language is the cortaitioning theory. According to this theory, children are conditioned to speak in certain ways by the way parents act. Again, the parents and the environment in which the child is raised have a huge influence on the child's language learning.
For example, say a child hears the word "bottle," and then the parent gives the child his or her bottle. A word association is formed in the child's mind. When the child says the word, the parent offers praise. Thus, the parent reinforces to the child what the bottle is. Researchers view the natural stages a child goes through while growing as support for this theory. They argue that as word associations become more complex, children are able to form more difficult sentences.
Despite how well these theories seem to explain language learning, there are some things that they do not explain. The imitation theory, for example, fails to explain the child's ability to learn correct grammar when adults often speak in incorrect ways. The conditioning theory in the same way, does not consider that children use words in creative ways.
A child will apply a word to an object or situation that he or she has never seen or experienced. children are able to figure out the rules of a language. By listening to Neither theory explains how children speak, a child's application of "rules of the language" can be heard through mistakes. An example of this would be when a child uses a regular past tense ending on a verb that has an irregular past tense form,
In an attempt to explain some of these development, scientists often apply the concept of innate ability. characteristics of language have a natural desire to learn a language. Most children's natural ability to learn speech quickly suggests that language acquisition is an innate skill in humans. As a result, scientists generally combine th imitation or conditioning
theory with the theory of innateness.