First Language Acquisition

A Brief Theoretical Overview

I.  Four Umbrellas

          A. ____________________________________

          B. ____________________________________

          C. ____________________________________

          D. ____________________________________

To Keep in Mind…

          There is no “correct” theory of language acquisition.  They all have their strengths and limitations and as such add to our overall understanding of how we acquire language.

          It is important to recognize your belief system in regards to language acquisition (to which theory do you most strongly ascribe?) and the impact that has on how you foster language development among your current or future students.

1. Behaviorism
   1. B.F. Skinner (1957)
   1. A child ________________ the language of its parents or caregivers
   1. Positive and negative _______________________ encourage the formation of language _____________________.
   1. What it looks like in the classroom
      1. Repetition
      1. Rewards and consequences
   1. Limitations
      1. Not copying but over-applying rules
         1. drinked instead of drank
         1. virtuous errors
      1. There are developmental _________________
      1. Critical Period Hypothesis – (The Genie example)

Draw it…

Explain it…

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1. Innateness
   1. Noam Chomsky (1957)
   1. __________________ faculty for language acquisition
   1. Language Acquisition Device or _______________
   1. Mechanism for working out the ________________ of a language
   1. Evidence to support
      1. Specific areas of the brain with _________________ functions
      1. Creole languages
   1. What it looks like in the classroom
      1. Skill and ________________________
      1. Memorization of ____________________
      1. Skills taught in ________________________
   1. Limitations
      1. Theoretical not a study of real children
      1. Does not account for interaction between child and ____________________

Draw it…

Explain it…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Cognitive Theory
   1. Jean Piaget
   1. Language acquisition is related to a child’s mental or _____________________ development
   1. Seriation and object permanence examples
      1. Bigger and smaller
      1. Vocabulary increases at certain ages
   1. What it looks like in the classroom
      1. Nouns and ________________ to kindergarten students
      1. Past perfect progressive to middle school students
   1. Limitations
      1. Harder to find clear ______________between language and cognition as a child grows
      1. Language acquisition still happens even with ____________ mental development

Draw it…

Explain it…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Interactionist Theories
  • Jerome Bruner
    • Child-directed speech (CDS)  – scaffolding of language by adults
  • What it looks like in the classroom
    • Varied opportunities for classroom _______________
    • Sentence stems to guide production
    • Paraphrasing and restating by ______________________
  • Limitations
    • Minimal cultural variation
    • CDS is useful but not _____________________

Draw it…

Explain it…

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Where do you stand?

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