Lang Theorists

Front 1

AGAINST
There is evidence of regression.
 Children produce sentences they have not heard.
 Children cannot imitate beyond their level of understanding.
 Parents don’t teach and respond to the truth of what kids say not how they say it.
doesn’t explain how abstract words are learned.
 uniformity of language Learning.
 Animal research DOESNT transfer well to humANS

Back 1

BF SKINNER
BEHAVIORIST

Front 2

PROS
The home does make a difference in lang development
Babies need human interaction to survive
Children come to school with 80% of the
vocabulary spoken in the home.

Back 2

LEV VYGOTSKY
Sociolinguist

Front 3

Believed that innate biological maturation meets experience with social interaction
zpd
Language is the major stimulant for conceptual growth.

Back 3

LEV VYGOTSKY
Sociolinguist

Front 4

AGAINST
Cognition and language are not always equal.
The environment doesn’t change.
Children in the same family can have different language development patterns.
It isn’t complex enough.

Back 4

PIAGET (CONSTRUCTIVIST)

Front 5

Believes children are biologically endowed to acquire language
adult model is too flawed
All kids can talk
Children’s language is rule-governed
Children acquire Language too rapidly to
be taught
Children learn without direct instruction
Babies can differentiate phonemes and morphemes at birth
8 MO, babies listen longer to new
strings of words & 9 mo, babies can differentiate syllable pattern

Back 5

NOAM CHOMSKY
Nativist

Front 6

PROS
Simplicity- Occam’s Razor (Why create a new theory when an old one will do?)
-Children acquire the past tense around the same time they master object
permanence.
Children do seem to learn words by the process Piaget describes.

Back 6

PIAGET (CONSTRUCTIVIST)

Front 7

• Believes children learn language the way they
learn anything else
• Children go through language stages
 Repetition  Monologue Dual or collective monologue

Back 7

Piaget (constructivist)

Front 8

AGAINST
Motherese is not universal
Children who are deaf develop language

Back 8

JEROME BRUNER
Sociolinguist

Front 9

AGAINST
The role of adults isn’t universal
Children can have different language
skills in the same family

Back 9

LEV VYGOTSKY
Sociolinguist

Front 10

Believed that specific language or
motherese was necessary for children to
learn language
Believed verbal interactions were
essential for language learning

Back 10

JEROME BRUNER
Sociolinguist

Front 11

A behaviorist
Believed that children learned language
by a process of imitation and feedback,
successive approximation, and modeling

Back 11

BF SKINNER
BEHAVIORIST

Front 12

PROS
Humans prefer motherese
The distance between the arms of the
parent and the eyes of the baby is ideal

Back 12

JEROME BRUNER
Sociolinguist

Front 13

PROS
There is universality in children’s errors
Worldwide, there are lang benchmarks that are the same
There is strong evidence of a critical
period in lang learning
Children learn LANG at an amazing
speed
Children who are deaf in a community with others who are deaf will develop a sign language
Twins will develop their own language
Children who are deaf will sign a better quality of language than their parents

Back 13

NOAM CHOMSKY
Nativist

Front 14

PROS
Children do learn the language of the
home.
Children learn common family terms
from the home.
Children learn the dialect of the home.

Back 14

BF SKINNER
BEHAVIORIST

Front 15

AGAINST
There is evidence of language delay
The environment and the adult role do matter

Back 15

NOAM CHOMSKY
Nativist