# data[].attributes.body
Theories: Language acquisition is interesting, and so are its theories. I totally agree that babies are not born blank but with information that enables them to learn and understand human languages, which makes it a natural process. As they grow, this knowledge is nurtured through their experiences and their interaction with society, which teach them the patterns of their native language. During this lesson, I couldn’t help but relate the interactionist perspective with my little brother. He is just 8 years old, and he already acquired an understanding of English by watching videos on YouTube. Even though he recognizes what the videos content, knows vocabulary and talk in English, he cannot maintain a conversation fluently. As the theory says, language develops through social interaction and dialogues. So, when I talk to him or ask him questions, most of the time he can only reply with “yes” or “no” because it is easier for him to give short answers than to construct more complex ones.

# data[].attributes.body
Empiricism. Experience is the source of knowledge and there's no innate knowledge from individuals.

Rationalism. Reason is the source of knowledge and there’s innate knowledge or concepts from individuals.

Piaget. He suggests that children learn by interacting with the world around them.

Vygotsky. He suggests that social interaction is essential to language acquisition.

# data[].attributes.body
Behaviorist Perspective:

Author: Skinner.

Children develop language through stimulus, response and reinforcement.

The child is rewarded for correct imitation and receives corrective feedback when errors are made.

This perspective is outdated because children use language creatively and actively.

Attempts to correct children don’t work because these mistakes represent their current grammar.

# data[].attributes.body
Innatist Perspective:

Author: Chomsky.

We have a language acquisition device (LAD) and everyone shares a universal grammar (UG) hard-wired into our brains.

Poverty of stimulus doesn’t stop children from learning.

# data[].attributes.body
Interactionist Perspective:

Authors: Gardner and Vygotsky.

Caregivers play a critical role in adjusting language to facilitate the use of innate capacities for language acquisition.

# data[].attributes.body
Theories: I find this topic really interesting because it's easy to observe in real life. First of all, I align with the rationalist theory, believing that children have an innate capacity for language. However, the theory I find most intriguing is the behaviorist perspective. We began discussing it with Teacher Eloisa last semester in Methods class, where we covered general information on this topic. This perspective is evident in many parents as they raise their children. For example, when my cousin was about six years old, she often used words incorrectly. My aunt would repeat the correct word order over and over, and at the time, I thought my cousin was purposely getting it wrong to be funny or annoying. It now makes sense that what seemed obvious to us was not so clear to her. I also relate this to how adults sometimes tell stories. For instance, they might say, “Do you know Michael?” and when you say no, they keep repeating, “Michael, Michael,” as if you’ll magically understand who they’re referring to. I feel that babies experience something similar; they can’t grasp what you’re pointing out because they don’t yet have the grammar to do so, just as we might struggle to picture said Michael without further details.

# data[].attributes.body
3. HOLOPHRASTIC OR ONE-WORD STAGE (9 – 18 MONTHS)

Child identifies words and combination of syllables, attempting to communicate full ideas using single words (or holophrases).

They can indicate the disappearance of objects, refuse suggestions and reject assertions.

4. TWO-WORD (18 - 24 MONTHS)

Children begin pairing groups of words together and denote utterances of two words only.

They start forming slightly more complex sentences, such as subject-verb, verb-object, adjective-noun combinations.

Children acquire around 50 words, primarily nouns and verbs that come from their environment or their parents.

# data[].attributes.body
7. PRE-SCHOOL YEARS (3 – 5 YEARS)

The ability to use all basic grammatical structures (ask questions, give commands, report real events and create stories about imaginary events).

They use language in a widening social environment to adapt it to different interlocutors and situations (when, where, and with whom it is appropriate).

Metalinguistic awareness begins, they start to identify what is wrong in badly structured sentences.

8. SCHOOL YEARS (AFTER 6 YEARS)

Different words are learned from different types of text (fiction and non-fiction).

Different language registers are encountered and learned (spoken/written; informal/formal).

Children have access to word jokes, trick questions and riddles.

# data[].attributes.body
5. TELEGRAPHIC (2 – 3 YEARS)

Children gradually learn to construct short sentences and speak utterances that convey just enough information.

They often leave out prefixes, conjunctions, prepositions, pronouns, and question words in their sentences.

They start to place negatives before the main verb, using phrases like 'don't like you', along with "no", "not", "can't", etc.

