c.

First Language Acquisition (FLA)

3.1. Definition of FLA

‘First Language Acquisition’ or also known as the ‘Child Language Acquisition’ is a

process whereby children from infancy through early school years acquire their first
languages (Lightbown & Spada, 2006). The term ‘First Language Acquisition’ or ‘FLA’
can be referred to the field that investigates the process by which children develop to use
words and sentences in their first language, to communicate with other people
(Dictionary of Sociolinguistics, 2004).

2. Theories of FLA

a. Behaviorist

Behaviorist Theory can be traced back to J.B. Watson’s (1924) habit formation
hypothesis. The association of a particular response with a particular stimulus constitutes
a habit. Hence, a habit is formed when a particular response becomes regularly linked
with a particular stimulus. Skinner (1957), following Watson, set out to investigate how
these habits were formed. Later Behaviorist Theory of language acquisition was fully
developed and propounded by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior (1957).

The behaviorist psychologists developed their theories while carrying out a series of
experiments on animals. They observed that rats or birds, for example, could be taught to
perform various tasks by encouraging habit-forming. Researchers rewarded desirable
behavior. This was known as positive reinforcement. Undesirable behavior was punished
or simply not rewarded - negative reinforcement.

The behaviorist B. F. Skinner proposed his theory as an explanation for language

acquisition in humans. In Verbal Behavior (1957), he stated: "The basic processes
and relations which give verbal behavior its special characteristics are now fairly
well understood. Much of the experimental work responsible for this advance has
been carried out on other species, but the results have proved to be surprisingly free
of species restrictions. Recent work has shown that the methods can be extended to
human behavior without serious modifications." (Cited in Lowe and Graham, 1998,
p68)

Skinner suggested that a child imitates the language of its parents or carers.
Successful attempts are rewarded because an adult who recognizes a word spoken by a
child will praise the child and/or give it what it is asking for. Successful utterances are
therefore reinforced while unsuccessful ones are forgotten.

b. Nativist
In the nature vs nurture debate, which has been ongoing since 1869, Nativist theorists are
typically team nature.

In terms of language acquisition, Nativists believe that children are born with an
inbuilt ability to organize and comprehend the fundamental laws and structures of
language. They believe this is why children can learn a native language quickly.
From that, The nativist theory is often contrasted with the behaviorist theory. Influential
behaviorist theorists, such as Skinner and Watson, argue that language (verbal behavior,
as they call it) is learned through exposure to language, say, at home or at school. This
means language behaviors is modeled, usually by an adult, and then reinforced through
reward (for 'correct' language uses) or punishment (for 'incorrect' language use).
Nativists, on the other hand, believe that children are 'wired' to learn a language, almost
regardless of their environment.

Chomsky and the Nativist Theory

During the 1960s, Chomsky questioned the idea that the human mind begins as a
'blank slate' and rejected the behaviorist theory because children receive
'impoverished language input' (baby talk) when growing up. Chomsky questioned
how children could demonstrate signs of learning grammar before receiving any formal
education on grammatical rules.He suggested that the human brain must have evolved to
contain certain linguistic information from birth which helps children figure out the basic
structures of language.
Chomsky believes that the basic concepts of language are innate and are influenced
by the language environments.For example, children growing up in England would
hear English all day and therefore learn English.He suggests that a child's predisposition
to learn a language is triggered when they hear speech, and that their brains begin to
interpret what is heard based on underlying structures and principles it already
'knows'.According to Chomsky, this innate ability to easily learn a native language is due
to two things: the language acquisition device (LAD) and Universal grammar.

The Language Acquisition Device (LAD)

The language acquisition device, or LAD for short, is a hypothetical 'tool' in the brain that
contains specific knowledge about language and grammar. Chomsky proposed the LAD
to help explain how children are able to comprehend the basic structures of language
from such a young age. Chomsky suggests that a child's LAD is triggered once they
hear speech.
Chomsky stated that this part of the brain is a uniquely human trait and cannot be found
in other animals, which helps explain why it is only humans who can communicate
through language.
The term Universal Grammar has been used to describe the knowledge contained within
the LAD.Let's take a closer look at Universal Grammar.

Universal grammar

Of course, all languages are different, and humans assign different meanings to different
sounds worldwide. Chomsky does not believe that a child born in England has an innate
ability to speak English or that a child born in China can miraculously speak Chinese.
Instead, he suggests that all human languages share many of the same common
grammar principles.

