Abstract

The case study is about Al Baraa, a 3-years old Lebanese child and his first language
acquisition and development. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the First
Language Acquisition Theories, including the Innateness Theory, Behaviorism, and Cognitive
concepts, etc. and see if what these theories propose are valid and can explain how the child was
able to grow linguistically. The researcher then used the methods of Belief and Language
Learning Inventory as a way to properly gauge and observe the subject’s linguistic abilities and
added interviews and questionnaires answered by the subject’s parents as additional data
gathering method. The study tried to answer the following: how the subject acquired his L1,
what are the factors that affected his learning, how were these developments exhibited and what
were the difficulties experienced. The key findings of the study suggest that Al Baraa’s linguistic
development were mostly due to his biological built and he had the natural capability to process
language. His environment though and what he has been thought and what he has imitated also
helped him develop further than what he is naturally capable of.