6. MULTI-WORD (AFTER 3 YEARS)

⁠There is a variety of function words and a great increase in the number of words children ⁠can use.

Structured sentences become more complex and varied.

Understanding in concrete sense of time, quantity, ability to engage in simple reasoning.

# data[].attributes.body
1. PRE-LINGUISTIC (0 – 6 MONTHS)

Crying, cooing, whimpering.

These sounds are not considered language because they are involuntary responses to stimuli.

Ability of auditory discrimination.

2. BABBLING (6 – 8 MONTHS)

The child hears speech syllables from its environment and parents and attempts to imitate them by repeating the sounds and sound combinations from the target language.

Babbles (consonant + vowels) begin to resemble words, but they don't have any specific meaning attached to them.

# data[].attributes.body
Stages: When I was studying the stages, I could recall some things that I learned last semester in my “Applied Linguistics” classes. I remembered that we talked about how humans could have developed language production from imitating the sounds from the environment and animals, and even doing gestures to communicate between them. So, I couldn’t help but relate it with how children also learn language. Also, the concept of “overgeneralization” reminded me of when we reviewed Piaget's theory in Psychology class and how children associate animals with the ones they know (for example, children might call a squirrel a “cat” until they understand the difference), but this is more like a cognitive stage.

# data[].attributes.body
Child Directed Speech (CDS). Theory of language acquisition that places a lot of emphasis on the role of the environment (when adults speak to children in a special “simplified” but not syntactically simpler language) in facilitating language acquisition.

Fronting. Putting a verb or question word at the front of a sentence.

# data[].attributes.body
Overextension: Children use the same word to mean many different things (ball = orange, orange = ball).

Overgeneralization: Children assume that some common syntax rules apply in all situations “my foots hurt”, Wug test, ate – eated.

Critical period hypothesis: There's a specific and limited time period when the child can acquire language (or certain aspects of it) - the genie case is usually used as an example of this hypothesis.

# data[].attributes.body
Stages: This topic was fun to study because I find it fascinating that we all go through the same or through a similar process to acquire language. For instance, when we discussed the babbling stage, I realized that what I thought was my cousin’s first word might not have been a real word at all. I had believed she was saying “agua” and even told my aunt about it, for which i'm deeply sorry now. However, my cousin was likely just exploring the sounds of "w" and "a," creating something like “wawa.” She might have even been trying to imitate a dog. Now, I understand that the babbling stage consists of sounds without any meaning attached, and it's part of the early stages of language development.

# data[].attributes.body
The ability to use two languages proficiently.

# data[].attributes.body
Bilingualism: This was such an interesting topic that reminded me of a family member who is currently living in France. That person is my aunt, my father’s sister, and I consider that she has two types of bilingualism. The first one is “late bilingualism” because she is Mexican and all of her childhood she spoke Spanish as her first language, but during her teenage years she started taking classes to learn French, then she married a French guy and moved together. Even though she went to France only knowing the basics, she kept acquiring the language and speaking it as her second language most of her time while living there, which makes me think that she developed “subtractive bilingualism”. What makes me believe that is our chats, because sometimes I have a hard time understanding what she wants to say in Spanish, she keeps missing words or mixing French and Spanish in her messages.

# data[].attributes.body
I must admit, I had no idea there were different categories of bilinguals. It turns out that I am a late sequential bilingual. I began learning English when I was three years old, but I didn’t achieve a high level of proficiency until my high school years, and I’m still learning.

I also find it quite amusing how we acquire different languages and how our brains can handle it, even though sometimes difficulties occur. I have a cousin who has lived in Virginia since 2017. She still speaks Spanish, but she’s beginning to forget many words. Because of her environment, it’s easier for her to recall certain concepts in English, so I believe she is a subtractive bilingual. This means that her use of English has caused her to lose some aspects of her Spanish.

# data[].attributes.body
Context of Acquisition:

Compound Bilingualism. The development of two language systems simultaneously within a single context.

Coordinate Bilingualism. The learning of two languages in distinctively separate contexts.

Sub-coordinate Bilingualism. The second language is learned through the native language; sometimes it has a negative connotation.

# data[].attributes.body
Order of Acquisition:

Simultaneos Bilingualism. When two languages are learned at the same time, with the same proficiency, before ages 5/6.

Early Sequential Bilingualism. L1 was learned first, but L2 was learned relatively early in childhood (SLA).

Late Sequential Bilingualism. L2 was learned later, in adolescence or after.