Psycholinguistics : The Nativist Theory/ The Mentalist Theory / The Innatism Theory

 

Nativist theory is a biological based theory. It implies that human beings are pre-programmed with the innate ability to develop language. According to this theory, children are born with the innate ability to acquire knowledge and this ability enables them to acquire and master on their native language or mother tongue by the age of three.

 The Nativist theory suggests that babies possess a set of grammatical rules in their minds called universal grammar. This universal grammar was first conceptualized and introduced to the linguistic community in 1960 by Noam Chomsky, a linguistic professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIS). According to him, all humans are born with a natural ability or biologically programmed to learn language. He says that human brains contain a small device which is called Language Acquisition Device (LAD). This device helps them to learn language.

Studies have shown that there are specific physical parts in brains that are involved in receiving and producing language. Second language acquisition (SLA) theorists say that learners can learn second and subsequent languages if they are instructed properly by creating suitable conditions. This also suggests that language learners may develop competence if they are taught in natural communication and with authentic materials. As our brains are programmed to learn a language, we just need some stimuli to do that. However, human beings do not learn a language by following instructions blindly; they make mistakes, change structures and make own sentences.

It is also called Innatism theory or Mentalist theory.