Definition of Second Language Acquisition and Learning

Second Language Acquisition

Language is the method of expressing ideas and emotions in the form of signs and symbols.
These signs and symbols are used to encode and decode the information. There are many
languages spoken in the world. The first language learned by a baby is his or her mother tongue.
It is the language, which he or she listens to from his or her birth. Any other language learned or
acquired is known as the second language.

Definition

The definition of second language acquisition (SLA) and learning is learning and acquisition of a
second language once the mother tongue or first language acquisition is established. SLA is the
process of learning other languages in addition to the native language. For instance, a child who
speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts learning English when he starts going to school. English
is learned by the process of second language acquisition. In fact, a young child can learn a
second language faster than an adult can learn the same language.

Second Language Learning

Though most scholars use the terms “second language learning" and “language acquisition"
interchangeably, actually these terms differ. Language learning refers to the formal learning of a
language in the classroom. On the other hand, language acquisition means acquiring the
language with little or no formal training or learning.

If you go to a foreign land where people speak a different language from your native language,
you need to acquire that foreign language. It can be done with little formal learning of the
language through your every day interaction with the native peoples in the market place, work
place, parks or anywhere else. This is true for learning spoken language.

Language is the method of expressing ideas and emotions in the form of signs and symbols.
These signs and symbols are used to encode and decode the information. There are many
languages spoken in the world. The first language learned by a baby is his or her mother tongue.
It is the language, which he or she listens to from his or her birth. Any other language learned or
acquired is known as the second language.

Second languages can be useful for frequent travelers

Definition

The definition of second language acquisition (SLA) and learning is learning and acquisition of a
second language once the mother tongue or first language acquisition is established. SLA is the
process of learning other languages in addition to the native language. For instance, a child who
speaks Hindi as the mother tongue starts learning English when he starts going to school. English
is learned by the process of second language acquisition. In fact, a young child can learn a
second language faster than an adult can learn the same language.
Second Language Learning

Though most scholars use the terms “second language learning" and “language acquisition"
interchangeably, actually these terms differ. Language learning refers to the formal learning of a
language in the classroom. On the other hand, language acquisition means acquiring the
language with little or no formal training or learning.

If you go to a foreign land where people speak a different language from your native language,
you need to acquire that foreign language. It can be done with little formal learning of the
language through your every day interaction with the native peoples in the market place, work
place, parks or anywhere else. This is true for learning spoken language.

Ways to introduce the second language

A second language can be acquired at any time after a child has developed language skills. A
second language is often called the target language while the native language is known as “L1.”

The second language can be introduced in following ways –

 introduced by speakers of the second language

 introduced as a second language that is part of the curriculum at school
Teaching Second Language

There are several things to consideration when teaching a second language. These factors may
include the language spoken at home, the willingness of the learner, the reason to learn the
second language (i.e., learning at school, for work, to talk to friends or others).

Though all students learning a second language go through the same stages of learning, the
period of learning varies. Students can learn better by responding to pictures and visuals.
Attention to listening comprehension and building a receptive and active vocabulary is essential.

The definition of second language acquisition and learning describes the process of
understanding, speaking and writing another language fluently. The ability to communicate in a
second language is becoming an essential skill in today’s world.

The Stages of Second Language Acquisition

 Students acquiring a second language progress through five predictable stages.

 Effective ELL instruction
o Reflects students' stages of language acquisition.
o Helps students move through the language acquisition levels.
o Engages ELLs at all stages of language acquisition in higher-level thinking
activities.

 The Five Stages of Second Language Acquisition

  Anyone who has been around children who are learning to talk knows that the process
happens in stages—first understanding, then one-word utterances, then two-word phrases,
and so on. Students learning a second language move through five predictable stages:
Preproduction, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and
Advanced Fluency (Krashen & Terrell, 1983). How quickly students progress through the
stages depends on many factors, including level of formal education, family background,
and length of time spent in the country.

 It is important that you tie instruction for each student to his or her particular stage of
language acquisition. Knowing this information about each student allows you to work
within his or her zone of proximal development—that gap between what students can do
on their own and what they can with the help of more knowledgeable individuals
(Vygotsky, 1978).

 Another reason for all teachers to gain insights into their students' stages of second
language acquisition is to meet the requirements of the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act,
which requires ELLs to progress in their content knowledge and in their English language
proficiency. How are we going to accomplish this if we are not all responsible for content
and language?

 Tiered Questions

 Research shows that high levels of student engagement are "a robust predictor of student
achievement and behavior in school" (Klem & Connell, 2004, p. 262). One way for
mainstream teachers to engage their ELLs more is by asking tiered questions. We
recommend that teachers ask frequent questions throughout their lessons, as doing so lets
ELLs practice their new language and helps teachers assess how much of the content the
ELLs understand. Of course, questions should be tailored to each ELL's level of second
language acquisition.

Figure 2.1. Sample Teacher Prompts for Each Stage of Second Language Acquisition

Approximate
Stage Characteristics Time Frame Teacher Prompts
Preproduction The student 0–6 months  Show me …
 Circle the …
 Has minimal  Where is …?
comprehension.  Who has …?
 Does not verbalize.
 Nods "Yes" and "No."
 Draws and points.

Early The student 6 months–1 year  Yes/no questions

Production  Either/or questions
  Who …?
 Has limited  What …?
comprehension  How many …?
 Produces one- or two-
word responses.
 Uses key words and
familiar phrases.
 Uses present-tense
verbs.

Speech The student 1–3 years  Why …?

Emergence  How …?
 Has good  Explain …
comprehension.  Questions requiring
 Can produce simple phrase or short-
sentences. sentence answers
 Makes grammar and
pronunciation errors.
 Frequently
misunderstands jokes.

Intermediate The student 3–5 years  What would happen if

Fluency …?
 Has excellent  Why do you think …?
comprehension.  Questions requiring
 Makes few more than a sentence
grammatical errors. response

Advanced The student has a near-native 5–7 years  Decide if …

Fluency level of speech.  Retell …

For Early Production students, questions that require a one-word response, such as yes/no and
either/or questions, are acceptable. You also want to begin asking students at this stage questions
that require a phrase or short sentence.

Speech Emergence students should be asked to answer questions that require a short-sentence
response. It is OK to sometimes ask these students questions requiring a multiple-sentence
response, but it is not OK to ask them questions requiring a pointing or one-word response.

How about Intermediate and Advanced Fluency students? It is OK to ask them questions that
require a lot of verbal output, but it is not OK to ask them questions requiring minimal verbal
output.
You can use tiered questions to include all ELLs in whole-class activities or one on one to check
comprehension or content learning. To accomplish this, you will need to know each student's
stage of language acquisition.

Classroom Example

To improve her ability to ask tiered questions, a 1st grade teacher asks the school ESL teacher to
demonstrate the strategy in her class during a discussion of The Three Little Pigs. For each stage
of second language acquisition, the ESL teacher asks the following types of tiered questions:

 Preproduction: Ask questions that students can answer by pointing at pictures in the
book ("Show me the wolf," "Where is the house?").
 Early Production: Ask questions that students can answer with one or two words ("Did
the brick house fall down?" "Who blew down the straw house?").
 Speech Emergence: Ask "why" and "how" questions that students can answer with short
sentences ("Explain why the third pig built his house out of bricks." "What does the wolf
want?").
 Intermediate Fluency: Ask "What would happen if …" and "Why do you think …"
questions ("What would happen if the pigs outsmarted the wolf?" "Why could the wolf
blow down the house made of sticks, but not the house made of bricks?")
 Advanced Fluency: Ask students to retell the story, including main plot elements but
leaving out unnecessary details.

 Tiered Thinking Across Stages of Second Language Acquisition

 What distinguishes low-level questions from high-level ones? You likely use or recall
Bloom's taxonomy (Bloom, Englehart, Furst, Hill, & Krathwohl, 1956), which provides a
structure for categorizing the level of abstraction of questions. Figure 2.2 illustrates the
levels in the taxonomy, starting with questions for recalling information (low level) and
concluding with questions for predicting and discriminating among ideas (high level).

 Figure 2.2. Levels of Bloom's Taxonomy

 The Ramirez study of bilingual

educational programs (Ramirez, 1992)
found that in all the language programs
studied (including immersion and early-
and late-exit transitional programs),
teachers tended to ask low-level
questions. In fact, in more than half of
their interactions, students did not
produce any oral language; when they
did, they engaged in simple recall.
  You may ask yourself, "How can I possibly ask a Preproduction or Early Production
student a high-level question if the most that student can do is point or give a one-word
response?" Do not mistake an ELL's limited output for an inability to think abstractly. It's
easy to keep asking Preproduction students yes/no questions or have them respond by
pointing, but the students must do more than simply recall knowledge. We can't have
ELLs stuck at the lowest levels of thinking.

 Video Fix: Behaviorist Theory of Second Language Acquisition

 May 24, 2017 3:30 pm

 Have you ever heard about behaviorist theory applied as a strategy for Second
Language Acquisition (SLA)?

 Before giving you an insight into the topic of this week’s Video Fix ‘Behaviorist
Theory of Second Language Acquisition’, let’s start with Merriam-Webster’s
definition of behaviorism (also known as behavioral psychology): it is […] a school of
psychology that takes the objective evidence of behavior (such as measured responses to
stimuli) as the only concern of its research and the only basis of its theory without
reference to conscious experience […]

Behaviorist Theory of Second Language Acuistion

 Historically John B. Watson is recognized as the father of behaviorism. Behavioral

psychology in general believes that all actions of humans and animals are learned
behaviors which can be learned and unlearned.
 It was Ivan Pavlov who investigated classical conditioning with his experiment using
dogs: he rang a bell every time he fed the dogs, teaching them to associate the sound of
the bell with food. As a result the dogs salivated every time the bell rang, whether there
was food or not. Thus Pavlov discovered a process in which a previously neutral
stimulus came to provoke a specific response by being repeatedly paired with another
stimulus that evoked the response.
 Eventually the American psychologist Burrhus F. Skinner expanded classical
conditioning to the so-called operant conditioning. According to this theory, if a reward
or reinforcement follows the response to a stimulus, then the response will become
more likely in the future.

In the 50s and 60s it became popular to apply behaviorism to all types of learning, including
language learning, which gave rise to the behaviorist theory of second language acquisition.
The most well-known teaching method that emerged from behaviorism was audiolingualism,
where repetitions and drills formed the basis of learning with the aim of habit formation.
Audiolingualism was widely introduced in schools across the U.S. and reached its peak in the
1960s. But, since the learning method did not achieve the desired results (for example, students
were unable to transfer the learned language skills to a real communication situation), it lost its
popularity quite quickly.

In the late 60s the American linguistic theory began to take a different direction. Part of the
reason for this change was Chomsky’s rejection of the behaviorist theory of language learning.
Chomsky said that language is not a habit structure, and argued that much of human language is
not imitated behavior, “but is created anew from underlying knowledge of abstract rules.”

Cognitivist Learning Theory of Acquisition

INTRODUCTION

Sometimes, when someone calls us, we immediately hear it. Then, we give the response from his
or her calling. From the phenomenon, unconsciously there is a process happens in our brain or
thought. The process is called cognitive theories or cognitivism. According to Mergel (1998)
cognitivism is a process based on the thought process behind the behavior. Changes in behavior
are observed, and used  as to what is happening inside the learner’s mind. Cognitive theories
emphasize the children conscious thought (Hebb, 2003:3). From the two definitions, I can infer
that a process can be called cognitivism if a process happens in conscious thought(inside the
learner’s mind). Here is the explanation of e the development of cognitivism or cognitive
revolution.

