Here are the key early theories that sought to explain how children develop their language skills:
- Behaviorism (Skinner): Language is learned through conditioning and reinforcement from the environment. Children imitate the language they hear from others and are reinforced through rewards and praise, helping them learn the connection between words/sounds and their meanings.
- Nativist (Chomsky): Children are born with an innate, universal grammar that allows them to intuitively understand language structures. Their environment activates this innate ability, but language acquisition does not require conditioning or teaching.
- Maturationism (Piaget): Children pass through distinct stages of cognitive/language development according to their biological maturation. As they mature physically and mentally, they gain new abilities