Language is an interesting phenomena and the process of learning it is nothing short of intriguing. It can either be got naturally, or pedagogically, and this brings us to the study of language acquisition and language learning in linguistics.
What is Language Acquisition?
Language acquisition is a natural process of getting yourself acquainted with the knowledge of speaking a language. It is a natural process because it is not a pre-planned learning approach, neither is it structured. Language acquisition is a process of learning a language that takes place within the environment in which a person is born—immediate environment.
It takes place at the early and formative stages of a person's life, ranging from ages 0-12. Although the age bracket may differ from one school of thought to the other, the fact remains that it occurs at the early and developmental stages of a person's life. In acquiring a language, a child—adults cannot acquire language—picks from the sounds he or she hears people in their immediate environment utter as they grow.
The child develops from actively listening to these sounds, to imitating them as a means of communicating with those in their immediate environment. This is when they start making, mostly, incomprehensible sounds until they grow to a point where they can imitate intelligible words they may have heard from their parents, siblings, neighbors or friends.
At this point, they are incapable of forming complete sentences and can only express themselves in phrases. For instance, a child of about 2 or 3,may say "Hot! Hot!! Hot!!" when the food they are being fed is too hot for them.
As they grow, they become capable of speaking complete sentences that are not only intelligible and comprehensible, but also grammatical.
Some of the advantages that are associated with this form of language acquaintance process include;
- The child will learn the language of their immediate environment as their first language.
- They will learn the native language variety of the language since they will be learning it from native speakers.
- The child will be able to speak the language more fluently than second language learners.
- They will be able to carry out critical thinking in the language as well as interact perfectly well with other speakers of the language.
What is Language Learning?
Language learning is a language acquaintance process, different from language acquisition, that involves the acquisition of a language through pedagogical means. This means that it is a process of language acquaintance that is both pre-planned, structured, and a conscious effort on the part of the learner because it takes place in an educational institution.
Due to the fact that it is not a natural process, it entails an adult or young adult enrolling in a language learning school, in order to be thought how to use a particular language for different reasons.
Some of the reasons why people learn a language besides their first language include the following:
- To be able to integrate into a new society and culture.
- For economic purposes such as doing business with foreigners.
- For tourist purposes.
Since language learning is adopted by people who already have acquired their first language from their immediate environment growing up, they often encounter challenges in the process of learning a new language.
Some of the challenges they face may include:
Sound Differences
The sound system of the second language they are trying to learn may be very different from that of their first language, and so this can make it difficult for them to learn the pronunciations of the second language as well as how to speak it. For instance, a Chinese man trying to learn English as a second language will encounter these difficulties.
Grammar Differences
The system of grammar of the language a person is trying to learn as their second language, may be more complicated and broader than that of the learners first language, thus making it more difficult to learn the language. For instance, an Igbo man trying to learn the English language, will encounter challenges in learning the English grammatical system for many reasons: one of which is that in English language, the adjective comes directly before the noun, while reverse is the case in Igbo language as well as many other Nigerian languages.
Cultural Difference
It is said that knowing a language is knowing its culture and knowing a culture is knowing its language. Since language and culture are tightly woven together, second language learners by default will have to learn the culture of the language, which may be a stark contrast to the culture of their first language, hence posing a great difficulty for them in learning the language.
Mother Tongue Interference
Due to early exposure to their first language and living in the same environment as native speakers of the language, second language learners tend to adopt the accent of their first language which usually plays out when they attempt to speak the second language. Not only is their interference in speaking, but also in grammar as well as in sentence formation. Basically, they are faced with a clash of language and culture with their first language wining most of the battles, until such individuals are able to strike a balance between them, and become conscious of their boundaries, knowing where one language starts and the other ends.
While there are cons to learning a second language, there are also pros and perks to it.
Some of the pros of learning a second language include the following:
- Access to well-crafted materials that will facilitate a person's learning or a language.
- The second language learner gets professional introduction to the grammar of the language, something those who acquired their language from their immediate environment and natural causes do not get access to.
- Second language learners are taught all they need to know about a language in a systematic and well-ordered manner, to ensure that they learn a language the proper way, unlike language acquisition that entails learning a language through bits and pieces.
- Second language learners enjoy the luxury of job opportunities to work as translators, tour guides, mediators in transactions for foreign countries, etc.,. This is as a result of the certificate they are honoured with upon completion of their programs.
What was your first language and what can you remember about how you acquired it?
Let me know in the comments section!
So both language acquisition and language learning are processes of language acquaintance. While language acquaintance is a naturally occuring process of learning a language, language learning is a deliberately orchestrated process of learning a language from an educational institution. Both processes are instrumental to learning language, and every or most bilingual or multilingual has been through them, since we get out first and second language through these means. Understanding language acquisition and language learning, will better inform you on how to differentiate between the various ways by which language is learnt.
Read more:
- Lexicology in Linguistics: Understanding the Study of Lexis in Langue
- Dialect in Linguistics: Understanding the Varieties of Language
- Morphology in Linguistics Explained: The Internal Structure of Words