Chapter 1

Learning a first language

Milestones and patterns in development:

-high degree of similarity in early language of children all over the world

-in first year - few words acquired

-12 months - 1-2 words produced

-2 years - 50 words, simple sentences (telegraphic) - not only imitating

-3,5 years - questions, grammatical morphemes

-4 years - language mastered

wug test:

Imaginary things and actions on pictures shown to baby -“Here is a wug. Now there are to of them. There are to …”

Rapid development in pre-school years connected with metalinguistic awerness - ability to treat language as an object - developed with reading and writing

Ambiguity - words and sentences that have multiple meaning

Early childhood bilingualism:

Simultaneous bilinguals - children exposed to more than one language

Sequential bilinguals - children who begin to learn second language later

Simultaneous bilinguals - the same speed of learning as children exposed to one language

Subtractive bilingualism - children cut off from their first language when submitted in a second language - negative, non language really developed - solution: concentrate on one language

Minority languages usually lost in the second generation after immigration

Development sequence (stages):

1. Grammatical morphemes

• present progressive -ing

• plural -s

• irregular past forms

• possessive `s

• copula

• articles

• regular past -ed

• third person singular simple present -s

• auxiliary “be”

similar order of acquisition - different rate

longitudinal study - on the same learner over an extended period of time

2. Negation - stages

• word “no” - no go, no cookie

• longer sentences with subject - daddy no comb hair

• negative element in more complex sentences, can't, don't, but with mistakes - He don't want it

• negative element attached to the correct form of auxiliary verb such as do, be, can

3. Questions

Wh- words order of emerging :

-what

-where and who

-why

-how and when - with understanding concepts of place and time

stages:

1. 1 -3 words with rising intonation

2. yes/no questions with rising intonation, wh- questions with question word at the beginning

3. fronting stage - putting words at the front of sentence without changing the word order

4. use of inversion - except wh- questions

5. both operations, but cannot produce negative questions

6. overgeneralization of inversion with wh- words in subordinate clouses (I don't know why can't we go out)

Theoretical approaches to explaining first language learning:

1. Behaviorism

Language learning - imitation, practice, feedback on success and habit formation

Imitating environment

positive reinforcement

imitation and practice

forming habits

effect on success:

• quality of language the child hears

• consistency of the reinforcement offered by environment

Imitation - word for word repetition

Practice - repetitive manipulation of form

Children don't imitate everything they hear - selection based on what they are currently learning

substitution drill is a classroom technique used to practise new language. It involves the teacher first modelling a word or a sentence and the learners repeating it. The teacher then substitutes one or more key words, or changes the prompt, and the learners say the new structure.

Example
The following sequence is an example of a substitution drill:
Teacher: I have a new car Learners: Have you? Teacher: I don't like fish Learners: Don't you? Teacher: I love coffee Learners: Do you?

Imitation and practice do not account for how children learn all aspects of native language

Children don't only imitate - they pick up patterns and then generalize them to new contexts

Behaviorism - good theory to explain acquisition of regular and routine aspects of language

2. Innatism

Children biologically programmed for language

Basic contribution of environment - people who speak to child

“the logical problem of language acquisition” - children come to know more language than they should based on the samples of language they hear - external information is not enough

children born with special ability to discover rules of language

LAD - Language Acquisition Device - contain universal principles of human language

Heard language triggers LAD

LAD = UG (Universal Grammar)

Biological basis:

Critical Period Hypothesis - CPH - natural experiments:

-Francois Truffout - found in the woods

-Genie - isolated by father

non of them developed language - they were to old

Connectionism - acquisition doesn't require separate module of the mind - it is a part of general learning - what children need to know is available in the language they are exposed to

3. Interactionism

role of linguistic environment

language development - resolute of complex interplay between human characteristic child and the environment

child directed speech - important:

-slower

-higher pitch

-more varied intonation

-shorter

-simpler

-sentence patterns

-frequent repetition

-paraphrase

not universal - differ in cultures

language acquisition - similar to acquisition of other skills and knowledge

use of words dependant on the understanding of the concepts they represent

language represent knowledge gained by physical interaction with environment

Vygolsky - language develops entirely from social interaction

SUMMARY

-children imitated and practice

-have build-in knowledge

-need one-to-one interaction to develop normally

-behaviorism, connectionism - vocabulary and grammatical morphemes

-innatism - complex grammar

- interactionism - meaning, interaction, appropriate use of language

Ordliste: ;)

metalinguistic awerness - ability to treat language as an object

Ambiguity - words and sentences that have multiple meaning

Simultaneous bilinguals - children exposed to more than one language

Sequential bilinguals - children who begin to learn second language later

Subtractive bilingualism - children cut off from their first language when submitted in a second language

longitudinal study - on the same learner over an extended period of time

Imitation - word for word repetition

Practice - repetitive manipulation of form

LAD - Language Acquisition Device - contain universal principles of human language

UG -Universal Grammar= LAD

[@:]http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/knowledge-wiki/substitution-drill

---