Interactionism Theory In Child Development

Language.It 's all around us, Its what makes us human. We all know how to speak and communicate using language. Language is the method of human communication, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way. Have you ever wondered how you learned to speak? We didn 't “just learn it” nor is it acquired in an ad hoc fashion. There is a systematic way in which we acquire language. There need to be some preconditions which aid in acquiring language without which I can be extremely difficult.These include the presence of other humans such as caregivers, cognitive brain functioning etc...These preconditions are crucial for a child to successfully go through the stages of language acquisition which are Babbling, Holophrastic

Following the babbling stage, children between the ages of 11 months and 1.5 years start uttering individual words. This is the holophrastic stage. This is moving up a level from universal babbling to producing words which again, come from imitating caregivers. Since the child is more muscularly capable, it can expand its word bank. In conjunction with the behaviorism theory, the interactionism theory also comes into play at this stage. The interactionism theory is: language develops as a result of complex interplay between the uniquely human characteristics of the child and the environment in which the child develops. The way the two work together is by observing the environment and recognizing how words are used. Children begin to say words and at the same time associate it with meaning. The meaning being that one word can tell and mean many different things. This is an excellent example of semantics, where you say one thing it means another. E.g when a child says “Milk” can mean, I want milk, I spilled milk or where is milk. The way in which caregivers can comprehend what the baby means is by understanding the prosodic features of the uttered word. I.e. if milk is said with a high rise pitch towards the end, it translates to “where is milk” or “I spilled milk”. Saying it in a flat, demanding tone simply means “I want milk”. In conclusion, children say individual words by slowly grasping pronunciation and associating one word with many meanings. Reinforcing what is

The final stage of language acquisition of the L1 learner is the telegraphic stage. In this stage everything comes together, The third theory of language acquisition is reinforced here and that is the innatism theory. According to this, children are biologically programmed for language and that language develops in children the same way that other biological functions develop. The child does not have to be taught, the environment makes a basic contribution, the child 's biological endowment will do the rest. It is linked to the other two theories as they are the environment. The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) is a specific and limited time period in which language can be acquired which is between the age of 5 months and 5 years and this is where the child goes through the three stages. Although it occurs throughout all stages, it is at its peak in the 3rd stage as they use their cognitive functions and tap into the black box to fully learn the language. A great example of this is “Genie” Genie was a girl who was discovered abandoned in her house after 13 years. SHe had no recognition of speech and had extreme difficulty acquiring language. And is now stuck in her early telegraphic stage. Because she was unable to trigger her critical period, it was extremely hard for her to acquire