For example, most languages:

● Differentiate between verbs and nouns

● Have a way of talking about the past and present
● Have a way of asking questions
● Have a counting system

This sharing of common grammar principles is what Chomsky refers to as Universal

Grammar. According to Universal Grammar theory, the basic grammatical
structures of language are already encoded in the human brain at birth.It is a child's
environment that will determine which language they will learn.

Chomsky has since gone on to revise his own theory on the LAD.Whereas he used to
believe the LAD contained specific knowledge about language, he now believes that it
works more like a mechanism for working out the rules of language.
Here are the key principles of Chomsky's model of language acquisition:

● Everyone is born with the innate ability to learn a language.

● Learning a language is instinctive.
● Every child is born with a Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
● The LAD is a tool in the brain that facilitates the learning of language and
grammar.
● All human languages share basic grammatical rules that humans have a
subconscious ability to learn.
● Grammar is a necessary skill needed for learning any language.

c. Functional
Functionalism is an approach to language development that focuses on the
relationship between language form and social meaning. (Emmit et al. 2015) That is,
language is not so much a system of rules as posed by Chomsky, but a means of
performing particular socially communicative functions.

Functionalists believe that the communicative situation motivates, constrains, or

otherwise determines grammatical structure, meaning that the language choices a child
makes during development are heavily influenced by the functional purpose they serve.

The functionalist theory is based on the work of Michael Halliday, who observed the
ways his infant son Nigel attempted to communicate. He noticed that Nigel would use
specific, recognisable vocalisations to accomplish particular functions, long before
anything resembling words or sentences were used (Emmit et al. 2015). From this, he
concluded that language is a matter of learning the kinds of meanings that can be shared
in particular situations, and that children learn grammar based on meaningful choices
rather than formal rules.

Another element of Halliday's functionalist theory are the "seven functions of

language," which were designed to reflect the various conversational interactions that
children develop during language acquisition. They are listed below:

1. Instrumental - "I want"

2. Regulatory - "Do as I tell you"

3. Interactional - "Me and you"

4. Personal - "Here I come"

5. Heuristic - "Tell me why"

6. Imaginative - "Lets pretend"

7. Representational - "I've got something for you"

(Zhao, n.d)

Halliday believed that when children realise the potential that these functions serve, they
will become more skilful in using them when communicating and expressing meaning to
others.

3. Stages of FLA (cái này làm theo mũi tên: Pre-talking -> Babbling-> Holophrastic
-> Two-word-> Telegraphic-> Multiword
PRE-TALKING

This stage takes place from birth to around six months of age. During this time, the child
does not speak, but is beginning to understand short words and phrases that are central to
their needs and interests.

BABBLING

The babbling phase occurs from around six to eight months old. In this phase, the infant
begins to “babble” and makes noises and syllables that are not yet words. Physically,
teeth begin to appear and the muscles in the mouth required for speech begin to develop.

HOLOPHRASTIC

The holophrastic stage is significantly longer, occurring between nine and eighteen
months old. During this phase, the infant begins to learn and speak single words. In the
beginning, these words are strongly centered around basic needs and interests as well as
names or identifiers like “mama” and “dada.”

TWO-WORD

This stage takes place from eighteen to twenty-four months old. Once children have
developed single word speech, they begin to pair groups of words together into mini-
sentences and phrases like “I want” or “give me.”

TELEGRAPHIC

The telegraphic stage takes place from two to three years old. Over time, children begin
to expand their two-word phrases into short sentences. They also begin to utilize lexical
morphemes to make the words they use fit the sentence. For example, they understand to
use the plural “boys” instead of “boy” when referring to a group of boys.

MULTIWORD

Past the age of three, most children fall into the multiword stage. In this final stage of
language acquisition, children now learn to use functional morphemes to change the
meaning of the words they use. Examples include the words but, in, the, and that.

d. Second Language Learning (SLL)/ Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

1. Definition

Second language acquisition, or SLA, has two meanings. In the broad sense, it is a term
to describe learning a second language. In the narrow sense, it is the name of the theory
of the process by which we acquire - or pick up - a second language. This is mainly a
subconscious process which happens while we focus on communication. It can be
compared with second language learning, which describes how formal language
education helps us learn language through more conscious processes.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

Broad: SLA = SLL

Narrow: SLA vs. SLL

2. Theories of SLA/SLL

https://www.slideshare.net/teacherlolamento/second-language-learning-53239751

2.1. An innatist model: Krashen’s hypotheses

2.1.1. The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis

Learning vs. acquisition

Acquisition Learning

A subconscious process A conscious process

Without formal instruction Formal instruction
Focusing on meaning Focusing on form
Stable order of acquisition Simple to complex order of learning

Being dependent on aptitude Being dependent on attitude

According to Krashen, there are two independent systems of second language

performance: 'the acquired system' and 'the learned system'.

