Essay On Sensorimotor Development

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Recommended: Behaviorist and nativist theories of language acquisition

Language and Sensorimotor Development Piaget focused on the period the extends from birth to the acquisition of language (age 2). During the period from birth to about 2 years, infants start to learn about everything surrounded them through sensing the environment and construct an understanding of the world (environment) by coordinating sensory experiences such as (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting). Because of this trust on sensory ,and infants rely on the sensory and motor experiences, Piaget referred to this as sensorimotor stage. Infants gain knowledge of the world from the physical actions they perform on it. By the end of the stage, children will be able to refer to objects, people and events. Elliot, J. A. (1981). Child Language . Cambridge University Press. The Main Four Hypotheses which Occur Language Acquisition and Development: 1- Cognitive Hypothesis: The cognitive hypothesis is in between of nativist and behaviourist hypotheses on the nature-nurture continuum. It is similar to the nativist hypothesis because both of them emphasis on the role of innate knowledge or internal structures in language acquisition. The innate knowledge is assumed to be cognitive rather than linguistic. According to Piaget, children show significant social and cognitive development at nursery-age before they begin to produce language like adults. The environment is viewed as an important aspect of child's language acquisition. Supporters of the cognitive view do not see the child as a passive recipient of input from the environment. Rather, it is interaction between the child's internal cognitive structures and the linguistic and non linguistic environment that is responsible for language acquisition. Many suppo... ... middle of paper ... ... proposes LAD as the innate mental mechanism that makes language acquisition possible. Chomsky's linguistic competence is the underlying knowledge that enables individuals to speak and understand their language. A native speaker has access to knowledge about the structure of his language which guides him in his language use. Second, Chomsky distinguished linguistic knowledge from language performance which is the use of language in a particular social context. Third, a child must acquire linguistic competence in order to be able to use language successfully. Forth, also he suggested universals of language which is languages share certain features. Fifth, also he suggested a critical period for language acquisition which is by the age of five children acquire almost the structure of their language. Elliot, J. A. (1981). Child Language . Cambridge University Press.

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