Download - How children learn langages
How
children
learn
languages
Laura Díez Puertas
Silvia Rodríguez Lavín
Lidia Ruiz López
Jesica Fuentes Diego
Psychologists language learning acquisition
theories
Behaviorist theory
Cognitivist theory
Social-interactionist theory
Nativist theory
How children learn their first language?
The process of acquiring the first language
What children want to do with language
Are the first language and the second one acquired in the same way?
Does younger mean better?
Bilingualism and multilingualism
Who learns how much of what language under that conditions?
Psychologists language learning acquisition
theories
Behaviorist theory:
- Main representative: Skinner (1957) Verbal
Behavior
- Main feature behavior is caused by external stimuli “stimulus-response” influenced by the environment
- Importance of positive reinforcement
- Animal studies Pavlov’s Dog
Cognitivist theory:
- Main representative: Piaget “La
formation du symbole chez l’enfant” (1946)
- Main feature: certain thinking skills must first mature in order to create a framework for early language development.
- The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH): there is a specific and limited time for language acquisition.
Social-interactionist theory:
- Main representative: Vygotsky.
- Developed in the late 1970s and 1980s
- Main idea importance of social factor
- Human social interactions children can learn better/faster with the help of someone who knows more than they can do alone
- Creative, imitation and practices are very important
- It’s necessary to propose activities that pose challenges
Nativist theory:
- Main representative Chomsky
- Developed in 17th and 18th centuries
- Main idea innate and therefore universal features of human mind
- Children are pre-programmed to learn a language
How do children learn their first language?
1. The process of acquiring the first language
2. What children want to do with language
0-8 months: babbling. 11 months – 2 years: put names. 18 months – 2 years: join two words.
1. The process of acquiring the first language
1. The process of acquiring the first language
6 – 12 years: syntactic and lexical complexity, and vocabulary. + 12: conversational skills.
3 - 4 years: norms about phonology, syntax and lexis.
1. They want to get attention or information.
2. What children want to do with language
2. Questions about things. 3. Different questions, short sentences.
4. Complex structures to ask or to explain.
5. Vocabulary and
understanding.
2. What children want to do with language
Very similar
Difference in context
Process
Language learning conditions
Are the first language and the second one
acquired in the same way?
Extended idea
There isn’t enough proof
Relationship with the Cognitive-developmental view
Do younger learn better?
“Younger learners learn a second language better than older learners”
True or false?
Bilingual or multilingual
• Children grow up in
different contexts.
• Some schools want to make
their students bilingual or
multilingual (Luxembourgian).
There are differences in language learning opportunities:
• Sweeden, Mexico…
• Countryside, big cities…
The exposure may develop: positive attitudes to
language learning, motivation and interest.
Key question
Who learns? • Individual learner’s differences
• Age
• Motivation
how much of what language? • Goals of language learning
• Curriculum
• Syllabus
under what condition? • Context
Who learns how much of what language
under what conditions?
1. Sequence or general stages
2. Order of language
3. Rate of development
Parts in the development of a
second language
Situational factors
Input
Descontextualized activities
Comprehensible input = key factor
Factors for learning a
second language
Beliefs about how
children learn a
language will
strongly
influence how we
teach them.
A teacher
Conclusions
What do research say?
• Children learn their first language by imitating adults, but also by experimenting and trying out hypotheses about how language works.
• The intelligence quotient (IQ) score does not determinate how fast children learn languages; setting and context are more important.
• A high motivation is an important factor in successful language learning, but it’s not the only one.
Conclusions
4. It’s not always the best to learn when they are below the age of puberty because it depends on all sorts of other factors.
5. To teach languages, teachers can use language structures which have not already been taught if they are contextualized well. In that way, learners often welcome a challenge.
Thank you very much
for your attention!