to what extent is learning a second language like learning a first language? what can we learn from first language development with respect to the contents and methods of second language courses?
the marvelous capacity for acquiring competence in one's native language within the first few years of life has been a subject of interest for a very long time. linguists, psychologist, and even language teachers have paid their attentions to the first language learning and have attempted to draw analogies between first and second language acquisition in order to justify certain teaching methods and techniques and contents of second language on the basis of first language learning principles.
observations, studies or research have been made extensively by many different groups of people-linguists, psychologist, language teachers and writers on applied linguistics - to see if learning a second language is like learning a first language. the results of studies and observations have revealed the fact that learning a first and second language is similar in some respects and different in the others. for example, points out that there are both similarities and differences between learning the first and second language.
On the surface, it is entirely reasonable to make the analogy. after all, every child , given a normal developmental environment, acquires his native language fluently and efficiently; moreover, he acquires it "naturally" without special instruction, though not without notable conscious effort and attention to language. however, the direct comparisons such as those that have been made must be treated with caution. there are dozens of salient differences between first and second language".
there are quite a good number of theories, observations, and research that support the notion that learning the second language is like learning the first language. traditional language teaching practice, as enshrined in grammar-translation method, for example, ran directly counter to this view.
the basic principle of the direct method of learning language, in which the teachers are supposed to teach without using material and without using the mother tongue, are derived from a conscious attempt to simulate natural conditions of language learning or, in other word, to encourage the second language learning in the same way as the first language is learnt.
the audio-lingual method which was based on the behaviorist's basic principles believes that language performance consists of a set of habits in the use of language structures and patterns. Language, thus, is learnt by a process of habit-formation the main components of which are imitating the sounds and patterns, being reinforced by approval or desirable reaction, repeating the sounds and pattern until the language becomes the habits. this process of habit-formation in learning the language is identical both in the first and second language learning.
the nativist approach claimed that child's language development, especially linguistic development, is not a process of fewer and fewer "incorrect" structures, not a language in which earlier stage have more mistakes than later stages. rather, the child's language at any stage is systematic in that the child is constantly forming the hypotheses on the basis of input he receives and then testing those hypotheses in his own speech. as the child language develops, those hypotheses get continually revised, reshaped, or sometimes abandoned. this process of applicable both in the first and second language learning.
The cognitive approach with is based mainly on Piaget’s cognitive development theory claims that the learning of language, and, hence, the learning of meaning, is constrained by the cognitive development that the child has reached. According to Piaget, there are four stages in cognitive development – the sensory – motor stage, the preoperational stage, the stage of concrete operations, and the stage of formal operations. The child at the stage of concrete operation who has acquired the concepts of conservation and seriation, for example, can do three things with the language. 1 they can use comparative form correctly.
2 they can express differentiated properties in coordinate descriptions. 3 they can express contrasting notion like “this one has less in it but it is bigger.” So, language teacher must be restricted to the level of cognitive development when teaching language.
There are some other studies that support the idea of similarities between learning the second and the first language. Pit Corder, for example, envisages the adult language learner having a built-in strategy or
“syllabus” for language learning, which is inclined to regard as being essentially the same as that of a child (learning his first language).
Susan Ervin¬-Tripp also emphasizes the similarities. She states, in the report of her findings, that “the first question of his paper was whether the process of second language acquisition looks like the first. We found that the functions of early sentences, and their form, their semantic redundancy, their reliance on ease of short-term memory, their over-generalizations, their use of order strategies, all were similar to processes we have seen in first language acquisition. On broad outline, then, the conclusion is tenable thet first and second language learning is similar in natural situations.” She also states, “in second language learning we find the same processes: over-generalization, production simplification, loss of sentence medial, and so on.”
to what extent is learning a second language like learning a first language? what can we learn from first language development with respect to the contents and methods of second language courses?
the marvelous capacity for acquiring competence in one's native language within the first few years of life has been a subject of interest for a very long time. linguists, psychologist, and even language teachers have paid their attentions to the first language learning and have attempted to draw analogies between first and second language acquisition in order to justify certain teaching methods and techniques and contents of second language on the basis of first language learning principles.
observations, studies or research have been made extensively by many different groups of people-linguists, psychologist, language teachers and writers on applied linguistics - to see if learning a second language is like learning a first language. the results of studies and observations have revealed the fact that learning a first and second language is similar in some respects and different in the others. for example, points out that there are both similarities and differences between learning the first and second language.
On the surface, it is entirely reasonable to make the analogy. after all, every child , given a normal developmental environment, acquires his native language fluently and efficiently; moreover, he acquires it "naturally" without special instruction, though not without notable conscious effort and attention to language. however, the direct comparisons such as those that have been made must be treated with caution. there are dozens of salient differences between first and second language".
there are quite a good number of theories, observations, and research that support the notion that learning the second language is like learning the first language. traditional language teaching practice, as enshrined in grammar-translation method, for example, ran directly counter to this view.
the basic principle of the direct method of learning language, in which the teachers are supposed to teach without using material and without using the mother tongue, are derived from a conscious attempt to simulate natural conditions of language learning or, in other word, to encourage the second language learning in the same way as the first language is learnt.
the audio-lingual method which was based on the behaviorist's basic principles believes that language performance consists of a set of habits in the use of language structures and patterns. Language, thus, is learnt by a process of habit-formation the main components of which are imitating the sounds and patterns, being reinforced by approval or desirable reaction, repeating the sounds and pattern until the language becomes the habits. this process of habit-formation in learning the language is identical both in the first and second language learning.
the nativist approach claimed that child's language development, especially linguistic development, is not a process of fewer and fewer "incorrect" structures, not a language in which earlier stage have more mistakes than later stages. rather, the child's language at any stage is systematic in that the child is constantly forming the hypotheses on the basis of input he receives and then testing those hypotheses in his own speech. as the child language develops, those hypotheses get continually revised, reshaped, or sometimes abandoned. this process of applicable both in the first and second language learning.
The cognitive approach with is based mainly on Piaget’s cognitive development theory claims that the learning of language, and, hence, the learning of meaning, is constrained by the cognitive development that the child has reached. According to Piaget, there are four stages in cognitive development – the sensory – motor stage, the preoperational stage, the stage of concrete operations, and the stage of formal operations. The child at the stage of concrete operation who has acquired the concepts of conservation and seriation, for example, can do three things with the language. 1 they can use comparative form correctly.
2 they can express differentiated properties in coordinate descriptions. 3 they can express contrasting notion like “this one has less in it but it is bigger.” So, language teacher must be restricted to the level of cognitive development when teaching language.
There are some other studies that support the idea of similarities between learning the second and the first language. Pit Corder, for example, envisages the adult language learner having a built-in strategy or
“syllabus” for language learning, which is inclined to regard as being essentially the same as that of a child (learning his first language).
Susan Ervin¬-Tripp also emphasizes the similarities. She states, in the report of her findings, that “the first question of his paper was whether the process of second language acquisition looks like the first. We found that the functions of early sentences, and their form, their semantic redundancy, their reliance on ease of short-term memory, their over-generalizations, their use of order strategies, all were similar to processes we have seen in first language acquisition. On broad outline, then, the conclusion is tenable thet first and second language learning is similar in natural situations.” She also states, “in second language learning we find the same processes: over-generalization, production simplification, loss of sentence medial, and so on.”
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