Nativism vs. Empiricism

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Are you a nativist or an empiricist?

After watching the powerpoint in the webinar and posting into the discussion this week, you should have an idea of whether you are an empiricist or a nativist.

Choose a side and write an essay about which side is correct and why. Feel free to use any research you want, just make sure you cite your sources. A good idea might be to search for the topic of "empiricism or nativism and language" or to search by people who developed the theories, like Chomsky.

A typical outline would look like this:

I. Introduction

a. after you introduce the topic, your thesis should look something like: The empiricist theory of language development is accurate because ______________,____________________,______________________.

II. Opposite side's arguments and how they are soooooooo wrong

III. My side's arguments -- take a look at the thesis above. The blanks should be some ideas you can use to help prove your arguments.

IV. Conclusion

How to properly cite your research: