Language acquisition versus language learning

By Ute Limacher

Linguists distinguish between language acquisition and language learning.

Children acquire language through a subconscious process during which they are unaware of
grammatical rules. This happens especially when they acquire their first language. They repeat what is
said to them and get a feel for what is and what is not correct. In order to acquire a language, they need
a source of natural communication, which is usually the mother, the father, or the caregiver.

Language learning, on the other hand, is the result of direct instruction in the rules of language.
Language learning is not an age-appropriate activity for very young children as learning presupposes that
learners have a conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge. They
usually have a basic knowledge of the grammar.

From a neurolinguistic point of view, language acquisition and language learning are processed in two
different ways in the brain.

During early infancy, language processing – during acquisition – occurs in many areas of the brain. Only
over time it gradually becomes concentrated into two areas: the Broca’s area, which is situated in the lef
frontal cortex and is involved in the production of the patterns in vocal and sign language, and the
Wernicke’s area, in the lef temporal cortex that is primarily involved in language comprehension. The
Broca’s area is the one actively involved in language acquisition processes, whereas the Wernicke’s area
is active in the language learning process.

bildschirmfoto-2016-10-20-um-12-14-39

Acquisition:

unconscious process

does not presuppose teaching

the child controls the pace

Learning:

intentional process

presupposes teaching

the teacher controls the pace

Code-mixing

Code-mixing is the mixing of two or more languages or language varieties in speech.[a]

Some scholars use the terms "code-mixing" and "code-switching" interchangeably, especially in studies
of syntax, morphology, and other formal aspects of language.[1][2] Others assume more specific
definitions of code-mixing, but these specific definitions may be different in different subfields of
linguistics, education theory, communications etc.

Code-mixing is similar to the use or creation of pidgins; but while a pidgin is created across groups that
do not share a common language, code-mixing may occur within a multilingual setting where speakers
share more than one language.

As code-switching

In sociolinguistics

In language acquisition

In psychology and psycholinguistics

Edit

In psychology and in psycholinguistics the label code-mixing is used in theories that draw on studies of
language alternation or code-switching to describe the cognitive structures underlying bilingualism.
During the 1950s and 1960s, psychologists and linguists treated bilingual speakers as, in Grosjean's term,
"two monolinguals in one person".[7] This "fractional view" supposed that a bilingual speaker carried
two separate mental grammars that were more or less identical to the mental grammars of monolinguals
and that were ideally kept separate and used separately. Studies since the 1970s, however, have shown
that bilinguals regularly combine elements from "separate" languages. These findings have led to studies
of code-mixing in psychology and psycholinguistics.[8]

Sridhar and Sridhar define code-mixing as "the transition from using linguistic units (words, phrases,
clauses, etc.) of one language to using those of another within a single sentence".[8] They note that this
is distinct from code-switching in that it occurs in a single sentence (sometimes known as intrasentential
switching) and in that it does not fulfill the pragmatic or discourse-oriented functions described by
sociolinguists. (See Code-mixing in sociolinguistics, above.) The practice of code-mixing, which draws
from competence in two languages at the same time suggests that these competences are not stored or
processed separately. Code-mixing among bilinguals is therefore studied in order to explore the mental
structures underlying language abilities.

Code-switching
This article is about alternating between two or more languages in speech. For other uses, see Code-
switching (disambiguation).

In linguistics, code-switching or language alternation occurs when a speaker alternates between two or
more languages, or language varieties, in the context of a single conversation. Multilinguals, speakers of
more than one language, sometimes use elements of multiple languages when conversing with each
other. Thus, code-switching is the use of more than one linguistic variety in a manner consistent with the
syntax and phonology of each variety.

