THEORIES OF 1ST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION. I. PHILOSOPHY: NATURE V
NUTURE. A. 17th century: Empiricist - John Locke (TABULA RASA).
THEORIES OF 1ST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION I.
PHILOSOPHY: NATURE V NUTURE A. 17th century: Empiricist - John Locke (TABULA RASA) B. 18th century: Nativist – Kant C. Psychology (developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries)
II.
BEHAVIOURISM A. Only learning theory up to the end of the 1960s B.
S
Æ
observable objects or events in the physical environment of the learner
R observable physical movements, actions or reactions of the learner
C. PAVLOV (1849-1936) Classical Conditioning D. B.F. SKINNER (1904-1990) 1. Empiricist 2. Operant Conditioning 3. Language Learning Æ His book Verbal Behavior The basic processes and relations which give verbal behaviour its special characteristics are now fairly well understood. Much of the experimental work responsible for this advance has been carried out on other species, but the results have proved to be surprisingly free of species restrictions. Recent work has shown that the methods can be extended to human behaviour without serious modification. Quite apart from the possibility of extrapolating specific experimental findings, the formulation provides a fruitful new approach to human behaviour in general, and enables to deal more effectively with that subdivision called verbal.
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4. The principle ideas of the Behaviorist view of learning which Skinner embraces are: a. Learning is essentially passive. b. The mind of the child at birth is a clean slate to be filled with his/her experiences of the world. c. Learning is a matter of imitation and habit formation.
III.
COGNITIVE THEORY – PIAGET
Æ Nativist Æ Example: In order to be able to say “This car is bigger than that one”, the child needs first to have developed the conceptual ability to make relative judgements of size.
IV.
INNATIST HYPOTHESIS – CHOMSKY
Æ Rejects S Æ R theory Æ Differs from Piaget in the relationship between language and thought Æ LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE vs. LINGUSITIC PERFORMANCE Æ LAD (Language Acquisition Device) 4 INNATE LINGUISTIC PROPERTIES OF LAD 1. The ability to separate speech sounds from other sounds in the environment. 2. Organise linguistic events into various classes which can later be improved. 3. Knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not. 4. The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system. Brown & Douglas. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. 1994. Prentice Hall: New Jersey (USA).
Æ UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR EXAMPLE 1. Bob gave the book to Sally 2. Bob explained the answer to Sally. 3. Bob gave Sally the book. 4. Bob explained Sally the book. How does the child find out that ‘give’ takes an indirect object and ‘explain’ a direct object? How does the child discover that (#4) is ungrammatical?
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V.
INTERACTIONIST THEORY Æ MOTHERESE OR CARETAKER TALK Æ HERE AND NOW PRINCIPLE e.g.
Oh, you spilled your milk. That’s a nice drawing!
e.g.
Don’t do that! Eat your vegetables!
e.g.
Are you watching TV? Where’s your sock?
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NATURE
V
NURTURE
PHILOSOPHY
NATIVISM Kant (18TH century)
EMPIRICISM John Locke (17th century
MIND IS TABULA RASA WRITTEN ON BY EXPERIENCE.
MIND HAS INNATE PROPERTIES TO ORGANISE THE WORLD IN CERTAIN WAYS
COGNITIVE J. Piaget
PSYCHOLOGY
BEHAVIOURIST B.F. Skinner
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Bibliographical References: Brown, D. (1994), Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, Prentice Hall Regents. Lightbown, P.M. & Spada, N. (1997), How Languages are Learned, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
