Acquisition Midterm: Chapter 2 – Flashcards
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why do we talk about or use language development theories?
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studying theories of development provides us with the framework for investigating language and attempting to answer the why? and the how?
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why do we study language?
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helps us differentiate between typical and non-typical (gives us a standard) helps us with general targets intervention (as close to typical as possible) understand the relationship between language and cognition
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Major theories of language development
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Nature Inspired: Syntactic/ Universal (Chomsky) "Nativist" Nurture Inspired: Behaviorist (Skinner)
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Middle ground between Nature & Nurture
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semantic-cognitive social interactionist cognitive theory
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Syntactic/ Universal Model
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Noam Chomsky- Extreme nature end of the continuum attempted to describe language from a scientific standpoint
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Chomsky insisted there must be some universal rules followed by all forms of human language:
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all languages can denote time and negation some form of language common to almost all humans
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What did Noam Chomsky believe?
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language was too complex for children to learn unless it was 'innate' the environment was not as important for language acquisition because children universally acquire language in similar patterns
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Universal Grammar
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concept that we are all born with a set of rules about language: human languages are different on the surface, but share common underlying principles those underlying features are based on universal features
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Language Faculty
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area of the brain devoted to language
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(LAD) Language Acquisition Device
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children are born with this device: linguistic knowledge is contained within the LAD (structures and rules universal for all languages) when children are exposed to language, the LAD allows the child to deduce the rules specific to that language (phrase structures & transformational rules)
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Noam Chomsky
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claimed syntax was the most important part of language because it allows us to create sentences thought children should be viewed as "little linguist": (constantly forming hypotheses about the rules of language based on exposure to the many examples they heard... then they tested them by using them)
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Syntactic/ Universal Model Conclusion
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believed that the LAD allows children the capacity to learn any language therefore, the LAD cant be specified to one language; it must work as a universal system although innate, linguistic input is needed to activate it
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Limitations of Syntactic/ Universal Model
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no evidence that children used or needed these adult like rules to acquire language a certain position in a word can be filled by any noun or subject ignores other components of language LAD does not fully explain language development assumes everyone has the same cognition and social experiences
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Contributions of Syntactic/ Universal Model
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idea of universal linguistic rules (many linguists agree upon some but not all of these) allowed language to be viewed differently than it ever had before (allowed us to consider the told of humans innate abilities to acquire language)
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Behavioral
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B.F. Skinner believed language was a verbal behavior that was learned like any other behavior: (through operant conditioning)
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Operant Conditioning
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implies that the behavior was learned because it was followed by something that strengthens, or reinforces the response (behaviors increased because they were rewarded in some way)
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Behavioral: Learning is a result of....
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Learning is a result of the active role of the environment (children verbalize or imitate models in environment) (verbalizations or imitations are reinforced)
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Benefit of Behavioral Theory:
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acknowledges the influence of input from the environment in language development
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Behavioral: Operant Conditioning
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language is viewed as a set of associations between sounds, words, and phrases conditioned through a link between a stimulus and the response that follows imitation also play an important role in language learning as children learn to imitate what they hear
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Building Associations
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teaches children meaning behind communication verbalization by the mother becomes associated with the reinforce that follows "do you want your bottle?" then gives child the bottle bond is built between the word "juice" and actually getting the juice (reinforced by getting juice & verbal praise)
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Imitation + Reinforcement
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the child looks at the cookies on the cabinet and back at her mother. the mother says "cookie", the child repeats "keke" and is reinforced by getting the cookie. imitations facilitates this association between object (cookie) and word "cookie"
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Behavioral: Operant Conditioning "Shaping"
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the imitation attempt by the child does not have to exactly mirror the adult production (attempt does have to be close and the adult has to assign meaning to the child's attempt) more complex responses are learned through successive approximations (the adult requires more gradual modification of the child's attempt that more closely approximate the adult model) - shaping
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Limitations of Behavioral Theory
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Noam Chomsky led the charge of identifying limitations in the behaviorists theory he said that parents reinforce for content and ignore grammatical errors. they do not reinforce grammatically correct constructions for young children the value of imitation also questioned due to utterances made by children such as "Her throwed it" "I eated", because adults don't talk like that..
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Contributions of Behavioral Theory
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because of theory , environmental contributions and models are reinforcement are now critical to consider in language intervention
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The Semantic Revolution
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occurred during the 70's was triggered by Chomsky's theory One problem with Chomsky's theory was that it ignored meaning and focused on order...
