CLA Major Theorists

Halliday's Functions of Language

- Instrumental: to fulfil a need on the part of the speaker; directly concerned with obtaining food, drink and comfort.

- Regulatory: to influence the behaviour of others; persuading / commanding / requesting

- Interactional: to develop social relationships and ease the process of interaction; phatic dimension of talk.

- Personal: Language used to express the personal preferences and identity of the speaker; ‘Here I am!’ function

- Representational: used to exchange information; relaying or requesting information.

- Heuristic: to learn and explore the environment; questions and answers, or running commentary

- Imaginative: to explore the imagination, accompany play or may arise from storytelling.

Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

Howard Gardner’s work has been, in Smith and Smith’s (1994) terms, a paradigm shifter. He has questioned the idea that intelligence is a single entity, that it results from a single factor, and that it can be measured simply via IQ tests.

He has also challenged the cognitive development work of Piaget. Bringing forward evidence to show that at any one time a child may be at very different stages for example, in number development and spatial/visual maturation, Howard Gardner has successfully undermined the idea that knowledge at any one particular developmental stage hangs together in a structured whole.

Stages of First Language Development

Terminology for Early Non-Standard Usesš

Addition e.g horsey

šDeletion e.g pig à pi

šReduplication e.g choochoo

šSubstitution e.g rabbit à wabbit

šConsonant Cluster Reduction e.g frog à fog

šDeletion of Unstressed Syllables e.g banana à nanna

šAssimilation e.g doggie à goggie

Erik Erikson's Stages of Development

At each stage it can go one of two ways, said to psychologically effect their development into adulthood. 

Summary Table