Assessment of the Language Learning Process: Natural Acquisition of Language - Essay Example

REVISION Introduction Language learning process, or simply put, language acquisition has been explained by Farlex be mean “the process of learning a native or a second language.” Mahoney (2008) documents that “almost all human beings acquire a language (and sometimes more than one), to the level of native competency, before age 5.” This stresses the importance of starting the language learning process at the very early stages of a child. Language learning in children must not be seen just as a natural process though natural acquisition of language is inevitable in every healthy child. As a matter of fact, “some researchers theorize that children are born with an innate biological “device” for understanding the principles and organization common to all languages” (Mahoney, 2008). The most important factor for educationists however remain that the very natural devices can be adopted, enhanced and used in a pedagogical manner to make the academic training of language learning possible. Language learning therefore entails both natural and academic processes. Generally, language is acquired by the reinforcement of the child’s natural ability to learn language. For this reason, a child will not be able to speak any native language if he or she lives in say the forest since infancy and never hears anyone speak. In the same way, a child who was not born with natural language acquisition device cannot speak any native language no matter the effort put into making the person speak. This means that language learning process is indeed a two way affair. The cultural background of any child is very instrumental in the language learning process of that child. Indeed, there are research works that “demonstrate that values and customs are manifested not only in non-verbal communication but also in verbal communication in that native language influences the speakers’ ways of using a non-native language” (Gao, 1998). There also those who argue that culture affects language acquisition most when it comes to second language acquisition as compared to first language or native language acquisition. To this end, Shoebottom (2000) opines that “there is some evidence that students in situations where their own culture has a lower status than that of the culture in which they are learning the language make slower progress.” Culture may also affect language learning process in other ways such as the availability of native language. Thus, children who learn language in the midst of several other native languages are likely to master a particular language slowly. Again, if the language structure of a particular culture is too complicated, children are likely to learn slowly. Culture, would indeed remain important in language acquisition because “not all languages appear to share much in common, and their diversity seems to defy the idea that there could be something universal underlying all languages that is coded into our species at the gene-level” (Early Advantage, 2011). Culture would however remain very important because if for nothing at all, culture requires that every child learns a native language. • Plan and implement experiences (2-3 initially, then more at your discretion) through which the children can learn more about and extend their topic/s of interest. Record/document children’s responses and adult:child interactions during these experiences. Experiences of children Use of non-verbal gestures Verbal response to questions Children try to use stress to lay emphasis but stress is placed at the wrong places Intonation of children not very clear Children can spell 2 and 3 letter words. These experiences were observed through children’s interactions with adults. • Plan and implement strategies to introduce opportunities for talk, new vocabulary and print materials into these experiences to encourage emergent literacy understandings in the children. Record these strategies and children’s interactions (child: child, child: adult). The systematic strategies used in helping children acquire learning included: 1. Tuning In This stage offered me the opportunity to listen to children carefully and take not of their verbal and non verbal strengths and weakness 2. Showing Genuine Interest Whole attention was given to children through whole eye contact, feedback and the presence of their parents. 3. Children Participation Children were allowed to participate in the flow of the listen in the sense that they were allowed to determine where they wanted the learning to start from. They also spoke about areas they wanted to learn most. 4. Offering experiences My experience and that of parents were used to make children appreciate that their language learning levels needed to improve. I therefore based on my experience to introduce new lessons. 5. Instructiveness A lot of the learning was oral based where children had the opportunity to interact with me, interact with their parents, interact with learning materials and interact with themselves. 6. Reinforcement Learning was reinforced by the use of positive reinforcement where deserving children were rewarded to attract the interest of other children. 4. Present a mind map, or similar record, of the development of the whole project (one page). 5. Describe and discuss: o how you initially identified the children’s interests I happened to identify a group of children, who were making effort to as it is, make the best of the provisions make for them to be educated. These children where identified to have a strong well to perfect their language learning skills. For this reason, these kids were always trying their best to converse with adults around them. In fact the children were so eager that every adult who came close turned to a teacher for them whom they started trying out some communicative skills with. This research was designed to help these kids attain their ultimate goal. o how you extended the experiences based on the children’s initial interests Basically, the project built on children’s initial interest to learn language. For this reason, the pedagogical practices that were instituted started from the level of chiildren’s competency. The level was not pegged below or above the children’s previous experience or interest. o what EYLF pedagogical practices underpinned your experiences The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) in Australia identifies a number pedagogical practices underpinning the learning behavior of children. Personally, the pedagogical practice, as given by the framework and as experienced by me that attracted me to the children was the Responsiveness to children pedagogy. This is because at the pre-intervention stage when I had not put in place any intervention to improve the performance of the children’s oral skills, they were seen involved in several attempts to achieve perfection in communication with adults. For this reason, I tested their level of oral performance by engaging them in question and response drills. The children who were all aged between 3 and 5 years were seen to be showing some level of competence though on the whole, their performance was very low. o how you introduced new language/literacy opportunities With permission and inclusion from parents, children were fixed to meet me for 30 minutes each day for the 3 weeks period. Siraj-Blatchford (2005) notes that the use of sustained shared thinking should be highly child centered. It should also involve a lot of language reasoning, activities, interactions, program structure and inclusion of parents. All these were observed in the delivery of the new language/literacy opportunities. For example children were always made to come up with what they wanted to learn as far as language was concerned. Helpfully, the researcher drew the children’s attention to reasons why their level of language acquisition needed a lot of improvement. The children also accepted this position gladly and were therefore ready to learn. Next, language learning games and activities were introduced. To make the teaching more interactive, songs and rhymes were also adapted as core interventional methods. There was also the presence of parents to create a friendly learning atmosphere for the children and also create a high level of awareness for parents to continue from where the researcher left off. Through these procedures, everyday recorded its own successes as children started overcoming problems with pronunciation, stress, attention and even spelling. o the learning that was facilitated by your actions The learning that was facilitated by my actions was identified through assessment of the language learning process. The assessment period was made up of the use of oral drilling tests that lasted for 3 days. In all these 3 days, the core aim of the researcher was to conduct assessment test. Results from the tests showed that the performance of the children in their oral presentation had improved immensely. Problems with stress, intonation and phonology had been overcome. This gave the children new levels of optimism in their conversations and therefore boosted their eagerness to communicate more. 6. Evaluate the project based on the above discussion. The results in the pre-intervention and post-intervention shows that indeed learning can take place among children in a natural unguided environment but learning is reinforced and better consolidated with well prepared and orderly delivered pedagogies are used. Teachers and parents are therefore admonished that when it comes to the acquisition of oral skills (and not just the acquisition of a language), they should pay more attention to using academic pedagogies that work best in the contest of their students. REFERENCE LIST Siraj-Blatchford I. (2005). Quality Interactions in the Early Years. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.tactyc.org.uk/pdfs/2005conf_siraj.pdf Early Childhood Australia (2011). Our mission statement. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/ Shoebottom P. (2000). The factors that influence the acquisition of a second language. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://esl.fis.edu/teachers/support/factors.htm Gao M.C.F (1998). Influence of Native Culture and Language on Intercultural communication: the Case of PRC Student Immigrants in Australia. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.immi.se/intercultural/nr4/gao.htm Farlex (2011). Language Acquisition. The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/language+acquisition Early Advantage, (2011). How Children Learn Language. Retrieved October 8, 2011 from http://www.early-advantage.com/articles/universalgrammar.aspx Mahoney N. (2008). Language Learning. National Science Foundation. Retrieved October 9, 2011 from http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/linguistics/learn.jsp Read More