DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

1. STRUCTURALISM

   • SKINNER
     • It considered the human mind as a tabula rasa, and language acquisition as the acquisition of a set of habits through a process of stimulus and response. The right habits were acquired through trail and error, by reinforcing the right responses.

2. LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE

   • CHOMSKY
     • We are able to generate an infinite number of sentences from a limited set of rules

3. COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

   • HYMES
     • Children use the language long before they are able to produce their first recognisable word.

4. DIFFERENCES

   • The learning situation
   • The age
   • Motivation
   • Environment
   • Fossilization
   • Transference
     • Foreignising
     • Direct translation
     • Supergeneralization
     • Simplification

5. SIMILARITIES

   • Development of an interlingua
   • Mental process
   • Contexts

6. FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING IMPLICATIONS

   • Motivation
   • Imitation and repetition
   • Comprehensible input
   • Phases on reflection
   • Silent period
   • Pleasant classroom atmosphere
   • Errors