Miracle Language

ARE WE BORN WITH AN INNATE

CAPABILITY TO LEARN LANGUAGES?
 All children acquire a language as they develop. Indeed, many children
around the world acquire more than one language and by the age of six
or seven are speaking as confident bi- or trilinguals. Thismiraculous
language instinct

 The question that language teachers want answered, therefore, is whether

second language acquisition- that is language learnt in the classroom
 The mental capability we are all born with - acts upon the language they
hear and transforms it into acknowledge of the language and an ability to
speak it.
 And even before children can themselves speak, parents act as if they
were taking part inthe conversation, as when a mother says, for example,
 Do you want some more milk?!the baby gurgles&
 You do? Yes, you do. All right, then ...
Children are being taught rules of discourse even though neither they nor their
parents are conscious of this.
 Acquisition and Learning:
Language acquisition:
• Subconscious process
• Without formal instruction
• Massive exposure
• Age limit: 6 years comprised until
puberty (Pinker, 1994)
• No or very low level of abstraction
• Spontaneous capabilities (Palmer)
Language learning:
• Conscious process
• Formal instruction
• Limited exposure to the language
• Age limit: puberty and on
• Higher level of abstraction
• Studial capabilities (Palmer)