Language Acquisition and learning-key concepts and issues:

Language learning process

Group 2Beatrice Justina Teo

Cheong Zi HoongHong Yin Yin

Lee Li Wen

What is Language?• A system of communicating with other people using

sounds, and words in expressing meanings, ideas or thoughts.

• “The systematic, conventional use of sounds, signs, or written symbols in a human society for communication and self-expression” (David Crystal)

• “The communication of information through symbols arranged according to systematic rules” (Feldman, 2005)

Language learning in early childhood(The First 3 Years)

• Children go through a number of different stages as language develops:

• The earlier stage: – Crying (when they feel hungry or uncomfortable)– Cooing (showing satisfaction or happiness)– Babbling

• Around 10 to 13 months:– Begin to say single words such as: milk

(holophrase stage)

• By the age of 2:– Begin to use two words sentences such as

“mommy milk” , “Papa work”.– telegraphic speech (Function words and

grammatical morphemes such as articles, preposition are missing)

• Early childhood: – Children’s vocabularies increase rapidly

Language learning in early childhood(The First 3 Years)

• Developmental Sequences: – The order in which certain features of a language

are acquired by children in language learning.

Language learning in early childhood(The First 3 Years)

Grammatical morpheme Negation

Question

Grammatical morpheme

• Morphemes that contain only grammatical features. Present progressive –ing Mommy running

Plural -s Two books

Articles a/an/the

Irregular past forms Baby went

Regular past -ed He walked

3rd person singular simple present -s

Jane runs

Auxiliary be Jane is coming

• The Wug Test (Jean Berko Gleason)– Testing children's knowledge of grammatical

morphemes

• In this test, children are shown drawings of creatures or people performing actions.

Grammatical morpheme

This is a man who know

how to RICK. He is Ricking.

He did the same thing

yesterday. What did he do

yesterday? Yesterday he

________________.

• By completing these sentences with 'wugs' and ‘ricked’, children show that they know rules for the formation of plural and simple past in English.

Grammatical morpheme

Negation

• Is acquired by children in language learning to deny, reject, disagree with, or refuse something

• Four stages in the developmental sequence of negation (Lois Bloom’s study,1991)

• Stage 1: –Negation is expressed by the word ‘no’–Can be expressed either all alone or as the

first word in the utterance– Example : No, No cake, No money, No comb

hair

Negation

• Stage 2:–Utterances grow longer and the sentence

Subject may be included. – The negative word appears before the verb.– The negative element don’t is often used .– Example: Don’t touch that Daddy no comb hair

Negation

• Stage 3:– The negative element is positioned after

auxiliaries (are, is, etc.) or modals (can, may, etc.) verb follow the correct English pattern.– Yet no variations for different persons or

tenses– Example: I can’t do it , He don’t want it She was not happy.

Negation

• Stage 4:–Children able to attach the negative

element to the correct form of auxiliary verbs such as 'do' and 'be’– Example: He didn’t go She doesn’t want it. – Sometimes double negatives are used– Example: I don’t have no more cakes.

Negation

Questions

• There is a predictable order in which the 'wh-words' emerge (Bloom 1991).

• What, 'Where' and 'who, Why, 'how' and 'when

• Six stages of children’s question-making.

• Stage 1: -using single words or single two- or three-word sentences with rising intonation-Example: “Mommy book?”

“Where’s Daddy?”• Stage 2:

-using the word order of the declarative sentence-Example: “You like this?”

“Why you catch it?”

Questions

• Stage 3: -“fronting” - putting a verb at the beginning of a sentence-Example: “Is the teddy is tired?”

“Do I can have a cookie?”• Stage 4:

-subject-auxiliary inversion in yes/no questions-Example: “Do you like ice cream?”

“Are you going to play with me??”

Questions

• Stage 5: -Both wh- and 'yes/no' questions are formed correctly.-Example: “Why can he go out?”

“Why did you do that?”• Stage 6:

-Children are able to correctly form all question types

Questions

Language learning in early childhood(The Pre-School Years)

• By the age of four:-Ask questions, give commands, report events, create stories.-Have mastered the basic structure of their language.-Learn vocabulary at the rate of several words a day.-Acquire less frequent and more complex linguistic structures.

