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Child Language Development
Quick questions on Theories of language acquisition - Edexcel A-Level English Language
5short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is a virtuous error as evidence against behaviourism?Show answer
A transcript shows a child say "I holded the rabbit." A strong paragraph in a data task would name the virtuous error (the regular "-ed" applied to the irregular "hold"), then use it as evidence: because no adult produces "holded", the child cannot have imitated it, so behaviourism's imitation-and-reinforcement account fails here, and the form instead supports Chomsky's claim that the child applies an internalised, productive rule. The paragraph reaches a theoretical conclusion from a single feature rather than merely labelling it.
What is child-directed speech as evidence for interactionism?Show answer
A transcript shows a caregiver using exaggerated intonation, repetition, simplified syntax and questions that invite the child to take a turn. A strong paragraph would name these as features of child-directed speech (CDS), and argue they support interactionism: the caregiver is scaffolding the interaction (Bruner), pitching just above the child's solo ability (Vygotsky's zone of proximal development) so the child can participate. It would then qualify the claim, noting that CDS is not universal across all cultures, which is the standard counter-evidence and which top-band scripts acknowledge.
What is q1?Show answer
What does Chomsky mean by the Language Acquisition Device and the poverty of the stimulus? [3 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Give one piece of evidence against behaviourism and explain it. [3 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Evaluate the idea that children acquire language primarily through an innate capacity rather than their environment. [16 marks]
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