Community College of Manito

Manito, Albay
A.Y.: 2020-2021

Teaching English in the Elementary Grades

MODULE 1
GE3
BSESS-1
FRI, 1:00-3:00
Course Packet for Teaching English in the Elementary Grades

Course Information

Course Code : MC Eng 101

Course Title : Teaching English in the Elementary Grades
Credit/No. of Units : 3
Duration : A/Y 2020-2021
Instructor : Julietha Ardales
Consultation Time : MW, 9:00-10:30

Rationale and Course Description

This course is designed for teaching in the primary level. It will emphasize English as a second
language with main focus on language teaching methodologies to improve knowledge and fluency in the
English language in listening, reading, writing, speaking and viewing. Use of content in the structures of
English and Children’s literature will be included. Project-based, task-based learning activities shall be
considered.

This course includes a study of oral and written language, literacy development and the writing
process from a holistic perspective with an emphasis on meaningful teaching and learning. The content
of this course is developed through an awareness of appreciation of the Language Arts by integrating
listening, speaking, reading and writing into the curriculum. This course is intended to stimulate an
interest in and understanding of language learning as it relates to the cognitive, moral and social
development of the child as well as language which is culturally and ethnically diverse.
Module 1: Perspectives on First and Second Language Acquisition and Various Factors that
Influence Learning
Objectives:
On your successful completion of this module, you are able to:
1. define first language acquisition and second language acquisition
2. discuss factors that influence learning
3. differentiate second language learning and second language acquisition

Try this first:

Use this Venn Diagram to write your own perception on First language and Second
language. Then, analyze the similarities and differences of the two.

Similarities
First or Second Language
Language Differences
_____________________________
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Difference between a First Language & a Second Language

Language is the most significant aspect which makes us different from all other species. Accordingly,
language acquisition is the most impressive aspect of human development both in psychological and
cognitive perspective. However, all the normal human beings acquire the language they first
encounter as children. Then they might learn multiple languages but those languages will always be
different from the first language they acquired by being exposed to. So, it is evident that there are a
lot of differences between the first language and the second language of a person.

Let’s explore the differences:

 A first language is the mother tongue or native language of a person while a second language is
a language a person learns in order to communicate with the native speaker of that language.

 The first language is like an instinct which is triggered by birth and developed with the
experience of being exposed to it. A second language is a personal choice of a person.
 There is no other alternative to a first language. A person cannot decide his/her first language. It
comes to him/her as an inheritance/legacy/birth right. On the other hand, a second language is
always fixed by the person. There are many alternatives to a second language. A
person/community can choose a second language among other languages.

 The acquiring process of the first language is very rapid while the learning process of the second
language can vary from language to language and from person to person, but can never be as
rapid as the first language acquisition.

 The first language is ‘acquired’ and the second language is ‘learned’. The difference between
these two words describes the qualities of the two languages. ‘Acquire’ means “to come into
possession or ownership of” which indicates that the first language is like a dynamic and
abstract property which comes into possession of a person. On the other hand, ‘learn’ means
“to gain knowledge or skill by study, instruction, or experience” which indicates that there is
nothing passive in second language learning.

 A first language is completely acquired with 100% proficiency within 6 years from the birth.
However, a second language can never be learned as efficiently as a first language; though good
competence can be achieved in the second language, the process is slow.

 The first language acquisition is always natural and there is no need for instruction in acquiring
it. But second language learning is not natural and it needs continuous guidance and
instruction.

 The first language acquisition begins with telegraphic speech. The term 'telegraphic speech'
deriving from the word ‘telegram’ was coined by Roger Brown, an American psycholinguist, in
1963. It refers to the two-word a child can utter when s/he is 18 to 24 months of age. Examples
of telegraphic speech: Mom see, Dad go, No ball, Daddy walk, Mommy milk, etc. On the other
hand, the second language acquisition begins with a full sentence. A child cannot start learning
the second language without being fully efficient in the first language.

 The first language is a natural part of a person’s everyday life. But the second language is a new
aspect of the person’s life if s/he chooses it to be.

 The first language does not require any conscious effort; the acquisition process of the first
language is subconscious. The second language requires constant conscious effort so that the
learners can internalize the structures of the second language.
Some factors of difference for the first language and the second language.

1. Age
It is the most important factor that makes a second language totally different from the first
language. Children of the age of 6 who have already acquired full proficiency in their first language are
most capable of learning a second language. Adults usually find it difficult to learn a new language when
they become too accustomed to their first/native language.

2. Personality
A child’s personality does not usually make that much of difference in the acquisition of the first
language. But it makes a huge difference in the learning process of the second language. In the second
language learning process, the learners with an introvert personality usually make slow progress than
the learners with an extrovert personality.

3. Culture
The first language is one of the most important factors of a person’s culture. But a second
language is not that important in anyone’s culture. However, the second language has some effects on
the culture of a person but not significant enough to be counted as an element of that culture.

4. Motivation
It is an important factor for the second language learning. A learner with good motivation to
learn a second language is likely to learn that language faster. But the acquisition of the first language
does not require any motivation because it is a natural phenomenon. The first language is acquired
subconsciously and there is no need for motivation to acquire it.

