Factors that Influence Language Acquisition - Case Study Example

Language Acquisition Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Language Acquisition Introduction Language acquisition is defined as the process by which humans acquire the ability to perceive and comprehend language, including producing and using words and sentences to communicate (Fletcher et al, 1997). The ability to acquire and use language is a critical aspect that distinguishes humans from other creatures. Despite the fact that it is difficult to pin down those aspects of language that are uniquely human, a few design features can be found in all known forms of human language, although they are missing from forms of animal communication(Towell et al, 2001). Language acquisition, as an important development in the childhood stage, occurs because of reinforcement, since children’s parents or other caregivers reward them when their initially random sounds resemble speech. Language is a cognition that truly makes us human. While other species communicate with an innate ability to produce a limited number of meaningful vocalizations such as bonobos, or with partially learned systems such as bird songs, there is no other species known to date that can express infinite ideas/sentences ,with a limited set of symbols in form of speech sounds and words. According to studies, human brain plays a critical role in language acquisition. This ability is remarkable in itself. What makes it even more remarkable is that researchers are finding evidence for mastery of this complex skill in increasingly younger children (De et al, 2012). Infants as young as 12 months are reported to have sensitivity to the grammar needed to understand causative sentences. The following essay intends to explore these abilities in human beings as well as other factors that influence language acquisition. Biological Foundation of Language Acquisition Many questions have been raised of how humans have evolved uniquely from other primates to allow for the use of complex human language. According to a number of modern linguists such as Chomsky who is frequently regarded as the father of modern linguistics, the same elementary linguistic structure is shared between all human beings, and they acquire language naturally (De et al, 2012). This means biological foundations lay out the foundation for language acquisition of all human beings. This presentation will be talking about the biological foundations of language acquisition, evolutionary biology of language, and provide an example of a case in which an individual cannot acquire language, respectively. If a person knows a language, he/she utilizes it either by producing sounds or remaining silent and receives auditory signals. Therefore, the knowledge of a language does not necessarily mean the ability to speak and structure sentences but the ability to comprehend the essential structure of language (Freed, 1999). However, the ability to speak still holds an important role in language acquisition. The voice production is made up of three main parts: Respiration (lungs), phonation (larynx), and articulation (mouth, lips, teeth, nose, and so on). So how can a child acquire language before the latter stage of communication? The brain allows the child to do it. The brain consists of two hemispheres: left and right. Moreover, the corpus callosum plays a role of connecting the two hemispheres. On the left hemisphere, there are the Broca and Wernicke’s area, which are located at the front and back part of the hemisphere (De et al, 2012). To add on, there are mechanisms that also help a child acquire language before the latter stage of communication too. In the very early life of a child, a biological device starts to function as soon as being exposed to language in order to acquire it without being taught and this device is called Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which was theorized by Chomsky (Fletcher et al, 1997). Nevertheless, it is obvious that this ability is beyond their exposure, or the nurture aspect of language acquisition. According to National Science Foundation, this is attributed to Universal Grammar. Universal Grammar allows a person to be fluent in any language under the condition that the acquiring stage must be at a very early age- Critical period hypothesis theory is about an age window allowing a child to acquire behaviors. According to Dr. Pascale Michelon, who is a Cognitive Psychologist at Washington University in Saint Louis, brain plasticity occurs in the human brain at three stages; the first few years of life, when the brain damages, and when learning and memorizing (De et al, 2012). Further, a person can easily acquire language during the first few years of existence, as the brain is still ‘plastic’. It explains that a bilingual person has a larger left inferior parietal cortex than those of a monolingual person. This demonstrates the theory of brain plasticity, as well as how the critical period is important. All human beings, in their early life, have an ability to acquire language natively. Research indicates that if infants do not have a chance to acquire language during the critical period, they would not be able to use the native language as a true native speaker would even though they were born in the area. Language Acquisition Theories Young children are natural language acquirers. They are in many ways motivated to learn new language (Crain & Lillo-Martin, 1999). They do this with no conscious learning, as is the case with adults. The ability to imitate pronunciations as well as working out the rules for themselves is amazing. Unlike adults, the idea that a language is difficult to acquire does not occur to them not unless adults say this to them. Further, young children have enough time in learning a language through play activities. Study indicates that children are able to use their individual, as well