What...
For this week we learned about the different language acquisition models and how each has somewhat built on the strengths or flaws of the models that were used before it. Each author of the models has his own view on how and when language is developed.
Why...
The material shows that there are many different opinions on how languages are learned. No model is without a flaw, but they each provide insight into how language and speech development work. This information is critical to know so that we, as educators, can identify students with language delays and provide the necessary interventions to bring them up to speed with their classmates.
Reaction...
Using the language model chart really helps me see, easily, the similarities and differences among the different theories behind language development. As an ESL teacher, the language development serves a double purpose. It not only helps me identify what is normal in a childs speech, but also lends a slight hand in helping me understand a student's development of their second language by giving me a baseline of how they developed their first language and the langauge discrepancies that I will most likely see.
Learned...
Model Chart
|
Model
|
Who
|
Principles
|
Strengths
|
Limitations
|
Interventions
|
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The Behavioral Model
|
B.F. Skinner
|
-The environment plays a large role in language acquisition
-Children begin to imitate language
-Chaining—stringing together several verbal behaviors to make an
utterance
|
-Children’s first words appear to be a process of imitation and
reinforcement
-Evidence suggests that the more mothers respond to children’s
vocalizations, the more the child will vocalize
|
-Makes incorrect predictions about what the child will learn,
especially the order of word acquisition
-Cannot explain why children will use constructions they have never
heard before
-Parents tend to ignore grammatical errors that children will correct
on their own
|
-Discrete trial—teachers choose specific, discrete language behaviors
as focus for instruction and uses assessment to see if the child has acquired
the skill
-ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis)—first focuses on receptive skills
and then expressive skills
|
|
The Nativist (Syntactic) Model
|
Noam Chomsky
|
-Response to the Behavioral Model—a 4-year-old could not learn all
the language they have learned by simply being exposed to it
-Language is inborn in humans and is hardwired at birth
-Babies are born ready to learn a language
-All children process a language acquisition device (LAD) that
consists of grammatical rules that are common in all languages
-Child his exposed to language, and the LAD helps discover the
underlying rules of the language
|
-Attempts to explain the universality of language coming from an
inborn ability to learn language rules
-LAD explains how children
learn language rules by just being exposed to the language
-Accounts for the speed with which language is acquired
|
-Diminished role given to language input
-It only accounts for how children develop the syntax of a language,
not any other element of language
-Suggests there is little hope for students who have difficulty with
language
|
-Use developmental guidelines for instructional goals
-Instruction should focus on learning a language’s rules
|
|
The Semantic-Cognitive Model
|
-Lois Bloom
-Charles Fillmore
-Jean Piaget
|
-Semantics proceed syntax in child language acquisition
-Language is used to talk about something that has already happened
-Language development is secondary to cognitive development
-Syntax develops as a need to talk about more things or experiences
-Some cognitive functions need to be in place before language can be
acquired
|
-It is logical that children will talk when they have something to
talk about
-Evidence supports that certain cognitive development steps take
place before the emergence of language
-Helps explain why children tend to talk about the same kinds of
things regardless of socio-economic background and environment
|
-Increasing evidence that says cognitive and language development go
together
-Give little attention to the role of input language
|
-Zone of proximal development—when children have almost learned a new
skill incorporate more experiences and instruction related to the skill
-Develop new semantic concepts so the children have something to talk
about
|
|
The Social Interactionists Model
|
-Jerome Bruner
-Michael Tomasello
|
-People talk in order to communicate
-Places great importance on the communicative function of language
-Language development takes place when children choose the linguistic
form that will best express what they are trying to communicate
-Indirectly pick up structural aspects of language (Bruner)
-Structural aspects of a language are formed with use (Tomasello)
-Importance of events in child’s environment
|
-Proof that children can express their needs before language can be
expressed
-Children with limited access to adults have trouble developing
language
|
-Weak argument for syntactic development of language
-If children relied on adults to learn the syntax of a language, they
would learn different elements at different times
-Limited research on how much language input is needed to stimulate
language development
|
-Parent Implemented Interactive Language Intervention
-Integrated play groups
-Peer tutoring
|
|
The Information Processing Model
|
- Elizabeth Bates
-Bryan MacWhinney
|
-Attempts to explain how learning takes place
-Originated as a way to develop machine-based learning and then
applied to human beings
-Parallel processing—each step in the sequence takes place at the
same time
-Competition model—the information processing system matches form and
function. The matches that are most consistent with the language evidence the
child is experiencing wins out
|
-Helps us understanding the complexity of the relationship between
cognition and language
-Recognizes that the steps of processing of complex information are
done simultaneously
-Attempts to account for the many different levels of learning
|
-Research is limited for the operation of the model in children
-Does not appear to be able to account for the role of social
interaction in language learning
|
-Video modeling
-Provide opportunities for students to interact with different environment
s using language
|
|
The Emergentist Model
|
-Bryan McWhinney
|
-Language emerges from the interaction of social patterns and the
biology of the cognitive system
-No need to have specific structures dedicated only to language
-Based heavily on the information processing model
-Language is not innate to humans but comes from the interaction of
neural networks
-Word acquisition comes from the interaction of the experience of
hearing words and mapping these words onto conceptual maps
|
-Can help us understand how experience, biology, and the social
interaction can work together to shape language learning
-The model appears to be supported by neurological evidence
|
-Little direct evidence from research in language acquisition to
support the model
|
-Contrastive lexical pragmatics
-Provide opportunities for students to interact with different
environment s using language
|
Goal Setting...
I need to review the differences of first and second language development process.