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Lois Bloom 1960's
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attempted to analyze child language using syntactic relations; found it inadequate for explaining meaning her published works in 1970 marked a shift from the syntactic analysis, which became known as the Semantic Revolution
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Semantic-Cognitive Model
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emphasizes innate abilities like Chomsky, but focuses on innate cognitive abilities rather than innate syntactic abilities (children figure our semantic-syntactic relationships based upon experiences from sensory-motor exploration. Thus, language achievement is heavily co-dependent or correlated with cognition)
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Semantic-Cognitive Model: Sensorimotor Stage
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from birth to 2 years of age, children learn about the world through their 5 senses and motor activities a child is an active learner, like in the syntactic model (interaction between the child and the environment results in learning and leads to expressive learning)
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Semantic-Cognitive Model: Object Permanence
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knowledge that an object is still there even if its out of site when a child tries to get to the ball you hid under the blanket as object permanence develops, child can represent objects mentally
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Semantic-Cognitive Model: Means-End Behavior
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knowledge of ways to achieve a goal children start to move from random, non-intentional behaviors to goal-directed, intentional behaviors means-ends behaviors are thought to be related to language acquisition because language is a tool that can be used to accomplish a goal
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Semantic Cognitive Model: Symbolic Play
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the ability to make one thing represent another during play ex) block becomes a bar of soap to wash the baby's face
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Semantic Cognitive Model: Single-word utterances
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structure-free, however they demonstrate some underlying cognitive concepts naming is signaled by words like, "see" "this" and "that" recurrence is marked by "more" and "nuther" nonexistence marked by "allgone" and "no" (once semantic intent is developed, the concepts become things like "more juice")
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Semantic-Cognitive Model: Word Order Rules
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as the child develops, word order rules give way to the syntactic devices adults use to signal relationships ex) possession is originally signaled by word order, then by addition of the more mature possessives "S", "mommy sock" becomes "mommy's sock"
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Semantic-Cognitive Model: Conclusion
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assumes child develops meaning prior to developing form children learn how to use form by attending to their environment
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Semantic-Cognitive Limitations
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-the link between cognitive ability and language acquisition in not adequately explained (just because first word and object permanence emerge around the same time doesn't mean they are related) -ignores the contribution of communication that occurs before complex cognitive process -doesn't fully explain how children move from semantic-based rules to more abstract syntax
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Semantic-Cognitive Contributions
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offers description of child language that seems to be more closely tied to the reality of young children concept of cognitive precursors offer much better explanation of complex linguistic concepts than other two models
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Social Interaction Theory
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emphasized the role of parents/ caretakers on language acquisition due to their role in facilitating interactions and providing language models (child directed speech) children are active participants in language acquisition rather than passive (emergentism: pattern seekers and finders)
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Social Interaction Theory: Language use begins with children...
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first, understand the "rules of dialogue" (communicate base established) eventually, are motivated to express intentions verbally instead of non-verbally (point vs. point + "juice) they realize that speaking gets them what they want, realize the power of language
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Social Interaction Theory: Why's behind use
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communicative relations: -behavioral regulation (get someone to do something for you, requesting) "pick me up" request. -social interaction (get someone to pay attention to you or play with you) -sharing (get someone to attend to something that is interesting to you, commenting) "getting attention by sating 'hi', sharing attention by seeing a balloon"
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Social Interaction Theory: Language structure and word combinations emerge through.....
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REPEATED INTERACTIONS! -hear a large number of constructions with similar forms -find regularities or patterns, begin to use some word-specific constructions (those already heard) -eventually, discover relationship between word sequences and try new constrictions (those we have never heard) GENERALIZATION
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Social Interaction Theory: Parents will adjust based of child's response
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the child's behavior (verbal and nonverbal) during interactions impact the speech parents use (parents will adjust the length of complexity of speech by the child's response, if the child looks confused.) This theory suggest that because adults adjust their language for the child, this maximizes the child's language acquisition
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Social Interaction Theory: Zone of Proximal development
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in order for children to learn, you need to be just above where they currently are, not keeping them in the same place.
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Social Interaction Theory: Cognitive Ability
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social interactionist don't rule out the concept of innate cognitive or innate linguistic abilities, but cognition is the driving factor for language acquisition children have to be able to attend and process the language input they hear in order to truly acquire it "cognitive ability"
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Limitations of Sociolinguist Theory
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doesn't explain how the child make an association between symbol and referent (what motivates them to map words onto objects?) doesn't explain language structure acquisition (syntax) - I don't have to have syntax or morphemes in my language to communicate intention or be social..(then why would children be motivated to do this?)
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Social Interaction Theory: Contributions
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emphasizes on social aspects of language, (the motivation and need for language) specifies the contributions of the environment on language acquisition, (role of the caregiver in modeling and feedback) extensions, expansions, motherese acknowledges that children have an impact on their language environment and a role in their learning process
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Emergentism
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suggest that there is something innate in humans that make language possible, but that something is not there just for the purpose of language views language as something that results from adaptations by the brain (simple learning mechanisms associated with cognition resulted in the evolution of language as a result of interactions with the environment) (language evolved because it was needed)
