As parents, we follow closely to listen to our child’s first word, first step, the first day of school, the use of language by our child.
How does my child acquire a language?
That is, how does s/he learn to speak? How
can I make this happen faster and better?
Next to the miracle of birth, the
acquisition of language is sure to follow as
the next wonder. What parent, teacher,
observer, has not been awed watching
a child making gibberish sounds, utter
his/her first word, form the first sentence?
We are all born with this distinguishing
feature possessed only by humans – the
ability to acquire, develop and embellish
language.
The reason we can do this is that language
learning is an innate aptitude with which
every child is born. Every new born comes
wired to learn the language of his/her
environment. Every child, from any
country, of any culture, of any ethnic or
racial background, is born with the ability
to speak the language found in his/her
surroundings. And they do this with great
speed.
This innate ability has the child
experience the same stages of
development while acquiring a language
no matter what language s/he speaks.
Every baby follows a predetermined
pattern of language learning be it Thai,
Japanese, Welsh, Hindu, English, French,
Mandarin, among other languages. The
important point here is that children
do not learn a language by imitation.