THE FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION OF TONYA WALSH
YUDI AS AN INTERMARRIAGE CHILD
ERWITA YASINTA BR GINTING 1201305012
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE
UDAYANA UNIVERSITY
iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Almighty
God for the blessing, health, and the inspiration given to me in writing this paper.
There are many assistance and guidance from many people contributed in
writing this paper. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciaiton to my
first advisor, Prof. Dr. I Nengah Sudipa, M.A, and my second advisor, A. A.
Sagung Shanti Sari Dewi, S.S., M. Hum for the invaluabe guidance, advice,
suggestions and information given to me in order to complete this paper.
I would also to thank Peter John Walsh and Ni Wayan Yudiani as the
parents who allowed me to observe Tonya Walsh Yudi for months in order to
obtain the data in doing my research. The special thanks is also dedicated for Eva
Dewi Payanti, S, pd who gave her time and helped me in observing Tonya for
months.
Furhermore, the deepest gratitude to my beloved parents Antonius Ginting
and Minda Br Sitepu who always support me and keep praying for the best of my
life, my Brothers Ferminto Ignasius Ginting and Nestorius Perdana Ginting, and
my sister in-law Juliana Br Siregar who always support and remind me in
finishing this paper.
Then special thanks are also dedicated to all of my friends in the English
Department 2012 especially class A, KKN-PPM Periode XI Jatiluwih Village, for
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Mega, Abdiana Risky, Ari Wiguna, Ribka, Patrio, Krisna, Ikho, and for all people
supporting me that I cannot mention one by one. I would thank to all of your
support, advice, and suggestion.
Denpasar, March 2016
v ABSTRACT
This study is entitled The First Language Acquisition of Tonya Walsh Yudi as an Intermarriage Child. Every child obtains their first language in different ways and ages. It depends on the ability and the environment of the children. This study is therefore aimed to see the stages of Tonya Walsh Yudi in acquiring her first language and to identify the factors influencing her language development.
The data of this study were collected by observing Tonya directly for three months. She was observed in doing her activities and find out her favorite activities at home. Besides, the data were also collected by interviewing her parents about the development of Tonya every day. The technique used was by recording and note taking. The collected data was furthermore qualitatively analyzed and explained the analysis descriptively based on the theory of Owens (1994) about the language development.
Based on the discussion and the analysis of this study, it was found that the development of Tonya as an intermarriage child acquire her English vocabulary keep developing every day. The factors influencing her in developing her English vocabulary is from her activities at home and school because she speaks English much more than Indonesia. She also likes singing the English song. Therefore, it is influential for her in acquiring her English vocabulary.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
APPROVAL SHEET …..………...………… ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……… iii
ABSTRACT …..………. v
TABLE OF CONTENTS……… vi
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ………. 1
1.1 Background of the Study …...……… 1
1.2 Problems of the Study ………. 3
1.3 The Objectives of the Study…..………. 3
1.4 Scope of Discussion ...………. 4
1.5 Research Method ……….. 4
CHAPTER 2 LITERARY REVIEWS, CONCEPTS, AND THEORITICAL FRAMEWORK ……… 10
2.1 Literary Reviews ………. 10
2.2 Concepts...……… 18
2.3 Theoretical Framework ………... 21
CHAPTER III THE LANGUAGE ACQUISITION OF TONYA WALSH YUDI AS AN INTERMARRIAGE CHILD ………. 26
3.1. The Development Stages of Tonya Walsh Yudi in Acquiring English Vocabulary in three months ...……….. 26
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CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION ………. 43
4.1 Conclusion ………. 43
4.2 Suggestion ………. 44
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Language is a system of human to communicate by using some kinds of
signals, such as sounds, symbols, or body gestures. Language is also part of being
human, therefore it is impossible to communicate without language, and most of
people in the world know about language, even everyone has their first language
or mother tongue. The acquisition of language is divided into two; the First
Language Acquisition (L1) and Second Language Acquisition (L2). First
language refers to the first language which is heard by infant. In this case, children
try to express their mother tongue into ungrammatical rules because they hear
from people, furthermore they say and imitate them. According to Astawa
(1998:2), the behavioristic claim that the child starts tabularasa and the acquisition
process depends entirely on environmental conditioning. Therefore, the
development of language is a combination of both genetic and environmental
factors. The mechanism of speech perception and production are biologically
determined. However, the child would not be able to construct the intricate
symbolic system of language without a linguistic environment.
