Free English Language Dissertations - Meanwhile, The Locus On Empiricism Was Propounded By Skinner, Bruner, And,
Meanwhile, the locus on empiricism was propounded by Skinner, Bruner, and, especially, Vygotsky who considered that children’s language development was more enhanced in environments where children were encouraged to develop their knowledge from adults caring for them. Of particular relevance to this concept was the study undertaken by Hampson and Nelson (1993 cited in Mercer and Swan, 1996, page 23). This interactionist concept of individuals reacting in response to their environment reflects the principle behind language as a tool for social action, reflected in Hampson and Nelson’s study (1993, page 327. Also Mercer and Swan, 1996, page 23).
Spiral Curriculum
The basic premise behind Bruner’s scaffolding theory was a facilitator directing a child to develop their language through implementing a task-based system that builds on a child’s inherent knowledge. This process became known as the spiral curriculum and involved the development of gradually more complex tasks based on Bruner’s principles that any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development (Bruner, 1963, page 33), famously embodied by Vygotsky:
What the child can do in co-operation today, he can do alone tomorrow
(Vygotsky, 1962 cited in Mercer and Swan, 1996, page 113)
Chomsky, contributing to these nativist principles, suggests that, through this concept of universal acquisition, children are enabled to extract information from surrounding conversations and attempt to apply these concepts to their own developing language, a factor referred to by Lieven (Mercer and Swan, 1996, page 36), although a debate continues to exist as to the benefits of dyadic or polyadic influences (Lieven in Mercer and Swan, 1996, page 36).
