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* Noam Chomsky believes that children are "hard-wired" and ready for language acquisition from birth. He theorizes that a language acquisition device(LAD) exists which enables us to make connections with, create meaning from, and produce functions with language. 

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* Noam Chomsky believes that children are "hard-wired" and ready for language acquisition from birth. He theorizes that a language acquisition device(LAD) exists which enables us to make connections with, create meaning from, and produce functions with language. 

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Each of these theories enable educators to curate their own instructional practices based on the needs of their English Language Learners.

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Each of these theories enable educators to curate their own instructional practices based on the needs of their English Language Learners.

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*Children are biologically programmed for language learning. 

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*Children are biologically programmed for language learning. 

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Introduction

The Innate Theory (also known as Innatist Theory, Nativist Theory, Rationalist Theory, Mentalist Theory) of language acquisition was developed in the mid-20 th century (1959) by the renowned American linguist Noam Chomsky. It emerged as a reaction against the Behaviourist language learning theory and contradicted its model at almost every point of the basic structure. Although Chomsky is credited to be its originator, in reality, the theory has been around for hundreds of years. Chomsky's proposal just breathed a new life into the old concept and confirmed its formalisation. Though radical in many ways, it was able to lay out some major connotations for understanding language acquisition. In the last few decades, the amount of discussion about first language acquisition in the context of the Innate Theory has grown considerably.

Theoretical Bases

The theoretical assumptions underlying the Innate Theory are as follows:

Language acquisition is innately determined; that is, children are biologically programmed for language learning. They develop language in the same way as other biological functions. They start to speak at roughly the same age and proceed through roughly the same stages.

Children are born with a special ability to systematically discover for themselves the underlying rules of a language system. This special ability enables them to learn the complexities of language in a relatively short period of time.

Environmental differences may be associated with some variation in the rate of language acquisition.

Evidence Used to Support Chomsky's Innate Theory

Eric Lenneberg's concept of a critical period is the best evidence for the Chomskian proposal. Lenneberg suggested that there is a biologically pre-determined period of life during which language can be acquired most easily. Beyond this time language becomes increasingly difficult to acquire. Through this statement, Lenneberg provided strong support for the Chomskian claim that language is innately determined and in the existence of an innate universal set of grammar. This is still a controversial view, and many linguists and psychologists do not believe language is as innate as Chomsky argues. Yet, he presents abundant evidence to support the view that the form of language is innate:

The Poverty of the Stimulus Argument: The first argument in favour of this statement is concerned with the logical problem of language acquisition, which the behaviourists failed to recognise. This argument is known as The Poverty of the Stimulus Argument. The argument states that:

Virtually all children successfully learn their native language at a time in life when they would not be expected to learn anything else so complicated.

The language the child is exposed to in the environment is full of confusing information and does not provide all the information which the child needs.

Children are by no means systematically corrected or instructed on language by parents.

When parents correct, they tend to focus on meaning rather than form, and children often ignore the correction and continue to use their own ways of saying things.

Children learn to use very complex language structures without instruction or large numbers of examples of all the linguistic rules and patterns that they eventually know.

Children produce words they never heard before (e.g. puted), this cannot be the result of imitation but must be the result of a creative process.

Language Universals : To justify this argument Chomsky opines that, language is not a set of habits, but it is rule-governed; subsequently, the mind is responsible for the perception and processing of linguistic data because it is genetically equipped with a device that makes language acquisition possible. This mechanism is referred to as LAD (Language Acquisition Device). LAD consists of Universal Grammar (UG) and all the languages are basically formed with that universal ground. UG does not claim that all human languages have the same grammar, or that all humans are programmed with a structure that underlies all surface expressions of human language. Rather UG provides a set of basic grammatical elements or fixed elements or fixed abstract principles that are common in all natural languages, which explains how children acquire their language(s) or how they construct valid sentences of their language in a relatively short period of time. Chomsky defined these abstract representations of grammatical rulesas language universals. Chomsky says that there are two types of language universals:

1. Substantive Universal: The substantive universals consist of fixed features of the language like phonemes or syntactic categories like nouns (N) and verbs (V). Let us consider, for example, some distinctive phonological features. One of them is "voicing" that differentiates /p/ from /b/ in the pronunciation of such words as pin and bin, or "nasality" that makes the difference between /b/ and /m/ in bad and mad.

