Cognitive Language Acquisition Theories discusses Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky's theories of language development. Piaget believed that cognitive development precedes language acquisition and that children progress through four stages of development. Vygotsky argued that language and thought have different origins that intersect, and that social learning in the Zone of Proximal Development is important for cognitive development. Both theorists linked cognitive and language development but disagreed on the influence of social factors and the ability to accelerate learning.

1. Cognitive Language Acquisition Theories A brief introduction to cognitivism Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky

2. Cognitivism Emerged as a response to Behaviorism Focused on the inner mental activities of human beings to understand how people learn Behaviorists saw humans as programmed animals, cognitivists viewed them as rational beings. Language acquisition is viewed in light of the child’s cognitive development.

3. Language Acquisition Theory by Jean Piaget

4. Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… Language acquisition for Piaget is a mental and emotional process. Piaget linked the development of language in a child to the child’s cognitive development. He believed that a child must have the understanding of a concept before he can verbalize it. For example, if a child says, “This car is bigger than that one”, he must have the concept of size in his mind before commenting.

5. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… Piaget regarded cognitive development in a child as a pre-requisite for language acquisition. He believed that language was a way of reflecting a child’s thought process and that language did not contribute to development of thinking. He argued that cognitive development preceded linguistic development.

6. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… According to Piaget, children learn their initial rational constructs through the environment i.e. by interaction with other people. Children develop language through a combination of schemas (concepts for how to act and respond to the world). As these schemas gradually develop and become more complex in the mind, language and vocabulary progress in order for the child to handle the new schemas.

7. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… Piaget’s Stage Theory… Piaget was the first to say that children reason and think differently at different stages in their life. He believed that all children universally progress through four different and distinct stages of cognitive development. Language in children developed gradually as they move onto the next stage.

8. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… The four stages of development Piaget proposed are: Sensorimotor Stage Preoperational Stage Concrete operations stage Formal operations stage

9. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… Sensorimotor Stage…: Begins at birth and continues up to about age 2. Children learn about physical objects and are concerned with motor skills. When children in this stage see a new object they shake it, throw it, chew it or put it in their mouth simply to understand the characteristics of the object.

10. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… …Sensorimotor Stage…: This stage is marked with concept formation. Around age 1, children learn the concept of object permanence i.e. an object continues to exist for the children even if it is out of their sight. No linguistic development is seen at this stage except for babbling and cooing.

11. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… Preoperational stage…: This stage begins around age 2 and goes up to age 6 0r 7. This stage is marked by language acquisition and children develop ability to think of symbols and forms words from ideas and vice versa. Children also begin to understand concepts of time and space and of addition and subtraction

12. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… …Preoperational stage…: Children in this stage focus more on concrete physical situations and have difficulty in handling abstract concepts. Still language for children at this stage is less. Having verbose conversations with children is not going to help. Children at this stage start recognizing shapes and words ascribed to the shapes.

13. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… Concrete operations stage: This stage begins around age 6 or 7 and goes up to age 11 or 12. Children at this stage are able to group things in logical order according to their names, numbers or sizes. Children develop a much more logical and reasonable language system. They begin to understand the concepts of other people as well as convey their own ideas and views.

14. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… Concrete operations stage: The children also begin to understand much complex abstract things such as mathematics problem solving. Yet at this stage a child can do mental operations but only with real concrete objects, events or situations.

15. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… Formal operations stage…: The final stage which begins from around age 11 or 12 and goes up to age 15. Many new capabilities are developed in a child at this stage. A child is able to use language fully by the end of this stage and is able to provide reasons logically. The stage is marked with the child thinking and communicating in a more adult like manner.

16. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… …Piaget’s Stage Theory… …Formal operations stage: The language system in children of this age is developed completely except for those children who suffer from autism or some other mental dysfunction. The child at this stage has the concepts as well as the language to support the concepts he has. This stage can be referred to as the linguistic maturation stage.

17. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… Over all Piaget argued that language basically represents a skill of symbolic representation gradually acquired through the stages of cognitive development. Piaget’s view is in contrast of Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar stating that a general mechanism in human brain accounts for language acquisition; which he believed is far too complex to be acquired simply through experience and general cognitive processes.

18. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… Piaget believes that a child learns language by actively participating in the learning process. He was of the view that adults should assist the child by providing appropriate props and vocabulary suiting the child’s interest in order to facilitate the learning. Piaget recommended that adults should not intervene in the learning process without necessity.

19. …Language acquisition theory by Jean Piaget… It is evident that Piaget’s theory suggests some link between cognitive development and language acquisition and also explains the order in which certain aspects of language are acquired. But…. Piaget’s theory does not explain why language emerges in the first place.

20. Language Acquisition Theory by Lev Vygotsky

21. …Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky… Vygotsky was of the view that language was a system of symbolic representation which had been perfected over many generations. He believed language came into three categories, which were Social, Egocentric and Inner. For Vygotsky, language was a tool which made thinking a possibility and which differentiated between thinking at an elementary level and on a higher level.

22. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Origins of thought and language… Vygotsky proposed the theory that thought and speech have different roots in mankind. Thought is non-verbal and speech is non-intellectual at an early stage of development. He said that the developmental lines for thought and language are not parallel and that they cross each other again and again

23. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky …Origins of thought and language… From birth to age of two, the development lines run separate but at the age of two, they join together to initiate a new form of behavior where thought becomes verbal and speech becomes logical. Initially a child’s language appears surface level conversation but at some point later on it becomes the structure of the child’s thought.

24. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Word meaning and concept formation When a child realizes that everything in the world has a name, he faces problem when something nameless and new is presented to him. He himself names the object then but when he, the child, is unable to find any name for the new object, he asks it from the adults. These early word-meanings form the roots of concept formation in the child’s mind.

25. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Vygotsky’s social constructivism According to Vygotsky, all fundamental cognitive abilities develop in light is social history and context. This means that a child’s thought patterns and cognitive skills are not primarily determined by innate factors but the products of the activities a child practices in the society. In this process language is a crucial tool which determines how a child learns to think because more novel thoughts are transmitted to the child by means of words.

26. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Thought and language, and intellectual development Vygotsky believed that in order to understand intellectual development, one must understand the interrelations between language and thought. Language for him is not merely an expression of the knowledge a child has but there is a relation between thought and speech, providing resource to other i.e. language is essential for thought formation.

27. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Zone of Proximal Development… It is the difference between the child’s capacity to solve problems on his own and his capacity to solve the problems with assistance. It can also be defined as denoting the distance between what a child actually knows and what the child can learn under supervision of an adult or peer.

28. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky …Zone of Proximal Development. The ZPD includes all the functions and the activities that a child or learner can perform only with the assistance of someone else. The assistant can be an adult like parent or teacher or it can be another peer who has already mastered that ability.

29. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky Vygotsky’s theory in contrast with Piaget’s theory… Vygotsky criticized Piaget’s assumption that developmental growth is independent of experience and based on a universal characteristic of stages. Vygotsky believed that characteristics didn’t cease at a certain point but when one thing was learnt, it was used from then onwards.

30. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky …Vygotsky’s theory in contrast with Piaget’s theory… Vygotsky also disagreed with Piaget’s assumption that development could not be accelerated through instruction. He believed that intellectual development continually evolved without any end point and not like Piaget theorized that it was completed in stages. Piaget’s stage theory only approaches up to and end at approximately age fifteen.

31. Language acquisition theory by Lev Vygotsky …Vygotsky’s theory in contrast with Piaget’s theory… Vygotsky criticized that Piaget’s theory didn’t have any major factors after age 15. Another important fact to notice is that Piaget’s theory does not apply to children with disabilities, for a child suffering from autism or some brain dysfunction will not be able to go through all of Piaget’s stages.

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