Correct Answer - Option 3 : Surplus Energy Theory
Language development in humans is a process starting early in life. Infants start without knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage in babbling.
Language development is thought to proceed by ordinary processes of learning in which children acquire the forms, meanings, and uses of words and utterances from the linguistic input.
Theories of language development are:
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Skinner - Operant Conditioning: B. F. Skinner believed that children learn language through operant conditioning; in other words, children receive “rewards” for functionally using language.
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Chomsky - Language Acquisition Device: Noam Chomsky’s work discusses the biological basis for language and claims that children have innate abilities to learn the language. Chomsky terms this innate ability the “language acquisition device.”
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Piaget - Assimilation and Accommodation: Jean Piaget’s theory of language development suggests that children use both assimilation and accommodation to learn the language. Assimilation is the process of changing one’s environment to place information into an already-existing schema (or idea). Accommodation is the process of changing one’s schema to adapt to the new environment. Piaget believed children need to first developmentally before language acquisition can occur.
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Vygotsky - Zone of Proximal Development: Lev Vygotsky’s theory of language development focused on social learning and the zone of proximal development (ZPD). The ZPD is a level of development obtained when children engage in social interactions with others; it is the distance between a child’s potential to learn and the actual learning that takes place.
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Theory of Imitation: the idea that children imitated what they heard around them. This theory is based on the behaviorism of B. F. Skinner and the work of Pavlov. This can not be all of the stories because there would be no overextensions, no overgeneralizations. Adults do not say “went” but children frequently do, so they can’t just be imitating what the adults say.
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Theory of Maturation: Maturationism is associated with the concept of developmental stages. Maturation theorists maintain that the universal and invariant sequence of human development can be described and that the genetic makeup of an individual determines the pace of such development. It is often associated with the work of Arnold Gesell who, along with his colleagues at the Clinic of Child Development at Yale University, charted the development of thousands of children and described developmental milestones that were achieved in a developmental sequence.
So, It is very clear that Surplus Energy Theory is not a theory of Language Development. So, the correct answer is Surplus Energy Theory. Surplus Energy Theory is a theory of play.
