In contrast, supporters of nurture consider the opposite view that the environment determines how one learns to speak. Eric H. Lenneberg’s Foundations of Language Development: A Multidisciplinary Approach argues that nurture influences a child’s language proficiency by proposing the Critical Period Theory. According to Lenneberg, “In humans, vocal learning seems to occur most readily within the age span defined as the critical period, in which hormonal, experiential, and age factors” (96) come into play. The Critical Period Theory states that there is a critical phase, between the ages of two to thirteen, that a child possesses the ability to learn his or her first language. However, if a child was not presented the opportunity to learn before
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A fascinating example is seen in Edith Bavin’s “First Language Acquisition” where she discusses the case of the “feral and isolated children” (477). Genie, who suffered child abuse and negligence, was locked up in a room by her parents for eleven years before she was rescued. When she was discovered at the age of thirteen, she had the mind of a child and could not talk at all. Since Genie was deprived of human interaction before she reaches puberty, she was not able to acquire any language. Also, the idea that children develop a language by emulating their peers is briefly mentioned in “Hereditary Factors in Language Acquisition” by Kathryn Norcross Black. Interaction or lack of interaction between family members and a child can enhance or diminish the child’s language proficiency. Black emphasizes on “the possibility of learning by imitation” (136) through her observations of how children interact with the adults around them. For example, when a child says “he goed away”, the parent would probably correct the statement by …show more content…
A newborn baby would not immediately begin verbal communication efficiently unless an adult is there to guide the baby. Genetic make-up provides human with a likelihood of developing certain skills, but the environment determines whether or not those skills are reached to their full potentials. Similarly, Black’s “Hereditary Factors” highlights that “there are some biologically given capacities related to language and that experience is necessary to activate those capacities” (137). For instance, a child from a family of violinists would not necessarily become a successful violinist himself unless the necessary tools are given to assist him in the process (Black 137). This idea is not only relevant to music skills, but also to how humans acquire their communication method. Children’s ability to learn a language so rapidly and easily within the first few years of life is due to the way one was born and how one was
A fascinating example is seen in Edith Bavin’s “First Language Acquisition” where she discusses the case of the “feral and isolated children” (477). Genie, who suffered child abuse and negligence, was locked up in a room by her parents for eleven years before she was rescued. When she was discovered at the age of thirteen, she had the mind of a child and could not talk at all. Since Genie was deprived of human interaction before she reaches puberty, she was not able to acquire any language. Also, the idea that children develop a language by emulating their peers is briefly mentioned in “Hereditary Factors in Language Acquisition” by Kathryn Norcross Black. Interaction or lack of interaction between family members and a child can enhance or diminish the child’s language proficiency. Black emphasizes on “the possibility of learning by imitation” (136) through her observations of how children interact with the adults around them. For example, when a child says “he goed away”, the parent would probably correct the statement by …show more content…
A newborn baby would not immediately begin verbal communication efficiently unless an adult is there to guide the baby. Genetic make-up provides human with a likelihood of developing certain skills, but the environment determines whether or not those skills are reached to their full potentials. Similarly, Black’s “Hereditary Factors” highlights that “there are some biologically given capacities related to language and that experience is necessary to activate those capacities” (137). For instance, a child from a family of violinists would not necessarily become a successful violinist himself unless the necessary tools are given to assist him in the process (Black 137). This idea is not only relevant to music skills, but also to how humans acquire their communication method. Children’s ability to learn a language so rapidly and easily within the first few years of life is due to the way one was born and how one was