PIONEER OF THEORIST OF LANGUGE ACQUISITION

Burrhus Frederic Skinner (1904-1990)

Burrhus Frederic Skinner also known as B.F Skinner was a psychologist, behaviorist,
author, inventor, and social philosopher. He was a professor of psychology at Harvard
University from 1958 until his retirement in 1974. He was born on March 20, 1904, in
Susquehanna, Pennsylvania, United States and died on August 18, 1990 in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, United States. He was known for his operant conditioning.
According to him, our behaviors are developed or conditioned through reinforcements.
He referred to this process as an operant conditioning, with operant referring to any behavior
that acts on the environment and leads to consequence. Skinner’s idea of operant conditioning
influenced thoughts about child development, or the child behavior could be impacted through
positive and negative reinforcements. It also contributed to the behavioral theory of
personality, explaining that we respond in certain ways based on our learned experiences. His
theory of learning says that a person is first exposed to a stimulus, which elicits a response, and
the response is then reinforced (stimulus, response, reinforcement). This, ultimately, is what
conditions our behaviors.
Reaction and Reflection:
I myself believed and agree about the theory of Burrhus Frederic Skinner because when
we acquired to learn language unconsciously, we express it through without knowing its
meaning. I also believed that when we acquired to know, we use our senses to determine its
object that we always directly observed through our development. And knowing this theory
would help me understand how we corresponds to acquire without knowing its meaning. When
I was a child, I was able to speak unconsciously some words like mama or papa at the age of 3
years old it is simply because my mother always thought me to spoke that word without
knowing that that word is for my mother and father. As we can see, we acquire to learn without
knowing its meaning that corresponds to us and with that we can say that we acquire those
through having a social interaction and having a connection to other people.

Jerome Broner (1915-2016)

Jerome Seymore Bruner was an American psychologist who made significant

contributions to human cognitive psychology and cognitive learning theory in educational
psychology. Bruner was a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law.
He was born on October 1, 1915 in New York United States and died on June 5, 2016 in
Manhattan New York United States.
Bruner’s constructive theory suggests that it is effective when faced with new material to
follow progression from enactive to iconic and symbolic representation; this holds true even
for adult learners. He proposes that learners construct their own knowledge and do this by
organizing and categorizing information using a coding system. Bruner believed that the most
effective way to develop a coding system is to discover it rather than being told by the
teachers. The concept of discovery learning implies that students construct their own
knowledge for themselves (also known as the constructive approach). The role of the teacher
should not be to teach information by rote learning, but instead to facilitate the learning
process. This means that good teacher will design lessons that help students discover the
relationship between bits and information.
Reaction and Reflection:
For me, it is also important for the students to ask guidance from their teacher for them
to know what is the meaning of those thing however, my point is if you let them discover it by
themselves well it is also good for them but it doesn’t mean that teachers should not tell them
the real meaning because we should remember that learners acquired language unconsciously
and, in this way, the learners might be able to discover the real meaning but with the guidance
of the teachers. This theory of Broner’s however, would also helpful to us especially for me as
a student because I can help myself to become a responsible teacher someday to my student
and I will guide them to their learning and achievement careers. I remembered during when I
was elementary my teacher discusses about the different continents in Asia. It seems to be
unfamiliar to me what is Asia. I thought Asia as a name of country for example Philippines.
And when I entered high school, my teacher told me that Asia is not a country, it is a landmass,
which is considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia. So, when I ought
to know it, I was shocked because I thought it was a name of a country. Now I can see that my
experience has something to do with Broner’s theory.

