A2 English Language-Child Language Acquisition

15 Months
Bye Mummy
Isee
Allgone

At 15 months, a child is in the Sensorimotor stage, according to Jean Piaget. Children are currently experimenting with what movements their mouth's can do. The child also sees sentences as just one word. They also tend to make their language sound more Personal/Social words when they begin to acquire language.     

20 Months

All fall down
Teddy tired
Gone, where Mummy gone?
More juice

At 20 months, a child is just finishing the Sensorimotor stage, and beginning the Peroperational Stage. At this stage, a child has no understanding of talking with others and thinking out aloud. This means that most of what a child says at this point in its life doesn't need to be said because people have a different perspective, but at this current time a child has no understanding of this concept. Sometimes, the child will use reduplication (repeating a syllable) when talking. At this stage, a child is beginning to understand prepositions. The child isn't using articles such as "the" & "a".

28 Months

Teddy's hat came off
Harry's got a big, big green truck

At this stage, a child has reached the Telegraphic Stage,and is beginning to show signs of understanding grammar.  Also, the child is at the Concrete Operational stage, where they are showing signs of logic & problem solving, as well as referring to concrete facts.The child may remain at this stage for as long as they live, which can occur sometimes.

36 Months
Little Luke hit me, he did
I am going to see Harriet another day tomorrow
I don't like faces, I want to see children's ITV

At this stage, a child has become aware of form & time. they also have grasped the idea of compound sentences  The child is still currently in the Concrete Operational stage, but they have a greater understanding of grammar. The child also begins to use Present participles when speaking. The child is also beginning to use the subject pronoun "I" instead of the object pronoun "me". Another feature is that the child has become aware of a sense of time. 

40 Months
Look at my knee. I felled over in the playground
Once upon a time there was a little girl and she got beautiful hair and then the monster killed her and then she got dead and then and then the beautiful fairy came and made them better again

At this stage, a child has nearly fully grasped the concept of language. However, the child still doesn't know when to take a break when speaking.  The child has reached to formal operational stage and can now make a mental distinction between themselves and an idea.

A2 English Language-20th September

Explain some of the difficulties a child might encounter in it acquisition of vocabulary from the time it speaks to the age of seven. You can also refer to some phonological features, as well as considering ideas such as the use of concrete and abstract nouns, overextension, acquisition of grammar words etc.

Children will encounter many difficulties when acquiring vocabulary. The first thing is the phonology. Children will tend to use the smallest unit of sound (Phoneme) to describe something, they may also substitute difficult sounds for easier sounds. They may also use "Consonant Cluster Reductions" to reduce the amount of sounds they have to use. The next problem that could arise is the use of "Concrete" & "Abstract" nouns. Most children have no knowledge of what they mean, so they will use them at any given time when speaking. 

Another difficulty that children have is the use of Overextension. There are two types of overextension that children use while acquiring vocabulary. The first is "Catergorical Overextension", where a child presumes that all fruits are called apple, that all men are called daddy, basically where a child uses a term in a too broad manner, and often overgeneralising while speaking.  The next form of overextension is "Analogical". In this stage, a child believs that all round objects are called apple, its quite similar to Catergorical Overextension because the child is still using a term in a broad manner. 

 

Child Acquisition (Continued)

Jerome Burner Social Interactionist Theory

Bruner's theory proposed that social interaction played a key role in the development of language. He said that children use language to in order to communicate with the wider world, and also learn the linguistic code at the same time. He also argued that LASS (Language Acquisition Support System) should be used. LASS is turn taking during a conversation between a child & the caregiver, which is necessary for child development. This, when added to all the other theories gives an additional perspective of language acquisition.
He also added that no matter what age the learner is, they tend to learn better when they discover knowledge for themselves, and that students retain knowledge the best when they discover it for themselves. Bruner also argued that adults and children have conversations even though the child is unable to speak. The interaction between the two in non-verbal communication and games, builds the structure of language, long before the child can begin to communicate with a parent verbally.   

Jean Piaget Cognitive Development Theory

Piaget's theory helped with many central concepts in developmental Psychology  The theory concerns how one sees the world in "developmental stages", and acquiring new ways of representing information. Piaget stated that children go through 4 stages of Cognitive Development.

These stages are-

1-Sensorimotor Period-Lasts for the first 2 years of life, a child learns by using its senses & moving around. The sensorimotor is split into 6 sub-stages:- 1-Simple reflexes, 2-first habits & primary circular reactions, 3-Secondary circular reactions, 4-Coordination of secondary circular reactions, 5-tertiary circular reactions, 6-Internalization of Schemes

2-Preoperational Period-Last form 2-7 years of life,during which a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information, and are unable to take the point of view of other people.

3-Concrete Operational Period-From 7-11 years of life, is characterized by the appropriate use of logic. Children are able to transform different mathematical operations.

4-Formal Operational Period-Starts from age 11 & continues into adulthood,children become capable of applying mental operations to abstract concepts,and draw conclusions from the information available as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations. 

However, since Piaget constructed this theory, it has been attacked for numerous reasons such as-

Recent research has shown that he greatly underestimated children’s capabilities. For example, researchers have shown that babies achieve object permanence much sooner than Piaget said they do.

Children sometimes simultaneously develop skills that are characteristic of more than one stage, which makes the idea of stages seem less viable.

Piaget ignored cultural influences. Research has shown that children from different cultures tend to go through Piaget’s stages in the same order, but the timing and length of stages vary from culture to culture.

Some people never develop the capacity for formal reasoning, even as adults

Child Language Acquisition

Noam Chomsky Innateness Theory

The innateness hypothesis is a linguistic theory of language acquisition. Chomsky had a few factors that he used to support his theory of Language Acquisition. His first factor was that between the ages of 3-10, a child is more than likely going to grasp the fluency of the language in its full. After this age it has been considered impossible for a child to grasp the concept of language. The second factor is that children don't need to be triggered to learn language acquisition, they do it all on their own. If a child is around people who speak, the child will try to produce its language by its own accord. Parents can help a child to begin speaking, but they only have a small affect on the child and it will grasp the language by itself. Another part of the theory is that a child will grasp language in the same manner and speak the same way even if it isn't corrected by the caregiver.

B.F. Skinner imitation Theory

Skinner's theory about Operant Conditioning is based upon three types of responses.

1- Neutral Operants-No change in behavior being repeated

2-Reinforcers-Responses that will lead to certain behavior being repeated, therefore having a Positive & Negative affect

3-Punishers-Responses that will lead to the decrease of certain behaviour being repeated

In short, it basically means that we get rewarded for doing good, which will lead to an increase. In language acquisition, it is very easy. Children are rewarded every time they talk correctly, therefore they'll speak the same way in order to get a reward.  Skinner proved his theory by testing rats, subjecting them to electric shock before realising that if they pulled a lever, the shock would stop. This is known as Avoidance Learning. Other rats were placed into a box, and every time they pulled the lever, food pellets would come out.  Thus, they soon learnt that is they pulled the lever, they would be rewarded with food. This is known as Escape Learning.