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.