THE HISTORY OF COGNITIVISM

Cognitivism as a theory of learning studies about the process occurs inside the learner’s mind has
the own history about how it happens or the development of it. The development of cognitivism
theory is famous with the term “cognitive revolution”. According to asiaeuniversity (2012:106)
the cognitive revolution is the name for an intellectual movement in the 1950s that began with
what are known collectively as the cognitive sciences. It began in the modern context of greater
interdisciplinary communication and research. Although cognitive psychology emerged in the
late  1950s and began to take over as the dominant theory of learning. It wasn’t until the late
1970s that cognitive science began to have its influence on instructional design (Mergel,1998)

From the assumptions of the two experts, I can infer that the development of cognitivism
happened in the 1950s as the dominant theory of learning. Unfortunately, the impact of it in the
language learning occurred in 1970s. One of the real impacts is the influence on instructional
design. In this case, the development of cognitive theory in psychology is as the response of
behaviorism (asiaeuniversity, 2012:106). As we know that, behaviorism is the theory of language
learning which emphasize in observable behavior. The answer why cognitivism theory appears
as the response of behaviorism theory was because the behaviorist psychologist tried to avoid the
use of mental process in our mind. They tried to erase the cognitivism theory. In other words,
they just would like to explain something which is observable, not the unobservable one
(cognitivism).

FACTORS INFUENCED THE DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITIVISM

     After we know the history of cognitivism, it is important for us to know the factors
influenced the development of it. According to Jordan, Carlite & Stack (2008: 36-37) there
are four factors influenced it. They are the development of experimental psychology, the
move from on interest in external behaviors to internal brain process, the inadequacy of
computer and an interest in artificial intelligence.

Experimental psychology

The factor emphasized in how the memory was laid down by using nonsense syllables and
words that was begun in the 1880s by Herman Ebbinghuns.

The Shift from behaviorism to cognitivism

The factor emphasized that not all learning can be explained through observable behaviors,
sometimes we find unobservable ones. For example : Rats build up a mental representation or
cognitive map of their environment and develop expectations rather than  a set of inflexible
links between stimuli and response(Tolman , 1948 in Jordan, 2008:37).

Language Acquisition

The factor showed that the result of contested theories of language acquisition was the
evidence of human cognition. In this case language is as the result which is shaped by the
stimulus- response.

Computer and Artificial Intelligence

The factor showed the relationship between computers and cognitivism theory. Here, the
computer is seen as a process for cognitive function while brain as the computing tool. For
example the cognitive theory consists of information processing, input-process –output model.In
this case, the position of cognitive learning theory is just the beginning to inform the design of
CALL materials (Collentine, 2000:3).
DEFINITION OF COGNITIVISM

According to Mergel (1998) cognitivism is a cognitivist theory that based on thought process
behind the behavior. It means that the theory occurs inside the learners mind consciously.
Moreover, it focuses on how people think, how people understand, and how people know
(asiaeuniversity, 2012:107).How people think is the theory stresses in how our ways of thinking
will impact to the  behavior. How people understand is the theory shows the people’s
understanding related to outside world. How people know is the theory shows how the people
know phenomenon outside the world. Of course, it derives from the process thatrt happens in
human mind.

An individual ‘s cognition plays a significant and primary role in the development and
maintenance of emotional and behavioural responses to life situation (Prendes & Resko). In other
words, cognitivist theory as the study of mental process could impact or influence  the
individual’s emotion and behavioural responses because it is a process in determining on how
person thinks, understands, and knows.

PRINCIPLES OF COGNITIVISM

Cognitivism involves the study of mental processes such as sensation, perception, attention,
encoding, and memory that behaviorists were reluctant to study  because cognition occurs inside
the” black box” of the brain (Jordan, Carlite & Stack, 2008:36). In this case, sensation
perception, attention, encoding, and memory are the principle of cognitivism. The followings are
the explanation of them.

The first principle is sensation. It shows how the stimuli derived from external stimuli is
registered in sensory before it being sent to the following process. The second principle is
perception which shows as the process to interpret and make sense something which can be seen
through our sense. It consists of pattern recognition, object recognition, bottom up or top down
processing, and conscious perception. The third principle is attention which stresses in the
concentrating to one thing, that the most importance than the others. It is important to determine
the conscious awareness. The fourth principle is encoding as the principle of cognitive theory
focuses on the importance of encoding information, after something being perceived and
attended to stimuli. The way to encode the information can be done through organizing and then
form it in the form of schema. In this case, to encode the information in the form of experience
can be conducted through two ways. They are bottom up and top down (Jordan, Carlite, & Stack
2008:43). Bottom up is the way to encode experience by transferring the information that is
gained through the external world. It is mediated through attention and perception. While top
down is another way to encode experience. It is in the form of action prior knowledge in order to
help in interpreting the bottom up. The fifth principle is memory. Memory is the ability to keep
and remind the information in our mind. It consists of short term memory, long term memory,
and sensory.

Short term memory consists of limited amount of data and short duration. It is also known as the
working memory because it consists of some functions. They are rehearsal (repetition), coding,
decision making, and retrieval. The information that can be maintained approximately 5-9 bits.
According to Vinci (2000: 18) long term memory can hold a huge  amount of information-facts ,
data, and rules for how to use and process them and the information can be maintained  for long
period. It means that long term memory consists of very large amount of data and very long
duration. The way to keep the information can be maintained in this type of memory is by using
cues.

THREE IMPORTANT COGNITIVE THEORIES

Cognitive is a learning theory that emphasized in the process which happens inside the learners.
In this case, there are three important types of cognitive theories. They are Piaget’s cognitive
development theory, Vygotsky’s socio cultural cognitive theory and the information processing
approach.

Piaget’s Cognitive Development (1896-1980)

Piaget is the famous psychologist from Swiss who describes cognitivism theory in the cognitive
developmental theory. According to Hebb(2003: 3) Piaget’s theory states the children actively
construct their understanding of the world and go through stages of cognitive development. It
means that Piaget described cognitivism in the stage development of children when they are
ready to construct the meaning of things through their own understanding which starts from the
simple to complex thing. Knowledge and thinking skills provide the substance and tools for
cognitive problem solving (Bandura, 1989:9).  There are two processes underlie in cognitive
construction. They are organization and adaptation. Organization is important  in order  the
children  construct  the meaning of thing which make sense to them by  organizing our
experience. For example  we specify the less and important ideas then we connect them. While
adaptation is useful when we add the new information in our thinking system  because there is
important additional information.

In this case, adaptation is differentiated into two ways. They are assimilation and
accommodation. Assimilation occurs when individuals adjust  to new information (Hebb,
2003:3). For example: Newborns reflexively such everything that touches their lips
(assimilation) , but after several months of experience, they construct their understanding of the
world differently . They don’t suck fuzzy blanket (accommodation). Piaget developed the
cognitive development because he believed  that the children pass the four stages  of cognitive
development.

The first stage is sensorimotor (from birth to about two years of age). In this stage an infant tries
to construct the meaning of something that he or she is seeing and hearing. This stage
emphasizes in the infant’s motoric action. All the end of the stage, that is two years old babies
will have complex sensorimotor than before because they try to desire the meaning of thing in
simple symbols. The second stage is preoperational stage (two to seven years of age). In this
stage, the children try to represent the world through word, images, and drawing. The third stage
is concrete operational stage (seven to eleven years of age). In this stage, the children can use the
intuitive thought. It means that they try to learn from concrete to abstract thing. For instance,
concrete operational thinkers can’t imagine the step to complete algebra equation which is too
abstract for thinking at this stage of development. The fourth stage is operational stage (eleven to
fifteen years of age) In this stage, the individuals move beyond concrete experiences and think in
abstract and more logical terms. For instance formal operational thinkers are more detail in
solving the problems.

Vygotsky’s Socio Cultural Theory 1896-1934)

Vygotsky is a Russian psychologist who emphasize the cognitivism theory based on the
developmental analysis, the role of language, and social relation. According to Hebb( 2003:3)
there are three claims of Vygotsky. They are child’s cognitive skills can be understood only
when they are developmentally analyzed and interpreted. It means that if someone wants to
know the origin and the transformation from beginning to the next, he must take a part in child’s
cognitive functioning.

Vygotsky’s second claim is cognitive skills are mediated by words, language, and forms of
discourse which serve as psychological tools for facilitating and transforming mental activity.It
means that language is important tool for children in early childhood in order to plan their
activities and solve the problems. His third claims described knowledge is situated and
collaborative. It means that knowledge occurred in environments through the interaction with
others collaboratively.

The information Processing Approach

According to Hebb (2003:6) the information processing approach emphasizes that individuals
manipulate information processing approach is same with cognitive developmental theory by
Piaget that emphasizes in the individual’s learning but the information processing approach does
not describe development as like stage (Piaget). Green (2003) states that information processing
approach involves three basic steps. They are encoding, storage, and retrieval. The information
that is gotten must be transferred through three basic memory before it can be stored and
retrieved.

Three basic memories are sensory memory is a type of memory that consists of the important and
clear information in order to give signal for the useful ones. Short term memory is a type of
memory which is famous as working memory. It has short capability and period of time. There is
only 7+-2 pieces of information can be kept there. Long term memory is a type of memory that
has very large data and very long duration. To make the information is still keep in long term
memory, people usually make mnemonics, creating outline as a tool to keep the meaningful
information. According to Siegler (1998) in Hebb (2003:6) a leading expert on children’s
information processing. So, he means that the process of transferring information of individual
from example people retrieve information. It means that they are thinking.

Bruner
According to McLeod (2007) Bruner stated that cognitive growth involves interaction between
basic human capabilities and culturally invented technologies that serves as amplifiers of these
capabilities. It means that Bruner described cognitivism as the process of thinking that occurs in
interaction in social environment and also influence the development of technology.  This
invented technology not only consists of concrete but also abstract technology. In this case,
Bruner agreed with the concept of Vygotsky’s social cognitivism that language serves to mediate
between environmental stimuli and individual’s response. The concept of learning through
cognitivism theory based on Bruner not only emphasized in concept, categories, and problem
solving but also the ability to invent it. According to Bruner, cognitive development is divided
into three models of representation. They are as the followings.

Enactive representation (action –based)=> 0-1 year old

In this representation, the children try to learn manipulating object. For example babies’
understanding is that bottle is something that they suck to get milk.

Iconic representation has to do with images and things that can be altered=>1-6 years old

In this representation children try to think the differences between two different situations
separately. For example children imagine there is no people in market and there are so many
people in market. Symbolic representation implies using symbols to change knowledge into
code=> 7 years old.

In the representation emphasized in the role of encoding to make the explanation more clearly.
For example: math variable is typically in mathematics subject.

THE DIFFERENCES OF BEHAVIORISM WITH OTHER THEORIES.

Cognitivism is a theory of learning studies about the process occurs inside the learner’s. It is one
of the language theories that gives contribution in education field. In this case, there are some
language theories that give contribution to education field beside behaviorism such as
cognitivism and constructivism. So, in the followings are the differences among them in order to
users of this theory do understand with their own principles(Jung & Orey, 2008).

Behaviorism

It stresses on students’ observable behavior to create automatic learning includes the use of
instructional cues, practice, and reinforcement. In this case, the role of the teacher in behaviorism
theory is determines what type of cues that could produce the desired response, to create
conducive situation to reach the target stimuli and to create environmental condition.
Cognitivism

It stresses on the process happens inside the human mind, acquisition of the language, and
internal mental structure. In this case, the role of teacher is to understand the position of the
students who have different experience that will influence to the learning outcome, to determine
the manners that mostly used and which one is effective to organize the new information, to
provide feedback in order to make the new information will be more effective and efficient.

Constructivism

It emphasizes on how to construct the meaning of the word or thing based on their  own
understanding. It can be done through individual experience and schema. The role of the teacher
is to ask the students to learn to construct meaning and to assimilate and accommodate the
students’ prior knowledge and the new ones.

THE EDUCATIONAL IMPLICATION OF COGNITIVE THEORIES

According to Suharno (2010:60) the cognitive view takes the learner to be an active processor of
information. It means that the cognitive theory tries to create the people to be active to think. The
implication of cognitive theories in educational field is try to produce the students to find the
problem solving.do discovery learning, cognitive strategies, and project based learning.

Problem Based Learning

The application of the learning is try the students to find the solution of the problem. For
example the student conducts a research. It means that he or she must find the solution to solve 
the problems of his or her research that consists of identifies the problem, collects and analyzes
the data, draws the conclusion. The strength of problem based learning are it focuses on the
meaningfulness not the facts, it can improve the students’ initiative, it can improve the students’
learning achievement etc.

