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Questions
1. How do children learn their first Language?
2. What is it that enables them to form meaningful sentences?
First Language Acquisition occurs when a child has been without a language and now he/she
acquires one.
Differences between Acquiring and Learning a language
Acquiring a language is picking it up or to develop abilities in a language by using it in a natural
communicative situation. It is a subconscious process and not planned.
According to Krashen (1991) Learning is knowing the rules, or having a conscious knowledge about
the grammar.It is a conscious process and carefully planned.
Acquiring a language is more successful and long-lasting then learning it because in acquisition
people are not afraid of making mistakes, they are driven by a communicative need, theres more
time availability, theres a variety of input.
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Age
Birth
6 weeks
6 months
8 months
1 year
18 months
2 years
2 years and three months
5 years
Children also receive linguistic input from speakers in the environment, and positive reinforcement
for their correct repetitions and imitations. As a result, habits are formed. (Skinner 1957).
Innatism
Chomsky claims that children are biologically programmed for language and that language develops
in the same way that other biological functions develop.
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