First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition

First Language Acquisition and Second Language Acquisition

Yukari Miyake

Machiko Morikami

1.1 Introduction

Every child learns their first language (L1) successfully, in a matter of a few years and without the need for formal lessons. However, when people try to learn a second language (L2), it is hard to be like a native speaker. In this presentation, we are going to discuss the stages of child’s language acquisition and L2 learning, and its methods based on some theories, and we will find out effective ways of learning the second language (L2) by comparing L1 and L2 acquisition.

1.2 Critical age

It is generally said that there is a time limit which is called critical period for acquiring language as a native speaker. Age eight is a limit for pronunciation, and age twelve is a limit for grammar. If people go over these critical ages, learning language will be difficult, and we have to work hard to acquire the target language, because our brain’s construction for language learning will be completed around these ages.

1.3 How do we acquire language?

Theories for L1

‘All people had an innate knowledge of the grammar of their native language. ‘(Noam Chomsky)

When we begin speaking as an infant, we automatically produce utterances that are grammatical in our native language. (e.g. studies of child language)

‘Childrenlearn the rules of their native language by imitating what they hear in their environment.’(B.F. Skinner)(e.g. Genie’s lend)

Theories for L2

Second language acquisition is the phrase used to describe the process that people go through when confronted by a need to use a language other than their native one for communication(Olga Ebert and William Hawk, 1998).

This theory shows that it is difficult to be like a native speaker after a critical period. Hence, adults learner need to study another language intentionally if they want to acquire it. Acquiring a language is a same goal as first language acquisition, but the outcome is not the same because second language learner’s production is not complete as native speaker’s one.

1.4First language acquisition

There are six Universal Stagesof language development which are generally recognized in child’slanguage acquisition. Now we will look at their way of language acquisition in each stage and we will find out the methods that we can use in L2 acquisition. Also we can see if language is innate for human or learnt in the environment.

Stages / Methods of acquiring / Suggestions
Pre-linguistic stage (0-6 months)
There is a ‘silent period’ where the infant does not produce any formulated sounds; he only cries.
Then they begin to produce specific sounds (cooing, babbling and laughing). / Learn speech patterns by watching their mother or father speaking to them.
They learn how the move of their tongue and lips change the sounds they are making to copy the sounds they hear. Then they practice the sounds, intonations and rhythms of language.
They may combine their first sounds with gestures. / Infant starts acquiring their language by watching others’ behavior and facial expressions, and also listening to the sounds and rhythms they make.
When we start learning L2, watching how native speakers behave or correspond to others and also being used to the English sounds and rhythm at the start could be effective rather than starting from the textbook.
Holophrastic stage (14-20 months)
Infant begins to utter his first words. (e.g. “Mama”, “Dada”)
Single-wordcommunication: ‘holophrastic speech’. (e.g. “Boo” may mean “read me a book”)
They understand many more words than they can say. They can recognize correct sentence and may find incorrect sentences confusing. (e.g. "find was dog for me" and "find the dog for me") / They begin to learn words by imitating.
They try to find words that they can say when the word they wantis beyond their abilities.
They learn the rules of word order and sentence structure before they are able to connect ideas together verbally. / Children begin to learn by imitating and try to output what they have learned.
Imitating native speakers or other people who speak the language will help us to output the words we learnt naturally.
They start to acquire language by watching, listening to others and speaking. (Learn words and grammar from communication, not from written text.)
Communication helps us to find out what we know and what we do not know, and the repetition of conversation in one’s level contributes to our understanding of grammar.
Two-word stage (2years)
Children use content words with no grammatical order but at this point they understand word order and context. / They begin to connect two content words together to indicate location, "daddy gone;" possession, "doggie mine;" or action, "mommy juice."
Gradually, through practice, they begin to master the morphology of language and start adding affixes, like "ing." ("Mommy walking.")
They start using function words like "the" and "is," and combine together and make grammatically correct sentences. ("Mommy is walking")
Eventually, they master syntax. ("Daddy grandma phone talk" becomes "Daddy is talking to Grandma on the phone") / Children learn grammar by producing words by themselves.
Children know word order but they use content words with no grammatical order. We could say the same thing for the beginners of L2 learners. We know grammar but it is difficult to produce grammatical sentences in speaking. What we need to do may be just trying to produce sentences by ourselves until we can connect our verbal words to our grammatical knowledge.
Telegraphic stage (2-3 years)
The child generally uses one central word plus one or two additional words. (e.g. “Mummy go shops”)
They are able to perceive the correct phonemic contracts but they are still unable to produce them.
Intermediate development stages (by 5th year)
They have mastered adult language skills and need only to develop them with experience. / By this stage a child is certainly able to communicate and will spend the rest of their childhood, and indeed their adulthood, expanding their vocabulary and knowledge of language. / After they get language skills, they only need to develop them through communication.
Communication is the very way for us to acquire language.
Adult stage

