Week 2 Assignment

1. Behaviorist

1.1. The theorist who is named with behaviorist is Skinner.

1.2. The behaviorist perspective emphasizes the role of “nurture” and considers learning to occur based on the stimuli, responses, and reinforcements that occur in the environment (Otto, 2010. Pg. 31).

1.3. This means that children are molded to their character by the environment around them as a whole, meaning, their neighborhood, their friends, their surroundings, etc.

2. Nativist

2.1. The theorist who discovered this was linguist Noam Chomsky (Otto, 2010. Pg. 27).

2.2. The nativist perspective emphasizes inborn or innate human capabilities (i.e., “nature”) as being responsible for language development (Otto, 2010. Pg. 27).

2.3. This means that the natural characteristics that we are born with is what is being used in language. To clearify, if a child is born into a family that speaks in an accent, the child will grow up to speak in the same language pattern, with an accent.

3. Cognitive developmentalist

3.1. The cognitive developmental perspective is based in the work of Jean Piaget (Otto, 2010. Pg. 30).

3.2. The emphasis is that language is acquired as maturation occurs and cognitive competencies develop (Otto, 2010. Pg. 30).

3.3. This means that children learn through their sensorimotor stage, a child learns about their environment by their surroundings and they learn to explore.

4. Interactionist

4.1. Theorists involved with interactionist are Vygotsky, Bruner, and Halliday.

4.2. The interactionist perspective focuses on the primary role of sociocultural interaction in children’s development of language knowledge (Otto, 2010. Pg. 33).

4.3. This means that children learn through interaction, by practicing and listening to what is being said around them.