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STAGES OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

 In nearly all cases, children’s language development follows a predictable


sequence.
 There is a great deal of variation in the age at which children reach a given
milestone.
Stage Typical age
Babbling 6-8 months
One-word stage 9-18 months
(better one-morpheme or one-unit)
Two-word stage 18-24 months
Telegraphic stage or early multi-word stage 24-30 months
(better multi-morpheme)
Later multiword stage 30+ months
BABBLING
 0-1 month: crying, coughing
 2-3 months: “cooing and gooing” (production of velar consonants)
 4-6 months: produce greater various of sounds, sounds more like language
 6-8 months: babies use sounds to reflect the characteristics of different
language they are learning. Largely independent of what sounds are heard on
child’s environment.
 Everyday babbles
 One or two recognizable words (esp. Content word);
 Single-word sentences
ONE-WORD STAGE
 Emerges around 12-18 months
 Characteristics
-words used as a sentences
-one or two recognizable words (esp. Content word)
-single word sentences (mama, papa, dada, milk)
-incipient word meaning; typical communicative functions;
-naming
-child's action
-child's desire for action
-child's emotion
TWO-WORD STAGE
 Telegraphic speech
 No function of words and grammatical morphemes
 e.g., ‘mommy juice' ‘baby fall down'
 reflecting the order of the language e.g., ‘kiss baby' ‘baby kiss'
 creatively combining words e.g., ‘more outside' ‘all gone cookie'
Eve at 18 mos.
-more graphic juice
- drink juice
-eating
-no celery
-mommy soup
-oh! Horse stuck
Beyond two-word stage:
Eve at 27 mos.
‐ Pronouns and other forms
-Embedded sentences
-Omission of ‘be’
-Wrong form of pronoun
-Wrong forms of verbs
IMPORTANCE OF SENSES
 Deaf children don’t progress to babbling
 They don’t receive auditory feedback (they cant hear themselves while
speaking)
 At the beginning of language acquisition blind children cannot associate names
of objects with objects
 They have to learn through the sense of touch
Conclusion
 Biological maturation strongly affects language acquisition
 Biological specializations include the brain, the vocal and auditory tracts
 Senses are very important while acquiring language
 There are different stages of language acquisition

COGNITIVE ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION


What I am going to tell you...-SUMMARY
When does the process of language acquisition start?
Do inborn speech abilities exist?
Stages of language acquisition – and what if the child does not acquire language in
time? – Loss of Speech
Problems concerning first language acquisition
Possible diseases and their effects – The MASA Syndrome as an example for a
disease which includes Aphasia
Examples of Speech Disabilities
Help for people with speech disabilities
WHEN DOES THE PROCESS OF L1 ACQUISITION START?
1st word?
-No, that is too late.
1st interaction with others?
-Better
Already in the womb?
-Maybe
DO INBORN SPEECH ABILITIES EXIST?
Assumption:
Knowledge -> structure of language in general
-> genetically encoded
-> called: Language Acquisition Device

Stages of language acquisition – and what if the child does not acquire language
in time? – Loss of Speech
Progression form the babbling stage to that of the multi-word sentence. Up to the age
of about 7 a child has usually acquired all structural features of his or her mother-
tongue.
But what if the child shows any retardation and does not start babbling or speaking in
time? Or if one loses his or her ability of speaking through illness or accident?
Problems concerning first language acquisition
Can be due to either pathological processes or as a result of lacking interaction
between the children question and his/her family etc.
Focus: diseases which deal to a later and/or irregular development of speech abilities.

Possible diseases and their effects


Diseases etc.: Effect(s): Aphasia
Stroke Impairment of the brain
External Injury Tumor
Genetic disorder
The MASA Syndrome as an example for a disease which includes Aphasia
Example of genetic disease which includes Aphasia -> MASA SYNDORME
M- mental retardation
A- Aphasia
S- shuffling gait
A- adducted thumbs
MASA Syndrome includes Aphasia
Example: André, born in November 1998
Learns words slower/ forget words after learning them, has to hear them much
more often to learn them.
Articulation problems (hypotone mouth area plus problems to differentiate sounds).
Can meanwhile...say most simple and some more difficult words.
Multi-word sentences but dysgrammatical (e.g., missing irregular verb forms)

Examples of speech disabilities


Tip or the tongue -> not necessarily pathological; sudden block in lexical retrieval,
release again for no reason. Example: ‘Thilvia' (Silvia)
Slips of the tongue -> involuntarily and unintended switching of elements among
words of a sentence. Example: ‘Dondonlerry' (Londonderry)
Speech delay -> normal comprehension but retarded speech production
Stammering -> abnormalities in grammatical smoothness and rhythm. Example: ‘We'
rrre S-silv-vvia a-and J-j-jen-ny.’

Help for people with speech disabilities

Speech training -> for all kinds of speech difficulties


Includes
-pronunciation training
-vocabulary training
-comprehension training
Is taught (trained) by special experts and should be practiced at home as well. Can
help but not every affected person will be able to speak adequately in the end –
depending on the cause of the speech problems.
So what we learn about language disorder is...
 As people with speech disabilities usually go through exactly the same stages
of language development.
 The hierarchy of these stages must be inborn.
 Moreover, if one of the faculties concerning language shows irregularities, we
can see what the persons concerned to compensate that (e.g., non-verbal
communication), i.e., in how far this is possible or not.
 The main conclusion is that every stage has to be completed before the next
one can be taken.
 Human beings learn form the general to the particular.
 You have a set of structure plus a set of words, an idea what to say -> then you
take the words, put them in the structures and thus create a sentence made of
these items.
 This implies that when you hear language you store it in modules – such as
words of grammar and syntax -> and you can use these items to build new
sentence constructs.
 The process of first language acquisition starts from birth (first interactions)
 Speech abilities are inborn
 There are certain stages of language acquisition
 There can be difficulties in language acquisition due to different cause and we
can learn from them.
 Speech training can help (at least improve the situation)
Conclusion
 Inborn faculties such as Language Acquisition Device
 Usually normal through interaction
 Brain disorder can cause Aphasia
 In case of genetic disorder, certain diseases (e.g. tumor) or accident (injury)
resulting speech disabilities
 Can be treated to through special speech training

What is Bilingualism?
 Proficiency in two or more languages.
 It is evident in reading, writing, speaking, and listening
CHILDHOOD BILINGUALISM
Who are Bilingual Children?
Children who can acquire two languages at the same time in early childhood and be
proficient in both.
Childhood Bilingualism
Children’s acquisition of languages starts from the first moment of their childhood and
adds to its variety during school and develop multi-facets of personal, social, and
economic opportunities.
TYPES OF EARLY BULINGUALISM
 SIMULTANEOUS BILINGAULISM – Refers to children who are expose to
more than one language prior to age.
 SEQUENTIAL BILINGUALISM – Occurs when the child has exposure to the
first language at birth and then begins to have exposure to the second language
later in childhood or adulthood.
MAIN VIEWS OF BILINGUALISM
 ADDITIVE BILINGUALISM – A new language is added to the learner’s
language repertoire.
 SUBSTRACTIVE BILINGUALISM – The acquisition of L2 would be detrimental
to an individual’s L1.
BENEFITS OF CHILDHOOD BILINGUALISM
 Multi-tasking
 Social growth
 Better focus and attention
 Brain health
 Abstract reasoning

BEHAVIORIST THEORY AND ITS IMPLICATION IN SECOND LANGUAGE


LEARNING/ACQUISITION
 The Behaviourist are of the opinion that “Infants learn oral language from other
human role models through a process involving imitation, reward, and practice.
Human role models in an infant’s environment provide the stimuli and rewards”.
 Skinner and Watson, the two major proponents of behaviourism, studied “how
learning is affected by changes in the environment and sought to prove that
behaviour could be predicted and controlled".
BACKGROUND OF BEHAVIOURIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE
LEARNING/ACQUISITION
 Behaviourist propagate that language learning/acquisition is variation,
change and innovation in knowledge.
 Skinner believed that everything human being do is controlled by their
experience.
 Major Proponents of these theory are:
- Leonard Bloomfield
- O.N. Mowrer
- B.F. Skinner
- A.W Staats
BASIC TENANTS AND PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIOURIST THEORY OF
LEARNING/ACQUISITION
 Behaviourism Theory of Learning dwells on the habit formation
 Language is primarily oral phenomenon, then is written
 Habit formation is a social process at large
 Habits are formed due to reinforcement and reward
 Language is mechanical process
 Language is not an internal but an external process
IMPLICATION IN SLA
 Behavioural Theory is a psychological theory which focuses on the way the
language is acquired and learnt.
 It was Ivan Pavlov, a Russian zoologist, who conducted an experiment with his
dogs in 1972 that paved the way to this behaviourist theory of
learning/acquisition.
 Behavioural theory revolves around the idea that a specific behaviour can only
be acquired, learnt and taught through drilling and repetition of task along with
positive or negative feedback of the teacher or facilitator.

