Language Learning Stages & Theories
The question of how we learn a language has always ignited interest across the group of researchers, psycholinguists and even educationists as they de
Ramji Acharya Kathmandu University, School of Education Introduction The Nature of Acquisition T he question of how we learn a language has always ignited interest across the group of researchers, psycholinguists and even educationists as they design resources and plan lessons (Krashen, 1982; Lightbown & Spada, 2006; Richards & Schmidt, 2002). For the first language (native language), the learning is believed to be subconscious, continuous and immersive. The child starts by understanding various sounds around, reproducing similar sounds and attaching objects to the sounds. Grammar is also learned more through the experience of communicating than through grammatical rules. Hence, the child often addresses herself as the third person in the initial speech, makes mistakes in gender identification, and mispronounces the words. As the exposure to words and languages increases, the child goes on mastering the basic grammar. The child picks up language from the interactions happening aroun…