Learning a First Language
3 2
Coos (dengkuran)
Babble ‘ba-ba-ba’ (ocehan) Utters Bye-bye (ucapan)
Children all over the world have the high degree of similarities in attaining their early language.
Milestones & Patterns in L1 Acquisition Development
Spontaneous crying when babies are hungry or uncomfortable
Cooing and gurgling sounds of
comfortable babies looking at bright shapes and colour.
Being able to hear very subtle differences between the sounds of human language (‘pa’ and ‘ba’)
By the end of
the 1st year Understanding quite a few frequently
At 12
months Beginning to produce a word or two that everyone is familiar with. Between 12
months to 2
years old Understanding and producing words grow rapidly. By the age
of 2 Producing at least 50 different words and even more. Creatively combining words into simple
sentences by leaving out articles, prepositions, auxiliaries verbs, etc (e.g. ‘more outside’ for ‘I want to go outside again’)
By the age of 3-a-half
By the Age of 4
(Pre-school years)
Mastering (knowing and being able to apply) the basic structures of the language (s) which have been spoken to them in these early years.
Wug test : here is a wug. Now there are two of them. Baby: There are two …….
Having the ability to understand and to use language which is developed rapidly.
5 years old Metalinguistic awareness develops. It includes the discovery of such things as ambiguity
Early childhood Bilingualism
Simultaneous bilinguals:
Children hearing more than one language practically from birth.
Sequential bilinguals:
Early childhood Bilingualism
Myth
Learning more than one language in early childhood slows down the child’s linguistic or cognitive
Research evidence
Simultaneous bilinguals who are in contact with both languages in a variety of settings, will progress in their development of both languages at a rate and in a
manner which are not different from those of
Early childhood Bilingualism
Subtractive bilingualism
Children who are practically cut off from their family language because they are ‘submerged/sunk’ in a
second language for long periods in early schooling or day care
Subtractive bilingualism
Some cases:
Children are trapped between 2 languages: not having mastered the second language not having continued to develop the first
Solution often suggested by some educators:
Subtractive bilingualism
Evidence:
It is more effective that parents, who themselves are
learners of the majority language, should continue to use the language which is most comfortable for them.
The children may prefer to answer in the majority language.
No evidence that a child’s brain has a limited capacity for languages (their knowledge of one language must shrink if their knowledge of the other grows).
Developmental Sequences
Developmental sequence/ stages:
Developmental sequence
Which of the following grammatical morpheme that comes first, next, and last?
Articles ‘the’ and ‘a’
Present Progressive –ing (Mommy running) Irregular past forms (Baby went)
Plural –s (two books)
Possessive ‘s (Daddy’s hat)
Copula (Annie is a nice girl)
Auxiliary ‘be’ (He is coming)
Third person singular simple present –s (She runs)
Developmental Sequences
Children’s Sequences in developing
Grammatical
Morphemes
in English as their first language.
Researcher: Roger Brown Time of research: 1960s
Respondents: Adam, Eve, and Sarah Respondent’s First language: English
Research objective: to find out how the children acquired 14 grammatical morphemes over time
Developmental Sequences
Children’s Sequences in developing
Grammatical
Morphemes
in English as their first language.
List of grammatical morphemes studied by Roger in order of their acquisition by Adam, Eve, and Sarah:
Present Progressive –ing (Mommy running) Plural –s (two books)
Irregular past forms (Baby went) Possessive ‘s (Daddy’s hat)
Copula (Annie is a nice girl) Articles ‘the’ and ‘a’
Regular past –ed (she walked)
Developmental Sequences
Children’s Sequences in developing
Grammatical
Morphemes
in English as their first language.
Mastering the grammatical morphemes at the bottom is
surely having mastered the grammatical morphemes at the top. However, the reverse is not true.
The children did not master the morphemes at the same rate.
Eve: nearly masters all before 2.5 years old
Developmental Sequences
Children’s Sequences in developing Negation in
English as their first language.
Researcher: Lois Bloom
Respondents: Kathryn, Gia, and Eric Respondent’s First language: English
Developmental Sequence in negation
Stage …..
Daddy no comb hair Stage ……
No go. No cookies. No comb hair
Stage …..
You didn’t have supper. She doesn’t want it. Stage …..
Developmental Sequences
Stages in the development of negation
Stage 1
No go. No cookies. No comb hair
The child’s negatives are usually expressed by the word ‘no’
Stage 2
Daddy no comb hair
The negative usually appears just before the verb and the subject is included.
Stage 3
I can’t do it. He don’t want it.
The negative element is inserted into a more complex sentence. Negative forms other than no is used.