IMITATION
 Can include such everyday experiences as yawning when other yawn a host of
unconsciously and positively learned replications of social conduct, and the
deliberate adoption of the ideas and habits of others.
 Imitation is central to the social learning approach of Canadian born American
psychologist Albert Bandura.
REINFORCEMENT
 Used can play an important role in how quickly a behaviour is learned and the
overall strength of the resulting response.
 Is defined by the effect that is has on behaviour it increases or strengthens the
response.
1. Primary of Reinforcement – Sometimes referred to unconditional
reinforcement. It occurs naturally and doesn’t require learning in order to
work.
2. Secondary of Reinforcement – Also known as conditioned
reinforcement involves stimuli that have become rewarding by being
paired with another reinforcing stimulus.
PRACTICE
 The term drill and practice is defined as a method of instruction characterized
by systematic repetition of concepts, examples, and practice problems.
 As an instructional strategy, it promotes the acquisition of knowledge or skills
through systematic training by multiple repetitions, rehearse, practices and
engages in a rehearsal in order to learn or become proficient.
HABIT FORMATION
 Is the process by which new behaviours become automatic. If you instinctively
reach for a cigarette the moment you wake up in the morning, you have a habit.
By the same token if you feel inclined to lace up your running shoes and hit the
streets as soon as you get home, you acquired a habit.

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR
History and Background
 The concept of a universal grammar (UG) has been traced to the observation
of Roger Bacon (1214-1294) 13th century AD
 During the 1st half of 20th century, linguist who theorized the human ability to
speak did so from the Behaviourist perspective that prevailed at that time. They
therefore held that learning language, like any other kind of learning could be
explained by a succession of trials, errors and rewards for success. For
Chomsky’s believes that, acquiring language cannot be reduced to simply
developing an inventory or responses to stimuli.
 Components that are considered to be universal include the notion that words
can be classified into different groups such as being nouns or verbs and that
sentences follow a particular structure.
 Universal grammar is not to be confused with universal language, or deep
structure of language, or even with a grammar itself.
UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR (UG)
 A theory in linguistics usually credited to Noam Chomsky that suggests that
the ability to learn grammar is built into the human brain from birth
regardless of language.
 Consist of a set of unconscious constraints that let us decide whether a
sentence is correctly formed or not.
 Thus, “Robert book reads the” perceived as incorrect English
 Conversely, “Colorless green ideas asleep furiously" – grammatically
correct English
 The basic grammar laws are the same for all the languages, a child only
needs to follow the set of particular set of rules.
LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE AND LINGUISTIC PERFORMANCE
Competence: Is what a person knows
-Persons knowledge
-The system rules which a language user has mastered so it would be possible for
that user to produce and understand an infinite number of sentences and recognize
grammatical mistakes and ambiguities.
Performance: What a person can actually produce
-A term use in the linguistic theory of transformational generative grammar refer to
language is seen as a set of specific utterances produced by a native speaker.
-Is the actual use of language in real situation.
According to Noam Chomsky
-Competence is the ideal language system
-Performance is the actual realization of knowledge in linguistic communication.
Competence – the knowledge of the language
Performance – the actual use of language in concrete situations

INNATISM: KRASHEN'S (Monitor Model)