1.5 Second Language Acquisition

Some Japanese students can not communicate smoothly in the target language when they go abroad because they usually have a big problem in listening and speaking, even thoughthey had an eight-year English education in Japan. They are an important and essential part of language, but it is not useful enough in everyday conversation. Now we will look at stages of second language acquisition and some suggestions to learn a second language more effectively at each stage. Stages of second language acquisition aresummarized as follows (Armengol, 2000):

Stages / Methods of acquiring / Suggestions

Pre-production/ Comprehension Stage

Students try to communicate with gestures and actions.
10 hours to 6 months
500 receptive words / Students usually do not talk in the target language, but they build receptive skills.
Pointing to an item/picture or person
Gesturing or nodding
Saying “Yes” or “No”. / ★In schools, students acquire more language when they are exposed to the language which is comprehensible.
★Using pictures and using a simple sentence is effective way to let students study the target language.

Early Production Stage

Students speak and/or write using yes/ no answers, one or two words, list of words, or short phrases.
An additional 6 months
1000 receptive/active words / answering with "Yes" or "No"
answering questions with one word
(for example, "Is the box big or little?" "Big.")
putting two or more words together
(for example, "small square")
using repetitive language patterns
(for example, "May I go to the bathroom?" "My name is John.")

Speech Emergence Stage

Students speak and/or write in longer phrases and complete sentences and they use a wide range of vocabulary.
An additional 1 year
3000 receptive/active words / using 3 or more words and short phrases
(for example, "I like pizza." "Stand up.")
using beginning dialog
using full simple sentences
(for example, "There are four pencils." / Talking with other second language learners in the target language will also be effective to practice speaking skill, because beginner students will be very nervous as they try to communicate with native speakers. After practicing over and over again, students will be able to speak a second language with confidence when they talk with native speakers.

Intermediate Fluency Stage

Students engage in conversations and produce connected narrativesorally and in writing.
An additional 1 year
6000 active words / using complex statements
(for example, "I want to learn about reptiles that live in Africa.")
stating opinions
(for example, "I think this food is too spicy.")
speaking at length
asking for clarification
(for example, "Can you explain the difference between a plain and a plateau to me?")
share original thoughts
5. Advanced Stage
Students speak and write in connected and unified paragraphs about most situations.
5 to 7 years
Content Area Vocabulary / participating fully in the grade level classroom activities with support for understanding specialized academic language in the content area
continuing to grow in their cultural and background knowledge of the language / ★Listening skills and speaking skills will get better through interactions in English with native speakers.
★Efforts in speaking will help write essays faster, and guessing skills in listening will be useful in reading because they come to be able to guess the meaning of difficult words with other words.

1.6 The differences between L1 and L2

The biggest difference between first language acquisition and second language acquisition is conscious or unconscious learning. When we learn a first language, we are not conscious of learning.The differences between language acquisition and learning can be summarized as follows (Krashen, 27):

Acquisition / Learning
similar to child's first language acquisition / formal knowledge of language
"picking up" a language / "knowing about" a language
subconscious / conscious
implicit knowledge / explicit knowledge
formal teaching does not help / formal teaching helps

Language acquisition ability, however, does not disappear in adulthood; it instead combines with a conscious learning function, against which natural language use is verified (Olga and William, 1998). For this reason, it is not impossible to adults learner to learn another language though it requires a certain amount of t time.

1.5 Conclusion

We have looked at the different acquiring methods between L1 and L2. When we acquire L1, we begin learning by watching how others behave, not only action but facial expressions, and also by listening to others. Then they start to imitate their movement of lips and learn how vocal sounds and lips and other parts of body work together. In the process of acquiring, they try to produce words by themselves positively as long as they do not have interference from outside. By producing words, children learn grammar and connect to their knowledge. In short, children acquire language by watching, listening carefully and trying out what they know. This learning method could be important when we think about L2 acquisition.

On the other hand, second language learners need to learn speaking, listening, reading, and writing equally because even through people study just grammar or reading, we can not communicate with the language easily. We also need to use the language in our daily lives. In addition, the age affects the language acquisition, so people should start to learn a second language before six years if we want to be like a native speaker. The fastest ways to learn a language is going abroad and learning in the country where the language is spoken and use it every day.

References

Amengol, Regla. 2000. Stages of Second Language Acquisition.

AccessedSeptember 20, 2005

Ebert,Olga and Hawk,William.1998. ESL Start-up Kit.

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Hoch and Morris. 1992. Second Language Acquisition.

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Spolsky, Bernard. 1995. Conditions for Second Language Learning. pp. 46. OxfordUniversity Press.

Rice, Bruehler, and Beth, Specker. 1998. First Language Acquisition, Class notes.

September 18, 2005

2002. Stages in Child Language Acquisition

September 18, 2005

Susan H. Foster-Cohen. (1999) An Introduction to Child Language Development. New York: Addison Wesley Longman Inc.