First Language Acquisition

First Language acquisition, a review.

By Professor Manuel E. Jiménez Campos

A First Language Acquisition is a process in which an individual at his first few years acquires a Language; it has been a subject of interest for many investigators and professionals during many years. We have witnessed the remarkable ability of children to communicate.  When they are babies they produce sounds or gestures in order to communicate their actions or messages.  How can we explain this amazing process from a baby to an adult, from simple sentences or words? . Second language acquisition, or sequential language acquisition, is learning a second language after a first language is already established. Many times this happens when a child who speaks a language other than English goes to school for the first time. Children have an easier time learning a second language, but anyone can do it at any age. It takes a lot of practice! 

What is the best way to teach a second language?

There are many different things that factor into the decision about how to teach a person a second language, including the following:

a)                             language spoken in the home

b)                            amount of opportunity to practice the second language

c)                             internal motivation of the learner

d)                            reason that the second language is needed (e.g., to learn at school, to talk to a friend, or for work)

There are different ways that to introduce the second language:

a)                             by setting (e.g., English is spoken only in the school, and Urdu is spoken only in the home)

b)                            by topic (e.g., French is spoken only during meal time, and Spanish is spoken during school/work activities)

c)                             by speaker (e.g., Mom will speak only in German, and Dad speaks Russian only)

The ability of a person to use a second language will depend on his or her family's ability to speak more than one language. It is important for parents/caregivers to provide a strong language model. 

For Further information regards to Language acquisition visit http://www.bcatml.org/LLED324/Brown_principles.pdf