Language is not an instinct

A constructivist approach to first language acquisition in Language development

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Abstract

Language is not an instinct; the philosophy of language has gone through a radical

movement when the constructivist approach set by Jean Piaget took it to a new way where

language is learnt by behavioral, symbolic and operational schemata (Piaget, 1953). According

to him, behavioral schemata are the organized patterns of behavior which is used to represent

objects and experiences; symbolic schemata are the internal mental symbols that are used to

represent experiences; and operational schemata are the internal mental activity that works in

one’s mind on the objects of thought. Piaget’s theory of constructivism is widely discussed and

adopted in the field of language learning and language teaching. His concepts of ‘assimilation’

and ‘accommodation’ to create a mental framework in the mind of a child have been elaborated

and tested by language teachers on the first, second and foreign language learners.

The innateness of language and its rampant followers made the constructivist approach

dim during the 19th and first half of the 20th century. Although there were a few researchers

who believed in the theory and showed their experiments in support, constructivist approach

was hardly accepted until Jean Piaget revived and established in the 20th century. Asher (1969)

evolved a method known as the Total Physical Response where he considered body as a tool

supporting the learner’s mind to habilitate the new words and sentences for a long time;

however, his work didn’t get accepted and laboratory works started only in 1980s (Zimmer,

2001). Constructions are in general form and meaning pairings (Goldberg, 2003).

Constructivist approach emerged very recently that allows observations to be stated directly.

In contrast to the mainstream ‘generative’ approach to language beginning with Chomsky

(1957), constructivist approach focuses on the physical representation of a word that has

nothing to do with the innate.