PRINCIPLES AND THEORIES OF LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LEARNING

MODULE 3
THEORIES OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

LESSON 1. IT’S YOUR TURN

Parents = Parents can support first language acquisition by talking a lot with their child, and responding
when their child communicates. Naturally, talking to a child as much as they can will assist their language
development. It's important to talk to them even when they can't talk to the parents – from birth, they
should chat about what they are doing and ask them questions, responding to any gestures or noises they
make as if they've spoken a sentence.

Teachers = Use non-verbals (gestures, visuals, drawings, pointing, and models) to teach meaning of new
vocabulary. Plan and create experiences that help students notice features of language. Adjust teacher
talk. Give students time and space to practice useful phrases and formulaic expressions.

Community = Exposure to rich, varied and complex language in the early years improves language
development, as does parental responsiveness and sensitivity. 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.

IT’S YOUR TURN. POST ASSESSMENT

Case Study

My four-year-old nephew speaks English as his first language. Most of the time, he speaks in
English. When he tries to speak in Finontok, it sounds awkward. We don't bother trying to teach him any
other languages because, when spoken to repeatedly, he quickly picks up his mom’s mother tongue.
 The majority of my nephew's time is spent with his mother and grandparents. He is not yet in
school, and occasionally his mother takes him with her to work. English is the language being used to
communicate with him by those around him. He only uses finontok when he sees us use it and has picked
up several words. He first learned to speak our names because we were the ones playing with him ever
since. His brother and cousin, who are of close age to him, also speaks in English and they communicate
well with each other. His first words were "yes, no, mom, Arp (his brother's name), and Ma Gen (shortcut
to "mama Gen," their grandmother).
He uses language to communicate with his mother and grandparents. Only when he was 2 years
old did he start making nonverbal signals. He is often overly talkative these days, saying everything that
comes to mind, even if it is meaningless. He is unable to pronounce words with two double Ls, though.
We always correct him, but I suppose that's simply one of the benefits of having a short tongue. For
instance, our cousin's name is "Chulla," but when he is looking for her, he says "Where is Chunya."
We always encourage him to speak. We question him whenever he communicates ineffectively,
such as by merely sobbing and using violence. We never give him anything unless he expresses it to us
verbally. When he shows us something he likes and asks questions about it, we respond to him. To help
him learn English better, we also allowed him to watch movies and videos with instructional content.