...223N SEI English Language Teaching: Foundation and Methodologies May 13, 2012 Professor Jervell Language Acquisition Principles Paper The article that I read was entitled Delicate Balance: Managing the Needs of ELL Students by Jon Nordmeyer. I chose this article because it discussed the different ways to ensure that English language learners (ELL) can be successful during their academic years as well as in their personal lives. Here are the different ways that I will talk about and they are how students are learning English, how to integrate, and best ways for collaboration lastly how to implement staff development. I will explain each one and how it will enhance Individual language learning plan (ILLP). Since the 1990’s ELLs students make up a growing number of students in the U.S school system and it is very important as educators that we support linguistically diverse students by first understanding the terminology. It is more accurate and inclusive to refer to students as ELL rather than saying that they are limited English proficient (Nordmeyer, 2006). Again it is important to understand that ELLs face not only cultural challenges but social and personal difficulties that pertain to learning a different language especially during their academic years. As parents decide when and where to educate their children a home language survey must be completed first in order to decide the Primary home language other than English...
Words: 622 - Pages: 3
...Theories Of First Language Acquisition English Language Essay Imagine a blank template, a white sheet of paper, thats how human being starts off. From a crying baby in a cradle, to babbling, to simple single words, slowly progressing into two-words, then finally a complete sentence, ever wonder how one acquires the ability to produce the language? Linguists throughout the ages have tried to find out how does one ACQUIRE a language, is it a deep structure as claimed by Kimball? Or is it an innate ability, a build-in human capacity propagated by Chomsky? Various theories have arose since language studies came to fore, and the ability to acquire language has interested various parties since the dawn of man. From the dunes of Egypt, Psammeticus, the Pharaoh during the 7 th century BC, believed language was inborn and that children isolated from birth from any linguistic influence would develop the language they had been born with. Fast forward to the 15th century,King James of Scotland performed a similar experiment; the children were reported to have spoken good Hebrew. Akbar, a 16th century Mogul emperor of India, desired to learn whether language was innate or acquired through exposure to the speech of adults. He believed that language was learned by people listening to each other and therefore a child could not develop language alone. So he ordered a house built for two infants and stationed a mute nurse to care for them. The children did not acquire speech, which seemed to...
Words: 5227 - Pages: 21
...Methods * Categories | * Communicative Language Teaching | The Grammar-Translation Method | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Theory of Language * * * * * * * * * * * * * *...
Words: 2417 - Pages: 10
...Memory, Theories on Language Student ID: 21923613 July 12, 2015 Essay Assignment Exam number: 250391 Language learning from what I’ve read starts when you are about a year old. Learning theory approach to language development suggest that “Language acquisition follows the principles of reinforcement and conditioning.” They give one example in our textbook on page 232 about a mother praising her baby for saying “mama” which means the baby is more likely to continue saying it. Once the baby gets older the learning theory approach to acquisition no longer applies, because it has an issue with grammar. A child that might say “Why he walks away?” could be understood by the listeners around so it makes the theory harder to explain. So we might as well jump to our next topic in language acquisition, which is an innate process by nativist Noam Chomsky. Chomsky believed that people shared something called universal grammar. He also suggested the language acquisition device, it’s a neural system of the brain to help the understanding of language. There is also clear evidence from scientist who have helped this innate process they have researched. They have discovered that there are specific places in the brain that contribute to learning languages, and there are certain areas in the mouth and throat that help with new speech. There is also some research on how some languages need a different tone in speech such as pitch to make a words mean different things such as Chinese. In...
