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ENG 150 Module15 Report

The document discusses several issues relating to first language acquisition, including the relationship between language and cognition, the role of imitation, practice and frequency of input, and discourse analysis. It presents differing views on how language and thought interact during development and the importance of social interaction and language in cognitive development.

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20 views23 pages

ENG 150 Module15 Report

The document discusses several issues relating to first language acquisition, including the relationship between language and cognition, the role of imitation, practice and frequency of input, and discourse analysis. It presents differing views on how language and thought interact during development and the importance of social interaction and language in cognitive development.

Uploaded by

abadiergab75
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Issue

In
First language
Acquisition
Issue
In
First
Acquisition
language
Lang &
uage thought
 For years researchers have probed the relationship between
language and cognition.

 Piaget (1972) claimed that cognitive development is at the


very center of the human organism and that language is
dependent upon and springs from cognitive development
Language
&
thought
 Others emphasized the influence of language on cognitive
development. Jerome Bruner (Bruner, Oliver, & Greenfield, 1966)

for example, singled out sources of language-influenced


intellectual development: words shaping concepts, dialogues
between parent and child or teacher and child serving to
orient and educate, and other sources.
Language
&
thought
 Vygotsky (1962, 1978) also differed from Piaget in claiming
that social interaction, through language, is a prerequisite to
cognitive development. Thought and language were seen as
two distinct cognitive operations that grow together
(Schinke-Llano, 1993).
Language
&
thought
 One of the champions of the position that language affects thought was
Benjamin Whorf, who with Edward Sapir formed the well-known Sapir-Whorf

i hypothesis of linguistic relativity-namely, that each language imposes on its


speaker a particular "worldview." The issue at stake in child language
acquisition is to determine how thought affects language, how language affects
thought, and how linguists can best describe and account for the interaction of
the two.
Imitati
on
Imita
tion
 It is a common informal observation that children are good imitators.
We think of children typically as imitators, and then conclude that
imitation is one of the important strategies a child uses in the acquisition
of language.

 Indeed, research has shown that echoing is a particularly salient strategy


in early language learning and an important aspect of early phonological
acquisition.
Imita
 Behaviorists assume one type of imitation, but a tion
deeper level of imitation is far more important in the
process of language acquisition.

 The first type is surface-structure imitation, where a


person repeats or mimics the surface strings, attending to
a phonological code rather than a semantic code
Imita
tion
 As children perceive the importance of the semantic level of
language, they attend to a greater extent to that meaningful
semantic level-the, deep structure of language.
Look at the following conversation as recorded by
McNeill (1966, p 69): Imita
Child: Nobody don't like me.
Mother. No, say "nobody likes me."
Child; Nobody don't like me. [eight repetitions of this exchange]
tion
Mother. No, now listen carefully, say "nobody likes me."
Child: Oh! Nobody don't likes me.

You can imagine the frustration of both mother and child. The child was
expressing a deep feeling, while the mother was concerned about grammar.
Imita
tion
 Research has also shown that children, when explicitly asked to repeat a sentence
in a test situation, will often repeat the correct underlying deep structure with a
change in the surface rendition.
 Ex. The ball that is rolling down the hill is black.
The boy who's in the sandbox is wearing a red shirt.

tend to be repeated back by preschool children as "The black ball is rolling down the
hill" and "The red boy is in the sandbox" (Brown, 1970).

Children are excellent imitators. It is simply a matter of understanding exactly what


it is that they are imitating
Practi
And

ceFrequency
Practice
And
Frequency
 It is common to observe children and conclude that they "practice"
language constantly, especially in the early stages of single-word and two-
word utterances. A behavioral model of first language acquisition would
claim that practice-repetition and association-is the key to the formation of
habits by operant conditioning.
Practice
And
Frequency

 Practice is usually thought of as referring to speaking only. But


one can also think in terms of comprehension practice, which is
often considered under the rubric of the frequency of linguistic
input to the child. Is the acquisition of particular words or
structures directly attributable to their frequency in the child’s
linguistic environment
Input
Input
The role of input in the child's acquisition of language is
undeniably crucial. Whatever one's position is on the
innateness of language, the speech that young children hear
is primarily the speech heard in the home, and much of that
speech is parental speech or the speech of older siblings.
Input
Linguists once claimed that most adult speech is basically
semi-grammatical (full of performance variables), that
children are exposed to a chaotic sample of language, and
only their innate capacities can account for their successful
acquisition of language
Discourse
Discourse

 A subfield of research that is occupying the attention of an


increasing number of child language researchers, especially in an
era of social constructivist research, is the area of conversational or
discourse analysis.

 While parental input is a significant part of the child's development


of conversational rules, it is only one aspect, as the child also
interacts with peers and, of course, with other adults, Berko-Gleason
Discourse

it is now clear that, in order for successful, first


language acquisition to take place, interaction, rather
than exposure, is required; children do not leam
language from overhearing the conversations of others
or from listening to the radio, and must, instead,
acquire it in the context of being spoken to.
Discourse

While conversation is a universal human activity


performed routinely in the course of daily living,
the means by which children learn to take part in
conversation appear to be very complex. Sinclair
and Coulthard (1975) proposed that conversations
be examined in terms of initiations and responses.
Tha For Watching

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