Republic of the Philippines

CENTRAL BICOL STATE UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

Impig, Sipocot, Camarines Sur 4408
Website: www.cbsua.edu.ph

Language, Culture
and Society
Module prepared by:
DONNA CLAIRE B. CAÑEZA
Part-time Instructor

Name of the Student: AIRA MAE R. ARINGO

Year and Section: BSED 1A-ENGLISH
Week No.: 2-3
 MODULE 2
Language Structure and Acquisitions
[Week 2-3]

I. PRE-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST
Direction: Answer the following questions.

The Language development is affected by the way people develop in different areas.
How can language development be affected by other areas of development? How can an
individual acquire language? Does individual’s environment affect language acquisitions?

Cognition plays an important role in language development. We will not be able to

communicate if we don't have the ability to understand something whether it is through
thought, experiences, or senses. We should have the ability to process information in
order to develop our language skills. Social factor can also contribute to the development
of language. A newborn's interaction with his family particularly with his parents can help
in language development. The constant practice of talking to an infant can help them
recognize sounds to form a word and later on, a sentence. People can acquire language
through interaction with their parents and family when they were just an infant, and with
their peers. The language used in that interaction is what we acquire known as the native
language since it is our first language acquisition. Having a conducive environment
enable us to learn more effectively. Our environment contributes to the kind of language
we will be acquiring.
II. DISCUSSION BOARD
Activity. By having the idea of Second Language Acquisition and its theories, which of the
following teaching methods is most applicable in elementary, tertiary and college level of
learners? Explain your answer.

Teaching an learning process will be more effective if we will be able to apply all
the teaching methods presented because there are different types of learners. All of the
teaching methods are applicable in Elementary, Secondary, and Tertiary because the
learners in each levels are different when it comes to learning. Teacher should be flexible
and adoptive in order to become an effective educator. He/She should be able to teach
the students with necessary knowledge and skills. Educators must familiarize each
teaching strategies to easily determine what kind of teaching method he/she should use
to be able to teach a specific type of learner and ensure that they are really learning. The
application of these teaching methods in accordance with the types of learners in a
specific class can help the students participate actively and learn enthusiastically. It
encourage participation and motivation. And choosing a teaching method to be applied in
a specific class, requires a teacher to experiment and explore with his/her class. It
depends on what type of learners you have in a classroom.

EL101 Language, Culture and Society: Course Module

III. POST-COMPETENCY CHECKLIST
(20 points)
Research about the Innateness Hypothesis, Poverty of the Stimulus, and Critical Age
Hypothesis, write a brief summary of it and provide examples. After doing so, answer this
question, as a future English teacher how are you going to use these methods in teaching
language to your future students?

• Innateness Hypothesis
It is an expression coined by Hilary Putman, referring to a linguistic theory
of language acquisition which holds that at least some knowledge about language
exists in humans at birth. The expression “innateness hypothesis” was used by
Putman to target linguistic nativism specially the views of Noam Chomsky.
Facts about the complexity of human language systems, the universality of
language acquisition, the facility that children demonstrate in acquiring these
systems, and the comparative performance of adults in attempting the same task
are all commonly invoked in support. However, the validity of Chomsky's approach
is still debated. Empiricists advocate that language is entirely learned. Some have
criticized Chomsky's work, pinpointing problems with his theories while others
have proposed new theories to account for language acquisition (with specific
differences in terms of language acquisition per se compared to second language
acquisition).
Although many scholars, especially those linked with generative grammar,
proposed during the latter half of the 20th century that language is innate, no
evidence was found to support their claim. The idea is today rejected by the
mainstream psycholinguistic and child language acquisition researchers.
Linguistic nativism now represents a marginal view in those fields. Innate
basis in language is also rejected by crosslinguistic research because languages
are shown to have similar structures on a statistical rather than universal basis.
(Wikipedia n.d.)
For example, time and again, we hear or witness children uttering things
that they could not have heard from their caregivers or adults. In spite of adults not
adapting their language and speech to their children, the children end up learning
it. A newborn baby can be able able to produce sounds and recognize how
language sounds. And it can be enhanced through the interaction with his family
particularly with his parents. Eventually, with this constant interaction, the baby can
be able to produce words and later on, sentences in order to fully communicate.

• Poverty of Stimulus
Poverty of the stimulus (POS) is the controversial argument
from linguistics that children are not exposed to rich enough data within their
linguistic environments to acquire every feature of their language. This is
considered evidence contrary to the empiricist idea that language is learned solely

EL101 Language, Culture and Society: Course Module

 through experience. The claim is that the sentences children hear while learning a
language do not contain the information needed to develop a thorough
understanding of the grammar of the language.
The POS is often used as evidence for universal grammar. This is the idea
that all languages conform to the same structural principles, which define the
space of possible languages. Both poverty of the stimulus and universal grammar
are terms that can be credited to Noam Chomsky, the main proponent
of generative grammar. Chomsky coined the term "poverty of the stimulus" in
1980. However, he had argued for the idea since his 1959 review of B.F.
Skinner's Verbal Behavior.
There was much research based on generative grammar in language
development during the latter half of the twentieth century. This approach was
abandoned by the mainstream researchers as a result of what many scientists
perceived as the problems with the Poverty of the Stimulus argument. (Wikipedia
n.d.)
For example, a baby is capable of producing sounds, words, and sentences
but he doesn't know how it should be produced considering the grammar of the
language.

• Critical Age Hypothesis

The critical period hypothesis is the subject of a long-standing debate
in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to
acquire language is biologically linked to age. The hypothesis claims that there is
an ideal time window to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after
which further language acquisition becomes much more difficult and effortful.
The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the
crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with
adequate stimuli, and that first-language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity. If
language input does not occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve
a full command of language. There is much debate over the timing of the critical
period with respect to SLA, with estimates ranging between 2 and 13 years of age.
The critical period hypothesis is derived from the concept of a critical
period in the biological sciences, which refers to a set period in which an organism
must acquire a skill or ability, or said organism will not be able to acquire it later in
life. Strictly speaking, the experimentally verified critical period relates to a time
span during which damage to the development of the visual system can occur, for
example if animals are deprived of the necessary binocular input for
developing stereopsis. (Wikipedia n.d.)
For example, adult second-language learners nearly always retain an
immediately identifiable foreign accent, including some who display perfect
grammar. A possible explanation for why this foreign accent remains is that
pronunciation, or phonology, is susceptible to the critical period.

EL101 Language, Culture and Society: Course Module

 As a future educator, I can apply the Innateness Hypothesis in teaching
language to my future students by giving them activities such as essay writing,
poem or speeches prior to the discussion to test whether they hold some
knowledge in language. In this way, I can also apply the Poverty of Stimulus
wherein the development of thorough understanding of the grammar of the
language can be tested. And the Critical Age Hypothesis can be applied through
discussing the topics about language and giving activities involving phonetics,
phonology, morphology, lexical categories, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
which will show their ability to acquire language based on their ages. Through this,
I can be able to help my students develop their language skills which will help them
better communicate either written or spoken.

EL101 Language, Culture and Society: Course Module