Child language acquisition

• What are the 4 CLA theories?

  • Social interactionist
  • Nativists
  • Behaviourist
  • Cognitive
• What does social interactionist argue?

  Language acquisition is driven by social interaction
• Who is the main social interactionist theorist?

  Bruner
• What did Bruner propose in response to the LAD?

  Language acquisition support system, LASS
• What is the LASS

  the support from adults
• What do social interactionists look for in a transcript?

  • children benefiting from social interaction
  • child-directed speech
  • conversation skills and pragmatic awareness being taught
• What do nativists argue?

  Child language acquisition is innate
• Who is the main nativist theorist?

  Chomsky
• What device did Chomsky propose that helps with language acquisition?

  Language acquisition device, LAD
• What is the LAD?

  A framework that children are born with that helps them learn language, grammar
• What is the language acquisition critical period?

  12 years
• What do nativists look for in data?

  • Children not responding to corrections
  • Children forming utterances they have not heard before
  • Virtuous errors
• What are the criticisms of nativism?

  • Chomsky did no empirical research himself
  • Only focuses on how children learn grammar, doesn't account for lexis and pragmatics
• What do behaviourists argue?

  Children acquire language through imitation and operant conditioning, being punished or rewarded
• Who is the main behaviourist theorist?

  Skinner
• What do behaviourists look for in data?

  • Children imitating adults language
  • Adults rewarding or punishing for correct or incorrect language
  • Children repairing mistakes after corrections
• What are the problems with behaviourists?

  • Cannot account for virtuous errors
• What does cognitive theory suggest?

  Language is controlled by thinking, acquiring knowledge goes hand in hand with language development
• Who is the main cognitive theorist?

  Piaget
• What do cognitive theorists look for in data?

  • Children taking to themselves and trying to help themselves
  • Children failing to use language as they haven't grasped the meaning of what is being said
• When is the holophrastic stage?

  12-18 months
• What does the holophrastic stage involve?

  One-word utterances
• When is the two word stage?

  18-24 months
• What does the two word stage involve?

  Two or more word utterances
• When is the telegraphic stage?

  24-36 months
• What does the telegraphic stage involve?

  Three or more word utterances
• When is the post telegraphic stage?

  36+ months
• What does the post telegraphic stage involve?

  More grammatically complex utterances
• Who was Genie?

  Girl who was severely neglected and had no human contact until 13
• What was successful about Genie's rehabilitation?

  She learned a lot of vocabulary quickly
• What was unsuccessful about Genie's rehabilitation?

  She never became fluent, and was labelled cognitively deficient at grammar
• How does Genie support nativists?

  She was passed the critical period, and therefore could not become fluent
• How does Genie support social interactionist?

  She had no social interaction all her life so she couldn't learn language, when she was in rehabilitation with lots of interaction, she was able to learn lots of vocabulary
• Who conducted the 'wug' study?

  Jean Berko
• What did the 'wug' study involve and what did it find?

  Children were asked to produce the plural of the made up creature 'wug'. They were able to give the plural 'wugs'
• How does the 'wug' study support nativists?

  Shows the LAD is picking up patterns and applying it to new vocabulary
• Who was Jim?

  The hearing son of deaf parents
• How did Jim attempt to learn how to speak?

  Listened to a lot of TV and radio
• Were Jim's attempt to learn language successful?

  No, his language acquisition was limited until a speech therapist was employed
• How does Jim support social interactionist?

  Shows just being exposed to language was not enough and he needed interaction with a person