Understanding the Language Acquisition Process
Understanding the language acquisition process is crucial because it helps learners appreciate the particular challenges that come with learning a new language. According to Robertson and Ford (2008), a child learns a new language more easily than an adult due to the distinct developmental phases they are in. Furthermore, understanding the language acquisition process is critical in language education. To guarantee that learners efficiently acquire a second language, various ways must be used (Embick &Yuan, 2003).
Second Language Acquisition
Second language acquisition is the process of learning a language by people who have reached puberty. The process is a mostly painstaking intellectual process that rarely results in total native fluency of the acquired language (Robertson & Ford, 2008). Unlike before puberty, whereby young children easily learn and acquire secondary language with ease and fluency, after puberty, secondary language acquisition is quite an uphill task, hence the adult rarely communicates the secondary language with the same fluency as the natives. Some scholars like Embick &Yuan (2003) associate the poor secondary language acquisition by adults to the onset of development of sexual characteristics that develops during puberty.
Q3.
The Nativist Theory
Nativist and learning interactionist theories have been used to explain the language development process. The nativist theory postulates that humans are naturally programmed to gain knowledge. Humans have a language acquisition device that is critical in controlling the grammatical rules in all the languages. The language acquisition device enables children to understand the grammatical requirements of different languages (Khan Academy, 2013).
The Learning Interactionist Theory
The learning interactionist theory urges that language development is both biological and social in nature. The need for children to communicate with others is at the core of language development. Children, as per the theory, are born with a powerful but slowly maturing brain that is critical in ensuring that they have a new understanding which they share out with others; hence developing language (Hare, 2016).
References
Embick & Yuan. (2003). First language acquisition timeline. http://tesolresources.weebly.com/uploads/5/8/7/3/5873833/firstlanguageacquisition_timeline.pdf
Khan Academy. (2013). Theories of language development: Nativist, learning, interactionist. https://youtu.be/RRGwdfQV8kU
Hare, E (2016). Child language acquisitions. Key theories. https://youtu.be/jr_hK2Owq8o
Robertson, K. & Ford, K. Language acquisition: An overview. Colorin Colorado! http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview
