SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

1. Theories of First Language

(L1) Acquisition
ILOs At the end of these weeks, the pre-service teacher (PST) should be able
to:
a. explain the theories and stages of first language acquisition;
b. examine different cases on how a child learns their first language; and
c. cite scenarios on how parents, teachers, and the community helped the
development of a child’s L1.
SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Philosophical Chairs
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Philosophical Chairs

We acquire language due to NURTURE.

SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Philosophical Chairs

We acquire language due to NATURE.

 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Nature vs Nurture
“Nature” (any innate capacities and structure
children are born with)
“Nurture” (what they gain from experience)
SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Philosophical Chairs
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Chomsky himself argued

that children must rely on
certain innate structures How much of language
Children need to learn both and mechanisms, specific is learnable and under
its conventions of the to language what condition? Is there
meaning of words and how is a critical period for
to apply them language learning?

Theories of First Language

The social setting (L1) Acquisition Developmental
where children processes required
are exposed to a in learning a
first language is language
critical.
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

Theories of First Language (L1) Acquisition

-subconscious process of gradual development

of ability through use in natural communicative
Acquisition situations with other speakers
-focus on meaningful interactions than forms
Krashen (1982)

-learning is differentiated as a more conscious and

explicitly sequenced process of ‘accumulating
Learning knowledge of linguistic features such as vocabulary,
sentence structure and grammar, typically in an
institutional setting’ (Yule 1985:163).
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

1. Theories of First Language

(L1) Acquisition
• The Behavioristic Approaches
• The Nativist Approach
• Cognitive Theory

• The Functional Approaches

• Stages in Child Language Acquisition

 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Behaviorist Approach

 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Behaviorist Approach

• B. F. Skinner (1957) the fundamentals of language are essentially developed through
conditioning and the formation of good language habits (Mitchell, Myles and
Marsden 2013).

• Competence is achieved as the learner responds to stimuli (primarily the speech of

caregivers) and receives feedback in the form of positive reinforcement or
correction (de Bot, Lowie and Verspoor 2005)

• The child imitates and memorizes language used in context and along with specific
behaviors. Errors made during FLA are viewed as bad habits that can be eliminated
with sufficient amounts of rote learning and drilling (Candlin and Mercer 2001)
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Behaviorist Approach

Conditioning;
Instruction;
Modeling
Environment Passive, responding to
environmental stimuli

Imitation and habit

formation

Positive and negative

reinforcement of
their role models
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

2. The Nativist
Approach
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Nativist Approach

• Noam Chomsky -- All children possess a biological predisposition for learning
languages, and that this innate knowledge allows them to achieve total
mastery with minimal effort (Lightbown and Spada 2013)

• Language Acquisition Device (LAD), this internal mechanism enables the

systematic perception of language

• Within the LAD are principles of what is considered a Universal Grammar

(UG); set of internal rules that govern the initial state of the language faculty.
This sets one’s ability to comprehend and produce language (Palmer 2000)
SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Cognitive Theory

• Jean Piaget, a Swiss psychologist, developed a theory of cognitive
development in 1936 that describes how children's thinking evolves in
stages as they grow.

• Jean Piaget's Cognitive Theory outlines the following four stages of

cognitive development

• Piaget's theory of Cognitive Development highlights that children are not

less intelligent than adults; they simply think differently.
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

The Cognitive Theory

1. Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years): Infants learn through sensory experiences and
manipulating objects.
Example: A baby shaking a rattle to hear the sound it makes.
2. Preoperational Stage (2-7 years): Children begin to use language to explore and
understand their worlds.
Example: A child using a broomstick as a horse in imaginative play.
3. Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years): Children start to think logically about
concrete events.
Example: A child solving a jigsaw puzzle using logical thinking and spatial awareness.
4. Formal Operational Stage (11 years and up): Adolescents develop the ability to think
about abstract concepts.
Example: A teenager contemplating moral dilemmas and hypothetical scenarios.
Directions: Examine the Cases, use 1 whole
paper to write the following
• Identify and explain the theories
prevalent in each case
• Examine how the child learns
their first language
• Draw out information from each
situation
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
This case supports
CASES for Analysis the Behaviorist
Theory

Case #1 - One interesting case that shows the importance of a

child’s learning development through response to the environment is
the case of Genie. A child who was locked away from a young age up
until he was 13. Due to the harsh childhood Genie had, she never
properly developed an understanding on normal behavior, Genie
when discovered, wasn’t able to acquire her language even with
support and even struggled learning how to walk! The fact Genie had
never been explicitly taught how to speak as a young child.
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

CASES for Analysis

Over applying the
Case #2 Rule or
Child: Nobody don't like me Over
generalization
Mother: No, say, "Nobody likes me."
Child: Nobody don't like me.
(Eight repetitions of this dialogue)
Mother: No, now listen carefully: say, "Nobody likes me."
Child: Oh! Nobody don't likes me.

(McNeil in The Genesis of Language, 1966)

 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
The cognitive theory draws
attention to the large increase

CASES for Analysis in children's vocabulary at

around this age, suggesting a
link between object
permanence and the learning
of labels for objects.
Case #3
Object permanence is another phenomenon often cited in
relation to what theory? During the first year of life, Paul
seemed unaware of the existence of objects he cannot see.
An object which moves out of sight ceases to exist. By the
time he reached the age of 18 months, he has realized that
objects have an existence independently of their perception.
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
Piaget suggested that a

CASES for Analysis

child who had not yet
reached this stage would
not be able to learn and use
comparative adjectives like
"bigger" or "smaller".

Case #4
The nursery learners are given a number of sticks to compare
objects with respect to size. They should arrange them in
order of size; however, some able to manage the order and
some found it confusing the arrange the sticks.
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING The observed behavior

CASES for Analysis

evidently confirms that he
has a well-functioning
Language Acquisition Device
Case #5 (LAD) that mainly enables
This case study focuses on the process of first him to acquire
language the languageof
acquisition a 3-
he is exposed to.
year old Lebanese child. It also analyzes the factors and other mechanisms
that influence L1 acquisition. For the duration of almost four months, the
researcher observed and recorded the subject’s produced sounds, words,
and sentences. He also observed how the learner interacts with various
linguistic inputs to see how he internally processes them. Finally, he also
observed him as he interacts with people to determine the levels of the
various constructs of his communicative competence. Based on the
findings of the study, the subject acquired his first language (Arabic) largely
biologically (nature). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309642999_First_language_acquisit
ion_A_case_study_of_a_three-year_old_Lebanese_child
 SEEN 793 – PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF
LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

1. Theories of First Language

(L1) Acquisition
• The Behavioristic Approaches
• The Nativist Approach
• Cognitive Theory

• The Functional Approaches

• Stages in Child Language Acquisition