First Language

Acquisition

Cultural

transmission

interaction

ControversyInnatist theory

All human languages are innate.

Babies are programmed to distinguish

between ungrammatical and grammatical.

Environment makes a basic contribution.

Interactionist theory

Interaction between people and objects

The importance of the environment

Motherese

The rule-governed nature

Children seem to be aware that language is

rule governed.

They get engaged with the search of

language rules.

E.g. Use of negatives - No jump – Don´t jump

StagesPre-stage

1)Earliest vocalization

2)Cooing – velar sounds

3)Babbling – vowel sounds – fricative –

nasal

4)9 months – use vocalization to express

emotions and emphasis

Holophrastic stage 12 – 18 months a child speaks single -

words

Generally these words are objects

milk - Mummy – Daddy – door - toy

The two word stage A child is able to speak two separated

words and combined them to get a

meaning.

Context is essential.

Eg. Milk and cookies.

o possession

o request

o Catch someone´s attention

Telegraphic speech Two – Three years old

Telegraph format

Multi-words utterances

E.g. Emma want doll

The acquisition process

The child linguistic production is a matter of

trying out constructions and testing if they

work or not.

Grammatical Morphemes

1. Present progressive - ING-

2. Plural – ‘s

3. Irregular past form

4. Possessives - Joe‘s

5. Copula - Joe is happy

6. Regular past - ed

7. Third person singular simple present - He

says..

8. auxiliary be

Negation

Stage 1

No. No doll .

Stage 2

Mum no doll

Don´t touch my doll

Stage 3

I can´t do that. He don´t know

Stage 4

You didn´t bring me the doll.

She doesn´t want it.

Questions

Wh- questions

1.What?

2. Where? Who?

3. Why?

4. When? How?

Stage 1

Cookie? My doll?

Where´s dad? What´s that?

Stage 2

You like this?

Stage 3

Can I go? Are you there?

Fronting – Do I can have a cookie?

Stage 4

Are you going to play with me?

Do dogs like ice-cream?

Stage 5

Wh- questions

Yes-No questions

Negative questions are still a bit

difficult.

Stage 6

Children are able to correctly form all

questions types.

SemanticsLimited vocabulary and different

meanings

SecondLanguage

Acquisition

Acquisition and Learning

Acquisition: refers to the gradual development

of ability in a language by using it naturally.

Learning: conscious process of accumulating

knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.

Behaviourism

imitation practice reinforcement

Innatist Universal Grammar

Lack of time to acquire a language.

Known of the language.

Difficulties in pronunciation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z907Q

wXpUqA

Acquisition Barrier

Affective filterUnwilling or embarrassmentLack of empathy with the

culture

stressed

uncomfortable Self- conscious

unmotivated

MethodsGrammar-translation

Long list of words. Memorize grammatical rules. Emphasis on the written language.

Audiolingual

Emphasis on the spoken language.

Moving simple structures to complex ones.

Language learning is a process of habit

formation

Direct

No translation is allowed

The meaning is to be conveyed through the

use of demonstration and visual aids.

InterlanguageLinguistic system and considered the basis of all L2 production.

Motivation

Once L2 learners achieve success

they feel more motivated to learn.

Communicative Competence Use L2 . accurately, appropriately and flexibly

Grammatical competence involves the accurate

use of words and structures in L2.

Sociolinguistic competence enable students to

learn to know when to say what to whom.

Strategic competence is the ability to organize

a message effectively and to overcome if there

is any difficulty.