First Language Acquisition Theories

• Theories of First Language (L1) Acquisition include behaviorist theory, mentalist theory (innatism), rationalist/cognitive theory, and interactionism.

Language Basics

• Language is a system of spoken, manual, or written symbols for expression within a social group.
• Language acquisition is the process of gaining the ability to perceive, comprehend, produce, and use language for communication.
• This process allows children to become fluent in their native language.

Behaviorist Theory

• The behaviorist theory is a psychological theory focused on language acquisition.
• Language learning in infants is similar to learning other behaviors.
• This theory serves as a reaction to traditional grammar instruction.

Key Figures in Behaviorism

• John B. Watson (1878- ) is the founder of behaviorist theory.
• Edward Thorndike was an American psychologist, pioneering educational psychology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
• Thorndike's main idea was that learning is the establishment of associations between behavior and its consequences.
• B.F. Skinner developed the operant conditioning model and is regarded as the father of Operant Conditioning.
• Other supporters include B.F. Skinner, Leonardo Bloomfield, O.N. Mowrer and A.W. Staats

Laws of Learning

• The Law of Learning refers to principles and theories that concern how individuals acquire knowledge and skills.
• The Law of Readiness suggests learning is more effective when the learner is mentally and physically prepared.
• The Law of Exercise states that stimulus-response connections are strengthened through repetition.
• The Law of Effect says that behavior followed by positive consequences is more likely to be repeated, and behavior followed by negative consequences is less likely.

Operant Conditioning

• Operant conditioning is learning through rewards and punishments.
• B.F. Skinner believed all learning could be reduced to habit formation through reinforcement and reward.

Principles of Behaviorist Theory

• Imitation enables children to learn language by imitating speech.
• Repetition is crucial for language learning.
• Reinforcement means that positive reinforcement encourages behavior repetition, while negative reinforcement discourages it.
• Language learning is a conditioned response to environmental stimuli.
• Behaviorism has limitations, as it overlooks innate cognitive abilities and the environment's role in language complexity.

Classical Conditioning

• Ivan Pavlov is known for his contributions to classical conditioning.
• Classical conditioning involves learning in which a neutral stimulus elicits a response after being paired with a stimulus that naturally elicits a response.

Contrasting Conditioning Types

• Classical conditioning involves associating stimuli and responses, focusing on automatic, reflexive responses triggered by stimuli.
• Operant conditioning focuses on the consequences of behavior and emphasizes voluntary, goal-directed behaviors, strengthened through reinforcement or weakened through punishment.

Nativist Approach

• The nativist approach argues that language acquisition is innately determined.
• It suggests genetic capacity predisposes us to perceive language systematically, resulting in internalizing a language system.
• Noam Chomsky contends children are biologically programmed for language, developing it like other biological functions.
• Chomsky's nativist theory posits the ability to acquire language is innate and biologically wired in the human brain.
• Chomsky's work challenged language acquisition viewed from the behaviorist perspective.
• Behaviorism emphasizes learning through environmental stimuli, reinforcement, and conditioning; Chomsky argued this can't fully explain the speed, complexity, and universality of language acquisition.

Chomsky's Conception of Acquisition

• Universal Grammar consists of inherent linguistic structures shared by all languages.
• The Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is a hypothetical brain mechanism facilitating natural and rapid language acquisition.
• Critical Period Hypothesis: Early childhood is a critical period for effective language acquisition.
• Poverty of Stimulus Argument: Children acquire complex grammar despite insufficient linguistic input.
• LAD functions as an imaginary "black box" in the brain, containing universal linguistic principles.

The LAD

• McNeill (1966) describes LAD as being comprised of four innate linguistic properties
• the ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment
• the ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be reformed
• knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not
• the ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of the available linguistic input.
• Some criticize theories arising from the nature vs nurture debate that is still on going in linguistics.
• Jean Berko's Wug Test showed children's implicit knowledge of language patterns.

Nativist Framework Contributions

• The nativist framework provides freedom to explore unseen linguistic structures without the restraints of so-called "scientific method".
• There should be a systematic description of a child's linguistic repertoire as rule-governed or operating out of parallel distributed processing capacities.
• With the construction of a number of potential properties of Universal Grammar.

