Educational Psychology / Unit 3 EDP 0236 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Learned or Innate?
Captions available
The idea
Skinner held that language is learned through reinforcement; Chomsky argued that children are biologically prepared, with a language acquisition device and a universal grammar.
In practice
Children say "goed" and "swimmed", forms they never heard adults use.
Where people slip
Such generativity is hard for reinforcement alone to explain; interactionist views add the role of social partners.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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