皮亚杰 VS 乔姆斯基

Language and Learning The Debate between Jean Piaget and Noam Chomsky Jean Piaget (1896-1980) Noam Chomsky (1928-) Region developmental psychology Western philosophy School Geneva school Generative linguistics Analytic philosophy Notable ideas Constructivism Genetic epistemology发生认识论 The theory of cognitive development认知发展理论 Generative grammar Universal grammar Transformational grammar X-bar theory Language acquisition device… Theoretical basis Biology (molluscs) 软体动物 Kant’s Transzendentalismus 康德的先验哲学 Mathematics & logic theory Gestalt Psychology 塔心理学 Rationalism (Platonic ideas)唯理主义 Formalism philosophy The philosophy of Descartes (innate ideas, dualism) Debates： Does the child have an innate core? Is the core innate or constructive? Constructivism Innatism Nurture Nature Focus Cognition linguistic competence Language and cognition Language and cognition are interrelated. Language and cognition are separate entities. Language acquisition The theory of cognitive development: 1) sensorimotor stage感知运动阶段 2) preoperational stage前运算阶段 3) concrete operational stage具体运算阶段 4) formal operational stage形式运算阶段 Schema Cognitive processes:organization, adaptation(assimilation and accommodation ), equilibrium The innate hypothesis LAD Universal grammar Surface structure Deep structure TGG Aim in linguistics The relationship question To produce a grammar for the description of all languages Methodology A corpus-based study / Induction naturalistic observation /psychometrics心理测验学 the psychiatric clinical examination 精神病学临床检查 Hypothesis-deduction-prove Main features Functionalism Biological Clinical Inductive methodology Emphasis on cognition Formalization Rationalism innateness deductive methodology emphasis on interpretation strong generative powers emphasis on linguistic competence emphasis on linguistic universals Something in common apply mathematics’ structure and principles to study language take advantage of the outcomes of biology and genetics to support their ideas reject positivism and empiricism (经验主义忽视主体的作用，把有机体看作被动的东西；作为经验主义的一种现形式，实证主义（Positivism）是一种强调感觉经验，排斥形而上学的西方哲学流派。) Influence / Contributions · Founded the discipline we know today as cognitive development. · Convinced us that children are curious, active explorers who play an important role in their own development. · His theory was one of the first to explain, and not just describe, the process of development. · provides a reasonably accurate overview of how children of different ages think. · a major influence on thinking about social and emotional development as well as many practical implications for educators. · Founder of transformational generative grammar · influenced fields such as computer science, mathematics, and modern psychology · breaks with the rationalist tradition · The conceptual framework of Chomsky’s early work on syntax has been extremely influential among analytic philosophers. Criticism 1) Underestimated developing minds/ Children's Abilities 2) Failed to distinguish competence from performance 3) Provides a vague explanation on cognitive maturation 4) Devoted little attention to social and cultural influences 5) unrepresentative sample of his own three children and other children all from well-educated professionals of high socio-economic status---- difficult to generalize his findings to a larger population. 1) Disagree with UG：claim that a universal grammar can provide descriptions for all languages. 2) When people apply UG to research an unknown language, they have to leave a few blank phrases. 3) Syntax can separate from semantics and pragmatics. If a child acquires the whole grammar of a language, he/she doesn’t learn its culture. 4) A lot of examples are too complicated to understand 5) A vague explanation of UG