A Level English Language Child Spoken Language Theories

Terms in this set (19)

Children have an innate ability to learn language; devised the Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

There are three steps of cognitive learning: Enactive (knowledge through actions)
Iconic (visual summarisation of images)
Symbolic (use of words and symbols to describe experiences)

Language Acquisition Support System (LASS) - caregivers support their child's linguistic development in social situations

Todd and Aitchison

Boy born to deaf parents was only exposed to media, by age 3 his speech was severely underdeveloped

Children play an active role in their development
Egocentrism
Object Permanence - 18 Months

There are three stages of negative formations; stage 1 is using no/not at the start of sentence, stage 2 is using no/not inside of sentences, and stage 3 adds a negative modifier to an auxiliary verb. Link to Crystal

Lenneberg (1967)

Critical Period Hypothesis - Without linguistic interaction before 5-6, language development is severely limited (link to Genie)

Genie kept in isolation until 13 years old, could not speak or stand straight; eventually learned to string two-word and three-word combinations

Vygotsky (1978)

More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) teaches a child within the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - Known as Scaffolding

Parents help their children develop language through reinforcement

Katherine Nelson

children's vocabulary falls into 4 categories; Naming
Actions
Describing/Modifying
Personal/Social words

Overextentions are based on:
Physical qualities
Taste
Sound
Size

Children 'pretend play' to develop language

Berko and Brown (1960)

The substitution of fish with fis without realisation

overgeneralisations- wug theory; 3/4 said wugs

7 functions of speech:
Instrumental- fulfils a need
Regulatory- influence the behaviour of others
Interactional- develops relationships
Personal- conveys opinions and ideas
Representational- conveys facts
Imaginative- create an imaginary world
Heuristic- learn about their environment

First words link to
people, actions, food, body, clothing, animals, vehicles, toys, objects, locations, social words, describing, deictic words (empty words)

Leslie Rescorla

There are three types of overextension
categorical- one name for all things in a category (e.g. apple for all fruit)
analogical- one name of similar looking objects ( e.g. orange for ball)
mismatch- abstract sentences (e.g. duck for pond, horse for stable)

3 processes to semantic development
stage 1- labelling
stage 2- packaging (linking labels to objects)
stage 3- networking (connections between words)

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