By signing in you confirm you are 18 or older, or have your parent’s or guardian’s consent.

CTET 7 Feb 2026 Paper 1 English, Question 148

Topic: Language acquisition

Q148

When infants and very young children live in environments where they have no exposure or experience with language, their language development is severely impaired. This impairment is irreversible. Which of the following terms supports this explanation?

  1. (1) Nativism
  2. (2) Sensitive periods of developmentCorrect answer
  3. (3) Sociolinguistics
  4. (4) Semantics

Solution.

CBSE answer: (2)

Answer: (2) Sensitive periods of development

  1. There are early years when the brain is especially ready to acquire language.
  2. If a child gets no language exposure during this window, development is severely and permanently affected.
  3. This idea is the critical or sensitive period.

Trap: (1) nativism says language ability is inborn, but it does not explain why missing exposure causes lasting harm.