Imitation and Reinforcement Methods of Language Acquisition

Imitation and Reinforcement Methods of Language Acquisition

1. Summary – Peter’s First Word

“Peter’s First Word” is a case study that elaborates on how children acquire and learn various languages to communicate during their growth and development effectively. Language is, ideally, the primary communication channel used by human beings in addition to body movements, gestures, and other non-verbal techniques. It can be acquired and learned in various ways, the most common ones being imitation and reinforcement, innate acquisition, and social learning. This case study, however, is focused on the former technique, imitation, and reinforcement, which is used to help Peter speak up his first word.

Unlike typical children who start babbling at about the age of six months and say their first word when they are around 15 months, Peter had grown to 22 months without uttering a single word. Her mother noticed the disability and became worried about his son. With an understanding that imitation and reinforcement could significantly save the situation, Peter’s mother resolves to try out the technique during thanksgiving dinner. As the 25-family-member celebration went on, she noted, through gestures, that her son wanted to get up from the high chair he had been sitting on.

Rather than helping his son off the chair, Peter’s mother said the word “up” to see if the son could imitate and relate to the action. Fortunately, Peter tried to imitate the name precisely, as said by his mother. To encourage his vocalization, the entire group stood up unanimously and said, “up.” The group response made Peter so delighted that he began saying the word over and again to elicit the same reaction. At the end of thanksgiving dinner, Peter had repeated the word so many times that he had mastered the sound. it was this imitation and reinforcement procedure that so Peter say his first word, “up.”

2. Reinforcement Method of Language Acquisition

Imitation and reinforcement are a language acquisition technique in which children copy the sounds they hear within their environments, and the adults reinforce such attempts to boost their mastery and understanding. It is not only applicable to language acquisition but also other areas of learning. The basic idea behind reinforcement learning is that children love attention and reward from adults, and when the two factors are provided to them during their attempts to learn a language, they feel so delighted and encouraged to pursue the unknown. They would, of course, feel encouraged to repeat the words being said by adults when the response they get after such attempts is positive.

Peter’s case is perhaps an ideal example of the practical use of reinforcement learning. The imitation of the word ‘up” from his mother and his trials to vocalize it initiated the process of reinforcement. Essentially, the group’s decision to encourage him through the process by unanimously standing and repeating the same word several times reinforced Peter’s initial efforts to vocalize the sound. Due to the hilarious response that Peter received from the crowd, he was encouraged to try on until he mastered the sound and could vocalize it. This single session was a fundamental milestone for Peter as it provided him the opportunity to say his first word and maybe initiated the subsequent learning process.

It seems that attention, reward, and motivation play a critical role in the learning process of children. A child could quickly and easily learn a language if the environment they are raised in is friendly and supportive of the process. Some children could, however, delay learning their language even when provided with a nourishing environment due to disabilities, and that’s imitation, and reinforcement should be used.

References

Lerner, J. W., Johns, B. H. (2015). Learning Disabilities and Related Disabilities: Strategies for success. Cengage Learning Print ISBN: 9781285433202, 1285433203 Edition: 13th.