Chapter 1. Language Learning in Early Childhood

Chapter 1.Language Learning in Early Childhood Definitions of L1, L2, FL, TL Patterns and sequences in L1 development Theoretical approaches to first language acquisition: Behaviorism, Innatism, and Interactionism Childhood bilingualism

Definitions of L1 & L2 • Definition of “first language” (L1): • The language(s) that an individual learns first. • Other terms for “first language”- • Native language or mother tongue • Definition of “second language” (L2): • Any language other than the first language learned (in a broader sense). • A language learned after the first language in a context where the language is used widely in the speech community (in a narrower sense). • e.g., For many people in Taiwan, their L1 is Taiwanese and L2 is Mandarin.

Definitions of FL & TL • Definition of“foreign language” (FL) • A second (or third, or fourth) language learned in a context where the language is NOT widely used in the speech community. This is often contrasted with second language learning in a narrower sense. e.g., English or Japanese is a foreign language for people in Taiwan. • Definition of “target language” (TL) • A language which is being learned, where it is the first language or a second, third language. e.g., English is a target language for you now.

L1 Developmental Sequences • Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes. • Acquisition of Negation (to deny, reject, disagree with, and refuse something) • Acquisition of Questions

Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes Roger Brown’s study (1973): - approximate order of acquiring grammatical morphemes • Present progressive –ing (running) • Plural –s (books) • Irregular past forms (went) • Possessive -’s (daddy’s hat) • Copula (am/is/are) • Articles (a/an/the) • Regular past –ed (walked) • Third person singular simple present –s (he runs) • Auxiliary ‘be’(He is coming)

Acquisition of Negation Lois Bloom’s study (1991) – four stages • Stage 1: ‘no’ – e.g., “No go”. “No cookie.” • Stage 2: subject + no – e.g., “Daddy no comb hair.” • Stage 3: auxiliary or modal verbs (do/can) + not (Yet no variations for different persons or tenses) e.g., “I can’t do it “, “He don’t want it.” • Stage 4: correct form of auxiliary verbs (did/doesn’t/is/are) + not e.g., He didn’t go. She doesn’t want it. But sometimes double negatives are used e.g., I don’t have no more candies.

Acquisition of Questions Lois Bloom’s study (1991): Order of the occurrence of wh- question words • “What” - Whatsat? Whatsit? • “Where” and “who” • “Why” (emerging at the end of the 2nd year and becomes a favorite at the age of 3 or 4) • “How” and “When” (yet children do not fully understand the meaning of adults’ responses) e.g., Child: When can we go outside? Mother: In about 5 minutes. Child: 1-2-3-4-5! Can we go now?

Patterns in L1 Development • By the age of 4: • Most children are able to ask questions, give commands, report real events, and create stories about imaginary ones with correct word order and grammatical markers most of the time. • They have mastered the basic structures of the language or languages spoken to them in these early years. • They begin to acquire less frequent and more complex linguistic structures such as passives and relative clauses. • They begin to develop ability to use language in a widening social environment.

Theoretical Approaches toL1 Acquisition • Behaviorism: Say what I say • Innatism: It’s all in your mind • Interactionist/Developmental perspectives: Learning from inside and out

Behaviorism: Say what I say • Skinner: language behavior is the production of correct responses to stimuli through reinforcement. • Language learning is the result of 1) imitation (word-for-word repetition), 2) practice (repetitive manipulation of form), 3) feedback on success (positive reinforcement), and 4) habit formation. • The quality and quantity of the language that the child hears, as well as the consistency of the reinforcement offered by others in the environment, would shape the child’s language behavior.

Behaviorism:Say what I say • Children’s imitations are not random: Their imitation is selective and based on what they are currently learning. They choose to imitate something they have already begun to understand, rather than simply imitating what is available in the environment. Children’s practice of new language forms • The way they practice new forms is very similar to the way foreign language students do substitution drills. • Their practice of language forms is also selective and reflects what they would like to learn. They are often in charge of the conversation with adults.

Behaviorism:Say what I say • However, children do use language creatively, not just repeat what they have heard. (see examples on pp. 13-14) • Patterns in language • Mother: Maybe we need to take you to the doctor. Randall (36 months):Why? So he candocmy little bump?” (showing the understanding of the suffix ‘er/or’) • Son: I putted the plates on the table! Mother: You mean, I put the plates on the table. Son: No, I putted them on all by myself. (showing the understanding of using ‘ed’ to make the past tense for a verb” and the focus on the meaning, not form) • Unfamiliar formulas • Father: I’d like to propose a toast. Child: I’d like to propose a piece of bread. • Mother: I love you to pieces. Child: I love you three pieces.