Who is Stephen D. Krashen?
 Born on May 14, 1941 at Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, USA
 Studied at University of California, Los Angeles
 Is an expert in the field of linguistics, specializing in theories of language
acquisition and development.
 A linguist, educational researcher, psychologist, writer, emeritus professor, and
political activist.
 Author of the books on the subject of the second language acquisition (SLA).
FIVE HYPOTHESIS OF KRASHEN'S MONITOR MODEL
THE ACQUISITION-LEARNING HYPHOTHESIS
 This hypothesis consists of two independent systems of second language
performance:
Acquired System or Natural Assimilation
 Product of sub-conscious process in acquiring the language.
 Requires natural communication or interaction.
 Speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the
communicative act.
Learned System of Formal Study
 Product of a conscious process.
 Requires intellectual effort and deductive logical ability.
THE MONITOR HYPOTHESIS
Monitor the act of planning, editing, and correcting function.
 Explains the relationship between acquisition and learning.
 The practical result of the learned grammar.
 Individual variation among the language learners regard with ‘monitor' use :
 Over users learners that use monitor all the time (usually introverts and
perfectionists).
 Under users learners who have not learned or while not to prefer to use their
conscious knowledge (usually extroverts).
 Optimal users learners that use the monitor appropriately.
THE NATURAL ORDER HYPOTHESIS
 Grammatical structures follows natural order wh9ch is predictable.
 Points out that the implication of natural hypothesis is not about grammatical
sequencing but to acquire the language.
THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS
 Attempted to explain how the learner acquires a second language-how second
language takes place.
 Is only concerned with acquisition not learning.
 Comprehensible input should appeal to individual’s interest.
 Human acquires language in only one-way by understanding messages or by
receiving input.
Lines of Evidence for Input Hypothesis
The Silent Period
Age Difference
The Effect of Exposure
Lack of Access to Comprehensible Input
Immersion and Sheltered Language Teaching
The Success of Bilingual Programs
The Reading Hypothesis
THE AFFECTIVE FILTER HYPOTHESIS
Affect refers to feelings, motives, needs, attitudes, and emotional states.
Affective Filter is an imaginary/metaphorical barrier that prevent learners from
acquiring language from the available input.
 Learner’s emotional state can act as a filter that impedes/blocks input
necessary for language acquisition.
The filter determines:
 Which language models the learner will select.
 Which part of language will be attended first.
 When the language acquisition efforts should cease.
 How fast a learner can acquire a language.
Learners with low affective filter: high motivation, self-confidence, a good image, and
a low level of anxiety are better equipped for success SLA.
Learners with high affective filter: low self-esteem and high level of anxiety, form a
mental block.

