A REVIEW OF THE ACQUISITION OF GRAMMATICAL RULE THROUGH OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING : DISCUSSION OF LANGUAGE TRAINING FOR THE MENTALLY RETARDED

It has been demonstrated that the mentally retarded can acquire grammatical rules through imitation training. Since it is impossible to teach all grammatical rules through imitation training, teaching method must be constructed so that the retarded can acquire grammatical rules in actual life situation. Observational learning is a learning method which is much more similar to daily life situation than imitation training. So, if we expect the retarded to learn grammatical rules in daily life situation in addition to training situation, we should consider a learning method that would move from imitation training to observational learning, and from this stage to learning in daily life situation. The purpose of this report is to review research which refers to the acquisition of grammatical rules through observational learning in normal children and to discuss language training for the retarded from the viewpoint considered above. The review of the literature indicated that not presenting sentences independently but presenting a story consisting of sentences which involved the target grammatical rule was the decisive method for children to acquire grammatical rules through observational learning and this method with enactment was especially effective. To move language training for the retarded from imitation training to observational learning, it is important that we should interest the subject with the story. To do this, it is effective to tell interesting short stories consisting of sentences which involve grammatical rules acquired formerly through imitation training, which have referents, and to make it a custom to enjoy stories as early as possible. A procedure for moving from imitation training to observational learning was discussed but the details are open for study. To move to daily life situation from observational learning situation, it was suggested that we should set the situation which the subject would be interested and use sentences which contained target grammatical rules intentionally. This is the procedure which introduces the stage of daily life situation moving toward the situation of observational learning. Suggestions for language training were also noted: 1) We should present referents with sentences. 2) We should train comprehension before production. 3) When training a new rule which is similar to an acquired rule, we have to set the situation so as to promote comparison and discrimination. Future directions of the research are as follows; the influence of difference of observational period and of developmental level, persistence of learning, and generalization to daily life situation are the points to be discussed through the research of observational learning in the mentally retarded.