University of Mhammed Bougara

Module :linguistics
Level : 3rd year .
What is the Interactionist Theory?
The interactionist theory was first suggested by Jerome Bruner in 1983 who believed that,
although children do have an innate ability to learn language, they also require plenty of
direct contact and interaction with others to achieve full language fluency.

In other words, the theory of interaction suggests that children can't learn to speak just by
watching TV or listening to conversations. They have to fully engage with others and
understand the contexts in which language is used.

Caregivers tend to provide the linguistic support that helps a child learn to speak. They correct
mistakes, simplify their own speech and build the scaffolding that helps a child to develop
language. This support from caregivers can also be referred to as the 'Language Acquisition
Support System' (LASS).

The interactionist approach looks at both social and biological perspectives to explain how
children develop language. It moves away from Noam Chomsky's Nativist Theory which
failed to recognise the importance of the social environment in language acquisition.

The interactionist theory also suggests that:

 Children learn language as they have the desire to communicate with the world
around them (i.e., it is a communication tool to do things like interact with others, ask
for food, and demand attention!)
 Language develops depending on social interactions. This includes the people with
whom a child may interact and the overall experience of the interaction.
 The social environment a child grows up in greatly affects how well and how quickly
they develop their language skills.

Interactionist Theory meaning

Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) first laid the foundations for the interactionist theory when he
developed the sociocultural theory of language development.

Vygotsky suggested that children acquire their cultural values and beliefs through interacting
and collaborating with more knowledgeable people in their community (conveniently called
the 'more knowledgeable other'). He also emphasised the importance of the cultural and social
context in language learning, arguing that social learning often comes before language
development.

In other words, we pay a lot of attention to the world, the culture, and the people around us!
Interactionist Theory example

What are some examples of the interactionist theory?

Think about how different cultures have different cultural norms that affect the language they
use.

For example, Brits may have a better understanding of sarcasm, which is common in the
British language. Vygotsky argued that these social understandings are learned through social
interaction, especially with caregivers in early development.

Vygotsky developed key concepts such as:

 Cultural-specific tools - these are 'tools' specific to a certain culture. This includes
technical tools such as books and media as well as psychological tools such as
language, signs, and symbols.

 Private speech - this is basically talking out loud to yourself, for example, if a child is
trying to figure out a maths question they may talk themselves through it. After this
stage, children's private speech will become internalised monologues (i.e., the inner
speech in your own head) - although we all do talk to ourselves sometimes!

 The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - This is the zone of potential

development in which a child can develop skills that require the support of a more
knowledgeable teacher. This teacher can provide scaffolding, encouraging the child
and helping them to master skills and gain more knowledge.

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Characteristics of Interactionist Theory:

Let's have a look at some of the key concepts within the interactionist theory such as
scaffolding, the Language Acquisition Support System, and Child-Directed Speech.

What is scaffolding?
With regards to the interactionist theory, Bruner used the concept of 'scaffolding' to explain
the role of caregivers in child language development. He first developed the idea from
Vygotsky's theory of proximal development which emphasised that children need a more
knowledgeable other to develop their knowledge and skills.

Think of scaffolding on a building - it is there to support the building whilst the bricks and
windows are being put into place before it is then gradually removed once the building is
finished and stable.

Bruner argued that caregivers provide the same kind of support for children. They provide
support (referred to as the 'Language Acquisition Support System' (LASS) and this is
gradually removed as the child learns and develops by themselves.
What is the Language Acquisition Support System
(LASS)?
LASS is a term used to describe the support from caregivers/parents/teachers in a child's
early language development. They provide active support in social interactions such as:

 Adjusting language to suit the child. This is sometimes referred to as 'motherese',

