Second language acquisition

children learn best in their first language as a basis for bilingual and multilingual education. Studies indicate that six to eight years of education is necessary for the development of literacy and verbal proficiency required for secondary school academic achievement. Empirical evidence suggests that the ability of a child to learn a second language does not suffer if the primary language used for instruction in the entire primary school is the first language. The fluency in mother tongue lays…

The Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis: In its most general version, the Acquisition / Learning Distinction Hypothesis is deemed to be the most salient all the hypotheses in Krashen's theory as well as the most recognized and valued conceptualization by most linguists and language practitioners. In practice, Krashen postulates that there are two independent systems in a second language competence: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'. On the one hand, the 'acquired system' or…

dependent on two components: principles, properties shared by all languages, and the parameters, the way in which these properties vary. Controversies abound with the UG model, but it does explain how all natural languages are similar in some respects and how humans are able to learn their first language as well as other languages. UG simplifies the ideas about learning a second language by claiming that "learning the grammar of a [second language] is not so much learning completely new…

increased attention for immigrants and English-language learners (ELL) in the United States. The generation 1.5 are overlooked and misidentified in the high school level. This generation is of students who are familiar with the U.S culture because they were raised here and many were born in the United States. Even though, they appear to be native in speaking English, they are less skilled in academics, literacy, and especially in writing in their first language. Moreover, there are nine…

International Adoption (IA) An international (intercountry) adoption is one where the birth country language is different than the language of the country into which the adoption occurred. (Scott et al., 2011) The peak of IA into the United States occurred in 2004. IAs have been steadily declining since then due to government regulation and increasing cost. (CNN, 2013) New trends in IA show that sending countries are placing larger numbers of older children up for adoption. (Selman,…

C. Corballis (1) Imagine trying to teach a child to talk without using your hands or any other means of pointing of gesturing. The task would surely be impossible. There can be little doubt that bodily gestures are involved in the development of language, both in the individual and in the species. Yet, once the system is up and running, it can function entirely on vocalizations, as when two friends chat over the phone and create in each other’s minds a world of events far removed from the…

Amanda’s language development can best be exemplified by the Linguistic Innateness Theory, according to Nikola Wolf Nelson (2010). This is because Linguistic Innateness Theory describes language development as a human talent that is unique, genetically determined, and innate. Also, this theory explains that direct teaching cannot explain normal development, minimal success may be a result of the efforts to teach language, according to (Nelson, 2010). According to Amanda’s background history,…

Language development starts off with phonemes, the smallest distinctive sound unit in language. According to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, phonemic awareness helps kids focus on phonemes in words. Some approaches to help kids include analogy phonics, analytic phonics, phonics through spelling, synthetic phonics, and embedded phonics. These approaches are given to a kid based on the way they comprehend phonemes (n.pag). The Dyslexia Reading…

incorporate a limitedly learnt system or even domesticated pets using pitch variations to express themselves in scenarios. Humanistic communicative function can be infinite in its premise, utilising a limited set of speech and words, especially as language progresses. Innateness in this regard has been contested and debated in the academic world for almost sixty years due to the research and findings of Noam Chomsky in his Nativist approach. The question of innateness has become a core…

Language development. Wow. I never knew actually considered how far it goes back and in comparison to reading. Makes sense for it to be in the genome. Think about how quickly babies pick up on sounds and words. I remember a fact from child growth and development last semester, that all babies are born makes sounds from all languages but they are pruned away quickly once they are exposed to their language. I am taking Teaching People of Other cultures also and we had to do a blog posting about…