1. First Language Acquisition
What Is Language? Language is a human system of communication that uses arbitrary signals,
such as voice sounds, gestures or written symbols. It is the human ability to acquire and use
complex systems of communication and a language is any specific example of such a system. It
enables humans to express their feelings, thoughts and ideas through verbal and non-verbal
sounds, symbols and gestures.
Language Acquisition: Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the
capacity to perceive and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and
sentences to communicate.
First Language acquisition: Language acquisition usually refers to first language acquisition
which studies infants’ acquisition of their native language or mother tongue. It studies how
children start understanding and speaking their first language.
It is distinguished from second language learning which deals with the learning of additional
languages both in children and adults.
Biological Clock Of First Language Acquisition: The process of language acquisition in human
infants does not occur haphazardly. It takes place in a sequenced series of events called
biological clock of child’s language acquisition. This biological clock is correct and same for all
the human infants. Biological clock of human infant’s process of first language acquisition was
given by Lenneberg and it can be written as:
Language Utterances Age
Crying Birth
Cooing 6 weeks
Babbling 6 months
Intonation pattern 8 months
1 word utterance 1 year
2 word utterance 18 months
Word inflections 2 years
Questions, negatives 2.5 years
Complex structure 5 years
Mature speech 10 years
In this biological clock, the age of onset is approximate but the order of events is always fixed.
Stages Of L1 Acquisition: There are six stages of L1 acquisition in children.
1. Pre talking stage (0-6 months)
2. Babbling stage (6-8 months)
3. Holophrastic stage (9-18 months)
4. Two-word stage (18-24 months)
5. Telegraphic stage (24-30 months)
6. Multiword stage (30+ months)

2. Pre-talking Stage: (0-6 months) During this stage, infants start their earliest vocalizations in
form of involuntary crying, cooing and gurgling-sounds showing satisfaction, comfort or
discomfort. They start paying attention to speech intonations and rhythms. Laughter appears
around four months of age.
Babbling stage: (6-8 months) At this stage children start producing sounds like ba-ba-ba and ga-ga-
ga. They start uttering different vowels and consonant sounds. They mostly babble most
common consonant sounds.
Holophrastic stage: (9-18 months) At this stage infants utter their first recognizable word like
mama, papa.
Two-word stage: (18-24 months) By 2 years, children start speaking in sentences made by
combination of two words, e.g. ‘baby chair’, ‘mommy eat’. Their vocabulary moves beyond 50
words. Their sentences lack morphological, syntactic and grammatical structure.
Telegraphic stage: (24-30 months) By 2 and a half years, children start producing multiple word
sentences, e.g. ‘cat drink milk’, ‘daddy go bye-bye’. Their vocabulary continue to grow and their
pronounciation become better.
Multiword stage: (30+ months) By age 5, children start speaking complete sentences. They ask
questions, give commands, narrate events etc. By age 6, the child knows about 13000 words. By
age 8, they know about 28,300 words and their grammar become approximately like adults.
Theories of L1 Acquisition: In a broader sense, many theories and approaches have been
emerged over the years to study and analyze the process of language acquisition. Three basis
main theories are:
1. Imitation or Behaviorism theory
2. Innateness or mentalist theory
3. Interactionist or Developmental perspective theory
 Imitation or Behaviorism theory: B.F Skinner put forwarded the behaviorist theory
as THE OPERANT PROCESs. This theory states that language acquisition is a process
of imitation, and reinforcement. It argues that children learn to speak by imitating
the utterances heard around them and strengthen their responses by repetition,
correction and other reactions that adults provide. Thus language is practice based.
According to this theory Children start out as clean slates and language learning is
process of getting linguistic habits printed on these slates. So, language acquisition is
a process of experience and children acquire their first language step by step, which
are as following:
1. Imitation
2. Repetition
3. Memorization
4. Controlled drilling
5. Reinforcement

3. Reinforcement is of two types:
1) POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT: Positive reinforcement results in increase of repetition process.
For example, a child cries for candy, he receives the candy and learns that crying results in
candy.
2) NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT: Negative reinforcement results in reduction of repetition
process. For example, a child cries for candy, but he is slapped and he learns that slap is the
consequence of crying. As a result the child ceases crying for the accomplishment of his
desires.
Skinner named this process of learning by repeated training and reinforcement as Operant
Conditioning.
 Innateness or Mentalist Theory: In conflict to the Behaviorist Theory, Noam
Chomsky presented “Innateness Theory” also known as “Mentalist Theory” in
1960’s.
This theory was of the view that children are born with an innate capacity for language
development .Chomsky said that children are biologically programmed for language and
language develops in the child in the same way of other biological functions.
Chomsky said that the innate knowledge in the child is embodied in a little black box called
language acquisition device(LAD).
LAD: It contains all and only principles which are universal to all human languages. The child
exploits its LAD to make sense of utterances heard around him ,deriving from this primary
data present in LAD –the grammar of the language.
Chomsky than expanded the idea of LAD into Universal Grammar , a set of innate principles
and adjustable parameters that are common to all human languages. The presence of
Universal Grammar allows children to deduce the structure of their native language from
mere exposure . Primary data present in LAD and Universal Grammar is then used to make
sentences or structures after a process of trial ad error , correspond to those in adult
speech.
 Interactionist or Developmental Perspective Theory: This theory was presented by
Vygotsky. It states that language acquisition is an example of children’s ability to
learn from experience. It says that what children need to know is essentially
available in the language they are exposed to. Language develop in children by their
interaction with the environment in which they develop.
Vygotsky argued that language develops primarily from social interaction. He
observed the importance of conversations which children have with adults and with
other children and saw in these conversations the origins of both language and
thought. This theory gives more importance to the
environment but they also recognize a powerful learning mechanism in human
brain. They say that the developing cognitive understanding is built on the
interaction between the child and the things which can be observed, touched and

