Universidad técnica particular de loja la universidad Técnica Particular de Loja

Theoretical approach
Main features
Behaviourism
-
Psychological theory of learning 
which believes that language learning 
is the result of imitation, practice, 
feedback on success, and habit 

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information.
-
Children are encouraged to imitate 
and practise the sounds and patterns 
they constantly hear. 
-
They repeat and practise until they 
form “habits” of correct language use. 
-
The quality of the language the child 
hears affects directly on the child’s 
success in language learning. 
Innatism
-
Noam Chomsky is its main referent 
of this theory.
-
Chomsky states that children BORN 
supplied with a special ability to 
discover 
for 
themselves 
the 
underlying rules of a language 
system.
-
The child does not have to be taught. 
The environment makes a basic 
contribution and then the child 
develops language as if it was just a 
matter of time for him/her to do so. 
-
Basically, Innatism states that the 
children 
‘discover’ 
and 
develop 
language by themselves as if it were 

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just another natural process in their 
lives, just like walking.
The interactionist position
-
Textually: 
“the 
interactionists’ 
position is that language develops as 
a result of the complex interplay 
between 
the 
uniquely 
human 
characteristics of the child and the 
environment in which the child 
develops” (Lightbown & Spada –
1999). 
-
Lev 
Vygotsky 
concluded 
that 
language develops entirely from 
social interaction.
-
According to Piaget language can be 
used to represent knowledge that 
children have acquired through 
physical 
interaction 
with 
the 
environment.
Now that we have seen the different theories that are behind the 
native language acquisition process I shall claim that Is it not the 
purpose of this investigation to adopt one position or another but only to 
give the reader an idea of what and how does language acquisition 
develop by looking at it from different points of view.

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