Topic > Piaget's theories of cognitive growth and language...

It is predicted that Jack will move from using holophrases, or single words that express the meaning of multiple words, to using telegraphic speech in which they are used more words, especially the most important words to express the child's message. It is also noted that Jack is able to identify animals, showing that his style is more referential than expressive. Jack is also expected to begin to show significant growth in the number of words he is able to learn by the age of three, as well as showing the ability to follow correct grammar. There are several theories that attempt to explain how Jack could acquire his language skills; BF Skinner's learning theory, Naoam Chomsky's nativist approach and the interactionist perspective which is a mixture of the two. The interactionist perspective recognizes that a person is genetically predisposed to develop the ability to express oneself verbally and equally important is a person's need for social interaction with respective rewards to shape our linguistic abilities. This was illustrated by the video shown in class where Mandarin women were able to successfully teach children his native language by speaking to them during the critical period of language development. However, attempts to teach them his language using recorded methods were unsuccessful, concluding that it was both children listening to the Mandarin language and, more importantly, human interaction at which children succeed best.