Children Learning Language Through Imitation In this essay I intend on studying child language acquisition not only through imitation, but innateness, intellectual development and input also. This is a relatively new area of language research, which has very few definite answers or rules that can be applied invariably. This is why I believe that it is best to look at all the main aspects of how we learn to talk, in order to gain a greater perspective of the theory's applied so far. The behaviourists view is that children learn to speak via imitating the words and sentences heard from the people around them, mainly their parents/caretakers. They in turn strengthen the child's knowledge by repetition, correction and any other reaction that parents/caretakers may provide. This theory is especially associated with B.F.Skinner (1957) who regards language as similar to other kinds of human behaviour: If we do something and it has positive, pleasurable consequences, we are more likely to do it again; if it has unpleasant consequences, we are less likely to repeat the action. Skinner did carry out research concerning operant conditioning but it was on rats and pigeons and not relating to language. One criticism of his theory was that even though a great deal of vocabulary and sounds are learnt through imitation, all the correct forms of sentences and verbs do not seem to be automatically picked up in this way. For example, when it comes to grammatical ability, irregular verbs are not always used in the standard form, because the children assume that all verbs are regular. Instead they try to work out what they think the forms should ... ... middle of paper ... ...e tuning' hypothesis. Moreover, it does not seem essential that adults should address children in a particular way, because children who are reared in cultures where adults do not alter their speech when addressing children still succeed in acquiring language. However, it is taken very seriously that 'caretaker speech' is an important influence on the course of language acquisition. All of the theories that have been looked at have some validity and some criticisms. It is most likely that all of the factors contribute to language acquisition, but none can provide a complete explanation on their own. What remains unclear is the importance of the various factors, and the influence they have on each other. Therefore, more research is needed before linguists can be completely sure about the processes that take place.
Babbling is just one step in the complex, lifelong process of language acquisition. Though one continues to advance in the fluency o...
Communication is the foundation of any society. Humans are interactive beings that must communicate in order to survive. Humans develop communication skills as infants; learning to yell when something is needed, cry when something is painful, and smile when feeling happy. As babies age they learn words; eventually learning to compose sentences allowing them to express their feelings or desires. Humans finally learn to communicate within different parts of their life with different forms of communication such as letters, spoken, visual, and more. As one ages, they become aware of the different rules of communication used with certain people and situations; such as learning to speak to a teacher in a different manner than how one talks to their friends. While doing this, people are unconsciously starting to learn how to conform in the different discourse communities. Discourse communities are an essential part of life, and learning to communicate in those communities is just as vital.
Children have a natural inclination to play, alongside a natural instinct to learn and to be curious and inventive, which are characteristics of the human race in general. This quote taken from Janet Moyles is a good starting point for this essay. It is well known that children love to play. If a child were to be left to his/her own devices they would happily play and create new worlds anywhere they were left. It has been well documented and researched that children learn excellently through play. However they are not always given the opportunity to do so, instead being told to, ‘finish your work and then you can go play’. Obviously this is not always the case, but the fact that it is a common practice shows that we do not all fully appreciate the importance of play to children’s learning. This essay will attempt to show how children learn through play, making reference to current theory and practice. I will also give examples from my own first-hand experience of how children learn and develop as people through play.
This essay is about a child’s development and learning, focusing primarily on language development. It will describe the main stages of developmental "milestones" and the key concepts involved for children to develop their language skills, discussing language acquisition and social learning theory. The essay will also look into the key theorists involved in language development, primarily Vygotsky and Chomsky, and how these theories have had an impact on the way society views language and their implementation within schools. The essay will describe the factors affecting language development, both biological and environmental. While also discussing key arguments among theorists, one being the nature vs nurture debate, and how these play a part in the teaching in schools.
“We can know so much because in a sense we already knew it” (Chomsky, 1976 p.7). Within this quote are the foundations for Chomsky’s theory of an innate predisposition to learn language by his imagination of a mind that holds a priori knowledge. It is suggested by Chomsky (1976) that this innate knowledge is within the human mind at birth and is unlocked by experience. Essentially, Chomsky’s argument is that there is some sort of biological basis only evident within humans that permits the acquisition of language across different cultures, notwithstanding the complexities or differences between them. Christiansen and Chater (2008) provide for Chomsky’s position by noting that children can obtain their native language before being able to carry out tasks such as tying laces or riding a bicycle.
