Based on the theories of first and second language acquisition, how do you think the average Malaysian student learn English? Discuss your reasons.

Introduction

Young children are natural language acquirers; they are self-motivated to pick up language without conscious learning, unlike adults. They have the ability to imitate pronunciation and work out the rules for themselves. The idea of “English is difficult” does not occur to them unless it’s suggested by adults, who themselves probably learned English academically at a later age through grammar-based text books.

The advantages of beginning early

Young children are still using their individual, innate language-learning strategies to acquire their home language and soon they also use these strategies to pick up English. Young children have time to learn through play-like activities. They pick up language by taking part in an activity shared with adults such their parents and teachers. They firstly make sense of the activity and then get meaning from the adult’s shared language. Young children have more time to fit English into the daily programme. School programmes tend to be informal and children’s minds are not yet cluttered with facts to be stored and tested.
Children who have the opportunity to pick up a second language while they are still young appear to use the same innate language-learning strategies throughout life when learning other languages. Young children who acquire language rather than consciously learn it, as older children and adults have to, are more likely to have better pronunciation and feel for the language and culture. When children reach puberty and become more self-conscious, their ability to pick up language diminishes and they feel they have to consciously study English through grammar-based programmes. The age at which this change occurs depends greatly on the individual