Discovery Learning

Discovery learning is one of the applications of cognitivism . According to O’Donnell(1997)

“Discovery Learning is an instructional method in which the students are free to work in learning
environment with little or no guidance”. This assumption from O’Donnell is also supported by
Ryan & Muray (2009) who assume that discovery learning is problem based learning with
minimal guidance”. It means that through discovery learning the teacher gives opportunity to
students to explore their selves by learning through the environment with little guidance from the
teacher. There are some structures that must be paid attention in applying discovery learning.
They are readiness to learn, intuitive and analytical thinking, motivates for learning. These
structures must be moved from basic to advanced step.
From the example of the two types of implication of cognitive theories, the users of the theory
must be paid attention to the principles itself. There are six principles of cognitivism theory to
improve teaching (Magna publication, 1995).The first principle if information is to be learned, it
must first be recognized as important. The second is during learning, learners act on information
in ways that make it more meaningful. The third is learners store information in long term
memory in an organized fashion related to their existing understanding of the world. The fourth
is learners continually check understanding, which results in refinement and revision of what is
retained. The fifth is transfer of learning to new contexts is not automatic, but results’-form
exposure to multiple application,. The sixth is learning is facilitated when learners are aware of
their learning strategies and monitor their use.

STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES

Cognitivism is a theory of learning studies about the process occurs inside the learner’s. So, as a
teacher who wants to apply the cognitivism in his or her teaching learning process, he or she
must consider the strength and weaknesses of it when it applies in classroom. The weakness of
cognitivism is the learners learn the way to finish the task, but it is not a good way. The  strength
is the students are trained to do the task in the same way to produce the students who have 
consistency behavior ( Schuman,1996 in Mergel, 1998).

CONCLUSION

Cognitive theory is learning theory of psychology that attempts to explain human behavior by
understanding the thought process. It is emphasized in the conscious thought. The theory  was
born in the 1950s. There are four factors influenced the development of it. They are experimental
psychology, the shift from behaviorism to cognition, language acquisition and computer artificial
intelligence. In this case, cognitivism is divided into three important cognitive theories
emphasize their conscious thoughts. They are Piaget’s cognitive development theory, Vygotsky’s
socio cultural cognitive theory, and the information processing approach. All of the types of
cognitive theory stress on the important of process that is happening inside  the human’s mind.
The application of cognitive theory can be applied through problem based learning, discovery
learning, cognitive strategies, and project based learning. Overall the goal of its application is to
create the students to be active in teaching learning process.

Monitor Model

Brief Overview

This is a brief overview of the monitor model for the reader to understand the main points.
Readers are encouraged to study more in-depth to gain a full appreciation of the history,
development, and implementation of this theory. At the end are guiding questions for the
educator to contemplate about instruction and the monitor model.

The monitor model is an interesting set of hypotheses that were developed by Stephen Krashen
in the late 1970s. The monitor model is interesting because some of its premises have been
disproved, but during the 80s and 90s the monitor model was adopted by some educational
systems much to their chagrin. However, this is not to say that this theory is unusable for the
language educator, but what is taken from the theory and applied to the classroom must be
weighted accordingly.

Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

The origin of this hypothesis is completely flawed and science has disproved the basis, but if
examined from a different aspect, can be beneficial to instruction.

Krashen saw acquisition as subconscious learning that was facilitated by something Chomsky
had proposed in universal grammar (UG Theory) called the  language acquisition device (LAD).
The LAD was a feature in the brain that helped people learn languages, but Chomsky would
have to later admit that there was no such thing.

If acquisition was subconscious, then the learning part of the hypothesis was what actually
happens in the classroom. Since the educator is making the students consciously aware of the
information, this was considered learning which is not as affective as acquisition.

Although there is no LAD as Krashen had considered when penning this hypothesis, many
researchers do note there can be a difference between subconscious learning (acquisition) and
conscious learning (learning).

How Not To Use

Explicit Teaching Needed: The educational systems that adopted the monitor model were
damaged by acquisition-learning hypothesis because grammar was not explicitly taught. As a
result, writing suffered immensely because direct instruction of grammar is essential

How To Use

 Learning: Teenagers, young adults, and adults can really benefit from actually learning
strategies and explicit grammar instruction. Writing is one of the four skills that benefits
most from grammar instruction in older students, so make it part of the curriculum.

Monitor Hypothesis

The monitor hypothesis involves the acquisition center being monitored by the learning system.
So the acquisition center would produce language and what the student is/has been learning will
allow the student to monitor output. If the output matches, then no problem, but if the language
produced is not correct, then the monitoring of the learning system will help correct the
acquisition center.

However, Krashen warns that over-monitoring can cause language production to be more geared
towards accuracy than fluency.

How To Use
Accuracy/Fluency: Krashen is correct in stating too much monitoring will impede fluency at the
benefit of being accurate. A balance should always be central as being too far on Natural Order
Hypothesis

Krashen states that there is a natural order to acquiring language rules.

Morpheme order studies covers this in more detail along with strategies for use.

Input Hypothesis

The input hypothesis revolves around students receiving an appropriate amount of input.
However the hypothesis believes it is not just input, but comprehensible input that is easily
understood by the learner that will deliver the grammar needed.

 either end of the spectrum is not good for communication.

 Natural Order Hypothesis
 Krashen states that there is a natural order to acquiring language rules.
 Morpheme order studies covers this in more detail along with strategies for use.
 Input Hypothesis
 The input hypothesis revolves around students receiving an appropriate amount of input.
However the hypothesis believes it is not just input, but comprehensible input that is
easily understood by the learner that will deliver the grammar needed.

How Not To Use

 Adults: Input and grammar acquisition works for young learners as they have the ability
pick up language with proper interaction, but adults do not possess the ability to learn
naturally like children. Instead, adults use cognitive strategies to learn complex systems
like grammar and benefit from well structure taught input.

How To Use

 Proper Input: This can be utilized across all instruction and not just grammar. Students
not only need input, but they need input that is easy to understand. Teaching language or
teaching materials that are too high for the students do little to progress their language
ability or understanding. This is a major key to instruction. Every educator needs to put
this near the top of his list of teaching beliefs.

Affective Filter Hypothesis

This hypothesis suggests affective filter is a mental screen that filters input from reaching the
language acquisition center in the brain. There are many things that can trigger the mental filter
such as conscious learning, motivation, stress, classroom environment, confidence, etc…

How Not To Use

  Broken Record:  As stated before, conscious learning of grammatical features is not bad.
Conscious learning is beneficial for older learners with the ability to use cognitive
reasoning. For young learners, conscious learning will not be as beneficial.

How To Use

 Factors Decrease Learning: Although there is no actual filter in the brain, it is well
documented that issues such as motivation, stress, classroom temperature, confidence,
etc… do contribute to a decrease in learning. Any educator who has taught in a
sweltering classroom will understand this point. The educator should try to address as
many of these issues as possible as environment has a big influence on learning.
 Final Thoughts
 The monitor model is based on some flawed premises that really hurt the education
systems that adopted this theory. Children may not need explicit grammar teaching to
speak fluently, but older learners definitely need explicit grammar teaching to produce
quality writing. Speaking and listening are skills that children gain naturally through
input, but reading and writing must be learned and teaching is vital for these skills. The
ideology at the time was a little faulty, so Krashen cannot be blamed for going with
current beliefs. Although many concepts in the monitor model are flawed, there are many
bits of information that can be readjusted and used for language teaching. As with any
theory, there is some falsehood and truth delicately intertwined inside. Educators should
find the truths that speak to them and use them to the best of their ability.

LINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENT
It is clear that children acquire their first language without explicit learning. A foreign or second
language is usually learned but to some degree may also be acquired or “picked up” depending
on the environmental setting. So, this article
mainly discusses the linguistc environmental setting for foreign language acquisition.
It suggested that we should make an effective linguistic environment for foreign language
acquisition in foreign language classroom.
Keywords: Acquisition, Linguistic environment, Linguistic input, Foreign language teaching

1. Introduction
Language acquisition refers to the learning and development of a person’s language. The
learning of a native or first language is called first Language Acquisition, and of a second or
foreign language, Second Language Acquisition
(Richards Jack C.John Platt and HeidiPlatt, 2000). The term “acquisition” is often preferred to
“learning” because the latter term is sometimes linked to a behaviorist theory of learning.
Language acquisition is studied by linguists, psychologists and applied linguists to enable them
to understand the process used in learning a language, to help identify stages in the
developmental process, and to give a better understand of the nature of language. Techniques
used include longitudinal studies of language learners as well as experimental approaches, and
focus on the study of the development of phonology, grammar, vocabulary, and communicative
competence. Here, we pay more attention to discussing the communicative language of foreign
language acquisition related to linguistic environment. That is to say, the effects of linguistic
environment related to that we learn or acquire language
is to communicate with others who speak non-native language.

2. The effects of linguistic environment in society

Are there any effects of linguistic environment on learning or acquiring a foreign
language? Most of us know or know of people who have learnt to speak a foreign language quite
fluently without any teaching at all: people who travel and work abroad a lot; people who stay in
their own country but who mix with speakers of another language. Even quite young children,
who drop out of school
, often classed as “unteachable”, become unofficial tourist guides and end up
managing to communicate in several foreign languages. They are not always totally accurate, but
they achieve a level of language ability that is entirely adequate for their needs. There is another
case that many young children whose parents
speak different languages (first language and foreign language) can acquire a second language in
circumstances similar to those of first language acquisition, the vast majority of people are not
exposed to a second language until much later.
What is it that helps people like these to learn? The linguistic environment for language
acquisition is very important. For the children, they often exposure to the different language and
speak in different languages. They not only acquire their first language but also can acquire the
foreign language. For those abroad or mix with speakers of another language, they are usually
very motivated-they have a pressing desire to communicate and to get their meaning across.
They receive a lot exposure--they hear the language in use and pick up expressions they need.
And they have many opportunities to speak and experiment with the language. Their
interlocutors do not expect them to be perfect, and will
often support their attempts to communicate by suggesting words and phrases.

CROSS LINGUISTIC INFLUENCE

Cross linguistic influence (CLI) refers to the different ways in which one language can affect
another within an individual speaker. It typically involves two languages that can affect one
another in a bilingual speaker. An example of CLI is the influence of Korean on a Korean native
speaker who is learning Japanese or French. Less typically, it could also refer to an interaction
between different dialects in the mind of a monolingual speaker. CLI can be observed
across subsystems of languages including pragmatics, semantics, syntax, morphology,
phonology, phonetics, and orthography. Discussed further in this article are particular
subcategories of CLI—transfer, attrition, the complementarity principle, and additional theories

The question of how languages influence one another within a bilingual individual can be
addressed both with respect to mature bilinguals and with respect to bilingual language
acquisition. With respect to bilingual language acquisition in children, there are several
hypotheses that examine the internal representation of bilinguals' languages. Volterra and
Taeschner proposed the Single System Hypothesis, which states that children start out with
one single system that develops into two systems. This hypothesis proposed that bilingual
children go through three stages of acquisition.

In Stage I there is a single lexicon that contains words from both languages, and there is a single
syntactic system. Children in this stage will never have a translation equivalent for a word in the
other language. Translation equivalents are two corresponding words in two separate languages
with the same meaning. Also, it is common for the child to use two different languages in a
single utterance. The syntactic rules are hard to define because of the lack of two-word and
three-word utterances by the bilingual child. In Stage II there are two lexicons, but there is one
syntactic system. In addition, there is evidence for language separation because at this stage
children become less likely to mix their languages. Across both languages, the same syntactic
rules are applied. For example, Japanese has subject-object-verb word order (SOV), and English
has subject-verb-object word order (SVO). An English-Japanese bilingual might apply only one
of these word orders to all utterances, regardless of what language the utterance is in.

