Theories of language acquisition

Overview
o The Behaviorist Interpretation
o The Nativist Interpretation
o Nature vs. Nurture
o The Social Interactionist Interpretation *
o Is Theory Important?

The Behaviorist Interpretation
o Stimulus -> Response (S -> R) view of all behavior
o Classical conditioning explains word meaning acquisition (new
meanings to old stimuli)
Watson's research on Little Albert
o Operant conditioning explains language acquisition and behavior
(behavior controlled by consequences; power of reinforcement)
Skinner's Verbal Behavior
o Problems (among others)
language is creative
knowledge of language is very complex (show language puzzles
from intro notes)
no clear evidence that parents consistently reward "good"
language and not "bad" language

The Nativist Interpretation
o Noam Chomsky most famous language nativist
o Transformational Generative Grammar
attempts to explain how we can produce and understand an
unlimited number of sentences
universal grammar (UG) as innate
child does need to learn what all human languages have in
common (UG); only needs to learn what is unique to his or
her specific language
principles (innate) and parameters (acquired quickly)
language acquisition device (LAD)
innate ability to acquire language
o The Nativist Perspective in Review
031.2 "we have not ruled out the nativists' basis contention, which
is that human beings are born with an innate capacity for
language. What remains in the debate is to determine the relative
importance of this innate capacity in comparison to the influence
of environmental factors."

Team Discussion: nature vs. nurture
o Much debate has taken place concerning the importance of nature (what
is innate) and nurture (environmental factors) in the acquisition of
language.
o Consider the following questions.
1. You have started a retirement account in to which you will
invest a fixed amount of money every month. Which is more
important in determining how much money you will have in the
account when you retire: (a) the amount of money you invest each
month, or (b) the number of months you make an investment.
2. What is more important in determining how much paint you
will need to cover a wall: (a) the length of the wall, or (b) the
height of the wall?
o Now consider what you believe the relative importance of nature and
nurture to be in the acquisition of language, given the finding that the
human genome contains only about 26,000 to 30,000 genes, less than the
number of genes in some plants.
nature (innate factors) is more important
nurture (environmental and learning factors) is more important
other (explain)

Examples of Interaction of Genes (Nature) and Environment (Nurture,
Learning)
o phenylketonuria (PKU)
o sexuality (twins)
o Alzheimer's (twins)
o fear of snakes & spiders vs. electricity & cars

The Cognitive Interpretation
o to be discussed next week/chapter

The Social Interactionist Interpretation
o stresses importance of child's interaction with parents and other
caregivers
o importance of "motherese"
o Child Talk model of Chapman et al. (1992)
contributions of context and world knowledge for figuring out
language
importance of goals
047.2 "The child's developing knowledge of everything in
the life that swirls around him helps him establish goals for
getting things done and develop strategies for successfully
meeting these goals. According to the Child Talk view, the
child formulates utterances because he has goals in mind
that can be best met by using these utterances. Drawing
upon the linguistic and nonlinguistic experiences of his
own past, however brief that past is, the child uses his
language knowledge in combination with his knowledge
about other relevant aspects of his world to formulate
utterances that will serve as a means to today's ends."
o Vygotsky (next week/chapter)

Is Theory Important?
o Is it useful for a teacher or parent to have knowledge of theories of
language acquisition?
yes
no
not sure
o 5-minute team discussion
o each student then writes answer on slip of paper
o exchanges slips with other students inside and outside of team to make
them anonymous
o show of hands for results
o class discussion

o The Behaviorist Interpretation
o The Nativist Interpretation
o Nature vs. Nurture
o The Social Interactionist Interpretation *
o Is Theory Important?