Cognitive Psychology
vs.
Chomskyan Linguistics
Lwin Gugin
ED661 - TESOL Theory and Instructional Development. SOE.UOG.
September 27, 2013.
What is Cognitive Psychology?
• It is the scientific study of mind and mental
function, including learning, memory, attention,
perception, reasoning, language, conceptual
development, and decision making.
• The modern study of cognition rests on the
premise that the brain can be understood as a
complex computing system (Rutgers. School of
Arts and Science)
Cognitive Psychology (continued)
• Fundamentally, cognitive psychology studies
how people acquire and apply knowledge or
information.
• It is closely related to the highly interdisciplinary
cognitive science and influenced by artificial
intelligence, computer science, philosophy,
anthropology, linguistics, biology, physics, and
neuroscience.
Lu, Z-L., & Dosher, B. A. (2007).
Cognitive Psychology and
Chomskyan Linguistics
• 1950s - The Cognitive Revolution began
• Researchers in several fields, including Noam
Chomsky (1959) began to develop theories of mind
based on complex representations and
computational procedures
• In the 1960s, Chomsky talked about the
relationships between transformational grammar
and experimental psychology, one of the three
approaches of Cognitive Psychology.
Learning and language processing,
sub-domains of Cognitive Psychology
• Cognitive psychologists study which new
information is acquired and the conditions under
which it is acquired.
• Psycholinguistics focuses on language
acquisition, language comprehension, language
production, and the psychology of reading
• Linguistic approaches focus on the formal
structures of languages and language use
(Chomsky, 1965).
Lu, Z-L., & Dosher, B. A. ((2007).
Language, Linguistics and Chomsky
Chomsky (1928 –
•Is a philosopher, linguist, and political
scientist.
•Received his Ph. D in 1955 from the
University of Pennsylvania in
Philadelphia, and joined the staff of the
MIT in the same year.
•“Chomsky is, without a doubt, the
greatest linguist ever,” (Rondal,1994).
•Chomsky has been described as the
"father of modern linguistics" (Graff and
van Urk, 2012).
Motherese and Language Acquisition:
Chomsky’s Perspectives
• “Motherese” is the implication of the fact that children acquire
language because of the highly simplified language system
presented to them.
• Children commonly pick up the language from their peers who
are not particularly organizing the data for them
• Chomsky has stated that “language grows in the mind in the
way other biological systems grow.
• Children are presented with a certain range of data and their
minds develop a rich and complex system of knowledge.
(Chomsky, 1994, Interview with Rondal)
Chomsky’s Nativist Theory
• Language Acquisition is innately determined
• Chomsky in 1965 proposed that all people have an
innate biological ability to acquire a language
• He theorized that people possess a Language
Acquisition Device
• LAD enables children to understand and make
utterances that they have not previously heard.
• Chomsky suggests that, if the correct input is
provided, the LAD predisposes all people to the
second language acquisition in the same
manner.
L2 Theory and Instruction with
underpinning of Chomsky’s LAD
Based on the LAD, Steven Krashen developed his
monitor theory with the following hypotheses:
– The Input Hypothesis (1977)
– Natural Order Hypothesis (1981)
– The Affective Filter Hypothesis(1982) and
– The Acquisition vs. Learning Hypothesis
(1985).
Escamilla & Grassi (2000).
Summing Up
Cognitive
Psychology
Psycholinguistics
Nativist
Theory of
L2
Acquisition
References
•
Escamilla, K., & Grassi, E. (2000). A Brief Description of Second Language
Acquisition. The Professional Development Resource Series, “Second
Language Acquisition.” BUENO Center, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Retrieved from
http://www.wce.wwu.edu/Resources/CIRCLE/Articles/SLA%20Escamilla%2
BGrassi.pdf
•
Graff, P., & van Urk, C. (Eds.). (2012). Chomsky’s Linguistics: Special
edition collected works of Noam Chomsky. MIT Working Papers in
Linguistics. ISBN-10: 0615567126, ISBN-13: 978-0615567129. Retrieved
from http://mitwpl.mit.edu/catalog/chomsky.
•
Lu, Z-L., & Dosher, B. A. (2007). Cognitive Psychology. Scholarpedia,
2(8):2769. Retrieved from
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Cognitive_psychology
•
Rondal, J. A. (1994). Pieces of Minds in Psycholinguistics: Steven Pinker,
Kenneth Wexler, and Noam Chomsky. A Series of Interviews conducted by
Jean A. Rondal. International Journal Of Psychology, 29(1), 85.
•
Rutgers. (2013). Program Overview. Cognitive Psychology. School of Arts
and Science. Retrieved from http://psych.rutgers.edu/menu-iv/co.