Unit 5 THINKING LANGUAGE CHAPTER 10 Vocab Quiz

Unit 5 THINKING & LANGUAGE (CHAPTER 10)

Vocab Quiz CLEAR YOUR DESKS & GET OUT A WRITING STICK.

Part 2 LANGUAGE

Entry Task On average, how many words do you think you learn per day between ages 0 & 18? The average high school graduate knows ~60, 000 words. That’s 3, 500 words each year, 10 words a day. Your teachers only consciously taught you an average of 200 words a year.

Language Development Theories 1. Operant Learning: Skinner (1957, 1985) believed that language development may be explained on the basis of learning principles such as: Association: linking sights of things with the sounds of words Imitation: mimicking words and syntax modeled by others Reinforcement: giving smiles and hugs when the child says something right

Language Development Theories 2. Inborn Universal Grammar: Chomsky (1959, 1987) opposed Skinner’s ideas and suggested that the rate of language acquisition is so fast that it cannot be explained through learning principles, and thus most of it is inborn.

Language Development 3. Statistical Learning and Critical Periods: Well before our first birthday, our brains are discerning word breaks by statistically analyzing which syllables go together. These statistical analyses are learned during critical periods of child development.

Genes, Brain, & Language Genes design the mechanisms for a language, experience modifies the brain.

Language & Age Learning new languages gets harder with age.

Language Development Discovering Psychology #6: Language Development