FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Acquisition : The process of language acquisition has some basic

requirements. During the first two or three years of development, a
child requires interaction with other language-users in order to bring
the general language capacity into contact with a particular
language such as English.
o Input : the language that an acquirer/learner is exposed to, in
contrast to output.
The acquisition schedule :
o Cooing and babbling : cooing: the earliest use of speech-like
sounds
by
an infant in the first few months. babbling: the use of syllable
sequences (ba-ba) and combinations (ma-ga) by young
children in their first year.
o The one-word stage : the period in L1 acquisition when
children can produce single terms for objects. holophrastic
(utterance): a single form functioning as a phrase or sentence
in the early speech of young children.
o The two-word stage : a period beginning at around 1820
months when children produce two terms together as an
utterance (baby chair).
o Telegraphic speech : strings of words (lexical morphemes
without inflectional morphemes) in phrases (daddy go byebye) produced by two-year-old children.
The acquisition process : children can be heard to repeat versions
of
what adults say on occasion and they are clearly in the process of
adopting
a
lot
of vocabulary from the speech they hear. However, adults simply do
not
produce
many of the expressions that turn up in childrens speech. Notice
how,
in
the
following
extract (from Clark, 1993), the child creates a totally new verb (to
Woodstock)
in
the
context.
Developing morphology : The next morphological development is
typically the marking of regular plurals with the -s form, as in boys
and cats. The acquisition of the plural marker is often accompanied
by a process of overgeneralization (in L1 acquisition, using an
inflectional morpheme on more words than is usual in the language
(e.g. two foots))
Developing syntax :
o Forming questions : In forming questions, the childs first stage has
two procedures. Simply add a Wh-form (Where, Who) to the beginning of
the expression or utter the expression with a rise in intonation towards the
end, as in these examples: Where kitty? Doggie? Where horse go? Sit
chair?

o Forming negatives : In the case of negatives, Stage 1 seems to

involve a simple strategy of putting No or Not at the beginning, as in these
examples: no mitten not a teddy bear no fall no sit there.

Developing semantics :
o The anecdotes that parents retell about their childs early
speech
(to
the
intense
embarrassment of the grown-up child) usually involve
examples of the strange use First language acquisition 179 of
words. One child first used bow-wow to refer to a dog and then
to a fur piece with glass eyes, a set of cufflinks and even a
bath thermometer. The word bow-wow seemed to have a
meaning like object with shiny bits. Other children often
extend bow-wow to refer to cats, cows and horses. This
process is called overextension (in L1 acquisition, using a word
to refer to more objects than is usual in the language (ball
used to refer to the moon).)

SECOND LANGUAGE AQUISITION

Second language learning : the process of developing ability in another
language, after L1 acquisition.

o Acquisition and learning : acquisition: the gradual development

of
ability
in a first or second language by using it naturally in communicative
situations. learning: the conscious process of accumulating knowledge, in
contrast to acquisition.

o Acquisition barriers : For most people, the experience with an L2 is

fundamentally different from their L1 experience and it is hardly conducive

to acquisition. Affective factors : emotional reactions such as selfconsciousness or negative feelings that may influence learning. affective
factors
that
can
create
a
barrier
to acquisition. Basically, if we are stressed, uncomfortable, self-conscious
or unmotivated, we are unlikely to learn very much.

Focus on method : Despite all these barriers, the need for instruction in
other languages has led to a variety of educational approaches and methods
aimed at fostering L2 learning. As long ago as 1483, William Caxton used his
newly established printing press to produce a book of Right good lernyng for to
lerne shortly frenssh and englyssh.

o The grammartranslation method: the traditional form of

language teaching, with vocabulary lists and sets of grammar rules.

o The audiolingual method : a mid-twentieth-century approach to

language teaching, with repetitive drills used to develop fluent spoken
language as a set of habits.

o Communicative approaches : approaches to language teaching

that are based on learning through using language rather than learning
about language.