Words: 806 - Pages: 4
...in the target language. Nurture • People are born “tabula rasa” (or blank slate) and become who they are through the course of their lives alone alone. • Students need to be taught their language. Naturists vs. Nurturists vs • Noam Chomsky oa C o s y • Stephen Krashen • Gardner • • • • Vygotsky ygots y Piaget Pavlov Skinner The Intelligence Quotient (IQ) • Test created in 1905 to predict which students would benefit from teaching. • Attempts to objectively measure “intelligence” intelligence • Scores are given as numbers that show the test taker’s results relative to others. • When adjusted for age, a person’s IQ generally does not vary greatly over the course of their life. • IQ tests can be given on various skills (linguistic, math, etc) Nurture Theories (Skinner) Behaviorism B h i i • Knowledge and Linguistic ability results from stimulus-response conditioning. • Focus is on controlling behavior not behavior, cognitive processes. •C Concerned only with d l ith observable/measurable behavior. Nurture Methods The Audio-lingual M th d Th A di li l Method • Based on Behaviorism – Positive reinforcement of desired production – Emphasis on “correctness” correctness – Seeks to create language habits – Repetition Nature Theories (Chomsky) Universall Grammar U i G • Humans are born with a Language Acquisition Device that allows us to understand languages in terms of universal principles. Nature Theories...
Words: 772 - Pages: 4
...heories about how young children acquire and develop language Young children become amazingly proficient communicators during the first three years of life. As the Birth to Three Matters framework points out, they use 'the hundred languages of children' - body language (including facial expressions and dance); sign language (their own and family inventions as well as an officially recognised sign language); painting, drawing and mark-making; and oral expression. They have been acutely active listeners since their days in the womb, where they learned to recognise the speech patterns, tunes and tones of the languages used in their home contexts. Language theory research informs us that young children's language development is influenced by many factors, including having sensitive adults and older children around them who will listen and attend to their expressions and who will use and model appropriate language themselves. This has been called 'Motherese' by researchers led by Cathy Snow. Children's babbling during their first year includes the sounds of every world language and 'crib talk' demonstrates their intense interest in the sounds they hear around them. Although children with a hearing loss will stop babbling, if they grow up in a home with parents who can sign, they will follow the same patterns of development using their first language - signing - and will sign their first word at around the same age that hearing children speak theirs. Between two and three years...
Words: 21453 - Pages: 86
...words) * Syntax: rules for combining words into larger phrases (noun phrase/verb phrase/sentences) * Semantics: conceptual meanings of words, and how word meanings relate to each other in sentences. * Linguistic Competence: system of linguistic knowledge possessed by native speakers of a language. * Communicative Competence: ability to use sentences in culturally appropriate ways * Words like ‘rose’ have at least three aspects/pieces of information/aspects, what are they: Sound (phonology), meaning, and a part of speech Part 2: * Behaviorism: child is born with a blank slate, and must learn everything from external environments. 1. Imitation: You say what I say, positive reinforcement, form habits 2. Practice: Repetition 3. Problems: Could form bad habits if not taught properly * Innatism: Nativist theory that we’re born with the ability/hardware to learn the language 1. LAD (Language Acquisition Device): biological hardware in our brain to learn a language—prelinguistical processes, set paarmeters, comes with universal grammar 2. UG (Universal Grammar): small set of principles all...
Words: 580 - Pages: 3
...Research Samantha L. Banasihan Mark L. Banasihan CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND Introduction The importance of English language for enhancing educational attainment through improved communication ability can never be over emphasized. Students who have so much difficulties with their communication skill in English language may not function effectively, not only in English language but in their academic and this is no reason than the fact that English language in Philippines today is the language of text-books and the language of instruction in schools. When English Language proficiency is high, it will definitely affect and improve the academic performance of such students. Nevertheless, where the proficiency in English is lacking in any academic setting, it will definitely lower the academic performance of such students. The competency in English significantly determines performances in intelligence or academic tests. The explanation above seem to suggest that mastery of English language is very importance even in students’ academic performances in intelligence tests, especially when it comes to the issues of Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management education that involves a lot of laboratory and workshop practical in the acquisition of skills. Technical Education is an aspect of education, which leads to the acquisition of practical, basic scientific knowledge which involves special manipulative skills, creative...
