Theories & Approaches
Which theory emphasizes reinforcement and imitation?
What is the Behaviorist theory?
What is typically the first word milestone age for most infants?
What is 12 months/one year?
Which part of the brain is critical for speech production?
What is Broca’s area?
What do you call learning two languages from birth?
What is simultaneous bilingualism?
A child who says “all four-legged animals are ‘dog’” is making what kind of vocabulary error?
What is overextension or generalization?
Which linguist is most associated with the Nativist/Universal Grammar approach?
Who is Noam Chomsky?
By what age have most children reached 90% of adult brain size, usually combining words into phrases?
What is age five?
What is the process of coating nerve fibers with myelin, speeding neural transmission?
What is myelination?
When a child loses skills in their home language as they acquire a second language, this is called what?
What is subtractive bilingualism?
After a left hemisphere stroke, an adult understands you but cannot speak fluently. What region might be damaged?
What is Broca’s area?
Using context, social interaction, and a “more knowledgeable other” best matches which theorist’s ideas?
Who is Lev Vygotsky?
Name the milestone where a child can recognize that objects still exist when out of sight.
What is object permanence?
Which lobe of the brain is most involved in auditory processing and comprehension?
What is the temporal lobe?
Combining elements from both languages in one sentence (e.g., “Yo want milk”) is called?
What is code-switching?
A student interrupts others and fails at turn-taking, despite good vocabulary. What language area is affected?
A student interrupts others and fails at turn-taking, despite good vocabulary. What language area is affected?
In which stage of language development is joint attention a foundational skill?
What is the illocutionary stage?
Which skill involves coordinating attention with another person on an object or event and emerges reliably by 9 months?
What is joint attention?
Which region matures latest and is involved in planning, inhibition, and higher-order language?
What is the frontal lobe/prefrontal cortex?
Which term describes a period in L2 acquisition when a child understands but does not yet speak?
What is the silent period?
A child points to a cookie and says “more” after a prompt during snack. According to Vygotsky, what makes this possible?
What is the zone of proximal development/social scaffolding?
When a child says “I goed to the park” despite correct modeling, which cognitive process is this?
What is overregularization (or productive rule use)?
By what age do we see a 30% decrease in straight face-to-face communication due to the development of the infant's visual acuity?
What is 12 weeks?
What is the elimination of unused neural connections, leading to more efficient brain functioning?
What is neural pruning?
If a 10-year-old is successful in both English at school and Spanish at home, what kind of bilingualism is this?
What is additive bilingualism?
A 7-year-old newly arrived in the US spends months listening intently, gesturing but not speaking in English. Which L2 acquisition stage is this?
What is the pre-production stage?