First Language Acquisition. By H. Douglas Brown.

THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO ACQUIRE OUR LANGUAGE

There have been different theories about how do we get our first language since we are born and at the same time, different methods, experiments and studies to prove, analyze, support or reject such theories. Some studies with the most similar animal to humans, the chimpanzee, have demonstrated that “humans are unique” as a rational specie with many special features in our brain to help us acquire completely our language to communicate. Although many specialists tried to teach chimpanzees by including them in daily lives and routines with kids in loving families and a lot of care and patience, they couldn’t reach other goal than separate words (no more than 4 in a logical sequence) using many strategies which included immersion, and treatment as a foreign student, and this only strength our statement (we are unique).

In the text wrote by Brown we can discriminate three different approaches about human language acquisition, he tells us about “behaviorist approaches, natives approaches and functional approaches”, and each one has influence in the language acquisition of every human. For example in one hand we can talk about behavior approach, we can find that humans get the majority of the language from the environment surrounding us while we grow up, and it means that in our relation with other people we learn grammatical structures based in our experience and not in our studies.

On the other hand the term nativist is derived from the fundamental assertion that language acquisition is innately determined, that we are born with a genetic capacity that predisposes us to a systematic perception of language around us.
Chomsky claimed the existence of innate properties of language to explain the child’s mastery of a native language. This innate knowledge is embodied in a language acquisition device (LAD). McNeill described LAD as consisting of four innate linguistic properties.
1. The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the environment.
2. The ability to organize linguistic data into various classes that can later be refined.
3. Knowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and that other kinds are not.
4. The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of the available linguistic input.


Finally if we talk about functional approaches we see that Brown says that besides the behavior approaches like environment language acquisition and the nativity system of comprehension is necessary to understand the relation of them with the functions of language, and to understand it we have to see deeper in our mind functions, those are independently organized and include functions like perception and memory, this functions complement a superstructure that rules our linguistic abilities and give us the performance to communicate any idea in that specific language, it means that the learning of any language must be based in the functional cognitive capacities and in the linguistic experiences and not in the complex structures of languages.

I agree with the author in the last approach (Functional Approach) because it includes the idea of an environment influencing in language acquisition and accepts the idea of a native internal system of language comprehension so we can understand that this two approaches are not only necessary, but integrating these theories and the functional approach we can complement the best way of a first language acquisition.

First Language Acquisition. By G. Yule.

1.Which are two important features of the caretaker speech?

The characteristically simplified speech adopted by someone who spends a lot of time interacting with a young child.

This person uses a lot of questions and often using exaggerated intonation.

2.What is the term used to describe the process where a child uses one word like “Ball” to refer to an apple, an egg and a ball?

Overextension: this process is when the child overextends the meaning of something which has similar characteristics, such as; shape, size, sound, and so on.

3.Why saying that children learn because they imitate is controversial?

Because they dot no only learn by imitating speech patterns but by constructing their own sentences and testing them whether they work or not.

4.Do children change behaviour when they are corrected?

No, they do not change behaviour indeed when they are corrected. They continue saying the same words.

5.What is the role of feedback in children learning?

The feedback process appears when the child is talking, and use it his knowledge. The practice seems to be an important factor in the development of the child's linguistic repertoire.

Language, Learning, And Teaching. By H. Douglas Brown.

