Understanding Language and Literacy: 2

Explore the theories of language acquisition and development in children. Learn about nativist, behaviorist, and interactionist theories. Understand the different phases of language development. Find study material and solved assignments on Desklib.

UNDERSTANDING
LANGUAGE AND
LITERACY: 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Explaining theories and one language acquisition or development example..............................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Language is probably the most important thing for every human being. It is the essence of
communication. Therefore, it is imperative for every human being to learn at least one language
in order to communicate and interact with the surrounding people. For this reason, the adults and
the parents start teaching their children the basics of communication from a very young age.
It is said that the first sounds produced by babies are simple response to their feelings. For
example, Crying is a response to hunger or feeling sleepy. As the baby grows and matures they
produce variety of different sounds and they learn to distinguish between the sound that is a part
of their language and the sound that is just a noise. The current report will also focus on study of
semantic language as its is concerned with understanding and appropriate use of language,
phrases and sentences while communicating with other person. Moreover, majorly it will cover
the topic of language development of children from the age of 3 to 5 years (Zeanah, (2017).
MAIN BODY
Explaining theories and one language acquisition or development example
Children from the age 3 years usually become well coordinated with running and
communicating. According to Barrett, (2016) there are some glitches in their speech but the
language becomes much easy to understand. Children grow over the years, with each birthday
they learn something new. Certain theories explaining children's language learning are-
Nativist theory
Said to be the most influential linguist of 20th century, Noam Chomsky developed
Nativist theory. Noam Chomsky believes that every human being is born with certain rules about
the language in their head which is also known as Universal grammar (Janlert & Stolterman,
(2017). Chomsky believes that there is certain science with the fact that children learn their
mother tongue so fast. The reason behind this is
 A child's exposure to correctly formed language is very little. When people speak they
are bound to make mistakes like interruptions, slip of tongue and change of mind. It is not
always clear yet children manage to learn the language perfectly.
 According to Gooch and et.al, (2016) a child does not copy the exact language and
dialect he hears around him. Instead, he forms certain rules from the language and then
frame the sentences differently and correctly. They do not learn or memorize the phrases
1

and sentences but they understand the science behind these languages and then frame
their own sentences.
It is said that 75% of the children around the world speak either English, Vietnamese and French
or SOV like Japanese, Korean and Tibetan.
Chomsky claimed that the children born with a hard-wired Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
in their brains have the major principles of language in place, but with many parameters to set
(such as whether sentences in the language(s) they are to acquire must have explicit subjects).
For instance, some children automatically speak words like Ma-Ma and Da-Da and these words
are learnt automatically by them.
Chomsky also developed a theory called 'setting the parameters' in which he states that when a
child is listens to his parents then he subconsciously sets his language and grammar in the same
manner in which his parents are interacting (Holt, (2017).
Chomsky refers to this language learning tool as Language acquisition device because he
believes that most of the language framework is acquired by a child from his birth.
Chomsky also stated that a word would be learnt and memorized by children a lot more
faster if it occurs commonly or if a lot of importance is given to that word.
Chomsky claims that Nativist theory is most productive for 3 to 5 year old at it not only helps in
language development but also help in overall growth and development of child's brain because
the theory helps in setting parameters where child adjusts the language sub consciously in his
own brain. This makes the child self dependent and they tend to gasp everything faster.
Behaviourist theory
Behaviourist theory was discovered by J.B. Watson and the theory suggests that a language is
learned by a person when the meaning of certain words are internalized by them because of the
response received when the words are spoken. Behaviourist theory also aims that a language can
be perfectly learnt only through continuous practice. The more the learner is exposed to
speaking, the better the chances of learning the language. The theory is widely popular in USA.
There are certain principles that guide behaviourist theory (Ward, (2017). These are
 It dwells on spoken language: The theory follows oral language because there are
thousands of languages that cannot be written and every human being first learns
to speak and later on learns to write. Thus, spoken language is given priority by
behaviourist theory in language learning.
2

 Habit formation: Behaviourist theory focuses on habit formation by teaching
structural grammar. It also suggests that language learning is a mechanical
process and is affected by behaviour of a person.
 Response chain stimulus: Behaviourist learning theory focuses on building the
easiest responses to more and more complex behaviours. This means that
languages are learnt linearly from left to right series like S1->S2->S3->S4 as
incidents that are developed by Markov's process.
 Socially-conditioned nature: The language learning is affected by socially-
conditioned nature that means that if every person lives in the same social and
culture conditions then each person can learn equally.
 Therapeutic techniques: It is also used as a therapeutic technique to help children
suffering from autism and also helps in their overall development. It also uses
intensive behavioural intervention and token economics for rooting behaviourism.
This is an extra benefit of behaviourism theory.
 The behaviourist theory approach to language acquisition is based on culture and
environment. Thus, it is not universal in scope. In fact, the theory holds that
language is never universal, but always context- and time-bound. For instance,
during the development phase children learn many words from others and by
continuous practice. The development phase goes forever as people always learn
new words from others.
For instance, the most common verbs used by children during their development stage are
go, eat, talk etc. Although, children use past form of these verbs incorrectly but as they grow
older their grammar improves automatically because eventually the kids start learning the rules
of language and understand the importance of sentence formation.
Interactionist theory
Interactionist theory was formed in 20th century by George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton
Cooley. The theory emphasised the importance of interaction between a 1 to 3 year old children
and linguistic adults. The interactionist theory is a combination of both nativist and behaviourist
theory. The interactionist theory is the easiest and the most reliable theory because it focuses on
communication between child and adult to improve a child's communication and language
learning ability (Strauss & Maines, (2017). This theory has always proved worthwhile when it
3

