How are Languages Learned? - Applied Linguistics

Early language development varies reasonably in different countries, cultures and social classes.

• True

• False

At around 1, babies lose their sharp auditory discrimination.

• True

• False

It appears that grammatical morphemes are learned... (more than 1 correct)

• only after the school years

• in varying ages, in the same gradation of complexity

• in a somewhat similar order

• randomly, depending on the input a child receives

There hasn't been any evidence suggesting that reading affects the expansion of vocabulary in children.

• True

• False

This perspective believes that the environment is the source of everything a child needs to learn. Imitation and practice are the primary source of language development, until they become habits.

• Interactional/developmental

• Behaviorist

• Innatist

What are the criticisms towards the behaviorist perspective in first language acquisition? (select all that apply)

• Children will learn at the same rate if they imitate a little or a lot.

• It does not account for the complexity of structures children will acquire.

• Negative reinforcement can be harmful to children.

This perspective believes we have a natural ability to learn languages, just like all other biological functions. We have a "Universal Grammar" we use as a guide to "discover" the language by ourselves.

• Interactional/developmental

• Behaviorist

• Innatist

This perspective criticizes that the other emphasized the final product too much, rather than the process. They believe language is an example of how children can learn from experiences and there isn't an assumption of dedicated brain structures. They believe language development occurs along with cognitive development, and it represents what they have understood.

• Behaviorist

• Interactionist

• Innatist

A behaviorist perspective on SLA has influenced the creation of the _____ method

• communicative language teaching

• audiolingual

• suggestopedia

A behaviorist perspective and the contrastive analysis hypothesis have been rejected due to...

• a lack of evidence of a "transfer of habits"

• because students were not learning and still made mistakes

• because other perspectives answered all the questions we have