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Piaget - Cognitive-Developmental Theory
Active knowledge construction in children occurs through interactions with their environments and staged biological maturation. -
Skinner - Behaviorist Theory
Language is a set of verbal behaviors learned through operant conditioning (desired behaviors are reinforced immediately). -
Chomsky - Nativist Theory
Language is a unique human accomplishment and all children are innately equipped with a language acquisition device (LAD), which includes a built-in storage capacity for common language rules; universal grammar. -
Bruner - Constructivist Theory
Three integrated modes of representation (enactive, iconic, and symbolic representation) guide the manner in which knowledge is stored and encoded. -
Bowlby - Ethological Theory of Attachment
A child’s emotional connection to a caregiver is an evolved response that promotes survival. The quality of this attachment has a profound impact on a child’s feelings of security and ability to form trusting relationships. -
Ainsworth - Attachment Theory
Identified three main attachment styles (secure, insecure avoidant, and insecure ambivalent/resistant) using her Strange Situation Classification (SSC) technique. She concluded that these attachment styles were the result of early interactions with the mother. -
Vygotsky - Sociocultural Theory
Cognitive and language development is a socially mediated process and knowledge is gained through cooperative or collaborative dialogue with a skillful tutor. Vygotsky’s More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) and the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) further explains this sociocultural acquisition of knowledge. -
Krashen - Monitor Model Theory
Set of five hypotheses (Acquisition-learning distinction, Natural Order hypothesis, Monitor hypothesis, Input hypothesis, and Affective Filter hypothesis) that explain second language acquisition and the differences between the “acquired system” and the “learned system.” -
Swain - Comprehensible Output (CO) Hypothesis
Language learning takes place when a learner encounters and notices a gap in their linguistic knowledge. -
Schmidt - Noticing Hypothesis
Noticing the grammatical features of a language is an essential starting point for language acquisition.