Language development involves acquisition and learning, which begins at
the time that baby, is conscious of its surroundings. It is natural that different
environments would produce different kinds of language developments. The
children start trying to communicate in one, two, three word sentences. It
period is known as the critical age or critical period. Critical age or critical period
means the period of child that he/she becomes more critical to the surrounding,
especially critical to a language. Children learn to speak by copying noise patterns
heard around them and imitate their parents’ behavior. (Jersild, 1960: 24)
Meanwhile, according to Ellis (1987:5), the Second Language Acquisition
(L2) is the study of how the learners learn an additional language after they have
acquired their first language. Second language acquisition is the language
obtained when the children are in the school covering the development of
phonology lexis, grammar, and pragmatics knowledge. Second language
acquisition is unlike first language acquisition which is obtained when they are
infants trying to express their mother tongue into ungrammatical rules.
Every people acquires their first language in early childhood and the
language they have got always be developed. The children usually develop their
language by saying and imitating all of sounds and people behavior in their
surroundings. In acquiring their language, the role of their parents is the most
important, since their parents are always with them in their early childhood and
knowing their children. If in case their parents are intermarriage couple, the
parents must help their children and teach them how to express their feeling by
saying something. It would be more difficult for children of intermarriage couple
than the normal one because their parents have different language and cultures.
Therefore the children of intermarriage couple would receive more than one
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In order to see the language development and the factors that influence the
language development of intermarriage child in acquiring the first language,
therefore there is an intermarriage child as the subject of this study to see the
differences of language development and to know the factors influencing the
language development of intermarriage children and normal children.
1.2 Problems of Study
There are two following problems to be analyzed through this study:
1. What are the development stages of Tonya Walsh Yudi in acquiring her
first language especially her English vocabularies?
2. What are the factors influencing the language development of Tonya
Walsh Yudi?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study 1.3.1 General Objective
The General objective of this study is to fulfill the undergraduate degree
from Faculty of Arts in Udayana University.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives
There are two specific objectives of this study:
1. To identify the development stages of Tonya Walsh Yudi in acquiring her
2. To identify the factors influencing the language development of Tonya
Walsh Yudi.
1.4 Scope of Discussion
In this study, the discussion would focus on the language acquisition of
Tonya Walsh Yudi as an intermarriage child especially in her English vocabulary.
There are some points to be discussed in this study; the development stages of
Tonya Walsh Yudi in acquiring her first language and the factors influencing the
language development of Tonya Walsh Yudi.
1.5 Research Method
Based on Iswari (2010:3), in producing a piece of scientific writing, a
study must use methodology to get the structural scientific writing. Research is a
process of finding something systemically which requires time, uses scientific
methods and valid values. Methodology is systematical steps in doing research,
used to examine certain problems in accordance to the research. This research
used qualitative method because it is not using statistical data. It was explained
descriptively with some related explanation. The research method in writing this
research is classified into four points, those are; choosing the relevant data
sources, how the data was collected, how the data was analyzed, and how the data
was presented.
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There are two types of data obtained to support the discussion of this study.
They are primary data and secondary data. The primary data to support this study
was obtained by observing Tonya directly for three months in using language to
communicate with her parents and from the interview results of Tonya’s parents
named Peter John Walsh and Ni WayanYudiani on October 27, 2015. This is the
personal data of Tonya as the subject of this study.
Name : Tonya Walsh Yudi
Gender : Female
Address : Jimbaran Cliffs Hotel Nusa Dua, Gedong Sari Street
xxx, Mumbul
produce vocabularies especially in English. Her age is known as the critical age or
critical period. Critical age or critical period means the period of child that he/she
becomes more critical to the surrounding, especially critical to a language.
Therefore, her parents also gave many efforts to her in acquiring her first language
acquisition. The efforts of the parents could be seen by the results of the
interview.
