Theoretical Perspectives

1. Cognitive Developmentalist

1.1. Theorist: Jean Piaget

1.2. Semantic

1.2.1. Morphemic

1.3. Nature

1.4. According to Piaget language appears when children's cognitive growth reaches a point where they use and manipulate symbols. After object permanance is acquired children begin to use symbols such as words to refer to objects and actions

2. Interactionist

2.1. Vygotsky

2.1.1. Bruner

2.1.1.1. Theorist :Holliday

2.2. Pragmatic

2.3. Nurture

2.4. This perspective contends that children acquire language through their attempts to communicate with the world around them.

3. Behaviorist

3.1. Theorist: Burrhus Frederic Skinner

3.2. Semantic

3.2.1. Syntactic

3.2.1.1. Morphemic

3.3. Nurture

3.4. The perspective emphasizes the role of "nurture" and considers learning to occur based on the stimuli, responses, and reinforcements that occur in the environment.

4. Nativist

4.1. Theorist: Noam Chomsky

4.2. Syntactic

4.3. Nature

4.4. Chomsky discovery process is thought to be aided by an inborn mechanism that is specific for language learning. This language-specific mechanism is called the language acquisition device (LAD) and it enables children to process and acquire language through innate knowledge of grammatical classes, underlying deep structure, and ways language can be manipulated.