as innate strategies of learning a language in order to acquire their first language. They quickly pick up language by being involved in activities shared with adults close to them such their parents. Young children first make sense of these activities and then attach a specific meaning from their adults’ language (Crain & Lillo-Martin, 1999). They have enough time in fitting a language into their daily activities. At a school level, programs in schools are mostly informal to them and their minds are yet to be cluttered with facts for them to be tested and stored. In addition, young who have the chance to acquire a second language at their early age, tend to utilize the same strategies of innate language learning in their lives when learning any other languages. Further those that acquire language instead of consciously learning it, as is the case with older children or adults, are likely to have better skills of word pronunciation as well as feeling the language and its culture. In the puberty stage, children are more self-conscious while their ability to pick up a new language drops. At this stage, they feel the need to consciously study a language through grammar-based programs. However, this age where this change occurs depends on the developmental levels of individual child including the expectations of his immediate society. Stages in Language Acquisition Studies indicate that when babies are learning their home language, there is usually a ‘silent period’. This is a period when children look and listen, and use facial expression, as well as gestures to communicate before beginning to talk (Fletcher et al, 1997). It is at this level that both parents and teachers need not force them to take part in spoken dialogues through making children repeat words. It is important to note that spoken dialogues need to be one-sided, where adults should talk, provide useful opportunities for these children to pick up a language (Crain & Lillo-Martin, 1999). If adults are using parentheses in facilitating learning, a child may find himself using the same strategies they applied to learn the first language. Further, when a child is first exposed to a specific second language, he frequently concentrates on listening as well as comprehending. Such a child is often quiet and speak very little as they focus on how to understand the new language (De et al, 2012). This can be related to what adults do when they travel in a foreign country. In these cases, the silence depends on the age of the child. ‘‘the younger the child, the longer the silent period tends to last’’. Therefore, one may find older children remaining silent for a long period say weeks or months. Beginning to Speak After a given period, which depends on the frequency of learning sessions, a child may begin to say few words such as ‘house’ or ‘cat’ as well as some short phrases which are ready-made such as ‘not yet’ especially in dialogues or some unexpected statements. A child continues to memorize them and to imitate the pronunciations without realizing the fact that some may consist of one or more words (De et al, 2012). This process goes on for quite a while as children Understanding a Language It is evident that understanding a language is more than speaking. A young child’s ability in comprehending a language need not be underestimated, since they use it to understand their home language from a various context clues (De et al, 2012). Although children may not comprehend every word they hear, they understand a few words that are important and then deciphering the rest by using a variety of clues in interpreting their meaning (Tomasello, 2003). They however need to be encouraged in order to quickly transfer their ‘gist’ of understanding skills in interpreting the meanings in a language. Mistakes in Language Acquisition It is common for children to make mistakes as they learn a new language (Tomasello, 2003). However, parents or adults should not tell them that they have made a mistake since any immediate correction done to them may demotivate them. Mistakes in language acquisition are part of the process of working out grammar rules of a language or they may be a fault in pronunciation. It is paramount for parents and the adults to support children at this stage in life. Language-Learning Environments Children find it challenging to pick up a language if there is not offered with right types of experiences, including the support from adult in using ‘parentheses’ techniques (De et al, 2012). They need to feel protected and knowing that there are deliberate reasons for using the language. There is need for the daily activities to be connected to the language for them to quickly learn. Parental Support As noted above, children need support from their parents or guardians in order they can feel that they are making some progress in language acquisition (Tomasello, 2003). Children require continuous encouragement and praise for their good performances so that they feel motivated. Further, teachers and parents are in a better position to give them morale and so then helping the children to learn and quickly acquire a language. Comparisons of Language Acquisition The gift of language and speech has given humanity the ability to communicate wants, needs, and messages, while also allowing beings to understand others. “Language is a rule governed symbol system for communicating meaning through a shared code of arbitrary symbols” (Jordan, 2004). Languages are learned through a phenomenon called acquisition. It is necessary to understand normal language acquisition in comparison to those with diverse learning styles, including developmentally delayed and second language learners. First languages are acquired through language acquisition or the process where language is acquired naturally (Freed, 1999). Exposure to language, interaction with parents and the environment, and constant practice are all manners