comes to learning and teaching the children. Human beings when communicate with each other
give meaning and value to each other. This further acts as a basis for their decision making in
their day to day lives.
For example, according to a survey it has been identified that children always learn the
name of the person with whom thy spent the most time and it can be either of the parent. Also,
the first words learnt by an average kid involve seeking attention in order to demand the food.
The interactionist theory begins with teaching words and phrases and then as an individual
matures it helps them in framing sentences.
Children from the age of 3 to 5 years learn a lot of new things while communicating with
people around them. The impact of interaction can be negative or positive. Using negative
vocabulary in front of children will lead to children speaking in that tone and vice versa
(Interactionist theory, (2017).
Interactionism theory has also proved to be healthy for brain development of a child. According
to a survey it has been found that Interactionist theory is the most feasible theory when it comes
to teaching children and this theory has the highest success and implementation ratio when it
comes to children from age of 3 to 5 years.
Development milestones/ phases of language development.
Development milestones are concerned with different phases that a child has to go
through in order to learn the vocabulary. The phases of language development includes
 Pre-linguistic language development: According to Byrnes and Wasik, (2019) the first
stage of development milestone begins at the age of 0-2 months when a child has learnt to
create sounds and is just trying to manipulate the sounds and convert them into words. It
further includes four categories like vegetative sounds which usually occur at the age of 2
months and mainly consists of crying and burping. As they grew older and become 2-5
months older then they start producing new sounds like that of laughter and giggling.
Between the age of 4-8 months, children learn vocal play and start speaking vowels and
consonants. Finally as they become 1 year old they start producing sounds like ma-ma
and da-da.
 Linguistic language development: In the view point of Locke, (2018) Linguistic
language development includes advanced development of a child as he starts producing
various words and learns symbolic communication as well. At the age of 12-19 months
4

children start producing relevant words which become comparatively easy to understand
for the parents. As they become 14-24 months older they start interacting with words like
go, come, daddy, mom etc. Once they become 3 year old babies start framing phrases like
let's go, I am ready and several other. Therefore, as they grow they become perfect in
framing sentences with the use of correct grammar. The last phase of linguistic
development is when children grow 5-6 years old because now they have started
understanding the concept of past tense and future tense as well.
These are the different phases of language development and a child has to go through
these processes in order to develop their language and vocabulary.
CONCLUSION
According to the above report it has been found out that language learning and voice clarity had
been a major issue from many years. Research on language acquisition has improved mainly due
to technology use. There are many theories explaining language learning but the most significant
theories are nativist, behaviourist and interactionist theory. All the theories are pole apart from
each other but have had the main objective to improve language learning and voice clarity. The
most successful theory of the three has been Interactionist theory(Fellowes & Oakley,2015)
Interactionist theory's reason for success has been its simplicity and authenticity. The theory is
very basic to perform, all it needs is communication. The nativist theory uses brain as an area for
language production. It also uses organs of speech like Respiratory system, Phonatory system
and Articulatory system.
The stages of learning language begins from learning sounds. Children learn sounds right from
the infant stage, later they learn words and as they turn infants that is 3 year old, they start to
learn sentences and finally as they grow old, language develops and finally they learn to speak
fluently with complete accuracy. This is what the entire report is all about.
5

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barrett, M., 2016. The development of language. Psychology Press.
Byrnes, J.P. and Wasik, B.A., 2019. Language and literacy development: What educators need
to know. Guilford Press.
Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2015). Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education. Oxford
University Press.
Gooch, D. and et.al, 2016. The development of executive function and language skills in the
early school years. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,57(2), pp.180-187.
Holt, J. (2017). How children learn. Hachette UK.
Janlert, L. E., & Stolterman, E. (2017). The meaning of interactivity—some proposals for
definitions and measures. Human–Computer Interaction.32(3). 103-138.
Locke, J.L., 2018. Phases in the child's development of language. American Scientist, 82(5),
pp.436-445.
Strauss, A. L., & Maines, D. R. (2017). An interactionist theory of action. In Continual
Permutations of Action (pp. 47-72). Routledge.
Ward, M. (2017). Opportunity, resources, and threat: explaining local nativist organizing in the
United States. Sociological perspectives.60(3).459-478.
Zeanah, C. (2017). Early Experiences and Brain Development.
Online
Interactionist theory. (2017). [ONLINE] Available through:
<https://www.thoughtco.com/symbolic-interaction-theory-p2-3026645>
6