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Chapter 1

Chapter 1. Language Learning in Early Childhood Presented by: Eftekhar AL- Zabidi. Theoretical Perspectives of First Language Acquisition :. 1-The behaviourist perspective: Say what I say. The time frame of the theory is the 1940s and 1950s.

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Chapter 1

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  1. Chapter 1 Language Learning in Early Childhood Presented by: Eftekhar AL-Zabidi

  2. Theoretical Perspectives of First Language Acquisition:

  3. 1-The behaviourist perspective: Say what I say The time frame of the theory is the 1940s and 1950s. The behaviorist theory in psychology is advocated by B.F. Skinner. The behaviourists hypothesized that when children IMITATE the language produced by those around them, their attempts to reproduce what they heard receive ‘positive reinforcement’.

  4. The positive reinforcement could be

  5. According to the Behaviouristtheory: By reinforcing and encouraging the correct response, the children continue to imitate and practice the sounds until become habitual,forming a 'habit' of correct language use. The quality and the quantity of the language the child hears, and the consistency of the reinforcement offered by others in the environment, would shape the child's language behavior. The environment is the source of child language learning.

  6. Analysing children's speech: Imitation: word- for-word repetition of all or part of someone else's utterance. Practice: repetitive manipulation of form.

  7. Imitations are not random. Children appear to imitate selectively, creatively, and reflectively. Children vary in the amount of imitation.

  8. The evidences appear in: Patterns in language: the rules of words formation and overgeneralizing them to new contexts. Unfamiliar formulas: when familiar language is used in unfamiliar ways by children. Question formation: children ask questions in various situations. Order of event: children tend to mention events in order of their occurrence.

  9. 2-The innatist perspective: It’s all in your mind The time frame is 1960s &1970s The main advocate of this theory is Noam Chomsky.

  10. Chomsky Criticized The Behaviorist Theory: • Children come to know more about the structure of their language than they could be expected to learn of language they hear. • The input they are exposed to include is false starts, incomplete sentences, and slips of the tongue, yet they learn how to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.

  11. Chomsky hypothesized that what the child is biologically equipped with is a UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG), which are the principles that underlie all natural languages. • Children are able to master complex structures that can never be acquired by imitating and practicing, but because of their innate language ability. • The environment makes only a basic contribution. Therefore, the child’s biological endowment will do the rest.

  12. According to Innatist theory: All human languages are biologically innate: children are biologically programmed for language, and language develops in the child in the same way that other biological functions develop.

  13. The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) Organisms are genetically programmed to acquire certain abilities at a certain time after which it becomes either difficult or impossible to acquire them. For humans, it is more difficult or impossible to acquire language after the ‘critical period.

  14. Evidence: Victor He was found in the woods when he was 12 years. He never acquired the language: only producing two words ‘lait’ (milk) and ‘O Dieu’ (Oh, God). Genie She was found 13 years old when she was found isolated, neglected, and abused. She failed to acquire the language using grammatical forms inconsistently.

  15. 3- Interactionist/developmental perspectives: Learning from inside and out The time frame of this theory is 1980s, 1990s & early 2000. Main advocates are Piaget & Vygotsky.

  16. Interationists Criticized The Innatist Theory: • Too much focus on the competence of the native speaker, and no importance given to the role of interaction in the environment. • Language should not be a separate ability, but part of the cognition and learning in general.

  17. According to Interactionist theory: Interactionists focused on the interplay between the innate learning ability of children and the environment in which they develop. Language is part of child’s cognition. It is acquired through cognitive development.

  18. Summary

  19. The End Source: Lightbown & Spada (3th ed.)

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