Language Development I: Behaviorist Perspective

Skinner’s behaviorist perspective on language development proposes that language learning arises from experience and learned associations.

According to Skinner, children gain language through operant conditioning, in which consequences shape behavior.

Infants begin by babbling randomly. Caregivers reinforce those babbling sounds that resemble adult speech.

By repeating these reinforced sounds, infants gradually produce vocalizations that become more speech-like.

Building on this idea, social learning theorists argued that infants also learn language by observing and imitating the speech they hear around them.

Infants listen to caregivers’ sounds and rhythms, observe their mouth movements, and attempt to reproduce them.

As their imitation becomes more accurate, they gradually produce the sounds used in their native language.

Positive responses from caregivers can support this process, but imitation remains the primary mechanism of learning.

Together, reinforcement and imitation support infants’ early language learning.