CHILD DEVELOPMENT PEDAGOGY

GROWTH DEVELOPMENT CHILD

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION THEORIES

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
In his review of Skinner’s (1957) book on behaviourism and language learning, Chomsky (1959) argued that
A
operant conditioning is inefficient because it relies on imitation
B
children acquire a good deal of their verbal behavior by imitating adults
C
children do not rely on imitation in the acquisition of verbal behavior
D
the acquisition of verbal behavior depends on operant conditioning
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Skinner believed children learn language through operant conditioning-that children receive “rewards” for using language in a functional manner.

Detailed explanation-2: -Skinner suggested that a child imitates the language of its parents or carers. Successful attempts are rewarded because an adult who recognises a word spoken by a child will praise the child and/or give it what it is asking for. Successful utterances are therefore reinforced while unsuccessful ones are forgotten.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chomsky believes that language is biologically inherited whereas Skinner’s theory is based on how a child learns how to talk through the use of positive reinforcement from adults who already speak a language fluently.

Detailed explanation-4: -Chomsky’s theory of language acquisition argues that human brain structures naturally allow for the capacity to learn and use languages. Chomsky believed that rules for language acquisition are innate (inborn) and strengthen naturally as humans grow and develop.

There is 1 question to complete.