1.2.7

Social Constructionism

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Social Constructionism

Social constructionists believe that children learn to construct language based on gathering rules from language. Essentially, structure is developed from listening to the use of language.

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Origins

  • Social constructionism was first developed by Wittgenstein in the 1950s but was built upon by Tomasello in 2003.
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Intention reading and pattern finding

  • Tomasello’s theory states that children listen to language and do two things:
    • Intention reading – children learn how to use language to achieve social ends
    • Pattern finding – children look at many utterances and develop schemas based on patterns in language
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Braine

  • Tomasello’s pattern finding theory builds on a theory proposed by Braine in the 1960s.
  • Braine’s theory proposed that children learn language in a ‘slot and frame’ manner.
  • Essentially, the child develops a schema in which variables can be placed to suit the situation.
    • For example, a child may learn the scheme ‘I + want + a + non-specific item’ to form utterances like ‘I want a drink’ or to form the past tense, use a scheme like ‘I + Xed + it’ and substitute a verb into the X – like ‘I liked it’.
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Challenging social constructionism

  • Children may understand social concepts (like ‘mummy’ and ‘daddy’) before the intention reading stage starts.
  • There is a fundamental lack of evidence – we cannot truly know what happens in a child’s brain.

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Jump to other topics

1Children's Language Development

1.1Stages of Development

1.1.1A Child's First Year & Consonant Acquisition

1.1.2Consonant Acquisition

1.1.3Beginning Stages of Language

1.1.4Lexical Development

1.1.5Stages of Development

1.1.6Grammatical Constructions

1.2Theories of Language Development

1.2.1Behaviourism

1.2.2Interactionism

1.2.3Interactionism 2

1.2.4Nativism

1.2.5Chomsky

1.2.6Cognitivism

1.2.7Social Constructionism

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Cognitivism