theories of language acquisiton

1. Language Acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and
comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate.
Language acquisition is one of the quintessential human traits, because non-humans do not
communicate by using language. Psychologists have different theories on language
acquisition, or the process by which we learn to speak, write, or even use sign language in
meaningful ways to communicate.
Theories of Language Development
There are three theories of Language Development which are following as;
 Nativist Theory
 Interactionist Theory
 Behaviouristic Theory
Nativist Theory
 Noam Chomsky was the first to propose the nativist theory.
 He argued that the long-held learning theory of language development did not adequately
explain how children were able to develop and master the complex language system in
such a comparatively short time frame.
 Chomsky proposed that learning language was assisted by nature and that humans are
born prepared to learn language.
 He said that language is an innate faculty - that is to say that we are born with a set of rules
about language in our heads which he refers to as the 'Universal Grammar'.
 Chomsky gives a number of reasons why this should be so:
 Children are exposed to very little correctly formed language. When people
speak, they constantly interrupt themselves, change their minds, and make slips
of the tongue and so on. Yet children manage to learn their language all the
same.
 Children do not simply copy the language that they hear around them. They
deduce rules from it, which they can then use to produce sentences that they
have never heard before. They do not learn a repertoire of phrases and sayings,
as the behaviourists believe, but a grammar that generates infinity of new
sentences.
 When the child begins to listen to his parents, he will unconsciously recognise which
kind of a language he is dealing with - and he will set his grammar to the correct one -
this is known as 'setting the parameters'. It is as if the child were offered at birth a certain
number of hypotheses, which he or she then matches with what is happening around him.

2. He knows intuitively that there are some words that behave like verbs, and others like
nouns, and that there is a limited set of possibilities as to their ordering within the phrase.
 The idea that language is innate
Chomsky based his theory on language being an innate capability of humans, something
that humans were born to do by nature’s design. This idea of language being an innate
capability of humans has its foundations in that despite cultural differences, all humans
develop some form of language skills and it is done with remarkable consistency in terms
of the milestones of development. This implies that language development is not reliant on
a particular way of teaching children to speak, which does vary from culture to culture.
 Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
 Chomsky furthered his theory by proposing the existence of the language acquisition
device.
 The language acquisition device is a postulated organ of the brain that is supposed to
function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language. (i.e. language acquisition)
 The LAD is an inherited or innate part of the brain that is activated when language is heard.
With its store of operating principles for language or the universal aspects of language, the
LAD then aides the child in learning the language being heard.
 He later expanded this idea into that of Universal Grammar, a set of innate principles
and adjustable parameters that are common in all human beings.
How LAD Functions
 Children need to access to samples of a natural language to activate the device.
 Once the LAD is activated, they discover the structure of the language to be learned.
 They discover it by matching the innate knowledge of Universal Grammar to the structures
of the particular language in the environment.
Sentence are formed in the following sequence
Input LAD Output
Primary
linguistic
data
General
language
learning
principles
Grammatical
knowledge
The Rules
Child’s
Speech

3.  Critiques of nativist/biological theories
• Innate grammar
 Lack of specificity
 Grammar is limited in deaf children not exposed to ASL
 Complexity of grammar is related to complexity of input (multi-clause sentences)
• Sensitive periods
 Relative, not absolute
 Mediated by motivation
Interactionist theories
“The theory that language is acquired from an interaction of a human’s innate biological
capabilities to acquire language with exposure to language in the environment in which the
child is developing.”
The interaction theory of language development is a compromise between the nativist
theory and the behaviorist theory of language development. The interaction theory recognizes
that both environmental and biological factors are important in language development. Within
this theory of compromise are theorists who are closer to one end of the extreme than the other.
However, all interactionists believe that language acquisition occurs as a result of the
natural interaction between children and their environment, more specifically, their parents or
caregivers. From birth, children are surrounded by others who talk to them or with them. This
communication plays a part in how the baby learns to speak his or her native language.
Some argue that "nature" is entirely responsible for how a baby learns a language, while others
argue that "nurture" is responsible for how a baby picks up his or her mother tongue. Social
interactionists argue that the way a baby learns a language is both biological and social.
Everyone loves to coo at babies, and this "baby talk" is exposing the child to language, whether
we realize it or not. Interactionists believe that children are born with brains that predispose
them to the ability to pick up languages as well as with a desire to communicate.
Some Interactionists even argue that babies and children cue their parents and other
adults into giving them the linguistic exposure they need to learn a language. The Interactionist
Theory posits that children can only learn language from someone who wants to communicate
with them.
Vygotsky, a Russian psychologist, created a model of human development now called
the sociocultural model. He believed that all cultural development in children is visible in two

4. stages. First, the child observes the interaction between other people and then the behavior
develops inside the child. This means that the child first observes the adults around him
communicating amongst themselves and then later develops the ability himself to
communicate.
Vygotsky also theorized that a child learns best when interacting with those around
him to solve a problem. At first, the adult interacting with the child is responsible for leading
the child, and eventually, the child becomes more capable of problem solving on his own. This
is true with language, as the adult first talks at the child and eventually the child learns to
respond in turn. The child moves from gurgling to baby talk to more complete and correct
sentences.
Bruner, best known for his discovery learning theory, believes that learners, whether
they are adults or children, learn best when they discover knowledge for themselves. He
believes that students retain knowledge best when it is something they have discovered on their
own. Bruner argues that an adult and an infant have conversations despite the child being
unable to speak. The interaction between the two, such as games and non-verbal
communication, build the structure of language long before the child is able to communicate
verbally.
Behavioural Theory
 Language, as a behaviour is a set of habits acquired by operant conditioning and
reinforcement.
 Behaviourism is different from most other approaches because they view people (and
animals) as controlled by their environment and specifically that we are the result of
what we have learned from our environment.
 Behaviourism is concerned with how environmental factors (called stimuli) affect
observable behaviour (called the response).
The Roots of Behaviourism
There are three individual scientists and psychologists that are extremely important to the
history of behaviourism because of their theories and research:
Ivan Pavlov: Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on conditioning after
originally studying digestion in dogs.
Watson (1913) launches the behavioural school of psychology, publishing an
article, Psychology as the behaviourist views it.

