MIDTERM EXAM IN ELS 273 FOUNDATIONS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Case Study (Pihu)

Angela Mae A. Suyom

BAEL 2A
I. INTRODUCTION

Pihu is a 2018 film about a sweet two-year-old kid who wakes up the morning after

her second birthday to find herself alone with her mother, who we soon discover is dead. Her

mother named Puja, unalive herself during the night after a reportedly violent altercation with

Pihu's father. Guarav, Pihu's father, is gone on business and only appears in the film as a

voice during phone calls. Pihu follows the main character as she spends a day at home alone,

blissfully unaware of the several hazards she faces.

The little kid who is too innocent with what is going on inside that house. She is just

merely two year old child who is oblivious about her mother's death. She can't understand

what is happening aside that she only play her toys and be innocent as what a two-year-old

kid would do. The way young Pihu can be distressed at her mother’s lack of interaction one

moment and be filled with childlike wonder and a need to enjoy herself the next is a real

representation of a youngster’s understanding and attention span (Myers, 2020). According

to the Writer and Director, Vinod Kapri, he intended to film Myra Vishwakarma (Pihu) with

her natural behavior as a two-year-old kid. "So it was like we were shooting some wildlife

documentary", he says.

II. GIST OF THE STORY

Pihu is a film of a two-year-old girl, in the title role, who gets trapped inside the house with

no help and guardians.

III. SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION PROCESS AND LINGUISTIC

BEHAVIOR OF PIHU IN TERMS OF;

 a. Phonology

Pihu is now in Speech Emergence stage of Second Language Acquisition process. She

has good comprehension when her father is calling on the phone. She can produce words and

construct little phrases or sentences while she's playing alone inside their house. Although

she is using her FLA, the child can still say what she understands to her father about the

situation. Like when she was reaching for the phone under the bed. Her father was on the

phone call and she can’t reach it, out of frustration maybe, she was able to say “papa, I am

coming”. Which only means that Pihu is an intelligent child and she can utter words that she

knew about.

b. Syntax

Pihu can say "mommy, get up please", papa, I am coming" and "oh, bunny". This

means that she understands what she is saying and can produce words and phrases little by

little. Pihu is in Speech Emergence stage in her syntax. By this stage, learners typically

acquire a vocabulary of up to 3,000 words, and learn to communicate by putting the words in

short phrases, sentences, and questions. They may not be grammatically correct, but this is an

important stage during which children gain greater comprehension and begin reading and

writing in their second language.

c. Morphology

Pihu is just a little girl with no guardian beside her. So she can't fully construct her

phrases properly as she is just a toddler. As the child is in Speech Emergence stage where she

can produces one- or two-word responses. Although Pihu can utter words and phrases, she's

still struggling on how to say them correctly.

IV. IMPLICATIONS

Pihu is now in toddler development of stages of first language development. Between

the ages of 2 and 3, most children: speak in two- and three-word phrases or sentence (Hoeker,

M.D., 2021). She can now say words or phrases such as "mommy", "papa, I'm coming",

"mommy, get up please" and so on. At this age, the child uses meaningful words, made-up

words, sounds and gestures to communicate. However, she can't fully understand what the

elders are saying to her not unless they emphasize little by little the easy words that Pihu can

easily understand. After all, she was all alone in that house and no one was around to guide

her and teach her about the words she says and hears.

In addition, the child's second language acquisition was applied with Stephen

Krashen’s Acquisition-Learning Hypothesis. This hypothesis states that there is a distinction

between language acquisition and language learning. In Pihu’s case, she was able to produce

her L1 while she is alone inside that house. And when the father talked on the phone call,

Pihu was able to use L2 because of the fact that her father used second language in

communicating with her. The Acquisition-Learning hypothesis acknowledges that children

learn faster as they are given more comprehensible input. So that’s why when Pihu is talking

to her father using an English language, she can produce little words or phrases and use it to

communicate.
References
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Innovative Language. (2009, October 25). Retrieved from Stephen Krashen's ACqusition-Learning
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Jay L. Hoecker, M. (n.d.). Healthy Lifestyle. Retrieved from Infant and Toddler Health:
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Raising Children Network. (n.d.). Retrieved from Language Development: 1-2 years old:
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Resilient Educator. (2018, December 24). Retrieved from Five Stages of Langugage Acquisition:
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