Meanwhile, secondary data of this study was obtained from the books,
thesis and articles in Journal International related to the discussion of this study.
The secondary data must be relating to the theory used in this study. The purpose
of obtaining the secondary data from the books, thesis, and journal are to support
the primary data taken from Tonya as the subject of this study and to see the
strength, the weakness and the relevance between the previous study and this
study.
1.5.2 Method and Technique of Collecting Data
The data sources in this study have been taken from “Tonya” as the
primary data. The primary data relating to this study was collected by observing
Tonya directly and giving an interview to Tonya’s parents. The method used in
collecting the data is in accordance with the need of the study.
In this study, the data of Tonya as the primary data was obtained by using
the participatory observation, because Tonya as the subject was observed directly
once a week on the weekend for three months. Tonya was observed for three until
five hours directly. Meanwhile, the data from Tonya’s parents was obtained by
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be answered. Therefore, based on the information given by her parents, the data
relating to the discussion of this study are obtained. Meanwhile, the books,
articles, and thesis relating to this study as the secondary data was obtained by
library research method.
The technique used in obtaining the data from Tonya and her parents is by
note taking and recording. The information obtained from the results of
interviewing Tonya’s parents was noted on a piece of paper randomly.
Meanwhile, the information obtained from observing Tonya directly was
recorded. The data obtained by interviewing her parents and by observing Tonya
directly would be supported by the secondary data. The secondary data was
collected from the books, articles and thesis relating to Tonya’s case to support
the primary data taken from Tonya as the main subject of this study.
Therefore, the technique used in collecting the data is firstly, make and
arrange a list of the questions. Secondly, make an appointment with Tonya’s
parents and do an interview with Tonya’s parents based on the question. Thirdly,
make small note about the information given by Tonya’s parents. Fourthly,
observe Tonya directly in using the language. Finally, the primary data obtained
from the result of interviewing Tonya’s parents, observing Tonya directly and the
secondary data obtained from library research have been collected. All of the
collected data was analyzed by some theories related to the language
1.5.3 Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
There are two kinds of data analysis. There are statistic and non statistic
analysis. The non statistic analysis is suitable for the qualitative data and it is done
without doing statistic calculation. Meanwhile, statistics is suitable for the
quantitative data and it is done by doing statistic calculation. In this thesis, the
qualitative method and the descriptive technique was used in analyzing the data
because there are no statistics calculations in the data. In this study, the collected
data was analyzed by qualitative method. The collected data were further analyzed
based on the theory of language development proposed by Owens (1992) and
innateness theory by Chomsky (1968). The analysis was correlated to the
formulated problems.
Since the data in this study was analyzed by descriptive technique,
therefore there are several steps in analyzing the data source. Firstly, the data of
Tonya as an intermarriage child was arranged one by one. Secondly, the data of
Tonya as the main data of this study obtained from the interview results of her
parents and the result of observing Tonya for three months was compared with the
language development with the normal children based on the theory. Therefore, in
this step, the differences between Tonya as an intermarriage child and the other
normal children in acquiring the first language could be seen. Thirdly, the
language development of Tonya using more than one language could be compared
with the language development of the children that use only one language.
Fourthly, the data obtained from the parents related to their effort in helping their
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analysis would identify the effort that Tonya’s parent did for their child in using
the first language and other factors influencing the language development of
Tonya. Finally, the formulated problems could be answered clearly.
1.5.4 Method and Technique of Presenting the Data
This study uses the descriptive method in presenting the data related to the
subject of this study. There are two problems discussed in this study. In order to
answer the first problem, the data were classified into some categories of language
development of children generally based on Owens. The analysis of the language
development categories were explained descriptively with the example for each
category. Then, the data was compared with Tonya as the subject of this study.
Meanwhile, in order to answer the second problem, the factors that influence
Tonya in acquiring her language are also classified with the deep explanation of
10 2.1 Literary Reviews
The literary review is the description about the strength and the weakness
from previous studies and how the relevancy between the previous study with
this study. In supporting this study, there are three reviews of previous thesis and
two international articles collected as the references of this study.