INFORMATION PROCESSING
RECALL vs RECOGNITION
Recall
 Must retrieve the information from your memory
 Fill in the blank
Recognition
 Must identify the target from possible targets
 Multiple-choice test
George A. Miller – An American psychologist who was the one of the founders of
cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience.
INFORMATION PROCESSING (Cognitive Psychologist)
 The human mind's activity of taking in, storing, and using information.
 Like the computer, the human mind takes information, performs operations.
 Do not think that humans have a language-specific module in the brain.
 Do not assume that acquisition and learning are distinct mental processes.
 See L2 acquisition as the building up of knowledge that can be eventually be
called an automatically for speaking and understanding.
THE MEMORY PROCESS
Encoding – the processing of information into the memory system
STORAGE – the retention of encoded material over time
RETRIEVAL – the process of getting the information out of memory storage
SENSORY MEMORY
 Stimuli from the environment constantly bombard our body's mechanisms for
seeing, hearing, smelling, and feeling.
 Sensory memory is the initial processing that transforms these incoming stimuli
into information so we can make sense of them.
THE INFORMATION PROCESSING SYSTEM
Perception - the process of detecting a stimulus
Gestalt – German for pattern or whole
Bottom-up processing (feature analysis) – the stimulus must be analysed into
features or parts.
Top-down processing – to recognize patterns rapidly. In addition to noting features.
RESTRUCTURING
 Sometimes changes in language behaviour do not seem to be explainable in
terms of a gradual build-up of fluency through practice.
 May account for what appear to be sudden bursts of progress and apparent
backsliding.
TRANSFER-APPROPRIATE TRANSFERING (TAP)
 This hypothesizes that information is best retrieved in situations that are similar
to those in which it is acquired.
 Type of dependent memory specifically showing that memory performance is
not determined by depth of processing.
CONNECTIONISM
Connectionism in a Nutshell
 Pioneered by Edward L. Thorndike, the recognize founder of the learning theory
 Thorndike's theory is based on a puzzle box experiment.
 Language learning is a process of forming links or associations.
 Learning is the result of associations between stimulus and response.
Connectionism deals with associations either strengthened or weakened by the nature
and frequency of the Stimulus-Response or S-R pairings. The paradigm for S-R theory
is a trial and error learning.
PRIMARY LAW OF THORNDIKE’S THEORY
Law of Effect – Connections are strengthened when the result is satisfying and
weakened when annoying.
Law of Readiness – The more ready the learner has to respond to a stimulus, the
stronger the bond between them.
Law of Exercise - Connections are strengthened with practice and weakened when
practice is stopped.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING THORNDIKE'S THEORY
 Multiple Response – When faced with a problem, one will try several
responses to succeed
 Set or Attitude – The satisfying results depend on one's attitude or state of
time
 Partial Activity – Certain features of a situation may be prepotent in
determining a response
 Assimilation – One will respond to a novel stimulus in the way it has responded
to a similar stimulus
 Associative Shifting – Transfer of a response evoked by a stimulus to an
entirely different stimulus
Modification
 Between 1927 and 1930, Thorndike published twelve lectures with human
subjects.
 The results of his experiments led him to modify his laws of connectionism.
Changes on the Laws of Connectionism
Qualifying the Law of Exercise – Thorndike believed that repetition or the law of
exercise must be guided by feedback.
Recasting the Law of Effect – Satisfiers (rewards) and annoyers (punishments) do
not diminish response as initially stated in the law.
Factors Precursors to Cognitive Learning
 Belongingness
 Polarity
 Identifiability
 Availability
Scrutinizing the Factors
BELONGINGNESS – A connection between two units are established if the subject
perceives two as going together
POLARITY – Connections are easier in the direction in which they are in the opposite
direction
IDENTIFIABILITY – A situation is easy to link to a response to the extent that it is
identifiable, distinctive and distinguishable
AVAILABILITY – The ease of forming connections id directly proportional to the ease
in which a response is executed
GENERALIZATION
SPREAD OF EFFECT – rewards affect not only the connection that produced them
but temporarily adjacent connections as well.
Applications:
 Connectionism was meant to be a general learning theory both for humans and
animals
 Thorndike applied his theory to Mathematics, spelling and reading,
measurement of intelligence and adult learning
COMPETITION MODEL
 It is a psycholinguistic theory of language acquisition and sentence processing
pioneered by Elizabeth Bates and Brian MacWhinney (1981)
 Suggest that language is interpreted by comparing a number of linguistic cues
(signalling specific functions) within a sentence
 States that language is learned through the competition of basic cognitive
mechanisms inside a linguistic setting
 According to it, competitive cognitive processes operate on a phylogenetic,
ontogenetic, and synchronic scale
THE INTERACTIVE HYPOTHESIS Why You Shouldn’t Learn Languages Alone
What is the Interactive Hypothesis All About?
 It is a theoretical account of second-language acquisition.
 It attempts to explain the role of interaction in language learning.
 The Interactive Hypothesis (IH) is a socio-interactionist approach.
 It emphasizes the role of the environment in language acquisition.
Four Construct of the Interactive Theory (Gass and Mackey, 2007)
INPUT – Information received by a learner from an external source.
INTERACTION – The function that the input and output fulfil or the negotiation for
meaning.
FEEDBACK – This refers to something received out of an output.
OUTPUT – Any linguistic form produced by a learner – essentially and internally
generated.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERAVTIVE HYPOTHESIS
KRASHEN – Krashen pointed out the importance of understanding an input in
learning. (1980)
LONG – Long built the idea about the exchanging of information between two parties.
(1983)
PICA – Pica focused on status-induces chances for conversation and feedback.
(1987)
ELLIS – Ellis stated that an interaction enabling learners modify their input facilities
integration. (1991)
Learning with Peers
 Having conversation with others helps integrate the crucial information for
language acquisition.
 Interactions improve memory for both vocabulary and grammatical functions.
 It is much more enjoyable to learn a language with a friend. Having a buddy
helps.
Noticing THE NOTICING HYPOTHESIS
 The Noticing Hypothesis is a concept in L2 acquisition proposed by Richard
Schimdt in 1990.
 He said that learners cannot learn the grammatical features of a language
unless they notice them.
 Noticing alone does not mean that learners automatically acquire language but
rather, it is a starting point for acquisition.
THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS
Input – When they come into direct contact with the language referred as input.
Intake – When learners process that can contribute to the learning.
STEPHEN KRASHEN – expert in the field of linguistics
PROCESSABILITY
Theory states that learners restructure their interlanguage knowledge systems to be
which they are capable at their stage of development.

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