Cognitive Theory

• Jean Piaget believed the acquisition of language is best understood within a child's mental or cognitive development.
• A child must grasp a concept before acquiring the language form that expresses it.
• Seriation is defined as concrete operations that involve ordering stimuli along a quantitative dimension

Language Stages

• Pre-talking/Cooing Stage (0-6 months): Vowel-like sounds responding to human sounds turn head and search for speaker.
• Babbling Stage (6-8 months): Infants produce consonant-vowel sounds
• Bolinger (2002:283) defines the babbling staged as the sounds which infants produce as consonant-vowel combinations.
• Holophrastic Stage (9-18 months): Children represent a whole sentence as a single word.
• omkin (1983:328) defined the Holophrastic stage from holo complete or undivided and phrase or sentence, where holophrastic equals the children's first single word which represents a sentence.
• Two-Word Stage: Children begin forming two-word sentences with syntactic and semantic relations
• The pronunciation of consonant sounds like [j], [p], [b], [d], [t], [m], and [n] are possible.
• Telegraphic Stage (24-30 months): Children form telegraphic speech, omitting non-essential words.
• In multiword stage (30+ months), vocabulary increases rapidly.
  • Utterances have communicative intent

Elements of Learning Semantics

• semantics defined as the study of the linguistic meaning of words, phrases, and sentences
• In early development of language, children's utterances, consisting primarily of single words, were once considered to carry the meaning of whole sentences; they were labeled holophrastic

Syntax and Innateness

• Acquisition of Syntax contains within it rules for the morpheme.
  • Development of rules seems to take place almost unnoticed, with no explicit instruction
• First Language Acquisition happens with parental/adult input to children.
• Adults use "caregiver speech" to instruct babies,
• One word begins around (1 to 1.5 years old)
• Two word at age (1.5 - 2 years old) - with the child being able to produces phrases such as "play toys", "mommy eat."
• Telegraphic speech/stage(2-2.5 years old) - the child add some lexical elements to form more complex utterances
• After telegraphic speech/stage(2.6+years) - children start to begin to speak declarative sentences
• The Innateness Hypothesis, proposed by Noam Chomsky, states that a natural process every child goes through and acquires it, as humans are predetermined to know complexity of language and its respective system.

Grammar in Language Learning

• Generative Grammar is defined by a precisely formulated set of rules that are able to produce all output.
  • It enables children to distinguish between grammatical and ungrammatical sentences.
• Universal Grammar is innate and it states that all languages have a common origin.
  • It is considered to be of a system with all the categories, mechanisms and constraints inherent.

Applications of Reinforcement Theory

• Parents praise correct words and correct mistakes
• Second Language Learning occurs when teachers and apps use rewards for learning.
• Speech Therapy & Special Education occurs using ABA therapy to allow aid to children with speech delays

Language Acquisition Defined

• LANGUAGE ACQUISITION means the process of learning to understand and being able to use language.
• ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF GRAMMAR THEORY posited by Charles J. Fillmore states language learning builds on grammatical structure to create clarifying sentence understanding

Connectionist Theory

• CONNECTIONIST THEORY was developed by Edward Thorndike (1874-1949).
• Thorndike delineated in his work laws that govern behavior and learning.
• Connectionism stems from the theory that creatures can create connections between stimuli and responses through learning.
• The THREE LAWS OF CONNECTIONISM states that -
• Law of Effect means a behavior is more likely to be repeated if it has proven a rewarding outcome.
• The Law of Exercise says the more a stimulus is practiced the stronger a connection is made.
• Law Of Readiness provides that when the learner is read, the connection between the stimulus and response is stronger.

Social Interaction Theory

• Lev Vygotsky laid the foundations for the interactionist theory and developed the sociocultural theory of language development
• Social Interaction Theory studies how people interact in different social settings.
• The interactionist/social theory proposes that language exists for communication and can only be learned in the context of interacting with adults and other children.
• Interactionists acknowledge the presence of innate biological mechanisms, but emphasize the critical role of social interactions.

Principles of Social Interaction

• With Social Interactions children can learn language and cultural values through interacting with adults and other knowledgeable people.
• With a Zone Of Proximal Development a range is set that allows them to act independently but still allow for guidance.
• Working with a "More Knowledgeable Other" is where the term for the person describes some one such as a parent, teacher, or peer
• The Social-cognitive model describes how children construct their understanding of the world through social interactions