Studying Language Acquisition

Language is a sparingly important part of life. When we communicate with other people, only not empower us to understand one another, but facilitates in building relationships and permitting us to communicate our problems, ideas, projects, or anything related to our daily life. Language is an essential part of everyday life. One of the queries that as humans we have are how did we learn to speak and how do we know what to say and when to say certain things. Acquiring language and using language is an amazing faculty we, as individuals, have.

There is an important contrast between language acquisition and language learning. Children acquire language through an innermost process during which they are unconscious of grammar. This is similar to the way they acquire their first language. They get a feel for what is and what is not correct. In order to acquire language, the learner needs a source of natural communication. The emphasis is on the text of the communication and not on the form. Young students who are in the process of acquiring English get plenty of practice. They willingly acquire the language to communicate with classmates.

Language learning is not a way to communicate with others. It is the result of explicit instruction in the rules of language. And it definitely is not an age appropriate activity for your young learners. In language learning, students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about it. They can fill in the blanks on a grammar work, but knowing grammar rules does not necessarily result in good speaking or writing. Most of the times a scholar who has memorized the rules of the language may be able to succeed on a standardized test of English language but may not be able to speak or w...

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...e says that she is able to understand a conversation, a movie, or song in English, but not to speak it.

“What role does speaking (output) play in second language acquisition? It has no direct role, since language is acquired by comprehensible input, and in fact someone who is not able to speak for physical reasons can still acquire the full ability to understand language.”

The development of a language is dependent upon the availability of that language and the opportunities a child or an adult have for interacting with skilled users of the language. Meaningful experiences, when learning a second language, is key to language acquisition. Cooperative learning is a strategy frequently used, with reading, writing and speaking activities focused on development of higher order thinking skills as well as basic skills. Educators should hold high standards for ALL students.