First Language | Presentation

Do we learn our first language by imitation, innate processes, or
interaction?
• When a child is born, he/she undergoes several stages of life. As for the children who can speak, they have the first words
come from their mouth which are for objects and people around them. This is a clear evidence that they are learning their
first language through imitation. However, there are theories which are trying to prove that every child learns his/ her first
language through innate processes and others also try to prove that we learn our first language through interaction with
others (Berant & Liang, 2015)).
• Language can be learnt from ones’ surrounding. All the behaviours are developed from childhood and therefore the
language is also corresponding to ones surrounding. This theory can further be supported by the fact that every child
speak the language spoken in his/her immediate people, thus it can be concluded that all children are subjected to L1
from their immediate people(Schoot et al., 2016)
• According to the example given of a child, Genie, she was locked up in her childhood up to ten years and it was found
that she could not make a sentence. The Genie’s case can be analysed in the perspective that she learnt to communicate
through her surroundings. She could hardly relate with people and therefore she faced the challenge in speaking and most
of the times, she could use figures to express herself. There is also a role which is played by interaction in learning of first
language, words one learns from the surroundings can be shaped into the grammatically and logically correct sentence
through his or her interactions with other people environs.
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What evidence is there to support / not support a UG-
based account of SLA?
• Universal grammar (UG) is an approach with several limitations to linguistics. For this reason I cannot agree with it.
UG is only concerned in a research about what a language constitutes and not how one can learn the language. The
major objective of a linguistic research should first be how one learns a language and thereafter learn on what
constitutes the language.
• According to the studies of Chomsky which creates a ground on UG, he indicates that learning a language is innate.
Although he never gives the relevance on this theory on the second language learners, he gives a clear explanation that
all children learn and never accept corrections and rather formulates their own principles and grammatical standards of
a language. However, there are many unanswered questions about how UG approach on ESL learners. These learners
are undergoing several challenges while learning L2 and this starts when they learn on some words on the L2. An L2
learner does not have to undergo a fully structured structure of learning L1 in order to get ability to learn L2 but rather,
he/ she has the capability to learn L2 the same way he/ she learnt L1 (Sanz et al., 2015).
• Moreover, UG is focused on building a linguistic competence using researchers’ intuitions which cannot be depended
on. These intuitions are just ideologies of the researchers which cannot be practically approved. It is therefore very
unreliable to set some theoretical conclusions from unreliable methods of research and intuitions. Linguists require
reliable evidence to support a principle or theory to establish a competent approach (Marvalová, 2015).
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