In order for children to learn anything, they must be first shown a stimulus. To learn the word "Mom" the child first needs to associate the name "Mom" with the mother figure. Then, the child would say "Mom" through imitation and would be praised for saying "Mom," which reinforces the child's verbal response. The child would then continue to say "Mom" because of this positive association and experience.

This theory emphasizes how children are born with the ability to acquire language. This goes off of the gaps in the behaviorist theory that imitation does not account for any novel utterance, whether grammatically correct or not.

Chomsky believed that all infants have an innate "grammar template," allowing them to pick up on the grammatical rules of the language around them. For instance, if adults are having a conversation about their kids, they will address a group of kids as "children" instead of "childs," allowing the infant to construct their understanding of grammar and the language.

This theory emphasizes the importance of both biological makeup and environmental makeup when developing language. This theory fills the gaps in both the behaviorist theory and the innatist theory. Further, children acquire language out of wanting to communicate with others around them.

"Child: Birthday cake Megan house.

Mom: We had birthday cake at Megan's house. What else did we do at Megan's house?

Child: Megan dolly.

Mom: Megan got a doll for her birthday, didn't she?" (page 63).

This first hypothesis implies that there are key differences between acquiring (receiving) and learning (working on) a second language. Acquisition is a natural process that occurs over time, and learning is the process of formal study and practice.

Conditions to use the monitor:

• sufficient time

• focus on grammatical form

• explicit knowledge of the rules

Children learn the basics of language and over time, learn how to properly use it. For example, a child will first say, "Me want drink" rather than "I want a drink."

Three constraints:

• must be understandable

• must contain grammatical structures that are beyond the learner's current linguistic abilities

• must be part of naturally flowing language (authentic)

All in all, someone's emotions can play a role in their ability to learn a language.

To develop a second language, it is important to have open dialogue with speakers of that language. Exposure and feedback are critical, so when practicing with another person, you can receive automatic help, ask questions, and build on your language development.

To develop a second language, it is important to constantly check in on the production of the language you are producing. This can help with requests for clarification, repetition, paraphrasing, and selecting the correct linguistic style to convey the message they are trying to get across.

This remained the same from the behaviorist theory of learning the primary language. To learn a second language, a person's environment and interactions play a crucial role. They hear stimuli, make associations, respond, and repeat when positively reinforced.

This method is helpful for learners because it relies on interactions with a speaker of the primary language. First, they are taught to listen, repeat, and speak. Then, they are asked to show what they know through reading and writing.

This remained the same from the innatist theory of learning the primary language. When learning a second language, ELs construct the rules of the language in a similar manner to L1 acquisition.

For example:

Spanish makes words plural by adding an -s or -es to the ending.

(libro --> libros) (ciudad --> ciudades)

English makes words plural similarly by adding an -s or -es or -ies to the ending.

(book --> books) (beach --> beaches) (city --> cities)

Contrastive analysis compares various rules in a pair of languages, viewing similarities and differences. Since these rules are similar, it is assumed that plurals in English will be easy for ELs to understand.