ABSTRACT
Skinner proposed that reinforcement and behaviour shaping of the child's vocalisations could explain acquisition of language. One of the earliest psychological theories of how children acquire language was put forward by the behaviourist Skinner. Although Skinner's theory seemed to be a plausible and logical account of language acquisition it soon became apparent that there are alot of problems with it. Nativist theories, such as Chomsky's, emphasise the role of innate mechanisms in language acquisition. Chomsky suggests that humans have a language acquisition device (LAD) that enables children to learn any language simply by being exposed to it. There are a number of different theories of how children acquire language, but they fall into three main types: environmental, nativist and social interactionist theories. The environmental theories concentrate on the role of learning in language acquisition. Child-directed speech is a simplified form of speech in which adults alter both the presentation and content to make the speech accessible to the child.
