What is Language Acquisition?

•The process of attaining a specific variant of human language.

The process of learning a native or a second language.

         Although how children learn to speak is not perfectly understood, most explanations involve both the observation that children copy what they hear and the inference that human beings have a natural aptitude for understanding grammar. Children usually learn the sounds and vocabulary of their native language through imitation, and grammar is seldom taught to them; that they rapidly acquire the ability to speak grammatically supports the theory of Noam CHOMSKY and others that children are able to learn the grammar of a particular language because all intelligible languages are founded on a deep structure of universal grammatical rules that corresponds to an innate capacity of the human brain. People learning a second language pass through some of the same stages as do children learning their native language.

What is Language?

•A system of symbols and rules that enable us to communicate

•A symbolic code used in communication

•The systematic, meaningful arrangement of symbols

There are three theories of language acquisition:

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• Imitaion Theory - Children hear speech around them and copy it. When a child is raised in a English speaking environment they aquire english.  Although, mistakes such as over-generalization "goed" and "bes" are predictable and consistent.

• Reinforcement Theory - The way in which adults coach children when using language by praise and by correcting the children.  Parents may sometimes correct the truth of the statement rather than the form. The children's mistakes are often rule goverened (by perhaps always adding the suffix -ed to form past tense).
• Active Construction of a Grammar Theory - Rules are hypothesized by the linguistic inputs recognized by childrens acquiring language. As children continuously recieve lanuage input their language is revised to more and more become a model of adult grammar. This accounts for the fact that children can create novel sentences unlike those heard from adults.
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