This document discusses several theories of language acquisition: 1. Behaviorism (Bloomfield, Skinner, Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike): Language is learned through conditioning and reinforcement from the environment. Behaviorists view language learning as habit formation through imitation and reinforcement. 2. Nativism (Chomsky, Lenneberg): Humans are born with an innate language acquisition device that allows them to rapidly and effortlessly acquire language according to a universal grammar. The environment plays a limited role. 3. Cognitivism (Piaget): Language is acquired through cognitive development in stages as children form mental representations (schemas) of the world and adapt them through assimilation and accommodation of new

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Ola Sayed Ahmed

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3. "language learning is doubtless
the greatest intellectual feat
any one of us is ever required to
perform."
By Leonard Bloomfield
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4. " Language acquisition seems much like
the growth of organs generally; it is
something that happens to a child, not
that a child does. And while the
environment plainly matters, the general
course of development and the basic
features of what emerges are
predetermined by the initial state [which
is] a common human possession "
By Noam Chomsky
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5.  Crying (birth to 4 months)
 cooing- 6 months- use phonemes from every
language
 babbling- 9 months- selectively use phonemes from
their native language
 one word utterances- 12 months- start using single
words
 telegraphic speech- 2 years- multi-word utterances
that lack in function
 normal speech- 5 years- almost normal developed
speech
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6. • What do they learn when they acquire their
mother tongue?
• How do they learn what they learn?
 Is it a conscious decision to learn?
• Why do they learn what they learn?
 Is it because language is taught to them?
 Or because it’s in their minds?
 Or because they’re programmed to acquire it?
 Or because of their need to communicate?
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Nature
Continuity
Universal
Competence
Structure
Autonomy
Rules
Nurture
Discontinuity
IndividualVariations
Function
Dependency
Association

8. BehavioristTheory
NativistTheory
CognitiveTheory
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Behaviorism
F.B.Skinner
Ivan Pavlov
John Watson
EdwardThorndike

10. Behaviorism was the primary paradigm in psychology between
1920s to 1950.
 Pavlov (1897) published the results of an experiment on
conditioning after originally studying digestion in dogs.
 Watson (1913) launches the behavioral school of
psychology (classical conditioning), publishing an article,
"Psychology as the BehavioristViews It".
 Thorndike (1905) formalized the "Law of Effect".
 Skinner (1936) wrote "The Behavior of Organisms" and
introduced the concepts of operant conditioning and
shaping.
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12.  Watson coined the term "Behaviorism" in 1913.
 Watson's theory was more concerned with effects of
stimuli. He derived much of his thinking from Pavlov's
animal studies (classical conditioning). He applied
classical conditioning to humans.
 He rejected the notion of individual differences.
 He thought complex behaviors came about through
combinations of identifiable reflexes.
 He was a chief proponent of "nurture" and believed that all
human differences were the result of learning.
 He believed that practice strengthens learning.
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13.  He is famous for his work on learning theory
that lead to the development of operant
conditioning within behaviorism.
 He experimented with cats and dogs in his Puzzle box.
 He put forward a “Law of effect” which stated that
any behavior that is followed by pleasant
consequences is likely to be repeated, and any
behavior followed by unpleasant consequences is
likely to be stopped.
 The “Law of Exercise” states that the more a stimulus
is connected with a response, the stronger the link
between the two.
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14.  He is the father of Operant Conditioning.
learning is a function of change in overt behavior.
Changes in behavior are the result of an individual's
response to events (stimuli) that occur in the
environment.A response produces a consequence
such as defining a word, hitting a ball, or solving a
math problem.When a particular Stimulus-Response
(S-R) pattern is reinforced (rewarded), the individual is
conditioned to respond.
 He created a device known as an operant conditioning
chamber, most often referred to today as a Skinner box.
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16.  He 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).
E.g. children completing homework to earn a
reward from a parent or teacher, or employees
finishing projects to receive praise or promotions.
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18.  When born our mind is 'tabula rasa' (a blank slate).
 It focuses on spoken language because we learn
how to speak before learning how to read or write.
 Language teaching and learning is a habit-
formation process children‘s language learning as
a rather passive process of imitating the speech
they heard from adults, accompanied by positive
reinforcement when they got it right and negative
reinforcement when they got it wrong.
 It “emphasizes conditioning and building from the
simplest conditioned responses to more and more
complex behavior” (David S. 19)
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Learning due to its socially-conditioned nature can be the same
for each individual.
All behavior is learnt from the environment.We learn new
behavior through classical or operant conditioning. language is
learned when children's verbal operants are brought under the
‘control’ of environmental conditions as a result of training by
their caregivers.
People have no free will. A person’s environment (S-R)
determines their behavior .
There is little difference between the learning that takes place
in humans and that in other animals.Therefore research can be
carried out on animals as well as humans.

