The Role of Negative Evidence in the Acquisition of Sociocultural Aspects of First Language Farzaneh Dehghan Shiraz University, Iran Email: s-fdehghan@rose.shirazu.ac.ir Abstract—Children learn their native language in a relatively rapid time and are able to communicate from very early using language. But is the acquisition of their native culture and native language dependent on each other (LeVine & Norman, 2001; Riesman, 1993)? The present study aims to investigate the extent to which parents provide their children with direct and indirect negative feedback while they are acquiring sociocultural aspects of their language. A group of parents (N=75) from three social backgrounds were interviewed. The results showed that parents used direct negative feedback more than indirect negative evidence while correcting a culturally inappropriate utterance (calling parents by their first names). Also it was found that parents from middle class socioeconomic status used more direct negative evidence than parents from a working class background who showed no significant difference regarding the use of different types of negative feedback. These results show the importance of negative feedback in the acquisition of sociocultural and pragmatic aspects of the native language. Index Terms—first language acquisition, culture, negative evidence, culture acquisition I. INTRODUCTION Language acquisition is one of the great achievements in human cognitive development. All normal children in normal environments learn to talk. This fact can reveal innate capacities of the human species that make language acquisition possible, but, at the same time, it may reflect the social and cultural environment that provides children with the necessary input. Accordingly, the study of language acquisition and development could be studied from two different and largely separate approaches. The internal approach (Chomsky, 1985; cited in Lust, 2006) focuses on the mental mechanisms that make language acquisition possible. The external approach (Bronfenbrenner, 1988; cited in Hoff, 2006), on the other hand, emphasizes the role of the social context in which children live. The social contexts are “a nested set of systems surrounding the child ... includ[ing] culture, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity” (Hoff, 2006, p. 56). These systems shape the social contexts which are the sources of the child‟s interaction with the world and “these interactions are the primary engines of development” (Hoff, 2006, p. 56). Within the external paradigm, sociocultural theory or social-interactionist theory is the most outstanding. This theory is an approach to language acquisition which emphasizes the environment and the context in which the language is being learned (Lantolf & Thorne, 2007). It focuses on the pragmatics of language rather than grammar. The prominent theorist associated with interactionist theory is Lev Vygotsky (1978). Interactionists focus on Vygotsky's (1978) model of collaborative learning. In this approach, the novice speaker and the experienced speaker –in the case of language acquisition a child and a parent or caretaker– interact in a negotiated arrangement where feedback is always possible (Shaffer, Wood, & Willoughby, 2002). Interactionists believe that linguistic knowledge is the internalization of behaviors which are learned in social interactions. Children exposed to samples of language in its social use learn that language can be used to regulate social interactions. Gradually, they internalize the external function of language (regulating social interactions) to regulate their own cognitive activity (the internal function of language) (Johnson & Johnson, 1999). Sociocultural theory argues that human mental functioning is fundamentally a mediated process that is organized by cultural artifacts, activities, and concepts (Lantolf and Thorne, 2007). Within this framework, humans are perceived to utilize existing cultural artifacts and create new ones that allow them to regulate their biological and behavioural activity. Lantolf and Thorne (2007, p. 197) define the theoretical foundations of this theory as follows: Practically speaking, developmental processes take place through participation in cultural, linguistic, and historically formed settings such as family life and peer group interaction, and in institutional contexts like schooling, organized sports activities, and work places, to name only a few. SCT argues that while human neurobiology is a necessary condition for higher order thinking, the most important forms of human cognitive activity develop through interaction within these social and material environments. The basic application of this approach is the importance it places on home and cultural environment in early childhood language acquisition. Language, according to this theory, develops in negotiation with the environment a child is facing. The nature of the social interactions that provide children with speech and the qualities of the speech developed, are shaped by larger social and cultural variables. In other words, input plays an important role in language ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 1046-1050, September 2012 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER Manufactured in Finland. doi:10.4304/jltr.3.5.1046-1050 © 2012 ACADEMY PUBLISHER