Role of Nature and Nurture in Language Development
How do both nature and nurture interact in the promotion of language development in young children?
The debate between many researchers is the argument of whether nature or nurture play a more important role in development. In this essay I will be looking into both aspects of nature and nurture focusing specifically on their influence towards language development in children. A main controversial question I will be looking into is the question of whether are we born already equipped with mechanisms which help us to learn language, or is language learned throughout a child’s environment by, for example, imitation and repetition? Studies done by some opposing researchers claim to show that nature and nurture promote language development by interacting together which I will explain in greater detail in my essay.
The meaning of the term language is sometimes overlooked. Young children don’t suddenly acquire the ability to speak full words; instead language is composed of phonemes, “the smallest units of sound-consonants and vowels.” Phonemes, as described by Crosser (2002) in her article, can then combine to form the smallest meaningful units of language called morphemes. Therefore, it is necessary for the brain to distinguish and identify the phonemes of the child’s own language. This differentiation is accomplished by the work of neurons in the auditory cortex within the brain. When infants hear the same phoneme repeatedly, a cluster of neurons becomes wired to respond to that phoneme. Subsequently, the assigned neuron cluster automatically fires when the ear carries that particular phoneme to the brain. This process forms a brain map for the sound of the language in an infant's environment (Begley, 1996). Over time there will be millions of neuron clusters each resembling different phonemes and when the child matures these phonemes will be put together to assemble the native structure of their language. Knowing this reinforces the important role of nature in
The debate between many researchers is the argument of whether nature or nurture play a more important role in development. In this essay I will be looking into both aspects of nature and nurture focusing specifically on their influence towards language development in children. A main controversial question I will be looking into is the question of whether are we born already equipped with mechanisms which help us to learn language, or is language learned throughout a child’s environment by, for example, imitation and repetition? Studies done by some opposing researchers claim to show that nature and nurture promote language development by interacting together which I will explain in greater detail in my essay.
The meaning of the term language is sometimes overlooked. Young children don’t suddenly acquire the ability to speak full words; instead language is composed of phonemes, “the smallest units of sound-consonants and vowels.” Phonemes, as described by Crosser (2002) in her article, can then combine to form the smallest meaningful units of language called morphemes. Therefore, it is necessary for the brain to distinguish and identify the phonemes of the child’s own language. This differentiation is accomplished by the work of neurons in the auditory cortex within the brain. When infants hear the same phoneme repeatedly, a cluster of neurons becomes wired to respond to that phoneme. Subsequently, the assigned neuron cluster automatically fires when the ear carries that particular phoneme to the brain. This process forms a brain map for the sound of the language in an infant's environment (Begley, 1996). Over time there will be millions of neuron clusters each resembling different phonemes and when the child matures these phonemes will be put together to assemble the native structure of their language. Knowing this reinforces the important role of nature in