2.1.1 Thesis Reviews
The first undergraduate thesis is from Risnawati (2008) entitled “First
Language Acquisition of Second Year Old Children in Terms of English
Vocabularies and The Structure of Sentences”. In this paper, she explained the
background of her study from the general to the specific. In her study, there are
three problems, those are; first, how is development of the language acquisition
of second year old children acquiring English vocabularies and second is how
the structure of the sentences of second year old children and the third is what
are the factors influencing language development in acquiring English
vocabularies and the structure of their sentences. In solving the formulated
problems, she gave three theories, those are behavioristic, nativist, and
functional. She explained it clearly based on the theory. That is the strength of
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background; she did not tell the differences between the first language
acquisition and the second language acquisition.
Second, she does not tell the reason why she chose the topic as her study.
Third, in the data source, she does not mention the reason why she chose second
year old children as her object in her study. Fourth, the method and technique of
collecting and analyzing the data need more elaboration. The last, in the literary
review, she explained four literary reviews but she did not tell the relevance
between her study and the previous study. Her study used the same theories with
this study; therefore the review of her study is needed. The purpose is to
compare her study and this study.
The second undergraduate thesis is from Iswari (2010) entitled “The
Parents Influences to Children in acquiring English Vocabulary through
Reading Story Books”. She wrote about the acquiring vocabularies of children
through reading book. In the background she explained the background from the
general to specific one. In this study she gave two formulated problems, those
are how is the language development of the children by using the story book in
children’s language learning process and what is the factor influencing the
acquisition of new English vocabulary children. She also explained the aim and
the scope of her study. She used participatory observation method in collecting
the data because the observer could be as a part of the related situation and was
able to involve in the conversation and see directly the children’s process of
acquiring English Vocabulary. She also has object in her study; those are Kirana
Handayani. In the data sources, she explained the reason in choosing those
children as her object in her study. In literary review, she also gave clear
explanation about the strength, the weakness, and the relevance between her
study and the previous study. She gave theory from Lee (1979) and Berry
Eisenson (1973) in solving the formulated problems. Meanwhile, there are two
weaknesses of her study; first, the writer did not explain the statistical of
vocabularies of the children generally. Second, in the method and technique of
analyzing the data, it needs more elaboration. This study is more focused to the
parent’s influencesin acquiring the language of their children. Based on Iswari’s
work, the parent’s influences of Tonya could be compared with the other
parents’ influences to help their children to communicate.
The third undergraduate thesis is from Triningsih (2013) entitled “The
Language Development by the Children in Acquiring English Vocabulary
through the English Children Music Video”. Triningsih discussed about the
development of children language, especially in acquiring English vocabulary
using English Children Music Video. She explained the background from
general to specific. First, she explained what the language is. Second, she
explained what the meaning of the language acquisition and she explained it
more specific. She also explained the reason in choosing the title and using
English children music video. Based on her opinion, children are the good
imitators and they have own way to learn English, they usually repeat what they
see and hear. Therefore, videos of English children songs are used to acquire
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repeating English words. In this thesis, Triningsih discussed about the
effectiveness of Music Video to support young children in learning English and
the responses given by the children after watching the music video to acquire
English vocabulary. The discussion of the study is focused on the behaviorist
theory which describes the imitation, the reinforcement, and rewarding to
mentalist, empiricist, and rationalist theory.
The study is limited to the preschool, age 3-5 years old which focuses on
the effectiveness of English children music video in acquiring English
vocabulary. The videos are obtained from you tube and the objects are the
children with the stage of age between 3-6 years old in TK Negeri Negara. In
method and technique of collecting data, she made direct observation to the
children. The data was analyzed qualitatively and presented descriptively. In this
study, there are also three review of previous study and one international article
related to her study. However, Triningsih did not explain the reason in choosing
the children in TK Negeri Negara as her objects in her study. In the research
method, it needs more elaboration especially for the data source, method and
technique of analyzing the data. The theories in her study are also used in this
study, therefore the review of Triningsih’ work is needed to compare her study
and this study because it is related to each other.
2.1.2 International Articles Review
The first international article is from Dominic and Bill Rowe entitled
“Comprehension outscores production in language acquisition: Implications for
many more words than they are able to produce. Without exception, a child
appears to understand various words that they do not use in their own speech.
