1. Nativist
1.1. Focus on Nature vs. Nurture
1.1.1. Nature
1.2. Focus on Aspect of Language Knowledge
1.2.1. Syntactic
1.3. Major Theorist(s)
1.3.1. Chomsky
1.4. Major Overview
1.4.1. Major focus is the acquisition of syntactic knowledge
1.4.2. Emphasizes the human’s instinctive ability (i.e. “nature”) as being responsible for language development
1.4.3. Children learn language by discovering the structure of their language
2. Cognitive Developmentalist
2.1. Focus on Nature vs. Nurture
2.1.1. Nature
2.2. Focus on Aspect of Language Knowledge
2.2.1. Semantic
2.2.2. Morphemic
2.3. Major Theorist(s)
2.3.1. Piaget
2.4. Major Overview
2.4.1. Emphasis is that language is acquired as natural maturation occurs and cognitive competences develop
2.4.2. There is a very close relation between cognitive development and language
2.4.3. It is believed that for language to develop, specific cognitive growth must occur first
3. Behaviorist
3.1. Focus on Nature vs. Nurture
3.1.1. Nurture
3.2. Focus on Aspect of Language Knowledge
3.2.1. Semantic
3.2.2. Syntactic
3.2.3. Morphemic
3.3. Major Theorist(s)
3.3.1. Skinner
3.4. Major Overview
3.4.1. Language is learned through a result of associations
3.4.2. Reinforcement of a child’s verbal responses or lack thereof, is directly related to the learning that occurs
3.4.2.1. Reinforcement often takes the form of attention, repetition, and approval (Puckett & Black, 2001)
3.4.3. Language is “taught” through situations in which children are encouraged to imitate others' speech and to develop associations between verbal stimuli (i.e., words) and objects (Harris, 1992).
4. Interactionist
4.1. Focus on Nature vs. Nurture
4.1.1. Nurture
4.2. Focus on Aspect of Language Knowledge
4.2.1. Pragmatic
4.3. Major Theorist(s)
4.3.1. Vygotsky
4.3.2. Bruner
4.3.3. Halliday
4.4. Major Overview
4.4.1. Focuses on the primary role of sociocultural interaction in children's development of language knowledge
4.4.2. Theorists believe that language is acquired by individuals out of a need to function in society and an accompanying need for knowledge of how language functions in that society
4.4.3. Focuses on the language development process rather than on language as a product of development