5. Mother Tongue
The first language is the mother tongue of a person. The second language learning depends a lot
on the structures of the first language. If the structure of the first language is similar to the second
language, it will be easy and fast for the learners to internalize it. For instance, an English native speaker
will find Dutch easier to learn than Hindi as a second language.

A first language and a second language both have their effects on each other.
However, as we have learned that the first language is natural and has a solid base in a person’s
intellectual and psychological development, the first language is not affected by the second language
as much as the second language is affected by the first language.
Finally, we can say that the relationship and the differences between a first and a second language are
complex but constant.

First Language Acquisition

 Language acquisition is the process whereby children acquire their first languages.
 All humans (without exceptional physical or mental disabilities) have an innate capability to
acquire language.
 Children may acquire one or more first languages. For example, children who grow up in an
environment in which only English is spoken and heard will acquire only English as their first language.
However, children who grow up in an environment in which both German and English are spoken and
heard equally will acquire both German and English as their first languages.
 Acquisition occurs passively and unconsciously through implicit learning. In other words,
children do not need explicit instruction to learn their first languages but rather seem to just
“pick up” language in the same way they learn to roll over, crawl, and walk.
 Language acquisition in children just seems to happen.
 Acquisition (as opposed to learning) depends on children receiving linguistic input during the
critical period.
 The critical period is defined as the window of time, up to about the age of twelve or puberty, in
which humans can acquire first languages.
 Children must receive adequate linguistic input including phonology (speech sounds), semantics
(vocabulary and meaning), grammar (syntax or word order and morphology or grammatical
markers), and pragmatics (use and context) and prosody (intonation, rhythm, stress) before the
end of the critical period in order to acquire their first languages.
 If linguistic input is not adequate, children will never fully acquire language (as is the case of
Genie, an abused and neglected girl who was discovered by authorities in 1970). Language
acquisition cannot normally occur after the critical period because the brain becomes
“hardwired” to the first language.

Second Language Learning

Language learning, in contrast to language acquisition,
 is the process whereby humans past the critical period learn second languages.
 All humans have the ability to learn additional languages although, just as with other areas of
study like math or science, some people are better at learning second languages than others.
 Older children and adults may learn one or more second languages. For example, a woman who
acquired French as a child and learned English as an adult would have one first language (French) and one
second language (English). Similarly, a man who acquired Japanese as a child and learned English and
Spanish as an adult would also have one first language (Japanese) but two second languages (English and
Spanish).
 As opposed to acquisition, learning occurs actively and consciously through explicit instruction
and education. In other words, older children and adults past the critical period need explicit
teaching to learn their second languages.
 Language learning requires explicit instruction in speaking and hearing additional languages. For
example, while children who acquire English as their first language just seem unconsciously and without
instruction to “know” that most adjectives precede nouns in English, those same children as adults must
be taught that most adjectives follow nouns in Spanish.
 The brains of first language English speakers have become “hardwired” to innately accept only
an adjective-noun pattern; in order to successfully learn Spanish as a second language, those
English speakers must consciously learn the different pattern of noun-adjective.
 Or rather, second language learners must “retrain” the brain to accept language systems outside
the confines of the first language.

Second Language Acquisition

 The theory behind language learning programs (with Rosetta Stone as the most well-known) is
that adults past the critical period can acquire language.
 Although some older children and adults can seemingly acquire languages in addition to their
first, most people must learn second languages.
 Such language learning programs fail to take into account that people learn second languages
differently from the acquisition of first languages, by ignoring the differences between language
acquisition and language learning.
 While all children before the critical period can innately acquire their first languages, most
adults past the critical period must learn second languages through explicit education and
instruction.
 In addition to the problems with the claim of second language acquisition, many language
learning programs also mistakenly claim to teach second languages through language
immersion. Language immersion is a second language learning method in which language learners
immerse themselves in the target (second) language. For example, Spanish language learners might
plan a Spanish immersion experience through an extended vacation to a Spanish-speaking country and
communicate only with the Spanish language For example, Rosetta Stone proclaims that its
language learning programs help people learn second languages naturally by providing a
“completely immersive environment” that recreates on the computer the childhood experience
of “speaking instinctively by experiencing the world.” Instant Immersion similarly claims to
“immerse learners in authentic dialogue and traditions” through its language learning programs.
 However, authentic language immersion cannot happen through a computer program. Instead,
real language learning through language immersion can only occur when language learners
physically and mentally immerse themselves in a linguistic environment with adequate linguistic
input from the target language. Computer software cannot replicate actual linguistic
interactions.

Conclusion
First language acquisition differs from second language learning in that children acquire first languages
innately and passively while adults learn second languages actively through explicit education and
instruction.
Older children and adults past the critical period can successfully learn second languages through
language immersion.
However, many language learning programs that promise language acquisition through immersion fail to
take into account the differences between first language acquisition and second language learning as
well as the necessary linguistic environment for authentic language immersion.
Nonetheless, language immersion programs can reinforce the learning that language learners gained
through explicit second language education and instruction.