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Nativism
Noam Chomsky Eric Lenneberg

20.  In 1959 Chomsky wrote a review of F.B Skinner’s
book 1957 Verbal Behavior which led to the
decline of behaviorism.
 Chomsky’s Transformational Grammar and
then Generative Grammar led to change in the
way language is viewed.
 Chomsky’s Innateness Hypothesis.
 Lennebergin’s Critical Period Hypothesis 1967
with Biological Foundations of Language
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21.  Language use is stimulus independent: virtually any words can be spoken
in response to any environmental stimulus, depending on one's state of
mind.
 Language use is also historically unbound: what we say is not determined
by our history of reinforcement, as is clear from the fact that we can and
do say things that we have not been trained to say. i.e. imitation cannot
account for linguistic creativity Or children’s errors.
 The primary linguistic data (pld) which is the data children are exposed to
while they are learning their native language will not be sufficient to
cover all aspects of how sentences could be constructed, and that
humans therefore have some other form of aid in their process of
acquiring their native language. (Poverty of Stimulus)
 Learning cannot account for the rapid rate at which children acquire
language.
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•Grammar and complex language usage seem also to be a `uniquely human capability'
as no other species on the planet seem to posses such proficiency as humans.
•The stages of language development occur at about the same ages in most children,
even though different children experience very different environments.
•Children’s language development follows a similar pattern across cultures.
•Children generally acquire language skills quickly and effortlessly.
•Deaf children who have not been exposed to a language may make up their own
language.These new languages resemble each other in sentence structure, even when
they are created in different cultures.
Language Acquisition Device LAD
LAD: an innate mechanism or
process that allows children to
develop language skills

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Transformational Grammar Only a grammar containing both
phrase structure and transformation rules could generate a
natural language.
All languages of the world share similar characteristics of using
nouns, verbs, pronouns, though not necessarily in a similar order
Innate Generative Grammar UG
"Colorless green ideas sleep furiously*“ 
"Ideas furiously green colorless sleep*"

24.  He elaborated onWilder Penfield’s
term Critical Period Hypothesis in his book
Biological Foundations of Language; A term
which is problematic till now in FLA as well as
SLA.
 “certain environmental events must happen
at certain times in development of an
organism in order for normal development to
occur” (Gazzaniga. 92).
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Cognitivism
Jean Piaget

27.  His theory of cognitive development and
epistemological view are together called
"genetic epistemology“ which is the study of
the origins (genesis) of knowledge.
 His theory consists of :
 Schemas
 Stages of Development
 Adaptation Processes (equilibrium, assimilation
and accommodation)
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28.  'a cohesive, repeatable action sequence possessing component
actions that are tightly interconnected and governed by a core
meaning‘ .A schema describes both the mental and physical
actions involved in understanding and knowing. Schemas are
categories of knowledge that help us to interpret and understand
the world.
 They are :
 Critically important building block of conceptual development.
 Constantly in the process of being modified or changed.
 Modified by on-going experiences .
 A generalized idea, usually based on experience or prior
knowledge.
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30.  Assimilation-The process of taking in new information into our
previously existing schemas is known as assimilation. E.g.
Labeling animals.
 Accommodation- Another part of adaptation involves
changing or altering our existing schemas in light of new
information, a process known as accommodation.
Accommodation involves altering existing schemas, or ideas, as
a result of new information or new experiences. New schemas
may also be developed during this process. E.g. adding or
modifying a label.
 Equilibration – the mechanism to achieve the balance
between assimilation and accommodation. Equilibration helps
explain how children are able to move from one stage of
thought into the next.
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31. Interactionism LevVygotsky & Burner
Language is learned through active interaction between the
child and the environment. Language learning is a process of
socialization.
 CDS--> bootstrapping
 LAD exists, but No critical period
 LASS (Language Acquisition Socialization System)
WatchingTV or listening to the radio
 Marriage of Chomsky's LAD and Bruner's LASS.
Children are not little grammarians, motivated to decode
the syntax of the language around them through the
operation of their LAD, but social beings who acquire
language in the service of their needs to communicate
with others.
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32. Connectionist Models: McClelland &
Rumelhart.
Language is built through connections, but not
rules. (Post-behaviorist theory).
 PDP (Parallel Distributed Processing).
 Sufficient exposure.
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Ola Sayed Ahmed