First Language Acquisition, By Noam Halliday

Many second language acquisition theories have been developed over the years. These theories examine the avenues in which second language is acquired and the avenues in which they are learned. The avenue of socialization is crucial in learning a second language. When natural conversations occur with native and non-native speakers, a natural

Judie Haynes’ article, “Stages of Second Language Acquisition”, clearly states five stages that a new learner of English may go through. In Haynes’ theory, there are five stages in total, and they are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. According to Haynes, new learners of English acquire language by going through the same stages. However, how much time each student spends at a particular stage may be different. Despite the different time length, the stages of people acquiring new language are worth discussing.

In this task I am going to identify 2 different theories of language development I am going to be doing, Naom Chomsky and Jean Piaget.

Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at the time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Kirsten Hummel states, “The one most effective way to increase L2 competence was by exposure to ‘comprehensible input’.” (Hummel, 2014, p. 73) Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each plays a role in language development. However, I believe that to acquire language one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners acquire language differently and so using a variety of resources that are based on the ability of each student is neccesary. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field of linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.

In the other hand, behaviorists view language as complex and leaned skill, much like playing piano and dancing. B.F. Skinner argued that language represents nothing more than chains of responses acquired through reinforcement. Putting differently, children learn though process of reinforcement. For example, baby babbles “mama” the mother happily reward the baby with a hug and kisses and eventually will push the baby to say “mama” more and more; due to these reward children are motivated to repeat the behavior, thereby shaping their language and ensuring their development. Children’s language is being built up, this describe a way in which children environmental experiences influence and improve their language skills. Also that’s why parents

correct in the sense of the ability to learn language by a built in or

Language acquisition is one of the most important topics in cognitive development. In the study of language development

In our everyday lives, the origin of our ability to communicate is usually not often taken into consideration. One doesn't think about how every person has, or rather had at one time, an innate ability to learn a language to total fluency without a conscious effort – a feat that is seen by the scientific community "as one of the many utterly unexplainable mysteries that beset us in our daily lives" (3).. Other such mysteries include our body's ability to pump blood and take in oxygen constantly seemingly without thought, and a new mother's ability to unconsciously raise her body temperature when her infant is placed on her chest. But a child's first language acquisition is different from these

It is a well-known fact that all children acquire language the same way, regardless of what the language in question is. For example, we can create an analogy by comparing the process of acquiring a language to learning how to play a new game. If one wishes to play a new game he must first go over some basic rules, which in our case would be: understanding sounds, words and sentences and how they can be combined into meaningful structures. Since language can be considered a highly complex game there are many rules which are divided into levels that depend on each other. Therefore, to understand some higher principles of language one must first acquire all of the lower ones that support them. Observing how a child acquires a language

With this being said, there is more than one theorist that is trying to master this enigma. How children learn language is such a mystery to scientist, it is still being studied often. Children acquire their language in such a way that yet to this day cannot be described with just one accurate theory.

Summary of article: The authors provided reflections on 17 popular ideas about language learning. The first one is that languages are learned “mainly” through imitation. Lightbown and Spada (2006) argued that children imitate selectively and individuals have their own learning strategies. The second popular idea is that parents usually correct young children when they make grammatical errors. However, parents rarely comment on grammatical errors. Instead, parents tend to focus on meaning. Third, highly intelligent people are good language learners. The high IQ usually preform good in class and research has shown that learners have a wide variety of intellectual abilities will be higher chances to successfully learning language. The next idea is that the best predictor of success in second language acquisition is motivation. In most cases, learners with higher motivation can do better. However, perhaps, the instruction interacts with different leaning styles and learner’s aptitude will influence learning outcome. The fifth idea is that the earlier a second language is introduced in school programs, the greater the likelihood of success in learning. Research has shown that learning a second language at an early age are more likely to be indistinguishable from native speakers. Next idea is that most of the mistakes that second language

This paper gives a comprehensive comparison of how acquiring a first language differs from acquiring a new or a second language. It provides the similarities and differences of the two analogies and gives a critical appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of these two issues. Finally, the paper provides personal suggestions and insights for future research on the same topics. Moreover, the paper will detail the differences between first language acquisition in the pre-school period of learning and second language acquisition at an advanced or higher classroom level.

A theorist who attempted to expand and explain Chomsky’s original thoughts was Steven Pinker. In the early nineties Pinker’s debate of language acquisition became a popular notion due to the beliefs within his book ‘The Language Instinct’ (1994). The book describes the basic human instinct to learn and acquire language as a means to communicate and understand situations. In a similar vein to Chomsky he describes language as an instinct and not a skill that’s dependant on acquisition. This concept suggests that proof is merely the way that children can speak without formal rules being explained and knowledge inessential in order to apply language, in a manner that would be evolved through necessity dating back to hunter-gatherer culture. The book suggests that a section of the brain is specifically used to apply these skills and that it is an inbuilt commodity that we are born with. However, no proof in within science has been found to agree or disagree with this idea.

How a first language is acquired and how relevant is this to the acquisition of a

In these modern times (the 1960s, 1970s) a plethora of theories, designs, and approaches in the field of second language acquisition, came bubbling up to the surface. Due to the application of different functional, formal, and cognitive linguistic theories.