TheoriesofLanguageAcquisition

Behavioris
t Theory
Behavioris
t Theory

B.F.Skinner
Behavioris Languageis acquired
throughprinciples of
t Theory conditioning, including
association,imitation, and
reinforcement.
Behavioris Accordingto this view,
children learnwordsby
t Theory
associatingsoundswith
objects,actions,and
events.
Behavioris Thetheorycanbe
summedupas:LISTEN,
t Theory IMITATE,RECEIVEA
REWARD,REPEATFOR
RECALL.
 Criticisms:
Behavioris • Learningcannot
t Theory accountfor therapid
rateatwhichchildren
acquirelanguage.
 Criticisms:
Behavioris Therecanbeaninfinite
t Theory numberof sentencesin a
language.All these
sentencescannotbelearned
byimitation.
 Criticisms:
Behavioris Childrenmake
t Theory
errors,suchas
overregularizing verbs.
 Criticisms:
Behavioris Childrenacquirelanguage
t Theory skills eventhoughadults
donot consistently correct
theirsyntax.
Behavioris Thetheorycanbe
summedupas:LISTEN,
t Theory IMITATE,RECEIVEA
REWARD,REPEATFOR
RECALL.
Nativis
t
Theory
NoamChomsky
Nativis Chomskysuggests
t thatlanguageis an
Theory innatefaculty.
 Chomskyclaimsthat language
Nativis acquisitionis greatlydependentupona
linguistic faculty whichheterms
t LanguageAcquisitionDevice(LAD),
aninnatemechanismor processthat
Theory allowschildren to developlanguage
skills or UniversalGrammar,around
whichall languagesarebuilt.
Nativis Basedonthe
t assumption,thereare
Theory “core”and“language
specific”rulesin all
languages.
 Whenalearnercomesacross
Nativis “languagespecific”hewill tendto refer
to hisfirst language(L1).Thus,if a
t learnerdiscoversthat asecond
Theory language(L2)rule is not in accordance
with theuniversalrule, hewill attempt
to interpret that rule bymeansof the
equivalentrule in hisL1.
Interactionis Interactionists argue
t Theory that language
developmentis both
biological andsocial.
Interactionis Theyalsoarguethat
t Theory languagelearningis
influencedbythedesire
of children to
communicatewithothers.
 Theybelievethat "children areborn
Interactionis with apowerfulbrainthat matures
t Theory slowlyandpredisposesthemto
acquirenew
understandingsthat theyare
motivatedto sharewithothers"
(Bates,1993;Tomasello,1995,ascitedin shaffer,et
al.,2002,p.362).
Interactionis Theyalsoarguethat
t Theory languagelearningis
influencedbythedesire
of children to
communicatewithothers.