Language & Your child
Your child is born to speak
Language Acquisition
What is it? It refers to way your child learns language. " He order and speed of language acquisition (I.e. the speed and order in which parts of a particular language are learned) is very similar in all children who acquire that language despite the environment in which they acquire it." (Piper, T. 2012). Meaning that children will learn how to communicate in the same form regardless of what environment they grow up in, or how they are taught. Communication is something that is seamlessly picked up from childbirth.
Skinner vs. Chomsky
There were two theorists at the beginning of time that thought that language acquisition started to two vary different areas of the spectrum. B.F. Skinner though children where taught how to speak through conditioning, an example would be word association (I say eat and mommy gives me food). Whereas, Noam Chomsky believed that children learned solely based on its natural ability regardless of what language or culture you would grow up in. A critical period hypothesis also states that we are only able to easily learn to how to speak or learn a new language within a certain time frame, ever wonder why as an adult its so hard to learn another language no matter how hard we really want to? We have reached our limitations on that time frame.(Mckay, 2003)
Stages of Language Acquisition
First stages of Language development
Various accomplishments during the ages of birth to 2 1/2 years old. These are the goals and milestones in which we follow as we watch the progress of our children's language development.
The five stages of learning acquisition
The stages in format in which they are learning language acquisition
Stages of Second Language Acquisition
A child's ability to learn a second language is their ability to learn through these forms of language acquisition
Resources
Mckay, A. (2003). What is language acquisition? - theories & stages - video & lesson transcriptRetrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-language-acquisition-theories-stages-quiz.html
Piper, T, (2012). Making Meaning Making Sense: Children’s Early Language Learning. Bridgepoint Education Inc.