Chapter 8 Language acquistion.pptVIP

Chapter 8 Language Acquisition 8.1 First Language Acquisition Language acquisition is a complicated process, because it involves a wide range of social, psychological, cognitive, linguistic, physiological factors. 8.1.1 Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Acquisition Acquisition is often used to refer to first language acquisition and second language acquisition. First language acquisition is also called mother tongue acquisition. Acquisition takes place in the speech community where ones first language or second language is spoken. It is often natural, without much focus on form. The learning of English by speakers of other languages in the United States is an example of second language acquisition. Foreign language learning usually takes place in the speech community where ones first language is spoken. It is a conscious process through formal school-like settings and requires time for processing, with focus on linguistic form in addition to knowledge of the rules of language use. For example, the learning of English in China. Every normal child can become a competent speaker of his native language in the first five years of life. Although each normal child acquires his first language in pretty much the same way, the development of first language acquisition varies from child to child. From observable facts, we can see that a normal child may go through four stages in first language acquisition. Stages of Language Acquisition Babbling Whatever the nature of the input they receive, children go through several stages in the process of acquiring their native language. At the babbling stage, which starts at about six months of age, children first utter a series of identical syllables such as ba-ba-baorma-ma-ma. A couple of months later, as the vocal apparatus matures, this reduplicated babbling blossoms into a wider range of syllable types such as babbab and ab-ab. These early babblings are similar the world over and occur with or w