 Focus on the learner : The most fundamental change in the area of L2

learning in recent years has been a shift from concern with the teacher, the
textbook and the method to an interest in the learner and the acquisition process.

o Transfer: using sounds, expressions and structures from the L1 while

performing in an L2. positive transfer: the use of a feature from the L1 that
is similar to the L2 while performing in the L2, in contrast to negative
transfer. negative transfer: the use of a feature from the L1 (that is really
different from the L2) while performing in the L2, in contrast to positive
transfer.

o Interlanguage: the interim system of L2 learners, which has some

features of the L1 and L2 plus some that are independent of the L1 and the
L2.

o Motivation: instrumental motivation: the desire to learn an L2, not to

join the community of L2-users, butto achieve some other goal, in contrast
to integrative motivation. integrative motivation: the desire to learn an L2
in order to take part in the social life of the community of L2-users.

o Input and output: The term input is used, as in L1 acquisition to

describe the language that the learner is exposed to. To be beneficial for
L2 learning, that input has to be comprehensible, because we cant
process what we dont understand. output: the language produced by an
acquirer/ learner. in meaningful interaction seems to be another important
element in the learners development of L2 ability

Communicative competence: the general ability to use language

accurately, appropriately and flexibly. The first component is grammatical
competence, which involves the accurate use of words and structures.
Concentration on grammatical competence only. the second component, called
sociolinguistic competence Much of what was discussed in terms of pragmatics
has to become familiar in the cultural context of the L2 if the learner is to develop
sociolinguistic competence. The third component is called strategic competence.
This is the ability to organize a message effectively and to compensate, via
strategies, for any difficulties. In L2 use, learners inevitably experience moments
when there is a gap between communicative intent and their ability to express
that intent.

Applied linguistics: the study of a large range of practical issues involving

language in general and second language learning in particular.

GESTURES AND SIGN LANGUAGE

Gestures: use of the hands, typically while speaking. In the study of nonverbal behavior, a distinction can be drawn between gestures and
emblems. Emblems are signals such as thumbs up (= things are good)
or shush (= keep quiet) that function like fixed phrases and do not
depend on speech.
o Types of gestures: Iconics: gestures that seem to echo or imitate
the meaning of what is said. Deictics: gestures used to point at
things or people. beats: gestures involving short quick movements
of the hands or fingers that go along with the rhythm of talk.
Types of sign languages: There are two general categories of language
involving the use of signs: alternate sign languages and primary sign
languages. By definition, an alternate sign language is a system of hand
signals developed by speakers for limited communication in a specific
context where speech cannot be used. In contrast, a primary sign

language is the first language of a group of people who do not use a

spoken language with each other.
Oralism: a teaching method generally known as oralism dominated deaf
education during most of the twentieth century. This method required that
the students practice English speech sounds and develop lip-reading skills.
Signed English: using English sentences with signs instead of words, also
called Manually Coded English or MCE. This is essentially a means of
producing signs that correspond to the words in an English sentence, in
English word order.
The structure of signs:
o Shape and orientation: shape: the configuration of the hand(s) as
an
articulatory parameter of ASL. rientation: the way the hand is
positioned
as
an articulatory parameter of ASL.
o Location and movement: location (in sign language): an
articulatory parameter of ASL identifying the place where hands are
positioned in relation to the head and upper body of the signer.
movement: an articulatory parameter in ASL describing the type of
motion used in forming signs.
o Primes, faces and finger-spelling: primes: the sets of features
that
form
contrasting elements within the articulatory parameters of ASL
finger-spelling: a system of hand configurations used to represent
the letters of the alphabet in sign language.
The meaning of signs: as when confronted with any unfamiliar
language,
we
may not even be able to identify individual signs (words) in fluent signing.
If
we
cant
see the words, we are hardly likely to be able to identify the pictures
needed
for
their interpretation. Most everyday use of ASL signs by fluent ASL-users is
not
based
on identifying symbolic pictures, but on recognizing familiar linguistic
forms
that
have
arbitrary status. In use, this sign consists of rotating both hands together
with the fingers interlocked
Representing signs: As Lou Fant (1977) has observed, strictly
speaking, the only way to write Ameslan is to use motion pictures. One of
the
major
problems is finding a way to incorporate those aspects of facial expression
that
contribute to the message. A partial solution is to write one line of
manually
signed
words (in capital letters) and then, above this line, to indicate the nature
and
extent
of
the facial expression (in some conventional way) that contributes to the
message.
ASL as a natural language: ASL is a natural language that is quite
remarkable for its endurance in the face of decades of prejudice and
misunderstanding. There is a very old joke among the deaf that begins
with the question: What is the greatest problem facing deaf people?
Perhaps increased knowledge and appreciation of their language among

the general population will bring about a change in the old response to
that question. The traditional answer was: Hearing people.