered shirt, and made guttural, animal-like noises.

Sicard's Observation

  • Sicard, director of the Institute for Deaf-Mute in Paris, took custody of Victor.

  • He noted similarities between Victor (deprived of language by isolation) and deaf children (deprived of language and social contact by deafness).

Progress and Education

  • The institute initially reported no progress and no reasonable expectation of progress.

  • Jean Marc Gaspard Itard took over his education.

  • Itard's education involved games and activities to socialize Victor and make him aware of the world.

  • Speech training was frustrating, focusing on repeating words and sounds.

Reading Success

  • Itard successfully taught Victor to read written language, associating written symbols with objects.

Genie: Raised in Isolation

  • Discovered in the early 1970s in Los Angeles.

  • At 13 years old, she had been locked in a room by her father for 12 years.

  • She heard no human voices and was fed and beaten.

Language Development After Freedom

  • Learned few utterances but acquired words for hundreds of objects.

  • Understood many things but had delayed responses to simple commands.

  • Progressed from the one-word stage to the multi-word telegraphic stage (typical of 1-2 year olds).

Progress and Limitations

  • Her ability to understand speech improved rapidly.

  • Progress in speech production was very slow.

  • Language acquisition was studied for about 8 years, after which time she made little progress.

  • Like Victor, she was unable to acquire a normal level of language despite care, attention, instruction, and linguistic input.

Hellen Keller: The Renowned Deaf and Blind Girl

  • Became deaf and blind at 19 months due to illness.

  • When she was 7, Anne Sullivan Macy taught her language.

  • Macy successfully taught Helen language through touch.

  • Helen learned language through touch and later learned how to speak.

Critical Age for 1st Language Acquisition

  • Without exposure to language, children will not acquire any language.

  • Exposure should be offered as early as possible in the form of speech, signs, writing, or touch.

First Language Acquisition Theories: General Discussion

  • The mystery of how children acquire natural language has intrigued scientists and philosophers for centuries.

  • Experts have developed theories to prove how man acquire and develop language.

  • Some argued that language is genetically coded and that man is born with the facility to acquire language and not learn it from his immediate environment.

  • Some experts however posited that man learns language through his direct contact with his immediate environment.

  • Other experts however believe that language is an interplay of both cognitive and social development of humankind.

Behaviorist Theory

  • Popular in the early and middle part of this century.

  • Proposed that children learn language like they learn other complex behaviors through classical and operant conditioning, as postulated by Skinner (1957).

  • Children are not born with knowledge of a specific language but learn to speak the language spoken to them.

  • Language learning is perceived as any kind of learning, as the formation of habits.

  • The Behaviorists emphasized the role of parents as models and reinforcers of language.

Nativist Theory

  • Attributed to Chomsky (1957).

  • He argued that man possesses a mental organ that is solely dedicated to language use and it is found in the brain.

  • This innate device is called Language Acquisition Device (LAD).

  • The theory proposed that children are biologically prepared to learn language because of the presence of an innate learning mechanism.

Social-Interactionist Theory

  • This theory examined the interplay between language, cognitive and social development in language acquisition

  • This theory proposed that the social environment plays a more important role in the acquisition and development of language.

Constructivist Theory

  • This theory as postulated by Piaget viewed the child as an active participant in language learning.

  • The novice language learner interacts with his/her environment and builds language by communicating with other speakers.

Cognitivist Theory

  • A theoretical perspective that seeks to explain behavior in terms of processes that occur in the mind.

  • In language acquisition, this theory postulated that language learning involves highly mental processes that can help explain how language is learned and developed.