Early Stages of Language Acquisition and Development

This essay discusses the nativist, behaviourist, and interactionist theories of language acquisition and development in children.

Running head: EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
Language acquisition refers to the process whereby the humans acquire the capabilities
that are related to the comprehend and perceive the concerned language. The language
acquisition also deals with the production and the usage of the words and the sentences that are
used for the purpose of communication. The language acquisition generally refers to the first
language acquisition and refers to the studies related to the language acquisition of the infants on
their native language (Slobin, 2014). The following essay deals with the various theories that
pertain to the language acquisition in children. The essay opens with a discussion on the nativist
theory of language acquisition as proposed by the distinguished linguist, Noam Chomsky. The
essay proceeds to discuss the behaviourist theories and the interactionist theories that pertain to
the theories of language acquisition and development.
The nativist theory as proposed by the eminent linguist Noam Chomsky suggests that all
human beings are born with the language acquisition device that helps them to acquire the
concerned language (McGilvray, 2013). The linguist opines that the LAD or the language
acquisition device helps the concerned infant in acquiring the concerned language. The nativist
theory opines that the existence of the language acquisition device is not a physical existence.
The experts suggest that the language acquisition device is a theoretical organ that has been
opined to be the driving force behind the acquiring of the language by a human child. The
experts also state that the language acquisition device functions in a similar manner like the
hypothalamus and is responsible for the learning of a language and the nuances of the same by
the concerned human child (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 2014). The nativist theory also states that
all the languages that are spoken all over the world share the same set of the universal grammar.
The nativist theory explains it further by stating the fact that this universal grammar is a part of
the genetic information and structure that is present within the human child right from the time of

2EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
its birth. This claim finds its base in the fact that the majority of the languages that are present in
the world do have similar basic components like the nouns and verbs and follow a similar pattern
in the sentence structure. The theory further attempts to explain language as a finite set of rules
that are used for the creation of an infinite number of sentences, phrases and clauses. The nativist
theory suggests that the human children are born with the basic knowledge of these rules and
therefore is apt as an explanation for the explanation of the quick learning that is depicted by the
children (Saxton, 2017). The theory also helps in the explanation of the various similarities that
exist among the languages that are spoken all over the world.
The behaviourist theory is one of the five basic theories that deals with the description of
the process that are implemented in the acquisition, learning and the teaching of the concerned
language. The behaviourist theory is majorly applicable to the acquisition of the first language or
the native language of the speaker. The behaviourist theory that was proposed by the eminent
linguist, J. B. Watson, is a theory that deals with the theory of the native language learning and
was formulated as a reaction to the concept of the traditional grammar or the TG (Myles &
Mitchell, 2014). The theory was supported by various other eminent linguists of the era. The key
principle of the behaviourist theory states that the human language is generally based on the
stimulus that is received by the concerned person from the surroundings wherein the person is
present at the time of the articulation. The theory is majorly dependent on the spoken language
and further argues that there exist many languages in the world that might not have a script of
writing. The theory further puts forth the fact that the human child is observed to have been
acquiring the skills that pertain to the speaking faster than those that are required for the reading
and writing. The theory opines that the human child learns about the native language from the
various caregivers and the parents who surround the child in his initial years (VanPatten &

3EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
Williams, 2014). The theory further suggests that the process of the language learning is a
mechanical process that deals with the habit formation on the part of the concerned speaker with
the underlying scheme being the conditioned reflexes. The theory further opines that the learning
of the language is actually a process of imitation that is either succeeded by the stages of
reinforcements and rewards. However, the counterarguments to this theory states that the human
child does not merely repeat the sentences that the child hears. The child is often observed to be
coming up with novel ideas and sentences that the child might not have access to for the purpose
of imitation.
The sociocultural theory better known as the interactionist theory attempts to provide for
an interdisciplinary viewpoint on the acquisition and the developmental process of language. The
theory states that the child acquires the language used through the vehemently active desire to
communicate with the world around. The theory emphasizes on the fact that the emergence of
the language lies in the areas that pertain to the social interaction that the concerned child is
exposed to. The propounders of the theory reveal the fact that the child learns the concerned
language on the basis of the desire to communicate with the various people who are present in
the vicinity of the child. The theory argues that the environmental influence plays a huge role in
the learning and the acquisition of the concerned language that the child might need to acquire.
The environmental factors are also known to have an effect on the matters that deal with the pace
at which the concerned child would acquire the language. The theory points out the fact that the
teaching schedule of any language also follows the pattern that is put forth in this theory of
learning (Hoff, 2013). The teaching process of the language involves the teaching of the easier
and the more commonly phrases of the concerned language in the primary stages of the process.
The second step that is followed by the teachers in the language teaching process of the

4EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
concerned language is the building of the longer and meaningful sentences. The theory further
states that the during the expansion of the vocabulary in the native language of the concerned
speaker, the most commonly used words are remembered easier than the words that are not so
commonly used. The interactionist theory relies on the fact that the child learns a particular
language by hearing to the constant use of the language from the various caregivers as well as
the parents of the concerned child. The followers of this theory state that the child learns the first
language mostly through the interactions that it might have with the caregivers as well as the
parents (Bickerton, 2014). The child acquires the native language majorly through the high
amount of the speech that the child might have been hearing from the various caregivers, as
proposed by the interactionist theory of language acquisition.
In lieu of the above discussion it might be put forth that there are a number of theories
that pertain to the language acquisition in the concerned child. The three theories that have been
discussed above deal with the various ways that the experts might have abided by in order to deal
with the questions that arise on the acquisition of the language on the part of the children who
have been just a few months old.

5EARLY STAGES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND DEVELOPMENT
References
Bickerton, D. (2014). More than nature needs: Language, mind, and evolution (p. 324).
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hoff, E. (2013). Language development. Cengage Learning.
Larsen-Freeman, D., & Long, M. H. (2014). An introduction to second language acquisition
research. Routledge.
McGilvray, J. (2013). Chomsky: Language, mind and politics. Polity.
Myles, F., & Mitchell, R. (2014). Second language learning theories. Routledge.
Saxton, M. (2017). Child language: Acquisition and development. Sage.
Slobin, D. I. (Ed.). (2014). The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition (Vol. 4).
Psychology Press.
VanPatten, B., & Williams, J. (Eds.). (2014). Theories in second language acquisition: An
introduction. Routledge.