Language Acquisition First Week Summary
During the first week of class, I learned some of the basics of first language acquisition. Even though I have just scratched the surface at this point, I feel I have a decent understanding of the major theories stemming from the analysis of how humans, especially children, acquire their first language. Logically, it seems a child could not acquire something as complicated as language. ... And yet, in a short few years, normal children are able to learn their first language at a high proficiency level. One of the theories to explain first language acquisition is behaviorism. The behaviorist basically says that children learn by imitating those whom they have contact with, forming habits of language usage. ... So imitation alone really can only account for a child learning regular and routine aspects of a language; it cannot explain the acquisition of more complicated aspects of a language.