The Theories Of First Language Acquisition Essay

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

Language development deals with how a child develops his/her language skills during their growth period. Language development has been an issue debated among language experts over a long period of time. Experts have opposing views on how a child acquires/learns language. There are four main theories of language development and they all have different thoughts on the acquisition of language. Behaviorists (Skinner) believe that language is learned. Nativists (Chomsky) believe that language is innate and unique to humans. Cognitive theorists (Piaget) believe language is not innate but a product of cognitive development. Finally, social interactionists

First, children¡¯s acquisition of language is an innate mechanism that enables a child to analyze language and extract the basic rules of grammar, granted by Chomsky. It basically states that humans are born with a language acquisition device that, the ability to learn a language rapidly as children. However, there is one important controversy in language acquisition concerns how we acquire language; since Chomsky fails to adequately explain individual differences. From the behaviorists¡¯ perspectives, the language is learned like other learned behaviors. It is learned through operant

The second portion of the article is all about the stages of second language acquisition of which there are 5. In order from low level of linguistic proficiency to high level of language proficiency the five levels – as stated by the article- are: Silent/Receptive/Pre-productive, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and Advanced Fluency. The article goes on to

Skinner’s Behaviorist Model proposes that individuals learn language by imitation and as a direct response to positive or negative stimuli. Bruner’s Interactionist Theory, states that children can only acquire language by interacting with other people. Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development Theory also parallels the previous theories and refers that what one knows and could know is influenced by the assistance of others. ‘Bronfenbrenner believed that a person 's development was affected by everything in their surrounding environment” ("Study.com", 2016). A commonality in the all of these theories is that input is a key factor for the development of

In the book Why Tesol?, it states that the major tenets of Cummins’ model of second language acquisition is the framework that focuses on the “distinction between social language and academic language.”Cummins suggests that academic language takes longer to acquire and social language is easier because it is in the “here and now”. Cummins’ Quadrant Model consists of 4 quadrants: Quadrant 1 - Social language; Quadrant 2 - Target language; Quadrant 3 - Target language; Quadrant 4 - Academic language. (p. 152). Although, there are many models of second language acquisition, I felt that Cummin’s model was a great representative of where Carlos’ second language acquisition has fallen behind. When beginning remediation with Carlos’ my first priority is to provide him with a solid foundation of academic vocabulary that will assist him throughout his learning experience. This process is beneficial when teaching content area. In order for Carlos to succeed in the classroom he will need to become familiar and be able to comprehend the content area. Before beginning each lesson I would have Carlos share his knowledge of the vocabulary words and academic language that is beneficial to the lesson. This will provide insight to see which areas I need to review and which areas he has a strong foundation in. Next, I would provide Carlos with various opportunities to obtain the vocabulary needed in each content area. To develop his vocabulary I would provide him with a guide prior to

Lastly, it is important to include Norm Chomsky every time we talk about language acquisition. Through his studies we can say that children can learn a new language because of their innate ability in their brain to be able to classify different words, specifically grammatical terms. He suggested that we have a device in our brain which he called a Language Acquisition Device that allows children to notice the differences between two languages. In my opinion if all of us have this device. All the child needs to stimulate it to be able to learn those important first words that a child is going to need as they further exposed into a language.

Therefore, from the behaviourist approach, language acquisition can be seen as a stimulus-response process. Children learn language by immitation and analogy. The roles of imitation, repetition, reinforcement, and motivation are essential in learning the language. The First Language Acquisition is thus the result of nature which based on practicing.

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

There are several theories regarding language development. Work by Chomsky, Piaget and Kuhl are critical. Studies by Chomsky, as examined by Albery, Chandler, Field, Jones, Messer, Moore and Sterling (2009); Deloache, Eisenberg & Siegler (2003) argued for the innateness of language acquisition due to its complexity. Development is assisted by a language acquisition device (LAD) and universal grammar both of which holding the propensity for commonalities throughout all languages. LAD is the key to the Syntax rule. The knowledge to master the rules is held unconsciously. Chomsky concludes exposure through auditory channels as being the only requirement for learning. Arguably Kuhl (2010) writes infantile exposure to language through auditory channels only, does not contribute effectively to learning indicating the importance of human interaction. Piaget, as discussed by Ault (1977) postulated language as not being part of the earliest stages of development. Signifying within sensorimotor stage, between birth and two years, the child’s development is too reflexive. Gleitman, Fridlund and Reisberg (2004) discuss the critical period hypothesis and suggest the young brain being more suited to acquisition than the adult brain. Lenneberg (1967) (as cited in Gleitman et al 2004) advocates, brain maturation closes language acquisition capacity window. Kuhl (2010) identified, within the critical period babies develop

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

Numerous theories try to explain the process of language acquisition. These theories fall into one of two camps. The environmentalist (or connectionist) theory of language acquisition asserts that language is acquired through environmental factors (Halvaei et al. 811). Theorists in this camp believe that a child learns language by gaining information from the outside world and then forming associations between words and objects. The nativist (or rationalist) approach, on the other hand, asserts that it is innate factors that determine language acquisition. Noam Chomsky, often described as “the father of modern linguistics”, falls into this camp as he believes that speech is the result of hidden rules of language that are hidden somewhere in the brain (Rahmani and Abdolmanafi 2111). Steven Pinker, a colleague of Chomsky, is a renowned psychologist, cognitive scientist and linguist who discusses his own theories on language acquisition in his book Words and Rules.

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

The language acquisition talks about how all humans learn a fully developed language when they are all toddlers. The reason why they learn that language is because of the social group the toddlers were raised in. For example, a toddler raised in Mexico will learn to speak Spanish. The language acquisition device starts to shut down as we grow older. It is a lot harder for a teenager to learn a different language than it is for a younger child. The language acquisition

In this essay, we will discuss the different stages of language acquisition. There are five main stages that any child passes through to acquire the first language and these stages are: