Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Theories of language acquisition
Theories of language acquisition
First and second language acquisition theories
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Theories of language acquisition
Language Acquisition Principles
Stephen Krashen is one of the experts when it comes to language acquisition. He has theorized on the subject of second language acquisition for years and has been quite influential in the field of linguistics approaching the subject of second language acquisition by presenting his five hypotheses for his theory of acquiring a second language. His approach comes from his view that acquisition is obtained best through contextual conversation, which demonstrates his Acquisition-Learning hypothesis. This paper will discuss and examine Krashen’s theory which consists of his five hypotheses for second language acquisition and compare it to the method used by Aida Walqui.
Aida Walqui is yet another expert who has done remarkable work in the area of language acquisition; however, she approaches the subject from the aspect that contextual factors are involved in second language learning in the classroom. Those factors are language distance, Native language proficiency, Knowledge of the second language, dialect and register, language status, and language attitudes. Even though Krashen and Walqui are attempting to achieve a similar goal, their methodologies are different. Whereas Krashen is concerned about the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), Walqui is more concerned about the contextual factors of second language acquisition involving Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).
Krashen believes the learned system to be the product of formal instruction and requires that the learner use a process that involves a study of grammar and rules. Krashen believes this method of teaching language acquisition, a learned method, is of less importance than the acquired method. His belief is t...
... middle of paper ...
... appropriateness of what Krashen says. If a teacher were to apply Krashen’s approach with students it would be helpful in developing the social skills needed for communication. Walqui’s method would be something that the teacher might use to increase a student’s academic knowledge, while increasing the opportunities for higher employment. The main difference between Walqui’s and Krashen’s approaches to learning a new language is that Walqui’s method is all about academic learning and Krashen’s is about social and comprehensible conversation.
Works Cited
http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/Krashen_Brown_ALP.pdf Retrieved from the Internet 2/28/2011
Walqui, A. (2000, September). Contextual factors in second language acquisition. ERIC Digest (EDO-FL-00-05), http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digest_pdfs/0005-contextual-walqui.pdf d when acquiring a language.
Language has a big role when it comes to all the cultures, but it can be in different ways as well. It really depends on the background of the student their approach to language. Acquiring/Learning hypothesis really gives you the chance to approach the students in a way that they will feel comfortable. Even though they might not notice, through repetition, visuals and hand gestures, you are helping them acquire the language without disrespecting them culturally. Being relevant and familiar is also a great way to help the students. When doing a lesson, be aware of their background and tie the lesson up with something they are already familiar with. Helping them acquire and learns a language also requires you to challenge them in a way that they feel like they are capable of doing great and being
In the IRIS module “ teaching english language learners: effective instructional practices” Many topics are addressed that can be useful in my projected career path as an elementary school teacher. IRIS provides tips and examples on how to teach, instruct, evaluate and asses ELL students. The second tab of the module introduces the concepts of Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). BICS is more of a social language ELL students learn through daily communication with peers and usually is learned within a couple of years.
The developmental process of the human mind has proven to be quite the complex scenario, as is displayed in Genie Wiley’s case. Genie is a girl, born in 1957, who was socially isolated from the world around her. Locked in a room for the better part of 13 years, Genie never learned acceptable social interaction behavior. This traumatic experience allegedly had adverse effects on Genie’s social capacity.
There are three main theories of child language acquisition; Cognitive Theory, Imitation and Positive Reinforcement, and Innateness of Certain Linguistic Features (Linguistics 201). All three theories offer a substantial amount of proof and experiments, but none of them have been proven entirely correct. The search for how children acquire their native language in such a short period of time has been studied for many centuries. In a changing world, it is difficult to pinpoint any definite specifics of language because of the diversity and modification throughout thousands of millions of years.
Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. M. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford [england: Oxford University Press.
This essay is going to illustrate the different stages in language acquisition that children pass through and elicit the theories in accordance.
