Student’s Name

Professor’s Name

Course

Date

Language is learned

Introduction

From time immemorial, various theories have been formed to come up with the best way in which language is acquired. Approaches such as innatist and cognitivist methods claim that the brain of a child from infancy has a language-learning mechanism which is very special. The cognitive theory argues that the language related to a given child develops with time as the child grows, which lets the child be connected with the immediate environment. The input theory clearly shows how a child, in respect to parental and environmental interaction, learns. This text will try to justify why a language is learned. It will also try to put the reasons as to why the word is not innate. (Song., 2018)

Language is learned

The input theory suggests that, in some cultures, children learn how to talk by hearing and/or listening to their elders. They also achieve their learning through the various ways they interact with their surroundings.  Parents typically don’t address small children as they do to other grown-ups. They communicate to them in a unique way which helps the children to understand and learn fast. This gives the children a higher chance of learning and interacting with the language in the least way possible. Through the use of simple sentences, mumbling and gesturing as well as using some few incorrect sentences, the adults lays a foundation for the children to learn. (Han et al.pp. 133-164)

Most children are brought up by mothers. They interact frequently every time. The language used by the mother to the child is always simple to understand. The mother also engages the child in non-verbal communication concurrently. The mother can put some gestures which control the behaviour of a child, such as warning the child in case of wrongdoings using gestures. Language development and finally talking in small children develops remarkably from what the child hears from other people. When the child gets to talk, he/she tries to speak on the language that has been in use in that environment. At this time the grown-ups tires to engage the child in their activities through communication. This communication includes verbal and non-verbal which lets the child connect what is needed of him/her. Within no time the child becomes familiar with the surrounding language. (Phillipson., 2017 .p.26)

Innate language

The innateness theory claims that children from infancy have the knowledge to acquire language depending on their environment. The environment will shape the child’s mind on what to learn. In as much as this knowledge is innate, the child will need to learn various things such as the language as per his/her environment. Children tend to learn their first language tentatively very fast unlike a grown-up trying to learn a foreign language. This disputes the innate knowledge claimed to be in possession to a particular person. In this case, the child learns a language through frequent interaction with the set environment, unlike a grown-up. If the knowledge can be taken to be innate, then both the child and the adult should have almost the same capability of learning a new language. (Z Wen and Adriana., 2017)

Conclusion

Parents and adults play a more significant role in child development. Mostly, the children were considered to imitate the behaviours of the grown-ups. Consequently, there is no complete show of imitation in a child as he/she grows up. Maturity is what takes place, and the resultant behaviour is what the child has developed into. Children acquire learning through mostly social interaction. Innate knowledge doesn’t show ultimately how a child will develop language in different environmental settings at the same time. Through parental guidance and various ecological interactions, a child can learn and communicate effectively.

.

Works Cited

Han, Zhaohong, Gang Bao, Paul Wiita. “Energy conservation: A theory of L2 ultimate attainment.” International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 2017: 133-164.

Phillipson, Robert, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. “The politics and policies of language teaching.” the handbook of language teaching 2017: 26.

Song, Sooho. Second language acquisition theories. London: Palgrave Pivot, 2018.

Z Wen, Adriana Biedron. “cognitive individual differences in second language acquisition.” Theories, assessments and pedagogy 2017.