2. Formal Universal: The formal universals are the general principles which determine the form and the manner of operation of grammatical rules of a particular language.

Chomsky further argues that the universal principles that children discover form their core grammar. On the other hand, the rules or features that are not determined by universal grammar form their peripheral grammar. Rules of core grammar might be easier to acquire than the rules of the peripheral grammar since the latter are thought to be outside of the child's programmed instruction.

Counterarguments on the InnateTheory

To some extent, the Innate Theory seems complementary to the Behaviourist Theory, whose major principles are further clarified and then developed by the innate theorists. The following arguments represent the fact that some of the precepts of the Innate Theory should be refined:

Language acquisition is not totally of inborn nature nor is it just a matter of biological make-up. There is also an undeniable effect in language learning coming from the social environment since infants grow up biologically in a social environment from which they cannot be divorced. The presence of a mother and father in front of a child establishes a natural social environment.

The psychologist Jerome Bruner opined that language acquisition not only depend on LAD but also LASS or Language Acquisition Support System. It is possible that children have the inborn capability to follow certain grammatical principles, but their acquisition of words depends crucially on their environment. For example, English children learn English because; their Language Acquisition support System is English.

The use and influence of imitations and reinforcements cannot totally be denied or disregarded by saying that they destroy or relegate the possible creativity in language learning. For example, the role of imitations and repetitions cannot be wholly denied in such areas like learning vocabulary items and structural patterns.

Criticism

Although this theory provides what some claim is a reasonable explanation about acquiring language, this theory lacks sufficient evidence. Some of the cases against this theory include:

Firstly, the LAD is an abstract concept and lacks adequate scientific support.

Secondly, the theory is heavily based on the learner's linguistic competence which is again abstract phenomenon.

Thirdly, the theory placed more emphasis on the linguistic competence of adult native speakers, but not enough on the developmental aspects of language acquisition.

Conclusion

Chomsky's work has been highly controversial, rekindling the age-old debate over whether language exists in the mind before experience. Despite its few limitations, the Innate Theory is rich enough to provide a substantial idea of how a child acquires his/her first language.

References

Clark, Herbert H. and Eve V. Clark. Psychology and Language: An Introduction to Psychology.

n.p.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.

Cook, V[ivian] J[ames]. Chomsky's Universal Grammar: An Introduction. Oxford: Blackwell,

Foley, Mary Ann. "Cognitive Psychology." Microsoft Encarta. DVD-ROM. Redmond: Microsoft,2005.

"Innatism." Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 September 2008

Konieczna, Ewa. "First Language Acquisition". Uniwersytet Rzeszowski. 2008. univ.rzeszow.pl.

"Language Acquisition." Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 September 2008

"Language Acquisition Device." Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 20 September

Scovel, Thomas. Psycholinguistics. Oxford: OUP, 1998. 17-18.

"Second Language Teaching and Learning." Macquarie University: Australia's Innovative

University.2008. Macquarie University. 20 September 2008

Tanvir Shameem is not the biggest fan of teaching, but he is doing his best to write on various topics of language and literature just to guide thousands of students and researchers across the globe. You can always find him experimenting with presentation, style and diction. He will contribute as long as time permits. You can find him on:

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Introduction The Innate Theory (also known as Innatist Theory, Nativist Theory, Rationalist Theory, Mentalist Theory) of language acquisition was developed in the mid-20 th century (1959) by the renowned American linguist Noam Chomsky . It emerged as a reaction against the Behaviourist language learning theory and contradicted its model at almost every point of the basic structure.

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* All children are born with a template or common set of rules for learning a first language called "Universal Grammar" 

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* All children are born with a template or common set of rules for learning a first language called "Universal Grammar" 

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*Universal Grammar - infants can pick up grammatical language rules as communication occurs around them! 