'caregiver speech', 'baby talk', or 'Child-Directed Speech (CDS)'.
 Collaborative learning such as joint reading. This can involve an adult looking at
picture books with a child and pointing out key vocabulary, for example, by saying
'this is a banana' as they point to a picture of a banana.
 Encouraging the child and providing feedback through interactions. For example, the
adult may smile when the child talks and say 'yes, good, that's a banana!'
 Providing examples for the child to imitate. This includes using certain vocabulary in
certain social situations, for example, by encouraging the child to 'say hi!' or 'say thank
you!'
 Games such as 'peek-a-boo' that practice the turn-taking that is necessary for
interactions

Bruner developed the concept of the LASS in response to Noam Chomsky's Language
Acquisition Device (LAD). Both concepts of the LASS and LAD argue that we are born with
an innate ability to acquire language, however, the LASS takes this one step further, arguing
that we also require interaction with others to learn.

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What is Child-Directed Speech (CDS)?

In the interactionist theory, child-directed speech (CDS for short) refers to the way in which
caregivers and adults typically speak to children. It is thought to enhance communication
between child and caregiver by helping the child to identify sounds, syllables, and words in
sentences. The slow and melodic speech is also thought to hold the attention of toddlers.

What are examples of Child-Directed Speech?

Some examples of Child-Directed Speech in the theory of interaction includes:

 Simplified language - generally, adults will use straightforward language when

talking to children so that they are more easily understood, e.g., by using a more
limited vocabulary and grammatically simplified sentences.
 Repetitive questioning - e.g., 'what is it? what's this?'
 Repetitive language - e.g., 'it's a cat. Look, it's a cat'
 Slowed speech
 Higher and more melodic pitch - i.e., by making their voice go up and down
  More frequent and longer pauses

The interactionist theory is supported by some studies that emphasizes the importance of
interaction in language learning. This includes the following:

The importance of parent-child social interaction

A study by Carpenter, Nagell, Tomasello, Butterworth, and Moore (1998) showed the
importance of parent-child social interaction when learning to speak. They studied
factors such as joint attentional engagement (e.g., reading a book together), gaze and point
following, gestures, and understanding/producing language. The results showed a correlation
between parent-child social interactions (e.g., joint attention) and language skills, suggesting
that interaction is important in a child's development of language.

The importance of joint attention

The importance of joint attention in language learning is also shown in Kuhl's (2003)
study. Joint attention helped children to recognise speech boundaries (i.e., where one word
ends and another begins).

The importance of a lack of interaction

The Genie Case Study about Genie the 'feral' child' (1970) shows how a lack of interaction
in early life negatively affects language learning. Genie was kept locked in a room and
deprived of contact for her first 13 years of life. This early stage is believed to be the critical
period of language acquisition (i.e., the key timeframe in which a child acquires language).

When she was discovered, Genie lacked basic language skills, however, she had a strong
desire to communicate. Over the next few years, although she did learn to acquire plenty of
new words, she never managed to apply grammatical rules and speak language fluently.
Genie's lack of language skills and failure to acquire fluent language can therefore
support the idea that interaction with a caregiver is vital in language acquisition.

Limitations of Interactionist Theory

There are some limitations to the interactionist theory:

1. Researchers such as Elinor Ochs and Bambi B. Schieffelin have suggested that the
data collected from studies supporting the Interactionist theory are actually over-
representative of middle-class, white, western families. This means that the data
may not be as applicable to parent-child interactions in other classes or cultures who
may speak to their children differently but still acquire fluent speech.
2. It has been noted that children from cultures where Child-Directed Speech isn't
used as frequently (e.g., Papua New Guinea) still develop fluent language and pass
through the same stages when acquiring language. This suggests that Child-
Directed Speech isn't essential in language acquisition.