How do children acquire language? What are the processes of language acquisition? How do infants respond to speech? Language acquisition is the process of learning a native or a second language. Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observations that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, (which helps them learn to pronounce words correctly), and grammar is seldom taught to them, but instead that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically. Though, not all children learn by imitation alone. Children will produce forms of language that adults never say. For example, “I spilled milk on hisself” or “Debbie wants a cookie”. This demonstrates that children have the desire to speak correctly and have self-motivating traits to communicate. This supports the theory of Noam Chomsky (1972)-that children are able to learn grammar of a particular language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. Adults learning a second language pass through some of the same stages, as do children learning their native language. In the first part of this paper I will describe the process of language acquisition. The second part will review how infants respond to speech.
...d to determine exactly which part of the language is innate and universal so that humans can further uncover the valuable mechanism.
Long, M. (1996). The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In W.Ritchie and T.Bhatia (eds.) Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (San Diego, CA: Academic Press), 413-68.
The aim of this essay is to explore language acquisition and compare and contrast different theories of language acquisition and language development. Language in its most basic form is used to communicate our needs and wants. It encompasses a range of modes of delivery including signing, spoken and written words, posture, eye contact, facial expressions and gestures. So how do we learn ‘language’? Are we born with the skills for communication, or is it something that we have to learn or have taught to us? Four theories are looked at in this essay to determine how children acquire and then develop language. These theories include behaviourist, nativist, cognitivist and sociocultural. This essay will highlight some similarities and differences in each theory and what impact these have on a child’s acquisition and development of language. Lastly we will look at the implications of these theories when working with children. Can a classroom teacher deliver a quality literacy program based on just one of these theories or does it need to incorporate components of all four? Sims, (2012) pp. 21 states ‘’High-quality learning experiences in the early years of life enhance children’s cognitive and language skills’’. This places a great responsibility on educators and teachers alike to provide an environment which is rich in learning opportunities that will encourage both the acquisition and development of language.
Children’s acquisition of language has long been considered one of the uniquely defining characteristics of human behaviour.
The increasing impact of globalization has, in recent years, caused a significant shift in the goals of foreign language education from communicative competence to a requirement for intercultural communicative competence (Byram, 1997). He defined intercultural competence as the ability to establish and maintain relations with members of other culture but not necessarily linked to foreign language proficiency while intercultural communicative competence implies that the learner can do this in a foreign language (Helm & Guth, 2010). However, in a traditional language classroom, the focus of language teaching is to develop reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. If the focus on language teaching is to improve this set of
The Direct Method teaches language in the identical way in which the child first learns his mother tongue. The language is prepared through illustration and conversations in surroundings. As Direct Method put stress on speech, students obtain flow in speech. They think directly in English without the involvement of the mother tongue. They are fast at comprehending spoken English. The Direct Method learners also have good pronunciation of each word. Students who are learned through this method speak in English with great potential. In Direct Method language is taught through presentation. The Direct Method makes use of audio-visual cooperation. The use of these cooperation promote learning and makes lesson fascinating. It promotes reading and writing. Learners can speak in flow, they also write impartially quickly and rightly. In classrooms that allow students to up and down between languages, thinking in English is dejected in difference, a classroom that engages students in English demands them to do more thinking in English. By using the Direct Method, students are able to understand what they learn, think about it and then express their own ideas in correct and even ask question about words they are enable to understand and knows English about what they have read and learnt. Classes who have few students, so the power of the learning process can be enhanced. In direct method translation cannot be used. The interaction goes from both ways like teacher to student and from student to
As the global communities migrate from their native home lands to new countries and regions, the need to learn a new language becomes an imminent requirement. Learning second language for an individual with not back ground to the language can be a serious proposition which can results in seriously straining the individual. This makes it very important to select a learning strategy very carefully to prevent complicating the learning process and also one which will help speed up the entire learning process (Bitchener 2007). With this in mind there are three main approaches linked to learning a 2nd language namely the behaviourist, Halliday’s and Chomsky’s approaches. Each of these adopts different learning theories but that all promote
Language acquisition requires meaningful interaction in the target language with natural communication while children are acquiring the foreign language. Children usually concerned with message which they are conveying and understand not with the form of utterances. These utterances are initiated by the acquired systems and the fluency of language is based on what we have ‘picked up’ through active communication. Both formal knowledge and conscious learning of the second language learning may be alternate to the output of the system, sometimes before and sometimes after the