Week 2 discussion post - CLDE 5030
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University of Colorado, Denver *
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5030
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Linguistics
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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docx
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Uploaded by marisol321
Week 2 discussion post
All three readings this week focused on language development and acquisition starting with Infancy. Lightbown and Spada outline the milestones and progression through various milestones and stages of first language acquisition: grammatical morphemes, negations, and questions. I thought this was fascinating because my kiddo is sixteen-months-old right now, so we are right in the middle of this. The Behaviorist perspective (Skinner) is that language is acquired and learned through imitation and practice of the language to which they are exposed. The Innatist perspective (Chomsky)is that children are biologically pre-programed to recognize the language building blocks - or a Universal Grammar - based on the samples of language they are exposed to in early childhood. This is tied to the Critical Period Hypothesis, in which it is difficult or near impossible for language acquisition take place outside of the critical time period in early childhood while all animals learn communication. The idea that learning language and communication structures starts at or even before birth is very interesting. The Interactionist / Developmental perspective (Slobin) focuses on the entanglement and interchange of a child’s ability to learn and their developmental environment, similar to and affected by their ability to learn other skills and knowledge – so their cognitive development is a direct impact and reflection of their language acquisition. Piaget basically theorized that thought comes before language – that language is a system of expressing what one learns by interacting with their physical environment. Vygotsky basically theorized that language and thought are separate systems until children are capable of inner speech, and that thought was inner speech manifested for social engagement purposes. The section about childhood bilingualism (or multilingualism) was interesting because I come from a family of elementary bilingual educators. They are taught
to measure a student’s langue abilities not based on their skills in one single language (the language of school), but in assessing their collective language ability across multiple languages. This is how Lightbown and Spada explain many multilingual students are misdiagnosed as language delayed or developmentally delayed. In the area of code switching, this is a reality of the Spaniglish
household that I grew up in.
Chapters 1 and 3 of Language Development
by Menyuk and Brisk were directed on the lexical development and the pragmatics of language. I really thought it was interesting the correlation they placed on home environment, culture, and a family’s socio-economics in relation to language development. I found the description of translanguaging or crosslingustic behavior fascinating and also a very close reflection of my childhood and the language acquisition I see I my nephews who are being raised in bilingual or multilingual homes. According to Menyuk and
Brisk (2005), “Pragmatic knowledge, or how to speak to whom, under which circumstances, develops through communication interaction between the child, caregivers, and others. Pragmatic development of bilingual learners includes being aware that there are two languages” (p. 6). That cognitive ability to distinguish two (or more) different language patterns and be aware of their differences is amazing. How the phonemic composition and when a child is able to produce those sounds influences their ability to use a word since “[p]honological development
influences word production. Lexical items are acquired earlier in one language as compared to the other when they include sounds that are produced earlier. For example, the word ten is acquired earlier than the word diez
because ten includes consonants acquired earlier” (Menyuk and Brisk, 2005, p. 11).
Although I am sure all of my high school students are unaware of their linguistic environment and their first / native / heart language acquisition was a naturally processes which did not require much of any metacognitive awareness, this information can help inform conversations I have with students and parents, especially in bilingual or multilingual families, as we discuss what to do and how to support their student’s language development in English. I always try to acknowledge and celebrate bilingual or multilingual students’ abilities, but this week’s reading made me much more appreciative of the work that goes into language learning, especially later in
life. As a mom to a sixteen-month-old, this also gives me some ideas about some language play I can have with my little guy as we work on his language acquisition at home.
How can we use their information to better support our emerging bilingual students? How can we leverage this information to help EB students and all students increase their linguistic skills and awareness? References
Lightbown, P. M., & Spada, N. (2013). How Languages are Learned
. Oxford University Press. Menyuk, P., & Brisk, M. (2005). Language Development and Education Children with Varying Language Experiences
. Palgrave Macmillan.
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