WRITTEN REPORT OF PSYCHOLINGUISTICS

Psycholinguistics course code 5655

HOW DO YOU THINK A CHILD ACQUIRES HIS/HER FIRST LANGUAGE? WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE FACTORS THAT HELP IN ACQUISITION OF FIRST LANGUAGE? DISCUSS IN DETAIL WITH REAL LIFE EXAMPLES FORM YOUR SURROUNDINGS.

THE REPORT IS BEING SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS, ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE DEGREE OF DIPLOMA OF TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (TEFL)

SUBMITTED BY

NAEEM HAIDER YAZDANI

AP 504248

COURSE CODE 5655

DATE OF SUBMISSION

NOVEMBER 01, 2012

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS, ALLAMA IQBAL OPEN UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD PAKISTAN

DEDICATION

This Research Oriented Activity is dedicated to my parents, and teachers.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all I am very thankful to Almighty Allah who is the most beneficent, the most merciful and have the power to create things with one word “Kun”. This project was impossible for me without his divine help.

I am grateful to all the Teachers who shared their knowledge with me throughout Tutorials scheduled for Diploma TEFL program and enabling me to reach this level and to accomplish this Research Oriented Activity. Specially, I am grateful to Professor Izhar ul Hassan my Teacher for this course whose guidance was continuously with me throughout this whole activity.

I am also gratified to my friend Hafiz Qaiser Hassan for his help during this activity. Thanks to all my friends for their encouragement.

Naeem Haider Yazdani

AP504248

Table of Contents

OBJECTIVES:

1.1 & THEORIES OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISTION

1.1.2 CHOMSKY’S MENTALIST THEORY OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISTION:

1.1.3 SKINNERS BEHAVIORIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE ACQUISTION:

1.1.4 FACTORS EFFECTING FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

1.1.5 Real Life Examples of Acquiring First Language by a child

2. Conclusion

A): Introduction of the student

B): Bibliography

OBJECTIVES:

1) To know how a child acquires his first Language?

2) To know about the theories of First Language Acquisition.

3) To know about the factors that help in First Language Acquisition.

4) To understand it with real life examples.

SECTION I

1. INTRODUCTION:

1.1 & THEORIES OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISTION

To speak language is a unique feature of human beings. Many psychologists have studied and researched into it that how a child acquires language.

Mentalists (Chomsky and his colleagues) have concluded that the ability to learn language is a genetically inherited skill and we are programmed to talk along with ability to learn language through our brain.

Behaviorist (Skinner and his colleagues) believe that language is learned following birth and is due to environmental factors since after birth the mind of a child is like a blank sheet upon which anything which that child experiences is written and learnt. This is part of the nature / Mentalist vs. nurture / Behaviorist debate.

In this report, We shall take into account the theories related to the topic, factor effecting the first language acquisition, examples of first language acquisition present in our surroundings and then at the end of this report conclusion thereof regarding the Acquisition of First Language by a child.

1.1.2 CHOMSKY’S MENTALIST THEORY OF FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISTION:

The Mentalist Theory/perspective argues that humans are biologically programmed to gain knowledge. The main theorist associated with this perspective is Noam Chomsky.

`Chomsky proposed that all humans have a language acquisition device (LAD). The LAD contains knowledge of grammatical rules common to all languages (Shaffer,et.al,2002).The LAD also allows children to understand the rules of whatever language they are listening to.

Noam Chomsky’s basic argument is that there exists an innate language acquisition device, a neural program that prepares them to learn language (Kandel 638). Chomsky assumes the existence of a genetically determined system of rules, which he refers to as universal grammar, underlying all tongues.

According to Chomsky, a language template is set up by the special "language organ" of the brain. Chomsky does not deny that the importance of environmental factors in language acquisition. His claim is that there exist strict biological invariants governing the function of language.

In explanation of his theory on the ontogenesis of spoken language, Chomsky holds there pre-exists in humans, a language structure that is one of the faculties of the mind, common to the species,? a faculty of language that serves the two basic functions of rationalist theory: it provides a sensory system for the preliminary analysis of linguistic data, and a schematism that determines, quite narrowly, a certain class of grammars. Each grammar is a theory of a particular language, specifying oral and semantic properties of an infinite array of sentences.

These sentences, each with its particular structure, constitute the language generated by the grammar. The languages so generated are those that can be "learned" in the normal way? This knowledge can then be used to understand what is heard and to produce discourse as an expression of thought within the constraints of the internalized principles, in a manner appropriate to situations as these are conceived by other mental faculties, free of stimulus control Chomsky's theory also doesn't explain why there are such large variations in the rate children learn language.

