Comparing and contrasting first and second language acquisition

Comparing and contrasting first and second language acquisition

1. Neurological Considerations

   • Lateralization
     • When?
       • At 2 years old
       • At 5 years old
       • Around puberty
     • How affects language acquisition
       • Up to puberty -relocalize linguistic functions to the right hemisphere
       • Children acquires first and second language- difficult fluent control on the second
   • Right Hemisphere
     • Emotional Social needs
   • Left Hemisphere
     • Intellectual Logical Analytical Language

2. Cognitive considerations

   • Piaget by stages
     • Sesorimotor: 0-2 Preoperational:0-7 Operational: 7-16
     • Most critical: Puberty Formal thinking and abstraction
   • Lateralization hypothesis
     • Child to adult Left hemisphere becomes more dominant
   • Rosansky(1975)
     • Egocentrict
     • Can focus
   • Sullivan(1967) Equilibration
     • Progressive interior organization of knowledge in a stepwise.
     • Language interacts with cognition to achive equilibrium
   • Ausbel Rote-Meaningful Learning
     • Foreign language shouldn’t become excessive rote activity
     • Most items are acquire by meaningful learning

3. Affective considerations

   • Factors: Self-esteem Extroversion Inhibitions Anxiety Attitude Imitation Empathy
   • Peer preassure
     • Adults Tend to tolerate linguistic differences
     • Kids Strong constraints upon them to conform
   • Pre-adolescense
     • Children develop inhibitions about self-identity
   • The language ego (Guiora,1972)
     • Adults Ego= protector Defensive
     • Kids Ego= dynamic

4. Linguistic considerations

   • Compound bilingual
     • One meaning system from which both languages
   • Coordinate bilingual
     • They have two meaning systems
   • Learning two languages is distinguishing separate contexts for two languages

5. Psychomotor considerations

   • Coordination of speech muscles
     • Accent
   • Speech muscles
     • Gradually develop and control of complex sounds
     • Develop to the extent that larynx control sustained cries
     • Virtually complete phonemic control is present in 5 years