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AP Psychology Language Development

The document discusses the nature vs nurture debate around language development. It presents examples of children's language use and asks the reader to determine whether each example supports the view of B.F. Skinner that language is learned, or Noam Chomsky's view that language has an innate biological basis.

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39 views

AP Psychology Language Development

The document discusses the nature vs nurture debate around language development. It presents examples of children's language use and asks the reader to determine whether each example supports the view of B.F. Skinner that language is learned, or Noam Chomsky's view that language has an innate biological basis.

Uploaded by

holodoggo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AP Psychology

Language Development and the Nature/Nurture Debate

Attempts to explain language development have sparked a spirited intellectual


controversy. At the heart of this controversy is the nature-nurture debate.
Behaviorist B. F. Skinner believed that we can explain how babies acquire
language entirely with principles of learning, such as the association of objects
with the sounds of words, the imitation of language modeled by others, and the
reinforcement of correct use of words and syntax by parents and teachers.
Linguist Noam Chomsky, who favors the nature position, believes that much of
our language capacity is inborn. According to this perspective, just as “learning”
to walk is programmed according to a timetable of biological maturation, so are
children pre-wired to begin to babble and talk.

Directions: In this exercise, review each of the following examples of language


use by children and decide whether it best supports the position of B. F. Skinner
or Noam Chomsky. Then explain your reasoning.

1. Whenever 14-month-old Juwan wants his mother he calls out “Mama” and
She comes running. Consequently, Juwan utters “Mama” much more
frequently now than he did at seven months of age.
Skinner. Juwan says “mama” because he’s rewarded/reinforced with the
attention of his mom when he says it.

2. Even in her very first sentences, it is obvious that 21-month-old Melissa has
figures out the basics of subject-predicate word order. Seeing your mother
returning from work, for example, she says “Mommy home” rather than “Home
Mommy.”
Chomsky. Melissa is showing her natural capacity for learning, and as she’s
maturing she can now understand subject-predicate word order.

3. 10-month old Tara, who is deaf, has begun to babble manually at about the
at the same time hearing infants begin babbling orally.
Chomsky. Tara is showing a milestone of growing with her language capacity
from birth, it happens because she’s 10 months old.

4. While Keshawn and his mother are looking at a book together, Keshawn’s
mother shows him a picture of an animal and says, “Cow.” Keshawn says, “Cow”
and his mother praises him for his correct utterance. Two pages later,
Keshawn spontaneously points to a picture and correctly identifies it as a
cow.
B.F Skinner because when Keshawn says the desire word he gets a reaction
from his mom, positive reinforcement
AP Psychology

5. When her pre-school teacher asks four-year old Grace what she did
yesterday, she responded with “We goed to the zoo.” Her teacher smiles,
marveling at the fact that all children Grace’s age make this type of
grammatical error.
Chomsky. Grace’s age is reflecting a grammatical error, indicating that her age
is indicative of her language capacity.

6. Nicky, who is deaf and was not exposed to sign language until the age of
three, lacks the manual language skills of deaf children born to deaf-signing
parents.
Skinner, he was not presented with the manual language skills from his
parents so he could not sign

7. 12-year old Haile, who immigrated to the United States when he was four,
understands English grammar much better than 20-year old maya, who was
first exposed to English when she was 12.
Chomsky , she learned english grammar better because she was younger

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