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.