Imitation & Reinforcement are the most important tools
for CLA [30 marks]
The theory that imitation and reinforcement are important
for the development of a child’s language is supported by Skinner, a social
philosopher. Skinner’s theory very much revolves around a behaviourist ideology
– language is acquired through an environmental influence and is not innate
when we are born. So in order for a child to learn language, this must happen
through operant conditioning, with guidance from their caregiver. Skinner proposed
that positive and negative reinforcement were two features which enhanced a child’s
language development the most. Positive reinforcement is when a certain
behaviour is encouraged by providing a positive stimulus for the child, causing
them to feel like they have been awarded – the action is more likely to be
repeated. By referring to transcripts A and B, this could be Tom’s mother ‘echoing’
him when saying ‘it makes noises’. She is supporting him, which will then aid
the development of his language to go further. On the other hand, negative reinforcement is
when a certain behaviour is more likely to be repeated in order to avoid an
unpleasant stimulus. This could be remembering to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’
to avoid being punished by the caregiver for not using manners in speech.
Skinner’s theory of imitation and reinforcement is one which is supported with
reference to the two provided texts, however, it is not necessarily relevant to
all utterances included in the sources.
Despite the fact that imitation and reinforcement are
crucial tools for CLA. It is debatable whether they are the most crucial. It is
evident from texts A and B that other theories and ideologies may be better
suited to the language transcribed. In text A, Tom, who is 2 years and 7 months
old, is playing in the garden with his bike. Before even reading the
utterances, we can tell that Tom is active in his role, not sat inside on the
sofa. Bruner’s (1957) theory could underpin the reasoning for Tom’s speech
throughout the conversation. Bruner’s ideology suggests that there are 3 innate
modes of representation: The enactive stage (0-1 years), Iconic stage (1-6
years) and Symbolic stage (7+ years). It is evident that Tom has already
completed the enactive stage, where he encodes action based information and is
able to know what ‘sitting on the bike’ entails. Furthermore, the interrogative
‘is these drawing Cartoon Network cup of tea mum’ is an example of being in the
Iconic stage. Even though Tom has overextended the proper noun ‘Cartoon Network’
from a term he is less familiar with and there is no grammatical agreement
between ‘is these’, it can be said that Tom is grasping the concept and can
encode visual based information. However, he is not yet at the Symbolic stage,
where language and grammar are more sophisticatedly formed. From analysing the
transcript, it is evident that Tom is developing through the 3 modes of
representation, where his age of 2 years and 7 months can be referred directly
to Bruner’s statement ‘knowing is a process, not a product.’
The Nature vs Nurture debate is one which has never really
met a conclusion, even though many theorists have tried. The declarative ‘you’re
not on dad’s bike (.) you’re on your bike’ uses personal pronouns directed at
Tom and his father, explaining who the concrete noun ‘bike’ belongs to. This is
an example of scaffolding, a concept in which Vygotsky (1978) came up with in
his social interactionist theory. He suggests that children seek information
actively from experienced adults or their caregiver, in order to acquire
language. The Zone of Proximal Development is a bridge that needs to be crossed
in order to learn what was not known before. So, Tom’s mother is helping him
grasp that he is not sat on ‘dad’s bike’, but in fact, his own bike which has
the same characteristics as his dad’s. He has overextended the term to
something which is familiar to him, but needed the help from his mother so he
could explain that he has possession over it. This scaffolding, reformulation
and repair is what helps language acquisition, and eventually, Tom will be able
to use these terms without the scaffolding from his mother. This can be further
supported by Freund’s (1990) dollhouse study. This consisted of the comparison
between a child being supported by their mother to place furniture in a
dollhouse, and a child left to do it themselves. The observation resulted in
the child who was provided with scaffolding from their mother performing better
at placing the furniture – proving that nurture is a concept crucial for CLA. It
could be said that Vygotsky’s theory supports Skinner’s learning ideology, as
the response and guidance from the caregiver is extremely effective.
As much as the debate for Imitation and Reinforcement is
strong, there will always be arguments to suggest otherwise. Both of Tom’s
caregivers seem to give short responses in the transcript. Despite the fact
that there are adjacency pairs and preferred responses throughout, it seems as
if the parents are rather vague and provide simple syntax or even one word
phrases at times. ‘You’, ‘my bike’, ‘really’ and ‘oops’ are some examples
spoken from Tom’s mother and father. The case may be that these are deictic references
– the reader will not understand unless they have the context of the
conversation. Chomsky (1950) argued that there is a universal language innate
in our brains. So, as a child, combining categories of speech (nouns, verbs
etc) to create phrases is something we can do instinctively, without the help
of our parents. The transcript firstly supports Chomsky’s theory because it is
evident that Tom is using utterances of up to 4 words – including conjunctions
such as ‘but’ in Text A, as well as personal pronouns such as ‘I killed it’ in
Text B. Chomsky implies that by 2 years old, children should be able to acquire
all of these language features, much like Tom can. Furthermore, the utterances
from Tom’s parents and his elaborative responses suggest that he is developing
well in his own mind, despite the rather restricted speech from his mother and
father. This implies that imitation and reinforcement are not the most crucial
for CLA, as there is evidence to suggest that Tom is able to develop language
without full support from his parents at times.
To conclude, there are many arguments for and against
whether CLA is most beneficial from imitation & reinforcement, or
independent learning with innate instincts. Skinner’s research does hold some
reliable evidence, supported by some aspects of the Transcript such as the
positive reinforcement in Text A. Tom finds it hard to grasp the possessive pronouns
of ‘dad’s bike’ along with the concrete noun ‘bike’. It takes many attempts of
positive reinforcement and the echoing of ‘dad’s bike’ in order for Tom to
finally say it correctly. This is real life proof that through the nurture of language
and support from Tom’s mother and father, he uttered the accurate ‘-s’
inflection in ‘dad’s’, showing he was successful. Reinforcement seems to be the
theory with the most background evidence, despite Chomsky’s ‘Universal Language’
argument.
