Language Acquisition and language learning

First Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning

1) Introduction: 

        Human begins differ from other animals in the sense that they can speak and understand language. Language is specific for human beings. It is the major medium of expressing thoughts and emotions. So human beings need to learn a language.

2) Informal and Formal Situation of Language Learning : 

          Language is learned in informal and formal situations. An informal language situation is one when language is not taught: In this situation, language is learnt not for grammar but for communication. The first language or mother-tongue is learned in an informal situation. A growing child learns language functionally i.e. to express himself or herself. Thus, by using language, the child develops language skills.

         The formal situation of language learning is quite different from the informal one.

Here, there is organized learning on a large scale. There is instructional system which gives certification at the end of the learning programme.

3) Language Acquisition and Language Learning:

         The above discussion shows that the first language is learnt in an informal situation, while the second language (or third/foreign language) is learnt or is taught in a formal situation. In other words, mother-tongue is acquired, while the second (or third) language is learnt. So, these two processes are different form each other. These differences can be stated as follows.

4) Differences between Language Acquisition and Language Learning :

i) General:

          The term 'Language Acquisition' is used for acquisition of the first language or the mother-tongue. While the term 'Language Learning' means learning the second or foreign language. Three two processes share peculiarities and they also differ in many responses.

ii) Differences between the Two Processes:

          The processes of Language Acquisition and Language Learning differ in many respects. These differences can be enlisted as follows.

          First, learning the mother tongue is an easy and natural process. On the contrary, learning the foreign language is a difficult and artificial process. From the birth of the child, it is surrounded by the atmosphere where the mother tongue is spoken.

          The child gets the utterance quite naturally and easily. But the second language is learnt by a teacher in a school. There is no such natural atmosphere in a school and so it becomes difficult to get it.

           Secondly, when the child learns the mother tongue his mind is a clean slate. But at the time of his learning a foreign language, he has already learnt his mother tongue. In this regard, Robert Paul says:

"When we learn our first language, we face the universe directly and team to clothe it with speech, when we learn a second language, we tend to know the universe through the language already known."

           Thirdly, the first language acquisition helps to learn the second language and it also hinders the second language, compares it with his first language and makes his task easy. But sometimes, the mother tongue does not have the items of the second language and it becomes difficult for the learner to learn the second language correctly and easily.

For example, for the Marathi spokers or Hindi speakers, aspiration in English may raise problems.

            Fourthly, the child cannot do without mother tongue because he must express his desires in speech to get them fulfilled. There is no such compulsion for learning a foreign language.

Fifthly, the child has unlimited time for learning his mother tongue, whereas, there is limited time for learning a foreign language.

            Sixthly, there are many teachers to teach the mother tongue: parents, brothers, sisters, friends etc. But there is only the class room teacher to teach the foreign language.

            Seventhly, the first language is acquired by a child before fifth year, of his age. The child learner is at this time in the process of physical or psychological maturation. In fact, acquisition of the first language is a part of the maturity process. On the contrary, a second language learner is a linguistic adult. Physically and psychologically he is more matured than the child acquiring the first language. One more difference between the two processes is that we learn the foreign language later in life and first language earlier.

          Similarly, in case of a foreign language, we are exposed to sounds and letters at the same time. We hear our teacher speaking the language and at the same time we look at the blackboard or at our notebooks or books. Our teachers may not be the native speakers of the language. Hence, the foreign language learner has only the limited command over that language, particularly, over the spoken form of it. In the case of first language, on the contrary, there is stress on the imitation of sounds, words and sentences. There is no stress on the rules and grammar. Thus, language acquisition is a natural and spontaneous process.

           The next difference between the two processes is that the first language acquisition is inevitable. The child must learn this or that language as his first or mother tongue. On the other hand, second language learning depends on the mind of the person and so it is not inevitable.

            Finally, the first language acquisition is facilitated by something called 'Language Acquisition Device'. The psychologists have shown that children are capable of procuring sentences which they have never heard. This is possible because the innate language acquisition device is possessed by every human child. On the contrary, foreign language needs to be learnt by the analytical process and so requires more efforts and more time.