The results of their analysis are used to test three different theories of speech
perception. Those are motor theory, common representation theory, and pattern
recognition theory.
Motor theory assumes that motor processes are necessarily recruited for
speech perception. Speech provides a natural domain for a motor-theory account
because speech perception and speech production appear to be so tightly linked.
A motor theory of speech perception contains different assumptions for different
theorists but they all tightly link speech perception with speech production. A
common representation theory claims that the same representation exists for
both comprehension and production. Comprehension could be viewed as a
recognition task whereas production could be considered a recall task, and recall
is necessarily more difficult than recognition. Meanwhile, the third theory
assumes that speech perception and speech production and their acquisition
could not be based on the same underlying representation. Speech perception
follows prototypical pattern recognition processes whereas speech production
involves intricate motor processes that attempt to match a speech target.
They analyze data from the MacArthur-Bates Communicative
Development Inventories (CDI) to determine 1) if difficulty of articulation and
parental input frequency influence perception and production equivalently and 2)
assess whether equivalent representations can account for perception and
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This article shows the six partitions of the individual results of 1089
children based on the number of words produced, giving the range and average
of the number of words produced, the range and average number of words
understood, and the number of cases contributing to each partition of the
analysis. The author make two analysis, they are individual analysis and group
analysis. The author also gives an example of the results for an individual child,
the words understood and produced for a child who understood 121 words and
produced only 17. They also give the number of times speech segments occurred
in initial position for understood and said words for this child. The author also
shows the table to show that the child was able to understand words with all of
the 22 possible initial phonemes but could produce words that begin with only 7
different phonemes.
Meanwhile, for each unique word in database, they pooled the results
across the 1089 children. The total number of children that were scored as
saying the word and understanding the word was treated as dependent measures,
as was the difference between understood and said words. Their goal was to
determine what variables might influence saying or understanding a word and
whether there might be dissociations between perceiving and saying a word. On
the other hand, correlations between perception and production might appear to
be a more direct method to assess the relationship between understood and said
words.
The article also explains about the correlations with difficulty of
and concreteness, and correlations with word length, segment probability, and
neighbors. Therefore, the conclusion of the analysis is that the correlation
analyses with all words overall and the lexical classes nouns and action words
show a somewhat more robust correlation of difficulty of articulation with words
said than with words understood. This result is particularly impressive because
the range of understood words was larger than that of said words so that ceteris
paribus a larger correlation with understood words would be expected. This
result points to different processes involved in speech perception and production
and their acquisition. Future work should be extended to new and more elaborate
databases.
This article could be as the reference in observing Tonya in acquiring her
language especially her vocabularies because in her age the vocabulary would be
more developed. This article also gives three theories in learning vocabulary.
Therefore, this article is suitable to this study in order to compare Tonya with the
object of this article in learning vocabularies based on the theories, Meanwhile
this article is quiet difficult to understand because in the methodology, the
explanation is not clear. The explanation would be better if it is identified clearly.
The second international article is from Stephen D Krashen entitled
“Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning”. Krashen
concerns with the Monitor Theory, which hypothesizes that someone has two
independent systems for developing the ability in second language acquisition.
Those are subconscious language acquisition and conscious language learning.
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is more important. In this article he devotes a brief statement of the theory and
its implications for different aspect of second language acquisition theory and
practice. He also defines acquisition and learning, and presents the monitor
model for second language performance.
According to Khrasen, subconscious language acquisition requires
meaningful interaction in the target language-natural communication in which
speakers are not concerned with the form of their utterances but with the
messages they are conveying and understanding. Meanwhile, conscious
language learning is thought to be helped a great deal by error correction and the
presentation of explicit rules. Error corrections are maintained helps the learner
come to the correct mental representation of the linguistic generalization. The
fundamental claim of monitor theory is that conscious learning is available to the
performer only as a monitor. In utterances are initiated by the acquired system,
the fluency in production is based on active communication. The formal
knowledge of the second language, the conscious learning, used to alter the
output of the acquired system.
