CSpoken- Piaget

Question 1

Piaget’s theory of language acquisition

Answer 1

Cognitive theory

Question 2

Main ideas of cognitive theory of language acquisition

Answer 2

Children move through stages which are linked to their acquisition of both knowledge and language
Learning is an active process, done by children through exploration
Idea that children must understand a concept before the language to describe it is developed

Question 3

Stages of cognitive theory

Answer 3

Sensorimotor (0-2)
Pre operational (2-7)
Concrete operational (7-11)
Formal operational (11+)

Question 4

Language acquisition in the sensorimotor stage

Answer 4

Children have no object permanence until around 12 months, where language use increases significantly
Children are egocentric
First use of language develops, beginning with cooing and babbling
Children use their senses to explore the world

Question 5

Language acquisition in the pre operational stage

Answer 5

Children are still egocentric
Beginnings of symbolic thinking
Develop seriation, can then use language to describe it.

Question 6

Language acquisition in the concrete operational stage

Answer 6

Children begin to think logically
Children learn rules of height, weight and volume (conservation)
Begin to be aware of the rules of conversation, language becoming socialised

Question 7

Language use in the formal operational stage

Answer 7

Children think abstractly and hypothetically
Use scientific thinking and begin to problem solve

Question 8

Cognition

Answer 8

Refers to the internal mental processing of information

Question 9

Seriation

Answer 9

The ordering of objects by height/size
Children must understand this to then use lexis like ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’

Question 10

Object permanence

Answer 10

The understanding that even though something may be out of sight, it still exists

Question 11

Strengths of Piaget’s cognitive theory

Answer 11

There is a correlation to when children learn object permanence and a sharp increase in vocabulary learning, which means the theory is reflective of real life.

Empirical as Piaget’s experiments support his theory

Question 12

Maturational theory

Answer 12

Piaget’s idea that children will not learn new words or grammatical structures until they are ready/have reached the correct stage

Question 13

Limitations of Piaget’s cognitive theory

Answer 13

Over emphasises the role of cognition as some children with learning difficulties can speak fluently

Inaccurate as not all children progress at the same speed and some may not learn language according to Piaget’s stages

Question 14

Identifying cognitive theory in transcripts

Answer 14

Comparatives (‘bigger’) superlatives (‘biggest’)

Interaction with their environment