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APA Tip of the Day: Past Tense
When you describe what an author wrote,
use past tense:
• Sleeter (1986) argued that…
• When defining disability, Jones (1996)
stated that “…”
• Rosenblum and Travis (2006) defined
However!
Do not make all of the verbs in the sentence
in past tense:
• Sleeter (1986) argued that learning
disabilities are socially constructed.
NOT
• Sleeter (1986) argued that learning
disabilities were socially constructed.
(Unless past tense is meaningful in that
context.)
Announcements
1. The first major assignment is not due until
March 4th. However, you are already working
on it via your readings reviews – make sure
that you carefully review the Key Concept
paper assignment description ASAP, so that
you can gear your readings reviews toward
completion of that assignment.
2. Make an appointment to go over upcoming
assignments in advance.
Quick
questions or
quandaries?
Today’s Topic:
Introducing theories
of language
development
Important dates in the history of
language development theory:
• 1957: Skinner publishes “Verbal
behavior” – a behaviorist explanation for
language development
• 1959: Chomsky publishes a negative
review of “Verbal behavior” in Language.
• 1965: Chomsky published “Aspects of
the theory of syntax” (a nativist
explanation of language development).
NOTE!
As of yet, there is no one theory
of language development which:
o Is universally accepted as the
explanation for first language
development, or
o Explains all aspects of language
development: syntax, morphology,
semantics, phonology, and
pragmatics.
Famous Behavior Theorists:
• Pavlov
• Watson
• Skinner
• Hewett
• Lovaas
Classical Conditioning
What is learning?
According to behaviorists,
“learning occurs as a
result of the consequences
of behavior.”
Alberto & Troutman, 2003, p. 18
What is learning?
According to behaviorists,
“learning occurs as a result
of the consequences of
behavior.”
Alberto & Troutman, 2003, p. 18
The A, B, C’s of
behaviorism:
• Antecendent
• Behavior
• Consequence
Operant Conditioning:
positive reinforcement,
negative reinforcement, and
punishment
I will bring my homework to school every day.
I will bring my homework to school every day.
I will bring my homework to school every day.
I will bring my homework to school every...
Two other mechanisms for
learning:
Shaping:
• Reinforcement of “subsequent
approximations” of the target behavior.
Modeling:
• Learning by watching and imitating.
Quick Write
What understandings about theories
of language development did you
take away from the de Valenzuela
and Niccolai (2004) reading?
Contrary evidence for a
behaviorist explanation of
language development:
“He brunged his
lunch”
Other contrary evidence
Young infants learn are born with the ability
to discriminate between a variety of sounds
that are not in their own language. However,
by 6-9 months, they lose the ability to
differentiate between similar sounds that are
not distinct phonemes in their language (e.g.
/l/ and /r/ for Japanese speakers). But
children at that age are not yet using words.
How do they learn this without behavioral
reinforcement?
Hypothesis Testing
• Formulaic speech (i.e. went)
• Rule formation (i.e. –ed)
• Over-extension (i.e. goed)
• Exceptional to the rule (i.e.
went)
Example of grammatical overextension and resistance to correction:
• Child: he falled down
• Mom: no Timmy, he fell down
• Child: yeah, he falled down
Brown’s First 14 Morphemes:
 present progressive
-ing (without
auxiliary)
 ‘in’
 ‘on’
 regular plural –s
 irregular past
 possessive –s
 uncontractible
copula (to be as
main verb)
 articles
 regular past -ed
 regular 3rd person –
s
 irregular 3rd person
 uncontractible
auxiliary
 contractible copula
 contractible
auxiliary
Criticisms of a behavioral theory
of language development:




Overly simplistic explanation.
Overlooks learner contributions
Untestable.
Ignores un-reinforceable development
(e.g. phonological knowledge) and
unreinforced productions – does not
explain the acquisition of underlying
rules.
Note:
These are criticisms of behaviorism
as a theory of language
development. It is not a criticism
of applied behavior analysis as a
method of teaching discrete
behaviors.
Misconception Alert!
observation & imitation
≠
operant conditioning
Imitation ≠ Behaviorism
“It seems quite beyond question that
children acquire a good deal of their
verbal and nonverbal behavior by
casual observation and imitation of
adults and other children” [emphasis
added] (Chomsky, 1959, p. 42).
UG and LAD
Important components of nativist
theories of language acquisition are:
o Language acquisition device
o Universal grammar
The Nativist Explanation:
“Children are born with a specific
innate ability to discover for
themselves the underlying rules of
a language system on the basis of
the samples of a natural language
they are exposed to.”
(Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p. 15)
Nature AND Nurture
According to Chomsky (1959), the
characteristics of complex organisms
“are in general a complicated product of
inborn structure, the genetically
determined course of maturation, and
past experience (p. 27).
Inborn structure????
“It appears to be a fundamental fact about
human beings that our behavior and
behavioral capacities often surpass the
limitations of our individual reinforcement
histories. Our history of reinforcement often
is too impoverished to determine uniquely
what we do or how we do it. Much learning,
therefore, seems to require pre-existing or
innate representational structures or
principled constraints within which learning
occurs.”
Graham, 2005, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/behaviorism/
Chomskyan Nativism
“The child’s language ‘grows in the mind’ as
the visual system develops the capacity for
binocular vision, or as the child undergoes
puberty at a certain stage of maturation.
Language acquisition is something that
happens to a child placed in a certain
environment, not something the child does.”
•
(Chomsky, as cited in Cowie, 1999, p. 153)
Universal Grammar Definition
“Innate linguistic knowledge which, it is
hypothesized, consists of a set of
principles common to all languages.
This term is associated with
Chomsky’s theory of language
acquisition.”
(Lightbown & Spada, 2006, p. 205)
Small Group Activity:
Summarize the development of
early communication and language
development presented in Cattell
using big paper.
20 minutes!
Main Points:
1. Behaviorism is generally not accepted
as an adequate theoretical explanation
for the development of complex
cognitive systems, such as language.
2. The nativist explanation of language
development, as acquired not learned,
is diametrically opposed to behavioral
theories.
Main Points, cont.:
3. It is possible that different theoretical
explanations might account for the
development of different aspects of
language and/or communication.
Looking ahead…
Social and interactionist
perspectives on language
development
Please take a
minute for the
minute paper.
And don’t forget to turn
your phone back on.

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