Age and acquisition

By: T. Mari

We have all observed children acquiring their first language easily and well, than individuals learning a second language, particularly in an educational setting can meet with great difficulty and sometimes failure.

First language acquisition starts in very  early childhood, but second language acquisition can  happen in childhood, early or late, as well as in adulthood.

According to H.H Stern here are some arguments to take into consideration when we talk about first and second language acquisition. The first one, practice, practices again and again; also language learning is a matter of imitation. They start by separating sounds, then words, then sentences. Moreover the speech development is based on listening and speaking. Reading and writing are advanced stages of language development. Natural order for 1st or 2nd language development is listening, speaking, reading and writing. There is no translation; a small child just uses language, formal grammar.

According to    Ausubel and the Audiolingual Method he stated that adults learning a foreign language could, with all their full capacities. Also the native language of the learner in not just an interfering factor, it can facilitate second language learning. The written form of the language could be beneficial.

A critical period for language acquisition is a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired most easily and beyond which time language is difficult to acquire. The Critical Period Hypothesis claims that   there is a biological timetable.

There is evidence in neurological research that as the human brain matures certain other functions to the right hemisphere. Intellectual, logical, and analytic functions appear to largely locate in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere controls functions related to emotional and social needs. Language functions appear to be controlled mainly in the left hemisphere. And it has been found that children up to the age of puberty who suffer injury to the left hemisphere are able to relocalize linguistic functions to the right hemisphere.

Children can learn two languages simultaneously y the use of similar strategies. To sum up, they are learning to first languages at the same time. Therefore, it is important to make the difference between the 2 environments   school / home .Coordinate bilingual people learning the language in to separate contexts 2 meaning systems Compound bilinguals: 1 meaning system for both contexts In general children to not have problems   mixing up languages According to Cook develop a code switching when they insert words, phrases, of 1 language into the other.

First Language Acquisition

By: T. Mari.

Research in child language acquisition stated that all children in a “normal environment acquire their native language fluently and efficiently, as a matter of fact they acquire them naturally without special, instruction.

 There are many differences between first and second language learning, as a result the most significant is the huge cognitve and affective diversity between adults and children.

It is awesome to see how children learn to communicate since they are babies. In the first place, behaviorist focused on the linguistic behavior and responses to the environment. Moreover Skinner was commonly known for his experiments with animal behavior but he also gained recognition for his contributions to education through teaching machines and programmed learning. The operant conditioning stated by Skinner refers to conditioning in which the organism emits a response or operant (sentences) without necessarily stimulation, that operant is maintained by reinforcement. In like manner, verbal behavior is controlled by its consequences. When consequences are rewarding, behavior is maintained but when consequences are punishing, with lack of reinforcement the behavior is weaked.

On the other hand, the nativists approach came from the fundamental assertion that language acquisition is innately determined, we are born with a genetic capacity that predisposes us to a systematic perception of language around us.

LAD is the ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment, the ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be refined.

In like manner, there is a basic distinction between competence and performance. Competence refers to one's underlying knowledge of a system, event or fact, to perform something. On the other hand, performance is the overtly observable and concrete manifestation or realization of competence, the actual doing of something.  In language competence will be rules of grammar, vocabulary etc. And the performance will be the production speaking, writing. Likewise comprehension and production are part of competence and performance. Production is more observable, directly, but comprehensions more performance. Somehow   children seem to understand more than they actually produce.

In addition, the child’s initial state is supposed to consist of a set of universal principles and parameters.

Moreover thoughts and language were seen as two different cognitive operations that grow together and every child reaches his or her potential development through social interaction with adults and peers.  Also the zone of proximal development is the distance between a child's actual cognitive capacity and the level of potential development.

The issue is to determine how thought affects language, how language affects thoughts.

It is well known that children are good imitators. For instance imitation is an important strategy the child uses in the acquisition of language. On the other hand echoing, is a particularly salient strategy in early language learning and an important aspect of early phonological acquisition

As well as imitation practice is another important aspect. In addition input is crucial for the acquisition of a language; children are exposed to the first speech heard in the family. Also conversational or discourse, parental input is a significant part of a child's development of conversational rules.

To sum up, there are many theories and issues in child language acquisition. Every human being who attempts to learn a second language has already learned a first language. As a matter of fact it is very important to know about all these theories and approaches in order to understand this vital process and have the information and tools to support our children since the beginning.

How can I help my child like English?

How can I help my child like English?

Outsourced

Sociocultural factors (1) from Marifer13

Let´s have fun with the vowels from Marifer13

Language acquisition vs. language learning

By : Teacher María Fernanda González

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There is an important contrast made by linguistics between language acquisition and language learning. The language acquisition is a natural process, in other words is the ability of the brain to process concepts, structures and semantics of the native language, it takes place during the  interactions between people in environments of the target language and culture, where the learner is an active player. In fact, the acquisition of the language is a subconscious process in which the person is unaware of grammatical rules. As you may well have noticed, children acquire their mother tongue through interaction with their parents and the environment that surrounds them. As experts suggest, there is an innate capacity in every human being to acquire language.

On the other hand, language learning is a structured system; it usually takes place in school, based on a series of curriculum and textbooks. As a matter of fact, language learning is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language. During this process, students have conscious knowledge of the new language, therefore, it involves receiving information about the language, transforming it into knowledge through intellectual effort and storing it through memorization. In addition, attention is focused on the language in its written form and the objective is for the student to understand the structure and rules of the language. For instance, teaching and learning are technical and based on a syllabus. Also when learning a language   the teacher is an authority figure and the participation of the student is predominantly passive. For this reason, learners have less contact with the language maybe few hours per week. Research has shown, however, that knowing grammar rules does not necessarily result in good speaking or writing skills. Not to mention, there is another factor that is highly related to learning a language, it is the aptitude defined like the natural ability for learning a second language. Therefore, this year I am looking forward to bring real life and daily experiences to my five year old students, in order to have the opportunity to improve their language skills.