Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory Essay Example

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory does not focus on stages of human development but instead focuses on influences from social environments. This theory focuses on five interrelated systems. These systems are the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem. (Bronfenbrenner, 2005). The microsystem is a human’s immediate environment. It is what makes up their everyday lives. This means a human’s family, friends, classmates, coworkers, and even teachers. The second system that influences a human’s development is called the mesosystem. This system is the interactions between microsystems. The way a child is being treated in one microsystem may influence how they act in another. The Exosystem is made up of social institutions. These institutions include schools, media, and religious institutions and have an indirect influence on development. The macrosystem is the system of cultural beliefs and values. This also includes government systems that are built on beliefs and values such as in the middle east. The last system in Bronfenbrenner’s theory is the chronosystem. This system is the changes that happen over time. This includes an individual’s development and historical changes. The biggest thing Bronfenbrenner emphasized about his theory of development is that humans are active participants in their development. This means that a person may affect other people’s behaviors and vice versa. (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998).

Mackenna’s language development goes along with Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory. Although Mackenna is only three years old and in the toddler development stage, this theory specifically the microsystem is already consistent with her development. Mackenna is mostly with adults. These adults include her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and her parents’ friends. As mentioned previously mentioned in part two observation and analysis project, being around these adults, makes for a language-rich environment (Weislender & Fernald, 2013).  These adults do not water down grammar when they talk to Mackenna but instead talk in paragraphs. This has led to an advancement in Mackenna’s language as she already talks in paragraphs and knows how to use prepositions. She does sometimes overregulate but this can display just how much development Mackenna is going through (Arnett & Jensen, 2019). This is evident in the fact that Mackenna does not overregulate all her verbs. 

In the future, Mackenna’s language development according to this theory will reflect the systems she is associated with. As she goes to school (this deals with the mesosystem and exosystems) she will learn different ways people talk. The first is other children may teach her different ways to say a verb. An example of this may be a child using African American Vernacular English who may say, “I ain’t doing anything.” Mackenna may pick up this phrase. She will be taught grammar rules by her teachers. This will influence the grammar that will be displayed in her speech. Specifically, it will most likely make overregulation extinct in her speech.  Her language will also be influenced by media, including books. This will also expand her language (Fitneva & Matsui, 2015)