In this article, Krashen also shows the influential factors in learning the
language. The factors are the formal and informal Linguistic environments. The
formal learning environments are the best for attaining second language
proficiency, while other studies also show that the informal environments are
superior. It is argued that informal environments promote real language use
(communication) are conducive to acquisition, while the formal environment
Based on the article from Krashen, it would be helpful in comparing
Tonya with this study because this study would emphasize the second language
acquisition of Tonya in acquiring English vocabulary because Tonya is already
six years old. It means that Tonya already gets the second language acquisition
from her environments. Unfortunately, in other hand, this article is difficult to be
understood because there is no example in each explanation. E, g; in the formal
and informal linguistic environments, Khrasen does not give the example of
formal linguistic environments and the informal linguistic environments.
2.2 Concepts
The concepts of this study are based on the applied linguistics. The
concept, which would be presented here, are:
2.2.1 The concepts of Language
According to Chomsky (1968:47), knowing a language means being able
to produce an infinite number of sentences never spoken before and to
understand sentences never heard before. Chomsky refers to this ability as the
‘creative aspect” of language.
According to Rice-Johnston (2008), language is the process or set of
processes used to ensure there is the agreement between the sender and receiver
for meanings assigned to the symbols and the schema for combining them used
for each communication.
According to Sapir (1921), language is the material or medium of
literature. Literature may move on the generalized linguistic plane or may be
19
Style as conditioned by inherent features of the language. Prosody as
conditioned by the phonetic dynamics of a language.
Based on those three concepts, the most relevant of the language concept
is from Noam Chomsky because he said that by knowing a language means
being able to produce an infinite number of sentences that never spoken before
and to understand sentences that never heard before.
2.2.2 The concept of First Language Acquisition
According to Bowerman (2007), the first language acquisition is the
determining how children learn to talk and understand, while the goal of
linguistic typology is to discover deep regularities in patterns if variation across
languages.
According to Crain & Lillo-Martin (1999), the language acquisition is the
process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use
words to understand and communicate. It involves the picking up of diverse
capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. However,
learning a first language is something that every normal child does successfully
without much need for formal lessons. Language development is also a complex
and unique human quality but yet children seem to acquire language at a very
rapid rate with most children’s speech being relatively grammatical by age three.
Based on those two concepts of the first language acquisition, the most
relevant with this study is the concept of Crain and Lillo-Martin. It is because
lessons but also it could be obtained from their environment. It relevant with this
study, since Tonya as the intermarriage child could obtain her first language by
her environment.
1.2.3 The Concept of The Language Development
The term language development could be used in both an individual and a
societal sense. It is commonly used among psychologist and educators with
reference to individuals to refer to phenomenon of child language acquisition
(how infants acquire language).
Ferguson (1968) defined language development at the societal level as
primarily dealing with three areas of concern, those are:
- Graphization : It means the development of a system of writing
-Standardization : It means the development of a norm that overrides
regional and social dialects, and
-Modernization: It means the development of the ability to translate and
carry on discourse about the broad range of topics in ways characteristic of
industrialized, secularized, structurally differentiated, ‘modernized’
societies.
These development activities are now generally known as language
planning activities, subsumed specifically within what is called “corpus planning
(Cooper 1989).
Ethnologue defines language development is the result of the series of
21
effectively use their languages to achieve their social, cultural, political,
economic, and spiritual goals.
According to raisingchildren.net.au one of the Australian parenting website
said that language development supports your child’s ability to communicate, and
express and understand feelings. It also supports thinking and problem-solving,
developing, and maintaining relationships. Learning to understand, use and enjoy
language is the critical first step in literacy, and the basis for learning to read and
write.
Based on three definitions of language development above, the most related
to this study is the definition of Australian parenting website which stated that the
language development is the development of children to communicate, express
and understand the feelings.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
The research in this study is based on applied linguistics subject. The
analysis was analyzed based on behaviorist, innateness and language development
theory. The central idea of behaviorist theory is children imitate adults. Their
correct utterances are reinforced when they get what they want or are praised.