in which languages continue to be developed. As noted above a child’s brain development is crucial in his language acquisition but typically, all normal developing children begin to experience language acquisition and reach milestones within a common time frame (Jordan, 2004). Language first begins with infant crying, cooing, babbling, and continues through stages of telegraphic speech. If a child has not reached particular language milestones within a period, he or she may be categorized as having a mental developmental delay. A child may be classified as having a deficit in either receptive or expressive speech, language, or a combination of the two, where all are influenced by brain development. Since all children develop at their own pace, minor, temporary delays are not a cause to take severe and immediate action. However, delays in language acquisition may be attributed to many factors such as mental developmental delays, hearing loss, psychosocial factors, behavioral disturbances, specific language disorders, and major physical handicaps (De et al, 2012). Further, native language acquisition is a subconscious and passive action where individuals are unaware of learning the grammatical rules of language. Just as babies learn to crawl, roll over, and walk, learning to speak occurs in the same innate way. In contrast, second language acquisition occurs actively and consciously through interactions and direct instruction, which are impacted by metal ability of a person. When first acquiring language, infants and young children must develop schemas, or categories to store newly cultivated concepts in their minds. Since second language learners already have pre-existing schemas, these individuals must connect new language vocabulary with pre-existing ideas (Fletcher et al, 1997). Because of her research at Berkley University, Susan Ervin- Tripp concluded that older children acquire language at a faster rate, due to a greater amount of exposure to vocabulary in their native languages as well as their brains more mature and not overloaded. A greater awareness of complex interactions, familiarity with structures of games, and the use of nonverbal cues, allows second language learners to discover meaning of many forms they hear during play and interactions (Freed, 1999). This influenced by a child’s brain capacity. Tripp found that first language learners at the age of two could effectively use language to point, state, describe, deny, express wants and commands, and use expression (Jordan, 2004). In addition to these acts, Second language learners with seven month of exposure could express these ideas and additionally engage in language acts that persuade, joke, praise, warn, plan, announce intentions, and contradict questioning. This example from the study reveals, “That the genres and speech activities that the older children construct are closer to those of their age- mates than to children at the same linguistic stage”. Autism is a condition directly related to child’s reaction to stimuli. This depends on the interpretation of the same in a child’s brain that determines the reaction. In 2007, Nadege Foudon, Anne Reboul, and Sabine Manificat, conducted a longitudinal study on the acquisition process of children with Autism (De et al, 2012). Since deficits in language and communication tend to be a dominant characteristic within the Autism Spectrum, Noudon strived to compare the chronology of language acquisition amongst children of varied abilities. Foudon provided the following statistics comparing the language acquisition process of four different populations: Regarding first word production, autistic children are late not only when compared to normal children (38 months vs. 11 months) but also when compared to Asperger children (15 months). This delay increases for first combinations. Additionally there is a delay between first words and first combinations, which is considerably longer in autistic children (14 months) than in normal (6 months) and Asperger (11 months) and indeed is equivalent with the delay for SLI children. Following the study, Noudon concluded that although normal children and those with Autism were nearly equal in language acquisition during the first two stages, normal children overstepped the 300 word and syntax acquisition in stage 3, while language acquisition for children with Autism evolved much more slowly over time(De et al, 2012). This enabled children with ASD to gain enough referential vocabulary to move on from combining word combinations and phrases. Language acquisition is a universal process regardless of culture, race, language, and class. Nature and nurture both play a role in the capacity to speak and communicate with others. Many factors, including mental developmental delays, genetics, and behaviors, can attribute to the ability to learn native and plural languages. Therefore, future educators must be familiar with the different stages of language acquisition to help develop strategies that will help students of all abilities succeed in the classroom. References Crain, S., & Lillo-Martin, D. (1999). An introduction to linguistic theory and language acquisition. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. De, V. J. G., & De, V. P. A. (2012). Language acquisition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Fletcher, P., & Garman, M. (1997). Language acquisition: Studies in first language development. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Pr. Freed, B. F. (1999). Second language acquisition in a study abroad context. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Jordan, G. (2004). Theory construction in second language acquisition. Amsterdam: J. Benjamins. Tomasello, M. (2003). Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Towell, R., & Hawkins, R. (2001). Approaches to second language acquisition. Clevedon, Avon, England: Multilingual Matters. Read More

