TOPIC :

THEORIES OF FIRST
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

UNIVERSITY OF CHAKWAL

BS ENGLISH | SEMESTER 2 MORNING

Psycholinguistics

Monday , May
29th 2023

Submitted By :
DANIAL KHAN - 19
IQRA PARVEEN - 06
RIMSHA SAJJAD - 07
Socio -

UM E HADIA FAROOQ - 20

RUBAB ZAHRA - 44

Submitted To :
MA'M MARIUM SAJJAD MALIK
 Socio - Psycholinguistics

Language Acquisition
Language acquisition refers to how humans can develop the ability to
understand and use language. Numerous language acquisition theories in
the English Language aim to understand and explain how the process
begins and progresses. Let's take a look at some of the most notable
theories of language acquisition, along with the theorists of language
development.

Theories of First Language Acquisition

There are 4 main theories of language acquisition that we learn in English
Language. These are:

1 Behavioural Theory
2 Cognitive Theory
3 Nativist Theory
4 Interactionist Theory

There are also certain theorists of language development who have

contributed to the development or further study of a certain language
acquisition theory.

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 Socio - Psycholinguistics

Behavioural theory (BF Skinner)

Language acquisition refers to how humans can develop the ability to
understand and use language. Numerous language acquisition theories in
the English Language aim to understand and explain how the process
begins and progresses. Let's take a look at some of theThe Behavioural
theory of language acquisition, sometimes called the Imitation Theory, is
part of behaviourist theory. Behaviourism proposes that we are a product
of our environment. Therefore, children have no internal mechanism or
ability to develop language by themselves. BF Skinner (1957) suggests that
children learn the language first by imitating their caregivers (usually
parents) and then modifying their use of language due to operant
conditioning.

What is operant conditioning?

Operant conditioning is a way of learning that focuses on the reward

(positive reinforcement) or punishment (negative reinforcement) of desired
or undesired behaviour. most notable theories of language acquisition,
along with the theorists of language development.

How does operant conditioning apply to language acquisition?

Skinner suggested that children first learn words and phrases from their
caregivers or others around them and eventually try to say and use those
words correctly. In this case, operant conditioning occurs when a caregiver
responds to the child's attempt at using language. If the child uses language
correctly, the caregiver may respond by telling the child they're clever or
otherwise showing their approval. If the child makes a request, such as
asking for food, the caregiver may reward the child by providing it. This is
positive reinforcement.

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 Socio - Psycholinguistics

If the child uses language incorrectly, makes a mistake, or is incoherent,

they are more likely to receive negative reinforcement from the caregiver.
They can be told they're wrong and then be corrected or simply be ignored.
Negative reinforcement teaches the child which mistakes to avoid and how
to correct them

Cognitive theory (Jean Piaget)

The Cognitive theory of language acquisition suggests that the primary
drives behind our actions are our thoughts and internal processes. Jean
Piaget (1923) assumes that children are born with relatively little cognitive
ability, but their minds develop and build new schemas (ideas and
understanding of how the world works) as they age and experience the
world around them. Eventually, they can apply language to their schemas
through assimilation (fitting new information into what is already known)
and accommodation (changing one's schemas to support new information).

Piaget believed that cognitive development had to come before language

development because it would be impossible for children to express things
that they don't yet understand. For example, a younger child with no sense
of time couldn't express things in the future tense or speak hypothetically,
no matter how much they are taught language.

Piaget proposed that this cognitive development could be split into four
stages: sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, and formal
operational stages. Let's take a brief look at them.

Piaget's four stages of cognitive development

First is the sensorimotor stage. This takes place from birth to around two
years of age. At this stage, the child is developing sensory coordination and
interacting with their environment by feeling and playing with things. Their
use of language extends primarily to babbles and few spoken words.

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 Socio - Psycholinguistics

The next stage is the pre-operational stage, which takes place from ages
two to seven. At this stage, children are able to use language with a better
grasp of grammatical structure, context, and syntax. Child thinking at this
stage is still very egocentric (their understanding of the world is limited to
how it affects them).

Next is the concrete operational stage. It takes place from ages seven to
eleven. At this stage, children understand concepts such as time, numbers,
and object properties and gain reasoning and logic, which allows them to
rationalise their beliefs and speak in greater detail about their own thoughts
and the world around them. They can also speak to others about their
beliefs and understand how outcomes or viewpoints may differ.

Finally, we have the formal operational stage. This takes place from twelve
years old to adulthood. At this stage, children can engage in higher
reasoning and think and speak about the abstract, such as hypotheticals,
morals, and political systems. Language is essentially unlimited, as there is
no cognitive limit to one's understanding of the world at this stage.

Nativist theory (Noam Chomsky)

Noam Chomsky (1957) proposes that children are born with an instinct or
drive for language learning which he calls the language acquisition device
(LAD). He argued that even if a child is not educated in their country's
language, so long as they grow in a normal environment, they will still devise
a system of verbal communication. Therefore, there must be an innate,
biological component to language acquisition.

What is the language acquisition device?

Chomsky suggests that the language acquisition device (LAD) must be
located somewhere in the brain, serving as an encoder that provides us with
a baseline understanding of grammatical structure. As children learn new
words, they are able to incorporate them into their use of language
independently.
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 Socio - Psycholinguistics

Chomsky argues that this independent 'building' of language is evidence

that language acquisition is biological and not purely a product of being
taught or copying caregivers. Chomsky suggested that the LAD contained
knowledge of universal grammar - the basic shared grammar rules that all
human languages share.

Interactionist theory (Jerome Bruner)

Jerome Bruner (1961) believed that children are born with an ability to
develop language but they require regular interaction with their caregivers
or teachers to learn and understand it to a level of full fluency. This idea is
known as the Language Acquisition Support System (LASS).
Caregivers tend to correct mistakes that children make when using
language and also regularly teach them what objects are and what their
purposes are. Bruner suggests that this helps to build the scaffolding that
children will later rely on when further developing language.
A caregiver may also use child-directed speech (CDS), altering their own use
of language to make it easier for a child to conceptualise language
independently.

What is CDS and how does it aid language acquisition?

CDS or child-directed speech is commonly known as ‘baby talk’ in everyday
life. It is when an adult changes their use of language when talking to a
young child. This includes changes such as slower speech in a higher voice,
more obvious intonations for different types of speech (i.e., questions,
statements, orders), and very simple sentence structure. These strategies all
simplify language to make it as easy as possible for the child to understand.

Bruner believed that CDS was adapted to make language more simple,
accessible, and easy to understand. According to this theory, children
cannot develop an understanding of the more complex parts of language
alone. Thus, CDS acts as an infant-friendly introduction to language that
can be built on throughout infancy, early childhood, and into school.

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