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*Universal Grammar - infants can pick up grammatical language rules as communication occurs around them! 

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Language is an important method of communication for people. According to Innatist theory, the ability to understand a first-language creates the opportunity to unlock knowledge that a human is believed to be able to process innately. Innatist theory is an idea that has had many pioneers over the decades, but much of the credit for this theory is given to Noam Chomsky.

Chomsky looked at the current theories about behavior in children and found that something was lacking in them. Many arguments suggested that children tend to learn language by imitating those who are close to them, such as their parents. If imitation was truly the foundation of first-language understanding, the Chomsky had an important question to ask.

Why do children often say things that they have never heard before?

To solve this issue, Chomsky formed the foundation of the Innatist theory. He suggests that children are born with a built-in ability to learn a first-language. He refers to this ability as LAD - a "Language Acquisition Device."

Do People Have Built-in Rules for All Human Languages?

Within the Innatist theory, Chomsky suggests that there is a template for learning a first-language. He puts for the idea that everyone is born with a common set of rules that are followed to learn this language. Called "Universal Grammar," this theory suggests that infants can pick up on grammatical language rules as communication occurs around them. Because they hear words spoken in a specific way, they can construct their first-language grammar on their own.

Children then test out their grammar templates as they get older so they can refine their language. A classic example of this testing process occurs when a child is referring to something in the past tense. Many children, when referring to a previous snack or meal, recognize that they were eating. They can also recognize that in English, a past tense of a verb ends with "ed." For this reason, you'll see many young children learning English as a first-language saying that they "eated" something.

Of course, a parent or adult who is fluent in the first-language will correct the grammatical error. "It's not 'eated,' but ate." The child then learns different past-tense grammatical rules to specific words and will become more fluent in their first-language.

This means children, even before they make it to school, are creating sentences that are based on the rules of language so they can speak that language fluently. Schools, when teaching grammatical rules, aren't specifically teaching a "language." They are teaching children how to translate their knowledge of a spoken first-language into a writing-based communication method.

The Idea of Innatism is an Ancient One

Although Chomsky is often credited as a pioneer of Innatist theory, he was far from the first theorist or philosopher to suggest that the human mind has knowledge which is thought to be universal in concept. Innatism is at the foundation of the nature vs nurture debate.

One of the first ideas that could be considered an Innatist theory comes to us from Plato. He suggested that there are concepts which humanity believes to be universally true, but that truth doesn't come from knowledge that is conveyed from one person to another. In "Meno," Plato talks of a situation when Socrates spoke with a boy about geometry. The boy, who had no knowledge of geometric theorems, could answer the questions accurately.

Descartes also suggested that humans have innate knowledge that presents itself in the thoughts that each person forms over the course of their life. Even sensory ideas are shaped by an innate ability or knowledge that is present from birth.

Criticism of Innatist Theory

John Locke is often referenced when criticizing Innatist theory. Locke suggests that there is no universal assent. He suggests that people are born with a blank slate. Their knowledge comes from sensory data that is formed through empirical knowledge that is obtained through observation and inquiry.

Where one person might see no explanation for a statement from a child, Locke suggests that people are collecting information from the moment they are born. This information is retained by the brain and can then be accessed when there is a first-language capability available to them.

What seems innate is instead empirical learning, which would then make Innatist theory irrelevant.

As environments change, new information must be obtained to allow for survival. When an environment is stable, the only information that would be required is that which would be required for survival. Stability would mean that information could be obtained once and then used throughout a lifetime.

How one sees the world will likely depend on how they view Innatist theory. If the world is a place of constants, then Innatist theory makes sense. If the world is ever-changing, then this theory could not apply.

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Language is an important method of communication for people. According to Innatist theory, the ability to understand a first-language creates the opportunity to unlock knowledge that a human is believed to be able to process innately. Innatist theory is an idea that has had many pioneers over the decades, but much of the credit for ...

