Theories of language acquisition: behaviourism (Skinner), nativism (Chomsky), cognitivism (Piaget), social interactionism (Bruner, Vygotsky) and functionalism (Halliday), and deploying them critically to explain data (AO2 and AO3 in H470/02 Section A).

What this dot point is asking

OCR Component 02, Section A, examines child language acquisition through transcripts and data, and a recurring demand is to deploy theories of how children acquire language. The major theories, behaviourism, nativism, cognitivism, social interactionism and functionalism, offer competing accounts, and the marks come from using them critically against data, not reciting them. This dot point covers the five theoretical positions, their evidence and limits, and how to test them against a transcript to build an evaluated answer (AO2 and AO3, on a foundation of AO1).

The answer

A theory-led child language answer succeeds when it tests theories against data (AO2) and reads the role of context and interaction (AO3), grounded in precise analysis (AO1). The unifying idea is that the theories compete: each explains some of what children do and struggles with the rest, so the task is to weigh them against the transcript and reach a judgement.

The five theories

Each theory makes a distinct claim about how acquisition happens, and naming the theorist and the key concept precisely is the AO2 foundation.

• Behaviourism (Skinner). Children learn language as a behaviour, through imitation of adults and reinforcement (praise, getting what they want). Language is shaped by the environment.
• Nativism (Chomsky). Children are born with an innate Language Acquisition Device and a universal grammar; the "poverty of the stimulus" (input is too limited and messy to explain how fast and accurately children learn) implies an innate capacity.
• Cognitivism (Piaget). Language develops alongside and depends on cognitive development; a child can only express concepts they have cognitively grasped (object permanence before words for absent things).
• Social interactionism (Bruner, Vygotsky). Acquisition is driven by social interaction. Bruner's Language Acquisition Support System (LASS) describes caregiver scaffolding; Vygotsky's zone of proximal development describes learning supported by a more able other.
• Functionalism (Halliday). Children acquire language to perform functions (instrumental, regulatory, interactional, personal, heuristic, imaginative, representational), learning what language is for.

Deploy theories critically against data

The command words in this section ("evaluate", "discuss") require judgement, not description. A strong answer takes the data and asks which theory each feature supports: imitation and the effect of praise support behaviourism; virtuous errors and rapid, creative production support nativism; caregiver scaffolding and child-directed speech support interactionism; the functions of utterances support Halliday. The theories are tools for explaining the transcript, weighed against one another.

Read the role of interaction (AO3)

AO3 brings in context, and in child data the key context is the interaction with caregivers. Child-directed speech (simplified, repetitive, expansive, with exaggerated prosody) and caregiver scaffolding are features to analyse in the transcript, and they bear directly on the interactionist account. Read the caregiver's contributions, not just the child's.

Examples in context

The data in the exam is unseen, so the moves below are illustrative.

A model theory paragraph. "The child's 'I goed there' is a virtuous error that the data makes decisive: the child cannot have imitated 'goed', which no caregiver produces, so the form must come from an internalised rule (past tense by -ed) over-applied to an irregular verb. This challenges Skinner's behaviourism, which predicts imitation, and supports a nativist or cognitivist account in which the child constructs and tests grammatical rules. Behaviourism better explains the accurate, frequent 'all gone', plausibly reinforced, so the data supports different theories for different features." This tests theories against named features and weighs them.

A model interaction paragraph. "The caregiver's turns show classic child-directed speech: short, simple utterances, repetition ('where's the ball, the ball'), and expansion of the child's telegraphic 'ball gone' into 'yes, the ball has gone'. These support Bruner's account of a Language Acquisition Support System scaffolding the child towards fuller forms, and the expansion models the grammar the child is reaching for." This reads the interaction as evidence for interactionism.

Try this

Q1. What is a virtuous error, and which theory does it support? [2 marks]

• Cue. An overgeneralised form like "goed" or "sheeps" that applies a rule logically to an exception; it supports nativism and cognitivism over behaviourism, because it cannot be imitated.

Q2. What does Bruner's LASS describe? [2 marks]

• Cue. The Language Acquisition Support System: the scaffolding caregivers provide through interaction, child-directed speech and supported routines, central to the interactionist account.

Q3. Using a transcript, evaluate the view that children acquire language mainly through imitation and reinforcement. [16 marks]

• What the marker wants. A weighed, evidenced judgement that tests behaviourism against the data, deploys at least one counter-theory (nativism, interactionism), reads the interaction (AO3), and grounds the argument in precise analysis (AO1).

A note on the theories

This guide is AI-written and not individually human-reviewed. OCR does not prescribe a fixed list of theorists; these are the standard positions taught for H470. Confirm the expected coverage against the current specification and your centre's materials, and always deploy theory critically against data rather than reciting it.