Key Theories

Bristol Uni

Babies exposed to different language <9m can pick out the different sounds when they are older
Due to less phonemic contraction occurring

Berko and Brown

Child: (Points at fish) fis
Adult: Is this your fis
Child: No. Fis
Adult: Is this your fish
Child: Yes, my fis

Katherine Nelson

Studied 18 children
60% = nouns
40% = demand actions, modifiers and social words

Jean Berko Gleason

Asked children:
1 = one wug
So 2 = 2... (wugs)
76% 4-5 year olds get it right
Tests understanding of grammatical rules

Behaviourism
Nativism
Cognitivism
Interactionism
Usage-based approach

Skinner

Children learn through imitation and operant condition
+ive and -ive reinforcement
Accidentally producing meaningful sounds is rewarded with attention (eg. dada)

- Some parents give very little attention to children who still develop language
- Very lengthy process bu language acquisition is fast
- Parents rarely reinforce grammar but grammar still develops
- Assumes imitation without reinforcement won't lead to learning

Chomsky

Innate ability to learn language and work out systems of grammar
Language acquisition device
Universal grammar
Virtuous errors
Children apply grammatical rules to create their own utterances (not imitation)
Critical period = 2-7y

Critical theory hypothesis
Genie Wiley
Wug test
Fis phenomenon

Lenneberg

First few years of childhood are critical for acquiring language
If they miss out on the CP, they will never be fluent

- Only focuses on grammar (colourless green ideas sleep furiously is grammatically correct but makes no sense)

Piaget

Object permanence - linked to object labelling
Egocentrism
Understanding comes before language

18m

Sensorimotor 0-2y
Pre-operational 2-7y
Concrete operational 7-11y
Formal operation 11+y

Egocentric
Object permanence develops

Imagination used to learn language
Egocentric
Ask lots of questions

No egocentrism
More logical thought

Logical thinking
Abstract thought

- Hard to find clear links between language and intellect after 18m
- Studies have found that syntax doesn't rely on intellectual growth

Vygotsky
Bruner

More Knowledgeable Other
Zone of proximal development
Children observe interaction between other people and then they develop the behaviour internally
MKO helps child to move beyond ZPD using scaffolding encouraging them to learn new things

Area between what a child can do and what is beyond their reach

Language Acquisition Support System (importance of social interaction)
Discovery learning
Scaffolding
Child directed speech
Interaction with caregiver is crucial (helps to develop turn-taking)

Children learn best when discovering knowledge themselves

Support provided by caregivers through modelling speech to help develop child's language

Variation of language used by caregiver when interacting with young children

Higher/melodic pitch
More frequent and longer pauses
Slower and clearer speech
Repetition
Grammatically simpler sentences
More questions (including tag and known answer)
Providing answer as well as question
Diminutives
Using nouns rather than pronouns
Repetition of child's name
Fewer verbs, adjectives and function words
Recasts

Reconstructing child's utterance to make it accurate/more developed

Bryant and Barrett
Sinclair and Coulthard

Research into CDS

Shuar adults (South American hunter-horticulturist) could differentiate between child-directed and adult-directed speech in a language they didn't understand

Sinclair and Coulthard

Initiation
Response
Feedback

Tomasello

Lots of cognitive developments occur simultaneously with language
All interconnected
In early language acquisition, children use intention-reading (understanding contexts) and pattern-finding (grammar) to learn language