Interactionist Theory - Key takeaways

  The interactionist theory emphasises the importance of interaction and social
environment in acquiring language, whilst also recognising that language is innate,
suggesting that children develop language because they desire to communicate with
the world.
 The theory was first suggested by Jerome Bruner in 1983 and derives from Vygotsky's
socio-cultural theory which emphasises the importance of culture and social context in
language learning.
 The sociocultural theory highlights the importance of social-pragmatic cues (e.g., body
language, tone of voice) that are taught to a child alongside language in relation to the
context of a situation.
 Scaffolding, first inspired by Vygotsky's 'Zone of Proximal Development', refers to the
assistance provided by a more knowledgeable caregiver that helps a child to develop
their language.
 A limitation of the theory is that some linguists believe the data supporting the theory
is over-representative of middle-class, Western families.


In Social Theory and Social Structure (1949; rev. ed. 1968), Merton developed a
theory of deviant behaviour based on different types of social adaptation. He
defined the interrelationship between social theory and empirical research,
advancing a structural-functional approach to the study of society and creating
the concepts of manifest and latent function and dysfunction. Other works by
Merton include Mass Persuasion (1946), On the Shoulders of Giants (1965), On
Theoretical Sociology (1967), Social Theory and Functional Analysis (1969),
The Sociology of Science (1973), and Social Ambivalence and Other Essays
(1976). He edited Qualitative and Quantitative Social Research (1979),
containing papers in honour of Paul Lazarsfeld, and Sociological Traditions
from Generation to Generation (1980).

structural functionalism, in sociology and other social sciences, a school of thought

according to which each of the institutions, relationships, roles, and norms that together
constitute a society serves a purpose, and each is indispensable for the continued existence of
the others and of society as a whole. In structural functionalism, social change is regarded as
an adaptive response to some tension within the social system. When some part of an
integrated social system changes, a tension between this and other parts of the system is
created, which will be resolved by the adaptive change of the other parts.

The origin of contemporary references to social structure can be traced to the French social
scientist Émile Durkheim, who argued that parts of society are interdependent and that this
interdependency imposes structure on the behaviour of institutions and their members. To
Durkheim, the interrelations between the parts of society contributed to social unity—an
integrated system with life characteristics of its own, exterior to individuals yet driving their
behaviour. Durkheim pointed out that groups can be held together on two contrasting bases:
mechanical solidarity, a sentimental attraction of social units or groups that perform the same
or similar functions, such as preindustrial self-sufficient farmers; or organic solidarity, an
interdependence based on differentiated functions and specialization, as seen in a factory, the
military, government, or other complex organizations. Other theorists of Durkheim’s period,
notably Henry Maine and Ferdinand Tönnies, made similar distinctions..

A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, a British social anthropologist, gave the concept of social structure a
central place in his approach and connected it to the concept of function. In his view, the
components of the social structure have indispensable functions for one another—the
continued existence of the one component is dependent on that of the others—and for society
as a whole, which is seen as an integrated organic entity. His comparative studies of
preliterate societies demonstrated that the interdependence of institutions regulated much of
social and individual life. Radcliffe-Brown defined social structure empirically as patterned,
or “normal,” social relations—i.e., those aspects of social activities that conform to accepted
social rules or norms. These rules bind society’s members to socially useful activities.

Structural functionalism underwent some modification when the American sociologist Talcott
Parsons enunciated the “functional prerequisites” that any social system must meet in order to
survive: developing routinized interpersonal arrangements (structures), defining relations to
the external environment, fixing boundaries, and recruiting and controlling members. Along
with Robert K. Merton and others, Parsons classified such structures on the basis of their
functions. This approach, called structural-functional analysis (and also known as systems
theory), was applied so broadly that some sociologists took it to be synonymous with the
scientific study of social organization.

The preeminence of structural functionalism came to an end in the 1960s, however, with new
challenges to the functionalist notion that a society’s survival depended on institutional
practices. This belief, along with the notion that the stratification system selected the most
talented and meritorious individuals to meet society’s needs, was seen by some as a
conservative ideology that legitimated the status quo and thereby prevented social reform. It
also ignored the potential of the individual within society. In light of such criticism of
structural functionalism, some sociologists proposed a “conflict sociology,” which held that
dominant institutions repress weaker groups and that conflict pervades all of society,
including the family, the economy, polity, and education. This neo-Marxist perspective gained
prominence in the United States with the social turmoil of the civil rights movement and the
antiwar movement of the 1960s and ’70s, influencing many younger sociologists.

