Language learning and teaching methods: how a child learns his mother tongue

I lradtec 5I2006

68

LANGUAGE LEARNING

and

TEACHING METHODS How

a

child

learns

its mother

tongue

Zoubida

Sebbane,

Oran

All normal human infants are born with thc potientiality of

nccluiring language.

only

subnormal intelligence

or

defective hearing rriln prevent the

child

from realizing this potentiality,

blit

in the rîormal

çlse a

^human

child

acquires

the ability to perform the two

basic lunguage

skills

: understanding speech and speaking understanderbly.

Ncvertheless

this

very language performance depends on a large scaie ,rrr his experience during the

first

two or threc yea5s of his life.

There are no specific methods for teaching a child to learn his nother _tongue(s).

Language is a system made of other systems that the child irr:tluircs in bulk.

when

learning

to

speak the

child is

never asked

to

repeat

or

to rnritate

the pronunciation of a sound nor is

he

explained how

to u range

his articulators to ^produce a particular phone. The

child rnhcrits

no inborn facility for

learning

to

understand and speak one lrrrrguage rather than other language, he

will

learn the language that is lrtring

ur.6

around him, no matter what language

it

is.

The notion

of

language is irrelevant to the baby. He is assailed

li'rn birth by various

sensations,

tactile; visual

as

well

as auditory

l)rring

the babbling stage

which

lasts almost 0g months

,

^the

child

is rrlrfc

to

produce

all

sounds

the vocal tract

can

make,then,

later this '*rrrnd

production

_becomes

steadily more

sophisticated. Instead

of

','rrrcwhat random babbling with a repertoire that is

supposed to

rrrc:lude

all

the sounds found

in all

the languages

of

the

world

as

well

rr'; sounds

that exit in no

language,

thc child

selects

out

some

of

the ',rrrnds and sound-sequences that he has noticed

in

his

own vicinity

_; llrt'rr

gradually through much

practice,

imitation and repetition

he

| (lnres

out with a

semi

-deliberate control of

speech production _that lrlt;omes through time more and more automatic.

These habits the

child

acquires are

iargely

phonetic,

but

as he

lr)ws

older he begins to organize his speech into pàtterns of grammar,

t'

rrcquire a stock

of lexical

and grammatical _items

in

order ro operate

rl

rhcse patterns and

to fit

his speech to the appropriate

situationi.

.He rrrirkcs

a

great number

of

mistakes, and

it

takes a long

time

before he l'r rrble

to

command

all the

systems

of the

languagé and before he

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5

I

2006 69

becomes lingriistically t\ competent, however the procéis of

habit making is

similai for

all children, in

all societies. 'rt

_'

Observatioç

of

very small children has revealed that the names

of

objects, actions

are

learnt

by

close association

of

name and object, etc. What we wear on the feet are shoes,

the color oûhis shirt

is red ,

putting the hand on the

lock of

the door is 'opening

or

closing". There

is no othdr word for,the child to think of with

precisely

the

same meaning. There is no tianslation process , even

if

in the eariy stages he

calls

"shoes

" all that is worn on the feet. He thinks from object

to

name. Similarly the pilingual child does not

translate

; ^{he simply}

learns another name

for the

same

object; for him "

shoes

is not

thc equivalent to

/

sobaT

/

or

to

soulier but in his mind one object is either soulier or

/

sobaT/ depending on the language he is using.

The

child

learns by the ear ; he associates an object or anything

with

a combination

1of

^{sounds not}

with

a picture of a

written word

in his brain.

It

is true lhat at the beginning

of

the learning process ,the child utters only wqrds but _|re rarely hears them separatelg he learns

to

use them as he heârs

thcm: put your

_shoes

on,

take

your

shoes

off,

etc ;

Iater he,learns

new

sound combinations

which fit

appropriately into other collocations : take

your

coat

off, put your

cap

on _,

where have you put your cap and the like.

Different environments may bring about diffcrcnccs

in

vocabulary. A child from a coastern village may not know or reoognile

many words used

by

a

child from

an

inland

area and vice versa

yet

each

of

ther4

caq

speak

English without

hesitation

as

he knows and usesl bpontaneously the various forms

of

the languagc into which all the forms must eo.

Language

is learniin

action, a

child

looks

at athing,

points to

it,

eats

it,

touchep'it, plays

with it,

etc. The

child

makes hundreds

of

mistakes,

but

he

is

constantly being corrected

by

the persons around

and therefore he

corrects

{rimself

through. perception

of his faulty

imitation.

When a child first

learns

to

speak

he

benefits

from a

large

number of

teachers.

Every one with whom he

comes

into

contact assists

in

teaching; there is no

time- limit,

the

child is

learning

all

the

timc hc

is awake.

Thc

learning process

is

continucd

until thcrc is

no conscious

efrort of

memory, and association

of

objects and ideas

with

the appropriate sounds becomes automatic.

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5 1 2006 70

The family's social and cultural background is ^highly

rlt'tcrminant

in the child' linguistic

development;

there are

specific rr'liistcrs the

child

hears and uses from

which

he can scneratc

millions

ll

^rrrJw expressions.

l,c:rrning

a

foreign

language

Learning a foreign language is a different task.