 In Stage III there are two lexicons and two syntactic systems, with adult-like separation
of the languages. When a child reaches this stage they are considered fully "bilingual."[3]
In response to the Single System Hypothesis, a different hypothesis developed regarding the idea
of two separate language systems from the very beginning. It was based on evidence of
monolinguals and bilinguals reaching the same milestones at approximately the same stage of
development. For example, bilingual and monolingual children go through identical patterns of
grammar development. This hypothesis, called the Separate Development Hypothesis, held the
notion that the bilinguals acquiring two languages would internalize and acquire the two
languages separately. Evidence for this hypothesis comes from lack of transfer and lack of
acceleration. Transfer is a grammatical property of one language used in another language.
Acceleration is the acquisition of a feature in language A facilitating the acquisition of a feature
in language B. In a study of Dutch-English bilingual children, there were no instances of transfer
across elements of morphology and syntactic development, indicating that the two languages
developed separately from each other. In addition, in a study of French-English bilingual
children, there were no instances of acceleration because finiteness appeared much earlier in
French than it did in English, suggesting that there was no facilitation of the acquisition of
finiteness in English by acquisition in French. Under this hypothesis, bilingual acquisition would
be equivalent to monolingual children acquiring the particular languages.
In response to both the previous hypotheses mentioned, the Interdependent Development
Hypothesis emerged with the idea that there is some sort of interaction between the two language
systems in acquisition. It proposed that there is no single language system, but the language
systems are not completely separate either. This hypothesis is also known as the Crosslinguistic
Hypothesis, developed by Hulk and Müller. The Crosslinguistic Hypothesis states that influence
will occur in bilingual acquisition in areas of particular difficulty, even for monolingual native
language acquisition. It re-examined the extent of the differentiation of the language systems due
to the interaction in difficult areas of bilingual acquisition. Evidence for this hypothesis comes
from delay, acceleration, and transfer in particular areas of bilingual language acquisition. Delay
is the acquisition of a property of language A later than normally expected because of the
acquisition of language B. CLI is seen when the child has a dominant language, such as
Cantonese influencing English when Cantonese is the dominant language,] and it will only occur
in certain domains. Below are the two proposals represented in the Crosslinguistic
Hypothesis where CLI may occur.

 It may occur where there is an interface. An interface, for example, could be between
syntax and pragmatics of dislocations. Dislocations are a grammatical option in French under
certain pragmatic conditions (e.g. Je l'aime, ça 'I like it, that'), which have been studied in
French-English bilinguals positioning of the word that. French-English bilinguals make use
of this device when they move that to a dislocated position of the periphery of the sentence
in English. The placement of that was dislocated in English sentences because of the
influence from French on English syntax. For example, French-English bilingual children
may produce Is a big one this? instead of meaning to say Is this a big one? The children
produced significantly more of these dislocations in English than monolingual English
children.
 It may occur where is an overlap between two languages with language A allowing only
one option and language B allowing two options. One option of language B overlaps with an
option in language A. For example, French allows adjectives before and after a noun, but
English only allows adjectives before the noun. There is an overlap in the correct placement
of adjectives between these two languages, and there will be transfer, especially with
postnominal adjectives in French. For example, French-English bilinguals might produce un
blanc chien "a white dog" instead of un chien blanc "a dog white."
Since the development of the Crosslinguistic Hypothesis, much research has contributed to the
understanding of CLI in areas of structural overlap, directionality, dominance, interfaces, the role
of input, and the role of processing and production.

Development of Language Learners

Language development in humans is a process starting early in life. Infants start without
knowing a language, yet by 10 months, babies can distinguish speech sounds and engage
in babbling. Some research has shown that the earliest learning begins in utero when
the fetus starts to recognize the sounds and speech patterns of its mother's voice and differentiate
them from other sounds after birth.
Typically, children develop receptive language abilities before their verbal or expressive
language develops. Receptive language is the internal processing and understanding of language.
As receptive language continues to increase, expressive language begins to slowly develop.
Usually, productive language is considered to begin with a stage of pre-verbal communication in
which infants use gestures and vocalizations to make their intents known to others. According to
a general principle of development, new forms then take over old functions, so that children
learn words to express the same communicative functions they had already expressed by
proverbial means
Language development is thought to proceed by ordinary processes of learning in which children
acquire the forms, meanings, and uses of words and utterances from the linguistic input Children
often begin reproducing the words that they are repetitively exposed to. The method in which we
develop language skills is universal; however, the major debate is how the rules of syntax are
acquired. There are two major approaches to syntactic development, an empiricist account by
which children learn all syntactic rules from the linguistic input, and a nativist approach by
which some principles of syntax are innate and are transmitted through the human genome.
The nativist theory, proposed by Noam Chomsky, argues that language is a unique human
accomplishment, and can be attributed to either "millions of years of evolution" or to "principles
of neural organization that may be even more deeply grounded in physical law". Chomsky says
that all children have what is called an innate language acquisition device (LAD). Theoretically,
the LAD is an area of the brain that has a set of universal syntactic rules for all languages. This
device provides children with the ability to make sense of knowledge and construct novel
sentences with minimal external input and little experience. Chomsky's claim is based upon the
view that what children hear—their linguistic input—is insufficient to explain how they come to
learn language. He argues that linguistic input from the environment is limited and full of errors.
Therefore, nativists assume that it is impossible for children to learn linguistic information solely
from their environment. However, because children possess this LAD, they are in fact, able to
learn language despite incomplete information from their environment. Their capacity to learn
language is also attributed to the theory of un The empiricist theory suggests, contra Chomsky,
that there is enough information in the linguistic input children receive and therefore, there is no
need to assume an innate language acquisition device exists (see above). Rather than a LAD
evolved specifically for language, empiricists believe that general brain processes are sufficient
enough for language acquisition. During this process, it is necessary for the child to actively
engage with their environment. For a child to learn language, the parent or caregiver adopts a
particular way of appropriately communicating with the child; this is known as child-directed
speech (CDS). CDS is used so that children are given the necessary linguistic information
needed for their language. Empiricism is a general approach and sometimes goes along with the
interactionist approach. Statistical language acquisition, which falls under empiricist theory,
suggests that infants acquire language by means of pattern perception.
Other researchers embrace an interactionist perspective, consisting of social-interactionist
theories of language development. In such approaches, children learn language in the interactive
and communicative context, learning language forms for meaningful moves of communication.
These theories focus mainly on the caregiver's attitudes and attentiveness to their children in
order to promote productive language habits.
An older empiricist theory, the behaviorist theory proposed by B. F. Skinner suggested that
language is learned through operant conditioning, namely, by imitation of stimuli and by
reinforcement of correct responses. This perspective has not been widely accepted at any time,
but by some accounts, is experiencing a resurgence. New studies use this theory now to treat
individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders. Additionally, Relational Frame Theory is
growing from the behaviorist theory, which is important for Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy. Some empiricist theory accounts today use behaviorist models.
Other relevant theories about language development include Piaget's theory of cognitive
development, which considers the development of language as a continuation of general
cognitive development and Vygotsky's social theories that attribute the development of language
to an individual's social interactions and growth.
BIOLOGICAL PRECONDITIONS

Evolutionary biologists are skeptical of the claim that syntactic knowledge is transmitted in the
human genome. However, many researchers claim that the ability to acquire such a complicated
system is unique to the human species. Non-biologists also tend to believe that our ability to
learn spoken language may have been developed through the evolutionary process and that the
foundation for language may be passed down genetically. The ability to speak and understand
human language requires speech production skills and abilities as well as multisensory
integration of sensory processing abilities.
One hotly debated issue is whether the biological contribution includes capacities specific to
language acquisition, often referred to as universal grammar. For fifty years, linguist Noam
Chomsky has argued for the hypothesis that children have innate, language-specific abilities that
facilitate and constrain language learning. In particular, he has proposed that humans are
biologically prewired to learn language at a certain time and in a certain way, arguing that
children are born with a language acquisition device (LAD). However, since he developed
the minimalist program, his latest version of theory of syntactic structure, Chomsky has reduced
the elements of universal grammar, which he believes are prewired in humans to just the
principle of recursion, thus voiding most of the nativist endeavor.
Researchers who believe that grammar is learned rather than innate, have hypothesized that
language learning results from general cognitive abilities and the interaction between learners
and their human interactants. It has also recently been suggested that the relatively slow
development of the prefrontal cortex in humans may be one reason that humans are able to learn
language, whereas other species are not. Further research has indicated the influence of
the FOXP2 gene.

Stages

Relationship between interpersonal communication and

the stages of development. The greatest development of
language occurs in the stage of infancy. As the child
matures, the rate of language development decreases.
0-1 years of age:
An infant mainly uses non-verbal communication (mostly gestures) to communicate. For
a newborn, crying is the only means of communication. Infants 1-5 months old have
 different tones of crying that indicate their emotions. Infants also begin laughing at this
stage. At 6-7 months old, infants begin to respond to their own name, yell and squeal, and
distinguish emotions based on the tone of voice of the mother and father. Between 7 and
10 months the infant starts putting words together, for example "mama" and "dada", but
these words lack meaning and significance. Verbal communication begins at
approximately 10-12 months, and the child starts to imitate any sounds they hear, for
example animal sounds. The non-verbal communication of infants includes the use of
gaze, head orientation and body positioning. Gestures are also widely used as an act of
communication. All these stages can be delayed if the parents do not communicate with
their infant on a daily basis.
Nonverbal communication begins with the comprehension of parents and how they use it
effectively in conversation. Infants are able to break down what adults and others are
saying to them and use their comprehension of this communication to produce their own.
1–2 years of age:
Verbal and nonverbal communication are both used at this stage of development. At 12 months,
children start to repeat the words they hear. Adults, especially parents, are used as a point of
reference for children in terms of the sound of words and what they mean in context of the
conversation. Children learn much of their verbal communication through repetition and
observing others. If parents do not speak to their children at this age it can become quite difficult
for them to learn the essentials of conversation. The vocabulary of a 1–2 year old should consist
of 50 words and can be up to 500. Gestures that w2–3 years of age:
Children aged 2–3 communicate best in a turn-taking style. This creates a conversational
structure that makes it easier for verbal communication to develop. It also teaches
patience, kindness, and respect as they learn from the direction of elders that one person
should speak at a time. This creates interactional synchrony during their preverbal
routines that shapes their interpersonal communication skills early on in their
development.[22] Children during this stage in their life also go through a recognition and
continuity phase. Children start to see that shared awareness is a factor in communication
along with their development of symbolic direction of language. This especially affects
the relationship between the child and the caregiver; it is a crucial part of self-discovery
for the child when they begin to take ownership over their own actions in a continuous
manner.[22]
3–5 years of age:
In this age group children are still learning how to form abstract thoughts and are still
communicating concretely. Children begin to be fluent in connecting sounds, syllables,
and linking words that make sense together in one thought. They begin to participate in
short conversations with others. Stuttering can develop, generally resulting in slowed-
down speech with a few letter enunciation errors (f, v, s, z). At the beginning of this stage
toddlers tend to be missing function words and misunderstand how to use verb
tenses.Over time they start including functional words, pronouns, and auxiliary verbs.
[24]
 This is the stage at which most children can pick up on emotional cues of the tone of
adults' conversation. If negative feedback is distinguished by the child, this ends with fear
and avoidance of the associated verbal and nonverbal cues. Toddlers develop the skills to
 listen and partially understand what another person is saying and can develop an
appropriate response.
5–10 years of age:
Much language development during this time period takes place in a school setting. At
the beginning of the school age years, a child’s vocabulary expands through exposure to
reading, which also helps children to learn more difficult grammatical forms, including
plurals and pronouns. They also begin to develop metalinguistic awareness which allows
them to reflect and more clearly understand the language they use. They therefore start to
understand jokes and riddles. Reading is a gateway for learning new vernacular and
having confidence in complex word choices while talking with adults. This is an
important developmental stage socially and physiologically for the child. School-aged
children can easily be influenced through communication and gestures. As children
continue to learn communication, they realize the difference between forms of intentions
and understand that there are numerous different ways to express the same intent, with
different meaning.
10–18 years of age:
By the age of 10, the child's cognitive potential has matured and they can participate fully
and understand the purpose of their conversations. During this time, the sophistication
and effectiveness of communication skills increase and understanding of vocabulary and
grammar increases as a result of education. Adolescents go through changes in social
interactions and cognitive development that influence the way they communicate. They
often use colloquial speech (slang), however, which can increase confusion and
misunderstandings. An individual’s style of interpersonal communication depends on
who they are communicating with. Their relationships change influencing how they
communicate with others. During this period, adolescents tend to communicate less with
their parents and more with their friends. When discussions are initiated in different
channels of communication, attitude and predispositions are key factors that drive the
individual to discuss their feelings. This also shows that respect in communication is a
trait in interpersonal communication that is built on throughout development. The end of
this adolescent stage is the basis for communication in the adult stage.

