ACQUISITION AND LEARNING FACTORS INFLUENCING ACQUISITION OF A LANGUAGE …

Hi, friends!

This module discuss about language
acquisition and language learning.

The factors influencing the acquisition
of a language,

like the learner factors, environmental
factors and infrastructural factors

are dealt in detail.

Acquisition and learning.

Language acquisition is the process by
which humans acquired the capacity to

perceive and comprehend language. As well
as to produce and use language.

Acquisition is implicit and subconscious
which take place in an informal situation.

According to Stephen Christian 1985,
language acquisition does not require

extensive use of conscious grammatical
rules and tedious drill.

Acquisition requires meaningful
interaction in the target language,

natural communication in which speakers
are connected,

not with the form of their entrances but
with the messages they are convenient

and understanding.

Language acquisition encompasses the
development of

four interdependent systems.

Pragmatic: communicative use of language
in a social context;

Phonological: perception and production of
sounds to form words;

Semantics: processing of meaning

and grammatical use of syntactic and
morphological rules to combine words

into meaningful sentences.

The phonological and grammatical systems
constitute the language form.

The pragmatic system describes

how language should be adapted

to specific social situations

in order to convey emotions

and reinforce meaning.

The term acquisition is used for L1

and the term learning is associated
with L2.

Children acquire language through a
subconscious process

during which they are unaware of
grammatical rules,

that is no deliberator for to learn the
language.

They pick up language in informal
situations.

Language acquisition is implicit, and
effortless as meaningful communication

occurs in natural environment.

While communicating the message in the
text is given more important

rather than the form.

... connected through feedback or
when they hear the correct usages.

Later on, they can cut it themselves

when they become masters of linguistic
generalizations.

They will be confident in using the
language in the real life situations.

Language learning is explicit and
conscious

and takes place in a formal situation.

The rules of the language are taught
directly

and learning is the product of formal
instruction.

It is learning about a language.

Children have the conscious knowledge of
the new language, and can talk about it.

They can memorize the rules to solve a
grammatical problem,

but when it comes to the practical level
of using the language

it may not work.

In the case of second language,

all the third or the fourth language,

this is what happens.

Whatever that is learned

meaningfully and naturally, is retained
and will become acquired.

Factors influencing acquisition.

Language learning is a habit formation,

and so,

if one's acquired it becomes automatic.

According to Paul Roberts:

"When we learn the first language,

we face the universe directly

and learn to clothe it with speech.

When we learn a second language,

we tend to filter the universe through
the language already known."

By the time the child learns a second
language,

he is familiar with the system of
mother tongue.

He has to set aside the rules and sets of
his mother tongue

to invite the habits of a new language.

Factors influencing acquisition can be
broadly classified into three.

They are:

Learner factors.

Infrastructural factors.

Environmental factors.

The learner factors.

The learner factors influencing the
acquisition of a language are mainly:

Psychological, Physiological and
Sociological.

Factors like aptitude, attitude,
interest, personality,

multivision, age, sex, intelligence and
learning styles come under this.

Aptitude

Aptitude refers to the potential for
achievement.

According to Carrol,

foreign language aptitude consisted of
four independent abilities.

They are:

Phonetic coding ability.

The ability to identify and memorize
new sounds.

Grammatical sensitivity.

The ability to demonstrate awareness

of the syntactic patterning of sentences
of a language.

Root learning ability.

The ability to learn associations between
sounds and meaning.

Inductive ability.

The ability to identify similarities and
differences

in grammatical form and meaning.

It is not necessary that successful
language learners

are strong in all the envolved components.

Details can identify students
requirements,

and select appropriate strategies to
accommodate

their differences in aptitude.

Personality

The personality characteristics we
can affect

language acquisition are:

Extroversion, introversion,

self esteem, anxiety, etcetera.

Personality may be a major factor in the
acquisition of oral skills,

not in reading and writing skills.

Introverted or anxious learners

make slower progress

especially in communication skill.

They try to get away from opportunities
to speak,

and express themselves.

The extroverts will take risks.

They will not worry about the mistakes,

and make the advantage of opportunities
to interact.

Motivation

This is a strongly favor intrinsic
motivation.

Intrinsically motivated learners, try
for excellence,

autonomy and self-actualization.

A supportive and non-threatening learning
atmosphere,

naturally creates motivation.

Through various activities, tasks and
learning materials in the class,

the teacher can increase students interest
to learn language.

A felt need, develops both intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation.

Learning styles

Learning styles is an individuals natural
habitud

and preferred way of absorbing,

processing and retaining new
information and skills.

... 1995.

Each individual is different,

and process information in their own
unique ways.

Types of learning styles are: perceptual
learning style,

and cognitive learning style.

Perceptual learning style include:

visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

Visual learners have a preference for
seeing.

Auditory learners best learn through
listening.

And tactile or kinesthetic learners
preferred to learn through experience;

That is:

moving, touching and doing.

Cognitive learning style, are the mental
mechanisms

that process the incoming information
through different sources.

Each individual learner has his own way
of processing information

or approaching a task.

This is known as his cognitive style.

According to Ellis:

"Cognitive style is a term used to refer

to a manner in which people perceive

conceptualize, organize and recall
information.

While designing learning activities,

the teacher has to consider the students
with valid learning styles.

Age

Age is one of the characteristics which
affect language acquisition.

Learners who have a solid skill in their
own language,

are found to acquire a new language
more easily.

Motivated adults learn language more
easily,

but struggles to achieve correct
pronunciation

because of the problems of the transfer

of the habits of native language.

They feel it difficult to recognize the
sounds of the ... in language.

Young children show greater flexibility

in identifying the sounds of the language,

remembering them and reproducing them.

They are less conscious about the mistakes
made,

and already to correct the mistakes
without hesitation.