Three language acquisition theories can be mainly identified: imitation theory, reinforcement theory, and the innateness theory. As a manner of explanation, the three theories will be briefly described subsequently. Firstly, the main idea in the reinforcement theory is that children learn to speak like adults because they are taught to do so by being praised and otherwise rewarded for doing things properly. In addition, they are helped because parents "correct" them when they make mistakes. In the second place, the imitation theory states that children learn grammar by memorizing the words and sentences of their language.
Another theory was from Noam Chomsky, he demonstrated that when children are exposed to and imitated they are able to produce language and unique utterances. This explained his hypothesis about what he called innate language acquisition device (LAD) where children can figure out the rule of the language by themselves through exposure to sample of natural language. He refers these rules as Universal Grammar. Once the child LAD is activated and children can identify the rules for the structure of their language or languages, they can develop an infinite number of unique, grammatically correct utterances (Wright, 2010, p. 36). Chomsky’ theory that focuses more on first language acquisition gave influence on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) researchers and theories.
They create their own language rules by themselves. As the get exposed more to the language, they form their own hypotheses about the language rules. They use these rules and test them while speaking. These hypotheses are important part of children’s first language acquisition and development because they help children in understanding the concepts and how to use the language. The most salient evidence of developing their own hypotheses is the mistakes that they make while using the language.
Theories of Adolescent Bilingualism Cognitive Importance The purpose of this paper is to explain the different effects that bilingualism affects cognitive processes, specifically language development. When talking about how bilingualism affects language development, we are speaking of cognitive implications. Bialystock and Hakuta (as cited in Seifert, Hoffnung, & Hoffnung, 1997) found that when children learn two languages equally well, ... ... middle of paper ... ...f print. Developmental psychology. 33 (3).
Competence is the knowledge of language to which the child knows, while competence is the way a child performs the usage of language. Furthermore into the chapter, language acquisition and performance factors is another topic that the author addresses. Lust states that behavior has a lot to do with language in terms of performance factors which include; “their memory and ability to deal with length of linguistic utterances” (125). The ability of a child to structure language in a way they will understand it lies within the way they hear it. Previous research testifies that memory and cognition go hand-in-hand and do not work independently.
Linguists believe that language, in itself, has a critical component for learning. There is substantial proof for a critical period in language which stems from studies on bilinguals, deaf children who use sign language, and extreme cases of feral children like Victor and Genie that has shed light upon language acquisition. The process of acquiring a second language relies heavily on empirical evidence that suggests that the earlier a child can grasp a second language, the better. Bilingual children are able to easily detect the nuances of different meanings in both their languages whether it being English or Spanish. The differences between monolingual and bilingual children is that bilingual children have the advantage to discriminate the certain utterances between their two languages and above all they seem to be prepared for the mechanism of language.
Halliday’s theory stems from the idea that language is learnt from the social interaction witnessed or participated in by the child. In other words, “meaning before grammar” According to Torr (2015, pp. 248), “Halliday’s model of language development provides an explanation of the relationship between communicative behaviours… and the subsequent adoption of words … of the adult system which replaces them.” Torr’s observation explains that Halliday’s theory plausibly explain how a child learns language. Engaging ing social interaction with individuals round them, a child slowly develops the components of communication such as; Taking turns, Eye Contact as well as Active Response though sounds and actions, which, allows them to master those skills and then move onto developing adult language. Wells (2015) furthers this point by expressing how important infant’s inherent sociability to language development.
Fist portion contains six strategies that have direct contribution to learning process while the second has two strategies which contributes indirectly to the language learning process Direct strategies (1) Clarification/verification: asking for an example of how to use a particular word or expression. (2) Guessing/inductive inferencing: using the clues from other items in the sentence/phrase, or keywords in a sentence to guess. (3) Practice: experimenting with new words in isolation and in contest or using mirror for practice. (4) Deductive reasoning: inferring grammatical rules by analogy, or grouping words according to similarity of endings. (5) Memorization: taking notes of new items with or without texts and definitions.
We could believe that the children have the natural abilities to deal with identifying some facets of parents’ speech at distinct periods of their childhood. These learning abilities necessitates the parents’ adequately steady to teach their children from the foundations of patterns in the different language. (153 words) (1) Yule, G (1996) The Study of Language, 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, 176. Question 3 Stages in Language Acquisition “Rome was not built in a day”. Fromkin, et al (2003) says that children learn grammar through some processes (2).
The present study is an attempt to gain insights into working memory as an important component of L2 aptitude and to provide empirical evidence for the investigation of the relation between working memory and L2 vocabulary learning rate. Introduction Research has suggested that working memory (WM) plays a vital role in second language acquisition. (Mackey, Philp, Fujii, & Tatsumi 2002, Williams 1999). Many SLA researchers have proposed that WM is a central part of L2 aptitude or to some extent, WM even is an L2 aptitude (Robinson 2002, Skehan 2002). WM involves ‘the temporary storage and manipulation of information’ necessary for the operation of complex cognitive tasks (Hummel & Holyoak 2003); WM therefore is an indicator of our capacity for thinking and for language processing.