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Foundation for studies in SLA. Shape of the Class: The Foundation. First Language Acquisition. Research Methodology. First Language Acquisition Langue Parole Competence Performance Nature Nurture Innate knowledge Tabula Rasa Nativist position Behaviorist position Define positions
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Foundation for studies in SLA Shape of the Class: The Foundation First Language Acquisition Research Methodology
First Language Acquisition Langue Parole Competence Performance Nature Nurture Innate knowledge Tabula Rasa Nativist position Behaviorist position Define positions Explain first language acquisition in each (plus one more) Interrogate
First Language Acquisition Definition Behaviorism Nativism We are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) and access to Universal Grammar (UG). We are not born knowing English, or French, or Thai. Rather, we are born with innate knowledge of certain universal structures. We learn language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response (our trials). Correct responses are rewarded, as is our correct language use, which increases over time. Key phrase: Habit Formation
First Language Acquisition Definition Behaviorism Nativism “UG consists of a set of innate, abstract, linguistic principles which govern what is possible in human language” (Larsen-Freeman & Long, p. 230). Principles cluster around “parameters” – sets of properties of a language that vary in certain restricted ways. We learn language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response (our trials). Correct responses are rewarded, as is our correct language use, which increases over time. Key phrase: Habit Formation
First Language Acquisition Definition Behaviorism Nativism Children are born with abstract, structural knowledge about Language, which allows them to discover the rules of particular languages -- “to engage in constant evaluation … so as to construct the simplest possible system [to explain] the linguistic data” (Brown, p. 24). Key Phrase: Rule Formation We learn language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response (our trials). Correct responses are rewarded, as is our correct language use, which increases over time. Key phrase: Habit Formation
First Language Acquisition Definition Behaviorism Nativism We are born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD) and access to Universal Grammar (UG). We are not born knowing English, or French, or Thai. Rather, we are born with innate knowledge of certain universal structures. “UG consists of a set of innate, abstract, linguistic principles which govern what is possible in human language” (Larsen-Freeman & Long, p. 230). Principles cluster around “parameters” – sets of properties of a language that vary in certain restricted ways. Children are born with abstract, structural knowledge about Language, which allows them to discover the rules of particular languages -- “to engage in constant evaluation … so as to construct the simplest possible system [to explain] the linguistic data” (Brown, p. 24). Key Phrase: Rule Formation We learn language through a process of stimulus (hearing, input) and response (our trials). Correct responses are rewarded, as is our correct language use, which increases over time. Key phrase: Habit Formation
First Language Acquisition Associated Scholars Behaviorism: Nativism Noam Chomsky. (1959). Review of Verbal behavior. Language, 35, 26–58. B.F. Skinner. (1957). Verbal behavior. New York, Appleton-Century-Crofts.
First Language Acquisition How it Works Behaviorism: Nativism Input in a specific language triggers the LAD. Children discover basic structures of the language to be learned by “comparing” their innate knowledge of Language with the structure of the particular language. Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
First Language Acquisition How it Works Behaviorism Nativism pro-drop (elimination of pronoun subject) UG: +PD (pro-drop is allowed) Example: [He] is my brother = [ Ø ] Is my brother What languages use this structure? Spanish, Italian, others? What languages don’t? English, French, others? Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
First Language Acquisition How it Works Behaviorism Nativism pro-drop Children learning Spanish as a first language receive input that confirms the UG structure / reinforces the UG setting. Children learning English as a first language receive input that contravenes the UG structure, and they reset the parameter: Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation. +PD -PD.
First Language Acquisition How it Works Behaviorism Nativism Cf: heuristic data analysis. We are born with some orienting / categorizing structures that help us make sense of the linguistic data we collect. These structures help us organize linguistic data (input), so we can begin to see the rules of a particular language – whether they confirm or contravene UG. Thus, language acquisition is a process of Rule Formation. Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
First Language Acquisition Connectionism / Association How it Works Behaviorism Nativism Cf: heuristic data analysis. We are born with some orienting / categorizing structures that help us make sense of the linguistic data we college. These structures help us organize linguistic data (input), so we can begin to see the rules of a particular language – whether they confirm or contravene UG. Thus, language acquisition is a process of Rule formation. Pinker, S. (1999). Words and rules: The ingredients of language. NY: Basic. Language acquisition occurs from links or connections children make between words / phrases and situations, building an “associa-tionist network.” Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
First Language Acquisition Connectionism / Association How it Works Behaviorism Nativism Cf: heuristic data analysis. We are born with some orienting / categorizing structures that help us make sense of the linguistic data we college. These structures help us organize linguistic data (input), so we can begin to see the rules of a particular language – whether they confirm or contravene UG. Thus, language acquisition is a process of Rule formation. Pinker, S. (1999). Words and rules: The ingredients of language. NY: Basic. Language acquisition occurs from links or connections children make between words / phrases and situations, building an “associationist network.” Pinker, Steven. (2002). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. New York: Viking. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/books/the-evolutionary-war.html Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced. Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
First Language Acquisition Interrogation Behaviorism: Chomsky’s “logical problem” Do children hear perfectly formed language? How can children learn language perfectly if their input is not perfect? If we only learn what we hear, how to explain the creation of complex, unique sentences / structures? wug wugged “Jump me down, Daddy!” “Take me a bath!”
First Language Acquisition Interrogation Behaviorism: Chomsky’s “logical problem” Bearing in mind the potential deficits of input and imitation, how can people so unsophisticated (children) learn something so complicated as language, so well, in five years? According to nativists, “habit formation” cannot explain language acquisition.
First Language Acquisition Interrogation Behaviorism Nativism How to “prove” LAD or UG? Where does it exist? Ironic that we study the “deep structure” of language (one’s “competence”) by examining surface structure (“performance.” “An innate idea is inaccessible to proof.” Like the Big Bang, or Creationism, it explains everything w/out proof. Chomsky’s “logical problem” Bearing in mind the potential deficits of input and imitation, how can people so unsophisticated (children) learn something so complicated as language, so well, in five years? According to nativists, “habit formation” cannot explain language acquisition.
First Language Acquisition Interrogation Behaviorism Nativism Awesome determinism of LAD / UG Reductionist / deterministic approach to development re: Piaget (personal) or Marx (societal). But, of course, human (physical) development is indeed deterministic. Chomsky’s “logical problem” Bearing in mind the potential deficits of input and imitation, how can people so unsophisticated (children) learn something so complicated as language, so well, in five years? According to nativists, “habit formation” cannot explain language acquisition.
