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First Language Acquisition Theories

Children acquire language through unconscious processes by being immersed in natural communication, not by consciously learning grammatical rules. There are various theories that attempt to explain this process, including the idea that children are born with an innate language acquisition device or that language develops through interactions with the environment. While children gain competence in a language, they must also have the opportunity to practice and perform language skills through speaking, writing, and social interactions to fully develop proficiency.

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DARIEL DIAZ
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186 views

First Language Acquisition Theories

Children acquire language through unconscious processes by being immersed in natural communication, not by consciously learning grammatical rules. There are various theories that attempt to explain this process, including the idea that children are born with an innate language acquisition device or that language develops through interactions with the environment. While children gain competence in a language, they must also have the opportunity to practice and perform language skills through speaking, writing, and social interactions to fully develop proficiency.

Uploaded by

DARIEL DIAZ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Theories of first Issues in first


language language
acquisition
acquisition
Language Acquisition

 Children acquire language


through a subconscious
process. They are are
unaware of grammatical
rules.

 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 or structure.
Language Learning
 Research has shown that
knowing grammar rules
does not necessarily result
in good speaking or
writing: Usage versus
use.
 A student who has
memorized the rules of
the language might
succeed on a
standardized test of
English language
(competence), but may
not be able to speak or
write correctly
(performance)
 Behaviorists consider effective
language behavior to be the
production of correct responses
to stimuli. The need to use
language is stimulated and
language is uttered in response
to stimuli.

 B.F. Skinner is the best known


behaviorist who speculated that
children are conditioned by
their environment to respond to
certain stimuli with language.
 All Homo sapiens are born with a
LAD
 Only Homo sapiens have a LAD
 Noam Chomsky, the
father of most nativist
theories of language
acquisition, claims that
children are born with a
hard-wired Language
Acquisition Device (LAD)
in their brains.

 Universal grammar says


that all languages have
the same basic structure,
and that specific
languages have rules
that transform these
structures into the
specific patterns found
in given languages.
Piaget described whole
development as a result of
children’s interaction with their
environment. There is a
complementary interaction
between their developing
perceptual cognitive capacities
and their linguistic experience.
Social Interaction and
Language Development

This theory is an approach


to language acquisition
that stresses the
environment and the
context in which the
language is being learned.
This approach to language
acquisition is based on
culture and environment.
Vocabulary is bound by
context to the culture.
 Competence refers to
one’s underlying of a
system, event, or fact;
non observable ability to
do something.

 Performance is the
overtly observable and
concrete manifestation or
realization of
competence. It is the
actual doing of
something.
They both can be aspects of
performance and competence. It
is thought that comprehension
(listening and reading) can be
associated with competence,
while production (speaking,
writing) are associated with
performance.
 Nativists contend that a
child is born with an innate
knowledge of a language,
and that this innate
property is universal.
 However, it hasn’t been
proven that there are
“language genes” in our
genetic information.

 Environmental factors
cannot be ignored.
 The issue at stake is to
determine how thought affects
language, how language
affects thought, and how
linguists can best describe and
explain the interaction of the
two.

 There have been some


positions on this such as that of
Piaget, who claimed that
cognitive development is at the
center of human organisms
and that language depends on
cognitive development.
Research has shown that
echoing is a particularly
salient strategy in early
language learning and an
important aspect of early
phonological acquisition.

Children imitate the


surface structure of the
language.
 Children like to play
with language.
 Practicing a
language involves
speaking and
comprehension
practice.
The speech that young
children hear is
primarily the speech
heard in home.
Also, children acquire
the language from
overhearing the
conversations of others,
from listening to the
radio, watching TV or
work with some
objects.
The child will learn
how to initiate a
conversation and
give responses.
The child will identify
whether he is being
requested for
information, for an
action, or for help.
Thank
you!

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