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A2 Intellectual development Typeit
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Noam Chomsky (1928–) is a leading US academic, psychologist and linguist who has contributed to the understanding of cognitive development and how children acquire . He believes that we are born with an , genetic biological ability to learn languages.
Before Chomsky, it was believed that we learn to speak through and reinforcement. Behaviourists believed all children are born with the capability of producing various random sounds. 'Baby talk' (also known as motherese) is the language parents and carers use with infants to reinforce the sounds they make, e.g. a mother may use a sing-song voice as opposed to a monotone adult voice in order to engage the baby's attention. Also, praise and repetition are viewed as ways to encourage the infant to use the sounds.
However, Chomsky argues that the approach doesn't explain the creativity behind human language. He believes in the approach that we have innate structures to support us in learning language. All languages have rules; once these rules are learnt, the speaker can communicate effectively to make themselves .
Everyone is capable of being in a language by five or six years old. We have an inborn ‘language device’ (LAD) that makes learning languages possible as we mature, since it gives us the natural to understand components of language, such as grammar. However, Chomsky also acknowledges that children need to be around others using language in order for the LAD to work successfully. He suggests the importance of the period for language development, meaning that children need to be exposed to the language use of others during their early years.
Critiques of Chomsky’s model include:
- Limited scientific evidence to support some of the theory’s claims
- What about children with learning ?
- Greater influence of factors than considered by Chomsky’s theory