Code-switching is distinct from other language contact phenomena, such as borrowing, pidgins and
creoles, loan translation (calques), and language transfer (language interference). Borrowing affects the
lexicon, the words that make up a language, while code-switching takes place in individual utterances.[1]
[2][3] Speakers form and establish a pidgin language when two or more speakers who do not speak a
common language form an intermediate, third language. On the other hand, speakers practice code-
switching when they are each fluent in both languages. Code mixing is a thematically related term, but
the usage of the terms code-switching and code-mixing varies. Some scholars use either term to denote
the same practice, while others apply code-mixing to denote the formal linguistic properties of language-
contact phenomena and code-switching to denote the actual, spoken usages by multilingual persons.[4]
[5][6]

In the 1940s and the 1950s, many scholars considered code-switching to be a substandard use of
language.[7] Since the 1980s, however, most scholars have come to regard it as a normal, natural
product of bilingual and multilingual language use.[8][9]

The term "code-switching" is also used outside the field of linguistics. Some scholars of literature use the
term to describe literary styles that include elements from more than one language, as in novels by
Chinese-American, Anglo-Indian, or Latino writers.[10] In popular usage, code-switching is sometimes
used to refer to relatively stable informal mixtures of two languages, such as Spanglish, Taglish, or
Hinglish.[11] Both in popular usage and in sociolinguistic study, the name code-switching is sometimes
used to refer to switching among dialects, styles or registers.[12] This form of switching is practiced, for
example, by speakers of African American Vernacular English as they move from less formal to more
formal settings.[13] Such shifs, when performed by public figures such as politicians, are sometimes
criticized as signalling inauthenticity or insincerity

THE SCOPE OF PSYCHOLINGUISTICS STUDIES and THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PSYCHOLINGUISTICS FOR

LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

The Scope of Psycholinguistics Studies

Psycholinguistics is a branch of study which combines the disciplines of psychology and linguistics. It is
concerned with the relationship between the human mind and the language as it examines the
processes that occur in brain while producing and perceiving both written and spoken discourse. What is
more, it is interested in the ways of storing lexical items and syntactic rules in mind, as well as the
processes of memory involved in perception and interpretation of texts. Also, the processes of speaking
and listening are analyzed, along with language acquisition and language disorders.

Generally, Psycholinguistics, covers three main points (Clark & Clark, 1977; Tanenhaus, 1989):

1. Comprehension: How people understand spoken and written language

a. Imitation

Imitation in language acquisition occurs when children imitate language patterns and vocabulary of
those significant to them.

b. Conditioning

B.FSkinner proposed mechanisms of conditioning or habituation to the child's speech is heard and to be
associated with objects or events that occur. Therefore the initial vocabulary is owned by the child is a
noun.

c. Social cognition

Children gain an understanding of words (semantics) because he understood the purpose of one's
cognition to produce a phoneme through a mechanism of joint attention.

2. Speech production: How people produce language

Speech production is the process by which spoken words are selected to be produced, have their
phonetics formulated and then finally are articulated by the motor system in the vocal apparatus.
Speech production can be spontaneous such as when a person creates the words of a conversation,
reaction such as when they name a picture or read aloud a written word, or a vocal imitation such as in
speech repetition.

3. Language Acquisition: How people learn language

Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend
language, as well as to produce and use words to communicate.

The Significance of Psycholinguistics for Language Teaching and Learning

Learning the language is so that students should not only master the language as a mere stand-alone
systems, to arrive at what is called the level of mastery of language skills to manipulate it.

Communication training should be given as early as possible, if necessary in conjunction with the
exercise of language to make a correct sentence

Psycholinguistics is the detailed study of the psychology of language. It helps to study the psychological
and neurobiological factors That make it possible to assimilate and apply the languages we identify with.

Learning a language takes the cooperation of various parties to realize a concrete outcome that may be
far less the consideration of psycholinguistics as a science that teaches how to use the language in actual
communication.

Psycholinguistics as a field of science that focuses on the application of the actual language and
communication should be realized. Obviously with the support of various parties, because in learning a
foreign language should be given the assumption that learning a foreign language is easy. And we have
to do is to apply various methods and approaches that allow students to easily understand it. One that
we can not deny that language is a form of habit.