5) Conclusion:

            Thus, the first language acquisition and the second language learning are the two important terms and processes in the field of language learning and language teaching situation. Both the processes are similar as well as different. They share some qualities and differ in some cases. The first language knowledge helps the learner to learn the second language. It also interferes in his learning of the second language. In this typical respect, P.Gurrey says: "The teaching of the mother tongue and teaching of a foreign language can support and assist each other."

6) Difficulties in Learning the Second Language: 

           The learner of the second language has to face a number of problems. That is why, many learners fail to master the target language. A few reasons for such failure can be given as follows :

(i) The knowledge of mother-tongue hinders the learning of the second language.

 ii) The second language learner may not hear people around them using the same language.

iii) The learner may not have social context.

(iv) Psychological factors such as age, motive, native skill etc. also affect the process of second language learning.

          Thus, due to various reasons, there is a wide gap between the acquisition of the first language and learning of the second language. It is almost impossible for the teacher to bridge the gap. The teacher has to face the problems like the learner. He too is from the Indian situation. He too cannot get social context of the target language. However, he can reduce the wideness of the gap. Both the teacher and the learners will have to make efforts for the purpose.

Congnivist Theory of Language Learning (The Rationalist Approach)

 

(i)  The Theory : Nature:

         Another school of the psychology of learning can be described as the cognitivist views of learning. The Behaviourists provided the model of learning in terms

of stimulus and response :

S → R

         However, according to the Cognitivists, there is something which mediates (= functions as a link) between the stimulus and the responses. This is called "Cognitive Function".

S→Cognitive Function→ R

         The learner does not just behave in a mechanical manner. On the contrary, he uses his mind too which is the "cognitive map." This cognitive map (= mind) enables the learner to analyse and interprets the new experience. That is why, the views are called "Rationalist Approach".

(ii)  Difference between Behaviourist and Cognitivist Views: 

            The cognitivist theory of language learning differs from the Behaviourist theory in certain ways. 

            The Behaviourist theory suggested that learning takes place only in practice. On the contrary, the cognitivists are convinced that learning depends on perception and insight formation. They feel that all learning is in the nature of problem-solving. The new experience constitutes the problem which the learner tries to solve on the basis of previous learning.

             Secondly, the Behaviourist theory reduces the learner to some kind of robot who is manipulated by someone behind the scenes. The Cognitivist theory, learner at the centre of the learning process.

             Thirdly, unlike the Behaviourist view-, the Cognitivist view emphasises the importance of the learner's own contribution, to the process of learning. This contribution consists in the previous learning which brings to the task of learning something new.

Fourthly, the cognitivist theory is not a "blind" or mechanical process. It is related to the faculty of reasoning which enables the learner to compare his experiences with to know what appears to be useful or relevant.

               Fifthly, according to the Behaviourists, a child learns to speak basically by imitating what he hears. When it imitates correctly, it is rewarded. This serves to reinforce the learning. On the contrary, according to the cognivitists, the learner of language possesses some kind of mechanism. With the help of some "rules" the learner can produce innumerable utterances. According to Chomsky, the language learner learns a complex and abstract set of rules.

               Thus, the two theories of language learning differ rather widely from each other.

However,, they have one common point and it is the belief that learning takes, place through exposure to experience. If one is deprived of their exposure, there will be no learning. In this respect, the amount of exposure for the cognitivists is rather less important than it is for the Behaviourists.

(iii)  Stages in the Learning Process: According to the Cognivitists, the stages in the learning process are as given below:

1. The learner encountering a new situation recognizes it as a "problem" to be solved.
2. The problem is analysed and the learner tries to identify the elements of the new situa-tion:
3. The new situation is compared with the previous one. It is decided whether it is "similar" or different.
4. The comparison suggests a plan for dealing with a new situation. But the plan has to be tested
5. The plan is tried out. If it does not work, it is abandoned. An alternative plan is tried. If the plan "works", it is stored for future use.

