Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Child Language Acquisition main theories - Coggle Diagram
Child Language Acquisition main theories
Chomsky - Nativst/Innate
children are born with an innate ability to learn language and it's a biologically determined process
LAD - Language Acquisition Device
For:
fixed stages of development
children overgeneralise
Wug test
Slobin - adapted vocal tract for sound production
Sign language uses similar structures
Against
children need interaction (Genie)
Eventually stop adapting and use the 'correct' form
Grammar isn't innate
Skinner - Behaviourist
Children imitate adults using positive and negative reinforcements to build habits
For:
accent and dialect
learn politeness and pragmatics
Against:
can form unheard sentences
learn the 'correct' despite hearing regional versions
correction can slow the learning down
'Fis' phenomenon - can hear but not produce the sounds
there's good evidence for a critical period
Piaget - Cognitive
views children as active in learning language but children must develop mentally before language can be acquired
For:
stages of development
utterances increase in difficulty as they grasp a rule
Brown's stages
Bellugi's questions/pronouns
bigger vs smaller struggle
object permanence struggle
Against:
can use language beyond their understanding
fis phenomenon suggests physical factors impact
syntax doesn't appear till late
Bruner - Interactionalist
foregrounds the role of interaction suggesting that and CDS's scaffolding gives children an advantage
For:
routines like turn taking help
children learn politeness and 'norms'
pretend-play shows carers effect vocab (play cooking vs teaching)
Vincent (born to deaf parents and radio didn't help)
LASS device theory
Against:
children from cultures that don't promote interaction still learn
sounds are universal and biologically determined