Child Language Acquisition (paper 1 - section b) Flashcards
(23 cards)
1
Q
behaviourism
A
- SKINNER
- language is a reaction to a stimulus and a response coming together multiple times
eg. a child comes into contact with an apple (stimulus) and encounters the word “apple” (response) therefore creating a connection between object and label - positive reinforcement - a child that says “apple” will be praised
- negative reinforcement - a child that says “banana” will be corrected
2
Q
behaviourism in the exam
A
- look for the caregivers repeating and reinforcing utterances made by the child
3
Q
universal grammar/nativism
A
- CHOMSKY
- humans acquire language through innate functions
- Language Acquisition Device (LAD) - perceived predisposition among humans for learning language (expires age 7)
- poverty of the stimulus - the stimulus (environment) cannot teach us syntax (grammar) because we aren’t exposed to enough positive or negative evidence through observation of language use alone
- virtuous error - non standard forms which have their own internal logic that actually displays a greater intelligence than repeating words and phrases like a parrot
4
Q
challenges to nativism
A
- Chomsky’s theory is limited by not having enough scientific evidence
5
Q
cognitive approach
A
- PIAGET
- children acquire language by constructing their own understanding of the environment around them via interaction
- before a child can say if something is bigger or smaller they must first understand the concept of relative size
- language is mapped onto the experiences of a child and develops alongside other cognitive abilities such as attention and memory
6
Q
challenges to cognitivism
A
- children who have learning difficulties & cognitive issues still learn to use language and even express concepts beyond their understanding
- apes share a similar cognitive development as humans in the first years of life but never acquire language
7
Q
cognitivism in the exam
A
- look for children trying to make sense of something on their own
- children not using certain language to express a concept they are unlikely to understand
8
Q
usage - based approach
A
- TOMASELLO
- construction grammar - grammar is a collection of syntactic patterns that we learn - these relatively simple patterns can be combined to make more complex constructions of language
eg. a child may understand the construction “I laugh” (ego-centric) and after repeated use the child will realise other words can be slotted in before the dynamic verb “laugh” like “you laugh” and “she laughs” - while the child is not consciously aware that laugh is a verb, the pattern will become engrained in the child’s brain
- back up by the fact that humans have exceptional pattern finding abilities
9
Q
social interactionism
A
- VYGOTSKY & BRUNER
- language is acquired through repeated interactions with other language users in a social setting
- zone of proximal development - refers to what a child cannot do on their own but can do with the aid of a caregiver or more advanced speaker (VYGOTSKY)
- language acquisition support system (LASS) - highlights the role of adults in a child’s language development (BRUNER)
- child directed speech
10
Q
social interactionism & grice’s maxims
A
- bring in the ways in which a caregiver may encourage a child to use grice’s maxims
1 - maxim of quantity
2 - maxim of quality
3 - maxim of relation
4 - maxim of manner
11
Q
challenging social interactionism
A
- 1959 Chomsky published a paper criticising Skinner’s theory
- Samoan families do not speak to their children until they are around 18 months old - this implies that language may be more innate
12
Q
Papua New Guinea & Samoa (case study)
A
- Papua New Guinea - adults speak to children as they would speak to other adults and children are still able to acquire language at the same pace as elsewhere
- Samoa - in some tribes parents do not speak to their children until they reach a certain age yet these children still go through the same developmental stages as those exposed to language
13
Q
Genie (case study)
A
- discovered in 1970 at the age of 13
- had been severely neglected, brought up in isolation and deprived of normal human contact
- during subsequent attempts at rehabilitation her carers tried to teach her to speak
- despite some success she failed to acquire the grammatical competence of the average 5 year old
- supports Chomsky as she had passed the critical age and he would argue that the LAD had expired so cannot be activated
14
Q
Jim, hearing child of deaf parents (case study)
A
- 1977 BARD and SACHS published a study of a child known as Jim, the hearing son of deaf parents who’s parents wanted him to learn speech
- Jim watched a lot of TV and listened to the radio so had been exposed to frequent language input
- however, his progress was limited until a speech therapist was enlisted to work with him
- simply being exposed to language was not enough - without associated interaction it meant little to him
- use to support social interactionism
15
Q
wug test (case study)
A
- created by JEAN BERKO in 1958
- children are shown images of the NONSENSE NOUN “wug” and were able to use the BOUND MORPHEME “s” to PLURALISE “wug”
- it is impossible for children to properly make the word plural just because they may have learned how to conjugate that particular word before
- 76% of 4-5 year olds correctly used the ‘s’ ending for “wug”
- supports Chomsky
16
Q
the importance of play
A
- CATHERINE GARVEY - the importance of play to language development - there is value on pretend play to help growth of vocabulary
- SUSAN ERVIN TRIPP - imaginative play is critical for children to experiment with language in unfamiliar and different ways
children can learn from each other as they have to work collaboratively in a way that does not occur in adult-child interactions
17
Q
stages of language development
A
- babbling stage - children start to recognise and produce sounds, quickly learn which sounds attract the attention of their parents
- holophrastic stage - can produce small number of isolated, single words and many sounds
- two word stage - two word utterances are produced, usually in the form of noun-noun or noun-verb
- telegraphic stage - children are now able to string more than two words together
- post telegraphic - longer, more complex sentences
18
Q
under & over extension
A
- under-extension - a child accurately uses a word for one thing but does not use this word for other appropriate things
eg. “doggie” only for one specific type of dog - over-extension - a child uses a word for multiple things but some of these things are not accurately labelling the word
eg. “daddy” for all men
19
Q
proto-word
A
an early word-like utterance produced by an infant before it has acquired true language
20
Q
“fis-fish” phenomenon
A
- BERKO & BROWN
- happened when a child was talking to their caregiver about what they called their plastic “fis”
- when the caregiver repeated this to them they were able to recognise that the caregiver had said “fis” and not “fish”
- but they could not then pronounce “fish”
- shows that comprehension precedes competency
21
Q
David Crystal - “ma” & “da” syllable
A
- argues that children recognise that their parents get very excited when they say the “ma” and “da” syllable
- as a result they increase the frequency they say this
- however this does not necessarily constitute understanding
- he states that it will be many months before the child can link their production of “mama” to the concept of the maternal caregiver
22
Q
David Crystal - stages of development
(up to 1 years old, 1 year 8 months)
A
- up to 1 years old - “scribble talk” (sounds like adult speech but has no meaning)
- 1 year, 8 months old - around 50 words in their lexicon, littered with reduplication (where all or part of a word is repeated) and over-extension
23
Q
David Crystal - stages of development
(2 years, 3 years)
A
- 2 years old - inflections are emerging but are insecure, around 300 words known, object permanence emerges (understanding that objects exist even when you can’t see them)
- 3 years old - up to 10 words being used per sentence, vocab too big and varied to accurately estimate, irregular verbs and nouns cause problems, parataxis (repeated use of coordinating conjunctions like “and”) begin to be used, double negatives start to happen - the child does not grasp that negatives cancel each other out
