The social interaction language acquisition theory is about the child’s experience

which influences language acquisition. Language researchers believe that children

everywhere arrive in the world with special social and linguistic capacities. A child
acquires language development by environmental influences and parents who
provide rich environments enable many positive benefits, this means that parents
who pay attention to their children’s language expands on their child’s utterances
and by reading to their children will expand on their language. Also playing games
and labeling things in their environment gives positive benefits. Language is used in
early childhood settings by singing songs, playing games, sign language which
improves children’s language skills. I will use this theory in my teaching to support
children’s language development by reading a colorful picture book and ask the
children questions such as what are those dinosaurs doing? Or what colours do you
like? why do you like it? Maori which is important in New Zealand should also be
recognized and valued. For example, I can teach the children the colors in maori
words and the children will learn another language which is interesting and give
them more sense of the world through asking questions this enables a conversation
to start and by using these open ended questions it is a great opportunity for rich
social interactions. The foundation of language would be observing the environment
and body language is also a part of social interaction which is a nonverbal
communication method. For example, infants interacting with sounds, when the
infant is sad and hungry or uncomfortable the infant will cry and when the infant is
happy and comfortable the infant will smile and laugh. In addition, non-verbal
communication for infant’s language development is important as well (Ministry of
Education, 1996) for example, body languages and eye contact. Learning language is
a vital part for infant’s learning and development. Neumann, Copple and Bredekamp
(2002) said that "toddlers are able to learn words at a phenomenal rate, provided
they are in a rich language environment in which adults tell stories, read and talk
with them and an environment in which they are able to talk and play with children"
(p.56). Therefore to help toddlers to develop their language skills, teachers can read
stories to the children and sing songs, and play with the sounds of languages during
mat time to let the children be immersed in their language environments. Through
listening to songs children are engaged by "active" listening, such as singing and
instrumental music playing (Schirrmacher, 2002). The children pay attention and
listen carefully during musical activities and follow lyrics and responds correctly. This
shows their awareness while listening to songs and musical instruments; they start to
recognize the meaning of the words. For example, I can provide some types of music
by using a clear voice to talk to children and encourage the children to repeat some
simple words. Children can learn different types of language skills through play and
then can use literacy tools to explore meaning to discover and have fun with sounds
of words (Hamer & Adams, 2003). This theory can be used throughout my teaching
by providing some symbolic sounds for children, such as "moo" sound for cows or
"beep" for cars. Teachers can use the "modeling" strategy to develop their skills of
social interactions (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009), such as empathy, leadership
and cooperation. Children will be able to learn different types of language through
play as well and they can also use literacy tools to explore the meaning to discover
and have fun with the sounds of words (Hamer & Adams, 2003). The children
develop phonemic awareness which begin from birth and is developed with
continuous interactions with parents, teacher and families (Hamer & Adams 2003).
Children need to take risks with language and experiment in order for them to
discover how to combine words, phrases and form sentences. Theorists (Bates, 2004;
Elman, 2001; Munakata, 2006) assume that, "children make sense of their complex
language environments by applying powerful cognitive capacities of a general kind.
Lev Vygotsky, created a model of human development which now is called the
sociocultural model. He believed that all language development in children is visible
in two stages, first children observe the interaction between other people then the
behavior develops inside the child and then eventually the child becomes more
capability of problem solving independently. Social interaction language theory is
fostered by adults scaffolding with language. When adults talk with a child
eventually the child will know how to respond. The social interaction language
acquisition theory is believed to be similar to the nativist theory.

In conclusion, language helps children to learn and build large numbers of language
skills and these language acquisition theories are used in everyday with language. I
have explained how language is acquired through the behaviorist theory, nativist
theory and social interaction language interaction theory and how language is
developed and fostered according to each perspective. I will use these theories in my
teaching to support children’s language development. It is essential for early
childhood educators to understand and support language in teaching. Language
defines who we are through accents, expressions, culture and environment.