Question formation Are dogs can wiggle their tails? Are those are my boots? Are this is hot? Order of events You took all the towels away because I can’t dry my hands. Imitation and practice alone cannotexplain some of the forms created by children. Children appear to pick out patterns and then generalize or overgeneralize them to new contexts. They create new forms or new uses of words. Behaviorism:Say what I say

Chomsky’s viewpoints: Children are biologically programmed for language and language develops in the child in just the same way that other biological functions develop. The environment makes only a basic contribution, that is, the availability of people who speak to the child. Therefore, the child’s biological endowment (LAD) will do the rest. Children are born with a specific innate ability to discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system on the basis of the samples of a natural language they are exposed to. Innatism:It’s all in your mind

Innatism:It’s all in your mind • Chomsky argues that behaviorism cannot provide sufficient explanations for children’s language acquisition for the following reasons: • Childrencometoknowmoreaboutthestructureoftheirlanguagethantheycouldbeexpectedtolearnonthebasisofthesamplesoflanguagetheyhear. • The language childrenareexposed to includesfalsestarts,incompletesentencesandslipsofthetongue,andyettheylearntodistinguishbetweengrammaticalandungrammaticalsentences. • Children are by no means systematically corrected or instructed on language by parents.

Interactionist/developmental Perspectives: Learning from inside and out • Problems of Innatism: • The innatists placed too much emphasis on the “final state” (i.e. the linguistic competence of adult native speakers), but not enough on the developmental aspects of language acquisition. • Language acquisition is an example of children’s ability to learn from experience. What children need to know is essentially available in the language they are exposed to.

Interactionist/developmental Perspectives: Learning from inside and out • This position views that language develops as a result of the interplay between the innate learning ability of children and the environment in which they develop. • Developmental psychologists attribute more importance to the environment than the innatists, though they also recognize a powerful learning mechanism in the human brain. • They see language acquisition as similar to and influenced by the acquisition of other kinds of skill and knowledge, rather than as something that is largely independent of the child’s experience and cognitive development.

The Interactionist Position • Piaget: Language is dependent upon and springs from cognitive development. That is, children’s cognitive development determines their language development. (e.g., the use of words as “bigger” or “more” depends on children’s understanding of the concepts they represent.) • He argued that the developing cognitive understanding is built on the interaction between the child and the things which can be observed, touched, and manipulated. • For him, language was one of a number of symbol systems developed in childhood, rather than a separate module of the mind. Language can be used to represent knowledge that children have acquired through physical interaction with the environment.

The Interactionist Position • Vygotsky: sociocultural theory of human mental processing. He argued that language develops primarily from social interaction. • Zone of proximal development (ZPD): a level that a child is able to do when there is support from interaction with a more advanced interlocutor. That is, a supportive interactive environment enables children to advance to a higher level of knowledge and performance than s/he would be able to do independently. • He observed the importance of conversations which children have with adults and with other children and saw in these conversations the origins of both language and thought.

The Interactionist Position • How Piaget’s view differs from Vygotsky’s: • Piaget hypothesized that language developed as a symbol system to express knowledge acquired through interaction with the physical world. • Vygotsky hypothesized that thought was essentially internalized speech, and speech emerged in social interaction.

The Interactionist Position • Language socialization framework: observed from childrearing patterns (parent-child interaction) • Child-directed Speech (modified language interaction): • Phonological modification: a slower rate of delivery, higher pitch, more varied intonation • Syntactical modification: shorter, simpler sentence patterns, frequent repetition, and paraphrase. • Limited conversation topics: e.g., the ‘here and now’ and topics related to the child’s experiences. • More important than modification is the conversational give-and-take.

The Interactionist Position • Theinteraction between a language-learning child and an interlocutor who responds in some way to the child is important (Jim’s case). • Exposure to impersonal sources of language such as television or radio alone are not sufficient for children to learn the structure of a particular language. • One-on-one interaction gives children access to language that is adjusted to their level of comprehension. • Once children have acquired some language, however, television can be a source of language and cultural information.

Childhood bilingualism • “Simultaneous bilinguals” • Children who learn more than one language from birth. • “Sequential bilinguals” • Children who begin to learn a second language after they have acquired the first language.

Summary • Each of the three theoretical approaches explains a different aspect of first language acquisition. • Behaviorists (learning through imitation, practice, reinforcement, habit-formation) – the acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical morphemes. • Innatists (LAD) – the acquisition of complex grammar (structure of the language). • Interactionists (social interaction) – the acquisition of how form and meaning are related, how communicative functions are carried out, and how language is used appropriately.

Chapter 1. Language Learning in Early Childhood