Theory Who? When? What precepts?

Behaviourism Skinner 1940-1950 imitation of language produced by those around Chomsky

Innatisim

human language are innate and share universal principles child is biological programmed for language and lang develops as any biological function

positive reinforcement (praise or just succesful communication) for attemp to reproduce it

encoraged by environmet child forms habits of correct language used language behavior shaped by quality and quantity of language heard and consistency of reinforcement environment is the source of everything tha child needs to learn

children are born with UG that enables them to discover the underlying rules of language system children must learn how this principles are used in the language they are learning UG contains the principles that are universal to all human languages

imitation(word by word repetition) and practice (repetitve manipulatuion of form) primary processes in language development

complex grammar could never be learn con the basis of repetition of the input. This innate mechanism allows them to discover the complex grammar despite the limitation of the input. This innate mechanism is used only for language acquisition

Interactionism/Developmental Theory Piaget- Vygotsky 1970 focused on the developmental aspect of acquisition what children need to know is avaible in the language they are exposed to for so many of interaction with people and objects around them focused on the interplay btw the innate learning ability of children and the environment in which they develop more importance to the environment than innatism language acquisiton similar to and influenced by the acquistion of other kinds of skills and knowledge, rather than something different and independent of the child's experience and cognitive development.

Connectionism Elman 1996 language acquisition doesn't need a separate module of the brain. It can be explain in terms of learngin in general what you need to know is in the language you are exposed to (environment)

pc can learn if it's exposed to what it has to learn long enough children acquire links or connections btw words and phrases and the situation in which they occur children hear a word or phrase in the context of a specific object, event or phrase an association is created in the child's minds btwn the word and what it represents. Thus hearing the word brings to the mind the object and seeing the object brings to the mind the words or phrase. Eventually any of the characteristics of the object or event may trigger the retieval of the associated word from memory. language acquisition is also a process of associating the words with other words and phrases that occur with them

learning takes place gradually as the links are built up