Gender difference
Language development and processing begins before birth. Evidence has shown that there is
language development occurring antepartum. DeCasper and Spence performed a study in 1986
by having mothers read aloud during the last few weeks of pregnancy. When the infants were
born, they were then tested. They were read aloud a story while sucking on a pacifier; the story
was either the story read by the mother when the infant was in utero or a new story. The pacifier
used was able to determine the rate of sucking that the infant was performing. When the story
that the mother had read before was heard, the sucking of the pacifier was modified. This did not
occur during the story that the infant had not heard before. The results for this experiment had
shown that the infants were able to recognize what they had heard in utero, providing insight that
language development had been occurring in the last six weeks of pregnancy.
Throughout the first year of life, infants are unable to communicate with language. Instead,
infants communicate with gestures. This phenomenon is known as prelinguistic gestures, which
are nonverbal ways that infants communicate that also had a plan backed with the gesture.
Examples of these could be pointing at an object, tugging on the shirt of a parent to get the
parent's attention, etc. Harding, 1983, devised the major criteria that come along with the
behavior of prelinguistic gestures and their intent to communicate. There are three major criteria
that go along with a prelinguistic gesture: waiting, persistence, and ultimately, development of
alternative plans. This process usually occurs around 8 months of age, where an appropriate
scenario may be of a child tugging on the shirt of a parent to wait for the attention of the parent
who would then notice the infant, which causes the infant to point to something they desire. This
would describe the first two criteria. The development of alternative plans may arise if the parent
does not acknowledge what the infant wants, the infant may entertain itself to satisfy the
previous desire.
When children reach about 15–18 months of age, language acquisition flourishes. There is a
surge in word production resulting from the growth of the cortex. Infants begin to learn the
words that form a sentence and within the sentence, the word endings can be interpreted. Elissa
Newport and colleagues (1999) found that humans learn first about the sounds of a language, and
then move on to how to speak the language. This shows how infants learn the end of a word and
know that a new word is being spoken. From this step, infants are then able to determine the
structure of a language and word.
It appears that during the early years of language development females exhibit an advantage over
males of the same age. When infants between the age of 16 to 22 months were observed
interacting with their mothers, a female advantage was obvious. The females in this age range
showed more spontaneous speech production than the males and this finding was not due to
mothers speaking more with daughters than sons. In addition, boys between 2 and 6 years as a
group did not show higher performance in language development over their girl counterparts on
experimental assessments. In studies using adult populations, 18 and over, it seems that the
female advantage may be task dependent. Depending on the task provided, a female advantage
may or may not be present Similarly, one study found that out of the 5.5% of American children
with language impairments, 7.2% are male, and 3.8% are female. There are many different
suggested explanations for this gender gap in language impairment prevalence.
Lateralization effect on language
It is currently believed that in regards to brain lateralization males are left-lateralized, while
females are bilateralized. Studies on patients with unilateral lesions have provided evidence that
females are in fact more bilateralized with their verbal abilities. It seems that when a female has
experienced a lesion to the left hemisphere, she is better able to compensate for this damage than
a male can. If a male has a lesion in the left hemisphere, his verbal abilities are greatly impaired
in comparison to a control male of the same age without that damage. However, these results
may also be task-dependent as well as time-dependent.
Fine motor development rate
Shriberg, Tomblin, and McSweeny (1999) suggest that the fine motor skills necessary for correct
speech may develop more slowly in males.] This could explain why some of the language
impairments in young males seems to spontaneously improve over time.
Over diagnosis
It is also suggested that the gender gap in language impairment prevalence could also be
explained by the clinical over diagnosis of males. Males tend to be clinically over diagnosed with
a variety of disorders.
Visibility
The study by Shriber et al. (1999) further explains that this gap in the prevalence of language
impairment could be because males tend to be more visible. These researchers reveal that male
children tend to act out behaviorally when they have any sort of disorder, while female children
tend to turn inward and develop emotional disorders as well.[35] Thus, the high ratio of males with
language impairments may be connected with the fact that males are more visible, and thus more
often diagnosed.

WRITING DEVELOPMENT
Research in writing development has been limited in psychology. In the research that has been
conducted, focus has generally centred on the development of written and spoken language and
their connection. Spoken and written skills could be considered linked. Researchers believe that
children's spoken language influences their written language.When a child learns to write they
need to master letter formation, spelling, punctuation and they also have to gain an understanding
of the structure and the organisational patterns involved in written language
Kroll's theory is one of the most significant on children's writing development. He proposed that
children's writing development is split into 4 phases. Kroll explicitly states that these phases are
'artificial' in the sense that the boundaries between the phases are imprecise and he recognises
that each child is different, thus their development is unique. The phases of writing development
have been highlighted to give the reader a broad outline of what phases a child goes through
during writing development; however when studying an individual's development in depth, the
phases may be disregarded to an extent.
The first of Kroll's phases is the preparation for writing phase. In this phase the child is believed
to grasp the technical skills needed for writing, allowing them to create the letters needed to
write the words the children say. In this initial phase children experience many opportunities to
extend their spoken language skills. Speaking and writing are considered fairly separate
processes here, as children's writing is less well developed at this stage, whereas their spoken
language is becoming more skilled.
Kroll considers the second phase in writing development to be consolidation. Here, children
begin to consolidate spoken and written language. In this phase children's writing skills rely
heavily on their spoken language skills, and their written and spoken language becoming
integrated. Children's written language skills become stronger as they use their spoken language
skills to improve their writing. Then in turn, when a development in children's written language
skills is seen, their spoken language skills have also improved. A child's written language in this
phase mirrors their spoken language.
In the third phase, differentiation, children begin to learn that written language regularly differs
in structure and style from spoken language. The growth from consolidation to differentiation
can be challenging for some children to grasp. Children can 'struggle with the transformation
from the basically overt language of speech to the essentially covert activity of writing'. In this
phase, the child learns that writing is generally considered more formal than spoken language,
which is thought to be casual and conversational. Here, it is believed that children begin to
understand that writing serves a purpose.
Kroll considers the last phase to be the systematic integration phase. A differentiation and
integration between the child's speaking and writing can be seen in this phase. This means that
speaking and writing have 'well-articulated forms and functions'; however, they are also
integrated in the sense that they use the same system. As a result of the individual being aware of
the audience, context and reason they are communicating, both written and spoken language are
able to overlap and take several forms at this stage.
Kroll used the four phases to give an explanation and generalise about the development of these
two aspects of language. The highest significance is placed on the second and third phase,
consolidation and differentiation respectively. It could be concluded that children's written and
spoken language, in certain respects, become more similar to age, maturation, and experience;
however, they are also increasingly different in other respects. The content of the skills are more
similar, but the approach used for both writing and speaking are different. When writing and
speaking development is looked at more closely it can be seen that certain elements of written
and spoken language are differentiating and other elements are integrating, all in the same phase.
Perera conducted a survey and her view mirrors that of Kroll to the extent that she used Kroll's
four phases. When a child undergoes initial learning of the written language, they have not yet
fully mastered the oral language. It is clear that their written language development is aided by
their spoken language; it can also be said that their spoken language development is aided by the
development of their written language skills. Kantor and Rubin believe that not all individuals
successfully move into the final stage of integration. Pereira is also aware that it is hard to assign
chronological ages to each phase of writing development, because each child is an individual,
and also the phases are 'artificial'.
Other than Kroll's theory, there are four principles on early patterns in writing development
discussed by Marie Clay in her book What Did I Write?. The four principles are recurring
principle, the generative principle, the sign principle, and the inventory principle. The recurring
principle involves patterns and shapes in English writing that develop throughout writing
development. The generative principle incorporates the idea that a writer can create new
meanings by organizing units of writing and letters of the alphabet. The sign principle is
understanding that the word print also involves paper arrangement and word boundaries. And
lastly, the inventory principle is the fact that children have the urge to list and name items that
they are familiar with, and because of this they can practice their own writing skills.
More recent research has also explored writing development. Myhill concentrated on the
development of written language skills in adolescents aged 13 to 15. Myhill discovered that the
more mature writer was aware of the shaping of text, and used non-finite clauses, which mirrored
Perera's results (1984). Other researchers focused on writing development up until late
adolescence, as there has been a limited research in this area. Chrisite and Derewianke recognize
that the survey conducted by Perera (1984) is still one of the most significant research studies in
the writing development field and believe Perera's study is similar to theirs. Chrisite and
Derewianke (2010) again propose four phases of writing development. The researchers believe
that the process of writing development does not stop when an individual leaves formal
education, and again, the researchers highlight that these phases are flexible in their onset. The
first phase focuses on spoken language as the main aid for writing development, and the
development then takes its course reaching the fourth phase, which continues beyond formal
education.

ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES
The environment a child develops in has influences on language development. The environment
provides language input for the child to process. Speech by adults to children help provide the
child with correct language usage repetitively.Environmental influences on language
development are explored in the tradition of social interactionist theory by such researchers
as Jerome Bruner, Alison Gopnik, Andrew Meltzoff, Anat Ninio, Roy Pea, Catherine Snow,
Ernest Moerk and Michael Tomasello. Jerome Bruner who laid the foundations of this approach
in the 1970s, emphasized that adult "scaffolding" of the child's attempts to master linguistic
communication is an important factor in the developmental process.
One component of the young child's linguistic environment is child-directed speech (also known
as baby talk or motherese), which is language spoken in a higher pitch than normal with simple
words and sentences. Although the importance of its role in developing language has been
debated, many linguists think that it may aid in capturing the infant's attention and maintaining
communication.[45] When children begin to communicate with adults, this motherese speech
allows the child the ability to discern the patterns in language and to experiment with language.
Throughout existing research, it is concluded that children exposed to extensive vocabulary and
complex grammatical structures more quickly develop language and also have a more accurate
syntax than children raised in environments without complex grammar exposed to them.[46] With
motherese, the mother talks to the child and responds back to the child, whether it be a babble the
child made or a short sentence. While doing this, the adult prompts the child to continue
communicating, which may help a child develop language sooner than children raised in
environments where communication is not fostered.
Child-directed speech concentrates on small core vocabulary, here and now topics, exaggerated
facial expressions and gestures, frequent questioning, para-linguistic changes, and verbal
rituals. An infant is least likely to produce vocalizations when changed, fed, or rocked. The
infant is more likely to produce vocalizations in response to a nonverbal behavior such as
touching or smiling.
Child-directed speech also catches the child's attention, and in situations where words for new
objects are being expressed to the child, this form of speech may help the child recognize the
speech cues and the new information provided. Data shows that children raised in highly verbal
families had higher language scores than those children raised in low verbal families.
Continuously hearing complicated sentences throughout language development increases the
child's ability to understand these sentences and then to use complicated sentences as they
develop. Studies have shown that students enrolled in high language classrooms have two times
the growth in complex sentences usage than students in classrooms where teachers do not
frequently use complex sentences. Adults use strategies other than child-directed speech like
recasting, expanding, and labelling:
 Recasting is rephrasing something the child has said, perhaps turning it into a question or
restating the child's immature utterance in the form of a fully grammatical sentence. For
example, a child saying "cookie now" a parent may respond with "Would you like a cookie
now?"
 Expanding is restating, in a linguistically sophisticated form, what a child has said. For
example, a child may say "car move road" and the parent may respond "A car drives on the
road."
 Labeling is identifying the names of objects.If a child points to an object such as a couch
the mother may say "couch" in response. Labeling can also be characterized as referencing.
Some language development experts have characterized child directed speech in stages.
Primarily, the parents use repetition and also variation to maintain the infant's attention.
Secondly, the parent simplifies speech to help in language learning. Third, any speech
modifications maintain the responsiveness of the child. These modifications develop into a
conversation that provides context for the development.
Cultural and socioeconomic effects
While most children throughout the world develop language at similar rates and without
difficulty, cultural and socioeconomic differences have been shown to influence development.
An example of cultural differences in language development can be seen when comparing the
interactions of mothers in the United States with their infants with mothers in Japan.[50] Mothers
in the United States use more questions, are more information-oriented, and use more
grammatically correct utterances with their 3-month-olds.Mothers in Japan, on the other hand,
use more physical contact with their infants, and more emotion-oriented, nonsense, and
environmental sounds, as well as baby talk, with their infants. These differences in interaction
techniques reflect differences in "each society's assumptions about infants and adult-to-adult
cultural styles of talking."
Specifically in North American culture, maternal race, education, and socioeconomic class
influence parent-child interactions in the early linguistic environment. When speaking to their
infants, mothers from middle class "incorporate language goals more frequently in their play
with their infants," and in turn, their infants produce twice as many vocalizations as lower class
infants. Mothers from higher social classes who are better educated also tend to be more verbal,
and have more time to spend engaging with their infants in language. Additionally, lower class
Social preconditions
It is crucial that children are allowed to socially interact with other people who can vocalize and
respond to questions. For language acquisition to develop successfully, children must be in an
environment that allows them to communicate socially in that language. Children who have
learnt sound, meaning and grammatical system of language that can produce clear sentence may
still not have the ability to use language effectively in various social circumstance. Social
interaction is the footing stone of language.
There are a few different theories as to why and how children develop language. The most
popular—and yet heavily debated—explanation is that language is acquired through imitation.
This theory has been challenged by Lester Butler, who argues that children do not use the
grammar that an adult would use. Furthermore, "children's language is highly resistant to
alteration by adult intervention", meaning that children do not use the corrections given to them
by an adult.[53] The two most accepted theories in language development
are psychological and functional. Psychological explanations focus on the mental processes
involved in childhood language learning. Functional explanations look at the social processes
involved in learning the first language.

