Language and Literacy Development Theories: A Comprehensive Analysis

This essay delves into the critical theories underpinning language and literacy development in children. It examines three primary theories: the Nativist theory, which posits that language acquisition is innate; the Interactionist theory, emphasizing the role of social interaction in language development; and the Behaviorist theory, which focuses on learning through imitation and reinforcement. The essay provides detailed explanations of each theory, including the perspectives of key figures like Noam Chomsky and Lev Vygotsky, along with real-world examples to illustrate how these theories manifest in early childhood. It also highlights the implications of these theories for educators, emphasizing the importance of understanding and implementing them in early childhood education and care settings to foster children's language skills and overall development. The essay draws upon multiple references to support the arguments and provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject.

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Understanding Language and Literacy

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Language development is an important concept in the development of the children’s. There
are basically three theories which are defined at the early stages of language acquisition and
development. These theories are described in respect to the children’s language development.
If all the three theories are implemented on the child at the early stages of his childhood he
will be able to develop language in a good way. Nativist theory claims that the language is
intended by birth they are not taught. The second theory which is the interactionist theory
focuses on the role of social interaction between the developments of the children from
childhood to adulthood. The third theory which is the behaviourist theory aims the learning of
the children through imitation and explicit training (Fleer, 2018).
These three theories form the basics of the early stages of language acquisition in children.
The theories give a brief description of how the acquisition of languages is accumulated in
the children during their childhood. They also give a brief description of the way by which
the childhood educators indulges these theories in the early childhood education and care
setting.
The nativist theory was given by Noam Chomsky which claims that the language is a
fundament part of humans and the language acquisition is a natural part of human beings i.e.
it is intended by birth and hence is not taught to the individuals. He proposed that with the
help of a Language Acquisition Device which is a part of the brain makes the children learn
the languages. According to him, this device is always activated in children and hence they
hear and understand the languages which are spoken at their home. He says that the brain is
designed in a way that it understands all the formats of all the languages and hence it easily
recognises all the languages. It is also believed that the language learning follow the same
pattern during all the stages of development of an individual (Berk, 2014). The various stages
through which an individual passes during the childhood are,
 6 months- the child babbles all the languages he hear
 9 months- utters few words of their native language as they hear it on regular basis
 12 months- they start to use single words
 2 years- multiword are uttered but normal speech is not function able
 5 years- normal speech is developed (Online, 2017)
For example, when a child starts to talk he makes use of common verbs like eat, talk, and
give, run. As the vocabulary of the children is not good during the early stages of a children
they make use of irregular past tenses and make mistakes by saying phrases like “ I go” in
place of “ I went”. But if the child keep repeating the word and hear the right word then he
will be able to speak it accurately.
The interactionist theory explains that the language development process is accentuated by
the role of social interactions among the children and the adults. This theory is based on the
theories of Lev Vygotsky which are the socio-cultural theories. This theory follows the
concept of Zone Proximal Development according to which learning takes place when
working with other people and by social interactions. It is very difficult for a child to learn

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alone all the languages this is when this theory comes into picture because the children learn
with the help of adults who are more skilled (Academy, 2017).
It is observed that during the early stages of learning the children’s speaks the words which
they hear very often. This stage plays a critical role in the learning of children because they
learn and speak according to what they hear and see in their surroundings. The one of the
most important way by which the children learn is the process of scaffolding which forms a
temporary structure of their language acquisition (Fellowes, 2011).
This theory can be explained with an example, like when a child is between the age of three
to five years they get curious to learn new things and hence ask questions about the
surroundings from their adults. The adults can make use of new words and make the child
learn these words (Krause, 2010). Adults can also make the children learn their basic moral
values with the use of these new words.
The behaviourist theory explains the process of learning and its implementation along with
the way it is occurred. This theory aims on the behaviours of the surrounding people in place
of the activities of the mind. The learning is based on the behaviour of the environmental
surroundings in place of individual’s mind. The strategies are based on the modification of
the existing behaviour in place of implementing new behaviour. The surroundings leave an
impact on the children and it affects their behaviour like anxiety disorders and antisocial
behaviour. The theory is not only applicable on children but also on the adults as their
behaviour also changes according to the environmental surroundings. For example, if we are
reading a book but the people in our surrounding tells us that the book is not good then we
might loss interest in reading that book. Hence, the environmental conditions affect the
mindset of a person in a big way. This theory states that the children learn language by the
process of reflection and by the way they are being praised whenever they get the language
right. The child feels motivated when they are praised and hence they make efforts to learn
new things and eventually plays an important role in the language development process
(Shaffer, 2010).
For example, when the mother speaks to her baby with different words, the baby tries to
mimic the sound by repeating the words of the mother. When the mother praises the child he
understands that he said the word right and then he is likely to repeat the word again and
again. If he will repeat the word again and again he will get it right and he will be able to
speak it more precisely. The mother can also make the child speak new words by saying the
words and asking him to repeat it after her.
This has been concluded that there are many theories which are linked with the language
development process of children. Few of the theories like the Nativist theory, the
Interacationist theory and the Behaviourist theory forms the basis of this process. Each and
every theory focuses on one of the element of the children’s development in the process of
language acquisition. The theories are explained with examples and give a correct
explanation of the core objective of the theory. It is also observed that to make a child learn a
language accurately it is also important for the educators to have an understanding of all of

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these theories. They should know how to implement these theories in the childhood education
and they must consider all the factors while working on the language acquisition process of
children. The educators also form a basis for the children development as they help the
children to become more confident and learn new things.
References
Berk. (2014). Early Years Learning Framework Practice- Developmental Milestone. Retrieved 29
January 2018, from
https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2015/developmental-
milestones.pdf
Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2011). Language, literacy and early childhood education. South
Melbourne, Vic.: Oxford University Press.
Khan Academy. (2017). Theories of the early stages of language acquisition. Retrieved 29
January 2018, from https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/processing-the-
environment/language/a/theories-of-the-early-stages-of-language-acquisition
Swinburne Online. (2017). Introducing language acquisition theories. Retrieved 29 January 2018,
from https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/258/pages/4-dot-2-introducing-
language-acquisition-theories?module_item_id=23618
Fleer, M. (2018). Child development in educational settings. Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge
University Press.
Krause, K., Taylor, L., Carolan, J., Krause, K., & Shaffer, D. (2010). Child development and
learning. South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia.
Shaffer, D., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.