Meanwhile the central idea of innateness is a child's brain contains special
language-learning mechanisms at birth. Those theories are used in analyzing this
study because those theories related to Tonya’s case. Therefore in acquiring her
first language, she imitates her parents’ behavior and it is also supported by her
Based on Ibrahim (2010), the behaviorist psychologists developed their
theories while carrying out a series of experiments on animals. For example rats
or birds, they could be taught to perform various tasks by encouraging
habit-forming. It also would happen to the children or infant, if they do some activities
continuosly and they get motivation to do that, it could form their
habit. Moreover, by looking at the adults behavior the children could imitate
adults behavior, because they have ability to remember and imitate what they
looking at.
Then the behaviorist, Skinner proposed this theory as an explanation for
language acquisition in humans. In Verbal Behavior (1957), he stated:
"The basic processes and relations which give verbal behavior its special
characteristics are now fairly well understood. Much of the experimental work
responsible for this advance has been carried out on other species, but the results
have proved to be surprisingly free of species restrictions. Recent work has shown
that the methods could be extended to human behavior without serious
modifications." (Cited in Lowe and Graham, 1998, p68)
Skinner suggested that a child imitates the language of its parents or
carers. Successful attempts are rewarded because an adult who recognizes a word
spoken by a child would praise the child and/or give it what it is asking
for. Successful utterances are therefore reinforced while unsuccessful ones are
forgotten.
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Besides there some truth in Skinner's explanation, however there are many
objections to it, such as:
1. Language is based on a set of structures or rules.
2. The vast majority of children go through the same stages of language
acquisition.
3. Children are often unable to repeat what an adult says
4. Few children receive much explicit grammatical correction.
Based on behaviorism theory which is stated that, if the children do some
activities continuosly and they get motivation to do that, it could form their habit.
They could get their first language acquisition by imitating the behavior of the
people around them. Every people acquires their first language in early childhood
and the language they have got always be developed. The children usually
develop their language by saying and imitating all of sounds and people behavior
in their surroundings.
In the behaviorists’ theory, there are several limitations; therefore
Chomsky published a criticism of the behaviourist theory in 1957. In addition to
some of the arguments listed above, he focused particularly on the impoverished
language input children receive. Adults do not typically speak in grammatically
complete sentences. In addition, what the child hears is only a small sample of
language.
Chomsky (1968) concluded that children must have an inborn faculty for
language acquisition. According to this theory, the process is biologically
linguistic information at birth. The child's natural predisposition to learn language
is triggered by hearing speech and the child's brain is able to interpret what she/he
hears according to the underlying principles or structures it already contains. This
natural faculty has become known as the Language Acquisition Device (LAD).
This ability enable the human to learn any language in this world. For example,
the LAD already contains the concept of verb tense. By listening to such forms as
"worked", "played" and "patted", the child will form the hypothesis that the past
tense of verbs is formed by adding the sound /d/, /t/ or /id/ to the base form.
Based on those two theories, the language development of Tonya as an
intermarriage child could be shown. The data of Tonya used more than one
language would be compared to the children used only one language. Meanwhile,
based on the innateness theory, the children have an ability to manage the
language process. A child's brain contains special language-learning mechanisms
at birth. The theory is also related to Tonya because based on this theory she has
had her ability learning by herself in acquiring her first language. There are four
theories of first language acquisition, however in this study, the behaviorist and
innateness theories were used to analyze the first formulated problem because
those theories are related to Tonya as the object of this study.
Meanwhile, the language development theory proposed by Owens
(1994:72-73) is the general child development chronology, with emphasized on
four related but separate developmental areas. Those are physical, cognitive, socio
emotional, and communicative growth. He identified the development of a child
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Physical development refers to physical growth and motor control. Cognitive
development is intellectual growth. Cognitive development also involves the
methods a child uses to organize, store, and retrieve information for problem
solving and generalization. Socio emotional development is closely related to the
other three areas. Physical size, intellectual growth, and communication abilities
all contribute to a child’s perceptions of themselves and others. As the children
mature, they become less egocentric and more social. Finally, communicative
development is also related to the other developmental areas. The development
and use of linguistic symbols depends upon attaining certain cognitive, social and
motor skills. Speech requires the physical growth of certain neuromuscular
structures and motor control of their functions. Based on this theory, the
development of Tonya in acquiring her language would be compared with the
development language chronology of children generally based on four
