Children acquire language through their experiences (30).
Cognitivists would agree with this statement as they believe language is a wider part of
understanding and so children cannot linguistically articulate something they don’t
understand. So, by experiencing more things, children understand more concepts which
leads to a better understanding shown in their language. Vygotsky talks about play and how
younger children use props as pivots to support their play when they cannot use their
imagination. This is shown through the repeated focus on “money” which is demonstrated by
using pretend money. For example, Hollie states “that’s my money”, the use of the
possessive pronoun “my” demonstrates egocentrism and the common concrete noun
“money”, shows her understanding that money belongs to someone and therefore outside of
play, Hollie will understand the concept of money in the real world. Ewan also makes the
utterance “that’s what shopkeepers do Hollie”, thus demonstrating an understanding of how
scenarios in shops should play out, for example when Ewan makes the sound “beep” he is
showing an understanding of how checkout tills work. Therefore by using props in their play
both children are using language to accurately role-play scenarios in the real world.
However, in some aspects the physical use of props is not helping to aid understanding and
language as when Ewan is asked what do two ones make he replies “ten it’s ten”. This lack
of mathematical understanding impacts his language as he gives the wrong answer even
with the aid of pretend money. However, it may be once he has experienced more exposure
to mathematical problems his language will represent this change. Also, with the help of a
more knowledgeable other children can increase their understanding, the fact both Hollie
and Ewan ask “Laura” for support demonstrates how a more knowledgeable other can be of
great use to children when they are attempting to make sense of things around them. Ewans
lack of understanding regarding place is also shown when he uses the interrogative pronoun
“what” in the utterance “what are you going”, instead of the relative pronoun “where”, this
may be due to the fact Ewan does not yet have the words to refer to someone’s place or
position. Therefore, cognitivists believe through experience children’s wider understanding
develops which has a subsequent positive impact on their language use.
Behaviourists would also agree that children learn through experiences as Skinner believes
children imitate the language they hear around them. This is demonstrated through Hollie’s
use of the adverb “please”, as through experiences children hear others use these
mannerisms and learn when they themselves do not use manners they are negatively
reinforced for example by having their statements reworded and when they use them they
are positively reinforced by praise. Therefore, because “please” has no real function for the
child, Hollie is simply using it because it is a learned behaviour from their past experiences.
Also, Hollie’s utterance of “I’d like to buy all these please”, is a rather complex statement due
to the functional words “to”, “all”, and the mannerism “please”, and so this may also be an
example of imitation which Hollie has picked up through her experiences of for example
being in a shop with her caregiver. However, reinforcement and conditioning of language is
not always effective as shown when Hollie negatively reinforces Ewan’s utterance of “is it
one p”, with the interjection “no” expressing criticism of Ewan’s language. However, ewan
ignores this and gives another incorrect response of “ten” demonstrating how children’s
language cannot just be reinforced and for example, they have to understand the concepts
before articulating them, a Cognitivist idea. Behaviourists such as Skinner would agree with
the statement that children’s experiences of reinforcement lead to language development,
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