Issuu

Piaget‟s Egocentrism and Language Learning: Language Egocentrism (LE) and Language Differentiation (LD) JeongChul Heo University of Nevada, Reno, USA

Sumi Han Seoul Cyber University, South Korea

Christopher Koch University of Nevada, Reno, USA

Hasan Aydin University of Nevada, Reno, USA Email: aydinh@unr.edu Abstract—Piaget’s theory, which is at the center of cognitive approach and major theoretical foundation in terms of the intelligent development, explains children’s language learning by using four stages of cognitive development. For instance, Piaget maintains that Egocentrism is related to language learning as an inner speech and can affect on differentiation in cognitive development. This paper is to focus on the important educational foundation and information, which can prove how Language Egocentrism (LE) and Language Differentiation (LD) have an influence on native and second language acquisition for young children (two to seven years old), and what characteristics can be included in the subcategories of LE and LD. Index Terms—Language Egocentrism (LE), Language Differentiation (LD), language learning mechanics, second language acquisition, Piaget

I. INTRODUCTION A cognitive approach to learning and human development emphasizes on mental or internal factors as contrasted with environmental or external factors as many traditional behaviorists. Thinking involves successive adaptation of assimilation and accommodation to an environment and results in the organization of the mental structure or schemata. The interaction of assimilation and accommodation in the process of attaining equilibrium accounts for cognitive development from birth to death (Schiamberg, 1985). Much of Piaget‟s works has aided educators in understanding children‟s cognitive development. His theories in terms of a cognitive realm have greatly influenced on understanding of factors in language learning. In addition, many language theories demonstrate that Egocentrism is the meaningful element relevant to language learning as an inner speech and can impact differentiation in the cognitive development (Mitchell & Myles, 2004; Wadsworth, 1996). Diverse theories in language learning have been studied through a variety of perspectives such as social factors, social-interaction, psychological elements, cognitive development, age, gender, and so on (Brown, 2000; Cook, 2007; Mitchell & Myles, 2004). Smith (as cited in Mitchell & Myles, 2004) also mentions that some aspects of language might be genetically controlled and related to deficit in cognitive development such as Specific Language Impairment (SLI). For these reasons, many studies and theories that are related to native language learning and second language acquisition have shown that it is very critical to understand significant elements in multiple and diverse perspectives, not in a single factor. This paper is to focus on the important educational foundation and information that can prove how Language Egocentrism (LE) and Language Differentiation (LD) can affect the native language learning and second language acquisition for young children (2-7 years old), and what characteristics can be included in the sub categories of LE and LD. Furthermore, LE and LD can be reviewed by multiple inner factors such as personality, learning pattern, and inner characteristics. II. PIAGET‟S BASIC CONCEPT A.

Schema