LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES
Introduction
Introduction
During the past forty years there have been two major theories of During the past forty years there have been two major theories of language learning by children. But there are two major schools of thought language learning by children. But there are two major schools of thought known as, 'Behaviorists' and 'Mentalists'. One school is of the view that known as, 'Behaviorists' and 'Mentalists'. One school is of the view that language learning is entirely the product of eperience and that our language learning is entirely the product of eperience and that our
environment affects all of us. Others have suggested that everybody has environment affects all of us. Others have suggested that everybody has an innate language learning mechanism. !et us discovery with the help of an innate language learning mechanism. !et us discovery with the help of these two schools of thought that how do children ac"uire their mother these two schools of thought that how do children ac"uire their mother tongue. #ow do they grow up linguistically and learn to handle the tongue. #ow do they grow up linguistically and learn to handle the stylistics varieties of their mother tongue$
stylistics varieties of their mother tongue$ #ow much of the linguistics#ow much of the linguistics system they are born with and how much do they discover from their system they are born with and how much do they discover from their eposure to language$
eposure to language$
a)
a)
The Behaviorist School
The Behaviorist School
B.%
B.%. &kinner and his . &kinner and his followers are known followers are known as behaviorist. ccording toas behaviorist. ccording to them language learning is process known as operant conditioning.
them language learning is process known as operant conditioning.
(onditioned Behavior is behavior which is the result of repeated training. (onditioned Behavior is behavior which is the result of repeated training. Operant means that it is
Operant means that it is voluntary behavior, it is result of learner's ownvoluntary behavior, it is result of learner's own free will, and it is not forced by any outside person or thing. )he learner free will, and it is not forced by any outside person or thing. )he learner
demonstrates the new behavior first as a response to a system of reward or punishment, and finally as an automatic response. *n order to prove their theory they conducted an eperiment.
E!ERI"ENT
)hey put a rat in a bo containing a bar. *f it presses a bar, it is
rewarded with a pellet of food. +othing forces it to press the bar. )he first time it probably does so accidentally. hen the rat finds that the food arrives, it presses the bar again. -ventually it finds that if it is hungry it can obtain food by pressing the bar. )hen task is made more difficult. )he rat only gets rewarded if it presses the bar while a light is flashing. t first rat is puled. -ventually it learns the trick. )hen the task is made more difficult again. )his time the rat only receives food if it presses the bar a certain number of times. fter initial confusion it learns to do this also. nd so on, and so on.
Operant condition can be summaried thus
&)*M/!/& 0-&1O+&- 0-*+%O0(-M-+)
0-1-)*)*O+
*n operant conditioned, reinforcement plays a vital role. )here are two kinds of reinforcement2
A) !ositive Rein#orce$ent
1raise and rewards are positive reinforcement. -periments have shown that positive reinforcement works much better in bringing
about good learning.
B)
Ne%ative Rein#orce$ent
0ebukes and punishments are negative reinforcement.
)he behaviorists also claim that we learn language by imitation and association. %or eample, a young child hears the word 3water3 with the actual thing. #e then makes this sound himself, imitating what he has heard. #is parents are pleased that he has learnt another word and so his response is reinforced.
)he thoughts of behaviorist school can well be understood according to following tree diagram.
The Behaviorist School
Lan%ua%e learnin% is !ositive I$itation O&erant conditionin% and and
Ne%ative Association Rein#orce$ent
+oam (homsky eplicitly rejects the behaviorists' position that language should be thought of as verbal behavior, arguing that it should be thought of as knowledge held by those who use language.
(homsky suggests that the learner of any language has an inbuilt learning capacity for language that enables each learner to construct a kind of personal theory or set of rules about the language based on very limited eposure to language.
') The "entalist School
(homsky and his mentalist followers claim that a child learns his first language through cognitive learning. )hey claim that language is governed by rules, and is not a haphaard thing, as &kinner and his followers would claim. ccording to (homsky, the child is born with a mental capacity for working out the underlying system to the jumble of sounds which he hears. #e constructs his own grammar' and
imposes it on all the sounds reaching his brain. )his mental grammar is part of his cognitive framework, and nothing he hears is stored in his brain until he has matched it against what he already knows and found a 'correct' place for it within this framework.
(homsky argues that language is so comple that it is almost
incredible that it can be ac"uired by a child in so short a time. #e says that a child is born with some innate mental capacity which helps the
child to process all the language which he hears. )his is called the
Lan%ua%e Ac(uisition evice* and he saws it as comprising a special area of the brain whose only function was the processing of language. )his function, he argues, is "uite separate from any other mental
capacity which the child has.
hen (homsky talks about 'rules', he means the unconscious rules in a child's mind these rules enables him to make grammatical
sentences in his own language. (homsky does not mean that a child can describes these rules eplicitly. %or eample, a four or five year old child can produce a sentence like I have done $+ ,or-. he can do that because he has a /$ental %ra$$ar/ which enables him to form correct present perfect structures and also to use such structures in the right and appropriate situations. But he is unable to define the formation of &resent &er#ect tense0
)he thoughts of Mentalists can well be understood with the help of the following tree diagram.
The "entalists School
Lan%ua%e learnin%
In&ut
"ental %ra$$ar
Is an
1o,n rules)
Innate a'ilit+
LA
Gra$$atical
Both the schools have said significant things, yet neither is perfect. )he mentalists' emphasis on the rule4learning is over enthusiastic, and the behaviorists' rejection of meaning is entirely unjust. !anguage ac"uisition seems to be a process both of analogy and application, both nature and nurture. )he differences between the empiricists
approach and that of the rationalist can be summaried in the following manner2
BEHA2IOURISTS A!!ROACH "ENTALIST A!!ROACH
56 !anguage ac"uisition is a stimulus4 response process.
!anguage is an innate, in4born process.
76 !anguage is a conditioned behavior.
!anguage is not a behavior like other behaviors, but a specific mental
process. 86 (hildren learn language by
imitation and analogy.
(hildren learn language by application.
96 !anguage learning is based on practice.
!anguage learning is analytical, generative and creation.
:6 )he role of imitation, repetition, reinforcement and motivation is very significant in language learning.
)he role of eposure to language is "uite vital.
;6 !anguage ac"uisition is the result of nature.
!anguage ac"uisition is the result of nurture.
Conclusion
)his comparative study makes one thing clear2 nature and nurture, analogy and application, practice and eposure are important. *nnate
potentialities lay down the framework. ithin this framework, there is wide variation depending on the environment. )he kind of language that children ultimately grow into shaped by the culture4based responses of the family, if not in a way that can be called imitation, then at least in terms of things the child chooses to do with its language. But we should be wary of the idea that all children eperience the same practices and
follow the same development path as they grow into their language.
#aving been eposed to a small number of utterances, the child begins to etract the principles underlying the utterances and compose new
utterances of his own. )his is the way every child grammar to
communicate in an intelligent manner. #e makes mistakes and produces ungrammatical sentences. #is elders correct him< he feeds the
information into his mini4grammar, modifies some of the rules, and again produces new utterances. *n a period of about four years, he is able to
master and internalie all the essential rules of language. )his is a proof that a child's own rules of grammar are more important to him than mere imitation.