1.1.3 SKINNERS BEHAVIORIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE ACQUISTION:

One of the main psychologists who supported the nurture side was B.F
Skinner. Skinner was a researcher. He put forward the idea that
children learn language because of the influence of the environment.
Skinner believed that parents would provide more attention and
pleasurable reactions when the infant made correct sounds or
utterances. This way the child would gradually learn to speak and use
language. The child would respond to the smiles and approval of the
parents. Skinner explained this as operant conditioning; the
reinforcement of a random response by a reward. By trial and error the
child would learn to communicate.

Core to all of behaviorism is the assumption that human and animal behaviors are determined by learning and reinforcement. Whether by classical conditioning or operant conditioning, species acquire new skills, depending on the effects these skills have on the specie's environment.

If an action proves to have a positive outcome (e.g., if by pressing a button, a rat receives food), the organism is more likely to continue to repeat this behavior. However, if the outcome is negative (e.g., if by pressing a button, a rat receives a shock), the organism is less likely to repeat the behavior.

Skinner, and Stimulus-Response (S-R) adherents, believed that behaviorist theory could be used to infer a learning history. They held that one could take an animal or person, observe its/his/her behavior, and figure out what had been reinforced previously.

Behaviorist reduced all responses to associations, to a pattern of positive and negative reinforcement that establishes links between stimuli and their environmental antecedents and consequences. Responses that were reinforced would be repeated, and those that were punished would not.

Thus, if a dog brought its human a ball and the human pet it, the dog’s behavior would be reinforced, and it would be more apt to getting the ball in the future. Likewise, if the dog brought its human a ball and the human kicked it, the dog’s behavior would be punished, and it would be less likely to do it.

These associations between stimuli, actions, and responses could explain virtually every aspect of human and animal behavior and interaction, but one seemed particularly problematic for the behaviorist theory of language. In 1957, Skinner published his book, Verbal Behavior, in which he attempted to apply his form of operant conditioning to language learning.

A basic assumption of his was that all language, including private, internal discourse, was a behavior that developed in the same manner as other skills. He believed that a sentence is merely part of “a behavior chain, each element of which provides a conditional stimulus for the production of the succeeding element” (Fodor, Bever, & Garrett, p25).

The probability of a verbal response was contingent on four things: reinforcement, stimulus control, deprivation, and aversive stimulation. The interaction of these things in a child’s environment would lead to particular associations, the basis of all language

1.1.4 FACTORS EFFECTING FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

a. INNATE QUALITY:

Mentalist theorists argue that children are not blank slates. They come into the world with abilities that help them to acquire language. Children rely on an innate language acquisition device, which allows them to attend to language sounds in the environment, organize linguistic data into categories, know the possibilities for organization of a linguistic system (Universal Grammar), and evaluate their developing linguistic system to make it as simple as possible (Omaggio Hadley 1993).

b. STIMULUS/INCENTIVE AND RESPONSE:

Promoters of behaviorism, such as Ingram (1989: 58), consider that First Language Acquisition is the result of imitation, practice, habit formation and appropriate feedback. In their first attempts to speak, children imitate the sounds and patterns they hear around them and receive positive reinforcement for doing so.

These imitations are not random. Unlike a parrot, children‟s imitation is often selective and based on what they are currently learning. Ingram's theory is closer in its features to the psycholinguistic approach, which depends on two axes in language learning, namely stimulus / response. Children pick out patterns of language mainly through input from adults and other caregivers and then try to create new forms and new uses of words until they finally figure out how the forms are used by adults. Their new sentences are often comprehensible, but not necessarily correct. This view of First Language Acquisition, however, is strongly opposed by innatists/Mentalists.

c. AGE:

There appears to be a critical period for the acquisition of a first language (Brown, 1999; Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999; Yang, 2006). Children who have been seriously neglected or imprisoned and have not had exposure to language may experience delayed language development and may never learn to use language like others of their age (Yang, 2006).

d. ENVIRONMENT/MULTILINGUALISM:

The use of two or more languages in the home can affect language development. Some researchers claim that multilingualism can lead to a slight delay in early language development, but others have not found support for such a delay (Baker, 2006). Multilingualism may lead to earlier development of metalinguistic awareness (Gass & Selinker, 2001).

e. GENDER:

Male children generally reach language development milestones later than female children (Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999). Some researchers believe that girls get more language input than boys, while others believe that differences in brain specialization are responsible for the discrepancy (Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999).

f. SOCIAL STATUS:

Social Status (Socio-Economic Status) has been correlated with vocabulary growth and literacy development in some studies (Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999; Hart & Risley, 1995). Differences may arise because of different use of language by caregivers or because of differential access to quality schools and literacy materials (Hart & Risley, 1995).

g. EDUCATION:

Development of literacy skills and academic language depends on access to formal schooling. Early childhood programs may promote language development (Hart & Risley, 1995).

h. SPEECH AND LANGUAGE DISORDERS:

Children with speech and language disorders may have difficulties with the comprehension and/or production of language (cite). They may also have difficulties with pronunciation cite. Speech therapy and alternative and augmentative communication devices can help these children to communicate cite.

i. HEARING:

Babies who are hard of hearing and whose hearing difficulties are not detected can experience a delay in language development (Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999). Babies who are Deaf and are raised with sign language have normal language development Michnick Golinkoff & Hirsh-Pasek, 1999).

1.1.5 REAL LIFE EXAMPLES OF ACQUIRING FIRST LANGUAGE BY A CHILD

My cousin lives in my neighborhood and his wife is a clever lady. What I have observed she always encourages her baby to speak however she is only six months old and you will not believe she (the Baby) gives response to every moment of her mother. It means that the factor of stimulus is working over here.

On the right side of my house, a Blacksmith lives. His son has same age like my cousin’s daughter but he does not give any response to her mother because she remain always busy in household work along with other children and did not try to speak to him. So he gives less response due to the non-availability of the efforts made by his parents.

A boy having age of almost two years only speaks few words but a girl of his same age understands and speaks a lot of words successfully.

My own daughter who is only two years of age gives sharp response to the words spoken by me and always repeats words heard by her. She is in age of learning about words and language. She clearly says that “Mama ,Papa laptop per bethay hain”. Her observation of things is also very good, sometimes she gives me the thing I needed within no time although she only have heard that I have spoken about that thing.

On the other hand my elder daughter who is five years of age, never gives so sharp response. I have checked many times while asking her to give me that thing but she always search the things in the style although they might be present before her eyes.

Once I have been provided an opportunity by my colleague to teach the children of a major who was in service living in Lahore cantt and he was Pathan. He has three sons having age of 14,12 and 4 years respectively. His youngest son always spoke successfully the mother tongue of his parents which was Pushtoo. His mother when ever felt need to rebuke them she always spoke Pushtoo before me because I don’t have any knowledge of Pushtoo. But I felt that all of his children were caught in a complex situation because they were supposed to learn their mother tongue which was Pushtoo along with Urdu, Arabic for Quran, English and Punjabi also which was also used in their surroundings, so by this example I want to explain that except the mother tongue, none of the language of his children was satisfactory. So by this example we can see that environment and other factors are also have deeper impact on the first language acquisition of a child.

The efforts on the part of parents also play vital role in first language acquisition of a child. When my daughter observes me while reading a book she always inquires that papa tiya ter rahay hain? and I always reply that beta I am reading a book. I also have bought play group books for her and she by efforts is now able to tell her whole ABC with names of all the things present in her book. I also use the factor of reinforcement for her learning of language by giving her some biscuits and toffees whenever she tells all the book without any wrong answer.

2. CONCLUSION

The Comparison presented in this report indicates that the Mechanism for acquiring First Language Acquisition is complex, and it represents different difficulty for different people who believe on both the Theories. Despite the importance of the all the factors in facilitating First Language Acquisition in the environment, learning takes place outside the classroom. Moreover, maintaining satisfactory degrees of accuracy and fluency does not imply communicative competence.

Lightbown and Spada (2001: 25) argue that the ability to communicate is the ability to use the appropriate terminology for the situation and the ability to use various types of language in terms of formality and informality. It also includes the ability to employ idioms and fixed expressions in reasonable contexts and the ability to use various discourse genres; and the ability to manipulate the light side of language.

In this research oriented activity for the First Language Acquisition (FLA), I tried to concentrate on age factor, language input, the methodology present in First Language Acquisition (FLA) other than classroom, and the psychological factors. I think the impact of these factors on First Language Acquisition (FLA) is great particularly on the Children preparing to go for school. I also believe that enough exposure to sufficient input and interaction with proficient language speakers are the fundamental elements in creating a proficient new language learner (Child), and that this is not impossible.

SECTION II

A): INTRODUCTION OF THE STUDENT

Last degree obtained:	M.A ENGLISH
Organization’s name:	PUNJAB FORENSIC SCIENCE AGENCY ,HOME DEPARTMENT THOKER NIAZ BAIG LAHORE
Designation:	Assistant (ADMIN)
Experience:	3 Years