The 'acquired system' or 'acquisition' is the product of a subconscious process very

similar to the process children undergo when they acquire their first language. It requires
meaningful interaction in the target language - natural communication - in which
speakers are concentrated not in the form of their utterances, but in the communicative
act.
The 'learned system' or 'learning' is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a
conscious process which results in conscious knowledge 'about' the language, for
example knowledge of grammar rules. A deductive approach in a teacher-centered setting
produces 'learning', while an inductive approach in a student-centered setting leads to
'acquisition'.

The Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis states that there is a distinction between language

acquisition and language learning.
2.1.2. The Monitor Hypothesis

The Monitor hypothesis explains the relationship between acquisition and learning and
defines the influence of the latter on the former. The monitoring function is the practical
result of the learned grammar. According to Krashen, the acquisition system is the
utterance initiator, while the learning system performs the role of the 'monitor' or the
'editor'. The 'monitor' acts in a planning, editing and correcting function when three
specific conditions are met:

● The second language learner has sufficient time at their disposal,

● They focus on form or think about correctness, and
● They know the rules.

It appears that the role of conscious learning is somewhat limited in second language
performance. According to Krashen, the role of the monitor is minor, being used only to
correct deviations from 'normal' speech and to give speech a more 'polished' appearance.

Krashen also suggests that there is individual variation among language learners with
regard to 'monitor' use. He distinguishes those learners that use the 'monitor' all the time
(over-users); those learners who have not learned or who prefer not to use their conscious
knowledge (under-users); and those learners that use the 'monitor' appropriately (optimal
users). An evaluation of the person's psychological profile can help to determine to what
group they belong. Usually extroverts are under-users, while introverts and perfectionists
are over-users. Lack of self-confidence is frequently related to the over-use of the
'monitor'.

2.1.3. The Natural Order Hypothesis

The acquisition of grammatical structures follows a 'natural order' which is predictable.
For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early while others
late. This order seemed to be independent of the learners' age, L1 background, conditions
of exposure, and although the agreement between individual acquirers was not always
100% in the studies, there were statistically significant similarities that reinforced the
existence of a Natural Order of language acquisition. Krashen, however, points out that
the implication of the natural order hypothesis is not that a language program syllabus
should be based on the order found in the studies. In fact, he rejects grammatical
sequencing when the goal is language acquisition.

2.1.4. The Input Hypothesis

The Input hypothesis is Krashen's attempt to explain how the learner acquires a second
language – how second language acquisition takes place. The Input hypothesis is only
concerned with 'acquisition', not 'learning'. According to this hypothesis, the learner
improves and progresses when he/she receives second language 'input' that is one step
beyond his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a
stage 'i', then acquisition takes place when he/she is exposed to 'Comprehensible Input'
that belongs to level 'i + 1'. We can then define 'Comprehensible Input' as the target
language that the learner would not be able to produce but can still understand. It goes
beyond the choice of words and involves presentation of context, explanation, rewording
of unclear parts, the use of visual cues and meaning negotiation. The meaning
successfully conveyed constitutes the learning experience.

2.1.5. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

The Affective Filter hypothesis embodies Krashen's view that a number of 'affective
variables' play a facilitative, but non-causal, role in second language acquisition. These
variables include: motivation, self-confidence, anxiety and personality traits. Krashen
claims that learners with high motivation, self-confidence, a good self-image, low level
of anxiety and extroversion are better equipped for success in second language
acquisition. Low motivation, low self-esteem, anxiety, introversion and inhibition can
raise the affective filter and form a 'mental block' that prevents comprehensible input
from being used for acquisition. In other words, when the filter is 'up' it impedes language
acquisition. On the other hand, positive affect is necessary, but not sufficient on its own,
for acquisition to take place.

2.2. A cognitive model: McLaughlin’s Attention-Processing Model

This model argues that learning an L2 involves moving from controlled processes to
automatic processes via practice.

