First and second language acquisition E-Book

Susanne Wrobel

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Deutsch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Studienarbeit aus dem Jahr 2013 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Sonstiges, Note: 1,0, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar), Veranstaltung: Psycholinguistics, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: We acknowledge the fact that to learn any language takes time. It is a process and not instantaneous as we have all experienced whether it was through our first or our second language. Most of us though don’t remember putting much effort into learning our mother tongue but remember well the effort we put into learning a foreign language. Understanding the underlying processes can especially be valuable to teachers and learners of a second language. It can help teachers with their teaching methods and both teacher and learner can be more patient and enjoy exploring the new language. Processes in first and second language acquisition share common sequences but are still different and vary especially in the outcome. While all speakers achieve native proficiency in their first language, they do not or are not able to do so in their second.

Leseprobe

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Inhalt

1. Introduction

2. Defining the Terms

2.1 First Language Acquisition

2.2 Second Language Acquisition

3. Acquisition Process

3.1 First Language Acquisition

3.1.1 Input

3.1.2 Production

3.1.3 Errors and Error Correction

3.2 Second Language Acquisition

3.2.1 Input

3.2.2 Production

3.2.3 Errors and Error Correction

4. Critical factors in language learning

4.1 First Language Acquistion

4.1.1 External

4.1.2 Internal

4.2 Second Language Acquisition

4.2.1 External

4.2.2 Internal

5. Conclusion

Bibliography

1. Introduction

“Language acquisition is not instantaneous but essentially developmental in nature” (Berman 12).

We acknowledge the fact that to learn any language takes time. It is a process and not instantaneous as we have all experienced whether it was through our first or our second language. Most of us though don’t remember putting much effort into learning our mother tongue but remember well the effort we put into learning a foreign language. Understanding the underlying processes can especially be valuable to teachers and learners of a second language. It can help teachers with their teaching methods and both teacher and learner can be more patient and enjoy exploring the new language. Processes in first and second language acquisition share common sequences but are still different and vary especially in the outcome. While all speakers achieve native proficiency in their first language, they do not or are not able to do so in their second.

To be able to assess such results, we will compare the acquisition processes of L1 and L2, taking a look at the differences in the input they receive and inquiring their production from the early stage to the final stage. We will also take a look at errors that both natives and non-natives produce when they learn a language. In the end we will be looking at internal and external influences that are important to consider when learning a language. Internal are the things that are coming from within the language learners such as universal grammar, mental development, age, motivation and L1 influence. The things impacting the learner that come from without are mostly the people around and the learning environment. A lot of factors play a part and these processes are highly complex. So this term paper won’t be a full representation of all the processes that there are to find in literature but we are looking at some of the widely discussed approaches and trying to clear up the question of the fundamental differences in first and second language acquisition. Before we dedicate ourselves to the investigation of the processes in language learning, we start off with defining the terms of first and second language acquisition.

2. Defining the Terms

2.1 First Language Acquisition

The first language acquisition is the process of learning the language everyone learns from birth or even before birth when infants acquire their native language. Children learn their mother tongue at a fast pace and very efficiently with “a rapid and effortless transition from the “initial state” to the “final state” (Crain and McKee 94) and

“there is a growing consensus that by the age of three, children have acquired the basic phonological, morphosyntactic, and semantic regularities of the target language irrespective of the language or languages to be learned” (Weissenborn and Höhle vii).

And even though to become a native speaker is a rapid and efficient process, it takes a long time to become a proficient speaker (cf. Berman 10).

2.2 Second Language Acquisition

In the process of second language acquisition, people learn a language other than their first language, as the name indicates. This might be early in life as a child, in adolescence or even later in adulthood. The second language is usually learned after the first language is already established. Sometimes the second language is learned as early as at the age of 3 or 4 and thus the boundaries to bilingualism are not always clear. The studies of second language acquisition, however, focus on the language learning after the age of 4 where the process of acquiring the language is generally completed (cf. Ortega 4). Second language acquisition describes a process where the learner has to make a conscious effort to learn the language, as opposed to the first language, where it seemingly proceeds automatically. In second language acquisition, compared to the first language, a lot of factors play an important role and therefore the outcome can vary enormously.

3. Acquisition Process

3.1 First Language Acquisition

Infants, strikingly fast and seemingly with no effort, acquire their first language (cf. Meisel 1). They are not taught, yet they reach a level of proficiency that second language learners never or extremely rarely reach (cf. Meisel 1).

3.1.1 Input

Infants begin to learn a language without prior knowledge of any other language. They start out solely with the innate capacity for language acquisition (cf. Saville-Troike 18).

Input is absolutely necessary for either L1 or L2 acquisition to take place. For L1 learning “direct and reciprocal interaction with other people” is vital and without this they are not able to learn their mother tongue (Saville-Troike 20). It is not possible for toddlers to learn exclusively through exposure to media (cf. Saville-Troike 20).