4. manipulated.
Piaget says that language is not based on a separate module of mind. It can be
explained in terms of learning in general. He says that language acquisition is similar
to the acquisition of other skills or knowledge and language can be used to
represent knowledge that children have acquired through physical interaction with
the environment.
Second Language Acquisition:
Second Language: A language other than the mother tongue that a person or community
uses. It is usually learnt for public communication, trade purpose, higher education and
administration.
Second Language Learning: It is the process by which people learn a second language.
Different techniques can be used for L2 learning, such as, classroom lectures, graphic
organizers, maps, charts or by directly observing and interacting with native speakers.
Benefits: There are many benefits of learning a second language.
1. It increases brain health.
2. It can provide better job opportunities.
3. It improves cognitive ability of a person.
4. One can experience new cultures.
5. It increases attention abilities.
6. It effects one’s way of seeing the world.
Factors effecting L2 Learning: There are many factors which effect L2 learning. There are
two types:
1. Internal factors
2. External factors
Internal factors: Internal Factors are those that the individual language learner brings with
him or her to the particular learning situation.
Age :
second language acquisition is influenced by the age of the learner Children who have solid
literary skill in their own language are in a last position to acquire a new language
efficiently motivated ,old learner have to usually struggle to achieve native speakers
equivalent pronunciation and intonation.
Personality:
Introverted or anxious learner usually make slower progress, particularly in the
development of oral skills . They are less likely to take advantage of speaking or seeking
apportunities outgoing students will not worry about making mistakes. They will take risks,
and will give themselves much more practice.
Motivation:
Intrinsic motivation is correlated strongly with educational achievement students who enjoy
language learning and take pride in their progress will do letter than those who don’t

5. Extrinsic motivation is also significant factor. ESL student who need o learn English in order
to take a place at an American University or to communicate with a new English
boy/girlfriend are likely to make greater efforts and greater progress.
Experiences:
Learners who have acquired general knowledge and experience are in a stronger position to
develop a new language .The student who has already lived in 3 different countries and
been exposed to various languages and culture has a stronger base for learning a further
language.
Cognition:
generally , students with greater cognitive abilities will make faster progress . some
linguistics believe that there is a specific ,innate language learning ability , that is stronger in
some students than in others .
Native Language:
students who learn a second language which is from the same language family as their first
language have much easier task than those who don’t for e.g. a Dutch child will learn
English more quickly than a Japanese child .
External Factors: External factors are those that are characterize the particular language
learning situation.
1) Curriculum: For ESL students it is important that the totality of their educational
experience is appropriate for their needs. Language is less likely to place if students are
fully submersed into the main stream programme without extra assistance or
conversely not allowed to be part of the main stream until they have reached a certain
level of language proficiency.
2) Instructions: Some language teachers are better than others at providing appropriate
and effective learning experience for the students in their class rooms. These students
will make faster progress. The science teacher who is aware that she too is responsible
for the students’ English language development and makes certain accommodations will
contribute to their linguistics development.
3)Culture and status: There is some evidence that students in situation where their own
culture has a lower status than that of the culture in which they are learning the language
make slower program.
4) Motivation: Students who are given continuing, appropriate encouragement to learn by
their teachers and parents will generally fare better than those who are not for Example
students from familiar that place little importance on language learning are like to progress
less quickly.
5) Access to Native Speakers: The opportunity to interact with native speakers both within
and outside of the classroom is a significant advantage. Native speakers are linguistic models
and can provide appropriate feedback. Clearly Second Language learner who have no extensive

6. access to native speakers are likely to make slower progress particularly in the oral aspects of
language acquisition.
Comparison between L1 and L2:
Feature L1 acquisition L2 (foreign language)
learning
1. Overall
success
children normally
achieve perfect L1
mastery
adult L2 learners are
unlikely to achieve perfect
L2 mastery
2. General
failure
success guaranteed complete success rare
3. Variation little variation in
degree of success
or route
L2 learners vary in overall
success and route
4. Goals target language
competence
L2 learners may be content
with less than target
language competence or
more concerned with
fluency than accuracy
5. Intuitions children develop
clear intuitions
about correctness
L2 learners are often unable
to form clear grammaticality
judgments
6. Instruction not needed helpful or necessary
7. Negative
evidence
correction not found
and not necessary
correction generally helpful
or necessary
8. Affective
factors
not involved play a major role
determining proficiency