Stage 4
You didn’t have supper. She doesn’t want it
The negative element begins to be attached to the correct form of
Developmental Sequences
Stages in the development of Question
There is a surprising consistency as well in the way
Developmental Sequence in question
Why you catch it? Stage
Cookie? Mommy book?
Developmental Sequences
Stages in the development of Question
Stage 1
Cookie? Mommy book?
Earliest questions are single
words or simple two- or three-word sentences with rising intonation
Stage 2
You like this? I have some? Why you catch it?
Longer question but use the word order of the declarative sentence.
Stage 3
Can I go? Is that mine?
Is the teddy is tired? Do I can have a cookie?
Begin to notice that some elements must appear at the
Developmental Sequences
Stages in the development of Question
Stage 4
Do you like ice cream? Can I eat the cookie? Where I can draw them?
Begin to use subject-auxiliary inversion. Sometimes they can either use inversion or use wh -word but not both. Therefore, we may find inversion in ‘yes/no’
questions but not in wh-question.
Stage 5
Why can he go out? Why he can’t go out?
Combine both operation but still hard. Therefore, they may negate the question as well as invert it.
Stage 6
I don’t know why can’t he go out
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Behaviorism
Language learning is the result of imitation,
practice, feedback on success, and habit
formation (imitating sounds and patterns,
practicing the sounds and patterns, getting
feedback, continuing practicing the sounds and
patterns until forming ‘habit’ of correct use of
language use).
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Behaviorism
Children imitate new words and sentence
structures until they become solidly
grounded in his language system, and
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Behaviorism
Do you think that children imitate
everything that they hear?
No
The inadequacy of behaviorism theory
Children sometimes repeat themselves or produce a series of related ‘practice’ sentences but rarely imitate the other speaker. They also elaborate on the speaker’s questions or statements, pick up patterns and then
The inadequacy of behaviorism theory
Chomsky: logical problem of language acquisition.
Children come to know more about the structure of their language than the basic of the samples of language
which they hear.
The language the child exposed to in the environment is full of confusing information (incomplete sentence, slip of the tongue) and does not provide all the information
which the child needs.
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Innatism
In reaction to what is considered as the inadequacy of the behaviorist theory of learning based on imitation and habit formation, Chomsky (1959) proposed his theory of learning—innatism.
Background: children’s minds are not blank slates to be filled merely by imitating language they hear in the
environment.
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Innatism
Innatist position: The environment makes a basic
contribution-in this case, the availability of people who speak to the child. The child or the child’s biological
endowment/gift will do the rest. In another word, children are born with a special ability to discover for themselves the fundamental rules of a language system.
The special ability is called LAD (a Language acquisition Device) or Universal Grammar (UG).
LAD, containing a set of principles which are common to all languages, prevents the child from going off on lots of wrong paths in trying to discover the rules of the
Theoretical Approaches to explaining
first language learning: Innatism
For LAD to work, the child needs access only to samples of natural language which serve as a trigger to activate the device. Once it is activated, the child is able to
discover the structure of the language to be learned by matching the innate knowledge of basic grammatical
relationships to the structures of the particular language in the environment.
Lenneberg observed that the LAD works successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time—a time called the ‘critical period.’
Theoretical Approaches to explaining first
language learning: Interactionist
Interactionist
: focuses on the role of
linguistic
environment
in interaction with the child’s
innate capacities in determining language
development.
+
=
Child’s innate capacity
Child’s
environment
Theoretical Approaches to explaining first
language learning: Interactionist
Theoretical Approaches to explaining first
language learning: Interactionist
Jean Piaget—an interactionist (in Gisburg and
Opper in 1969):
Observation: infants and children in interaction with adult. Finding: development of children cognitive thinking: things
as object solidity, logical inferencing (which materials cause some sticks to sink and which materials cause some sticks to float on water).
Conclusion: the development of the child’s cognitive
Theoretical Approaches to explaining first
language learning: Interactionist
Lev Vigotsky
Famous with his interactionist view, the sociocultural theory of human mental.
Theory: language develops entirely from social interaction.
In a supportive interactive environment, the child is able to advance a higher level of knowledge and performance than he or she would capable of independently.
Vigotsky refers to what the child could do in interaction with another, but not alone as Zone of Proximal Development (the level of
Crucial element in the language acquisition in relation to the linguistic environment of the child:
Modified interaction:Language which is modified to be suitable to the capability of the learner/child directed
speech (speech used to make a child understand what we are saying).
e.g. A: pintunya sudah di buka. Masuk saja. Learner: apa?
A: saya sudah membuka pintu nya. Jadi anda bisa masuk kedalam ruangan.
