First Language Acquisition by H. Douglas Brown

The strength of each theory.

Behaviorist

This theory is undeniable the oldest one, but getting through this theory

people opened their mind and get the comprehension of language acquisition. Out of

the behaviorist point of view that regards human way of thinking is similar as an

animal, this approach left one crucial thing. That is the stage of repetition which is

believed it gives a strong role in not only acquiring language but also the activity or

behavior demanded.

As the given case above of a well-known childhood game, bye-bye hello

game, the child is both learning about separation and return. The learning of children

here cannot be separated from the ritual. In this case we may reflect the ritual as a

repetition.

Nativist

This theory is believed to be the transformer in first language acquisition

study. The finding of LAD promoted by Chomsky is likely to be the answer of how a

child acquires the first language without any difficulty. This LAD is definitely to be

an innate that only possessed by human being. Thus human is different from animal.

It should be underlined that this LAD will give the miracle work on crucial ages of a

child.

13

Functional

Because this theory revises the previous theories, Functional approach tend to

be the most rational one in first language acquisition. In the development of this

study, it was found that a brain doesn’t work step by step but a brain processes one

thing or information by linking it to million other cells which each cell carried

different information.

The capacity of the brain in processing information leads into an assumption

extended by functional approach from the previous theory. The assumption that a

brain processes language one by one renewed to be a complex simultaneous process.

Thus a brain of a child is able to take all the language and the situation around the

language.

CONCLUSION

This paper has explained the theories of first language acquisition or how

the children acquire their first language that amazingly in few years later they are able

to communicate ideas.

Basically there are three major theories. The first is the idea suggested by

behaviorist that emphasizes the result of the research on the environment gives a great

influence to the children language development. The next is nativist. The nativist

researchers believe that the children are not born as a white paper but they are gifted a

genetic capacity that lead us to a systematic perception of language around us,

resulting in the constructional of an internalized system of language. The third is

functional approach which brings the study of the language acquisition into

constructivists, social interaction, cognition and language, function of language and

discourse.

First Language Acquisition by G. Yule

First Language Acquisition (Yule. G. Chapter 16.)

1. Which are two important features of the caretaker speech?

-          The characteristically simplified speech adopted by someone who spends a lot of time interacting with a young child.

-          This person uses a lot of questions and often using exaggerated intonation.

2. What is the term used to describe the process where a child uses one word like “Ball” to refer to an apple, an egg and a ball?

Overextension:  this process is when the child overextends the meaning of something which has similar characteristics, such as; shape, size, sound, and so on. 

3. Why saying that children learn because they imitate is controversial?

Because they dot no only learn by imitating speech patterns but by constructing their own sentences and testing them whether they work or not.

4. Do children change behaviour when they are corrected?

No, they do not change behaviour indeed when they are corrected. They continue saying the same words.

5. What is the role of feedback in children learning?

The feedback process appears when the child is talking, and use it his knowledge. The practice seems to be an important factor in the development of the child's linguistic repertoire.

Language, Learning and Teaching, by H. Douglas Brown.

Questionnaire on Brown’s chapter 1

1.      What is a permanent struggle in teaching/learning?

Try to reach beyond the confines of your first language and into a new language, culture way of thinking, etc.

2.       Are we equipped with a do-it-yourself-kit?

Language learning is not a set of easy steps that can be programmed in a quick do-it-yourself-kit. Many variables are involved in the acquisition process.

3.      Why do people learn or fail to learn a language?

Because the teacher needs to know something about the intricate web of variables that are spun together to affect how and why one learners fails when they learn a second language.

4.      Name the issues to consider in second language acquisition.

Current issues in second language acquisition (SLA) are approached in some questions:

v  Who?  Here we have to say who does the learning and teaching, and the answer is learners and teachers.  But the thing is to know the characteristics of these people; where they come from, who are their parents etc.

v  What? What is going to be learnt and taught?  What is language?  Because both of them have to know what are going to learn or teach.

v  How? Refers to where the learning takes place, what is the optimal interrelationship of cognitive, affective, and physical domains for successful language learning.

v  When? The moment when we use the language.

v  Where?  Is the context in which we use the language.

v  Why?  These questions have been posed to give you an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching.

5.      What are the motivations to learn a language?

To give us an inkling of the diversity of issues involved in the quest for understanding the principles of language learning and teaching.

