The Cognitive Approach posits that language knowledge is acquired after what?

• A. Cognitive structures necessary to process language
• B. Environmental input
• C. Social interaction only
• D. Phonological mastery

Answer: (B)

Language knowledge, from the cognitive perspective, is built as the mind processes real language from the environment. The environmental input provides the data the learner’s cognitive system uses to notice patterns, form hypotheses, and internalize rules. Without that input to work with, there’s nothing for the mind to analyze and learn from.

So the best choice is environmental input because it supplies the experiences the cognitive processes need to construct language knowledge. Preexisting cognitive structures aren’t presented as the starting point that comes before learning, social interaction alone doesn’t account for the internal processing the approach emphasizes, and mastery of phonology isn’t a prerequisite for acquiring broad language knowledge.