This document discusses four approaches to first language acquisition: (1) The behaviorist/environmentalist approach views language as learned through imitation, reinforcement, and habit formation. However, it does not explain all aspects of language development in children. (2) The innatist/nativist approach posits that children are born with an innate language acquisition device (LAD) that enables them to unconsciously learn the rules of their native language. (3) The cognitivist approach sees language development as linked to children's intellectual growth and their use of strategies like generalization. (4) The interactionist approach emphasizes that language develops through interactions between a child and their social environment, like caretaker speech adapted for

1. FIRST LANGUAGE
ACQUISITION

2. 2-1 Introduction
 Language is something specific to
human.

3. 2-1 Introduction
 Language is something specific to
human.
 We believe with complete
confidence that human language is
gift from our Creator , Allah, for all
humankind.

4. 2-1 Introduction
 Human beings are provided with tools as
well as biological accoutrements to
acquire language from infancy stage.

5.  This chapter discusses how
children acquire first language
.That is to say , it covers the
four approaches of first
language acquisition.

6. Approaches of First Language Acquisition :
(1) The Behaviourists ( or the
Environmentalist) Approach

7. Approaches of First Language Acquisition :
(1) The Behaviourists ( or the
Environmentalist) Approach
(2) The Innatists Approach

8. Approaches of First Language Acquisition :
(1) The Behaviourists ( or the
Environmentalist)
(2) The Innatists Approach
(3) The Cognitists Approach

9. Approaches of First Language Acquisition :
(1) The Behaviourists ( or the
Environmentalist) Approach
(2) The Innatists Approach
(3) The Cognitists Approach
(4) The Interactionists Approach

10. 2-2 The Outlook of Behaviourists
/Environmentalists:
 The best proponent of this approach was B.F.
Skinner (1957).
 On the basis of his observation of animal behaviour ,
Skinner defined the notion of reinforcement .
 To Skinner , a theory of language acquisition should
be derived from the general behaviourist acquisition
theory which indicates that language learning is
simply a matter of imitation and habit-formation.

11.  On this ground, this approach sees that
language is behaviour acquired according to
the following steps:
– 1) Imitation & Repetition
– 2) Reinforcement:
 a. Positive
 b. Negative
– 3) Habit formation

12.  Imitation & Repetition
 Children imitate the sounds and
patterns which they hear around them.
 They repeat what they hear when they
receive positive reinforcement for doing
so.

13.  Reinforcement
 (i) POSITIVE: That is the child may receive
support or aid from the people around him . (e.g.
rewards or approval or just successful
communication),
 (ii) NEGATIVE: That is the child could be
corrected by the people around him (e.g. by
saying to child “no you should not say this word
or sentence this way, you should say it that
way”).

14.  Habit formation
 Encouraged by the environment, the child
continues to imitate and practice (repeat)
these sounds and patterns until he/she
forms ‘habits’ of correct language use.

15. Note..
 The quality and quantity of language which
the child hears , as well as consistency of
reinforcement by the environment have an
effect on the child's success in first language
acquisition.
 Within this framework , the Behaviourism
Approach believes that a child’s MISTAKES
or ERRORS are simply considered as a
result of imperfect learning.

16. Criticism
 In recent years , it has become clear that this
principle does not explain all the facts of
language acquisition and development
.Children imitate a great deal , especially in
acquiring sounds and vocabulary but little of
their grammatical ability can be explained in
this way.

17.  However ,this theory faced two critical points
regarding:
 (a) The kind of language children produce
(What children produce)
 (b) The kind of language children do not
produce (What children do not produce)

18. What children produce
 Children sometimes say goed and taked
(for the irregular past- tense forms) instead of
went and took or they say mouses and
sheeps (for the plural forms ) instead of
mice and sheep.

19.  What children do not produce
 For example, in the following dialogue
where a child proved unable to use a pattern,
even though the parent presented the correct
adult model several times:

20.  CHILD: Nobody don’t like me.
 MOTHER: No, say ‘Nobody likes me.’
 (Eight repetitions of this dialogue)
 CHILD: Oh, Nobody don’t likes me.

21. Scholars believe that imitation and
reinforcement, or practice alone cannot
explain such errors since the forms created
by the child were never produced by adults.

22.  2-3 The Views of Innatists or Nativists
 ( a) The Innatists or Nativists maintain that
first language acquisition is not simply a
matter of imitation / reinforcement.
 (b) First language acquisition is a complex
system of rules which enable the child to:
 1. Understand
 2. Create an infinite number of sentences

23.  Understanding takes place according to the
following steps:
 1. The child receives (hears) the
language.
 2. His/her brain starts naturally working
to discover or recognize the shape of the
sounds of this language (what is it?)
 3. The brain then analyses these sounds
(to see how this language operates).

24.  The creativity of the child can be noticed from
the child’s ability to extract abstract
knowledge of rules from concrete examples.
 For example, the child, from the language he
hears, may generalize the past –ed sign for
all verbs he uses without thinking that there
are some exceptions: Goed, taked, teached,
keeped, drinked

25.  (c) Children seem to constructing their own
rule-systems, which they gradually adapt in
the direction of the adult system.
 (d) Children are born with a language faculty
( innate capacity) which is equipped with
considerable knowledge about the form that
human language takes.

26. (e) The brain of the child is ready for the
language. When the child is exposed to
speech, certain general principles for
discovering or structuring language
automatically begin to operate.
 These principles constitute a child’s
Language Acquisition Device LAD

27.  How LAD works?
 1. The child uses his LAD to make sense of the
utterances (the primary linguistic data) heard around him.
 2. Deriving from these utterances (the primary linguistic
data) hypotheses about the grammar of the language are
formed.
 3. This knowledge is then used to produce sentences.
These sentences go through many stages until they
correspond to those in adult speech.

28.  When LAD works?
 LAD works when stimulated at the right time
(the time which starts from the day of birth till
puberty).
 This period is called the critical period.
 LAD is commonly known now as UG
(Universal Grammar).
 UG consists of principles which are common
to all languages.

29.  Universal Grammar (UG):
 Children have to learn the ways by which
their own language makes use of these
principles and the variations on these
principles which may exist in particular
language they are learning.

31. The Views of the Cognitists
1- Language is developed simultaneously with
the child’s intellectual growth.

32. COGNITISTS
2-Linguistic structures will appear and later
develop in the language of the child,
only if there is an already-established
cognitive foundation.

33. Child’s Language Development
Number of words per a sentence
Five
Four
Three
Two
One word
30 36
24
18
12
6
Child’s age in month

34. COGNITISTS
 This means that less complex
structure appears (acquired) in the
language of the child earlier than
more complex structure.

35. COGNITISTS
3-The child follows a number of
strategies in order to understand
and develop the language.
 These strategies are called
operating principles:

36. COGNITISTS
a. Avoid Exception
Children tend to follow rules of the
language without thinking of any
exceptions. This is called
Generalization Strategy

37. COGNITISTS
e.g. children may produce breaked, mans for broke,
men. This proves that regular rules are
acquired before irregular ones.

38. COGNITISTS
(b) Clear meaning –relationships of words:
The underlying meaning -
relationships of words should be
clearly marked in the mind of
children . This might explain why
the active appears before the
passive in the course of language
development of the children :

39. COGNITISTS
1- The student handed the exam
paper to the teacher.
2- The exam paper was handed
to the teacher .
There seems to be a natural tendency
to prefer the first noun in a
sentence as the subject ( the
student ) and the second as the
object ( the teacher )

40. COGNITISTS
c) Semantic sense of grammatical markers :
Children tend to use grammatical
markers ( such as am, is , are ,a ,
an, this ,there , in , etc ) in order to
understand the patterns they hear.
This may account for the late
acquisition of Ø marked adult
category .

41. COGNITISTS
For example , forms which may undergo
contraction or deletion to be initially
absent in children's speech as in
1) I will appears before I’ll
2) The pen which he used
appears before The pen he used
This shows why active is easier than passive.

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2.5 The Viewpoint of The Interactionists:
The following are some views of The Interactionists:

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(a) The INTERACTIONISTS think that
language develops as a result of the
complex interplay between the child
and the environment in which
he/she grows

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See Figure ( 2.1) Page 22 :
First Language Acquisition as Interactionists
(viewpoint)

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INTERACTIONISTS
Parents
Other children
Environment
Child

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INTERACTIONISTS
(b) Parents or older children do not talk to
small children in the same way as they
talk to other adults.
(c) Language develops from social
interaction.

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INTERACTIONISTS
(d) Parents or older children adapt
their language to give the child
maximum opportunity to interact
and learn.
 This adaptation is called ‘caretaker
talk or speech.’

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INTERACTIONISTS
(e)They emphasize the importance of
the language which is adjusted in
ways that make it easier for them to
understand.

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INTERACTIONISTS
(f)The caretaker talk or speech has
a number of characteristics
which distinguish it from
normal speech between adult

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INTERACTIONISTS
These characteristics are as follows:

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INTERACTIONISTS
1. It is generally spoken more
slowly and clearly.
2. It contains shorter utterances.

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INTERACTIONISTS
3. The utterances are simplified,
especially with respect to their
grammar and meaning.

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INTERACTIONISTS
4. It contains fewer complex
sentences.
5. There is less variety of
tenses.

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INTERACTIONISTS
6.The range of vocabulary is more limited.

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INTERACTIONISTS
7. Extra information is provided by the
mothers and sentences may be
repeated for clarification.

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INTERACTIONISTS
Note…
(i) Caretaker talk or speech
seems well suited to help the
child learn the rules and
meanings of the language.

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INTERACTIONISTS
Note…
(ii) The child by interacting with the
environment has time to become
familiar with the language.

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INTERACTIONISTS
Note…
(iii) When a child does not understand,
the adult may repeat or paraphrase in
order to keep the communication and
learning going on.

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CONCLUSION
 One way to bring the views of
behaviourists, innatists, cognitists,
and Interactionists together is to
see that each may help to explain a
different aspect of child’s language
development.

