First and Second Language Acquisition
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 phenomena; different because it cannot be repeated. No matter how many languages are learned later in life, the rapidity and accuracy of the first acquisition can simply not be repeated. This mystery is most definitely why first language acquisition, and subsequently second language acquisition, is such a highly researched topic.
On the surface one would look at child first language acquisition and adult second language acquisition and see similarities. In each case the learner first learns how to make basic sounds, then words, phrases and sentences; and as this learning continues the sentences become more and more complex. However, when one looks at the outcomes of these two types of acquisition, the differences are dramatic. The child's ability to communicate in the target language far surpasses that of the adult. In this paper differences in these two processes that most always produce such different outcomes will be explored.
Before this exploration begins, however, I would like to state ...
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... learning. In conclusion, because of so many varying factors, both the processes and outcomes of child first language acquisition and adult second language acquisition are extremely different, and are only connected by a common goal.
References
1)Comparing and Contrasting First and Second Language Acquisition
http://www.literature.freeservers.com/image_polat/ccfsla.html
2)First and second language acquisition
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/L1%20and%20L2.htm
3)First Language Acquisition
http://www.csun.edu/~galasso/lang1.htm
4) Gass, Susan M., Larry Selinker. Second Language Acquisition. London: Lawrence
Erlbaum Associates Publishers, 2001.
5)Reviewing First and Second Language Acquisition: A Comparisono between Young and Adult Learners
http://www.nuis.ac.jp/~hadley/publication/languageacquisition_files/language/acquisition.htm
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