Noam Chomsky (1958)

Avram Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist,

historical essayist, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called “the father of modern
linguistic”, Chomsky is also a Major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of
the field of cognitive science.
In 1957, linguist Noam Chomsky published a groundbreaking book called “Syntactic
Structures.” It proposed a novel idea: All human beings my be born with an innate
understanding of how language works. But according to him, we can acquire language because
were genetically encoded with a universal grammar- a basic understanding of how
communication is structured. Chomsky’s idea has since become widely accepted. Chomsky is
known for his Language Acquisition Device (LAD) which is a built-in box in the brain
responsible for creating and learning the language. Chomsky based his theory on the idea that
all languages contain similar structures and rules a universal grammar, and the fact children
everywhere acquire language the same way, and without much effort, seems to indicate that
were born wired with the basics already present in our brains. Although not everyone agrees
with Chomsky’s theory, it continues to have a profound influence on how we think about
language acquisition today.
Reaction and Reflection:
I agree in Noam Chomsky Theory because from what he said that we always learn a
language because we were genetically encoded with universal grammar, it simplifies that even
though which country do we prefer to live but still we keep on learning language and for a
child the importance to them is we just need to help them acquired those language by having a
social interaction because the structures of language are always changing as we go along with
our learning processes and our development. With this theory, we will be familiar on how
language is already been applied by individuals even without acquisition. When I was grade 1
my teacher teaches us how to read each basic word like man, woman, or even a name of an
animals like dog, cat, pig, etc. And with this strategy, we keep on learning new words and even
we can already construct a sentence by our own. And the importance of Noam Chomsky theory
is we can consider that language is already a part of our daily living the only thing we need to
know is to acquire those with different purposes.

Jean Piaget (1896-1980)

Jean William Fritz Piaget was a Swiss psychologist known for his work on child
development. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together
called “genetic epistemology”. Piaget placed great importance on education of children. Piaget
was born on Switzerland in the late 1800s and was a precocious student, publishing his first
scientific paper when he was just 11 years old. His early exposure to the intellectual
development of children came when he worked as an assistant to Alfred Binet and Theodore
Simon as they worked to standardize their famous IQ test.
Piaget believed that children take an active role in the learning process, acting much like
little scientists as they perform experiments, make observations, and learn about the world. As
kids interact with the world around them, they continually add knew knowledge, build upon
existing knowledge, and adapt previously held ideas to accommodate new information. Piaget
proposed that intelligence grows and develop through the series of stages. Older children do
not just think more quickly than younger children. Instead, there are both qualitative and
quantitative differences between the thinking of the young children versus older children.
Piaget’s stage theory describes the cognitive development of children. Cognitive developments
involve cognitive changes of process and abilities. In his view, early cognitive development
involves processes based upon actions and later progresses to changes in mental operations.
Reaction and Reflection:
Piaget’s point on view was directly stated on how children or learners can process the
learning and what’s interesting on this view of Piaget’s was a child can process the learning as
they grow and develop. For me, I agree because we know that we learn language through a
series of interaction. With the use of communication and connection to the others, we develop
our own cognition and while we develop, we acquire new knowledge, new existing
information, and the previous experiences with this basis, I can say that the theory of Jean
Piaget was really acceptable. During my elementary days, I know that sometimes there is a
thing that seems to be unfamiliar to me and while I'm learning in school, I can feel that my self
is developing without knowing its cause why I learned those things and until when I reached
high, I slowly realized that it is really important to know ourselves better while we are
developing because knowing the cause can be an awareness for us to know also the effect and
outcomes.
 Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)