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Study Question of Chapter two
1. What is the human being provided with in order to
acquire language from very early childhood?
2. Identify the approaches of first language
acquisition?
 { Explain how do children acquire first language?}
3. Explain that the behaviouristic approach does not
explain all the facts of language acquisition and
development ? {Explain the two critical points that
Behaviouristic Approach faced?}

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Study Question of Chapter two
4. What are the types of reinforcement?
5.What do we mean by LAD and UG?
Support your answer with examples.

6. How LAD works?

7. When LAD works?
8.What are the differences between the views
of innatists and the views of cognitists about
first language acquisition?

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Study Question of Chapter two
9. Explain the view of interactionist about
first language acquisition ?
10. What are the three " operative principles
" the children have for making sense of
language data in the process of L1
development?
11. Mention the characteristics of caretaker
talk or speech?

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Answers to Study Question of Chapter two
1.What is the human being provided with in
order to acquire language from very early
childhood?

Human beings are provided with tools as
well as biological accoutrements to
acquire language from infancy stage.

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(2) Identify the approaches of first language
acquisition? { Explain how do children acquire first
language?}
Approaches of First Language Acquisition :
(1) The Behaviouristic ( or the Environmentalist)
Approach
(2) The Innatists /Nativestic Approach
(3) The Cognitists/ Psychological Approach
(4) The Interactionistic Approach

65. (3) Explain that the behaviouristic approach does not explain all the facts of
language acquisition and development ? {Explain the two critical points that
Behaviouristic Approach faced?}
In recent years , it has become clear that Behaviouristic Approach does not
explain all the facts of language acquisition and development .Children imitate a
great deal , especially in acquiring sounds and vocabulary but little of their
grammatical ability can be explained in this way. However ,this theory faced two
critical points regarding:
(a) The kind of language children produce (What children produce)
(b) The kind of language children do not produce (What children do not
produce)
1
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15

66. (4) What are the types of reinforcement?
There are two types of reinforcement as follows:
(i) POSITIVE: That is the child may receive support or aid from
the people around him . (e.g. rewards or approval or just successful
communication),
(ii) NEGATIVE: That is the child could be corrected by the people
around him (e.g. by saying to child “no you should not say this
word or sentence this way, you should say it that way”).
1
/
15

67.  (5) What do we mean by LAD and UG? Support your answer with examples
 Language Acquisition Device (LAD) refers to the general principles for
discovering or structuring language automatically which begin to operate
when the child is exposed to speech. For example the child uses his LAD
to make sense of the utterances (the primary linguistic data) heard around
him.
 LAD is commonly known now as Universal Grammar(UG). UG consists of
principles which are common to all languages. Children have to learn the
ways by which their own language makes use of these principles and the
variations on these principles which may exist in particular language they
are learning.
1
/
15

68.  6. How LAD works?
 1. The child uses his LAD to make sense of the utterances (the
primary linguistic data) heard around him.
 2. Deriving from these utterances (the primary linguistic data)
hypotheses about the grammar of the language are formed.
 3. This knowledge is then used to produce sentences. These
sentences go through many stages until they correspond to
those in adult speech.
1
/
15

69.  7. When LAD works?
 LAD works when stimulated at the right time (the time
which starts from the day of birth till puberty).
 This period is called the critical period.
 LAD is commonly known now as UG (Universal
Grammar).
 UG consists of principles which are common to all
languages.
1
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15

70. (8) What are the differences between the views of innatists and the
views of cognitists about first language acquisition?
 The Innatists think that first language acquisition is a complex
system of rules which enable the child to understand and to
create an infinite number of sentences .
 The cognitists think that first language acquisition is developed
simultaneously with the child’s intellectual growth.
1
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15

71. (9) Explain the view of interactionist about first language
acquisition ?
 The views of the Cognitists
 1- Language is developed simultaneously with the child’s intellectual
growth.
 2-Linguistic structures will appear and later develop in the language of the
child, only if there is an already-established cognitive foundation.
 3-The child follows a number of strategies in order to understand and
develop the language. These strategies are called operating principles.
1
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72.  (10) What are the three " operative principles " the
children have for making sense of language data in the
process of L1 development?
 These principles include the following:
 (a) Avoid exception
 (b) Clear meaning –relationships of words
 (c) Semantic sense of grammatical markers.
1
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73.  (11) Mention the characteristics of caretaker talk or speech?
 The caretaker talk or speech has a number of characteristics which distinguish it from normal
speech between adults. These characteristics are as follows:
 1. It is generally spoken more slowly and clearly.
 2. It contains shorter utterances.
 3. The utterances are simplified, especially with respect to their grammar and meaning.
 4. It contains fewer complex sentences
 5. There is less variety of tenses.
 6. The range of vocabulary is more limited.
 7. Extra information is provided by the mothers and sentences may be repeated for
clarification.
1
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74. References
• Noor, H. & Al- Qadi, N. (2016). A Course in
Applied Linguistics for EFL/ESL Arab
Students. Berlin: Peter Lang International
Academic Publishers.
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75. • Thank you so much
• Dr. Fawzi Eltayeb Yousuf Ahmed
 email: feltayb12@gmail.com
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