I rrnguage is a systcm madc of

differcnt

other systems:

6

^d

I'rrst we have

the

system

of

sounds; these combine

into a

system

of

lolnrs,

which in turn

combine

into

a system

of

structures.These three 'rystcms operate another systsm, the system

of

meaning.

Srrch an analysis would give

tell

us the following:,' 'l'he sounds of the language.

Thc significant sounds.

Which significant

sounds appear together and

the

changes they undergo when combined.

The significant forms (stems and affrxes).

Which forms appear together and how they combine.

The types of order in which these forms appear.

How the system of form and order pattern our experience through units of meaning.

Whilc

all

these systems are naturally acquired

during

the learning

of llrt:

mother tongue,

they

have

to be

placed

in the child's mind for llrrrning the foreign language. The question is then to ^frnd

^an

,rlrpropriate

method that would firstly

helps

the child graft the

new ',tructures over the structures of the language he uscs and spcaks

in

âll ',rlrrations, secondly that would not result in interference or inhibition.

Being aware of the delicate and hard mission they are assigned to, lrrrquists and pedagogists have been

trying to find

out the best method

t.

initiate a foreign language learning proccss.

Foreign language learning

is first

and foremost

a

community- ,rricnt€d task

which is difficult to

achieve

if not

impossible

in

areas rvlrcre

there are no native

speak-ers

, ^{no English films} , ^{no t.v}

lrro{râlnrn€s or othcr resources of the sort indispensable

to

achieve the

lr';u ner's

linguistic

development. The task and the responsability of the

,r

lrool

programme-makers

is

then

to ^provide the learner with

a

lr;rlcrial _that would facilitate and guarantee the success of the learning It ^{( )(;css.}

I lrt: rnaterial should take

into

account ^:

tlrc cognitive and sociocultutal needs of the learners.

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7L

- the gcographical situation-

- the

ieaÀer's

training personality ^and

ability

^to use language'

_ thc nccds

of

thc

.o.i"iy

in which thc lcarncrs arc

living.

Once these

prior undeitying

objectives have been defined and ^{set up}

we

can

turn to

^{the teachers} and determine the

part of their

task,

it

^is

indeed their resPonsabilitYto ^:

-

knowthe

learner'needs , interets and aspirations'

-

learn about the people and the places

of

the learning community

to

use language in real communication activities'

- include in the learning

process

the

authentic materials: ^hesitation

words ,

exclamationr,

uiu.ticulated

^sounds

to give a morc

authcntic ring.

- iodify ^{the order of the}

^learner's

^{texbook with respcct to}

^the

necessity and urgeircy of the situation'

- reintroduce preoiously taught

linguistic

^and cultural material;

it

is an excellent feedback

to

undeistand

new linguistic forms

introduced in comp letely dif

fbring

s-ociocultural ^situat ions'

- move frôm

tightly

controlled mechanical exercises ( useful

for

habit fon$ation) to more creative activities.

- Leave the

learne* fr., to

express themselves

allowing

mistakes and not interfere unless there is complete breakdown of the meaning.

-trynottoavoidtheissuewhenfacinganunexpectedsituation.

Foreignlanguagelearninghasraisedmuchcontroversy.No

method has

actualiy Jho*n anyiatisfactory

results. Each new method

is

hailed

with muct

enthusiasm

, it

rcmains

on

voguc a more

or

less

long

span

of time ,

^then

it is ultimately

^{abandoned either because its}

feasability has not been proved or

^because

a ^{new method}

^has

*0"ï::ili';"0

""o ^{dirfiçult ro}

sugsest a gcnerat applicable method

as the learners situations and requirements present so

^many

variables.Is

the

^learner

a child or an

adult

? Is he learning with

^a

teacher or by himselt"

with

the help

of

recording or broadcast lessons ^?

which

system does

he want to focuss

on

?

does

he

need

a

course

extending over

s.everal

years or ^{is he} attempting to ^acquire

^the

essential

in

a mucNr

*ot" iitited

^time ? Whatever the answers to these questions are

it

must be accepted tha!

in

nearly

all

^casesihe

^child will

be learning

English in

an

artificial fashion i.e. very differently ^from

the

rraturaiwayin ^which

he acquired his mother tongue,

with

constant exposure

to ^the

^language

of his family

environment ^and

with

strong

I

lrrrrllcc 512006

rritrrctive motivation to learn an efficient verbal means of

| ililrillunication.

'l'o

learn a language whether

it

be the mothe.r tongue

or

a foreign

lrrrrp,ilage, is

to

ldàin how

to

use

it, to

respond

to

situations

by

saying ,rl'l)ropriate

things in it, to

understand

what others say in it

^and.

rrlrrrrrately, to read and

write in

it.

llcli'rcnces

^;i-

r\rrqlin,J.M. Word,

object, and conceptual development.New

york:

Norton, 1977.

llkrom, L.one word at a time : The

use

of single word

utterances

lrllirlc

syntax.New

York :Humanities

press,l973.

('lrrrnsky, N Reflections on Language. New york :

^pantheon

lh roks, 1975.

f\lillcr" M. The logic of

language development

in early

childhood.

Nr'rv

York

: Springer- Verlag _,Lg7g.

Vylicrtsky,LS.Thought and Language,Cambridge,

Mass.

:MIT

I'rcss. 1962.

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