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1. Language Acquisition
Refer the theories of language acquisition (Behaviorist theories, nativist theories and interactionist theories) and write an evaluation of them.Consider
the stages of language acquisition in the evaluation of these theories.
Human language development is a huge debate between Nature Vs Nurture within theorists of various fields in psychology.There are three major
schools of thought that will be mainly focused on; behaviourist, nativist (rationalist) and interactionist(cognitive and social). The cognitive approach
and social context of language development is known as interactionist approach as the language depends upon the child having interaction with its
physical and social world.
The...show more content...
In behaviorist theory it is believed that infants do learn the language through imitation, rewards and practice through other role models. (Cooter &
Reutzel, 2004)
Nativist theory/ Rationalist Approach: Rationalism is the opposing view of behaviorism. Just like birds do fly and fishes swim, the capability to learn
and use language is also genetically innate. Chomsky is one of the leading rationalist linguist.
Noam Chomsky's theory of language acquisition. (1957; 1965) He suggests that language acquisition is an innate faculty. Chomsky's approach
incorporates that children use an inherited hypothetical blueprint known as Language acquisition Device (LAD) (1968). Chomsky believes that
people are born with a set of rules about language, which is called "Universal Grammar". When a child begins to listen to his parents speaking, H/ she
will unconsciously recognize which kind of language the child is dealing with, and setting the grammar to the correct language is known as "Setting
the Parameters" Chomsky's theory attempts to explain the competence acquired in language. Evidence shows the existence of LAD, which comes from
the speed of language learned. Without LAD it will not be as easy to acquire a language, although it
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2. Language Acquisition Essay
How do children acquire language? What are the processes of language acquisition? How do infants respond to speech? Language acquisition is the
process of learning a native or a second language. Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the
observations that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children
usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, (which helps them learn to pronounce words correctly), and
grammar is seldom taught to them, but instead that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. Though, not all children learn by imitation
alone. Children...show more content...
Siegler (1998) there are four main components to language acquisition. These components are phonology, semantics (meaning), grammar (syntax), and
communication (pragmatics). Phonology is the study of how speech sounds are organized and how they function. It is the main linguistic
accomplishment during the first year of life. The phonology of language refers to fundamental sounds units and the rules for combining them. Each
language has a certain number of sounds called phonemes. Phonemes are the smallest unit of sound that affects the meaning of a word. Infants are
able to identify hundreds of variations of sounds. For example, an infant who is 6 months old can detect the difference between "ma" and "pa".
According to Siegler (1998), "most children do not gain full phonological competence until roughly school age"(p. 147). An infant's first year is
mainly receiving messages but also working on being able to produce messages. As they physically develop, infants form the ability to make sounds.
Some of these initial sounds are cooing, vowel–like utterances occasionally accompanied by consonants and babbling, which are consonant–vowel
combinations (Siegler, 1998). During the first 6 months of life, physiological changes, such as the shape of oral cavity, tongue development, motor
control of lips, and tooth eruption, also take place that contribute to speech development. One of the infant's tasks is to identify phonemes or the
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3. Language Acquisition Essay
What is language? Language is a set of arbitrary symbols that enables every individual in the community to communicate and interact. These symbols
contain acceptable meanings by the society and culture. Possessing a language is essential in all human; every normal human speaks but nonhuman
does not. Acquisition, on the other hand, means learning or getting. Therefore, language acquisition basically means the learning or the gaining of a
language. Language acquisition is normally viewed as a part of cognitive science. Many psychologists like Pavlov, Skinner, Jean Piaget, Vygotsky and
Chomsky had done researches on this particular field. Language acquisition is an interesting subject to study and discuss on. Every normal child
acquires his...show more content...
With the existence of Universal Grammar, adults need not spoon feed children with every single word or sentence of the desired language. What
children really need is exposure to the language and they are able to process it and learn it on their own. Upon mentioning on Universal Grammar,
Chomsky concluded that every child is born with Language Acquisition Device. Language Acquisition Device which is naturally equipped in human's
brain contains the rules or laws which are universal to all languages – the Universal Grammar. It is an area which cannot be pointed out exactly in the
brain but is believed to be present in the neurological networks every human has developed. This device is believed to exist only in human's brain,
not in nonhuman. Children only need to be exposed or access to samples of their languages as a trigger to activate the device. Once the activation
has taken place, children will be able to find out the patterns of the language to be learned. They will be able to combine their innate capability (the
ability on language acquisition) with the information they gain from the environment. Therefore, if language acquisition is corresponding to brain
development, there must be a period in life whereby human are able to acquire a language most effectively as brain cells do not develop the whole
life. In respond to that, the critical period for language learning is biologically determined in which the period
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