• Here are some of the things your preschooler might do as her language and communication skills.

Language learning in early childhood(The Pre-School Years)

Understanding Phonology and

Morphology

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

Advances in Pragmatics

Understanding Phonology and Morphology

• Sensitive to the sound of spoken words and capable of producing all the sounds.

• Produce complex consonant clusters-Example: str- and –mpt.

• Notice rhymes, enjoy poems, make up silly names by substituting one sound for another.-Example: bubblegum, bubblebum, bubbleyum

Understanding Phonology and Morphology

• Begin using the plural and possessive forms of nouns.-Example: dogs and dog’s

• Put appropriate endings on verbs.-Example: -s when the subject is third-person singular and –ed for the past tense.

• Use prepositions (in, on), articles (a, the), and various forms of the verb to be (“I was going to the store”).

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

• Preschool children also learn and apply rules of syntax. (Lidz, 2010; Tager-Flusberg & Zukowski, 2009)

• Show a growing mastery of complex rules for how words should be ordered.

• Sentence and Grammar Early Pre-school

-use more complex sentences-understands the basic rules

Late Pre-school-increasingly complex sentences

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

o Consider wh- questionso Example: “ Where is Daddy going?” / “ What is

that boy doing? ” o wh- must be added at the beginning of the

sentence.o auxiliary verb must be inverted-exchange with

subject of the sentence.o learn quite early where to put the wh- word but

take much longer to learn the auxiliary-inversion rule. ( “ Where daddy is going?” )

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

• Vocabulary Early pre-school

Thousands of new words-By listening and guessing from context.-From new experiences and from listening to stories

read out loud.-Using connecting words (because, if), names for groups

of things (vegetables, animals), family terms (aunty, brother), colours(red, green) and contrasting concepts (longer, bigger).

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

Late-preschoolAround 1500 different words but understand even more.

-connecting words (‘when’, ‘but’)-words that explain complicated emotions

(‘confused’, ‘upset’, ‘delighted’)-words that explain things going on in his brain

(‘don’t know’, ‘remember’).

Changes in Syntax and Semantics

Advances in Pragmatics

• Young children begin to engage in extended discourse. (Akhtar & Herold,2008).-Example: They learn culturally specific rules of conversation and politeness, and increasingly adapt their speech in different settings.

• Able to talk about things that are not here (Grandma’s house) and not now (what happened to them yesterday or might happen tomorrow).

Advances in Pragmatics

• Develop a remarkable sensitivity to the needs of others in conversation.-Example: Use of the articles the, an, a.- When adults tell a story to describe an event, they use an or a when they first refer to animal or an object and then use the when referring to it later.(“Two boys were walking through the jungle when a fierce lion appeared. The lion lunged at one boy while the other ran for cover.”)

• Learn to change speech style to suit the situation.-Example: Even 4-year-old children speak differently to a 2-year-old than to a same-aged peer.

Advances in Pragmatics

Pronunciation

Reading

ListeningHome Study

Adventure games

Language learning in early childhood(School Years)

•Children will start to practice pronouncing words by repeating after teachers

Pronunciation

•Encourage them to read storybooks, comics, magazines based on their interest

Reading

•Enhancing their listening skills through audio books, recordings

Listening

•When playing adventure games, children can pause the game frequently to jot down any new words.

Playing games

•Children are encouraged to learn through learning software

Home Study

• http://repository.usu.ac.id/bitstream/123456789/19132/5/Chapter%20I.pdf

• Language And Society By Humphrey Tonkin http://www.globaled.org/issues/178F.pdf

• Cognitive Development http://peoplelearn.homestead.com/BEduc/Chapter_2.pdf

• First and Second Language Acquisition http://fulbright.state.gov/uploads/e3/34/e33490e8249c453e1fc8a6878e23f6fe/First-and-Second-Language-Acquisition.pdf

• Early Morphological Childhood Development | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5294964_early-morphological-childhood-development.html#ixzz1yXauNehi

• http://www.kau.edu.sa/Files/0008718/Files/93898_Chapter%201small.pdf

• http://www.american.edu/cas/tesol/pdf/upload/WP-2002-Ahmad-Developmental-Sequence.pdf