COGNITIVE READINESS an‎d FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: COMPARING THE MENTALIST an‎d BEHAVIORIST EXPLANATIONS

First language is sufficiently acquired by children when they reach the age of five (Elliot, 1987). The ability to acquire a complex system at such a very young age is an amazing feat. It is more amazing when the acquisition happens without any formal teaching or instruction. And, much more amazing when research shows that the language data, which are available to children, are limited and chaotic, with the right and the wrong data mixed together.