CPLD

• Noam Chomsky- language aquisition device (LAD)


  The learning Acquisition device is not a physical device, it is a theory created by Noam Chomsky to describe the structure and processes within the brain that provide children with an innate ability to learn and understand the rules and formation of language in a way that means they are able to learn how to speak it without any formal teaching. It also explains why babies and children's language development and acquisition follows a similar pattern.
• LAD (learning acquisition device)


  • Provides children with an innate ability to learn and understand the rules and formation of language
  • Explains why language development and acquisition follows a similar pattern in babies and children
• Criticisms of the LAD theory

  • Lack of scientific evidence to support the theory
  • Inadequate information about how children construct meaning from their sentences
  • Does not pay attention to individuals with issues such as down syndrome
• Applying the LAD theory in an early years setting


  1. Ensuring staff talk in a grammatically correct way and clearly

  2. Providing children with sufficient opportunities to interact and talk to staff and others

  3. Repeating children's language back to them correctly rather than correcting them

  4. Reducing background noise to help children acquire language
• Modes of cognitive representation (Jerome Bruner)


  A theory that suggests children gradually acquire cognitive abilities and skills, not a staged model. Bruner stressed the importance of the social aspect of learning and the link between thought and language. The 3 modes are: Enactive, Iconic, Symbolic.
• Enactive mode


  Learning through repeating physical movements, fits with Piaget's sensorimotor stage
• Iconic mode


  Building up a mental picture of experiences, relates to Piaget's preoperational stage
• Symbolic mode


  Thinking can take place without direct experiences, particularly through the use of language, emerges around age 7
• Criticisms of Bruner's modes of cognitive representation

  • Doesn't account for individual differences
  • Inaccuracies found in the different modes
  • Cannot be directly observed
  • May not be applicable for all learners
• Applying Bruner's modes in an early years setting


  Use the modes to teach a concept like dogs - act it out, show pictures/videos, describe verbally
• Operant conditioning theory (Burrhus Frederic Skinner)

  A method of training that involves rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior to change behavior, as the child will associate certain behaviors as negative or positive
• Criticisms of operant conditioning theory

  • Ignores factors like motivation, intelligence and sociocultural environment
• Different forms of communication