Bruner's Interactionist Theory

• Jerome Bruner's Interactionist Theory: Children possess an innate language ability but need social interaction with caregivers to develop linguistic skills
• Language Acquisition Support System (LASS): Adults scaffold a child's language learning through interactions and speech adjustments
• Language is best learned through active involvement and conversation

Key Points of Bruner's Theory

• The theory emphasizes social interaction with caregivers and peers as vital for language acquisition
• Language Acquisition Support System (LASS): Supportive environment from adults (child-directed speech, repetition, scaffolding)
• Importance of Joint Attention: Child and caregiver focus on the thing while communicating
• Scaffolding occurs when adults adjust their language to match the child's understanding so they can gain more communication responsibly

Comparison to Other Theories

• Chomsky's Nativist Theory focuses on an innate Language Acquisition Devise, but Bruner emphasizes a social environment and interaction
• Behaviorist theories emphasize reinforcement, but Bruner showcases that children actively make their own meaning by exploring their environment

What is the Interactionist Theory?

• First suggested by Jerome Bruner in 1983
• Children have an innate ability to learn language, but require direct contact/interaction with others for fluency.
• Children learn to fully engage with others and understand the context Provides linguistic support by:
• Correcting mistakes
• Simplifying speech
• Scaffolding
• "Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)", is the caregiver support

Other Theory Aspects

• Children learn language with the desire to communicate with the world around them (a tool to interact, seek food, demand attention).
• Language develops depending on the people a child interacts with
• Social environments greatly affect how a child develops their language skills
• Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) founded the sociocultural theory of language development
• Children acquire their cultural values and beliefs via interacting with more knowledgeable people in their community
• Children develop their language through cultural and social contexts

Vygotsky Concepts

• Cultural-Specific Tools: Such as books, media, language, signs, and symbols
• Private Speech: Out loud self talk
• Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD): a zone of potential development in which a child can develop skills that require the support of a more knowledgeable teacher
• Scaffolding is providing more knowledge to children to develop their knowledge and skills

What is Scaffolding?

• Bruner used the concept of scaffolding to explain the role of caregivers in the child's language development
• Vygotsky's theory of proximal development is where children need a more knowledgeable other to expand their knowledge and skills

Learning and Developing

• Caregivers provide support (LASS), but it’s removed the more the child learns and develops on their own
• LASS is a support system from caregivers/parents/teachers in a child's early language development, such as:
• Adjusting language ('motherese', 'caregiver speech', 'baby talk', or 'Child-Directed Speech (CDS)')
• Collaborative learning (joint reading)
• Encouraging and providing feedback
• Providing examples to imitate
• Playing games for turn-taking

What is Child-Directed Speech (CDS)?

• CDS is when caregivers enhance communication with children to identify sounds, syllables, and words in sentences
• It is slow and melodic to hold the attention of toddlers
• Adults speak simply in a way that is easy to understand
• Repetitive questioning (e.g., 'what is it? what's this?')
• Repetitive language (e.g., 'it's a cat. Look, it's a cat')
• Giving slowed speech
• Higher and more melodic pitch
• Longer pauses

Interactionist Theory Evidence

• A study showed the importance of parent-child social interaction when learning to speak
• Studied joint attentional engagement, gaze and point following, gestures, and understanding/producing language.
• A result showed a correlation between parent-child social interactions and language skills
• Interaction is important in a child's development of language
• Joint attention helps children recognize speech boundaries

Interaction Theory Key Takeaways

• Suggests that children develop a language because they desire to communicate with the world and recognizes that language is innate
• Theory started by Jerome Bruner in 1983, deriving from Vygotsky's sociocultural theory which states that culture and social context is important in language learning
• Highlights the importance of social-pragmatic cues (body language, tone of voice)
• Scaffolding is when caregivers assists to help a child develop their language
• Language exists for the purpose of communication and can only be learned in the context of interaction with people who want to communicate.
• Interactionists such as Jerome Bruner suggest that the language behavior is adapted to support the acquisition process.
• Scaffolding to support a child's language learning
• Bruner coined the term Language Acquisition Support System or LASS in response to Chomsky's LAD.
• Turn taking conversation develops from games and non-verbal communication before actual words are used