Describe one criticism researchers have of the behaviorist and nativist theories of language development.

Answer:

Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: One criticism of the behaviorist theory is that it doesn’t explain why children often use language in a way that is not portrayed by adults. For example, children often use processes like overregularization, which is not mimicked from watching adults, so it isn’t logical to claim that children learn language through imitation. One criticism of the nativist theory is that the process of the language acquisition device (LAD) is vague. Nativist theorists fail to explain how the process really works. Responses may vary but should include some or all of the following information: One criticism of the behaviorist theory is that it doesn’t explain why children often use language in a way that is not portrayed by adults. For example, children often use processes like overregularization, which is not mimicked from watching adults, so it isn’t logical to claim that children learn language through imitation. One criticism of the nativist theory is that the process of the language acquisition device (LAD) is vague. Nativist theorists fail to explain how the process really works.