Primary schools that introduce language learning at an earlier phase may do so for a number of purposes, but it is because of the benefits of learning a language at a younger age that this paper has chosen Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) as its target scheme of work. For the purpose of this assignment the focus language will be French (but the strategies to be discussed will apply to any MFL). The ideas within the scheme of work will be critically discussed as part of university experience, school practice and relevant research.
There are three main theories of child language acquisition; Cognitive Theory, Imitation and Positive Reinforcement, and Innateness of Certain Linguistic Features (Linguistics 201). All three theories offer a substantial amount of proof and experiments, but none of them have been proven entirely correct. The search for how children acquire their native language in such a short period of time has been studied for many centuries. In a changing world, it is difficult to pinpoint any definite specifics of language because of the diversity and modification throughout thousands of millions of years.
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. M. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford [england: Oxford University Press.
"[H]uman knowledge is organized de facto by linguistic competence through language performance, and our exploration of reality is always mediated by language" (Danchin 29). Most higher vertebrates possess ‘intuitive knowledge’ which occurs as the result of slow evolution of species. However, the ability to create knowledge through language is unique to humans. According to Benjamin Whorf, "language…. is not merely a reproducing instrument from voicing ideas but rather is itself the shaper of ideas…. We dissect nature along lines laid down by language" (Joseph 249). In addition, the development and acquisition of language seems to be related to "complex sequential processing, and the ability to form concepts and to classify a single stimulus in a multiple manner" (Joseph 178). Antione Danchin suggests that the knowledge we create through language allows us distinguish ourselves from the rest of the world to produce models of reality, which become more and more adequate due to the "self-referent loop" which enables us to understand ourselves as objects under study. This "path from subject to object," which is common to all humans, Danchin claims, suggests the existence of a universal feature of language (29).
How do children acquire language? What are the processes of language acquisition? How do infants respond to speech? Language acquisition is the process of learning a native or a second language. Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observations that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, (which helps them learn to pronounce words correctly), and grammar is seldom taught to them, but instead that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. Though, not all children learn by imitation alone. Children will produce forms of language that adults never say. For example, “I spilled milk on hisself” or “Debbie wants a cookie”. This demonstrates that children have the desire to speak correctly and have self-motivating traits to communicate. This supports the theory of Noam Chomsky (1972)-that children are able to learn grammar of a particular language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. Adults learning a second language pass through some of the same stages, as do children learning their native language. In the first part of this paper I will describe the process of language acquisition. The second part will review how infants respond to speech.
Language Development in Children Language is a multifaceted instrument used to communicate an unbelievable number of different things. Primary categories are information, direction, emotion, and ceremony. While information and direction define cognitive meaning, emotional language expresses emotional meaning. Ceremonial language is mostly engaged with emotions, but at some level information and direction collection may be used to define a deeper meaning and purpose. There is perhaps nothing more amazing than the surfacing of language in children.
In this part, the writer will point out the importance of the biological and neural foundation of language learning by discussing the following :First, the brain anatomy. Second, l...
The world still revolves around many unanswered mysteries. Through time and science, some have been illuminated and understood, but many are still left unexplained. One of these mysteries is the mind. In this essay I am going to be examining the relationship between animal communication, and our own human language. I will be discussing relevant theories such as evolution from animals and whether or not animals have minds, therefore debating the mind body problem and consciousness, which was most famously addressed by René Descartes as well as many other philosophers. I will also be studying Noam Chomsky’s theories on human language structure and generative grammar that oppose the ideas of various philosophers. Included within this topic I will research Washoe and Nim Chimsky, chimpanzees who were the primary focus of studies of animal language acquisition. The aim of this essay is to see if there is a relationship between human language and animal communication, based on evidence and theories that I will be researching.
Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation.
Being different from other species in the world, we, the human, occupy our own language and thought. We use the words that we have learnt to express what is in our mind, as well as the emotion since we learnt how to talk. In modern days, the conversation skills is more and more emphasized and it becomes one of the skills that we need to possess in order to survive. Therefore, learning how to speak and why we need to speak appropriately becomes the tasks that we need to consider in our live.