Noam Chomsky theory - FLA

One of our lessons we were invited to reflect on Noam Chomsky’s Language Acquisition theory. Below you can watch a video in which this famous linguist is interviewed about his argument against behaviourism theory by BBC broadcast. There he looks younger than now as it is not a very recent video.

I’ve come to this conclusion:

During the first half of the twentieth century language was seen under the terms of behaviourism. People concerned to explain language thought that language was a habit incorporated through a process of a response to stimuli, and that it could be reinforced. During the 1960’s, the American linguist, Noam Chomsky developed his theory of LAD and UG. His theory completely changed the traditional way of studying language. Innatism underpinned other theories. One of the problems was that language experiments were very difficult to carry out and it couldn´t be thoroughly tested keeping in mind that the subjects were human babies. Chomsky’s theory was perfect in that context and it has been studied many years being the most outstanding one.

As language evolves we need to take into account new aspects of acquiring a language. In my opinion new theories need to be taken into account in order to enlarge Chomsky’s ideas. What Chomsky developed during the 60’s was a great start to know how a language is acquired. However, the brain is almost a mystery and we still need to continue researching in order to come to a better understanding of how brain works.

No matter if we have different opinions. Your contributions are welcomed!