First language acquisition: A case study of a three-year old Lebanese child

The subject of this case study is named Al Barraa. He is a 3-year old Muslim Lebanese born
to a middle-class Arabic family in Saudi Arabia. He is the first child of a couple who are both
educated up to Bachelor’s degrees in Lebanon. He has a brother and a sister who are in their
babyhood and infancy stages. His father is a manager of a company headquartered in Lebanon while
his mother is just a plain housewife. A physically, mentally, and socially healthy boy, he loves
playing toy cars, running inside the house, watching Youtube videos, and touching every strange thing
he sees. Still on his way of acquiring his first language, he always tries to ask his mother or father the
names of things, actions, or ideas he observes inside and outside the house. Though his father knows
and speaks a little bit of French, Arabic is the main language spoken at home. He is mainly exposed to
an environment where Arabic is spoken and written. Having his father a manager of a book publishing
company, he is exposed to panoply of Arabic books which he tries sometimes to open just to see the
pictures or illustrations.

As the son of the researcher’s friend whom he privately teaches Business English course at
the comfort of his own home, Al Baraa is always around whenever the researcher teaches his Dad,
playing around with his toys, disturbing his Dad, and talking to him whenever he pleases. He speaks
Arabic, basically, but it is surprising that he can also speak some English words and answer some
basic English questions like “What’s your name? How old are you? Where are you from? What’s the
name of your sister?” At his age, he can converse in basic Arabic, though according to his Dad, he
speaks with grammatical errors. He is very lovely, friendly, and inquisitive and he also displays vivid
characteristics of those learning a first language. Hence, he was chosen as the subject of this L1 case
study.