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* Children do not have to be taught HOW to learn a language. Anyone can potentially learn a second language.

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* Children do not have to be taught HOW to learn a language. Anyone can potentially learn a second language.

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Innatist Perspective - Teaching Theories

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A comparative chart of the different language acquisition theories - Slide 1 

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A comparative chart of the different language acquisition theories - Slide 1 

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A comparative chart of the different language acquisition theories - Slide 2

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A comparative chart of the different language acquisition theories - Slide 2

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Innatist and Interactionist Learning Approaches of Elementary School Students' Language Acquisition 

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Innatist and Interactionist Learning Approaches of Elementary School Students' Language Acquisition 

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Innatist and Interactionist Learning Approaches of Elementary School Students' Language Acquisition

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Innatist and Interactionist Learning Approaches of Elementary School Students' Language Acquisition

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*Rooted in the constructivist approach - the belief that ideas and knowledge is "constructed" by humans

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*Rooted in the constructivist approach - the belief that ideas and knowledge is "constructed" by humans

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* Children learn language out of a desire to communicate with the world around them. Language emerges from social interaction.

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* Children learn language out of a desire to communicate with the world around them. Language emerges from social interaction.

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Social Interactionist Theory

Stresses the functional basis of communication

Children are social beings who acquire language in service of their needs to communicate

Early language is like any other biologically based attachment behavior (smiling, following the parent, crying if parent

leaves, e.t.c.). It serves the social and affective needs of both infants and their parents

Child-directed speech (CDS) or Babytalk (BT)

Speech addressed to babies differs from speech addressed to adults

Cross-Culturally, mothers use similar intonation patterns in speaking to infants to indicate approval, disapproval,

encouragement, and discouragement (Fernald, 1985).

Speech to infants is marked by a slower rate, exaggerated intonation, high frequency, repetition, simple syntax,

and concrete vocabulary. (Snow & Ferguson, 1977)

Child Directed Speech & Language Acquisition

According to social interactionists, babytalk may influence language learning, perhaps even enable it

Infants would rather listen to CDS than to adult-directed speech (Fernald & Kuhl, 1987)

Parents make efforts to tailor articulation to young children to maximize phonemic contrasts and respond to

children's immature pronunciation by repeating them in the correct form (Bernstein & Ratner, 1992).

Young children's vocabulary acquisition seems inherently tied to external experience

Joint attention focus (the time that a mother spends talking about topics that the child is already focused on)

highly correlates with early vocabulary size. (Barret, 1995)

Babytalk may possibly allow children to "bootstrap" their progress in language acquisition

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Social Interactionist Theory - Language Acquisition & Development

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Social Interactionist Theory Stresses the functional basis of communication Children are social beings who acquire language in service of their needs to communicate Early language is like any other biologically based attachment behavior (smiling, following the parent, crying if parent leaves, e.t.c.).

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*Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development plays an important role in how the child's social environment impacts language acquisition.

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*Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development plays an important role in how the child's social environment impacts language acquisition.

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Genetic disposition + social environment contribute to the child's language acquisition. 

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Genetic disposition + social environment contribute to the child's language acquisition. 

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The Interactionist Approach to Language Acquisition (Intro Psych Tutorial #86)

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The theories we know about language acquisition all contribute to how we scaffold instruction to meet the individual needs of our students. 

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The theories we know about language acquisition all contribute to how we scaffold instruction to meet the individual needs of our students. 

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Language acquisition is that process of building the ability to understand a language, using it to communicate with others.

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Language acquisition is that process of building the ability to understand a language, using it to communicate with others.

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 Innatist theory asserts that human beings are biologically wired for language—that we have a “language acquisition device” that allows us to learn any language in the world. Linguistic ability is innate to us.  Where as the interactionist theory indicates that language acquisition is both biological and social.  

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 Innatist theory asserts that human beings are biologically wired for language—that we have a “language acquisition device” that allows us to learn any language in the world. Linguistic ability is innate to us.  Where as the interactionist theory indicates that language acquisition is both biological and social.  