Caregiver Modeling: Why Do Their Parents Teach Children?

If I were to ask an individual how he/she thought children learned language, and that person responded “Their parents teach them”, I would want to explain that although caregiver modeling is important, there are also other very important aspects. Children do need to be around and witness correct functional speech from his/her parents or caregivers, but there is some portion of language that is also inborn. This is shown by the universal grammar, such as each language having the parts of speech although the languages are spoken differently. Humans have the innate desire to communicate, which is obvious beginning with the different types of crying babies use to communicate basic needs. During my interviews, my mother said that children learn to talk by listening to their parents, …show more content…
My second interviewee, Larry, said that children learn through a natural process but that it can’t be done completely alone because the child needs communication partners. I couldn’t agree with that statement more. We have learned in Phonetics that children who have mobility issues have delayed language development. Children learn to talk at about the same time that they learn to talk, which is no coincidence. Once the child is able to walk around and explore the world around them, there will be more for them to talk about. This strongly correlates with Genie’s situation. Genie was in one room in solitude for many years, and had no one to communicate with, but also no new visual stimuli. Children always point to things and/or ask what things are, and Genie couldn’t do this because she saw the same things every day and had no communication partners. I do believe that some part of language is inborn, because our brains are wired for communication because of the Wernicke’s and Broca’s areas. The neurological and muscular