Discuss about the Language Learning for Language, Cognition and Neuroscience.
Language acquisition refers to the process by taking recourse to which the human beings can comprehend language. The human beings can produce and make use of words that can help them in the aspect of communication. Language acquisition can be called a quintessential human trait (Ellis, 2015). The non-humans cannot communicate by making use of language. This essay discusses the process of learning of language of the individuals. It also talks about a personal context- my experience as a learner in the language classroom. This essay discusses how language is learned by an individual. It expounds regarding how the individuals develop ability in relation to the using of language. This essay argues that social development plays an important role in the aspect of language acquisition of the children.
Language comprises of many kinds of complex systems and it is learned at a very early stage of life by the children. There are some psycholinguists who have pointed out to the fact that language can be learned with the help of genetically programmed procedure. They are considered to be unique pertaining to language learning. There are others who have stated the fact that general analytic capacity pertaining to human brain can help an individual in working out the language rules that are complex. It can be carried out without any kind of innate knowledge or any kind of special language acquisition procedure (Slobin, 2017).
Plato believed in the fact that the capacity of using language can be considered to be innate by nature. The empirical thinker like John Locke believed in the fact that the life of a human being starts like a ‘blank slate’ and hence there is the existence of no innate ability. Noam Chomsky believed in the fact that the aspect of language learning was hardwired into the brain (Richards, 2015). Chomsky argued on the fact that in the event of language being acquired with the help of behaviour conditioning children would not be able to use the word in the proper place and they would use the word in the incorrect manner. The behaviourist theory of Skinner stresses on the fact that language learning was possible on account of the influence of the environment. Competition model pertaining to language acquisition was developed by Brian Mac Whiney who stated that nature or nurture single handedly cannot acquire language (Larsen-Freeman & Long, 2014). The innate cognitive functions become activated on account of interaction with environment that can help in building the language abilities of an individual.
There are around 5 year old children who have got abundant amount of vocabulary that can help them in communicating regarding the everyday things. It has been seen that individual differences exist among the children in relation to size of vocabulary. It has been found out in the present age that vocabulary size can act as the main predictor in relation to success within the school. The vocabulary of the children is related to the family along with the pre-school environment. The parent-child conversation along with joint book reading has an impact on the vocabulary of the children (Oxford, 2016). The parents who are actively involved with the children and express affection become better capable of learning language more quickly.
All the children learn to talk within a specific period of time but it has been found that differences in relation to parental input is co-related with that of vocabulary of children. It was found that children who hear the most amount of conversation become proficient in relation to learning of language. The conversation of the parents with the children has a grave impact on the aspect of language acquisition of the children. The parents who did not speak with the children had the habit of uttering more prohibitions (Rumbaugh, 2014). The researchers have found out in looking within that of a single socio-economic group it has been found that social class did not prove to be a factor in relation to language acquisition (Whorf, 1940). These studies point to the fact that quality along with quantity pertaining to parent-child conversation proves to be a crucial factor in relation to vocabulary expansion.The Austrian psychologist called Karl Buhler has talked about the functions pertaining to language from the perspective of the individual (Bühler, Schmid & Maurer, 2017). Buhler was responsible for making distinction into that of expressive, conative and representational language. The expressive is indicative of the language that is oriented towards self and the conative language is oriented towards addressee (Benson & Voller, 2014). The representational language is oriented towards that of reality. The conceptual framework of Plato was being used by Buhler pertaining to fist, second and the third person. This can be derived from that of grammar which is on the basis of the fact that verbal systems can be organised around person categories.
The term “repertoire” refers to the strategies along with analogic potential that an individual possess. The term “reservoir” is indicative of total of set and its potential to the whole community. Repertoire of members of the community can have a common nucleus but it is found that differences exist in between repertoires (Matthiessen, 2007).These differences exist on account of differences in relation to the context along with activities of the members (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2016). The shared interpersonal orientation can help in the creation of a semiotic ‘bond’ between that of two people. The bonds can be clustered together into networks pertaining to shared bonds within the communities.
Discourse is indicative of stretch of language that is cohesive and meaningful. It is indicative of the manner of speaking and writing that is ideological. It identifies the language user to be a part of member of that of a certain group. Discourse refers to the socially accepted association in relation to using of language that can help in identifying oneself as a part of a meaningful social group. Discourse points out to the fact that meaning does not exist within us or in the world but in dynamic relation pertaining to living within the world. Communicating with a person about a topic enables an individual in participating within discourse (Breen, 2014). Discourse is an integral part of the everyday lives of the individuals. Discourse is of crucial importance and it is an important aspect in relation to language learning process. There are two kinds of systems that are involved in that of language learning: acquisition along with learning. Acquisition can be said to be product of the subconscious process and learning can be said to be a product in relation to explicit instruction (Rost & Candlin, 2014). The theory of Krashen points to the fact that discourse plays an important role pertaining to language learning as compared to explicit instruction (Jarvis & Krashen, 2014). The emphasis in relation to discourse is on the aspect of communication.
