Theorists

Chomsky

·         Universal grammar

·         Facial expressions

·         Child comes into the world with an understanding of the nature of language

·         Fixed principals, things he believes we can all learn (i.e. yes, no, verbs, nouns and questions)

Vygotsky

‘Zone of proximal development’

Stages…

·         Assisted learning

·         Proximal development

·         Independent learning

Vygotsky believed that this method was the best way to get children to be able to learn independently without assistance from an adult. He also said how social interaction helps a lot.

BF skinner

·         Learn language through behaviour

·         Controlling environment

·         Reinforcement

·         Positive reinforcement, reactions from parents

·         Negative reinforcements

Piaget

Piaget created this stage of development table; children must learn certain things at ‘critical ages’…

·         Object permanence - birth to 2 years old

·         Pre-operational stage - 2 to 7 years old

·         Concrete operational stage - 7 to 11 years old

·         Formal operational stage – 11 years old onwards

I agree mostly to the theory of BF Skinner. By giving a child positive reinforcement when the child for example pronounces a word correctly or counts in the accurate order this encourages the child to continue doing the right thing aiding them learn much quicker.  Also Vygoskys theory I believe is precise. Children need to be assisted with learning at an early age in order for them to reach a point of independence. For example if you read to your child every night they would progressively pick up more and more words and consequently be able to add them to their vocabulary quicker than a child who has to learn through social interaction alone.