Language acquisition

Second Language Acquisition Learning a second language is deemed mandatory in many secondary schools in various countries and also has many benefits, but studies show that many students — even if they excel academically in every other subject — struggle with foreign language classes. Most children will learn their first language through listening to the language spoken around them and imitate what they hear. It is known that if a child is raised in a household where multiple languages are spoken, they will begin to learn parts of both languages. This process usually happens before the child reaches the age of three. Many researchers have hypothesized that there is a reason why children who are exposed to multiple languages in early childhood have an easier time mastering a language once they reach primary school age. Originally hypothesized by Eric Lenneberg, the critical period hypothesis states that early childhood is a critical period for learning of language to occur. Language — especially second languages — should be taught to primary school children aged 3-12 so…

Reflective summary Language learning and teaching course is a necessary course for everyone interested in the field of teaching English as a second language. This course provided me with theories and explanations in how human acquired the first and second language and what factors can affect their ability to acquire the language. There are three theories that have been described first language acquisition. Behaviorist approach insists that language behavior is a production of correct response to…

People learn language in many ways such as by acquiring and learning. Language acquisition is where people acquire language subconsciously, as well as to produces and use words and sentences to communicate. As noticed, children acquire their first language through interaction with their parents and environment surrounds them. Children start to speak even before they step into school. This suggest that it is through exposure to acquire language without the need of systematic studies of any kind.…

Second Language Acquisition is a major topic for linguistics; it’s a set of hypotheses or generalizations that is consistent with experimental data to be able to achieve new data. There has been major research of the attempts of explaining the difference between children and adults in second language acquisition. The assumption of the two is fundamentally flawed when looking into each aspect of learning a second language. It is easily discussed that within learning a second language you can…

Language acquisition is a process that humans can acquire the ability of perceive and comprehend language, as well as produce the words in order to communicate. Theorists have developed different theories to explain language acquisition. Each of them has his own view. However, Chomsky had a different view on acquisition of language, as he believed language acquisition is inborn which means that the language comes from the parents and its inherited. The theorist believes children have innate…

SLA Research As far as the research of major issues Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is concerned, a set of widely attested empirical, findings has been achieved in the past 50 years. Interest areas and priority areas have included age effects; effects of individual differences in language aptitudes and other affect and cognitive variables; the role of the broader social context and linguistic environment as sources of negative and positive evidence and of opportunities for input, output, and…

are forced to learn and communicate in a new language that completely devalues their first language. In many schools today, children whose home language is not English are required to immerse themselves in the school system, mainly through the use of English. There…

This paper will discuss the language acquisition for the Deaf and how it affects their behavioral, social, developmental, and cognitive abilities. This paper will seek to expand on different psychological theories and hypothesize that language acquisition can help them by enhancing the above mentioned capabilities for the Deaf. Doing this provides them with the tools to communicate, express themselves, and aid them in interacting with other people. Studies conducted by several researchers have…

Skill acquisition theory focuses on how people learn a skill and the advancement of that skill. (DeKeyser, 2007) .According to Lightbown and Spada (2013), second language acquisition is seen as a build up of knowledge that eventually becomes automatised. In addition, McLaughlin (1990) views language acquisition as a type of motor skill and that language acquisition is related to learning a skill like driving a car or riding a bike. Skill acquisition theory claims that we all acquire skills in…

Gass and Selinker (2008) discuss the impact of previously studied languages on acquiring a target language and language transfer. Schachter (1974) argues second language learners form a hypothesis about second language learning on the basis of knowledge of the first language. Consequently, first language (L1) learning strategies are employed during the learning of L2. Students learn constructions similar in L1 and in L2 easily. This process is called “facilitation” in second language…