UNITS 1, 2 AND 3 - FINAL EVALUATION

Developed by:

LUIS FERNANDO MARQUEZ RINCON

TUTOR:
Mónica Del Rosario Guillen

UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL ABIERTA Y A DISTANCIA

BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING
2017
 INTRODUCTION

It is evident that of all forms of human communication the most important is language. It is
an element so intimately linked to our experience that we are hardly aware of it. We are
immersed in language. The language as many linguists have described it is a code based on
a convention established and shared by members of the same social group.
In this sense, it can be considered as a system that is composed of representative substitutes
that contain a conventional meaning. This conventional character guarantees denotation,
which in reality is the representative aspect of language. However, the language is
impregnated with connotations resulting from the interaction between the speaking
members. In the interaction that has Place through language, symbolic system, there is a
communication of cultural meanings that are the cumulative product of collective and
individual thinking.
Studies on language acquisition have developed remarkably in the last 25 years. This
development has almost always shared the avatars of linguistics, so that its advances and
setbacks have been directly related to the linguistic models that in one way or another were
predominant in the consciousness of the researchers. This is not surprising because
evolutionary psycholinguistics aims to study the process of appearance and development of
language which implies owning a model (which can only provide linguistics) about what
appears and what develops.
Theories about first language learning based on repetition were not satisfactory, lacking
explanatory power for many of the phenomena observed in language development. Thus,
for example, the fact that children spontaneously produce regular but non-existent forms in
the language (and therefore absent from adult productions) such as [I know] (for I know) or
[I have] (As I have put it) contradicts the idea that they could do it as a repetition of what
they have heard. Rather it suggests the existence of a kind of innate grammatical capacity.
The same phenomenon is observed in the learning of second languages by adults.
The main concepts related to language acquisition and learning: When we speak of
language, we refer to the capacity of the human being to express his or her thinking and to
communicate. Communication occurs in many animal species, through different forms or
systems.
But they are very limited systems that allow them to communicate in a very basic way. In
man, however, we find the ability to communicate through different systems (gesture,
writing ...) and, especially, through vocal signs (oral language), a system that allows him to
communicate in a way more free. It is, without a doubt, the most complex system.
Human language can have different functions, among which we highlight communication,
understood as the exchange of information. Another important function is the
representative, which differentiates human language from that of animals. These two
functions are fundamental to understand the evolution of the process of language
acquisition in the child. The use of the representative function in itself, does not imply a
communicative process, but is necessary for it to occur. It is, in fact, one of the first used in
a child when it begins to use the sign language. There are even those who make reference to
the distinction between these functions to determine the first sign.
The definition of “language acquisition device” and its relation with first language
learning: his expression (in English Language Acquisition Device or LAD, abbreviated in
English like DAL), refers to the human capacity to acquire the language, common to all the
individuals and of innate character. Through this device the speaker accesses the
knowledge and use of the language thanks to a universal grammar that develops in his
mind. Theories about first language learning based on repetition were not satisfactory,
lacking explanatory power for many of the phenomena observed in language development.
Thus, for example, the fact that children spontaneously produce regular but non-existent
forms in the language (and therefore absent from adult productions) such as [I know] (for I
know) or [I have] (As I have put it) contradicts the idea that they could do it as a repetition
of what they have heard. Rather it suggests the existence of a kind of innate grammatical
capacity. The same phenomenon is observed in the learning of second languages by adults.

As an explanation of this fact, N. Chomsky formulates the concept of LAD in his theory of
generativism, or generative-transformational grammar. This author conceives the human
mind as a set of faculties or capacities independent of each other. The linguistic principles
contained in universal grammar do not operate in other areas of the mind, and the
acquisition of language differs from that of other skills such as logical thinking or
mathematical operations. Some studies have pointed out that the distinction that Chomsky's
theory establishes between universal grammar and the device of language acquisition is not
clear, to the point that, at times, both concepts come to be identified.
Currently the existence of the DAL is widely accepted, but the studies differ in their
characterization and in their function in relation to the learning of second languages.
Chomsky states that at the age of five years children dominate much of the rules of their
language, in which they achieve a high level of competence by inducing corresponding
grammatical rules from the data provided by the linguistic performance of The people
around them. Children are able to identify the "deep structure" of their language from the
"surface structures" to which they have access.
The impact of Krashen’s hypotheses in the process of language teaching and learning: S.
Krashen, who argues that learning does not lead to acquisition, articulates its
aforementioned theory around the formulation of five hypotheses: the hypothesis of the
distinction between acquisition and learning, the hypothesis of the monitor, the hypothesis
of the natural order, The comprehensible input hypothesis and the affective filter
hypothesis.
The difference between approach and method for language teaching: Along the history of
language teaching we will highlight the following methods: Method grammar
translation, direct method, Berlitz method, linguistic audio method, situational method,
audiovisual method, communicative approach, notional functional method, physical
response method, silence method, suggestopedy, neurolinguistics programming and the
method of multiple intelligences.

The relevance of including activities that promote learning styles to the process of
language learning:
In recent years we have seen that the use of learning strategies has acquired great
importance in the teaching and learning of languages. The importance of using strategies in
the classroom to achieve not only more effective learning, but greater learner autonomy.
That is why as teachers we have to know how to make an effective use of them, innovating
and taking them to the classroom.
When an IT teacher designs a didactic unit, with the aim of guaranteeing a greater didactic
profitability of the activities, it is considered opportune to include certain methods and
learning strategies to acquire information, interpret it, analyze it, organize it and
communicate it in a coherent and systematized way . By means of this type of activities it is
tried to achieve a greater autonomy in the learnings of the students.

In conclusion to all this, the development and acquisition of language involves multiple
factors that determine the degree of maturity of the linguistic and communicative
competences of individuals, where it is important to determine that individual factors such
as age, motivation, intelligence, Attention and memory are basic factors in developing
language, but at the same time social-psycho-social factors must be integrated, that is,
responsible adults must help the child in his or her linguistic development process because
that process will be delayed if they do not Stimulate Knowing clearly, that language as a
learning process, is perpetual and perennial, in the individual where it is modified in
interaction with the environment in which it unfolds.
REFERENCES:
http://cvc.cervantes.es/ensenanza/biblioteca_ele/diccio_ele/diccionario/adquisicion.htm