Theories of Child Langauge Acquisition
|
The Innate Approach The innate approach argues that children are born with a highly specialised capacity for language development. This means that when a child is exposed to speech, the child’s brain will automatically start to make sense of the language because it’s programmed to do so. The psychological part of the child’s brain that is believed to be a specialised language processor is referred to as a ‘language acquisition device (LAD)’. Caretakers do not actively shape or train a child's language development in this approach. If a child hears the utterance, ‘Would you like some milk?’, the child might be able to conclude that milk is some type of food or drink as they innately possess this knowledge. |
The Interactionist Approach The Interactionist Approach proposes that children develop their linguistic competence alongside their capability to understand the world around them, and through the continuing social interaction between their level of cognitive development and level of social and linguistic development. Caretakers do play an important role in a child’s language acquisition as they are the one provided that child with words. However though, caretakers alter their speech when they speak to children depending on the child’s stage of language development. This is referred to as ‘caretaker speech’. |