1.- What is a permanent struggle in teaching/learning? A permantent struggle is the management of the second language indentity that we create when we learn a second language, beyond the confines of our first language. 2.- Are we equipped with a do-it-yourself-kit? Language learning is not a set of easy steps that can be programmed in a quik do-it-yourself-kit. Many variables are involved in the acquisition process. 3.- Why do people learn or fail to learn a language? Because it's necessary that the teacher needs to know something about the intricate web of variables that are spun together to affect how and why one learners fails when they learn a second language. 4.- Name the issues to consider in second language acquisition. The current issues in second language acquisition (SLA) may be initially approached as a multitude of questions that are being asked abour this complex process. Those of the questions are: Who? -> These question focus attention on some of the crucial variables affecting both learners' successes in acquiring a foreing language and teachers' capacities to enable learners to achieve that aquisition. What? -> These profound questions are of course central to the discipline of linguistics. How? -> Refers to where the learning take place, what is the optimal interrelationship of cognitive, affective, and physical domains for successful language learning. When -> One of the key issues in second language research and teaching is the differential success of children and adults in learning a second language. Where? -> Refers in whitch "foreign" language context the second language is heard and spoken Why? -> These question have been posed to give you an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching. 5.- What are the motivations to learn a language? This question have been posed, in very global terms, to give us an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching. 6.- What is a PARADIGMA? Paradigma it's an interlocking design, a theory of second language acquisition. 7.- Give 3 definitions of LANGUAGE. "Language is a complex, specialized skill, which develops in the child spontaneously, without conscious effort or formal instruction, is deployed without awareness of its underlying logic, is qualitatively the same in every individual, and is distinct from more general abilities to process information or behave intelligently". ( Pinker). "Language is a system of arbitrary conventionalized vocal, written, or gestural symbols that enable members of a given community to communicate intelligibly with one anothe" (Introductory texbooks) "Systematic communication by vocal symbols" ( Concise Columbia Encyclopedia). 8.- What is the relation between language and cognition? A foreing language teacher effectively teach a language if they don't know, even in general, something about the relationship between language and cognition. 9.- Which are some LEARNING definitions? "Learning is a relatively permanent change in a behavioral tendency and is the result of reinforced practice" (Kimble & Garmezy) "Acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study, experience, or instruction". 10.- Can we define TEACHING apart from LEARNING? Teaching cannot be defined apart from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to lear, setting the conditions for learning . 11.- What is the importance of our PEDAGOGICAL PHILOSOPHY? Our understanding of how the learner, learns will determine our philosophy of education, our teaching style, our approach, methods and classroom techniques. 12.- Refer to the 3 schools of thought is SLA? a) Structuralism/Behaviorism During the 40' and the 50' the structural, or descriptive, school of linguistics prided itself in a rigorous application of the scientific principle of observation of human languages. The linguistic's task, according to the structuralist, was to describe human languages and to identify the structural characteristics of those languages. Among psychologists, a behavioristic paradigm also focused on publicity observable responses, those that can be objectively perceived. b) Rationalism and Cognitive Psychology This school of linguistics emerged through the influence of Noam Chomsky; he was trying to show that human language cannot be scrutinized simply in terms of observable stimuli and responses on the volumes of raw data gathered by field linguists. Cognitive phsychologists sought to discover underlying motivations and deep structures of human behavior by using a rational approach. c) Constructivism Constructivism argue that all human beings construct their own version of reality, and therefore multiple constrasting ways of knowing and describing are equally legitimate. 13.- Describe the GTM. The grammar translation method of foreign language teaching is one of the miost traditional methods in the classroom. It was originally used to teach "dead" languages (and literatures) such as latin and Greek, involving little or no spoken communication or listening comprehension. This method it focuses on learning the rules of grammar and their application in translation passages from one language into the other. The vocabulary in the target language is learned through direct translation from the native language, it is taught in the form of isolated word list. e.g. with vocabulary test such as: the house = la casa the mouse = el ratón

What You Know When You Know A Language

What You Know When You Know a Language

The Study of Language

Language is systematic and complex at the same time, the language can be used to express an infinite number of ideas. Language also changes over time, whether speakers desire change or not. Another characteristic is that language varies according to locations, commonly referred to as dialects. Lastly, although there exist some differences regarding vocabulary and pronounciation in the same language known as dialects, there are also some features that all languages share.

The Speech Communication Chain

We humans use language to communicate an idea from our mind to the mind of someone else. In order to act either as a source and transmitter or as a receiver and destination, you must have several information stored as part of your linguistic competence; that is you must know a lot about you language.

What You Know When You Know a Language

One of the basic features that you know when you know a language is that you can immediately recognise when someone is speaking in your own language, because you are able to recognise your language speech sounds and the ones that are not.

Another feature is that you know how to produce those speech sounds without having to think twice about them (Phonetics). You also know how those sounds work together as a system, so the knowledge about the distribution of speech sounds is part of your knoledge of Phonology.

You can also know how to break individual words down into smaller parts that have a particular meaning or function, and how to create new words by combining there smaller parts. You also know which combinations are words and which are not (Morphology).

You also know a great deal about your language´s Syntax; how words combine in order to form phrases and sentences well formed. Another part of your linguistic compentence has to do with the ability to interpret meanings of phrases and sentences, Semantics. And lastly Pragmatics has to do with the ability to determine the meaning according to the context, depending on the situation sometimes we can find ourselves involved.

What You Know When You Know A Language?

What Is Applied Lingusitics?

1.- How is language defined?

Language is a tool considered vitally important by society, in order to communicate and interact with people in everyday’s life.

2.- What is applied Linguistics?

The AL deals with how people use the language depending on the context.

3.- Which is defferent in L1 and L2 acquisition?

The main difference between L1 and L2, is that you can get L1 by only the acquiring process whilst L2 can be acquired or learnt.

4.- What are the diference between Acquisition and Learning?

The acquisition process is unconscious and it exits exposure, the learning process is a conscious process it does not usually exist exposure

5.- Which factors are part of L2 learning?

Affective factors (stress, self-consciousness) and transfers (trying to apply rules from L1 to L2) which can be positive or negative.

6.- What is interlanguage? When a mistake does not belong to the mother tongue neither the target language.