3. Behaviorist View
• Skinner basics:
– Learn language by imitation & reinforcement
• BaBa, Dada
• What might be a problem with behaviorist
view?
4. Problems with Behaviorist View?
• 1. Natural variation in learning
language
– Children make up own sentences
» “Go there” means:
» I want to get back into the stroller.
» Learn words
• 2. Not always reinforcement for new words
– Gain Infinite Generativity
• Produce endless number of meaningful sentences
using finite set of words and rules
•
5. Nativism
Noam Chomsky
• Chomsky's LAD hypothesis
–LAD
• Language Acquisition Device
–Humans prewired to learn language at
certain time
–Able to detect various features & rules of
language
–No physical structure
–Behaviorists opposed
• Reinforced for saying Mama
6. Interactionist View
of Language Development
• Biology & environmental experiences
– Contribute to language development
• Which are?
• Acquire native language
– Without explicit teaching
– Worldwide same time
• Research
– Professionals spoke more to children than welfare
recipients
– Professionals children
» Vocabularies twice as large
Nature of Language and How it Develops in Infancy
7. Interactionist View
• Children learn language in specific
contexts
• Father & baby book
–father points to bird
• son repeats word
10. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Babies communicate by sounds & gestures
• Sequence of 1st year communication
– 1. Crying
– 2. Cooing
– 3. Babbling
– 4. Gestures
11. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Babbling
–Begins about 2 mo.'s.
• Strings of consonant-vowel combinations, such
as “ba, ba, ba, ba”
–Universal
• Consonant:
–B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, X, Z,
(W Y)
–Sounds
• Vowel
–A, E, I, O, U (Y)
12. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• 6 mo.'s, Babble
–Babble sounds of language exposed
– Do not respond to sounds in other languages
not commonly exposed to.
• First Words
• Receptive vocabulary
• 5 mo.'s may recognize their name
• 13 mo.’s understand 50 words
13. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Holophrases
–One word for entire thought
• Cool
–Spoken vocabulary
• 9 mo.'s – 1 year, holophrases
– Important objects & persons
» Dada
» Ball
» Doggie
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15. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Spoken vocabulary spurt
–18 mo. old
• 50 – 100 words
–2 yr. old
• 300 words
16. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Telegraphic speech
–Economical use of words
• “Read book”
–Correct order of words
»Opposed to “book read”
»Verb, noun
17. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Overextension
–Cat may mean all animals
• Underextension
–Use a word too narrowly
•Boy may mean only boys his age
17
18. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Sex differences in language exposure
–What do you think they are?
18
19. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Sex differences in language exposure
– Girls talked to in softer tones
– Boys talked to more sternly
• Your experience?
• Boys more verbal attention throughout school
– Positive
– Negative
• Why?
19
20. Beginnings of Oral Communication
• Sex differences in language exposure cont.
–Boys more rough activities?
–No answer
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22. Language Development in Middle Childhood
and Adolescence
• Same school
–Low SES students language suffers
• Problems in
– Pronunciation
– Vocabulary size
– Syntax
» The proper ordering and usage of language,
including parts of speech
• Effect future career choices
22
23. Language Development in Middle Childhood
and Adolescence
• Elementary school
– Learn rules for language
• Cultural
• Situational
• Adolescence
– Language more abstract
– Reflective
– Subtle
• Body language
• Tone
• Facial expressions
23
24. Language Development in Middle Childhood
and Adolescence
• Adolescence cont.
– Pay attention to others
• Thoughts
• Feelings
• Motivation
– Collaboration in school
• Communicate more clearly
• Enjoy education more
– Around 10
• Learn to read goes to read to learn
• Exploration
– Internet surfing
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25. 9.5
The Role of Speech in Cognition: Vygotsky, Piaget
and Private Speech
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26. The Role of Speech in Cognition: Vygotsky,
Piaget and Private Speech
• Vygotsky
– Language used in 2 ways
• 1. External speech
– Social communication
• 2. Private speech (adults inner speech)
– Mental reasoning
– Done outloud
• Piaget
– Maturation drives language
• Conservation
• Abstract thinking
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