5.  B. F. Skinner (1936) wrote The Behaviour of Organisms and introduced the concepts of
operant conditioning and shaping.
Pavlov’s Dog Experiment
Ivan Pavlov did a famous experiment that demonstrates the theory of classical conditioning (or
respondent conditioning). Every time Pavlov would bring put out the dogs’ food he would ring
a bell. After doing this for a certain period of time, Pavlov would ring the bell without
presenting food. The dogs would salivate just from the sound of the bell.
The connection the dogs made between the bell ringing and the food, caused the dogs to
associate the two, so they responded to the bell even without the presence of the food, a new
behaviour had been learnt. Because this response was learned (or conditioned), it is called a
conditioned response.
John Watson.
Behaviourism, according to Watson, was the science of observable behavior. Only behavior
that could be observed, recorded and measured was of any real value for the study of humans
or animals. Watson's thinking was significantly influenced by the earlier classical conditioning
experiments of Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov and his now infamous dogs.
 The Core of Watson's Work
He believed that you can expose the child to certain environmental forces and, over time,
condition that child to become any type of person you want. As you might imagine, this was
radical thinking and a type of behavioral control that many people were not comfortable with
at that time.
 The Little Albert Experiment
In his most famous and controversial experiment, Watson
put his theory on conditioning to the test. The experiment
became known as the 'Little Albert' experiment. It involved
an 11-month-old boy who was allowed to play with various
animals, such as rats and rabbits, that he was not initially
afraid of. But with repeated exposure, Watson and his
assistant and wife, Rosalie Rayner, began pairing the
animal contact with a loud clanging noise.

6. When he touched an animal, the frightening noise sounded. Over time, they conditioned 'Little
Albert' to be afraid of the animals. Watson believed that this proved that emotions could
become conditioned responses.
Unfortunately, Watson did not remove the conditioning he instilled in 'Little Albert' and many
wondered how the experiment affected the boy as he grew up.
Many years later it was discovered that 'Little Albert' died at the age of six from
hydrocephalus, a condition where fluid builds up inside the skull. In looking back,
psychologists today view Watson's experiment as unethical because of the fear he instilled in
the child in conducting the experiment and his lack of effort to undo the conditioned fear.
Ethical guidelines in place today would never permit such an experiment to be performed.
 The influence of Watson’s work
Watson left a deep impression on many who would read his writings. A young psychologist
B.F Skinner follow to Watson’s footstep. Skinner furthered developed some of Watson’s ideas
and went on to become the most well-known psychologist of the second half of the 20th
century.
B.F Skinner
B.F. Skinner investigated operant conditioning of voluntary and involuntary behaviour.
Skinner felt that some behaviour could be explained by the person's motive. Therefore,
behaviour occurs for a reason, and the three main behaviour shaping techniques are positive
reinforcement, negative reinforcement and punishment.
 Operant conditioning
He believed that the best way to understand behaviour is to look at the causes of an action and
its consequences. He called this approach operant conditioning.
Skinner is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning, but his work was based
on Thorndike’s (1905) law of effect. Skinner introduced a new term into the Law of Effect -
Reinforcement. Behavior which is reinforced tends to be repeated (i.e., strengthened);
behavior which is not reinforced tends to die out-or be extinguished (i.e., weakened).
Skinner (1948) studied operant conditioning by conducting experiments using animals which
he placed in a 'Skinner Box'.
Example; To support this theory B.F Skinner carried out an experiment on an animal.
B.F Skinner kept a rat in a box. In that he fixed the bar. A moment came when
accidentally the rat pushed the bar. On this act the supervisor served him with the food. The

7. next time he pressed the bar, the food was again
given to him. For this act he learned that whatever he
wants to have food, he must press the bar. Then the
task was made difficult. Skinner fitted a flashlight in
the box of rat. Then the rat learned that each time of
light flashes, gets food.
This experiment was made an evidence to
support that in the same manner the child learn what
his society wants him to learn.
Skinner identified three types of responses or operant that can follow behavior.
• Neutral operant: Responses from the environment that neither increase nor decrease the
probability of a behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcers: Responses from the environment that increase the probability of a behavior
being repeated. Reinforcers can be either positive or negative.
 A positive reinforcement results in increase of repetition process.
Example: Companies offer raises to employees who exhibit excellent performances. The
hope of a raise can serve as motivation for employees to do their jobs well.
 Negative reinforcement results in reduction of repetition process.
Example: If a high school student is late to school more than three times in a marking period,
he or she will earn a detention and have to stay after school. School officials hope that the
possibility of having to serve time in detention will encourage students to come to school on
time.
• Punishers: Responses from the environment that decrease the likelihood of a behavior
being repeated. Punishment weakens behaviour.

8.  References
 https://www.slideshare.net/CexarOllerenshaw/theories-of-language-acquisition-53237258
 https://link.springer.com
 www.academia.edu
 www.mindmeister.com
 www.simplypsychology.org
 http://study.com/academy/lesson/john-watson-and-behaviorism-theory-lesson-
quiz.html#lesson
 https://www.simplypsychology.org/edward-thorndike.html
 https://www.slideshare.net/guestfa5a5c/behaviorism-theory-of-learning
 https://www.simplypsychology.org/perspective.html
 http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-behaviorism.html