HISTORY OF TEACHING AND

LEARNING A LANGUAGE
LEARNING A LANGUAGE
PROCESS

TEACHER: ALEJANDRA BRICIO LARA

STUDENT: MARTHA TERESA MONTAÑO
ORTIZ
COURSE: VIRTUAL

AUGUST 2020. ENTABLADERO, ESPINAL, VER.

LEARNING PROCESS A LANGUAGE.

They say that "you are what you eat." In the global information age, maybe it should be "you are
what you can say." Language, in its various manifestations, is the achievement that defines
humanity, and it also defines us. Language can be social, political, technical, practical, entertaining,
sensual, philosophical, and much more.

When children develop their first language, the process is an automatic, subconscious one.
Children typically do not require explicit instruction for their first language to develop. Here, the
process of “language acquisition” is occurring. In contrast, if a child is a sequential bilingual, they
will require explicit teaching to support their second language’s development. This process is known
as “language learning”.

Many learning English do not know what to expect from their classes. They know they are in the
classroom to learn but they do not know if they are meeting the established goals or if they are
performing below level. Exams taken in class are often not a reflection of what they have learned.
There are cases in which "intermediate" or even "advanced" students have a very poor level of oral
communication and their grammar is really in complete disorder. The problem often lies in the fact
that, in language learning institutes and centers, the exams are done by units and the student finally
finds a way to pass the exams. They just review the unit rules and memorize in the short term.
Once the covered units are finished they go to the next one and thus pass levels.

Although the students feel that they are learning and advancing, they also realize that they have
many limitations when it comes to talking. The role of the teacher is to give suggestions on how to
improve listening and pronunciation. Students go through five stages which are: Pre-Production,
Early Production, Speech Emergence, Intermediate Fluency, and Advanced Fluency (Krashen &
Terrell, 1983). Times vary depending on many factors such as level of education, student
environment among others. These are the stages:

Stage 1: Pre-production (Basic). The duration is zero to six months. It is a silent stage in relation
to communication. Students manage to understand approximately 500 words although receptively
and not yet speak. However, they repeat a lot and form very basic sentences. Here it is very
common for the teacher to use many figures and the students point and make many mimics

Stage 2: Early Production (Elementary). The duration is from six months to a year and students
develop an active vocabulary of approximately 1000 words. At this stage the students speak many
sentences with few words. Students answer yes / no questions and become familiar with common
phrases and begin to see language patterns.

Stage 3: Language emergence (pre-intermediate). From one to two years. It is a stage in which
the student understands much better and develops an active vocabulary of approximately three
thousand words. They begin to communicate with sentences although with grammatical errors.
Here the conversations with the other students begin and they understand more complex readings
with the help of figures. Writing begins to take shape and students can begin to write paragraphs
and answer questions in more detail. Students are challenged to answer “how” and “why” questions
(Why and How questions).

Stage 4: Intermediate Fluency. Lasting one to two years, students develop an active vocabulary of
6,000 words. Students begin to form complex sentences when they speak and write. They are
willing to express opinions and share their thoughts and emotions. They ask to clarify doubts they
understand more readings of more advanced context. The student answers more questions such as
"what will you do if what?" or "what do you think of?" It is a stage in which the student begins to
better synthesize what they learn and make more inferences.

Stage 5: Advanced Fluency. With an approximate duration of two years, the student has an
almost native level. They can tell stories without neglecting details, asking diverse and complex
questions, always keeping the context in mind. They can understand all types of reading as they
have the ability to deduce the meaning of new words through context. They understand complex
conversations and can develop with more confidence.

CONCLUSION.

The key is motivation and enjoyment for the acquisition of a new language. It has been seen
throughout these five stages that it is a process, therefore you must be patient and take into
account that it happens in a different way. It takes time, practice, and real social experiences to
support the language learning process.

RESOURCES:

https://bilingualkidspot.com/2018/09/19/5-stages-of-second-language-acquisition/

https://allesl.com/second-language-acquisition-stages/

https://www.colorincolorado.org/article/language-acquisition-overview