(iv)  The Theory of Innate Language Structures:

           In recent years, there have emerged groups of psycholinguists who are concerned with investigating the natural faculty for learning language which the human child possesses. These psycholinguists suppose themselves to be cognivitists in stressing the innateness of the language learning process. Most of them have been influenced by Chomsky.

           The behaviourists were purely environmentalists. They constantly stressed the importance of the environment or the learning experiences encountered by the learner. For the Cognitivists, the environment is important, but it is less important than the understanding of the environment. The learner is able to develop it through the inborn qualities of reasoning. On the other hand, the Psychoanalists stress the importance of "genetic characters still further"

          The psycholinguists assume that the human child possesses a biological apparatus which pre-disposes it (child) to the learning of language. In this sense, the child's brain is like a computer which is "programmed" in advance.

         The Psycholinguists further believe that the structure of language may ultimately provide a clue to the internal structure of what they call Language Acquisition Device

(LAD) which the child possesses.

          Finally, the psycholinguists are of the view that a child is much better learner of language than an adult.

Remedial English

Remedial English or Remedial Teaching

Introduction: 

          Remedial Teaching means improvement in the standard of teaching the language. So Remedial English means improvement in the standard of English. Students who learn English as a foreign language are considerably poor in that subject. There are many students in high schools or junior colleges who cannot write even a few correct sentences in English. A number of reasons are behind this fact. First, students are not interested in English. They are careless. Thirdly, the teachers of English themselves do not have sufficient knowledge of English. Their own English is not perfect. So a training programme should be undergone by them. In fact, errors will arise even in the best of teaching situation. So the remedial teaching has got much importance.

Remediation is different form Revision: 

           It should be noted that Remediation is not Revision. Revision is a part of regular teaching, while Remediation follows almost immediately after regular teaching, while-remediation comes only after gaps and errors in learning have become evident. Therefore, the objectives of Remedial teaching are: (i) to teach what has not been learned completely, '' and (ii) to help to learn correctly whatever has been learnt wrongly. Thus, Remedial work has a positive and negative aspect.

Need of Remedial Teaching: 

          Remedial Teaching seeks to complete what has remained incomplete and to eliminate errors. Of these the latter tends to be stubborn. An item which is forgotten can be releamed without great difficulty. But a distorted form which has become rooted in the minds of the learner is difficult to eradicate. Regular teaching is unable to check these areas. So the Remedial Teaching is urgently needed.

          Similarly, a remedial course has to be based necessarily on error analysis. Errors vary depending on the mother-tongue of the learner. These are the most serious errors. So a graded course is needed. It is also true that the need for remedial teaching may become all the greater in times of transition like the one we are passing though today,. During such periods objectives and methods do not get quickly and correctly defined.

Scope of Remedial Teaching : 

            According to Prof. V .V. Yardi, the selection of unwanted forms (errors) for remediation will have to be based on certain criteria. Since a remedial course is not a re-teaching course, only those 'unwanted forms' which seriously tramper communication need to be remedied. For instance, some phonemes (like/ph/) in Marathi are as substitutes to Phonemes in English (like /f/). They should be so left. Secondly, in grammar, varieties of question tag like 'is it' should be deleted. So remedial Teaching should be on the faults that are most serious and widespread.

Methods of Remedial Teaching :

1. Drills of sentence patterns may be given. The teacher may take up sentence pattern at a time and give a simple repetition drill to the class. After teaching, written practice should be given.

2. The incorrect sentences and the corrected sentences may be written on a chart. The students should be asked to consult the chart again and again. So they will get rid of incorrect English.

3. There should be frequent tests to see improvement.

            Thus, regular guidance and careful supervision can help the students in the improvement of English.

Practical Suggestions for improving English :

1. Student should know basic patterns of sentences.
2. Verb patterns should be studied.
3. Knowledge of tenses.
4. Exercise in spellings.
5. Writing a small paragraph.
6. Copying from books.
7. Preparation of substitute table.
8. Listening to Radio especially BBC.

 

Conclusion: 

             Thus, Remedial Teaching has a prominent place in teaching learning situation of English in India. It is therefore greatly needed.