Different Aspects

 Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech sounds.
 Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through words.
 Grammar involves two parts.

 The first, syntax, is the rules in which words are arranged into sentences.
 The second, morphology, is the use of grammatical markers (indicating tense, active
or passive voice etc.).

 Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication. Pragmatics

involves three skills:
o using language for greeting, demanding etc.,
o changing language for talking differently depending on who it is you are talking
to;
o following rules such as turn taking, staying on topic.
Each component has its own appropriate developmental periods.
Phonological development
Babies can recognize their mother's voice from as early as few weeks old. It seems like they
have a unique system that is designed to recognize speech sound. Furthermore, they can
differentiate between certain speech sounds. A significant first milestone in phonetic
development is the babbling stage (around the age of six months). This is the baby's way of
practicing his control over that apparatus. Babbling is independent from the language. Deaf
children for instance, babble the same way as hearing ones. As the baby grows older, the
babbling increases in frequency and starts to sound more like words (around the age of
twelve months). Although every child is an individual with different pace of mastering
speech, there is a tendency to an order of which speech sounds are mastered:

 Vowels before consonants

 Stop sounds before any other consonant sounds (for example: 'p','t','b')
 Place of articulation – labials, alveolar, velars, alveopalatals, and interdentals in that order
by the age of 4. That means that there is some order to the development of the physical
system in young children.
Early phonetic processes
As the children's ability to produce sound develops, their ability to perceive the phonetic
contrast of their language develops. The better they get in mastering the sound, the more
sensitive they become to the changes in those sounds in their language once they get exposed
to it. They learn to isolate individual phenomes while speaking which also serves as the basis
of reading.
Some processes that occur in early age:

 Syllable deletion – stressed syllables are emphasis that may be given to certain syllables
in a word. They are more likely to be retained in children's pronunciation than unstressed
syllables (less emphasis on the sound) because they are more salient to children in an
early language acquisition process. So children may say helikat instead
of helicopter or fowe instead of telephone. That way, they don't pronounce the more
emphasized sound in the word.
 Syllable simplification – another process that happens in order to simplify syllable
structure, children delete certain sounds systematically. For example, children might say
'tap' instead of "stop" and completely drop the 's' sound in that word. That is a common
process in children's speech development.
 Substitution – systematic replacement of one sound by an alternative, easier one to
articulate (substitution process – stopping, fronting, gliding). It means that the young
toddler may use sounds that are easier to produce instead of the proper sound in a word.
We may see that the child replace the 'r' sound with 'l' or 'w', the 'n' with 'd' and so on.
 Assimilation – modification of segments of the word influenced by neighboring sounds,
due to ease of articulation. In order for the young speaker to produce sounds easier, he or
she may replace the sound in a specific word to a different one, which is somewhat
similar. For example, the word "pig" may sound as "big" – 'p' and 'b' are close in their
sound. (Lightbown, Spada, Ranta & Rand, 2006).
From shortly after birth to around one year, the baby starts to make speech sounds. At around
two months, the baby engages in cooing, which mostly consists of vowel sounds. At around
four to six months, cooing turns into babbling, which is the repetitive consonant-
vowel combinations. Babies understand more than they are able to say. In this 0–8
months range, the child is engaged in vocal play of vegetative sounds, laughing, and cooing.
Once the child hits the 8–12 month, range the child engages in canonical babbling, i.e. dada
as well as variegated babbling. This jargon babbling with intonational contours the language
being learned.
From 12–24 months, babies can recognize the correct pronunciation of familiar words.
Babies also use phonological strategies to simplify word pronunciation. Some strategies
include repeating the first consonant-vowel in a multisyllable word ('TV' → 'didi') or
deleting unstressed syllables in a multisyllable word ('banana' → 'nana'). Within this first
year, two word utterances and two syllable words emerge. This period is often called
the holophrastic stage of development, because one word conveys as much meaning as an
entire phrase. For instance, the simple word "milk" can imply that the child is requesting
milk, noting spilled milk, sees a cat drinking milk, etc. One study found that children at this
age were capable of comprehending 2-word sentences, producing 2–3 word sentences, and
naming basic colors.
By 24–30 months awareness of rhyme emerges as well as rising intonation. One study
concludes that children between the ages of 24–30 months typically can produce 3–4 word
sentence, create a story when prompted by pictures, and at least 50% of their speech is
intelligible.
By 36–60 months, phonological awareness continues to improve as well as pronunciation.
At this age, children have a considerable experience with language and are able to form
simple sentences that are 3 words in length.[56] They use basic prepositions, pronouns, and
plurals. They become immensely creative in their language use and learn to categorize items
such as recognizing that a shoe is not a fruit. At this age, children also learn to ask questions
and negate sentences to develop these questions. Over time, their syntax gets more and more
unique and complex. A study reveals that at this age, a child's speech should be at least 75%
intelligible.
By 6–10 years, children can master syllable stress patterns, which helps distinguish slight
differences between similar words.
Semantic development
The average child masters about fifty words by the age of eighteen months. These might
include words such as, milk, water, juice and apple (noun-like words). Afterwards they
acquire 12 to 16 words a day. By the age of six, they master about 13 to 14 thousand words.
The most frequent words include adjective-like expressions for displeasure and rejection
such as 'no'. They also include social interaction words, such as "please" and "bye".
There are three stages for learning the meaning of new words:

1. Whole object assumption:

A new word refers to a whole object. For example, when an eighteen-months old
child sees a sheep and his mother points at it and says the word 'sheep', the child
infers that the word 'sheep' describes the whole animal and not parts of it (such as
color, shape, etc.).
2. Type assumption:
A new word refers to a type of thing, not just to a particular thing. For example,
when the child hears the word 'sheep' he infers that it is used for the animal type and
not only for that particular sheep that he saw.
3. Basic level assumption:
A new word refers to objects that are alike in basic ways (appearance, behavior,
etc.).
In other words, when the child hears the word "sheep" he overgeneralizes it to other animals
that look like sheep by the external appearance, such as white, wooly and four-legged
animal.
Contextual clues are a major factor in the child's vocabulary development.
The child uses contextual clues to draw inferences about the category and meaning of new
words. By doing so, the child distinguishes between names and ordinary nouns.
For example, when an object is presented to the child with the determiner "a" (a cat, a dog, a
bottle) he perceives it as an ordinary noun.
However, when the child hears a noun without the determiner, he perceives it as a name, for
instance "this is Mary".
Children usually make correct meaning associations with the words that the adults say.
However, sometimes they make semantic errors.
There are a few types of semantic errors:
Overextension: When a child says or hears a word, they might associate what they see or
hear as more generalized concept than the real meaning of the word. For example, if they say
"cat", they might overextend it to other animals with same features.
Underextension: It involves the use of lexical items in an overly restrictive fashion. In other
words, the child focuses on core members of a certain category. For example: 'cat' may only
refer to the family cat and no other cat, or 'dog' may refer to certain kinds of dogs that the
child is exposed to.
Verb meaning: when a pre-school child hears the verb 'fill', he understands it as the action
'pour' rather than the result, which is 'make full'.
Dimensional terms: the first dimensional adjectives acquired are big and small because they
belong to the size category. The size category is the most general one. Later children acquire
the single dimension adjectives, such as, tall-short, long-short, high-low. Eventually they
acquire the adjectives that describe the secondary dimension, such as thick-thin, wide-narrow
and deep-shallow.
From birth to one year, comprehension (the language we understand) develops before
production (the language we use). There is about a 5-month lag in between the two. Babies
have an innate preference to listen to their mother's voice. Babies can recognize familiar
words and use preverbal gestures.
Within the first 12–18 months semantic roles are expressed in one word speech including
agent, object, location, possession, nonexistence and denial. Words are understood outside of
routine games but the child still needs contextual support for lexical comprehension.
18–24 months Prevalent relations are expressed such as agent-action, agent-object, action-
location.  Also, there is a vocabulary spurt between 18–24 months, which includes fast
mapping. Fast mapping is the babies' ability to learn a lot of new things quickly. The
majority of the babies' new vocabulary consists of object words (nouns) and action words
(verbs).
30–36 months The child is able to use and understand why question and basic spatial terms
such as in, on or under.
36–42 months There is an understanding of basic color words and kinship terms. Also, the
child has an understanding of the semantic relationship between adjacent and conjoined
sentences, including casual and contrastive.
42–48 months When and how questions are comprehended as well as basic shape words
such as circle, square and triangle.
48–60 months Knowledge of letter names and sounds emerges, as well as numbers.
 By 3–5 years, children usually have difficulty using words correctly. Children experience
many problems such as underextensions, taking a general word and applying it specifically
(for example, 'cartoons' specifically for 'Mickey Mouse') and overextensions, taking a
specific word and applying it too generally (example, 'ant' for any insect). However, children
coin words to fill in for words not yet learned (for example, someone is a cooker rather than
a chef because a child may not know what a chef is). Children can also understand
metaphors.
From 6–10 years, children can understand meanings of words based on their definitions. They
also are able to appreciate the multiple meanings of words and use words precisely through
metaphors and puns. Fast mapping continues. Within these years, children are now able to
acquire new information from written texts and can explain relationships between multiple
meaning words. Common idioms are also understood.Infants may receive more language input
from their siblings and peers than from their mother

