4.

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Theories about
language development
This topic introduces some of the theories about how
children acquire spoken language skills. We will consider
ideas of nativism, behaviourism, cognitivism and social
interaction, as well as looking at the role played by adults
in helping children acquire spoken language.

Objectives
When you have completed this topic, you should be able to:

• Explain the key theories about how children develop spoken language.
• Identify the ways in which adults can contribute to children’s language
development through the use of child-directed speech.

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Key Theories of Spoken Language
Development

There are many theories about how children acquire spoken language, a
number of which contradict each other. You should be open-minded in
your approach and show the examiners that you understand a range of
different ideas, considering a range of possibilities (as led by the question
you are asked) rather than deciding one theory is correct and the others are
wrong. The following section provides a brief overview of some of these
theories, but you should read further into the topic by following some of the
references given at the end.

Nativist theories
Nativism is the theory that language is innate; in other words, we are
born with the capacity to learn language. Its best-known proponent is
Noam Chomsky, who suggested that humans are born with a Language
Acquisition Device (or LAD) in their brains that enables any child to
acquire and produce language. He believed the LAD contained the
capacity to learn all the grammatical rules underpinning any language
(the “universal grammar”), and simply needed exposure to language to
be activated. This explains why children sometimes make virtuous errors
and come up with forms of language they will never have heard spoken,
such as overgeneralisations like “I goed”, which show the child applying
their knowledge of grammatical rules and structures. These ideas are
supported by an experiment conducted in 1958 by Jean Berko Gleason, in
which children were shown an imaginary creature called a “wug” and then
asked how they would refer to two such creatures. The children correctly
produced the plural “wugs”, despite having never heard this word before.
The test showed that even very young children can form correct plurals, past
tenses, nouns and possessives of words that they have never heard before,
suggesting that these rules are internalised rather than acquired from
exposure to language.

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Behaviourist theories
The behaviourist school of thought is contradictory to the nativist and
suggests that language is learned from role models through imitation,
reinforcement and practice. B.F. Skinner put forward the theory of operant
conditioning, a process of learning where behaviour can be reinforced and
modified through rewards and punishments, with the idea that wanted
behaviours are encouraged through the knowledge of the consequences
that will occur as a result. Positive reinforcement refers to the provision of
a reinforcement such as praise or a reward such as a sticker, while negative
reinforcement (not to be confused with punishment) allows for the removal
of reinforcement (such as a teacher ceasing to complain about a missing
homework when the child completes it and hands it in). Punishments (such
as reprimands, time-outs and detentions, depending on whether the child
is in a home or school context) may also be used to remind the child of the
consequences of their behaviour. The other key element of behaviourism,
imitation, has been criticised for failing to explain how children can master
spoken language so completely when the language they are exposed to is
often grammatically incorrect or incomplete. However, the fact that children
tend to speak with the same accent as their primary caregivers suggests
that some language is indeed copied from those around us.

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 Activity 1

Apply it: (10 minutes)

Complete the gaps in the following table to summarise the key
differences between nativism and behaviourism.

Nativism Behaviourism

Believes the ability to learn

language is innate.

Key theorists include

Skinner.

Suggests the existence of a

“universal grammar”.

Criticised for failing to

explain how children
can master language so
completely when the
language to which they are
exposed is of poor quality.

Evidence for innate theory

includes children’s use of
overgeneralisations.

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Cognitive theories
Cognition refers to the mental processes involved in acquiring knowledge
and understanding; thus, cognitive theorists believe language is acquired
through thought, experience, and the use of the senses. Jean Piaget
proposed that children construct a mental model of the world, and rather
than develop their intelligence in fixed stages and patterns, he saw cognitive
development as a process occurring as the child matures biologically
and is exposed to more interaction with the environment. Piaget’s work
suggested that rather than being less competent thinkers than adults,
children just think in different ways. That children build upon the basic
knowledge they are born with and gradually acquiring concepts such as
number, time, quantity, causality and consequence, and justice. Under this
school of thought, for example, a child’s early vocabulary would not feature
comparative or superlative adjectives until they had learned the concepts
behind these terms – the idea that two items can be compared to each
other in some way.