The use of language can be said to be varied and it has got various functions on the basis of the context. The learners can be trained so that they become competent at the aspect of communicating and the model pertaining to verbal behaviour should be contextualized. The simplification of the data can pave the way for artificial kind pertaining to communication. It would deprive the learners like dialect. The process pertaining to acquiring of language is affected by the manner in which an individual becomes a competent member of the society. One can become a competent member in the society by taking recourse to language and by gaining knowledge of the different functions. Culture cannot be considered to be separate from that of care-giver child interaction (Toomela, 2015). Culture helps in organizing and it helps in giving meaning to that of the interaction. There are different kinds of ideas that rise from different use of language within that of one’s culture. The exposure to the surroundings can help the child in becoming individuals. All the individuals are same at the time of birth and the language of the child is shaped by the influence of the society. The behaviours that are acceptable vary from one place to another and the viewpoint of an individual is formed on the basis of these behaviours (Clarà, 2017).
The focus was initially kept on the aspect of micro-scale problem in relation to Penman project by the generating of clauses. Henrici developed a programme that helped in the generation of selection expression from that of system networks (Fredriksson, 2015). The selection expressions was accompanied by that of function structure that helped in the realization of systemic terms in relation to selection expression (Echevarria, Vogt & Short, 2016). Process pertaining to instantiation was held to be an algorithm that can help in traversing the system networks. It has been found that there are different coding orientation that is associated with that of different contexts within that of the complex society. The people from the different classes who had different kind of coding orientation can operate with that of different registerial repertoires.
Parents play an important role in the promotion of positive language growth in the learners. The social environment of the children is integral for the successful learning of language of the children. Children can learn important aspects in relation to language with the help of co-operation of their family and their immediate social environment. The children who are subject to interaction within their social environment can learn language more easily. Language can help the children in sharing the meanings with other people and it helps them in participating within the cultural learning in a manner that is unprecedented. My parents are of Asian origin and my mother language is Urdu. I had stayed in Pakistan till the age of five and later on I had to move to Australia on account of my father’s work. I was more fluent in my mother language as compared to Australian English when I came to Australia. I had to face hindrance in the class on account of the fact that I could not understand properly Australian English. This had made it difficult for me to communicate with my classmates in Australia. I was told bedtime stories in my childhood by a teacher that helped me in learning vocabulary. It helped me in understanding the accent of the Australians that made it easier for me to understand what my classmates were saying. Understanding the tone in which my classmates used to speak was proving to be difficult for me. The theme of the story helped in uncovering hidden aspects in relation to Australian English. We used to talk in our national language Urdu at home so it was proving to be difficult to master the language of the Australians quickly. An English speaking day care helped me in learning different aspects of the language more quickly. I can understand what other people are trying to convey but it was proving to be difficult for me to speak in that language. The day care helped me in communicating with other native Australian kids and it would help me in learning the accent quickly (Sawyer, 2017). In the beginning, I just knew some of the main words and I could not understand the meaning of the majority of the words. Being enrolled in the day care helped me in understanding the intricacies of the Australian language. It helped me understanding the Australian world in a better manner (Poehner & Lantolf, 2014).
Social interaction plays a pivotal role in relation to language development. Chomsky believed in the fact that the humans possessed had innate ability that helped them in mastering the native language (Berwick & Chomsky, 2016). Any other language other than the native language can be learned with the help of the social environment. The social development theory of Vygotsky stresses on the fact that social interaction plays a dominant role in the language development of the children. Social interaction plays an important role in relation to cognitive development. It is in contrast to the child development theory of John Piaget (Ellis, 2015). According to Vygotsky, all the functions in relation to the cultural development of the children appear at two levels. The first exists at the level of social and the second one exists at the level of the individual (Goodman & Goodman, 2014). Children can learn more with the right kind of social environment. It has often been found that the children like to talk to themselves after they have talked to someone of their family. The children engage themselves in re-iterating the sentences of their parents or other family members and this helps them in relation to acquisition of language. The day care where I got the opportunity to talk to other Australian kids helped me in the aspect of learning the Australian English fluently. A teacher telling the bed time stories also helped me in relation to learning of language (Slobin, 2017). I was able to learn the distinctive speech pattern of the Australians with the help of the native way of speaking of my teacher. The biological instincts pertaining to language made me fluent in Urdu as compared to Australian English however with the active help of the social community around me I was able to master Australian English perfectly. There does not exist any context in relation to childcare and I was able to acquire the skills of language acquisition by the playing of role within that of the speech community. Piaget on the other hand believed in the fact that learning is dependent on that of biological aspects (Toomela, 2015). He does not believe in the concept of a social context. I did not hear the Urdu language in Australia and this paved the way for the forgetting of the nuances related to my mother tongue. The social atmosphere plays a dominant role in relation to language acquisition of the children.
Conclusion:
Language consists of complex system and it is mastered at an early age by the children. There exists some psycholinguists who have stated that one acquires language with the help of their biological genes. This helps the small child who is around 5 year old to have such a vast vocabulary in relation to the mother tongue. The parents conversing with their children play an important role in language acquisition pertaining to the children. The parents who did not interact much with their children faced hindrance in relation to learning of language. Discourse indicates the fact that meaning is not existing within the individual or within that of the world. Acquisition can ne put forward as a subconscious process. Discourse plays a pivotal role pertaining to language acquisition when compared to that of explicit instruction. Parents have an important role to play in relation to promoting the positive language. Social environment of the child plays a crucial role in relation to successful learning of the children. The children who do a lot of interaction in the ambit of their social environment can learn language more rapidly. The speech pattern of the native Australian teacher helped me in the arena of learning the Australian English quickly. Being enrolled in the day care helped me in the aspect of learning the Australian English.
References:
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