The Social Interaction Language Acquisition Theory

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

This essay will be explaining how language is used by children in early childhood settings and how language is acquired, developed and fostered it will also explain three language developmental theories which are the behaviorist, nativist and the social interaction language acquisition theory and how language is acquired, developed and fostered according to each perspective and how I use these theories in my teaching to support children’s language development.

Language has a vital role in children’s development. Much learning takes place through their interaction of language and experience (Ministry of Education, 2007). Language enables the children to explore and explain their world, to obtain new experience, and to add depth to their knowledge which is already grasped (Ministry of education, 2007). Schiller (2003) stated that "early years is a critical moment in which children develop language skills and it is essential to early childhood educators to understand and support to this learning.

John Watson and Frederic Skinner are the main theorists related to the behaviorist theory. This theory is central to psychology and it is observed through the actions of people rather than considering what is going on in their brains. The behaviorist theory considers that language to be a visible behavior, and behavior is acquired therefore language is learned. Language is developed "by rote" and through imitation, with lots of repetition and is fostered by praising the children when they say the word correctly, I will use this theory in my teaching by using appropriate praises which I believe helps a child foster a sense of self-worth and correct them when they say a word incorrectly. One on one conversation with children is an effective way for teachers to communicate language with them (Ministry of Education, 1996), through this type of reinforcement, language is eventually learnt, this is called classical conditioning. Berk (2010) explains "although reinforcement and imitation contribute to early language development, they are best viewed as supporting rather than fully explaining it" (p.173). Skinner (1957) proposed that language, like any other behavior, is acquired through operant conditioning. Berk (2010) emphasizes that "operant conditioning children act or operate on the environment" (p.134). Language is a set of rules and principles that must be obeyed and reinforced. According to Berk (2010), "behaviorism is an extreme view and language is developed due to environmental issues" (p.173). According to Te Whāriki: He whāriki matauranga mo nga mokopuna o Aotearoa Early Childhood Curriculum contribution Goal 3, "children experience an environment where they are encouraged to learn with and alongside others". Teachers can set up a range of inviting social activites, such as picture books, stories and games which will encourage the children to develop their social knowledge and enable them to communicate with others. Teachers can also support the children to become a member of a team in their games (Ministry of Education, 1996). This will help children to develop language and build a concept of co-operation. I believe that children become used to praises and lose the intrinsic motivation to learn language so they begin to rely on environmental influence to motivate them to learn language.

Linguist Noam Chomsky proposed a nativist theory which regarded children’s language skill as etched into the structure of the human brain. He argued, " all children have a language acquisition device, an innate system that contains a universal grammar, or a set of rules common to all languages," this enables children , no matter which language they hear, to understand and speak in a rule oriented fashion as they pick up enough words (Berk,2010,p.173). This theory believed that children are born knowing the set rules of language, Children acquire to understand things such as grammar and structure through universal grammar and through their communication they develop their own set rules about their own specific language. Te Whāriki (1996) states that "language is a vital part of communication" (p.72). This means that communication skills are an ability to use language. Berk (2010) states that "new born babies are sensitive to speech sounds" (p.173). The Nativist believes that children are sensitive to sounds and are able to decipher where the sound is coming from and the children prefer to listen to human voices and can differentiate and discriminate different sounds. Berk (2010) assumes "children are "pre-wired" to master the intricate rules of their language" (p.173). Research by (Gleitman & Newport, 1996) discusses that "children around the world over reach major language milestones in a similar sequence. Children are fostered by adults shaped speech and adults reinforce the babbling of an infant that sound most like words. I will use the nativist theory into my practice by speaking a sentence that is structurally incorrect at mat time and ask the children why I don’t make sense and according to the nativist theory the child will be able to change the sentence around in their brain to the correct structural order. Young children are able to create much complex sentences and questions and they can begin to make conversations with others (Jalongo, 2004). Teachers can enable many effective strategies to develop children’s language and literacy skills, such as reading stories which the children are interested in and this extends their interest. I will use this nativist theory into practice by encouraging children to express their own thoughts about the story with their own words. Te Whāriki (1996) states that teachers need to provide plenty of opportunities for children to talk with other children, to play verbal games. According to the strands of Te Whāriki, when children participate in a group activity , they know the limits and boundaries of acceptable behavior’s (Ministry of Education, 1996), and during their play times they build harmonious relationships with their friends, whilst children are not only developing their verbal and non-verbal communication and contribution ,they are also developing their social interactions with one another and exploring their environment by themselves or together with their friends and by doing the children are promoting their creativity and enhancing on their fine motor skills when they are in group physical play. I will also use this theory by using questioning methods and using directives, For example, stop and go and praise children why they follow the directive correctly, Which help children learn language (Mac Naughton & Williams, 2009).The role of the environment and external influences on the child’s behavior of learning language is very important.