Social interaction theories

Theories of social interaction reject nativist ideas and suggest that children
learn language by interacting with more experienced language users.
Jerome Bruner proposed a LASS in response to Chomsky’s LAD; this stands
for Language Acquisition Support System, and emphasises the support
or scaffolding provided by interaction with caregivers. In order for the child
to become an independent learner, this scaffolding must gradually be
reduced and eventually removed altogether. The idea of scaffolding was
also suggested by Lev Vygotsky, whose zone of proximal development
defined the difference between what a learner can do without assistance,
and what they can do with the help of a teacher. Therefore, by working
with a more knowledgeable adult, the child can follow their example and
increase their own skills, gradually developing the ability to do more tasks
independently. Several well-known case studies support the importance
of social interaction, including that of Genie, an American girl who had
been locked in a room by her parents and starved of conversation and
interaction. Genie was found in 1970, aged 13 years and 7 months and unable
to form any words, and despite many years of support from physicians
and psychologists and the acquisition of many new items of vocabulary
was never able to gain fluency in language. This case and others like it also
introduce the idea of a critical period in which an individual has the ability
to acquire language fully and fluently (if presented with appropriate stimuli).
If this period is missed (as with Genie), full mastery of language (especially
grammatical structures) will not occur.

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 Activity 2

Apply it: (10 minutes)

Have a look at the following utterances and examples. How do
these link with some of the theories discussed above? Make sure
you can explain your reasons!

Utterance/example Relevant theory

“I runned”

Child has same accent as

her parents.

“That’s more better”

The “Wug experiment”

Child is unable to correctly

use the words “yesterday” or
“tomorrow”.

Child uses the word “duck”

to refer to a duck, a pond
with ducks on it, and a pond
without.

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 Child overhears an adult
swearing and takes great
pleasure in repeatedly using
this new word.

Children understand the

process of turn taking in
conversation without being
taught.

The “Genie” case study.

Most children go through

approximately the same
stages of language
acquisition at approximately
the same time.

Child-Directed Speech

Child-directed speech is a form of simplified and exaggerated language

used by adults when talking to children. It has two (sometimes
contradictory) aims – to make the communication easier for the child to
understand, and to help the child develop their language skills. Many of the
ideas here draw upon the theories discussed above, particularly the use of
scaffolding to support the less experienced language user, and the use of
praise and correction to reinforce learning. Some examples are given below.

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Use of questions and simplified
language
When conversing with a child, an adult will often take the lead role, setting
the agenda and topic of the discourse and leading the turn taking through
the use of question and answer adjacency pairs. Asking a child questions not
only prompts the child to engage in the conversation, but also encourages
them to practise their spoken language skills and gain more experience. The
adult will often avoid very long utterances that may be difficult for the child
to absorb or may split longer utterances up by using pauses to give the child
more time to process the information. Lexis may be simplified through use
of high frequency monosyllabic words, and the adult may even use “baby
talk”. The childish way of speaking such as “choo choo” used by infants and
often mirrored by adults. The adult may also refer to themselves in the third
person (“Shall mummy have this?”) to avoid using pronouns, which may
confuse the child as they change according to context.

Correction and reinforcement

As discussed above, adults may use positive and negative reinforcement
when talking to children, in order to correct and discourage unwanted
behaviour, and encourage the repetition of wanted behaviour. This idea
forms an important part of child-directed speech, where an adult might tell
a child off for saying something rude, or simply correct them if they have
answered incorrectly (such as saying a crayon is the wrong colour). Correct
understanding or use of language is likely to attract praise such as “well
done” or “good girl”, particularly if the child is displaying positive behaviours
such as use of polite language in the form of please and thank you.

Repetition, expansion and

reformulation
Often in conversation, the adult will use the child’s own words in some way.
They may simply repeat them back to the child, to confirm and clarify what
they have said, to reinforce the use of correct language, and show that
they are listening. Sometimes, however, the adult will make changes to the
child’s original utterance, particularly if this was incomplete or incorrect
in some way. An incomplete utterance may be expanded by the adult
and repeated back to the child in its complete form, or a grammatically or
lexically incorrect utterance may be reformulated or recast to its correct
version and repeated back to the child. Thus, a child who says, “Teddy not
happy” may have this reformulated to “Teddy isn’t happy?” and repeated
back to them in the form of a question using the correct wording.

