Language Development Assessment Answers

Language Development
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Question 1
Write a report (approximately 600 words) that discusses the three main approaches/theories in this course. You may like to observe a child and use this to provide examples for your answer.
Language is not just the matter of learning words but also is the ability to put the words together to form a correct sentence. Children from the very small age start to form the sentences whether right or wrong from the small pool of words. According to the child psycholinguists the children comprehend more than they actually produce the language. There are certain approaches that explain the way in which the child goes through the process of acquiring language. The three main approaches are The Social Learning Approach, The Hypothesis Testing Approach and considering language as a genetic program.
The Social Learning Approach explains the language acquisition by the child in the terms of imitation and operant conditioning. Imitation explains that the child mimics the words and phrases of adults. Besides, the children also use the sentences and phrases that they have never heard before. The operant conditioning explains that the children are encouraged by the parents positive reinforcement to use the correct sentences. The parents affirmatively respond each time the child speaks a statement. This is a positive reinforcement. The child learns the language by seeking the approval as they are encouraged to try and are given a positive reinforcement for every trial. The aim of the parents is to encourage child to speak and they try to understand it rather than correcting them at the very young age when the child is learning to speak. The parents and the care takers shape the childs language by such positive reinforcement.
The second approach is the hypothesis testing approach that explains that the children of such young age forms the basic hypotheses of how the language is used and then test by using it to check if it is correct. They apply this basic hypothesis to every word they speak and later in life with growing age, they learn the exceptions that make their language correct. These newly learnt rules are applied by the child to their own conceptual framework that improves with time. This approach proves that many adults also use the conscious hypothesis in their speech. This approach also explains the point in which the social learning theory fails that is the childs ability to pick up basic grammatical rules.
The third approach is considering the language as a genetic program. The mechanism of language is acquired through genetic programming. The children from all around the world acquire the language through an ordered, structured and predictable sequence that is same irrespective of the particular language. If a learning opportunity is not given to the child, he would not be able to learn the adult language properly. The child should be given the proper normal social environment to be able to learn language. They can learn a language in the absence of a language speaking role model, but they require a normal social environment.
Thus, it can be concluded that children at very young age start to learn the language firstly by imitating the sentences and phrases of adults and then the way adults give positive reinforcement. The child psycholinguists say that the children comprehend the words than they produce it. There are three approaches that are explained which give insight and better understanding of how the children learn language. Language is considered a genetic program and along with the parents and care givers, the social environment is responsible for teaching a child with proper speaking and language.
Question 2
Explain 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses of social learning theory in explaining language acquisition.
The strengths of social learning theory are
The social learning theory explains the language acquisition in children as learning through imitation and operant conditioning. This theory suggests that the children learn speaking by mimicking the words and phrases they hear adults speaking.
According to this theory, the operant conditioning is done by the adults in which they encourage children to speak the right sentences and approve his efforts of speaking in the correct way that makes the child to learn language.

The two weakness of social learning theory are
This theory lacks at explaining that how children learn language so fast because if imitating is taken into consideration, they would take the lifetime to learn it.
This theory does not account for the childs ability to pick up the basic grammatical rules quickly.
Question 3
Discuss the importance of context when interpreting telegraphic speech, and give at least 3 examples. Write page.
When interpreting the telegraphic speech, the listener should be active in interpreting what the child wants to say. The telegraphic speech may be difficult to understand and the one interpreting it may come up with different understanding than what the child actually wanted to say. The context in which child is speaking should be interpreted by the listener and the meaning should be drawn accordingly. Listening such speech is an art itself and the interpreting will help in improving the quality of communication of the child. A phrase said b y the child can have multiple meanings as mentioned below. The interpreting the context, the situation and actions of the child should be considered.
The examples of the telegraphic speech and its interpretation are
Dada shoe
Is that a shoe, dada
This is dadas shoe.
Dada I want a shoe.
Mama doggie
Is that a dog, mama
There is a dog, mama.
I want a dog, mama.
Dada cat
Is that a cat, dada
There is a cat dada.
Dada, I want a cat.
Question 4
Describe the process of a baby learning to talk in their first year of life. How can caregivers help the baby with this learning Write around 350 words.
There is no firm theory which explains the development of speech in children. But, the general sequence in which the children learn the language can be explained. After the birth, up to the first six weeks, the infant communicates through cries and gurgles. They begin to respond to the smiling faces and start to burble. They gurgle when they feel happy or satisfied. After that they gradually start to burble to communicate with the adults. They will burble something and will wait for the adults to reply back. By the end of third or fourth month, they have learnt to make noises that are soft and cooing in the form of consonants with a vowel sound. This makes them speak things like ma or pa but they are not able to understand the meaning of these words at that time. By the end of seventh month, they start responding to sounds like human talk or music and the speaking will evolve to two syllables like mama or papa. They also make sounds like ai, yay and so on. By the eighth month, they start babbling. They babble a lot and try to communicate with adults through babbling. If not paid attention, they start shouting to grab attention. Babbling starts to get more musical b y this time. By the end of the ninth month, the babys speech becomes more elaborated. Now he is able to speak syllables more clear and start linking phases with rising and falling annotations. By the time eleven months are complete, the speech of the baby develops a lot. He might be able to speak his first few words which make sense to him like mama, dada, dog etc. These words chosen by them are very important. By the end of their first year, they start to talk with the parents and care takers. They have learnt to communicate in a way that they expect a response after they have said something. The speech becomes clearer after the first year ends.
The caregivers can help the baby with this learning in the following ways
By talking to the babies about things that they are interested in.
The care taker should leave the baby with incomplete words and not try them fix always because this will frustrate the child.
By indulging with them in the conversation and encouraging them to speak the words and appreciating them.

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