UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR AND FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

(DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND SECOND LANGUAGE

ACQUISITION)

prepared by :Ain fatihahAdam Ariff

Ahmad ZulfaqqarAshrafuqal Ahmad

INTRODUCTION

UNIVERSAL GRAMMAR

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

L1 ACQUISITION• L1 acquisition is genetically triggered at the most critical stage of

the child's cognitive development.

• The 'engine' of language – its syntactic system – is 'informationally encapsulated' – which means that children are not even aware of developing a complex, rule-governed, hierarchical system. Most L1 speakers do not even realise this is what they are using.

• The L1 is typically acquired at the crucial period of cognitive development; pre-puberty, when L1 and other crucial life-skills are also acquired or learned.

L1 ACQUISITION• Children never resist L1 acquisition, any more than they

resist learning to walk.

• Given even minimal 'input' during critical pre-pubescent development, all humans acquire the L1 of the society or social group they are born into as a natural and essential part of their lives. Even brain-damaged and/or retarded children usually acquire the full grammatical code of the language of their society or social group.

• In short, L1 acquisition is an essential, biologically–driven process. It is part of every individual's evolutionary history and development in the most critical stage of that individual's acquisition of essential life-skills.

L2 LEARNING• L2 learning is not genetically triggered in any way unless

the child grows up bi-lingually (in which case, it is not really L2 learning at all).

• The syntax of the L2 is not acquired unconsciously , or at least not in the way L1 syntax is acquired. Few L2 learners develop the same degree of unconscious, rule-governed insight into and use of the L2 which they demonstrate with the L1.

• The L2 is not learned as part of the learner's general cognitive development. It is not an essential life-skill in the same way that the L1 is.

L2 LEARNING• There is often great conscious or unconscious resistance to L2 learning.

• Many highly intelligent individuals with impressive learning skills often have great problems learning an L2. Many L2 learners 'fossilise' at some stage, so that even if they use the L2 regularly, and are constantly exposed to input in it, they fail to develop full grammatical or 'generative' competence.

• L2 learning is not a biologically-driven process. It is not an essential aspect of an individual's general development. especially when the L2 is simply another subject on an already overloaded school curriculum or something that has to be undertaken by people with busy lives and heavy work-loads.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND

SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

CONCLUSIONS• The child’s language is a system in its own right

rather than being a small fragment of the adult system

• The learning of a first language has many sides and is not simply a matter of learning syntax and vocabulary

• The use of the first language goes hand in hand with the child’s needs and interests

• Wherever there is a relationship between cognition and language development, language depends on cognition

• The child’s use and learning of language is partly determined by mental capacity

• There are particular stages of development through which all children progress, even if the rate of progression varies

• The child learns to adapt its language use to particular situations

• Adults adapt their speech in systematic ways when talking to children

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES• http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/SLA/

L1%20and%20L2.htm• http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/

test4materials/ChildLangAcquisition.htm• http://www.tedpower.co.uk/esl0412.html• Cook, V.J. 1969. The analogy between first and

second language learning. IRAL VII/3, 207-216 ,on-line version

• Cook, V.J. 1973. The comparison of language development in native children and foreign adults. IRAL XI/1, 13-28, online version