The constructivist approach

Lieven, Elena; Brandt, Silke

doi:10.1174/021037011797238586

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…Thus, the constructivist approach to language emerged to describe the very subtle and complex interactions between lexical items and syntactic structures (Ellis, ). From a different tradition, but largely consistent with this constructivist approach, usage‐based approaches to first language acquisition highlight the multifarious ways in which language is acquired and the close connection between children's actual exposure and their productions (Lieven & Brandt, ; Lieven, Salomo, & Tomasello, ; MacWhinney, ; Tomasello, ; Wonnacott, Boyd, Thomson, & Goldberg, ). Such usage‐based approaches are now also beginning to gain currency in second language acquisition research (Ellis, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Combining Language Corpora With Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

Monaghan

Rowland

2016

Language Learning

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Historically, first language acquisition research was a painstaking process of observation, requiring the laborious hand-coding of children's linguistic productions, followed by the generation of abstract theoretical proposals for how the developmental process unfolds.Recently, the ability to collect large-scale corpora of children's language exposure has revolutionised the field. New techniques enable more precise measurements of children's actual language input, and these corpora constrain computational and cognitive theories of language development, which can then generate predictions about learning behaviour.We describe several instances where corpus, computational, and experimental work have been productively combined to uncover the first language acquisition process and the richness of multimodal properties of the environment, highlighting how these methods can be extended to address related issues in second language research. Finally, we outline some of the difficulties that can be encountered when applying multi-method approaches and show how these difficulties can be obviated.Combining approaches in language acquisition 3 Combining Language Corpora with Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition ResearchMultiple methods in language acquisition research are now well-established, although they have not been introduced without difficulty. In this paper, we describe the challenges of combining corpus, experimental, and computational approaches to research in first language acquisition. We discuss the benefits of multi-method approaches, andshow how these allow us to address fundamental questions in first language acquisition, with relevance to related issues in second language learning. Through three examples of successful combination of multiple methods, we illustrate these benefits, and suggest how some of the difficulties of their application may be circumvented for second language acquisition research.Historically, first language acquisition research has been dominated by attempts to describe formal mechanisms that can explain why children acquire the same language structures in the same order, despite great variation in the language environment (Chomsky, 1955;Pinker, 1984). Consequently, much effort in language acquisition research has focussed on determining the universal grammar that described the deep structure (or logical form) of children's linguistic constructions and how this is activated by exposure to a particular language (Chomsky, 1981). Similar arguments have been applied in second language acquisition research in terms of whether we need to posit an innately specified grammar to explain acquisition, or whether there is sufficient positive and negative evidence for the learner to be able to acquire the structure of the language Combining approaches in language acquisition 4 without innate structure (Ellis, 2013;Flynn, Martohardjono, & O'Neil, 1998;Hawkins, 2001;White, 1996).This theoretical approach has been largely unconcerned with combining multiple approaches to i...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Combining Language Corpora With Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

Monaghan

Rowland

2016

Language Learning

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“…In first language acquisition, cognitive and usage-based models show that acquisition starts with 'lexically specific phrases and [children then] gradually build up a repertoire of increasingly abstract constructions' (Dąbrowska and Lieven, 2005 : 437;cf. also Dąbrowska, 2014 ;Lieven and Brandt, 2011 ;Tomasello, 2005 ). FSs are therefore, in an individual sense, where it all starts for language.…”

Section: Formulaic Sequencesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Formulaic sequences: a drop in the ocean of constructions or something more significant?*

Buerki¹

2018

Formulaicity and Creativity in Language and Literature

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This article investigates how formulaic sequences fi t into a constructionist approach to grammar, which is a major post-Chomskyan family of approaches to linguistic structure. The author considers whether, in this framework, formulaic sequences represent a phenomenon that is suffi ciently diff erent to warrant special status or whether they might best be studied in terms of the larger set of all constructions found in language. Based on data drawn from a large corpus of Wikipedia texts, it is argued that it is extremely diffi cult to form a distinct class of formulaic sequences without creating highly arbitrary boundaries. On the other hand, based on existing theoretical claims that formulaic sequences are the basis of fi rst language acquisition, a marker of profi ciency in a language, critical to the success of communicative acts and key to rapid language processing, it is argued that formulaic sequences as constructions are nevertheless signifi cant enough to be the focus of research, and a theoretical category meriting particular attention. These fi ndings have key repercussions both for research primarily interested in formulaic language and phraseology as well as for construction grammatical research.

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“…Thus, the constructivist approach to language emerged to describe the very subtle and complex interactions between lexical items and syntactic structures (Ellis, 2013). From a different tradition, but largely consistent with this constructivist approach, usage-based approaches to first language acquisition highlight the multifarious ways in which language is acquired and the close connection between children's actual exposure and their productions (Lieven & Brandt, 2011;Lieven, Salomo, & Tomasello, 2009;MacWhinney, 2005;Tomasello, 2003;Wonnacott, Boyd, Thomson, & Goldberg, 2012). Such usage-based approaches are now also beginning to gain currency in second language acquisition research (Ellis, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Combining language corpora with experimental and computational approaches for language acquisition research

Rowland¹

2016

Preprint

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Historically, first language acquisition research was a painstaking process of observation, requiring the laborious hand-coding of children’s linguistic productions, followed by the generation of abstract theoretical proposals for how the developmental process unfolds. Recently, the ability to collect large-scale corpora of children’s language exposure has revolutionised the field. New techniques enable more precise measurements of children’s actual language input, and these corpora constrain computational and cognitive theories of language development, which can then generate predictions about learning behaviour. We describe several instances where corpus, computational, and experimental work have been productively combined to uncover the first language acquisition process and the richness of multimodal properties of the environment, highlighting how these methods can be extended to address related issues in second language research. Finally, we outline some of the difficulties that can be encountered when applying multi-method approaches and show how these difficulties can be obviated.

show abstract

The constructivist approach

Cited by 10 publications

References 81 publications

Combining Language Corpora With Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

Combining Language Corpora With Experimental and Computational Approaches for Language Acquisition Research

Formulaic sequences: a drop in the ocean of constructions or something more significant?*

Combining language corpora with experimental and computational approaches for language acquisition research

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