Controlled processes are "capacity limited and temporary," and automatic processes are
"relatively permanent".
We can think of controlled processing as typical of anyone learning a brand new skill in
which only a very few elements of the skill can be retained. Automatic processes, on the
other hand, refer to processing in a more accomplished skill, where the "hard drive" (to
borrow a computer metaphor) of your brain can manage hundreds and thousands of bits
of information simultaneously. The automatizing of this multiplicity of data is
accomplished by a process of restructuring in which "the components of a task are
coordinated, integrated, or reorganized into new units, thereby allowing the ... old
components to be replaced by a more efficient procedure".
2.3. A social constructivist model: Long’s Interaction Hypothesis

3. Stages of SLA/SLL

Students learning a second language move through five predictable stages:

Preproduction, Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and
Advanced Fluency (Krashen & Terrell, 1983).
4. Key factors affecting SLA/SLL

4.1. Internal Factors

4.1.1. Age

Keller thought the learner’s ability of learning language and motivation are two main
factors in a successful language acquisition, while the ability of learning language has
much to do with the age of a learner. Age factor is an important physiological factor in
both first language learning and second language learning, which has attracted much
attention from psychologists, linguists, and educators. They have spent lots of time and
energy trying to analyze the relationship between age and SLA from different angles. It’s
generally believed that children have the advantage over adults in SLA, which has still
been hotly debated in terms of learning motivation. Based on many studies, Cazden
(1988) believes that children, teenagers, and adults will experience the same learning
period, during which they have to deal with language data. However, in terms of learning
speed and achievement, there are great differences between them. Generally, adults can
do better on the initial stage for their better cognitive ability, while children can do better
in pronunciation and standard accent, and after a long period of learning they can be more
likely to succeed in acquiring second language and communicating with it. Different
people hold different opinions, but the importance of age factor in SLA cannot be
ignored.

4.1.2. Attitude

In most theories, attitude is defined as a reaction to one thing or a kind of thing. In SLA,
attitude consists of three parts: cognitive part (the belief in something), emotional part
(the degree of likes and dislikes of something), and the part of conation (the intention and
action to do something). Attitude seems to be the phantom mental state, but in SLA, it is
the tendency of the learner's cognition, emotion and action in learning the target
language, so attitude really plays an important part in SLA. In the process of bilingual
research, Baker has emphasized the significance of attitude (Baker, 1988). Attitude
includes positive one and negative one. With a positive attitude, a learner will be active in
communicating with the people speaking the target language, which will promote the
SLA. Holding a negative attitude, a learner tends to refuse or be afraid to contact the
people speaking the target language, which will definitely hinder the development of
SLA and the improvement of the communicative ability. Of course, attitude is not
hereditary, instead, it will be affected by the environment, while it is relatively steady.
Larsen-Freeman and Long ever mentioned factors affecting attitude: parents, friends,
teachers, learning environment, etc. (Larsen and Long, 1991). At present, in China,
English is the language, widely taught and learnt. The attitude of Chinese learners exerts
a big impact on its learning efficiency. Besides the factors affecting attitude mentioned
above, the main factor affecting the attitude of Chinese learners is the learning experience
in class. So, teachers should improve the teaching and learning efficiency in class by
making English class more interesting and attractive.

4.1.3. Personality

Personality factors consist of self-esteem, anxiety, depression, spirit of adventure,

extraversion and introversion, etc, which will have an effect on SLA and will make much
difference to learning efficiency. Psychologically speaking, personality can be divided
into extraverted one and introverted one. Compared with an introvert, an extravert is
more likely do better in SLA, because extraverted personality endows the learner with
optimism, better socializing ability, and strong desire to communicate with others,
especially the person speaking target language, which will help create more opportunities
to practice the target language for a learner. While the introvert often misses the chances
for language learning and practice, because the introverted person tends to be inactive in
networking, language learning and communication, which are all obstacles to SLA. The
extravert often shows optimism, spirit of adventure, self-confidence, while the introvert is
always shy and afraid of making mistakes, and lack self-confidence. It is additionally
added that many Chinese learners are introverted ones, who are always too shy to be
active in SLA. Only when a person is not afraid to make mistakes and is ready to explore,
can he/she achieve what he /she wants in SLA. According to the research by Krashen, it
can be concluded that different personalities exert an impact on whether the learner can
speak fluently in oral English in SLA (Krashen, 1981). Everything cuts both ways, so
does personality. An extravert in SLA is likely to pay little attention to basic form of
language and always lack the endurance in deep thing and research, which an introvert
often can do well in. So we can see that these two different personalities have both an
active and negative effect on SLA, but in general extroverted personality can do better
than the introverted one in SLA.