Words: 3077 - Pages: 13
...questioned if how is it sure that learning can be determined by the environment the child is in. Then here’s Derek Bickerton (1981) who proposes what human beings are bio-programmed. Like flowering plants, people are innately, or inborn to release certain language from stage to stage. Chomsky states here that knowledge or our ability in language is innate in us when were born. Universal Closely related to the innateness controversy is the claim that language is universally acquired in the same manner, and moreover, that the deep structured of language at its deepest level may be common to all languages. The child’s initial state is supposed to consist of a set of universal principles which specify some limited possibilities of variation, expressible in terms of parameters which need to be fixed in one of a few possible ways (Saleemi 1992:58) In simpler terms, this means that the child task of language learning is manageable because of certain naturally occurring constraints Imitations It is a common, informal observation that children are “good imitators”. We think of children typically as imitators and mimics, and then conclude that imitation is one of the important strategies a child uses in the acquisition of language. Here are some problems with the imitation perspective: Children produce many things not in the adult grammar. (like ‘nana’ for banana), i.e. they produce things not produced by adults. Some people might say that this is simply a consequence of the difficulty...
Words: 473 - Pages: 2
...have shown the complexity and the specific characteristics of bilingual acquisition. Among these fundamental research, we can find Volterra & Taeschner (1978), Grosjean (1989), Romaine (1989), De Houwer (1995) and Genesee (1996), to name but a few. These research have highlighted the fact that Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA) differs in many ways from the monolingual language acquisition that has been viewed as the ‘normal’ acquisition of language in the past. In this essay, the main focus will be on the bilingual-specific characteristics that children inevitably adopt when learning two or more languages simultaneously. We will see that to some extent, bilinguals can be compared to monolinguals. However, this essay will be centred on Grosjean’s quote ”the bilingual is not two monolinguals in one person”. The complex linguistic strategies supported by bilingual datas will reveal the singularity of bilingual language acquisition, which cannot simply be reduced to the idea of two monolinguals in one head. Studies focusing on whether bilinguals can be compared to monolinguals show some biased interrogations greatly influenced by a monolingual approach. However, research comparing bilingual language acquisition with the ‘norm, i.e. a monolingual language acquisition, have allowed us to understand how children who simultaneously learn two or more languages adapt their knowledge of the language in order to communicate. These comparative studies have...
Words: 2272 - Pages: 10
...When a heart breaks When a heart breaks It won't go quietly It screams about your past mistakes Which isn't very lovely I guess I can understand It was once a vibrant being But it took more than it could withstand Without a chance of fleeing Now it lays in a shattered mess At the foot of my bed The pain never hurting any less But I know I must move ahead I know when a heart breaks It may never mend But it always gives and never takes So now I know this is the end Expressing How I Feel It's been a long time now we have been talking on the internet, And my love is growing each day although we have never met. Words can't truly express how I feel about you, You know my love is authentic, you have seen some clues. I was sad and searching for a mate like a lonely dove, And then you came along to bless me with your divine love. And although baby, we are miles apart, Not a day goes by without you in my thoughts. Sure online I have met a lot of girls, But trust me, you are the only girl for me in this world. We are so compatible for each other, I could never feel this emotion again for another. I can't wait for that day when you are really mines, I know it will be soon, just in a matter of time. If loving you is a sin, then I am the devil, Right now my love for you, is at the highest level. Ketika jantung istirahat Ketika jantung istirahat Ini tidak akan pergi diam-diam Ini jeritan tentang kesalahan...
Words: 2156 - Pages: 9
...different from that of an adult and has twice as many brain connections as an adult. Babies are capable of formulating their own native language, which involves usage of different symbols, without any formal assistance. Creativity, sensitivity and imaginations are some of the key extracts of a child’s personality. These youthful traits are highly valued from an evolutionary perspective: the more species evolve, the more they carry youthful traits into adulthood (a process called "neotony" or "holding youth"). It is imperative that we, as educators and parents, help preserve these genius characteristics of children as they mature into adulthood, so those capacities can be made available to the broader culture at a time of incredible change. Language is defined as “Any code employing signs, symbols, or gestures used for communicating ideas meaningfully between human beings”. There are three language acquisition theories by Skinner (Behavioristic) Infant learn by imitation and have no prior knowledge of language, Chomsky (Nativistic or psycholinguistic)Child is prewired for language development and the environment triggers its emergence, Piaget(Interactionistic) Language occurs through fixed developmental stages. CHOMSKY’S THEORY: Noam Chomsky was a believer of the idea that every human infant has an inherited capacity to learn any human language. He stated that a child’s mind has some linguistic configurations embossed on it, on the basis of their accurate usage by the...
