Psychology of Education

Topic: Language Development

Lecture notes by Mrs E Takavarasha
Date: 30 October 2018
This is a nature- nurture/ debate. Without the use of language, life would be chaotic. Language is crucial
in children’s cognitive development, associations/ social interactions etc. Language development
involves both verbal and non- verbal communication. It begins right from birth and continues
throughout life. Language development is a result of both genes and environment.

Definition of Language

Language includes spoken, written, sign, mathematical and other symbols used as a means of
communication.

- It is an umbrella term that encompasses verbal and non-verbal cues for communication.

-It is a verbal or non-verbal communication tool.

Inborn means natural, something inherited / innate/ born with. It comes out automatically. In this case,
language is in the genes.

 It is difficult to separate the effects that nature-nurture have on language development- the two
are complementary
 According to Noam Chomsky, language acquisition is innate or automatic. Noam Chomsky
believed that humans are born with a built in universal grammar called Language Acquisition
Device (LAD). LAD is a mechanism that allows them to identify the basic dimensions in language.
Without LAD, there is no language.
 Chomsky concludes that thought develops from language and language from thought. Also,
much of human knowledge is represented in memory using words. Children are born with
innate knowledge of language and further exposed to language after birth. Thus, language is
both inborn and acquired as the genetic disposition interacts with experience.
 There are unique properties of the human body such as the mouth and throat and the language
related brain region. These suggest that humans are prewired or are biologically programmed
for language, hence it is inborn. There is evidence of genetic mechanisms behind some speech
and language disorders.
 Language seems to develop in children at about the same age and in the same sequence of
stages even in different environments and cultures as a result of maturation worldwide.
However, this commonality soon changes as children start learning their native language- it
becomes contextual.
 According to Chomsky, children learn language efficiently and fast because they know in
advance what language look like. He argues that children are weaned with an innate language
universals.
 Human language is mastered spontaneously and easily within the first years of life. The first
words of children are invented- similar to their babbling- this explains why the first words for
 mother and father are so similar across a wide range of different languages. At this stage, infants
begin to emit babbles that contain sounds that are part of the language they are exposed to in
their environment or hears on a regular basis. Babbling is linked to the language processing
centers in the baby’s brain.
 Deaf babies stop babbling at the babbling stage because of lack of feedback/ reinforcement
from their own voices. However, children who have deaf and dump parents can still speak when
taken to people with a language.
 Attempts to teach language to non-humans have not been successful- because non- humans do
not have LAD.
 The structure of a language is comparable to the structure of perception (Gestalts) hence
language is innate. Children follow rules of grammar to master language pattern hence language
develops with maturation.
 B.F Skinner maintained that language is learned through operant conditioning. Skinner agrees
that pre-linguistic vocalisations such as cooing and babbling are inborn. Children learn language
because their parents reward/ reinforce/ ignore them for using it. Skinner (1957) explains that a
child acquires vocalization selectively reinforced in a given community. He argues that adults
shape the sounds into words by reinforcing those, which approximate the form of real words.
Parents through excitement, touching, poking, patting and feeding, often give reinforcement.
Through reinforcement, speech responses are shaped until the child is able to speak accurately.

 Vygotsky’s Socio- Cultural theory (1962) One of Vygotsky’s main contribution to language
development was showing how language plays a central role in cognitive development. suggests
that language is part of cognitive development- language comes through thought hence such as
talking aloud, whispers and later becomes silent or internalized speech- inborn. When it
becomes silent thought, the child becomes capable of thinking through language. He suggests
that older and more knowledgeable members of the society pass on the values, beliefs and
customs of their culture to children through story telling conversations. Children then store the
dialogues in memory to guide their behaviour. Reading is an interaction between the inner and
the outer speech.

 Bandura (1977) believes that language is learnt when adult models demonstrate the correct
form in the course of the conversation, through copying/ modelling. That is, restating a child’s
comment by adding words, correcting or expanding them. Modelling can be from peers, siblings,
hearing others such as teachers speak. Children therefore can speak a language when exposed
to it.

 Piaget (1964) explained language in a series of stages that are invariant. Cognitive development
is a prerequisite for language development. Piaget explained that language and thinking affects
a child’s development. He called language an essential instrument for adaptation. According to
Piaget, children at 3 years old have egocentric speech. This means that they use language to
satisfy and fulfil their own needs. Language at this stage is not for communication purposes.
Children using egocentric speech do not see the world from other people’s perspectives but
their alone. It is only when children mature that they begin to mix more with other people that
they begin to take the views of others.
 Other research studies

 Research indicates that there is a relationship between children’s language and socio- economic
status at home. Children of high socio-economic status master language earlier than those of a
lower status- acquired.
 Children’s acquires their native language through experience. Language spoken at home is the
language spoken by child. Children acquire language they hear most- native language- infants’
first word is context bound. Without experience, language development can be impaired.
 Children learn language through motivation. It is self-motivating to learn language. The desire to
learn is inherent in people, innate/ inborn. Innovativeness- speaking new language is innovative.