Other criticisms leveled at structural functionalism from a variety of theoretical perspectives

were that it was based on faulty analogies between societies and biological organisms; that it
was tautological, teleological, or excessively abstract; that its conception of social change as
an adaptive response was inadequate; and that it lacked a methodology for empirical

confirmation.

Inteactionist/Social Theory of Language Acquisition

The interactionist/social theory proposes that language exists for the purpose of
communication and can only be learned in the context of interaction with adults and other
children. It stresses the importance of the environment and culture in which the language is
being learned. Interactionists acknowledge the presence of innate biological mechanisms, but
emphasize the critical role of social interactions (Jensen & Arnett, 2017; Levine & Munsch,
2018). Lev Vygotsky is the most well-known interactionist theorist and provided a theoretical
framework for other interactionists to further develop theories of language acquisition.

Influenced by the work of Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner believed that social interaction plays a
fundamental role in the development of cognition in general and language in particular.
Whereas Chomsky focused on innate mechanisms of language acquisition such as the idea of
a language acquisition device (LAD), Bruner proposed the language acquisition support
system (LASS) in opposition to Chomsky (Bakhurst & Shanker, 2001). The LASS refers to
the social and cultural experiences that support and encourage language acquisition. This
includes child-directed language exposure (e.g., parentese, dialogic reading, etc.,) as well as
the various activities children engage in while also receiving exposure to language. Whereas
the LAD emphasizes that children come into the world programmed ready to learn language,
the LASS emphasizes that it is the world that is ready to expose and support children in
learning language.

A powerful argument for the critical role of social interaction and not just language exposure
in general, comes from the body of research comparing language learning from live
interactions versus pre-recorded exposure played from a screened device. Toddlers who hear a
new word uttered by a speaker on a recorded video are less likely to learn that word than
those who hear the same word from an in-person speaker (Krcmar et al., 2007; Krcmar, 2010;
Kuhl, Tsao & Liu, 2003; Roseberry et al., 2014; Troseth et al., 2018). Although language
learning from video occurs in some situations (e.g., Scofield et al., 2007; Linebarger and
Vaala, 2010; Vandewater, 2011), when learning from video is directly compared to learning
from face-to-face interactions, toddlers usually learn better from an actual event or person
who is present. Even when language is presented through a screen, infants demonstrate
greater language learning when two or more infants are present together (Lytle, Garcia-Sierra
& Kuhl, 2018). To explain what is missing from video, Patricia Kuhl and her colleagues
(2003) proposed that interpersonal social cues offered in a face-to-face setting “attract infants’
attention and motivate learning” and that the presence of a person allows the sharing of
“information that is referential in nature” (Kuhl, 2007). A speaker’s communicative intentions
may be less clear when offered on video, and the parts of language may be more challenging
to extract. .

The interactionist approach can also help explain how differences in the quantity and quality
of language exposure affect a child's language development. The contexts that children are
raised in can be very different and the differences in language exposure across various
contexts should be emphasized when considering how children acquire language (Rowe &
Weisleder, 2020). Differences in language exposure, even exposure very early in life, such as
exposure at a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for children born premature, can have long
lasting effects. Variations in the amount of adult language a newborn heard on a single day in
the NICU were positively associated with language skills at 7 and 18 months of age (Caskey
et al, 2014) and the more language premature children heard at 16 months, the faster their
language processing abilities were at 18 months of age (Adams et al., 2018). Furthermore, the
higher the quality (responsive, verbally elaborative, and non-intrusive) of caregiver
interactions with 22 month old children born prematurely, the larger their vocabulary
comprehension was at three years of age (Loi et al., 2017). This research, along with so much
more, demonstrates the critical importance of social interaction and exposure in the process of
language acquisition.