ELD 211: ‘‘Language Acquisition and

Language Teaching’’
Mr. M. Pute
Department of Language Education, UWC

mpute@uwc.ac.za
Child Language Development and
Second Language Learning
 Theories of Language Acquisition
Theory Central Idea Individual with
theory
Behaviourist Children imitate adults. B.F. Skinner
Their correct utterances
are reinforced when they
get what they want or are
praised.
Innateness A child’s brain contains N. Chomsky
special language-
learning mechanisms at
birth.
Cognitive Language is just one J. Piaget
aspect of a child’s overall
intellectual development.
Interaction This theory emphasises J. Bruner
the interaction between
children and their care-
givers.
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• Focuses on how the brain functions.
• Language acquisition is the result of the
maturation of the brain.
• Children come into the world with limited cognitive
abilities; unable to process much information
• Their cognitive abilities develop over time;
intelligence develops as children grow
• Experiencing the world plays a vital role in the
development of cognitive minds, which results in
the development of language
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• Knowledge of language does not just come from
experience; children are born with a structure that helps
them process information.
• New knowledge builds on this primary mental structure
• Cognitive mental growth is achieved by integrating
simpler concepts of knowledge into higher-level
concepts at each stage of development.
• Stronger cognitive skills lead to stronger language skills.
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• Claims a child has to understand a concept before he/she can acquire
the particular language form which expresses the concept.
• For instance, a child has to be all aware of both ideas of asking and
giving, and of the idea of him/herself before he/she can one day utter
the words “Give me!”.
Another example can be given with the idea of seriation.
• There will be a point in a child's intellectual development when he/she can
compare objects with respect to size. This means that if you gave the child
a number of sticks, he/she could arrange them in order of size.

• Piaget suggested that a child who had not yet reached this stage would not
be able to learn and use comparative adjectives like "bigger" or "smaller".
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• Piaget introduced these stages of
cognitive development:
I. The Sensorimotor Stage
II. The Preoperational Stage
III. The Concrete Operational Stage
IV. The Formal Operational Stage
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• The above stages of development represent
gradual increase in the child’s bank of
knowledge
• Children develop a mental image of their world
block by block
• These 'blocks of knowledge' are known
as schemas.
• Children cannot skip a stage; not all children
reach the 4th stage
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
Stage Age range Goal

Sensorimotor stage Birth to 18-24 months Object permanence

Preoperational stage 2 to 7 years Symbolic thought

Concrete operational stage 7 to 11 years Logical thought

Formal operational stage Ages 12 and up Scientific reasoning

 Sensorimotor stage
o children learn predominantly through
sensory experiences and manipulating
objects.
o They suckle and grip onto things to
comprehend new information about the
world.
• During the sensorimotor stage, children's
language is very egocentric and they
communicate for themselves.
 Preoperational stage
• Children develop symbolic thought and can create an internal
representation of the world via language and mental
imagery. This means they are able to talk about things beyond the
'here and now', such as the past, the future, and others' feelings.

• children's language progresses fast; learn

many new words quickly and begin to form
basic sentences, moving away from one-
word utterances.
• Children cannot yet think logically and still
have a very egocentric view of the world.
 Concrete operational stage
• Children begin to think more logically
about concrete events and solve
problems; however, thinking is still very
literal.
• children's language development at this
stage highlights a change in thinking from
illogical to logical and egocentric to
socialized.
 Formal operational stage
• The final stage of cognitive development
involves increased logical thought and the
beginning of the ability to understand more
abstract and theoretical concepts.

• Teenagers begin to think more about

philosophical, ethical, and political ideas that
require a deeper theoretical understanding.
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY

Object permanence is another phenomenon often cited in

relation to the cognitive theory. During the first year of life,
children seem unaware of the existence of objects they cannot
see. An object which moves out of sight ceases to exist.

By the time they reach the age of 18 months, children have

realised that objects have an existence independently of their
perception.

The cognitive theory draws attention to the large increase in

children's vocabulary at around this age, suggesting a link
between object permanence and the learning of labels for
objects.
 THE COGNITIVE THEORY
• Piaget's cognitive development theory is
criticized for being out-dated and too culturally
bound (valid only within a particular culture).
• Vygotsky, whose theories are grounded in the
cognitive approach, built upon Piaget's work to
develop his sociocultural cognitive theory. This
theory recognized and examined the influence of
social and cultural aspects on a child's cognitive
development.