Syntactic development
The development of syntactic structures follows a particular pattern and reveals much on the
nature of language acquisition, which has several stages. According to O'Grady and Cho (2011),
the first stage, occurring between the ages of 12–18 months, is called "one-word stage." In this
stage, children cannot form syntactic sentences and therefore use one-word utterances called
"holophrases" that express an entire sentence. In addition, children's comprehension is more
advanced than their production abilities. For example, a child who wants candy may say "candy"
instead of expressing a full sentence.
The following stage is the "two-word stage" in which children begin to produce "mini-sentences"
that are composed of two words, such as "doggy bark" and "Ken water" (O'Grady & Cho, 2011,
p. 346). At this stage, it is unclear whether children have an understanding of underlying rules of
the language such as syntactic categories, since their "mini-sentences" often lack distinction
between the categories. However, children do exhibit sensitivity to sentence structures and they
frequently use appropriate word order.
After several months of speech that is restricted to short utterances, children enter the
"telegraphic stage" and begin to produce longer and more complex grammatical structures
(O'Grady & Cho, 2011, p. 347). This stage is characterized by production of complex structures
as children begin to form phrases consisting of a subject and a complement in addition to use of
modifiers and composition of full sentences. Children use mostly content words and their
sentences lack function words. For example, a child may say "fill cup water," instead of saying,
"Fill my cup with water." Subsequently, language acquisition continues to develop rapidly and
children begin to acquire complex grammar that shows understanding of intricate linguistic
features, such as the ability to switch the position of words in sentences.
Throughout the process of syntactic development, children acquire and develop question
structures. According to O'Grady and Cho (2011), at the early stages of language acquisition,
children ask yes-no questions by rising intonation alone as they develop awareness to auxiliary
verbs only at a later stage. When auxiliary verbs make their appearance, it takes children a few
months before they are able to use inversion in yes-no questions. The development of WH-
questions occurs between the ages of two and four, when children acquire auxiliary verbs that
then leads to the ability to use inversion in questions. However, some children find inversion
easier in yes-no questions than in WH- questions, since the position of the WH- word and the
auxiliary verb both must changed (e.g., "You are going where?" instead of "Where are you
going?").
Morphological development
Morphological structures development occurs over a period of several years. Before language is
acquired, children lack any use of morphological structures.
The morphological structures that children acquire during their childhood, and even up to the
early school years, are: determiners (a, the), -ing inflection, plural –s, auxiliary be, possessive –s,
third person singular –s, past tense –ed).
When children start using them they tend to overgeneralize the rules and project them upon all
the words in the language, including irregulars. For example: if a child knows the –ed (past
tense) there is a possibility that they'll say "I eated"( Man-mans cat-cats). These errors result
from overgeneralization of rules.
This overgeneralization is very noticeable, in fact, children do that in less than 25 percent of the
time at any point before reducing that percentage. Then they improve their mastery, which can
be tested in various ways, such as the "wug test" (Berko, 1958).
Children often figure out quickly frequent irregular verbs, such as go and buy rather than less
common ones, such as win. This suggests that children must hear the word several hundred times
before they are able to use it correctly.
This development of bound morphemes is similar in order among children, for example: -ing is
acquired before the article the. The interesting part though is that parents tend to use a different
order while speaking to their kids, for example, parents use the article 'the' more frequently than
-ing. Meaning, other factors determine the order of acquisition, such as:

1. Morphemes that come at the end of an utterance are remembered better.

2. Children seem to remember morphemes such as –ing better because they contain their
own syllables rather than single consonant morpheme, such as plural –s.
3. Affixes with more than one meaning are more difficult to acquire, e.g., –s functions both
as plural noun and singular third.
As it comes to word formation processes such as derivation and compounding, the earliest
derivational suffixes to show up in children's speech are those they hear adults use most
frequently. (-er as the *'doer' of the action such as walker.) When it comes to compounds,
children first make up names for agents and instruments that they don't know by a pattern (N-N),
though some of them do not follow the pattern (*cutter grass for grass cutter). Then, they might
have the right structure but the words are inappropriate since English already has words with the
intended meaning such as car-smoke = exhaust. This process points to a preference for building
words from other words, thus place less demand on memory than learning an entirely new word
for each concept.
Grammatical development
Grammar describes the way sentences of a language are constructed, which includes
both syntax and morphology.
Syntactic development and morphological development
Syntactic development involves the ways that various morphemes are ordered or combined in
sentences. Morphemes, which are basic units of meaning in language, get added as children learn
to produce simple sentences and become more precise speakers. Morphemes can be whole words
(like "happy") or parts of words that change meaning of words ("un"happy). Brown proposed a
stage model that describes the various types of morphological structures that are developed in
English and the age range within which they are normally acquired.
Stage I: From 15–30 months, children start using telegraphic speech, which are two word
combinations, for example 'wet diaper'. Brown (1973) observed that 75% of children's two-word
utterances could be summarized in the existence of 11 semantic relations:

 Attributive: 'Big house'

 Agent-action: 'Daddy hit'
 Action-object: 'Hit ball'
 Agent-object: 'Daddy ball'
 Nominative: 'That ball'
 Demonstrative: 'There ball'
 Recurrence: 'More ball'
 Non-existence: 'All-gone ball'
 Possessive: 'Daddy chair'
 Entity + Locative: 'book table'
 Action + Locative: 'go store'
Stage II: At around 28–36 months, children begin to engage in the production of simple
sentences, usually 3 word sentences. These simple sentences follow syntactic rules and are
refined gradually as development continues. The morphological developments seen in this age
range include use of present progressive (-ing endings), the prepositions "in" and "on", and
regular plurals (-s endings).
Stage III: Around 36–42 months, children continue to add morphemes and gradually produce
complex grammatical structures. The morphemes that are added at this age include irregular past
tense, possessive ('s), and use of the verb 'to be' (It is, I am, etc.)
Stage IV:Around 40–46 months children continue to add to their morphological knowledge.
This range is associated with use of articles (a or the), regular past tense (-ed endings), and
regular third person speech (He likes it).
Stage V: Around 42-52+ months children refine the complex grammatical structures and
increase their use of morphemes to convey more complex ideas. Children in this stage use
irregular third-person speech, the verb 'to be' as an auxiliary verb (She was not laughing), and in
its contraction forms (It's, She's, etc.).
Pragmatics development
From birth to one year, babies can engage in joint attention (sharing the attention of something
with someone else). Infants also can engage in turn taking activities on the basis of their
sensitivity to reactive contingency, which can elicit social responses in the babies from very
early on.
By 1–2 years, they can engage in conversational turn taking and topic maintenance
Effect of bilingualism
There is a large debate regarding whether or not bilingualism is truly beneficial to children.
Parents of children often view learning a second language throughout elementary and high
school education beneficial to the child.  Another perspective dictates that the second language
just confuses the child and prevents them from mastering their primary language. Studies have
shown that American bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility, better perceptual skills
and tend to be divergent thinkers than monolingual children between the ages of five to
ten. Better executive functioning skills are likely because bilingual children have to choose one
language to speak while actively suppressing the other. This builds stronger selective attention
and cognitive flexibility because these skills are being exercised more. In addition, bilingual
children have a better understanding of universal language concepts, such as grammar, because
these concepts are applied in multiple languages. However, studies comparing Swedish-Finnish
bilingual children and Swedish monolingual children between the ages of five to seven have also
shown that the bilingual children have a smaller vocabulary than monolingual children. In
another study throughout America, elementary school English-monolingual children performed
better in mathematics and reading activities than their non-English-dominant bilingual and non-
English monolingual peers from kindergarten to grade five. Learning two languages
simultaneously can be beneficial or a hindrance to a child's language and intellectual
development. Further research is necessary to continue to shed light on this debate.
In addition to the study of bilingualism in children, similar research is being conducted in adults.
Research findings show that although bilingual benefits are muted in middle adulthood, they are
more profound in older age when those who develop dementia experience onset about 4.5 years
later in bilingual subjects. The increased attentional control, inhibition, and conflict resolution
developed from bilingualism may be accountable for the later onset of dementia.
Misdiagnoses as a language impairment
There is some research that demonstrates that bilingualism may often be misdiagnosed as a
language impairment. A subtopic of bilingualism in the literature is nonstandard varieties of
English. While bilingualism and nonstandard varieties of English cannot be considered a true
language impairment, they are misrepresented in the population of those receiving language
interventions.

Language disorders
Foreign language aptitude theory: Yesterday, today and tomorrow Foreign language (FL)

aptitude generally refers to a specific talent for learning a foreign or second language (L2). After

experiencing a long period of marginalized interest, FL aptitude research in recent years has

witnessed renewed enthusiasm across the disciplines of educational psychology, second

language acquisition (SLA) and cognitive neuroscience. This paper sets out to offer a historical

and an updated account of this recent progress in FL aptitude theory development and research.

As its subtitle indicates, the paper centres on three major issues: following the introduction and

clarification of basic concepts, Section 1 traces the early conceptions of FL aptitude dominated

by John Carroll's pioneering work. Section 2 summarizes and examines more recent theoretical

perspectives and FL aptitude models proposed by researchers from multiple disciplines that have

significantly broadened the conventional research traditions associated with Carroll's original

conception. Based on the research synthesis of current FL aptitude models, Section 3 suggests

the directions FL aptitude theory and research might take in coming years. We conclude that a

working memory perspective on FL aptitude presents one promising avenue for advance, as does

the development of new aptitude tests to predict speed of automatization, implicit learning and

greater control over an emerging language system. In addition, it is argued that issues of domain-

specificity versus domain-generality for aptitude tests may lead to aptitude theory and research

becoming more central in applied linguistics.The Effects of Age on the Rate of Learning a

Second LanguageThe present study evaluates the role of age on the rate of acquiring English as

a second language in an immersion setting. Subjects were children with native languages

typologically very different from English. The children arrived in the United States between the

ages of 7 and 12 years and were tested on their knowledge of English grammatical morphology

and syntax at different lengths of stay in the United States, ranging from 6 months to 3 years.

Subjects' performance was predicted by the length of their stay in the United States and by

gender, with females outperforming males. Age of arrival played no role in predicting subjects'

rate of acquisition. Performance was very similar between two age groups examined (7–9– and

10–12-year-old arrivals) throughout the 3 years measured. The present results suggest that, on
certain aspects of grammar, different-aged children acquire a second language during the first 3

years of acquisition at similar rates when their native language is very different in typology from

the target language. There are many differences among second language learners. In first

language acquisition by children, individual differences (e.g. across genders or the language

being learned) are largely overshadowed by striking similarities in terms of natural stages and

ultimate attainment. However,second language acquisition, individual differences have more of

an impact on the second language learning process, and their role has thus received considerable

attention in recent years. Learners' beliefs and affective factors are likely to have a direct effect

on second language learning, but they themselves may be influenced by a number of general

factors relating to learners' ability and desire to learn and the way they choose to go about

learning. One of those important areas of difference among second language learners is age. We

now turn to a discussion of four main effects of age on second language acquisition.

The Skill Theory Principle

Skills Theory

What Is The Skills Theory of Leadership?

The skills theory grew from the obvious flaw in the trait approach; traits are relatively fixed. This
meant that trait theory was not particularly useful for developing new leaders who laced those
traits. Skills theorists sought to discover the skills and abilities that made leaders effective.
Similar to trait theory, skills theories are leader-centric, and focused on what characteristics
about leaders make them effective. The two primary theories to develop from a skills approach
were Katz’s three-skill approach and Mumford’s skills model of leadership.

The three-skill approach argued that effective leadership required three skills: technical, human,
and conceptual skills. Technical skill refers to proficiency in a specific activity or type of work.
Human skill refers to being able to work with people and conceptual skill refers to the ability to
work with broad concepts and ideas. The three-skill approach asserted that, while all skills were
important for leaders, their level of importance varies depending on the organizational level of
leaders. As leaders move through the levels of the organization (from lower to upper), skill
importance moves from technical to human to conceptual.

More complex than the three-skill approach, the skills model of leadership outlined five
components of effective leadership: competencies, individual attributes, leadership outcomes,
career experiences, and environmental influences. Effective leadership is dependent on how
leader competencies are affected by the leader’s attributes, experiences, and the environment.

Perhaps the most useful strength of skill theory is that it places effective leadership performance
on learned (and learnable) skills rather than on traits. In this way, leadership is available to
anyone. While it is not a trait approach outright, certain innate abilities (motivation
and cognitive ability, for example) are still included in the model. Skills theories are also weak in
their predictive ability, failing to explain how a person’s competencies lead to effective
leadership. Finally, the majority of data used to construct the skills model was taken from the
military, meaning its applicability to general organizations is questionable.

