Learning First Language

588 Words3 Pages
Learning first language. It is important to EYL teachers to look at first language learning. It can not only help them understand how children learn differently compared to adults, but also offer them important insight about the nature of development and the continuity between learning the first language and foreign languages. To begin with, adult learners can analyze language in an abstract way. That allows them to compare linguistic patterns and forms. They make use of their knowledge of the mother tongue in order to learn the second language. However, when children are introduced to foreign language in early age they are usually still in the process of learning their mother tongue. So, these two processes can be closely inter-wined since very young learners lack the ability to manipulate and think about language in conscious way. Furthermore, adult learners can hypothesize quite deliberately about features of another language. They can compare tenses and forms which make them learn faster. Meanwhile, children show no interest to notice linguistic forms in both first and second languages. They pick the language up and learn if they are having fun and if they can work out the massages from the content. Thus, they learn holistically without paying attention to abstract aspects. Children learn their mother tongue effortlessly if the necessary input and opportunities of interaction were available. When they are talked to, children receive the input and begin to learn how to participate. This input needs several simplifications and modifications which were shown to be helpful in making the input comprehensible to children such as the use of repetition, a slow rate of speech, exaggerated intonation patterns, and the use of higher pitch.
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