Words: 1506 - Pages: 7
...PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE 1.1 Introduction Learners nowadays have different ways of learning the second language and they also have various levels of competencies with grammatical structure of English language. English language became the new lingua franca it is usually used as a medium of instruction. But in order to teach the second language also known as the English language, one must know how to apply different techniques and strategies in teaching English as a foreign language. After all, there is no single best way to teach the English language but there are many ways to do. And it is the main role of the teacher to become flexible enough in applying various techniques in developing the level of competency of the learners. Moreover, grammar is the essentials of language. The means to say that in order to learn the English language, a learner must know when to use a certain tense, word form, knowing how to explain and apply the rule and the right expression. Consequently, teaching English grammar is tricky as there are just so many exceptions to rules, irregularities of word forms, and other that even if you do know your grammar rules, you are probably going o need some help hen providing explanations (http://esl.about.com). Accordingly, the study of grammar began with the ancient Greeks, who engaged in philosophical speculation about language and described language structure. This grammatical tradition was passed on to the romans, who translated the greek names for the...
Words: 6662 - Pages: 27
...of Languages, Linguistics & Literature DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH CONCEPT PAPER For Seminar Paper By JUVELLE S. CRISTOBAL MAT – ELA June 16, 2012 1st Semester, 2012-2013 A. Title B. Introduction * Rationale * Research Questions C. Review of Related Literature * Foreign References and Related Studies * Local Context and Related Studies D. Methodology * Respondents * Data Gathering Procedure * Research Design * Data Analysis E. Timetable for Research F. References TITLE A Syntactic and Comparative Analysis of Phrase Structure Rules Used in the Written Diagnostic and Term Composition of Freshmen Computer Secretarial Students in Bulacan Polytechnic College (Obando Campus) INTRODUCTION Rationale It is said that language learning is the product of formal instruction and it comprises a conscious process which results in conscious knowledge ‘about’ the language, for example knowledge of grammar rules. Although ‘language learning’ is considered less important than language acquisition, most of what is learned has been coming from the formal teaching in school. It is also said that the acquisition of grammatical structures follows a ‘natural order’ which is predictable. For a given language, some grammatical structures tend to be acquired early while others late. It can be derived that language learning could also be predictable and that grammatical structures are learned in an orderly manner controlled by the series of language teaching...
Words: 2735 - Pages: 11
...the child’s culture and their interactions with others is significant in their overall development – especially in relation to cognitive development. In particular, Vygotsky views a child’s interactions with adults and more able peers as key to their overall development. He believed that a child would internalise dialogues with others and use this information to guide actions and acquisition of new skills on later occasions. From Vygotsky’s perspective learning is dependent on support from adults. Key to Vygotsky’s theory are the notions of private speech, scaffolding and the zone of proximal development. Key ideas ❖ the child is viewed as an active seeker of knowledge; ❖ the child and environment interact together enabling cognitive development in a culturally adaptive way; ❖ the mind is perceived to be socially constructed; ❖ the child is born with basic attentional, perceptual and memory capacities; ❖ development occurs as a direct result of contact with the environment; ❖ child as self communicator – leads to higher order thinking; ❖ language and thought develop independently, but eventually merge and interact. Private speech Vygotsky believed that in order to learn children must speak to themselves in a self guiding and directing way- initially aloud and later internally. He believed that as children develop and become more competent in a particular area, they begin to internalise this speech and gradually...
Words: 2308 - Pages: 10
