WHAT IS LANGUAGE ACQUISITION?

THEORIES AND STAGES

Author: Andrea McKay

What Is Language Acquisition?

Do you know what word you first spoke? Have you ever considered how many words you have
learned over your lifetime? Many psychologists estimate we learn around 3,500 words a year
between our first birthday and before we are 30. We grow from infants without language to
chatterboxes with a gift for gab, and researchers are fascinated by how this happens.
Psychologists have different theories on language acquisition, or the process by which we
learn to speak, write, or even use sign language in meaningful ways to communicate.

Theories of Language Acquisition

Behaviorists, like B.F. Skinner (who lived from 1904-1990), argued that language acquisition
and development are learned behaviors. Behaviorists believe we learn by associating events,
known as classical conditioning. We also learn through rewards and punishments, a process
known as operant conditioning. Another aspect of behaviorism is that we learn by
observation and imitation.
How do these theories of learning apply to language acquisition? Over repeated exposures,
infants may learn to associate an object with a sound or word for that object. When an infant
babbles 'dada,' the infant is rewarded by smiling and happy parents who cheer and reward
their child's efforts at communicating. And infants may learn language by observing caregivers
and imitating their sounds.
Linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky (born in 1928) has added to how behaviorists like
Skinner think about language development. Chomsky believes that infants and children learn
language at a speed that cannot simply be explained by the laws of behaviorism. According to
Chomsky, children learning language put words together in new ways, creating meaningful
sentences they have never heard before. Chomsky argues that children learn rules of
language and apply them in their own way, often inaccurately at first. Because children would
not have heard adults using rules of language so inaccurately, Chomsky came up with another
theory on language development.
Chomsky's linguistic theory states that we are born with an innate ability to learn language,
and with little guidance, children will naturally learn language. Chomsky argues we must be
born with a language acquisition device, an area in our brains that makes learning language
a natural event. As evidence, he points to the idea that children all over the world learn
language in similar ways, regardless of their culture or the language they learn to speak.
Recent research on language seeks to understand whether or not humans have a critical
period for acquiring language. As we age, language acquisition becomes more difficult,
especially for adults learning a new language. Children learning new languages outperform
adults learning new languages in terms of learning vocabulary, applying rules of grammar, and
speaking with the correct accent. The critical period hypothesis states that we have a time
frame for learning new language, and once that time is over, language acquisition becomes
much more difficult.

Stages of Language Acquisition

When you see a child chattering to their parents, it's hard to believe they were born without
language. By the time infants are four months old, they begin the babbling stage of language.
During the babbling stage, infants make seemingly random and spontaneous sounds, cooing,
squealing, and gurgling. At this point, outsiders listening in would not be able to tell what
language the baby is learning. Around ten months of age, babbling starts to sound more like
the language the child is learning.
The one-word stage happens around the time the child turns one year and begins to utter
sounds that have meaning, like 'ma' for mom, 'da' for dad, and 'wa-wa' for water. They begin to
speak in simple words, like 'dog' or 'up.'
By the time the child has reached their second birthday, they usually have elements of the two-
word stage. The two-word stage is sometimes called telegraphic speech because, around two
years of age, the sentences created are short and direct, like a telegraph. Babies might
indicate their wants like, 'Want milk,' or 'Go outside.'
Some developmental psychologists believe the time period known as the 'terrible twos' may be
a result of a two-year-old's inability to communicate what they want effectively. For example,
the child may indicate they want a drink, but they are unable to communicate that they would
like a drink in their favorite blue cup. When you give them the red cup, tantrums ensue, and
you are left wondering what went wrong. More parents today have found that teaching an
infant to use sign language gives the child the ability to communicate more effectively at this
age, reducing tantrums.
After the two-word stage, language development picks up with amazing speed. Once they've
reached their second birthday, children learn language rapidly and begin to use complete
sentences. Soon the child can not only tell you they would like their blue cup, but they can
communicate whether they would prefer their juice shaken or stirred.
By the time the child reaches school age, they are able to form complex sentences and
understand multiple meanings in communication. Once teenagers are writing their college
application essays, they have amassed a vocabulary of over 60,000 words.

Lesson Summary
Language acquisition is the way we learn language, to speak, write, or to communicate using
sign language. Behaviorists argue that we learn language skills by imitating others who
encourage or discourage the behavior by their reactions or by rewards and punishments.
Noam Chomsky and others believe that our brains are wired to learn language naturally and
with little instruction. There is also the idea that there is an optimal window for acquiring
language, the critical period, after which learning becomes more difficult.
The stages of language acquisition progress from babbling to one-word, to two-word speech in
children. From there, children quickly begin using complete sentences, often by the age of two.
Learning the complex aspects of language continues into the adult years.

McKay, A. (2017). What is Language Acquisition. Recuperado el 2017, de study.com:

https://study.com/academy/topic/praxis-ii-english-language-acquisition-
development.html