Lev Semyonovich Vygotsky was a Russian psychologist, known for his work on
psychologist, known for his work on psychological development in children. He published on a
diverse range of subjects, and from multiple views as his perspective change over the years.
A pioneering psychologist with diverse interest, Lev Vygotsky was interested in how
cultural elements which a particular society deems important for example, customs, beliefs,
skills, and values are passed on to new generations. His sociocultural theory declares that
social interaction within the family and with knowledgeable members of the community is the
primary means by which children acquire behaviors and cognitive processes relevant to their
own society.
Vygotsky claimed that initial development was prompted by the child’s immediate social
interactions, but that, as learning became internalized, there was a shift to the individual level.
For Vygotsky, children were apprentices who learned from a alongside those with greater
experience who understood their abilities and needs. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory asserts
that learning is an essentially social process in which the support of the parents, caregivers,
peers and the wider society and cultures plays a crucial role in the development of higher
psychological functions. He also described the zone of proximal development as the distance
between actual development level as determined by independent problem solving and the level
of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in
collaboration with more capable peers. Part of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory, this accounts
for children who appear to lack certain skills when tested yet often perform more competently
in the presence of someone who has the necessary knowledge.
Reaction and Reflection:
Vygotsky theory was really on the point on how a child can acquire language. He points
out that a child can learn through having social interaction and having a connection for those
who already have a knowledge. I agree on his side because as far as I can observe the learners
can do better on themselves if they are connected to those who already have a knowledge
where in it is the beginning for them to learn and apply the different perspective. In this case,
the more knowledgeable other provides the support to promote the child’s cognitive
development and cognition. For example, I am a grade 1 student and I don’t know what is the
meaning of the word “tired” and I ask my teacher about on it and he provide and explain to me
the meaning so it means that he/she is more knowledgeable other. The importance of Vygotsky
theory is we can learn the importance of social interaction and connection to the others because
in this way, we can learn directly the basic information that we receive everyday especially that
we are encoded in a universal grammar and the only thing we need to do is to communicate
and socialize with others. Vygotsky composed three major themes in social development
theory and those are social interaction, the more knowledgeable other, and zone of proximal
development. These three major themes represent on how a child can adopt the learning
modality throughout their development but it also depends on how good their cognition is
because some child struggling to learn and adopt the knowledge because they are not in a
crowded community and according to Vygotsky, a child need to interact with their peers and
connect to those who already have a knowledge and experience.

Stephen Krashen (1941)

Stephen D. Krashen is an American linguist, educational researcher and activist, who is

emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Southern California. He move from the
linguistic department to the faculty of the school of Education in 1994.
Krashen is most widely known for his “comprehensible input” hypothesis, which
suggests that learners acquire language by taking in and understanding language that is just
beyond their current level of competence. According to Krashen, the study of the structure of
the language can have a general educational advantages and values that high schools and
colleges may want to include in their language programs. Any benefit, however, will greatly
depend on the learner being already familiar with the language. It should also be clear that
analyzing the language, formulating rules, setting irregularities apart, and teaching complex
facts about the target language is not language teaching.
Reaction and Reflection:
In Krashen’s view he said that learners acquire language by taking in and understanding
language that is just beyond their current level of competence which consider as fact to me
because if the children didn’t understand the particular learning within their development, they
can’t easily adopt that knowledge that being thought. In my opinion, every learner needs to
posses a good communication skill in the particular area because they need those skills to adopt
and learn different aspects and concepts in their development. As a part of our life, we need to
learn language individually because without language we don’t have a good life right now our
world is to silence the only thing that we can heard is the humming of the environment, sound
of a bird and nature. It is really important to acquire the language and after we acquire it, we
need to compromise that knowledge that we have learned through language.

Jean Margaret Aitchison (1938)

Jean Margaret Aitchison is a Professor Emerita of Language and Communication in the

Faculty of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of
Worcester College, Oxford. Her main areas in the interest include socio- historical linguistics;
language and the mind; and language and the media.
In Aitchison, she identifies three stages that occur during child’s acquisition of
vocabulary: labeling, packaging and network building.
1. Labelling: First stage and involves making the link between the sounds of particular
words and the objects to which they refer, e.g., understanding that “mommy” refers
to the child’s mother.
2. Packaging: Entails understanding a word’s range of meaning.
3. Network Building: Involves grasping the connections between words: understanding
that some words are opposite in the meaning, e.g., understanding the relationship
between hypernyms and hyponyms.
Reaction and Reflection:
Jean Aitchison uses three different stages involving on how a children acquired language
but her theory is different it includes labelling, packaging, and network building where in these
three stages is the basis on a learner’s acquisition. For me, it’s a bit confusing to understand her
theory because it is not detailed enough and it lacks of information however, If I based on my
understanding, I would only say that it is also a good idea from here because as we can see, this
theory doesn’t have a proof on how we exactly acquire those languages and although, this is
only a theory, it is somehow a better idea for us to understand more about language acquisition.