First And Second Language Acquisition Case Study

First and second language acquisition arises from natural and not academic techniques; in other words, children acquire them by means of exposure and interaction in environments where the target languages are spoken. Children are conscious that language is used to communicate; however, they are unable to explain its grammatical rules. For this reason, the acquisition of a language is considered a subconscious process. Throughout this part of the study, different perspectives concerning the acquisition of both linguistic systems will be presented. First, language acquisition is understood as the process in which the mother tongue is acquired. And second language acquisition is a process in which the new system of communication is achieved through assimilation. First of all, there are several theories on how a first language is acquired, nevertheless, there are two philosophical perspectives pertaining to this topic, empiricism and nativism. The nativist perspective states that children are born with an innate aptitude to develop the language. On the contrary, the empirical perspective establishes

Additionally, the author states that this process occurs during a specific period of time, also known as a sensitive period that begins during the first year of life and ends at puberty. However, opposing Pinker, the author mentions that it is possible to achieve a good level of proficiency after this critical period, although it happens with a certain degree of difficulty through different learning mechanisms. To conclude, the author states that language acquisition critical period comes to an end at the time a human's brain reaches its fully cortical lateralization of functions. In other words, it is when the brain reaches its task's segregation and fully develops. This process usually happens around late