The role of social experience
Not all of first language acquisition can be attributed to innate ability, for language specific learning also plays a crucial role. Even if the universal properties of language are pre-programmed in children, they must learn all of those features which distinguish their first language from all other possible human languages. Children will never acquire such language-specific knowledge unless that language is used with them and around them, and they will learn to use only the language used around them, no matter what their linguistic heritage. American-born children of Korean or Greek ancestry will never learn the language of their grandparents if only English surrounds them, for instance, and they will find their ancestral language just as hard to learn as any other English speakers do if they attempt to learn it as an adult. Appropriate social experience, including first language input and interaction, is thus a necessary condition for acquisition.
Intentional first language teaching to young children is not necessary and indeed may have little effect. Some parents "correct" their children's immature pronunciation and grammar but most do not, and there is no noticeable change in rate of acquisition among children who receive such instruction. Some adults simplify both grammar and word choice, adding more complex structures as the child does, but adults' notion of "simplicity" does not correspond to the actual sequence in language acquisition. Some adults imitate children's language production, and in this imitation, they sometime provide expansions of children's structures (such as saying Yes, that's a big, brown dog in response to the child saying That dog). The expansion may play a role in developing children's ability to understand new forms, but it cannot be considered necessary since many children do not receive this type of input and still develop language at essentially the same rate.
Source of first language input and interaction vary depending on cultural and social factors. Mothers' talk is often assumed to be the most important source of early language input to children, but fathers or older siblings have major child-rearing responsibilities in many societies and may be the dominant source of input, and wealthier social classes in many cultures delegate most of the child-rearing responsibilities to nannies or servants. The relative importance of input from other young children also varies in different cultures, as does the importance of social institutions such as nursery schools.
As long as children are experiencing adequate first language input and interaction from people around them, the rate and sequence of their phonological and grammatical development does not appear to vary systematically according to its source, although children's pronunciation is naturally influenced by the regional and social varieties or styles of the first language which they hear. There is considerable variance in vocabulary knowledge depending on social context, however, because vocabulary is typically learned in conjunction with social experiences. There is also variation to some extent in what functions of speaking children learn to use at an early age depending on social experience. For example, I have found that children who attend nursery school are often more advanced in development of verbal skills that are needed for controlling and manipulating other children than are children who are raised at home without the experience of interacting and competing with peers.
When young children's social experience includes people around them using two or more language, they have the same innate capacity to learn both or all of them, along with the same ability to learn the language specific features of each without instruction. Acquiring other languages after early childhood presents some significant differences, which we will explore in the following section.
The role of social experience
Not all of first language acquisition can be attributed to innate ability, for language specific learning also plays a crucial role. Even if the universal properties of language are pre-programmed in children, they must learn all of those features which distinguish their first language from all other possible human languages. Children will never acquire such language-specific knowledge unless that language is used with them and around them, and they will learn to use only the language used around them, no matter what their linguistic heritage. American-born children of Korean or Greek ancestry will never learn the language of their grandparents if only English surrounds them, for instance, and they will find their ancestral language just as hard to learn as any other English speakers do if they attempt to learn it as an adult. Appropriate social experience, including first language input and interaction, is thus a necessary condition for acquisition.
Intentional first language teaching to young children is not necessary and indeed may have little effect. Some parents "correct" their children's immature pronunciation and grammar but most do not, and there is no noticeable change in rate of acquisition among children who receive such instruction. Some adults simplify both grammar and word choice, adding more complex structures as the child does, but adults' notion of "simplicity" does not correspond to the actual sequence in language acquisition. Some adults imitate children's language production, and in this imitation, they sometime provide expansions of children's structures (such as saying Yes, that's a big, brown dog in response to the child saying That dog). The expansion may play a role in developing children's ability to understand new forms, but it cannot be considered necessary since many children do not receive this type of input and still develop language at essentially the same rate.
Source of first language input and interaction vary depending on cultural and social factors. Mothers' talk is often assumed to be the most important source of early language input to children, but fathers or older siblings have major child-rearing responsibilities in many societies and may be the dominant source of input, and wealthier social classes in many cultures delegate most of the child-rearing responsibilities to nannies or servants. The relative importance of input from other young children also varies in different cultures, as does the importance of social institutions such as nursery schools.
As long as children are experiencing adequate first language input and interaction from people around them, the rate and sequence of their phonological and grammatical development does not appear to vary systematically according to its source, although children's pronunciation is naturally influenced by the regional and social varieties or styles of the first language which they hear. There is considerable variance in vocabulary knowledge depending on social context, however, because vocabulary is typically learned in conjunction with social experiences. There is also variation to some extent in what functions of speaking children learn to use at an early age depending on social experience. For example, I have found that children who attend nursery school are often more advanced in development of verbal skills that are needed for controlling and manipulating other children than are children who are raised at home without the experience of interacting and competing with peers.
When young children's social experience includes people around them using two or more language, they have the same innate capacity to learn both or all of them, along with the same ability to learn the language specific features of each without instruction. Acquiring other languages after early childhood presents some significant differences, which we will explore in the following section.
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