Schools of Thought of First Language Acquisition

Innatism Key Ideas


Presented by: Lina Roncallo

Innatism

Key Ideas


1. Innatism is by far the most accepted and modern theory of first language
acquisition after Behaviorism.
2. The most influential proponent of the innatist position is Noam Chomsky.
3. Chomsky’s theory came shortly after Skinner’s theory of Behaviorism. He
wondered why children said things they had never heard before if they
learned language by imitation.
4. The innatist theory states that learning is natural for human beings. They
believe that babies come to the world with a biological propensity to learn
language.
5. Chomsky hypothesized that children must be born with a biological ability to
learn language, which he called LAD or Language Acquisition Device.
6. The LAD consists of the principles common to all human languages, and it is
activated whenever a child hears a language.
7. The innatist theory explains how children can produce language even if they
have never heard it, inventing complex speech.
8. The innatists believe that the child can learn a language on his own.
9. In this theory, language learning is considered as a creative activity.
10. Some researchers, however, debate that his theory lacks scientific evidence
since the idea of innate propensity is an abstract quality.