However, the ability to speak still holds an important role in language acquisition. The voice production is made up of three main parts: Respiration (lungs), phonation (larynx), and articulation (mouth, lips, teeth, nose, and so on). So how can a child acquire language before the latter stage of communication? The brain allows the child to do it. The brain consists of two hemispheres: left and right. Moreover, the corpus callosum plays a role of connecting the two hemispheres. On the left hemisphere, there are the Broca and Wernicke’s area, which are located at the front and back part of the hemisphere (De et al, 2012).

To add on, there are mechanisms that also help a child acquire language before the latter stage of communication too. In the very early life of a child, a biological device starts to function as soon as being exposed to language in order to acquire it without being taught and this device is called Language Acquisition Device (LAD), which was theorized by Chomsky (Fletcher et al, 1997). Nevertheless, it is obvious that this ability is beyond their exposure, or the nurture aspect of language acquisition.

According to National Science Foundation, this is attributed to Universal Grammar. Universal Grammar allows a person to be fluent in any language under the condition that the acquiring stage must be at a very early age- Critical period hypothesis theory is about an age window allowing a child to acquire behaviors. According to Dr. Pascale Michelon, who is a Cognitive Psychologist at Washington University in Saint Louis, brain plasticity occurs in the human brain at three stages; the first few years of life, when the brain damages, and when learning and memorizing (De et al, 2012).

Further, a person can easily acquire language during the first few years of existence, as the brain is still ‘plastic’. It explains that a bilingual person has a larger left inferior parietal cortex than those of a monolingual person. This demonstrates the theory of brain plasticity, as well as how the critical period is important. All human beings, in their early life, have an ability to acquire language natively. Research indicates that if infants do not have a chance to acquire language during the critical period, they would not be able to use the native language as a true native speaker would even though they were born in the area.

Language Acquisition Theories Young children are natural language acquirers. They are in many ways motivated to learn new language (Crain & Lillo-Martin, 1999). They do this with no conscious learning, as is the case with adults. The ability to imitate pronunciations as well as working out the rules for themselves is amazing. Unlike adults, the idea that a language is difficult to acquire does not occur to them not unless adults say this to them. Further, young children have enough time in learning a language through play activities.

Study indicates that children are able to use their individual, as well as innate strategies of learning a language in order to acquire their first language. They quickly pick up language by being involved in activities shared with adults close to them such their parents. Young children first make sense of these activities and then attach a specific meaning from their adults’ language (Crain & Lillo-Martin, 1999). They have enough time in fitting a language into their daily activities. At a school level, programs in schools are mostly informal to them and their minds are yet to be cluttered with facts for them to be tested and stored.

In addition, young who have the chance to acquire a second language at their early age, tend to utilize the same strategies of innate language learning in their lives when learning any other languages. Further those that acquire language instead of consciously learning it, as is the case with older children or adults, are likely to have better skills of word pronunciation as well as feeling the language and its culture. In the puberty stage, children are more self-conscious while their ability to pick up a new language drops.

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