1. Running Head: Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition 1
Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition
Juan A. Rosales
Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción

2. Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition 2
Abstract
The following essay is intended to express the main ideas of different authors about language. The main
ideas and concepts of three documents are going to be mentioned, emphasizing important aspects of language in
general.
The first document is called “First and Second Language Learning”. The first language learning process
is where the children, unconsciously, interact with their families expressing their immediate needs and receive
minimal feedback. On the other hand, Krashen (2003) suggests that the second language learning process
usually occurs in adultness where the learner learns consciously and formally. In addition, they learn to satisfy
present or future needs, and follow rules.
The second document it is called “Second language Acquisition and Second Language Learning”.
Researchers declare that someone who is acquiring a second language is prone to be influenced by his first
language. Newmark (1966) called this “interference”, and occurs when the knowledge about the second
language is little.
The third document has two parts. The first one is called “First Language Acquisition” which has the
following main idea: “humans are born with innate cognitive abilities, and learning is the result of the child
acting on the environment” (p. 2) (para. 4). Rice (2002) pointed out that children’s abilities and motivations
must be considered in order to make an acceptable model of language development (p. 4). Other perspectives
focus on the environment and suggest that children need to interact and adapt their speech to the context and
recipients.
The second part is called “Written and Second Language Acquisition” where researchers claim that
“written Language is a secondary representation of Language that the brain is not prepared to acquire” (p. 24).
Therefore reading is rather learned than acquired.

3. Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition 3
In conclusion the four documents complement each other expressing that language is part of our nature;
nevertheless, not all the abilities related to it are innate in everyone because we are all different from each other.
Abstract
Firstly, I want to make reference to the “Second language acquisition and Second language learning”
document where Krashen talks about the effects of the first language on the Second Language acquisition. He
claims that this influence seems to be “strongest in complex word order and in word-for-word translations or
phrases”. Duskova (1969) supports that idea based on a study with Czech “postgraduate students”. In my
personal opinion that has been an issue for a long time here in Chile. The confusion about the order of noun and
adjective is the clearest example. That is why I strongly agree with this idea. I can support that based on my
personal experience. Since I was a child I have had ability in relation to the English language. I always got
positive results in my English tests, so usually my classmates, family and friends asked me how was that
possible. I always asked them back which aspect they did not understand, and they used to tell me that English
was similar to Spanish but the words in English were written the other way around. In addition, in the present
time my latest experiences as a teacher make me a witness of that issue.
Secondly, I want to talk about the “Affective filter Hypothesis” which appears in “Written and Second
Language Acquisition”. Here it is mentioned how the learner’s cognitive skills are affected by emotions. It says
that “boredom and anxiety are affective factors that can serve as a kind of filter to block out incoming
messages”. I agree with this idea because it explains why some students can understand lessons while other
cannot. I believe that teacher has a great responsibility in this because the different learning styles determine the
activities, but sometimes they are not the appropriate for the specific kind of learner; therefore, results are
unsatisfactory. In addition, teacher has to consider the social status and personal life of the students because that
will help him to understand their attitude and behavior.

4. Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition 4
Finally, I must say that in general all the documents coincided with my previews thoughts. There were
some aspects of which I was not aware of, so I could complement my perspective in terms of knowledge. As an
English teacher I think is essential to know the most possible about the aspects of language mentioned in the
documents because that will be useful for me not only at the moment of preparing my lessons, but also in future
when I want to help my children with something related to Language.

5. Different Perspectives of Language Acquisition 5
REFERENCES
Cook, V., Long, J., & McDonough, S. (1979). First and Second Language Learning. The mother tongue and other
l languages in Education. Durham: Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research.
Retrieved from:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/vivian.c/Writings/Papers/L1&L21979.htm
Freeman, D., & Freeman, Y. (2004). First language acquisition, Written and second language acquisition. an
E Essential linguistics what you need to know to teach reading, ESL, Spelling, Phonics, Grammar.
K (pp.1-47). Heinemann press.
Krashen, S. (1981). The role of the first language in second language acquisition. Second language an
a acquisition and second language learning. (pp. 64-69). California: University of Southern California.
E-PORTFOLIO LINK: http://jarosalestorres.webs.com/didactica-del-ingles