Post on 28-Oct-2014
description
Linguistic-oriented theories
of First language learning/acquisition
In a broader sense, various theories and approaches
have been emerged over the years to study and
analyze the process of language acquisition. Three
main schools of thought, which provide theoretical
paradigms in guiding the course of language
acquisition are:Behaviorist Theory
Innatist Theory
Cognitivist theory
Theory Central idea linguist
Behaviorist Children imitate adults. Their correct
utterances are reinforced when they get what
they want or are praised.
Skinner
Innate Language is an innate capacity. A child's brain
contains special language-learning mechanisms
at birth.
Chomsky
Cognitive Lang. is just one aspect of a child’s overall
intellectual development
Piaget
Cognitive Language is a symbolic representation which
allow the children to abstract the world.
Lev Vygotsky
1. Behaviorism
•Key Terms
1•Conditioning• Classical• operant
2 •Stimulus•response
3•Reinforcement•Negative•positive
Behaviorism
Classical conditioning
Pavlov
Operant conditioning
Skinner
Behaviorism
• Burrhus Frederic Skinner
(March 20,1904-August 18,1990)
• An American Psychologist
• Proposed operant conditioning as
compared to classical conditioning
of Pavlov.
• According to Skinner, learning a language
operates on the same principles that a rat will
use to learn a maze or to learn to press a button.
Behaviorism…• B.F Skinner proposed this theory as an explanation for Language
acquisition in human.
• All behavior is learned and that humans enter the world with no
innate abilities. He famously said,
"Give me a child, and I'll shape him into anything.”
• B. F SKINNER’S entire system is based on operant
conditioning (learning's a function of change in overt behavior)
• The organism, in everyday activities, is in the process of
“operating” on the environment.
Behaviorists' views:
• Behaviorists view the process of language acquisition as a building
process that results from interaction with the environment.
• It is also called imitation theory which is based on an empirical or
behavioral approach.
• Children start out as clean slates and language learning is a process
of getting linguistic habits printed on these slates.
• Language is a ‘conditioned behavior’: the stimulus response process
• Stimulus Response Feedback Reinforcement
Principles•Peo
ple’s behaviors are directly observable, rather than the mental systems underlying these behaviors.
•Children are born with a mind that is like a blank state. This state is called Tabula Rasa
•Language is a verbal observable behavior .
•Chunking theory: Language is learned in parts, then linked together•1st
words
2nd phrases
3rd sentences
•Reinforcement will generalize similar stimulus generalizations
Children learn language step by step• Imitation Repetition Memorization controlled drilling
Reinforcement Reinforcement can either be positive or negative
• Children imitate sounds and practice what they hear. Correct structures are positively reinforced.
• Language acquisition is, thus, a process of habit formation.
• Factors in Language acquisition:– Association– Reinforcement– shaping– repetition – Corrections– imitation
Mechanism of language acquisition
Positives• Imitation is important in phonological development.
• Children develop regional accents suggesting they imitate the sounds from people around them.
Negatives• Children don’t pick up grammatical structures immediately as some
children show an incorrect use of grammar. For example they may say ‘wented’ instead of went. Showing they have not imitated this of others.
• Kids normally only use the words they understand so if they imitate of others they would copy all words spoken by another person.
• If the kid is deaf, it cannot copy another person therefore uses sign language suggesting this theory does not provide an account for all kids.
Innateness Theory
By Noam Chomsky (born 1928---Present)
Innatism• Limitations of Behaviorist view of language acquisition
led in 1960’s to the alternative ‘generative’ account of language.
• Main Argument: Children must be born with an innate capacity for language development.
• Main Figure: Noam Chomsky
• Children are born with an innate propensity for language acquisition, and that this ability makes the task of learning a first language easier than it would otherwise be.
Innatism: LAD & UG
• Chomsky theorized that children were born with a hard-wired language acquisition device (LAD) in their brains.
• LAD is a set of language learning tools, intuitive at birth in all children.
• He later expanded this idea into that of universal grammar, a set of innate principles and adjustable parameters that are common to all human languages.
• The child exploits its LAD to make sense of the utterances heard around it, deriving from this ‘primary linguistic data’ – the grammar of the language
THE “LAD” (Chomsky, 1965)
• The language acquisition Device (LAD) is a postulated organ of the brain that is supposed to function as a congenital device for learning symbolic language (i.e., language acquisition).
LAD (Language acquisition Device)• The L.A.D is a pre programmed box.
• L.A.D is a function of the brain that is specifically for learning language. It is an innate biological function of human beings just like learning to walk.
• LAD explain human acquisition of the syntactic structure of
language.
• It encodes the major principles of a language and its grammatical structures into the child’s brain.
• It enables the children to analyze language and extract the basic rules.
Mechanism of Innate Theory
• According to Noam Chomsky, the mechanism of language acquisition formulates from innate processes.
Innatism: Universal grammar or generative grammar.
• we are born with set of rules about language in our brains.
• “Children are equipped with an innate template or blueprint for language and this blueprint aids the child in the task of constructing a grammar for their language.” (Chomsky 1965)
• This is known as “Innateness Hypothesis.”
Universal grammar…Chomsky says:• The UG does not have the actual rules of each
language but it has PRINCIPLES & PARAMETERS.
• The rules of language are derived from the Principles & parameters.
Principles & Parameters:
Principles: are the universal basic features of Grammar
e.g.. Nouns, Verbs & Structure Dependency etc.
Parameters: are the variation across language that determines one or more aspects of Grammar e.g. Pro, Drop and Head Direction.
The Parameters are set during Language Acquisition.
Critical Age Hypothesis
• Chomsky posited that there is a critical age for learning a language as is true for the overall development of the human body.
• The input of Language is needed at the critical period, to learn the lexicon and to set the parameters.
– Note: linguist Lenneberg suggested that the crucial period of language acquisition ends around 4-5 years
All children share the same innateness
• Chomsky thus proposes that "all children share the
same internal constraints which characterize narrowly
the grammar they are going to construct."
(Chomsky, 1977,
p.98)
Communicative competence
• “Language learning is not really something that the
child does; it is something that happens to the child
placed in an appropriate environment much as the
child’s body grows and matures in a predetermined
way when provided with appropriate nutrition and
environmental stimulation.”
-Noam Chomsky
Theories of L1 Acquisition
• Behaviorism – “Say what I say”
• Innatism – “It’s all in your mind”
• Love you all
• Vanneza