Theories of Language Acquisition Lecture I

Language Learning in early Childhood Definitions of L1, L2, FL, TL First language acquisition Milestones and developmental sequences Pre-school years School years

Definitions of L1 & L2 Definition of “first language” (L1): The language(s) that an individual learns first. Other terms for “first language”- Native language or mother tongue Definition of “second language” (L2): Any language other than the first language learned (in a broader sense). A language learned after the first language in a context where the language is used widely in the speech community (in a narrower sense). e.g., For many people in Taiwan, their L1 is Taiwanese and L2 is Mandarin.

Definitions of FL & TL Definition of “foreign language” (FL) A second (or third, or fourth) language learned in a context where the language is NOT widely used in the speech community. This is often contrasted with second language learning in a narrower sense. e.g., English or Japanese is a foreign language for people in Taiwan. Definition of “target language” (TL) A language which is being learned, where it is the first language or a second, third language. e.g., English is a target language for you now.

First language acquisition Characteristics of the language of children: Language acquisition as an impressive and fascinating aspect of human development It has attracted the attention of linguists and psychologists for generation How do children learn the L1? What makes them to put words in meaningful sentences? What pushes them to develop complex grammatical language? Do children around the world develop the L1 similarly? Why do bilingual children acquire more than one language?

Milestones and developmental sequences A high degree of similarity in the early language of children all over the world The developmental sequences in many aspects are similar Early vocalizations of children such as crying, cooing and gurgling Distinguishing the voice of their mothers from others and the language spoken before they were born Identifying the difference between ‘pa’ and ‘ba’ Identifying differences if hearing more than one language

Patterns in L1 Development Characteristics of the language of children: Their language development shows a high degree of similarity among children all over the world. There are predicable patterns in the L1 development and their L1 developmental patterns are related to their cognitive development (predictability). Their language reflects the word order of the language that they are hearing. The combination of the words has a meaning relationship (learning through imitation). Their language also shows they are able to apply the rules of the language to make sentences which they have never heard before (creativity).

Patterns in L1 Development Before First Words - The earliest vocalizations Involuntary crying (when they feel hungry or uncomfortable) Cooing and gurgling – showing satisfaction or happiness “Babbling” Babies use sounds to reflect the characteristics of the different language they are learning.

Patterns in L1 Development First Words – Around 12 months (“one-word” stage): Babies begin to produce one or two recognizable words (esp. content word); producing single-word sentences. By the age of 2 (“two-word” stage): 1) at least 50 different words 2) “telegraphic” sentences (no function words and grammatical morphemes) e.g., “Mommy juice”, “baby fall down” 3) reflecting the order of the language e.g., “kiss baby”, “baby kiss” 4) creatively combining words e.g., “more outside”, “all gone cookie”

L1 Developmental Sequences Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes Acquisition of Negation (to deny, reject, disagree with, and refuse something) Acquisition of Questions

Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes Roger Brown’s study (1973): - approximate order of acquiring grammatical morphemes Present progressive –ing (running) Plural –s (books) Irregular past forms (went) Possessive -’s (daddy’s hat) Copula (am/is/are) Articles (a/an/the) Regular past –ed (walked) Third person singular simple present –s (he runs) Auxiliary ‘be’ (He is coming)

Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes The study found out that children who had mastered the grammatical morphemes at the bottom of the list had also mastered those at the top, but the reverse was not the case. This was taken as an evidence for a developmental sequence or order of acquisition Children do not learn the morphemes at the same age Brown’s study was confirmed by Jill and Peter in 1973 Children’s knowledge of grammatical morphemes was explored through a test known as ‘wug test’ The patterns of plural and simple past were tested in it

Acquisition of Grammatical morphemes e.g., “wug test” – 1) Here is a wug. Now there are two of them. There are two ______. 2) John knows how to bod. Yesterday he did the same thing. Yesterday, he_______. Through the tests, children demonstrate that they know the rules for the formation of plural and simple past in English. By generalizing these patterns to words they have never heard before, they show that their language is not just a list of memorized word pairs such as ‘book/books’ and ‘nod/nodded’.

Acquisition of Negation Children develop language features systematically by creating new forms and structures Negation is learned early by refusing suggestions with a single word stage Lois Bloom’s study (1991) – four stages Stage 1: ‘no’ – e.g., “No go”. “No eat.” Stage 2: subject + no – e.g., “Daddy no comb hair.” Stage 3: auxiliary or modal verbs (do/can) + not (Yet no variations for different persons or tenses) e.g., “I can’t do it “, “He don’t want it.” Stage 4: correct form of auxiliary verbs (did/doesn’t/is/are) + not e.g., He didn’t go. She doesn’t want it. But sometimes double negatives are used e.g., I don’t have no more candies.

Acquisition of Questions Lois Bloom’s study (1991): Order of the occurrence of wh- question words ‘What’ - Whatsat? Whatsit? ‘Where’ and ‘who’ ‘Why’ (emerging at the end of the 2nd year and becomes a favourite at the age of 3 or 4) ‘How’ and ‘When’ (yet children do not fully understand the meaning of adults’ responses) e.g., Child: When can we go outside? Mother: In about 5 minutes. Child: 1-2-3-4-5! Can we go now?

Acquisition of Questions Lois Bloom’s study (1991): Six stages of children’s question-making Stage 1: using single words or single two- or three-word sentences with rising intonation (“Cookie”, “Mommy book?” “Where’s Daddy?”) Stage 2: using the word order of the declarative sentence with rising intonation (“You like this?” “Why you catch it?”) Stage 3: “fronting” - putting a verb at the beginning of a sentence (“Is the teddy is tired?” “Do I can have a cookie?”)

Acquisition of Questions Lois Bloom’s study (1991) – six stages (II) Stage 4: subject-auxiliary inversion in yes/no questions but not in wh-questions (“Do you like ice cream?” “Where I can draw?”) Stage 5: subject-auxiliary inversion in wh-questions, but not in negative wh-questions (“Why can he go out?” “Why he can’t go out?”) Stage 6: overgeneralizing the inverted form in embedded questions (“I don’t know why can’t he go out.”)

The pre-school years By the age of 4: Most children are able to ask questions, give commands, report real events, and create stories about imaginary ones with correct word order and grammatical markers most of the time. They have mastered the basic structures of the language or languages spoken to them in these early years. They begin to acquire less frequent and more complex linguistic structures such as passives and relative clauses. They begin to develop ability to use language in a widening social environment.

. They use the language in a greater variety of situations by interacting more with unfamiliar adults and talking to family members on the phone Development of metalinguistic awareness - referring to the ability to treat language as an object separate from the meaning it conveys. A dramatic development in metalinguistic awareness occurs when children begin to learn to read. They see words represented by letters on a page and start to discover that words and sentences have multiple meaning. e.g., “drink the chair” (5 year-olds’ reaction: silly) “cake the eat” (5 year-olds’ reaction: wrong)

The school years One of the most impressive language developments in the early school years is the astonishing growth of vocabulary. Vocabulary grows at a rate between several hundred and more than a thousand words a year, depending mainly on how much and how widely children read. Vocabulary growth required for school success is likely to come from both reading for assignments and reading for pleasure. Reading a variety of text types is an essential part of vocabulary growth. Reading reinforces the understanding that language has form as well as meaning and a “word” is separate from the thing it represents. Another important development in the school years is the acquisition of different language registers.

Questions??? .

Questions and discussion How useful is the wug test to explore the plural and the simple past according to you? Try using it with children. What similarities and differences do you notice among the children at different ages? Which grammatical morphemes do they find easy and which ones are more difficult?