Language Acquisition Autobiography

Philip Thompson

Eng 420
 One’s own language acquisition can be a tricky thing to document, as it takes place so

early in life that we often have very little recollection of it as an adult. From the instant that we

are born, our brains begin taking in words and sounds that we hear, and shaping them into what

becomes our understanding of language, without us even knowing or meaning to do so. While I

do not have a great many memories from the early stages of my own language acquisition, there

are several that stand out, whether from my own memory, or stories I have been told of my early

childhood that shed some light on the topic.

One of my earliest memories comes in the form of a game my dad would play with me

when I was around 13 months old. I was walking decently by this point, but my parents had a

waterbed that was difficult to walk on. I would stumble around the bed laughing and trying to

run as my dad stood over me singing the theme from the old show “Gigantor” and pretending to

be a giant robot. This led to me attempting to say the word Gigantor, which came out more like

“ja-ga-ta”. For a while this was what I called my dad, though I also used the word to ask him to

play with me.

A little later in my life, my name for my father changed to a reference to a different

television show. My parents used to watch the sitcom called “Dinosaurs”, and my mom loved the

way the baby would hit the father with a frying pan and say “not the mama”. As she used to grab

my hand and mimic the action towards my dad while saying the phrase I learned to repeat it

myself over time, and for a while affectionately referred to my father as “not the mama”.

Another memory of my language acquisition comes in the form of my own name, which I

struggled with for a series of time, when I was around two and a half years old. My full name is

Philip Anthony Thompson, which I would proudly declare to people that I met at the time.
Unfortunately, what came out sounded more along the lines of “Shwilla Ampry Tubbins”. Even

as I learned to pronounce the ph at the beginning of my name, the p at the end often got left off,

as well the middle syllable of Anthony, leading to a phase of “Filla Anthy Thomas”. Thankfully I

no longer struggle with saying my own name.

While my language acquisition seems to have developed at a relatively normal rate, and

as is the case with most people, required little direct teaching, there is one particular area in

which I struggled. According to the speech sounds development chart, a common error during

language acquisition is known as gliding. This is an error in which children replace the /l/ and /r/

sound with either a /w/ or /y/ sound. While I did not have difficulty with these sounds

individually, I did struggle with them when put together, which is why I received speech therapy

services when I was eight. I distinctly remember spending a lot of time practicing the words

world and girl until I was able to say them appropriately.

English language acquisition is a fascinating process, and one that many people take for

granted, as for most people it simply happens thanks to the incredible ability that God has given

the human brain to process and interpret sounds and language. However, while it is often a

process that occurs without thinking, it is still an important one to study, as it helps us to better

understand the ways in which our minds develop. Beyond that, the study of language acquisition

is also beneficial in helping those for whom this skill may not come as naturally. For example,

many students with special needs have significant difficulties when it comes to various areas of

language acquisition. This is the aspect of this topic that interests me most, as I intend to become

a special education teacher and hope to help my students learn to better communicate.
 For the past ten years I have worked as an instructional aide in a special education

classroom for students with severe autism. I have seen students with a wide variety of speech

deficits, as well as several who were non verbal and communicated through the use of

Augmentative and Alternative Communication devices(AAC’s). I have learned to communicate

with many of these students through a sort of trial and error, almost undergoing my own new

language acquisition process as I learn to translate the students particular speech quarks. For

example, I had one student who attempted to say camouflage, but it came out “grumblebuzz”.

That one took a while to figure out.

Our textbook, Study of Language, indicates in chapter 13 that language acquisition

occurs as a sort of experimentation of the part of the child, rather than through direct correction

or imitation, and often develops in an expected manner over time. However, for many students

these skills do not develop in the normal progression, and they do in fact require direct

instruction in order to help them improve their language skills. The study of language acquisition

and speech sounds helps us to identify the particular areas in which the students struggle so that

we can improve their ability to communicate. Additionally, while reading for this class I have

found that much of what is practiced in the classroom matches up with the general speech sound

development pattern, even if the ages don’t line up. For example, students I have worked with

that are 8 years old may still be in what our text refers to as the two word stage. In these cases we

often focus on helping them to better form distinct word sounds that they struggle with, before

helping them to move on to more telegraphic speech.

Looking back on my own language acquisition has been an interesting exercise, and

combined with the knowledge I am gaining from this course, I feel is helping me to better
understand the way in which the human brain acquires language. While this is something that is

often overlooked by most people, it is a topic that is quite important to the future success of the

particular population of students I am hoping to work with. I look forward to learning more

about language development, and the ways in which it will benefit my future students.
 References

Speech Sounds Development Chart. (N.D.) Retrieved from

https://childdevelopment.com.au/resources/child-development-charts/speech-sounds-developmen

tal-chart/

Yule, G. (2017). Study Of Language. S.l.: CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS.