• Children’s biological readiness to learn language interacts with experiences with language in the environment to bring about language development

• Bi-directional interplay of biological & environmental factors

• Child is an active constructor of language

• Language learning takes place in natural settings through social interactions

• Language Acquisition Support System (LASS)

• Facilitating Language Development

• Adults adjust according to the child’s ability, but there are no universal characteristics of parental language interactions, as the consistency may be more important than the actual content

• Non-verbal games

• Child directed speech

Describe the Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

• Chomsky’s Language Acquisition Device (LAD): mental structure in the brain that incorporates an innate concept of language

• Once children have sufficient vocab they can combine words into grammatically consistent utterances & understand sentences

• Not an actual brain structure

• Collection of strategies and tactics that environmental influences (initially parents) provide the child

• Parents’ natural efforts serve important functions

• Children are ready to take advantage of these environmental opportunities