6.      What is a PARADIGMA?

Paradigma it's an interlocking design, a theory of second language acquisition.

7.      Give 3 definitions of LANGUAGE.

1.      Language is a set of arbitrary symbols, (those symbols are primary vocal, but may also be visual).

2.      Language is used for communication.

3.      Language is essentially human, although possibly not limited to humans.

8.      What is the relation between language and cognition?

A foreign language teacher effectively teach a language if they don't know, even in general, something about the relationship between language and cognition

9.      Which are some LEARNING definitions?

1.      Learning is retention of information or skill.

2.      Learning involves active, conscious focus on and acting upon events outside or inside the organism.

3.      Learning is a change in behaviour.

10.  Can we define TEACHING apart from LEARNING?

Teaching cannot be define defined apart from learning, because teaching is guiding and facilitating learning , enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for learning.

11.  What is the importance of our PEDAGOGICAL PHILOSOPHY?

It reflects our personal values and the needs of our student. These are our expectations as a teacher. It is important because it is going to determine your teaching style, your approach, methods and classroom techniques based on the experience.

12.  Refer to the 3 schools of thought is SLA?

 1. Structuralism/Behaviorism: It was said that any notion of “idea” or “meaning” is explanatory fiction, and that the speaker is merely the locus of verbal behavior. The behaviorist paradigm also focused on publicly observable responses. The “scientific method” was rigorously adhered to, as “mentalist”, illegitimate domains of inquiry.

 2. Rationalism and cognitive Psychology: Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) claimed that there was difference between parole (performance) and langue (competence). Descriptive linguists chose largely to ignore langue and to study parole

 3. Constructivism: Constructivists argue that all human beings construct their own version of reality, and therefore multiple contrasting ways of knowing and describing are equally legitimate

13.  Describe the GTM.

The classical method or grammar translation method has been practiced in language classrooms worldwide for centuries. It is focus on grammar rules, memorization of vocabulary, translations of texts, and so on.   Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with litter active use of the target language.  The attention of the class is focus on rules, structures more that context and important meaning of the language.  

What you know when you know a language

What you know when you know a language:

When we learn a language we are not conscious about what we know, and example for this is the case of walking, we know how to do it but the reasons or what has our brain to do and can move our feet, we are not conscious about that. We just learn how to walk.  The same happens when we know a language, we have the linguistic competence; which is the hidden knowledge, what we have in our minds and it cannot be observed.  On the contrary we have linguistic performance; is the way that they produce and comprehend language, is the speech.  And in this part we have the speech communication chain, which explain how we produce language, the steps that we have in our linguistic competence to produce something.  Those are: phonetics; which is the articulation, the acoustics and the speech sound that we have to use to say something.  Phonology; is the pronunciation and the possible combination we have to say something.  Morphology; is the word formation.  Syntax; is putting words together in a certain order following rules, the combination we have.  Semantics; is the selection of words and the interpretation meaning that we want to share.  Pragmatics; the context, the knowledge og how to use the language.     

What is applied linguistics?

Summary 1
Questions: group work

1.How is language defined?
Language is a tool considered vitally important by society, in order to communicate and interact with people in everyday’s life.

2.What is applied linguistics?
The AL deals with how people use the language depending on the context.

3. Which is different in L1 and L2 acquisition?
The main difference between L1 and L2, is that you can get L1 by only the acquiring process whilst L2 can be acquired or learnt.

4. What are the differnces between acquisition and learning?

Acquisition
- Unconscious process
- It exists exposure

Learning

- Conscious process
- It does not usually exist exposure

5. Which factors are part of L2 acquisition?
Affective factors transfer (positive and negative).

6.What is interlanguage?
When a mistake does not belong to the mother tongue neither the target language

Teaching Philsophy

I can say, as a future teacher of English, I have chosen this occupation or profession, because I want to teach, first of all, English, because nowadays it is quite important to communicate with other people, and also I want to lead people's or students’ mind, because, it is the teacher's responsibility to help in the process of growth, to make right decisions, and how to face to the real world. I want to share good values, and good advices, and also I want to learn about every student, because we are going to learn in our whole life about everything.
I want to teach as much as I can, I want to share all that I know, related to the subject, English, how important it is, and how to use it. but most of all, I want to try to make good people, and make them feel unique and important for this world.