4.1.4. Motivation

Motivation is an internal process that stimulates an individual’s activity and helps them to
maintain the effort to realize their expected goal (WEI Fang-fang and HE Hua-qing,
2013). As an internal impetus, motivation can promote the learning process, and can
inspire and guide learners’ learning. There is no doubt that motivation plays an important
role in second language learning. To some extent, whether the learners’ motivation is
strong or not directly affects the learning efficiency. Learners with definite motivation are
always active in participating in foreign language learning, which often results in high
learning efficiency. On the contrary, learners with weak motivation always take a
negative attitude in the learning process, and they tend to spend less time and energy in a
second language learning, which often leads to low learning efficiency. Motivation has
been the focal point of the research of SLA for a long time. Skehan holds that motivation
appears to be the second strongest predictor of success, trailing only aptitude (Skehan,
1989). After the research on the relationship between motivation and SLA, Gardner and
Lambert proposed that there are two main types of second language learning motivation:
integrative motivation and instrumental motivation(Gardner and Lambert, 1972).
Integrative motivation features the strong desire of learners to mingle with the people
speaking with the target language, and the learners’ appreciation of a second language
and people as well as culture related. Learners with integrative motivation see SLA as the
goal of their interests, which they will be active to achieve. While learners with
instrumental motivation regard SLA as a utilitarian goal, which will be achieved by
finding a job, passing exams, improving their social status and income, …everything can
help them to be qualified for the future job or life. This kind of motivation is particularly
obvious for nursing majors in Medical University, who needn’t pursuit a further study
and can obtain a job after their graduation as a qualified graduate. So, SLA is just a tool
for them to gain other benefits. They are inactive in class activities and seldom
communicate with their foreign teachers after class. As to integrative motivation, clinical
majors are a case in point: most of them will pursuit postgraduate study or study abroad,
so they pay little attention to fulfilling one goal, instead, they focus on improving their
comprehensive abilities of English. They are always active in class activity and all kind
of English activities after class, for example, Oral or writing English contest. And they
like to contact their foreign teachers and want to be approved by them. We can see the
differences of two types of motivation from the performances of these two majors.

4.1.5. First Language Proficiency

First language (L1) refers to a learner’s mother tongue. The proficiency of his/her mother
tongue will greatly impact the learning efficiency of SLA because language transfer often
happens during the learning process of SLA. Language transfer, first put forward in the
1950s, refers to the fact that in the process of a second language or foreign language
learning, learners tend to handle the information of the target language with the sentence
structure and communication strategies of their mother tongue because they don’t know
or are not familiar with the target language. In SLA, it can be divided into positive
transfer and negative transfer. When mother tongue has a positive effect on a second
language learning because of the similar components between them, positive transfer
happens, which can help learners to master and practice a second language. Due to
differences between two languages, mother tongue often exerts a negative impact on
SLA, which is called negative transfer that is an obstacle to language learning. Positive
transfer and negative transfer often coexist in the process of language learning. Though
negative transfer has a negative effect on SLA, it can help us realize the factors hindering
language learning, in which negative transfer will change into positive transfer. Since
language transfer is inevitable, we should take the advantage of the positive one to
improve learning efficiency of SLA, and try to find out the reasons for negative transfer
to turn it into positive one. Then language transfer will be a good way for learners to
master a second language.

4.2. External Factors

Language drives from social life and social environment, and it develops with the
development of our society.