7 Language Learning Theories by the Masters of Thought

Language is a construct humans work in every day to express a wide range of emotions, ideas,
concepts, and actions. Yet it still seems to be incredibly difficult to learn a second language. It
seems odd because we didn’t really have to work to learn the one we know now.

This is a common thought, and it is entirely wrong.

You worked incredibly hard to learn what the people around you were saying. It didn’t happen
overnight, so you should not expect learning another language to be any easier. In fact, if it takes
you less than a few years to be comfortable using a new language, it was easier than learning
your first language. Remember, you are still studying your first language in high school, so you
aren’t quite as adept at it as you may think you are.

To learn your next language faster, you are probably looking for the right language theory. IT
can help you move faster through the learning process. However, it is not the only thing you
need, in fact its effect will largely be at the start. Still, knowing it will give you a boost that most
people lack.

There is no one better to talk about language theory than the men known for thinking in terms of
theory. They break down the thinking process in a way that helps you to understand how and
why you think in a certain way.

In the end, this will help you keep your thought process where it needs to be to get the most out
of the language learning experiences.

Plato – One of the Biggest Names in Western Philosophy

While he is best known for philosophy, Plato did a good bit of thinking about language. This
shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the fact that the use of language was how he got his
point across about philosophy.

Plato believed that knowledge was something that humans simply had; it was innate. His idea is
called Plato’s Problem, in which he asked how humans were able to accomplish so much with so
little time given to them. Language was an innate human element, and that is why most humans
are able to start talking well before they are ten years old.

When you consider that language is part of your thinking process, it will be a lot less
intimidating to simply learn another way to think the thoughts you already have.

Descartes and Cartesian Linguistics

Descartes subscribed to Plato’s idea that language is simply something people do naturally.
Descartes’ belief was based on the fact that he believed humans to be largely rational creatures,
and language was required to interact.

The Cartesian movement that started based on his beliefs reflected on the fact that language was
used creatively. Yet there are still many similarities even between the least similar languages.

This is heartening because it means that you just need to find the similarities between English
and your target language to start understanding how the language works.
Locke and Tabula Rasa
You have probably heard of the blank slate concept put forth by Locke. It shows that he did not
subscribe to the idea that anything was innately known. Everyone began with a blank slate that
they had to fill, and that includes language. Everything is learned from our senses.

This can be comforting if for no other reason than because you probably feel that is where you
are right now with your target language.

These three philosophers largely discussed language in passing, not postulating many specifics.
The next four theories are much more language specific.

Skinner and the Theory of Behaviourism

Skinner agreed with Locke and he spent a lot of time developing the Theory of Behaviourism
from it. His theory says that all behaviour is in response to the stimuli around us. He applied this
to language learning through operant conditioning, which used reinforcement and punishment to
teach.

One of the most common examples of this is parents who refuse to acknowledge a child’s
request until the child says “please.” The reward is getting what was requested, and the idea of
saying “please” is reinforced through that reward.

Theory of Behaviourism says we need feedback to be successful, even in learning a language.

Chomsky and Universal Grammar

Noam Chomsky was developing his own ideas while Skinner was working on his Theory of
Behaviourism. Chomsky developed the theory of Universal Grammar. It was pretty much the
antithesis of Skinner’s theory. Chomsky believed in at least some innate ability in humans for
language. His proof was the fact that there are some universal elements in all languages.

While it definitely goes farther to explain learning a first language than Skinner’s theory, it really
doesn’t apply to learning a second language. It simply reinforces that there are similar elements,
but does nothing to help identify how to learn everything that is completely dissimilar.
Schumann and the Acculturation Model
John Schumann looked specifically at how immigrants learn a new language once they relocate.
His theory is called the Acculturation Model and addresses language in much more detail than
the other theories.

Instead of thinking of language learning in terms of learning for pleasure, he examined it when it
was a necessity. Immigrants learned a new language with much more pressure from social and
psychological areas. It usually meant either success or failure. Krashen and the Monitor Model
Stephen Krashen compiled several theories about language, theories which today are the most
often used to describe learning a second language. The following are the primary ideas to take
away from his theories.

 Acquiring a language is largely subconscious because it stems from natural and informal

conversations.

 Learning a language is very much conscious effort and relies heavily on correction,

which is more formal.

 Grammar is largely learned in a predictable series and order.

 Acquiring a language occurs when it is provided through comprehensible input, such as

talking or reading.

 A monitor can be anyone or anything that corrects your language errors and to pressure

you to improve.
The primary take away from the theory is that acquiring and learning a language are different,
but they can have similar elements. Error correction is essential for both acquisition and learning.

While none of these theories may do much to help you actually learn a language, it can make you
feel better to know that even the knowledge of learning a language is up for debate. You may
feel one or two of them more closely works for the way you think, and that can help you better
understand how to use that theory to your advantage.

Rule Governed Behavior : Deductive Procedure any behavior that is influenced by verbal
antecedents, such as following instructions (as when children clean their rooms because they are
told to do so) or reacting to one’s own private thinking (as when an adult begins an exercise
program after thinking “I need to lose weight”). The term does not refer to behavior that can be
described by a rule. For example, rats’ behavior that adopts a win–stay, lose–shift
strategy cannot be described as rule-governed. Also called verbally governed behavior.
Compare contingency-governed behavior.

In the case of rule-governed behavior, it is dictated by the stated/written consequences (i.e., the
“rule”), not necessarily by consequences that one may have experienced personally.  You an tell
when a behavior is the result of a rule when there has never been any punishment or
reinforcement for the behavior, including automatic reinforcement, but there is a rule in effect. 
Rule-governed behavior can also be characterized by one instance of reinforcement causing a
large increase in the frequency of the behavior, behavior changing without reinforcement,
consequences not being immediate, or no immediate consequence is apparent.

Someone learning a language by reading grammar books and memorizing the dictionary (rule-
governed) will have a different experience of the language than someone who has learned it from
the verbal community (contingency-shaped).

Rule-governed behavior is generally considered an integral component of complex verbal

repertoires but has rarely been the subject of empirical research. In particular, little or no
previous research has attempted to establish rule-governed behavior in individuals who do not
already display the repertoire. This study consists of two experiments that evaluated multiple
exemplar training procedures for teaching a simple component skill, which may be necessary for
developing a repertoire of rule-governed behavior. In both experiments, children with autism
were taught to respond to simple rules that specified antecedents and the behaviors that should
occur in their presence. In the first study, participants were taught to respond to rules containing
“if/then” statements, where the antecedent was specified before the behavior. The second
experiment was a replication and extension of the first. It involved a variation on the manner in
which rules were presented. Both experiments eventually demonstrated generalization to novel
rules for all participants; however variations to the standard procedure were required for several
participants. Results suggest that rule-following can be analyzed and taught as generalized
operant behavior and implications for future research are discussed.
Keywords: rule-governed behavior, rule-following, instructional control, conditionality, autism,
relational frame theory
Socio- Linguistic Communicative Competence
A LIMITED VIEW
A traditional approach to sociolinguistic competence is to use and teach language that is
appropriate based on the expectations and norms of the inner circle countries, namely Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the USA. This approach is problematic for two reasons.
Firstly, expectations and norms can differ significantly within an inner circle country. Secondly,
this approach neglects the role of English in international communications (Alptekin, 2002).

Although there are attempts to introduce language learners to a variety of norms and cultures,
teachers and textbook designers often rely on stereotypes.

A HOLISTIC VIEW
Sociolinguistic competence refers to the ability to use language that is appropriate to social
contexts. Alptekin (2002, p. 58) explains that social context refers to culture-specific contexts
that include the norms, values, beliefs, and behavioural patterns of a culture. For example,
thanking a friend in a formal speech is different from how it is done over a meal.

Sociolinguistic competence also refers to the ability to select topics that are appropriate for a
communicative event. For example, expressing strong views about politics and religion over
dinner is generally avoided. This rule is also moderated depending on the relationship between
the guest and the host. If politics and religion are their favourite topics and if they know each
other very well, these topics might well be appropriate.

THEORY AND PRACTICE

Instructional materials should reflect how English is used in both international and local
contexts. Situations that reflect international communication should be those that learners are
likely to encounter, which include asking for directions during an overseas holiday and
introducing oneself at a university exchange programme. A local context example would be
giving directions to tourists.

It is important for learners to think critically about the notion of politeness (Celce-Murcia, 2007,
p. 46). As politeness differs across culture and social contexts, it is important to give others the
benefit of the doubt. For example, if a person asks you your age, it is worth considering that such
a question might be acceptable or even desirable in his or her culture.

Another useful strategy is to help learners become analysts themselves. For example, teachers
can play a video clip of a dinner conversation and have learners compare the interaction, such as
choice of topic and turn taking, with what they are familiar with. Such a clip should be used as a
prompt to promote critical reflection rather than as a stereotype of a particular culture.
Social Function of Language In cognitive and psychological theories, we often treat Language
(note the use of the capital letter L to distinguish universal, internal grammar from particular
instances of language) as a specialised mental faculty with a potential of generating infinite
utterances from finite means or as an elegant system that can help communicate unstructured
ideas and thoughts in a neat, structured way. However, a complete theory of Language will be
one that incorporates the social dimension of language use. We cannot look at Language as a
completely self-contained system (Malinowski). There are things external to Language, such as
society, which have a major role to play in structuring and shaping a language. In fact, it is
difficult to study language and communication in isolation. The area of linguistics that deals with
social functions of language governed by different social factors is known as Sociolinguistics.
Social factors often provide context of language use, which are dealt separately in another area of
linguistics known as Pragmatics. The social functions of language take into account social
factors like gender, social status, age, education, geographical background, ethnicity, etc. of the
language user. For example, there are studies that show the presence of marked differences in the
speech style of men and women. The speakers of a language take into consideration all these
social factors while communicating with other speakers. Hence, while expressing ideas, a man
will use different language strategies with a senior or boss (strictly formal), with a colleague
(comparatively less formal) friend or sibling (informal) and with his wife (intimate). Social
dimension of language is necessary for effective interaction with other language speakers.

What Is EFL and How Does It Differ from ESL?

What is EFL?

English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) require two
different strategies for teaching for a number of reasons. Most people don’t know the difference
between the two and don’t consider the difference when they set out to teach English. It’s
important to know what each one is so that the diffe ESL and EFL have slight but important
differences
EFL is where the teacher teaches English to students in a country where English isn’t the native
language. For example, a Chinese student learning English in China would fall under this
category.

different needs of the students can be met. So… what is EFL?

On the other hand, ESL is where English is taught to students in a country where English is the
primary language. An example of this is where a Chinese student is learning English in
Australia. The difference between ESL and EFL might seem slight at first, but they do require
very different teaching strategies to meet the aims and objectives of the students.

Differing Strategies
For starters, an ESL classroom is far more likely to have students from many different countries,
all with different native languages, whereas an EFL classroom isn’t. In this instance, the teacher
needs to be prepared for different cultures and different linguistic mistakes along the way.

A student from Korea, for example, is going to have different pronunciation mistakes from a
student that comes from France. On top of this, when students learn a foreign language, they
transfer (translate) from their mother tongue to the target language. In this instance, they will
have different grammatical mistakes when learning, and the differing mistakes need to be
accounted for in the teaching strategy

On the other hand, a classroom of EFL students will usually all be from the same country. They
will have the same culture and make similar mistakes in the target language. Therefore, these
mistakes can be rectified by the teacher as a whole rather than individually with the ESL learner.

Moreover, ESL students will also have a different reason for learning English. If they are living
in an English speaking country, they will definitely have a communicative need for learning
English very quickly so that they can go about their everyday lives with ease. An EFL student is
far more likely to be learning the language for academic purposes and the emphasis of teaching
will be different.

Students are usually more receptive to learning reading and writing and less concerned with
speaking and listening, unless they work in an industry where they will communicate with other
English speakers. Therefore, the teacher will be required change his or her teaching strategy
depending on the needs of the students.

As can been seen above, it’s important that a teacher knows the difference between ESL and
EFL in order to change their strategy to better suit the needs of the students. The students and
their needs should always be the highest consideration when determining the best teaching
strategy to employ in the classroom.