Wize University Psychology Textbook > Language & Thought
Theories of Language Development
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Theories of Language Development
Behaviourist theory of language development - we learn through reinforcement, shaping, and other principles of operant conditioning
- Infants produce vocalizations (noises)
- Parents/caregivers reinforce those that resemble language
- Children imitate patterns that they hear
- Parents reinforce grammatical phrases, and ignore or punish ungrammatical phrases
- Pros - simple, fits with what we know about learning theory
- Cons - many utterances are novel, parents do not actually punish or correct ungrammatical speech
Nativist theories of language development - our brains are specialized to rapidly acquire language just by being exposed to speech. It is an innage, biological capacity
- Universal grammar - we are born with an innate understanding of the rules of human languages
- Pros - fits well with data on early language acquisition and sensitive periods
- Cons - don't explain how language develops, just why
Interactionist theories of language development - infants are born with an innate capacity for language and social interactions are important for language development
- Parents/caregivers simplify the way they speak to children to mimic stages of language development
- Newly developed sign languages imitate longer established languages
Tom is explaining how his toddler is learning language to a friend. He says "it's wild how many things she's learning. It's so fast! She's like a little sponge. She really seems to pick up on words and phrases from books we read to her and conversations we have around her. I guess it's time to start watching our language around her!"
Which theory best fits with his statement?