The social interaction language acquisition theory is about the child’s experience which influences language acquisition. Language researchers believe that children everywhere arrive in the world with special social and linguistic capacities. A child acquires language development by environmental influences and parents who provide rich environments enable many positive benefits, this means that parents who pay attention to their children’s language expands on their child’s utterances and by reading to their children will expand on their language. Also playing games and labeling things in their environment gives positive benefits. Language is used in early childhood settings by singing songs, playing games, sign language which improves children’s language skills. I will use this theory in my teaching to support children’s language development by reading a colorful picture book and ask the children questions such as what are those dinosaurs doing? Or what colours do you like? why do you like it? Maori which is important in New Zealand should also be recognized and valued. For example, I can teach the children the colors in maori words and the children will learn another language which is interesting and give them more sense of the world through asking questions this enables a conversation to start and by using these open ended questions it is a great opportunity for rich social interactions. The foundation of language would be observing the environment and body language is also a part of social interaction which is a nonverbal communication method. For example, infants interacting with sounds, when the infant is sad and hungry or uncomfortable the infant will cry and when the infant is happy and comfortable the infant will smile and laugh. In addition, non-verbal communication for infant’s language development is important as well (Ministry of Education, 1996) for example, body languages and eye contact. Learning language is a vital part for infant’s learning and development. Neumann, Copple and Bredekamp (2002) said that "toddlers are able to learn words at a phenomenal rate, provided they are in a rich language environment in which adults tell stories, read and talk with them and an environment in which they are able to talk and play with children" (p.56). Therefore to help toddlers to develop their language skills, teachers can read stories to the children and sing songs, and play with the sounds of languages during mat time to let the children be immersed in their language environments. Through listening to songs children are engaged by "active" listening, such as singing and instrumental music playing (Schirrmacher, 2002). The children pay attention and listen carefully during musical activities and follow lyrics and responds correctly. This shows their awareness while listening to songs and musical instruments; they start to recognize the meaning of the words. For example, I can provide some types of music by using a clear voice to talk to children and encourage the children to repeat some simple words. Children can learn different types of language skills through play and then can use literacy tools to explore meaning to discover and have fun with sounds of words (Hamer & Adams, 2003). This theory can be used throughout my teaching by providing some symbolic sounds for children, such as "moo" sound for cows or "beep" for cars. Teachers can use the "modeling" strategy to develop their skills of social interactions (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009), such as empathy, leadership and cooperation. Children will be able to learn different types of language through play as well and they can also use literacy tools to explore the meaning to discover and have fun with the sounds of words (Hamer & Adams, 2003). The children develop phonemic awareness which begin from birth and is developed with continuous interactions with parents, teacher and families (Hamer & Adams 2003). Children need to take risks with language and experiment in order for them to discover how to combine words, phrases and form sentences. Theorists (Bates, 2004; Elman, 2001; Munakata, 2006) assume that, "children make sense of their complex language environments by applying powerful cognitive capacities of a general kind. Lev Vygotsky, created a model of human development which now is called the sociocultural model. He believed that all language development in children is visible in two stages, first children observe the interaction between other people then the behavior develops inside the child and then eventually the child becomes more capability of problem solving independently. Social interaction language theory is fostered by adults scaffolding with language. When adults talk with a child eventually the child will know how to respond. The social interaction language acquisition theory is believed to be similar to the nativist theory.

In conclusion, language helps children to learn and build large numbers of language skills and these language acquisition theories are used in everyday with language. I have explained how language is acquired through the behaviorist theory, nativist theory and social interaction language interaction theory and how language is developed and fostered according to each perspective. I will use these theories in my teaching to support children’s language development. It is essential for early childhood educators to understand and support language in teaching. Language defines who we are through accents, expressions, culture and environment.