🌍 Culture
Children grow up in different communities, so the environment around them can affect what they can do at each age.
Piaget's Cognitive Theory of Language Development » Arguments Against Piaget and Application
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Cambridge spec: 6.4.4, 6.4.5
- The argument against Piaget: the environment, such as culture and upbringing, affects what children can do at each age
- Why this means the stages are not fixed by age alone
- How to apply Piaget's theory to new scenarios
- How to build a strong 8-mark answer with an argument for and an argument against
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Unlock This CourseThe argument against Piaget
Over the last few lessons you met Piaget's cognitive theory of language development. Piaget said thinking comes first and language follows. Children build schemas, use assimilation and accommodation, and move through four stages: sensory motor, pre-operational, concrete operational and formal operational. In the last lesson, Hewitt (2022) gave an argument for the theory.
The syllabus gives one argument against it: children's abilities at different ages and stages are influenced by the environment, for example culture and upbringing.
Key terms:
- Culture: the language, customs and ways of life shared by the community a child grows up in.
- Upbringing: the way a child is raised, including how much adults talk, read and play with them and what they ask the child to do.
Why the stages are not fixed by age alone
Piaget gave each stage an approximate age. The argument against says the age is not the whole story. Two children of the same age can have different abilities because their surroundings are different.
🏡 Upbringing
Imagine one child whose family chats, tells stories and asks questions all day, and another who is spoken to very little. Their language skills at the same age may be quite different.
Piaget's theory suggests that ability depends mainly on the stage a child has reached. The argument against says the environment also has an influence, so a stage cannot be predicted from age alone.
Learn this
Argument against Piaget: children's abilities at different ages and stages are influenced by the environment, for example culture and upbringing. So the stages are not fixed by age alone.
Learning theory also stresses the environment, but that is a separate theory about how language is learned. You met it in the lesson Novel Language and Applying Learning Theory. Here, just remember the point: the environment affects abilities at each stage.
Applying Piaget's theory
The exam gives you a short scenario about a child and asks you to use the theory. Follow three steps:
- Spot the clue. Look at the child's age and what they say or do.
- Name the idea. Use the right key term: a stage, a schema, assimilation or accommodation.
- Link it to the scenario. Use details from the scenario to explain.
Scenario 1: Isla
Isla is 3. She pushes a shoebox across the floor and says "Brrm, my car!" Which stage of Piaget's theory is she in? Explain your answer. [2 marks]
Model answer
She is in the pre-operational stage (1). She uses the shoebox to stand for a car, which is symbolic thought (1).
Scenario 2: Jun
Jun is 9. A new boy joins his class and asks where the library is. Jun notices that the boy looks puzzled and explains again with simpler directions. Use Piaget's theory to explain Jun's language. [2 marks]
Model answer
Jun is in the concrete operational stage (1). He shows de-centration, because he thinks about what the other boy understands and changes what he says (1).
Scenario 3: Ben
Ben is 2. He calls the big red vehicle that takes him to nursery "bus". One day he sees a lorry and says "bus". His dad says, "That is a lorry." Ben then says "lorry" for that vehicle. Use schemas to explain what happened. [3 marks]
Model answer
Ben had a schema for "bus" (1). At first he used assimilation, fitting the new animal into his existing schema (1). When his dad corrected him, he used accommodation, changing his schema to make a new word for the lorry (1).
Building the 8-mark answer
Some questions ask you to discuss Piaget's cognitive theory. A strong answer has both sides, then a conclusion.
✅ The argument for
Name Hewitt (2022). Say that four case studies found schemas and language were connected through the children's thinking. Link this to Piaget's idea that thinking comes first and language follows.
❌ The argument against
Say that children's abilities at different ages and stages are influenced by the environment, for example culture and upbringing. Explain that stages are not fixed by age alone.
Finish with a short conclusion that says which side you find stronger and why.
Comparing the three explanations
The biological explanation says language is mainly inborn, the learning explanation says it is learned from the environment, and the cognitive explanation says it grows out of the child's thinking.
Common mistakes
- Saying the argument against is that children do not have stages at all. The syllabus argument is that the environment affects abilities, so age alone does not decide the stage.
- Writing "the environment matters" without naming culture or upbringing and giving an example.
- Mixing up Hewitt (the argument for Piaget) with Goldstein (learning theory) or Senghas (biological theory).
- In a scenario, naming the stage but not using details from the child's words or actions.
Exam-style question
(a) Describe one argument against Piaget's cognitive theory of language development. [2 marks]
(b) Tariq is 8 and Zara is 8. Zara's family talk with her about her day and ask for her opinions every evening. Tariq is rarely spoken to at home. Zara explains things more clearly to others than Tariq does. Explain what this suggests about Piaget's theory. [2 marks]
(c) Leah is 4. She looks out of the window and says, "The rain is angry with us." Use Piaget's theory to explain her language. [2 marks]
Model answer
(a) Children's abilities at different ages and stages are influenced by the environment (1), for example culture and upbringing, so stages are not fixed by age alone (1).
(b) It suggests the environment, such as upbringing, affects what children can do (1). Both are 8, but Zara's upbringing may have helped her, so age alone does not decide ability (1).
(c) Leah is in the pre-operational stage (1). She shows animism, believing things like the rain have feelings (1).
Exam tip
In part (b), use the details in the question: the same age, and the difference in upbringing. Answers that only repeat the argument without using the scenario lose marks.