4.2.1. Political Factors

With the implementation of the Reform and Opening policy, it’s much easier for people
to go abroad and to keep up with the latest news abroad, which aroused a strong passion
for a second language or foreign language learning among Chinese people. Meanwhile,
almost all schools and universities began to reform and innovate curriculums, especially
English courses. It’s reported that Beijing Foreign Study University will add more
minority languages to adapt to the political development of China. And the upsurge of
enthusiasm for English learning has helped non-governmental educational institutions
spring up, typically represented by Crazy English Educational School and New Oriental
English School. The liberal political policy provides an excellent environment for second
language learning for people. But we have to see that among the craze for English, there
are unreasonable parts, which is illustrated obviously by the appearance of “aphasia for
Chinese culture”. Here “aphasia” implies two points: One, when learning English, many
Chinese learners don’t catch chances to get Chinese culture involved into the learning
process, which makes the learning divorced from local culture. Two, after learning
English, many Chinese learners lose the ability to properly express their Chinese culture
in English. The reason for “aphasia” may be that many people are just unreasonably
crazy for a second language without the total understanding it and they didn’t correctly
hand the relationship between their mother tongue and a second language, which
definitely exert a negative impact on SLA. Political situation exerts a subtle influence on
SLA. If two countries are hostile to each other, people of these two countries will hold
hostility and prejudice to each other, too, which certainly hinder them from learning from
each other about their culture and language.

4.2.2. Economic factors

A country’s economic strength plays a significant role not only in its politics but also in
its culture. In the financially underdeveloped countries, people always tend to neglect the
importance of their culture, so-called social anomie. It is illustrated by the strong desire
of some people to learn about different cultures and different lifestyles of other countries,
which is a driving factor affecting SLA, for example, people who want to immigrate to
America will spare no efforts to learn English. Of course, countries with strong economy
can spend more on education, A second language learning included. Individually
speaking, to get a job or offer a guarantee of the job is the main motivation to learn or
acquire a second language. In China, many people learn English with economical
orientation--- mastering English can help them get more opportunities to obtain a job in
transnational corporations, where they can be better paid.

4.2.3. Technological Factors

The development of economy will promote that of technology. The writer will set
America as an example. As one of economic powerhouses, America advances in science
and technology. Computers have been an indispensable practical tool in people’s daily
life, while over ninety percent of computer language(/program) came from American
Microsoft Corporation, which forces many users to learn English in order to better
operate computers or enable themselves to handle the problems appearing in the running
process. In the 1840s, there was a global craze for learning English. According to the
research, most parents in many countries will help their children to choose English as a
compulsory course, and many countries asked primary schools to set up English courses
while more and more overseas students study English abroad. English schools or
institutions have sprung up world-widely and offer more positions for people to teach
English, which has promoted the upsurge of English learning

e. Comparison

Similarities:

- Universal grammar may influence learning. It may influence learning either

independently or through the first language.
- There are predictable stages, and particular structures are acquired in a set order.
Individuals may move more slowly or quickly through these stages, but they can’t
skip ahead.
 - Making errors is a part of learning.
- Learners use context clues, prior knowledge and interaction to comprehend
language.
- Age is an important variable affecting proficiency.
- Learners can often comprehend more complex language than they are able to
produce.
- Learners’ proficiency can vary across situations.
- Learners may over generalize vocabulary or rules, using them in contexts broader
than those in which they should be used.
- Learners need comprehensible input and opportunities to learn language in context
in order to increase their proficiency.

Differences:

Criteria FLA SLL

Learning Usually learned at a later stage after a Acquired from birth by actively
point mother tongue listening to parents
communicating with you

Motivation A subconscious process An active and conscious process

A personal choice, required

An instinct, triggered by birth motivation

Nature Natural (no instruction) Natural or guided (for synthetic

languages
grammatical instruction is
required

Input Motherese or Caregiver speech Foreign talk or negotiated input

This simplified form of input makes it

easier for the child to comprehend and
understand the speech, thus resulting
in an effective output.

Result Learners reach native fluency Often difficult to reach native-

like fluency, though good
competence can be achieved

In second language learning,

First-language learners always attain there may be less access to
native-like proficiency, unless they universal grammar, and
 have a disability that affects language
learning.
Learners have many chances to
practice with native speakers
(especially caregivers).
Time Learners spend years of listening to
language, babbling and using
telegraphic speech before they can
form sentences
sensitivity to phonological
distinctions not present in the
native language will be reduced.
Students learning in a classroom
setting may also have fewer
opportunities to learn language
authentically and practice
extensively with native speakers.
These factors may reduce the
likelihood that language learners
will attain native-like
proficiency.
Learning is more rapid and
people are able to form sentences
within a short period of time
In formal second language
learners, learners are able to use
more met cognitive processes in
their learning. They can
consciously manipulate
grammatical structures, and they
can explicitly describe how
language works. This can speed
the learning process.
In second language learning in
older learners, learners bring
more life experience and
background knowledge to their
learning. They have more
schemata and more learning
strategies to help them learn the
second language.