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Activity 3

Apply it: (25 minutes)

Read the following transcript, and identify the techniques used
by the adult (Jan) both to simplify their speech and to develop the
child’s language skills. Remember to quote and discuss specific
examples in your answer.

Leila: [trying to climb onto a garden chair] on (.) on (.) chai::r

Jan: (3.0) you going to sit on the chair
Leila: yus (.) up [frustrated sounds)
Jan: come on then (.) where is where is lggle going to sit
Leila: oh (.) oh (.) what’s tha::t
Jan: what IS that (1.0} what do you think
Leila: it’s (.) is it (.) NOISY
Jan: it’s very noisy (.) it’s the water (3.0) it’s going down the pipes (3.0)
where shall we sit
Leila: I’ve got sticky hands (.)
Jan: you got sticky hands again (1.0)
Leila: oh dear me
Jan: oh dear (.) that’s from the bubbles isn’t it
Leila: oh dear me
Jan: do you want to wipe your hands (2.0) good girl (4.0) that’s it
(3.0) are you going to sit up (.) do you want some help
Leila: yeah
Jan: (5.0) let me help you because I don’t want you to fall off
(2.0) they’re big chairs aren’t they (3.0) there we go
Leila: they are big chairs
Jan: they ARE big chairs (1.0) right okay
Leila: that’s nice (.) push me in
Jan: push you in
Leila: yeah
Jan: there you are (2.0) that’s good (4.0) now are you going to
have yours (.) and is lggle going to have his
Leila: I I (.) I’m wiping my fingers
Jan: you’re wiping your fingers good idea (1.0) what about mine
Leila: they all wight
Jan: they’re all right (.) okay(.) thank you
(data provided by AQA)

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Tip
Remember to keep an open mind about how children acquire language,
and consider a range of relevant possibilities rather than looking to prove a
definitive answer.

Test Yourself
(15 minutes)
List the four theories of spoken language acquisition that we
covered at the start of this topic, along with an explanation of each
theory’s key ideas.

Summary
This section has explored four of the main schools of thought about how
children acquire spoken language skills: nativism, behaviourism, cognitive
and social interaction. You have also focused on the role played by adults in
helping children understand and develop spoken language through the use
of child-directed speech.

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Key terms
of speaking used by (or sometimes
to) young children.

High frequency lexis: commonly

Nativism: school of thought used words.
suggesting the ability to learn
language is innate. Monosyllabic lexis: words
containing one syllable.
Behaviourism: school of thought
which suggests language is learned Expansion: when an adult repeats
from role models through imitation, back a child’s utterance in expanded
reinforcement and practice. form.

Positive reinforcement: offering Reformulation/recast: when

praise or reward when desired an adult repeats back a child’s
behaviour is exhibited, with the utterance in a grammatically correct
hope of establishing a pattern of form.
behaviour.

Negative reinforcement: the References

removal of a negative outcome or
stimulus.
Operant conditioning: a system Bruner, J. (1983). Child’s Talk:
whereby learning takes place Learning to Use Language. Oxford:
through the reinforcement and Oxford University Press.
modification of behaviour through
rewards and punishments. Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of
the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge,
Cognitivism: the study of mental Massachusetts: MIT Press.
processes.
Piaget, J. (1936) Origins of
Social interactionism: school of intelligence in the child. London:
thought that suggests that children Routledge & Kegan Paul.
learn language by interacting with
more knowledgeable adults. Skinner, B.F. (1957)
Verbal Behaviour. Acton,
Scaffolding: support that is Massachusetts: Copley
provided to a learner by a more Publishing Group.
knowledgeable other, and gradually
removed so the learner may Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in
become more independent. society: The development of
higher psychological processes.
Child-directed speech: a form of Cambridge, Massachusetts:
speech used by adults to talk to Harvard University Press.
children, with the aim of simplifying
their own language and developing
the child’s.

Baby talk: a simplified, childish way

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