There are so many language acquisition theories out there, why do we lack one dominant theory?

Question

I was reading up on child language acquistion (first language) and it struck me that there were so many theories and yet we still, after so many years of research, lack one dominant theory. Why is that?

Answer 1

The brain is still a black box. I don't think anyone knows how it works.

Answer 2

That's Psychology for you. There are several different routes in psychology and all of them hold merit and have no been falsfied by another theory. Mostly it's a combination of all theories rather than one specific one. It is hard to test what is within your head so you have to make theories of what may be happening they all have some merit with them and none is more prominent than another. Now in Psychology it has been accepted that nature and nurture coincide so although there may be two theories they can work together to explain one phenomenon. We know babbling happens in all children its a biological innate thing that happens and then interaction of other things coincide with this to create language , you see how you can put two or more theories together.

Chomsky still remains one of the largest stand points in the language acquisition theories sparking off the rest. Much like Freud, his theories were contraversial and quite weak but through this he sparked so many theories that he could be said to be the root of the unconscious debates.

Oh and Vygotsky of course he is important to.

Answer 3

Possibely because as children we are exposed to so many different varieties of language and we all pick it up in a slightly different way. Evidence shows it's not the same from culture to culture, age groups or social classes.

Scholars seem to enjoy spending more time putting down other peoples theories rather than seeking for the absolute truth.

Answer 4

Froebel, Friedrich Issac, Susan possibly Bruner, Jerome Malaguzzi, Loris Sheridan, Mary once you're looking into Speech and Language attempt contacting interior of sight help collectively with: Speech and Language Therapist toddler progression Centre section SENCO help consultant for little ones with English as further Language County Council they could have some extra theories and examine. stable success! i've got labored with little ones 2.6 to 5 with English as further Language or perhaps however worthwhile is attempting at cases! x

Answer 5

i'm a senior in linguistics and i would regard the theory of universal grammar by noam chomsky to be fairly dominant. it is almost universally accepted among linguists. unfortunately it doesn't exactly explain the process of how the child picks up the words but it does offer an explanation as to why all children arrive at virtually the same level of language competency despite their widely divergent levels of exposure to language. it's becuase children are born with essentially language blueprints and an innate understanding of universal linguistic principles. then whatever language they are exposed to sort of slots into this. hope that expalins it

Answer 6

Because we are all different. We are born different. And we all learn in different ways: visually, hands-on, reading, writing, in a classroom, individually, groupal, in the playground, both, etc. etc.
That's why teachers prepare multiple learning devices of the same theme. That's why they'll "get it" one way or another, unless there are external factors affecting the student's learning abilities.
Any new theory that comes out now will only be an amalgamation of the thousands that exist.

Answer 7

Perhaps, the question should be : 'Why should there be one dominant theory ?' Each theory tends to stress a particular view of learning in exclusion to others, whether it be the cognitive, behavioristic, client-based etc. etc. Particular teaching styles and learning styles of the students may also stress one approach over another simply because it is the most effective in teaching certain kinds of subjects/tasks and/or reflect strategies preferred by certain kinds of students and/or be expected by curriculum guidelines.

Many teachers employ what could be described as a 'unified field' of teaching method simply because classes may well be hetrogeneous in their learning styles and such teachers wish to encourage individual students to adopt a more flexible and varied approach to their learning.

Answer 8

I think it's because we all learn differently, so there is merit to all of the theories, with none actually emerging as a clear dominant theory.

Answer 9

because we do not all share the same brain:) so as to develop the same theories and speak the same language
we all are different and therefore we might see the same thing from numerous perspectives.

Answer 10

3 words; Tower of Babel.